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diff --git a/22591-h/22591-h.htm b/22591-h/22591-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8070921 --- /dev/null +++ b/22591-h/22591-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,54783 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Political History of the State of New York (Contents), by DeAlva Stanwood Alexander</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + + body{margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%; + } + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 65%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + hr.short { width: 15%; + margin-top: 1.5em; + margin-bottom: 1.5em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + .blockquot {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; + font-size: 13px; text-indent: 0em; + border-top: solid gray 1px; border-bottom: solid gray 1px; + background-color: inherit; font-weight: normal; + font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; + text-decoration: none;} + + .bbox {border: solid black 1px; margin-left: 9%; margin-right: 9%;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .right {text-align: right;} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .small {font-size: 75%; text-align: center;} + .large {font-size: 150%;} + + .notes {background-color: #eeeeee; color: #000; padding: 1em; + margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; + border: solid black 1px;} + + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: baseline; + position: relative; bottom: 0.4em; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + + .keep_together {white-space:nowrap;} + + .cpoem {width: 50%; margin: 0 auto;} /* centers poem and maintains span indentation */ + .cpoeml {width: 65%; margin: 0 auto;} + + .err {border-bottom: thin dotted red;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3, by DeAlva Stanwood Alexander</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: DeAlva Stanwood Alexander</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September 12, 2007 [eBook #22591]<br /> +[Most recently updated: December 15, 2023]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Curtis Weyant, Linda Cantoni, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ***</div> + +<div class="bbox"> +<h1>A POLITICAL HISTORY<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small">OF THE</span><br /> +<br /> +STATE OF NEW YORK</h1> + + +<h2><br /><span class="small">BY</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">DeALVA</span> STANWOOD ALEXANDER, A.M., LL.D.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small"><i>Member of Congress, Formerly United States Attorney<br /> +for the Northern District of New York</i></span></h2> + +<p class="center"><br /> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="81" height="100" alt="" /></p> + +<p class="center"><br />NEW YORK<br /> +HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY<br /> +1906 and 1909<br /><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<h2><br />CONTENTS</h2> + +<h3>VOL. I</h3> + +<table style="width: 75%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Volume 1 contents"> +<tbody> +<tr><td><span class="small">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="small">PAGE</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_I">I. <span class="smcap">A Colony Becomes a State. 1774-1776</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_II">II. <span class="smcap">Making a State Constitution. 1777</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.8">8</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_III">III. <span class="smcap">George Clinton Elected Governor. 1777</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.17">17</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_IV">IV. <span class="smcap">Clinton and Hamilton. 1783-1789</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.23">23</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_V">V. <span class="smcap">George Clinton's Fourth Term. 1789-1792</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_VI">VI. <span class="smcap">George Clinton Defeats John Jay. 1792-1795</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.50">50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_VII">VII. <span class="smcap">Recognition of Earnest Men. 1795-1800</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.64">64</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_VIII">VIII. <span class="smcap">Overthrow of the Federalists. 1798-1800</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.78">78</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_IX">IX. <span class="smcap">Mistakes of Hamilton and Burr. 1800</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.94">94</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_X">X. <span class="smcap">John Jay and DeWitt Clinton. 1800</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.107">107</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XI">XI. <span class="smcap">Spoils and Broils of Victory. 1801-1803</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XII">XII. <span class="smcap">Defeat of Burr and Death of Hamilton. 1804</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XIII">XIII. <span class="smcap">The Clintons Against the Livingstons. 1804-1807</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.147">147</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XIV">XIV. <span class="smcap">Daniel D. Tompkins and DeWitt Clinton. 1807-1810</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.158">158</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XV">XV. <span class="smcap">Tompkins Defeats Jonas Platt. 1810</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.173">173</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XVI">XVI. <span class="smcap">DeWitt Clinton and Tammany. 1789-1811</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.180">180</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XVII">XVII. <span class="smcap">Banks and Bribery. 1791-1812</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.186">186</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII. <span class="smcap">Clinton and the Presidency. 1812</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.199">199</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XIX">XIX. <span class="smcap">Quarrels and Rivalries. 1813</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.211">211</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XX">XX. <span class="smcap">A Great War Governor. 1812-1815</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.219">219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXI">XXI. <span class="smcap">Clinton Overthrown. 1815</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.231">231</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXII">XXII. <span class="smcap">Clinton's Rise To Power. 1815-1817</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.241">241</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXIII">XXIII. <span class="smcap">Bucktail and Clintonian. 1817-1819</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.253">253</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXIV">XXIV. <span class="smcap">Re-election of Rufus King. 1819-1820</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.263">263</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXV">XXV. <span class="smcap">Tompkins' Last Contest. 1820</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.273">273</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXVI">XXVI. <span class="smcap">The Albany Regency. 1820-1822</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.283">283</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXVII">XXVII. <span class="smcap">Third Constitutional Convention. 1821</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.295">295</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXVIII">XXVIII. <span class="smcap">Second Fall of DeWitt Clinton. 1822</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.312">312</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXIX">XXIX. <span class="smcap">Clinton again in the Saddle. 1823-1824</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.321">321</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXX">XXX. <span class="smcap">Van Buren Encounters Weed. 1824</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.334">334</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXXI">XXXI. <span class="smcap">Clinton's Coalition With Van Buren. 1825-1828</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.344">344</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXXII">XXXII. <span class="smcap">Van Buren Elected Governor. 1828</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.357">357</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXXIII">XXXIII. <span class="smcap">William H. Seward and Thurlow Weed. 1830</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.370">370</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXXIV">XXXIV. <span class="smcap">Van Buren's Enemies Make Him Vice President. 1829-1832</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.382">382</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXXV">XXXV. <span class="smcap">Formation of the Whig Party. 1831-1834</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.392">392</a></td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<h3>VOL. II</h3> + +<table style="width: 75%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Volume 2 contents"> +<tbody> +<tr><td><span class="small">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="small">PAGE</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_I">I. <span class="smcap">Van Buren and Abolition</span>. 1833-1837</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_II">II. <span class="smcap">Seward Elected Governor</span>. 1836-1838</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.15">15</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_III">III. <span class="smcap">The Defeat of Van Buren for President</span>. 1840</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.31">31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_IV">IV. <span class="smcap">Humiliation of the Whigs</span>. 1841-1842</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.47">47</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_V">V. <span class="smcap">Democrats Divide into Factions</span>. 1842-1844</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.56">56</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_VI">VI. <span class="smcap">Van Buren Defeated at Baltimore</span>. 1844</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.65">65</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_VII">VII. <span class="smcap">Silas Wright and Millard Fillmore</span>. 1844</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.76">76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_VIII">VIII. <span class="smcap">The Rise of John Young</span>. 1845-1846</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.90">90</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_IX">IX. <span class="smcap">Fourth Constitutional Convention</span>. 1846</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.103">103</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_X">X. <span class="smcap">Defeat and Death of Silas Wright</span>. 1846-1847</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.114">114</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XI">XI. <span class="smcap">The Free-Soil Campaign</span>. 1847-1848</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XII">XII. <span class="smcap">Seward Splits the Whig Party</span>. 1849-1850</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.145">145</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XIII">XIII. <span class="smcap">The Whigs' Waterloo</span>. 1850-1852</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.159">159</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XIV">XIV. <span class="smcap">The Hards and the Softs</span>. 1853</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.180">180</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XV">XV. <span class="smcap">A Breaking-up of Party Ties</span>. 1854</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.190">190</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XVI">XVI. <span class="smcap">Formation of the Republican Party</span>. 1854-1855</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.205">205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XVII">XVII. <span class="smcap">First Republican Governor</span>. 1856</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.222">222</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII. <span class="smcap">The Irrepressible Conflict</span>. 1857-1858</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.243">243</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XIX">XIX. <span class="smcap">Seward's Bid for the Presidency</span>. 1859-1860</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.256">256</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XX">XX. <span class="smcap">Dean Richmond's Leadership at Charleston</span>. 1860</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.270">270</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXI">XXI. <span class="smcap">Seward Defeated at Chicago</span>. 1860</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.281">281</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXII">XXII. <span class="smcap">New York's Control at Baltimore</span>. 1860</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.294">294</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXIII">XXIII. <span class="smcap">Raymond, Greeley, and Weed</span>. 1860</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.305">305</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXIV">XXIV. <span class="smcap">Fight of the Fusionists</span>. 1860</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.324">324</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXV">XXV. <span class="smcap">Greeley, Weed, and Secession</span>. 1860-1861</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.334">334</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXVI">XXVI. <span class="smcap">Seymour and the Peace Democrats</span>. 1860-1861</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.346">346</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXVII">XXVII. <span class="smcap">Weed's Revenge Upon Greeley</span>. 1861</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.361">361</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXVIII">XXVIII. <span class="smcap">Lincoln, Seward, and the Union</span>. 1860-1861</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.367">367</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXIX">XXIX. <span class="smcap">The Weed Machine Crippled</span>. 1861</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.388">388</a></td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<h3>VOL. III</h3> + +<table style="width: 75%" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Volume 3 contents"> +<tbody> +<tr><td><span class="small">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="small">PAGE</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_I">I. <span class="smcap">The Uprising of the North.</span> 1861</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_II">II. <span class="smcap">New Party Alignments.</span> 1861</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.13">13</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_III">III. "<span class="smcap">The Mad Desperation of Reaction.</span>" 1862</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.31">31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_IV">IV. <span class="smcap">Thurlow Weed Trims His Sails.</span> 1863</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.53">53</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_V">V. <span class="smcap">Governor Seymour and President Lincoln.</span> 1863</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_VI">VI. <span class="smcap">Seymour Rebuked.</span> 1863</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.73">73</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_VII">VII. <span class="smcap">Strife of Radical and Conservative.</span> 1864</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.84">84</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_VIII">VIII. <span class="smcap">Seymour's Presidential Fever.</span> 1864</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.98">98</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_IX">IX. <span class="smcap">Fenton Defeats Seymour.</span> 1864</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.115">115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_X">X. <span class="smcap">A Complete Change of Policy.</span> 1865</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.127">127</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XI">XI. <span class="smcap">Raymond Champions the President.</span> 1866</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.136">136</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XII">XII. <span class="smcap">Hoffman Defeated, Conkling Promoted.</span> 1866</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.150">150</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XIII">XIII. <span class="smcap">The Rise of Tweedism.</span> 1867</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.172">172</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XIV">XIV. <span class="smcap">Seymour and Hoffman.</span> 1868</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.189">189</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XV">XV. <span class="smcap">The State Carried by Fraud.</span> 1868</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.208">208</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XVI">XVI. <span class="smcap">Influence of Money in Senatorial Elections.</span> 1869</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.219">219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XVII">XVII. <span class="smcap">Tweed Controls the State.</span> 1869-70</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.223">223</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII. <span class="smcap">Conkling Defeats Fenton.</span> 1870</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.232">232</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XIX">XIX. <span class="smcap">Tweed Wins and Falls.</span> 1870</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.240">240</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XX">XX. <span class="smcap">Conkling Punishes Greeley.</span> 1871</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.250">250</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXI">XXI. <span class="smcap">Tilden Crushes Tammany.</span> 1871</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.265">265</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXII">XXII. <span class="smcap">Greeley Nominated for President.</span> 1872</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.276">276</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXIII">XXIII. <span class="smcap">Defeat and Death of Greeley.</span> 1872</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.291">291</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXIV">XXIV. <span class="smcap">Tilden Destroys His Opponents.</span> 1873-4</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.305">305</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXV">XXV. <span class="smcap">Rivalry of Tilden and Conkling.</span> 1875</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.321">321</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXVI">XXVI. <span class="smcap">Defeat of the Republican Machine.</span> 1876</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.332">332</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXVII">XXVII. <span class="smcap">Tilden One Vote Short.</span> 1876</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.340">340</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXVIII">XXVIII. <span class="smcap">Conkling and Curtis at Rochester.</span> 1877</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.358">358</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXIX">XXIX. <span class="smcap">The Tilden Régime Routed.</span> 1877</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.378">378</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXX">XXX. <span class="smcap">Greenbackers Serve Republicans.</span> 1878</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.389">389</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXXI">XXXI. <span class="smcap">Removal of Arthur and Cornell.</span> 1878-9</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.399">399</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXXII">XXXII. <span class="smcap">John Kelly Elects Cornell.</span> 1879</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.411">411</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXXIII">XXXIII. <span class="smcap">Stalwart and Half-breed.</span> 1880</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.428">428</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXXIV">XXXIV. <span class="smcap">Tilden, Kelly, and Defeat.</span> 1880</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.447">447</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXXV">XXXV. <span class="smcap">Conkling Down and Out.</span> 1881</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.464">464</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXXVI">XXXVI. <span class="smcap">Cleveland's Enormous Majority.</span> 1881-2</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.483">483</a></td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<h3><br /><a href="#politicalindex">INDEX</a></h3> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="notes"> +<p class="center"><b>Transcriber's Notes</b></p> + +<p>Inconsistent spellings and hyphenations such as "re-election" and "reëlection" have +been conformed, and obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p> + +<p>The original contains an index in Volume II covering +Volumes I and II. Volume III, which was published later, contains an +index covering all three volumes. Therefore, the Volume II index has been omitted.</p> + +<p>The original of Volume III refers to both "Appleton's +<i>Encyclopedia</i>" and "Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>." The correct title, +as used in Volumes I and II, is "Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>" and has +been corrected in Volume III.</p> +</div> + +<p></p> + +<div class="bbox"> +<h1>A POLITICAL HISTORY<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small">OF THE</span><br /> +<br /> +STATE OF NEW YORK</h1> + + +<h2><br /><span class="small">BY</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">DeALVA</span> STANWOOD ALEXANDER, A.M.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small"><i>Member of Congress, Formerly United States Attorney<br /> +for the Northern District of New York</i></span></h2> + + +<h3><br /><span class="smcap">Vol. I</span><br /> +<br /> +1774-1832</h3> + +<p class="center"><br /><b><a href="#vol1CONTENTS">Volume I Contents</a></b><br /> +</p> + +<p class="center"><br /> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="81" height="100" alt="" /></p> + + +<p class="center"><br />NEW YORK<br /> +HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY<br /> +1906<br /> +</p> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="small">Copyright, 1906<br /> +By<br /> +HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY</span><br /><br /></p> +</div> + +<p><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.iii">i. iii</a></span></p> + +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> preparation of this work was suggested to the author by the +difficulty he experienced in obtaining an accurate knowledge of the +movements of political parties and their leaders in the Empire State. +"After living a dozen years in New York," wrote Oliver Wolcott, who +had been one of Washington's Cabinet, and was afterwards governor of +Connecticut, "I don't pretend to comprehend their politics. It is a +labyrinth of wheels within wheels, and it is understood only by the +managers." Wolcott referred to the early decades of the last century, +when Clintonian and Bucktail, gradually absorbing the Federalists, +severed the old Republican party into warring factions. In later +years, Daniel S. Dickinson spoke of "the tangled web of New York +politics"; and Horace Greeley complained of "the zigzag, wavering +lines and uncouth political designations which puzzled and wearied +readers" from 1840 to 1860, when Democrats divided into Conservatives +and Radicals, Hunkers and Barnburners, and Hards and Softs; and when +Whigs were known as Conscience and Cotton, and Woollies and Silver +Grays. More recently James Parton, in his <i>Life of Andrew Jackson</i>, +speaks of "that most unfathomable of subjects, the politics of the +State of New York."</p> + +<p>There is no attempt in this history to catalogue the prominent public +men of New York State. Such a list would itself fill a volume. It has +only been possible, in the limited space given to over a century, to +linger here and there in the company of the famous figures who rose +conspicuously above their fellow men and asserted themselves +masterfully in influencing public thought and action. Indeed, the +history of a State or nation is largely the history of a few leading +men,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.iv" id="vol1Page_i.iv">i. iv</a></span> and it is of such men only, with some of their more prominent +contemporaries, that the author has attempted to write.</p> + +<p>It would be hard to find in any Commonwealth of the Union a more +interesting or picturesque leadership than is presented in the +political history of the Empire State. Rarely more than two +controlling spirits appear at a time, and as these pass into apogee +younger men of approved capacity are ready to take their places. None +had a meteoric rise, but in his day each became an absolute party +boss; for the Constitution of 1777, by creating the Council of +Appointment, opened wide the door to bossism. The abolition of the +Council in 1821 doubtless made individual control more difficult, but +the system left its methods so deeply impressed upon party management +that what before was done under the sanction of law, ever after +continued under the cover of custom.</p> + +<p>After the Revolution, George Clinton and Alexander Hamilton led the +opposing political forces, and while Aaron Burr was forging to the +front, the great genius of DeWitt Clinton, the nephew of George +Clinton, began asserting itself. The defeat of Burr for governor, and +the death of Hamilton would have left DeWitt Clinton in complete +control, had he found a strong man for governor whom he could use. In +1812 Martin Van Buren discovered superiority as a manager, and for +nearly two decades, until the death of the distinguished canal +builder, his great ability was taxed to its uttermost in the memorable +contests between Bucktails and Clintonians. Thurlow Weed succeeded +DeWitt Clinton in marshalling the forces opposed to Van Buren, whose +mantle gradually fell upon Horatio Seymour. Clustered about each of +these leaders, save DeWitt Clinton, was a coterie of distinguished men +whose power of intellect has made their names familiar in American +history. If DeWitt Clinton was without their aid, it was because +strong men in high position rebelled against becoming errand boys to +do his bidding. But the builder of the Erie canal needed no +lieutenants, since his great achievement, aiding the farmer and +en<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.v" id="vol1Page_i.v">i. v</a></span>riching the merchant, overcame the power of Van Buren, the +popularity of Tompkins, and the phenomenal ability of the Albany +Regency.</p> + +<p>In treating the period from 1800 to 1830, the term "Democrat" is +purposely avoided, since all anti-federalist factions in New York +claimed to be "Republican." The Clay electors, in the campaign of +1824, adopted the title "Democrat Ticket," but in 1828, and for +several years after the formation of the Whig party in 1834, the +followers of Jackson, repudiating the title of Democrats, called +themselves Republicans.</p> + +<p>For aid in supplying material for character and personal sketches, the +author is indebted to many "old citizens" whom he met during the years +he held the office of United States Attorney for the Northern District +of New York, when that district included the entire State north and +west of Albany. He takes this occasion, also, to express his deep +obligation to the faithful and courteous officials of the Library of +Congress, who, during the years he has been a member of Congress, +assisted him in searching for letters and other unindexed bits of New +York history which might throw some light upon subjects under +investigation.</p> + +<p>The author hopes to complete the work in an additional volume, +bringing it down to the year 1896.</p> + +<p class="right">D.S.A.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Buffalo</span>, N.Y., March, 1906.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.vii" id="vol1Page_i.vii">i. vii</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CONTENTS" id="vol1CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<h3>VOL. I</h3> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="contents"> +<tbody> +<tr><td><span class="small">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="small">PAGE</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_I">I. <span class="smcap">A Colony Becomes a State. 1774-1776</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_II">II. <span class="smcap">Making a State Constitution. 1777</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.8">8</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_III">III. <span class="smcap">George Clinton Elected Governor. 1777</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.17">17</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_IV">IV. <span class="smcap">Clinton and Hamilton. 1783-1789</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.23">23</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_V">V. <span class="smcap">George Clinton's Fourth Term. 1789-1792</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_VI">VI. <span class="smcap">George Clinton Defeats John Jay. 1792-1795</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.50">50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_VII">VII. <span class="smcap">Recognition of Earnest Men. 1795-1800</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.64">64</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_VIII">VIII. <span class="smcap">Overthrow of the Federalists. 1798-1800</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.78">78</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_IX">IX. <span class="smcap">Mistakes of Hamilton and Burr. 1800</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.94">94</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_X">X. <span class="smcap">John Jay and DeWitt Clinton. 1800</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.107">107</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XI">XI. <span class="smcap">Spoils and Broils of Victory. 1801-1803</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XII">XII. <span class="smcap">Defeat of Burr and Death of Hamilton. 1804</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XIII">XIII. <span class="smcap">The Clintons Against the Livingstons. 1804-1807</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.147">147</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XIV">XIV. <span class="smcap">Daniel D. Tompkins and DeWitt Clinton. 1807-1810</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.158">158</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XV">XV. <span class="smcap">Tompkins Defeats Jonas Platt. 1810</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.173">173</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XVI">XVI. <span class="smcap">DeWitt Clinton and Tammany. 1789-1811</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.180">180</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XVII">XVII. <span class="smcap">Banks and Bribery. 1791-1812</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.186">186</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII. <span class="smcap">Clinton and the Presidency. 1812</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.199">199</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XIX">XIX. <span class="smcap">Quarrels and Rivalries. 1813</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.211">211</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XX">XX. <span class="smcap">A Great War Governor. 1812-1815</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.219">219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXI">XXI. <span class="smcap">Clinton Overthrown. 1815</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.231">231</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXII">XXII. <span class="smcap">Clinton's Rise To Power. 1815-1817</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.241">241</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXIII">XXIII. <span class="smcap">Bucktail and Clintonian. 1817-1819</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.253">253</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXIV">XXIV. <span class="smcap">Re-election of Rufus King. 1819-1820</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.263">263</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXV">XXV. <span class="smcap">Tompkins' Last Contest. 1820</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.273">273</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.viii" id="vol1Page_i.viii">i. viii</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXVI">XXVI. <span class="smcap">The Albany Regency. 1820-1822</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.283">283</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXVII">XXVII. <span class="smcap">Third Constitutional Convention. 1821</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.295">295</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXVIII">XXVIII. <span class="smcap">Second Fall of DeWitt Clinton. 1822</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.312">312</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXIX">XXIX. <span class="smcap">Clinton again in the Saddle. 1823-1824</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.321">321</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXX">XXX. <span class="smcap">Van Buren Encounters Weed. 1824</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.334">334</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXXI">XXXI. <span class="smcap">Clinton's Coalition With Van Buren. 1825-1828</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.344">344</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXXII">XXXII. <span class="smcap">Van Buren Elected Governor. 1828</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.357">357</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXXIII">XXXIII. <span class="smcap">William H. Seward and Thurlow Weed. 1830</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.370">370</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXXIV">XXXIV. <span class="smcap">Van Buren's Enemies Make Him Vice President. 1829-1832</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.382">382</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol1CHAPTER_XXXV">XXXV. <span class="smcap">Formation of the Whig Party. 1831-1834</span></a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol1Page_i.392">392</a></td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p class="center"><b><a href="#politicalindex">INDEX</a></b></p> + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.1" id="vol1Page_i.1">i. 1</a></span></p> +<h2>A POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE<br /> +STATE OF NEW YORK</h2> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_I" id="vol1CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /> +<br /> +A COLONY BECOMES A STATE</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap"> +On the</span> 16th of May, 1776, the second Continental Congress, preparing +the way for the Declaration of Independence, recommended that those +Colonies which were without a suitable form of government, should, to +meet the demands of war, adopt some sufficient organisation. The +patriot government of New York had not been wholly satisfactory. It +never lacked in the spirit of resistance to England's misrule, but it +had failed to justify the confident prophecies of those who had been +instrumental in its formation.</p> + +<p>For nearly a year New York City saw with wonder the spectacle of a few +fearless radicals, organised into a vigilance committee of fifty, +closing the doors of a custom-house, guarding the gates of an arsenal, +embargoing vessels ladened with supplies for British troops, and +removing cannon from the Battery, while an English fleet, well +officered and manned, rode idly at anchor in New York harbour. +Inspiring as the spectacle was, however, it did not appreciably help +matters. On the contrary, it created so much friction among the people +that the conservative business men—resenting involuntary taxation, +yet wanting, if possible with<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.2" id="vol1Page_i.2">i. 2</a></span> honour, reconciliation and peace with +the mother country—organised, in May, 1774, a body of their own known +as the Committee of Fifty-one, which thought the time had come to +interrupt the assumed leadership of the Committee of Fifty. This +usurpation by one committee of powers that had been exercised by +another, caused the liveliest indignation.</p> + +<p>The trouble between England and America had grown out of the need for +a continental revenue and the lack of a continental government with +taxing power—a weakness experienced throughout the Revolution and +under the Confederation. In the absence of such a government, +Parliament undertook to supply the place of such a power; but the +Americans blocked the way by an appeal to the principle that had been +asserted by Simon de Montford's Parliament in 1265 and admitted by +Edward I. in 1301—"No taxation without representation." So the Stamp +Act of 1765 was repealed. The necessity for a continental revenue, +nevertheless, remained, and in the effort to adopt some expedient, +like the duty on tea, Crown and Colonies became involved in bitter +disputes. The idea of independence, however, had, in May, 1774, +scarcely entered the mind of the wildest New York radical. In their +instructions to delegates to the first Continental Congress, convened +in September, 1774, the Colonies made no mention of it. Even in May, +1775, the Sons of Liberty in Philadelphia cautioned John Adams not to +use the word, since "it is as unpopular in all the Middle States as +the Stamp Act itself."<a name="vol1FNanchor_1_1" id="vol1FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Washington wrote from the Congress that +independence was then not "desired by any thinking man in America."<a name="vol1FNanchor_2_2" id="vol1FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>The differences, therefore, between the Committees of Fifty and +Fifty-one were merely political. One favoured agitation for the +purpose of arousing resistance to the King's summary methods—the +other preferred a more orderly but not less forceful way of making +known their oppo<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.3" id="vol1Page_i.3">i. 3</a></span>sition. Members of both committees were patriots in +the highest and best sense, yet each faction fancied itself the only +patriotic, public spirited and independent party.</p> + +<p>It was during these months of discord that Alexander Hamilton, then a +lad of seventeen, astonished his listeners at the historic meeting "in +the Fields,"<a name="vol1FNanchor_3_3" id="vol1FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> with the cogency of his arguments and the wonderful +flights of an unpremeditated eloquence while denouncing the act of +Parliament which closed the port of Boston. Hamilton had already been +a year in America attending the Elizabethtown grammar school, +conducted under the patronage of William Livingston, soon to become +the famous war governor of New Jersey. This experience quickened the +young man's insight into the vexed relations between the Colonies and +the Crown, and shattered his English predilections in favour of the +little minds that Burke thought so ill-suited to a great empire. A +visit to Boston shortly after the "tea party" seems also to have had +the effect of crowding his mind with thoughts, deeply and +significantly freighted with the sentiment of liberty, which were soon +to make memorable the occasion of their first utterance.</p> + +<p>The remarkable parallel between Hamilton and the younger Pitt begins +in this year, while both are in the schoolroom. Hamilton "in the +Fields" recalls Pitt at the bar of the House of Lords, amazing his +companions with the ripe intelligence and rare sagacity with which he +followed the debate, and the readiness with which he skilfully +formulated answers to the stately arguments of the wigged and powdered +nobles. Pitt, under the tuition of his distinguished father, was +fitted for the House of Commons as boys are fitted for college at +Exeter and Andover, and he entered Parliament before becoming of age. +Hamilton's preparation had been different. At twelve years of age he +was a clerk in a counting house on the island of Nevis in the West +Indies; at sixteen he entered a grammar school in New Jersey; at +seventeen he<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.4" id="vol1Page_i.4">i. 4</a></span> became a sophomore at King's College. It is then that he +spoke "in the Fields"—not as a sophomore, not as a precocious youth +with unripe thoughts, not as a boy orator—but as a man speaking with +the wisdom of genius.</p> + +<p>After the meeting "in the Fields" patriotism proved stronger than +prejudice, and in November, 1774, the Committee of Fifty-one gave +place to a Committee of Sixty, charged with carrying out +recommendations of the Continental Congress. Soon after a Committee of +One Hundred, composed of members of the Committees of Fifty and +Fifty-one, assumed the functions of a municipal government. Finally, +in May, 1775, representatives were chosen from the several counties to +organise a Provincial Congress to take the place of the long +established legislature of the Colony, which had become so steeped in +toryism that it refused to recognise the action of any body of men who +resented the tyranny of Parliament. Thus, in the brief space of +eighteen months, the government of the Crown had been turned into a +government of the people.</p> + +<p>For several months, however, the patriots of New York had desired a +more complete state government. All admitted that the revolutionary +committees were essentially local and temporary. Even the hottest Son +of Liberty came to fear the licentiousness of the people on the one +hand, and the danger from the army on the other. Nevertheless, the +Provincial Congress, whose members had been trained by harsh +experience to be stubborn in defence and sturdy in defiance, declined +to assume the responsibility of forming such a government as the +Continental Congress recommended. That body had itself come into +existence as a revolutionary legislature after the Provincial Assembly +had refused either to approve the proceedings of the first Continental +Congress, or to appoint delegates to the second; and, although it did +not hesitate to usurp temporarily the functions of the Tory Assembly, +to its great credit it believed the right of creating and framing a +new civil government belonged to the people; and, accordingly, on May +24, 1776, it recommended the elec<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.5" id="vol1Page_i.5">i. 5</a></span>tion of new representatives who +should be specially authorised to form a government for New York.</p> + +<p>The members of this new body were conspicuous characters in New York's +history for the next third of a century. Among them were John Jay, +George Clinton, James Duane, Philip Livingston, Philip Schuyler, and +Robert R. Livingston. The same men appeared in the Committee of +Safety, at the birth of the state government, as witnesses of the +helplessness of the Confederation, and as backers or backbiters of the +Federal Constitution. Among those associated with them were James +Clinton, Ezra L'Hommedieu, Marinus Willett, John Morin Scott, +Alexander McDougall, John Sloss Hobart, the Yateses, Abraham, Richard +and Robert; the Van Cortlandts, James, John and Philip; the Morrises, +Richard, Lewis and Gouverneur, and all the Livingstons. Only two +illustrious names are absent from these early patriotic lists, but +already Alexander Hamilton had won the heart of the people by his +wonderful eloquence and logic, and Aaron Burr, a comely lad of +nineteen, slender and graceful as a girl, with the features of his +beautiful mother and the refinement of his distinguished grandfather, +had thrown away his books to join Arnold on his way to Quebec. These +men passed into history in companies, but each left behind his own +trail of light. Where danger called, or civic duties demanded prudence +and profound sagacity, this band of patriots appeared in council and +in the camp, ready to answer to the roll-call of their country, and by +voice and vote set the pace which achieved independence.</p> + +<p>The new Provincial Congress met at the courthouse in White Plains on +July 9, 1776, and, as evidence of the change from the old institutions +to the new, it adopted the name of the "Convention of the +Representatives of the State of New York." As further evidence of the +new order of things it declared that New York began its existence as a +State on April 20, 1775. It also adopted as the law of the State such +parts of the common and statute law of England as were in force in the +Colony of New York on April 19, 1775.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.6" id="vol1Page_i.6">i. 6</a></span></p> + +<p>By this time the British forces had become so active in the vicinity +of New York that the convention thought it advisable to postpone the +novel and romantic work of state-making until the threatened danger +had passed; but, before its hasty adjournment, by requesting officers +of justice to issue all processes and pleadings under the authority +and in the name of the State of New York, it served notice that King +and Parliament were no longer recognised as the source of political +authority. This appears to have been the first official mention of the +new title of the future government.<a name="vol1FNanchor_4_4" id="vol1FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> When the convention reassembled +on the first day of the following August it appointed John Jay +chairman of a committee to report the draft of a state constitution.</p> + +<p>Jay was then thirty-one years old, a cautious, clever lawyer whose +abilities were to make a great impression upon the history of his +country. He belonged to a family of Huguenot merchants. The Jays lived +at La Rochelle until the revocation of the Edict of Nantes drove the +great-grandfather to England, where the family continued until 1686, +when Augustus, the grandfather, settled in New York. It was not a +family of aristocrats; but for more than a century the Jays had ranked +among the gentry of New York City, intermarrying with the Bayards, the +Stuyvesants, the Van Cortlandts and the Philipses. To these historic +families John Jay added another, taking for his wife Sarah Livingston, +the sister of Brockholst, who later adorned the Supreme Court of the +United States, and the daughter of William, New Jersey's coming war +governor, already famous as a writer of poems and essays.</p> + +<p>Jay's public career had begun two years before in connection with the +revolutionary Committee of Fifty-one. He did not accept office because +he loved it. He went into politics as he might have travelled on a +stage-coach at the invitation of a few congenial friends, for their +sake, not for his own. When he took up the work of organisation, +therefore, it was with no wish to become a leader; he simply desired<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.7" id="vol1Page_i.7">i. 7</a></span> +to guide the spirit of resistance along orderly and forceful lines. +But soon he held the reins and had his foot on the brake. In drafting +a reply to resolutions from a Boston town meeting, he suggested a +Congress of all the Colonies, to which should be referred the +disturbing question of non-importation. This letter was not only the +first serious suggestion of a general Congress, placing its author +intellectually at the head of the Revolutionary leaders; but the +plan—which meant broader organisation, more carefully concerted +measures, an enlistment of all the conservative elements, and one +official head for thirteen distinct and widely separated +colonies—gradually found favour, and resulted in sending the young +writer as a delegate to the first Continental Congress.</p> + +<p>It was in this Congress that Jay won the right to become a +constitution-maker. Of all the men of that busy and brilliant age, no +one advanced more steadily in the general knowledge and favour. When +he wrote the address to the people of Canada, his great ability was +recognised at once; and after he composed the appeal to Ireland and to +Jamaica, the famous circular letter to the Colonies, and the patriotic +address to the people of his own State, his wisdom was more frequently +drawn upon and more widely appreciated than ever; but he may be said +to have leaped into national fame when he drafted the address to the +people of Great Britain. While still ignorant of its authorship, +Jefferson declared it "a production of the finest pen in America."</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.8" id="vol1Page_i.8">i. 8</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_II" id="vol1CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /> +<br /> +MAKING A STATE CONSTITUTION<br /> +<br /> +1777</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap"> +It was</span> early spring in 1777 before John Jay, withdrawing to the +country, began the work of drafting a constitution. His retirement +recalls Cowper's sigh for</p> + +<p class="cpoem"> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"... a lodge in some vast wilderness,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Some boundless contiguity of shade,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Where rumours of oppression and deceit,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Of unsuccessful and successful war,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Might never reach me more."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Too much and too little credit has been given Jay for his part in the +work. One writer says he "entered an almost unexplored field." On the +other hand, John Adams wrote Jefferson that Jay's "model and +foundation" was his own letter to George Wythe of Virginia. Neither is +true. The field was not unexplored, nor did John Adams' letter contain +a suggestion of anything not already in existence, except the election +of a Council of Appointment, with whose consent the governor should +appoint all officers. His plan of letting the people elect a governor +came later. "We have a government to form, you know," wrote Jay, "and +God knows what it will resemble. Our politicians, like some guests at +a feast, are perplexed and undetermined which dish to prefer;"<a name="vol1FNanchor_5_5" id="vol1FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> but +Jay evidently preferred the old home dishes, and it is interesting to +note how easily he adapted the laws and customs of the provincial +government to the needs of an independent State.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.9" id="vol1Page_i.9">i. 9</a></span></p> +<p>The legislative branch of the government was vested in two separate +and distinct bodies, called the Assembly and the Senate. The first +consisted of seventy members to be elected each year; the second of +twenty-four members, one-fourth to be elected every four years. +Members of the Assembly were proportioned to the fourteen counties +according to the number of qualified voters. For the election of +senators, the State was divided into "four great districts," the +eastern being allowed three members, the southern nine, the middle six +and the western six. To each house was given the powers and privileges +of the Provincial Assembly of the Colony of New York. In creating this +Legislature, Jay introduced no new feature. The old Assembly suggested +the lower house, and the former Council or upper house of the +Province, which exercised legislative powers, made a model for the +Senate.<a name="vol1FNanchor_6_6" id="vol1FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> In their functions and operations the two bodies were +indistinguishable.<a name="vol1FNanchor_7_7" id="vol1FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>The qualifications of those who might vote for members of the +Legislature greatly restricted suffrage. Theoretically every patriot +believed in the liberties of the people, and the first article of the +Constitution declared that "no authority shall, on any pretence +whatever, be exercised over the people of the State, but such as shall +be derived from and granted by them." This high-sounding exordium +promised the rights of popular sovereignty; but in practice the makers +of the Constitution, fearing the passions of the multitude as much as +the tyranny of kings, deemed it wise to keep power in the hands of a +few. A male citizen of full age, possessing a freehold of the value of +twenty pounds, or renting a tenement of the yearly value of forty +shillings, could vote for an assemblyman, and one possessing a +freehold of the value of one hundred pounds, free from all debts, +could vote for a senator.</p> + +<p>But even these drastic conditions did not satisfy the draftsman of the +Constitution. The legislators themselves,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.10" id="vol1Page_i.10">i. 10</a></span> although thus carefully +selected, might prove inefficient, and so, lest "laws inconsistent +with the spirit of this Constitution, or with the public good, may be +hastily or unadvisedly passed," a Council of Revision was created, +composed of the governor, chancellor, and the three judges of the +Supreme Court, or any two of them acting with the governor, who "shall +revise all bills about to be passed into laws by the Legislature." If +the Council failed to act within ten days after having possession of +the bill, or if two-thirds of each house approved it after the Council +disapproved it, the bill became law. This Council seems to have been +suggested by the veto power possessed by the King's Privy Council.</p> + +<p>The supreme executive power and authority of the State were vested in +a governor, who must be a freeholder and chosen by the ballots of +freeholders possessed of one hundred pounds above all debts. His term +of office was three years, and his powers similar to those of +preceding Crown governors. He was commander-in-chief of the army, and +admiral of the navy. He had power to convene the Legislature in +extraordinary session; to prorogue it not to exceed sixty days in any +one year; and to grant pardons and reprieves to persons convicted of +crimes other than treason and murder, in which cases he might suspend +sentence until the Legislature acted. In accordance with the custom of +his predecessors, he was also expected to deliver a message to the +Legislature whenever it convened. To aid him in his duties, the +Constitution provided for the election of a lieutenant-governor, who +was made the presiding officer of the Senate.</p> + +<p>The proposition that no authority should be exercised over the people +except such as came from the people necessarily opened the door to an +election of the governor by the people; but how to restrict his power +seems to have taxed Jay's ingenuity. He had reduced the number of +voters to its lowest terms, and put a curb on the Legislature, as well +as the governor, by the creation of the Council of Revision; but how +to curtail the chief executive's power in making appoint<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.11" id="vol1Page_i.11">i. 11</a></span>ments, +presented a problem which gave Jay himself, when governor, good reason +to regret the manner of its solution.</p> + +<p>The only governors with whom Jay had had any experience were British +governors, and the story of their rule was a story of astonishing +mistakes and vexing stupidities. To go no farther back than Lord +Cornbury, the dissolute cousin of Queen Anne, not one in the long +list, covering nearly a century, exhibited gifts fitting him for the +government of a spirited and intelligent people, or made the slightest +impression for good either for the Crown or the Colony. Their +disposition was to be despotic, and to prevent a repetition of such +arbitrary conduct, Jay sought to restrict the governor's power in +making appointments to civil office.</p> + +<p>The new Constitution provided for the appointment of sheriffs, mayors +of cities, district attorneys, coroners, county treasurers, and all +other officers in the State save governor, lieutenant-governor, state +treasurer and town officers. Some members of the convention wished the +governor to make these appointments; others wanted his power limited +by the Legislature's right to confirm. Jay saw objections to both +methods. The first would give the governor too much power; the latter +would transfer too much to the Legislature. To reconcile these +differences, therefore, he proposed "Article XXIII. That all officers, +other than those who, by this Constitution, are directed to be +otherwise appointed, shall be appointed in the manner following, to +wit: The Assembly shall, once in every year, openly nominate and +appoint one of the senators from each great district, which senators +shall form a Council for the appointment of the said officers, of +which the governor shall be president and have a casting vote, but no +other vote; and with the advice and consent of the said Council shall +appoint all of the said officers."<a name="vol1FNanchor_8_8" id="vol1FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.12" id="vol1Page_i.12">i. 12</a></span></p> +<p>This provision was simply, as the sequel showed, a bungling +compromise. Jay intended that the governor should nominate and the +Council confirm, and in the event of a tie the governor should have +the casting vote. But in practice it subordinated the governor to the +Council whenever a majority of the Assembly was politically opposed to +him, and the annual election of the Council greatly increased the +chances of such opposition. When, finally, the Council of Appointment +set up the claim that the right to nominate was vested concurrently in +the governor and in each of the four senators, it practically stripped +the chief executive of power.</p> + +<p>The anomaly of the Constitution was the absence of provision for the +judicature, the third co-ordinate branch of the government. One court +was created for the trial of impeachments and the correction of +errors, but the great courts of original jurisdiction, the Supreme +Court and the Court of Chancery, as well as the probate court, the +county court, and the court of admiralty, were not mentioned except +incidentally in sections limiting the ages of the judges, the offices +each might hold, and the appointment of clerks. Instead of recreating +these courts, the Constitution simply recognised them as existing. The +new court established, known as the Court of Errors and Impeachment, +consisted of the president of the Senate, the senators, the +chancellor, and the three judges of the Supreme Court, or a major part +of them. The conception of vesting supreme appellate jurisdiction in +the upper legislative house was derived from the former practice of +appeals to the Council of the Province,<a name="vol1FNanchor_9_9" id="vol1FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> which possessed<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.13" id="vol1Page_i.13">i. 13</a></span> judicial +as well as legislative power. The Constitution further followed the +practice of the old Council by providing that judges could not vote on +appeals from their own judgments, although they might deliver +arguments in support of the same—a custom which had obtained in New +York from the earliest times.<a name="vol1FNanchor_10_10" id="vol1FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>In like manner provincial laws, grants of lands and charters, legal +customs, and popular rights, most of which had been in existence for a +century, were carried over. The Constitution simply provided, in a +general way, for the continuance of such parts of the common law of +England, the statute law of England and Great Britain, and the acts of +the legislature of the Colony of New York, as did not yield obedience +to the government exercised by Great Britain, or establish any +particular denomination of Christians, or their priests or ministers, +who were debarred from holding any civil or military office under the +new State; but acts of attainder for crimes committed after the close +of the war were abrogated, with the declaration that such acts should +not work a corruption of the blood.</p> + +<p>The draft of the Constitution in Jay's handwriting was reported to the +convention on March 12, 1777, and on the following day the first +section was accepted. Then the debate began. Sixty-six members +constituted the convention, a majority of whom, led by John Morin +Scott, believed in the reign of the people. The spirit that nerved a +handful of men to embargo vessels and seize munitions of war covered +by British guns never wanted courage, and this historic band now +prepared to resist a conservatism that seemed disposed simply to +change the name of their masters. Jay understood this feeling. "It is +probable that the convention was ultra-democratic," says William Jay, +in the biography of his father, "for I have heard him observe that +another turn of the winch would have cracked the cord."<a name="vol1FNanchor_11_11" id="vol1FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>Jay was not without supporters. Conservatives like the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.14" id="vol1Page_i.14">i. 14</a></span> Livingstons, +the Morrises, and the Yateses never acted with the recklessness of +despair. They had well-formed notions of a popular government, and +their replies to proposed changes broke the force of the opposition. +But Jay, relying more upon his own policy, prudently omitted several +provisions that seemed to him important, and when discussion developed +their need, he shrewdly introduced them as amendments. Upon one +question, however, a prolonged and spirited debate occurred. This +centred upon the freedom of conscience. The Dutch of New Netherland, +almost alone among the Colonies, had never indulged in fanaticism, and +the Constitution, breathing the spirit of their toleration, declared +that "the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and +worship without diminution or preference shall forever hereafter be +allowed within the State to all mankind." Jay did not dissent from +this sentiment; but, as a descendant of the persecuted Huguenots, he +wished to except Roman Catholics until they should deny the Pope's +authority to absolve citizens from their allegiance and to grant +spiritual absolution, and he forcefully insisted upon and secured the +restriction that "the liberty of conscience hereby granted shall not +be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness or justify +practices inconsistent with the safety of the State." The question of +the naturalisation of foreigners renewed the contention. Jay's +Huguenot blood was still hot, and again he exacted the limitation that +all persons, before naturalisation, shall "abjure and renounce all +allegiance to all and every foreign king, prince, potentate, and +state, in all matters ecclesiastical as well as civil."</p> + +<p>Jay intended reporting other amendments—one requiring a similar +renunciation on the part of all persons holding office, and one +abolishing domestic slavery. But before the convention adjourned he +was, unfortunately, summoned to the bedside of his dying mother. +Otherwise, New York would probably have had the distinction of being +first to set the example of freedom. "I should have been for a clause<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.15" id="vol1Page_i.15">i. 15</a></span> +against the continuance of domestic slavery," he said, in a letter +objecting to what occurred after his forced retirement.<a name="vol1FNanchor_12_12" id="vol1FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>Although the Constitution was under consideration for more than a +month, haste characterised the close of the convention's +deliberations. As soon as Jay left, every one seemed eager to get +away, and on Sunday, April 20, 1777, the Constitution was adopted as a +whole practically as he left it, and a committee appointed to report a +plan for establishing a government under it. Unlike the Constitution +of Massachusetts, it was not submitted to the voters for ratification. +The fact that the delegates themselves had been elected by the people +seemed sufficient, and two days after its passage, the secretary of +the convention, standing upon a barrel in front of the courthouse at +Kingston, published it to the world by reading it aloud to those who +happened to be present. As it became known to the country, it was +cordially approved as the most excellent and liberal of the American +constitutions. "It is approved even in New England," wrote Jay, "where +few New York productions have credit."<a name="vol1FNanchor_13_13" id="vol1FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>The absence of violent democratic innovations was the Constitution's +remarkable feature. Although a product of the Revolution, framed to +meet the necessities growing out of that great event, its general +provisions were decidedly conservative. The right of suffrage was so +restricted that as late as 1790 only 1303 of the 13,330 male residents +of New York City possessed sufficient property to entitle them to vote +for governor. Even the Court of Chancery remained undisturbed, +notwithstanding royal governors had created it in opposition to the +wishes of the popular assembly. But despite popular dissatisfaction, +which evidenced itself in earnest prayers and ugly protests, the +instrument, so rudely<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.16" id="vol1Page_i.16">i. 16</a></span> and hastily published on April 22, 1777, +remained the supreme law of the State for forty-four years.</p> + +<p>Before adjournment the convention, adopting the report of its +committee for the organisation of a state government, appointed Robert +R. Livingston, chancellor; John Jay, chief justice of the Supreme +Court; Robert Yates, Jr., and John Sloss Hobart, justices of the +Supreme Court, and Egbert Benson, attorney-general. To a Council of +Safety, composed of fifteen delegates, with John Morin Scott, +chairman, were confided all the powers of the State until superseded +by a regularly elected governor.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.17" id="vol1Page_i.17">i. 17</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_III" id="vol1CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /> +<br /> +GEORGE CLINTON ELECTED GOVERNOR<br /> +<br /> +1777</h2> + + +<p><br /> +<span class="smcap">After</span> the constitutional convention adjourned in May, 1777, the +Council of Safety immediately ordered the election of a governor, +lieutenant-governor, and members of the Legislature. The selection of +a governor by ballot interested the people. Although freeholders who +could vote represented only a small part of the male population, +patriots of every class rejoiced in the substitution of a neighbour +for a lord across the sea. And all had a decided choice. Of those +suggested as fittest as well as most experienced Philip Schuyler, John +Morin Scott, John Jay and George Clinton were the favourites. Just +then Schuyler was in the northern part of the province, watching +Burgoyne and making provision to meet the invasion of the Mohawk +Valley; George Clinton, in command on the Hudson, was equally watchful +of the movements of Sir Henry Clinton, whose junction with Burgoyne +meant the destruction of Forts Clinton and Montgomery at the lower +entrance to the Highlands; while Scott and Jay, as members of the +Council of Safety, were directing the government of the new State.</p> + +<p>Schuyler's public career began in the Provincial Assembly of New York +in 1768. He represented the people's interests with great boldness, +and when the Assembly refused to thank the delegates of the first +Continental Congress, or to appoint others to a second Congress, he +aided in the organisation of the Provincial Congress which usurped the +Assembly's functions and put all power into the hands of the people. +Chancellor Kent thought that "in acuteness of intellect,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.18" id="vol1Page_i.18">i. 18</a></span> profound +thought, indefatigable activity, exhaustless energy, pure patriotism, +and persevering and intrepid public efforts, Schuyler had no +superior;" and Daniel Webster declared him "second only to Washington +in the services he rendered the country."<a name="vol1FNanchor_14_14" id="vol1FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> But there was in +Schuyler's make-up a touch of arrogance that displayed itself in +letters as well as in manners. The soldierly qualities that made him a +commander did not qualify him for public place dependent upon the +suffrage of men. People respected but did not love him. If they were +indignant that Gates succeeded him, they did not want him to govern +them, however much it may have been in his heart to serve them +faithfully.</p> + +<p>John Morin Scott represented the radical element among the patriots. +By profession he was an able and wealthy lawyer; by occupation a +patriotic agitator. John Adams, who breakfasted with him, speaks of +his country residence three miles out of town as "an elegant seat, +with the Hudson just behind the house, and a rural prospect all around +him." But the table seems to have made a deeper impression upon the +Yankee patriot than the picturesque scenery of the river. "A more +elegant breakfast I never saw—rich plate, a very large silver +coffee-pot, a very large silver teapot, napkins of the very finest +materials, toast and bread and butter in great perfection. Afterwards +a plate of beautiful peaches, another of pears, another of plums, and +a musk melon." As a parting salute, this lover of good things spoke of +his host as "a sensible man, one of the readiest speakers upon the +continent, but not very polite."<a name="vol1FNanchor_15_15" id="vol1FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> This is what the Tories thought. +According to Jones, the Tory historian, Scott had the misfortune to +graduate at Yale—"a college remarkable for its<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.19" id="vol1Page_i.19">i. 19</a></span> republican principles +and religious intolerance," he says, and to belong to a triumvirate +whose purpose was "to pull down church and state, and to raise their +own government upon the ruins."<a name="vol1FNanchor_16_16" id="vol1FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>Scott, no doubt, was sometimes mistaken in the proper course to +pursue, but he was always right from his point of view, and his point +of view was bitter hostility to English misrule. Whatever he did he +did with all the resistless energy of a man still in his forties. He +was of distinguished ancestry. His great-great-grandfather, Sir John +Scott, baronet, of Ancrum, Scotland, had been a stalwart Whig before +the revolution of 1688, and his grandfather, John Scott, coming to New +York in 1702, had commanded Fort Hunter, a stronghold on the Mohawk. +Both were remarkable men. Tory blood was foreign to their veins. Young +John, breathing the air of independence, scorned to let his life and +property depend upon the pleasure of British lords and a British +ministry, or to be excluded from the right of trial by a jury of his +neighbours, or of taxation by his own representatives. In 1775 he went +to the Continental Congress; in 1776, to the Provincial Congress of +New York; and later he participated in the battle of Long Island as a +brigadier-general. After the adoption of the State Constitution he +became secretary of state, and from 1780 to 1783 served in the +Continental Congress. He lived long enough to see his country free, +although his strenuous life ended at fifty-four.</p> + +<p>George Clinton possessed more popular manners than either Schuyler or +Scott. Indeed, it has been given to few men in New York to inspire +more passionate personal attachment than George Clinton. A patriot +never lived who was more bitter in his hostility to English misrule, +or more uncompromising in his opposition to toryism. He was a typical +Irishman—intolerant, often domineering, sometimes petulant, and +occasionally too quick to take offence, but he was magnetic and +generous, easily putting himself in touch<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.20" id="vol1Page_i.20">i. 20</a></span> with those about him, and +ready, without hesitation, to help the poorest and carry the weakest. +This was the kind of man the people wanted for governor.</p> + +<p>Clinton came of a good family. His great-grandfather, a too devoted +adherent of Charles I., found it healthful to wander about Europe, and +finally to settle in the north of Ireland, out of reach of Cromwell's +soldiers, and out of sight of his ancestral patrimony. By the time +Charles II. came to the throne, the estate was lost, and this friend +of the Stuarts lived on in the quiet of his secluded home, and after +him, his son; but the grandson, stirred by the blood of a Puritan +mother, exchanged the North Sea shore for the banks of the Hudson, +where his son breathed the air that made him a leading spirit in the +war for American independence. Clinton's youth is one record of +precocity. Before the war began he passed through a long, a varied, +even a brilliant career, climbing to the highest position in the State +before he had reached the age when most men begin to fill responsible +places. At fifteen he manned an American privateer; at sixteen, as a +lieutenant, he accompanied his father in a successful assault upon +Fort Frontenac; at twenty-six, in the colonial legislature, he became +the rival of Philip Schuyler in the leadership and influence that +enabled a patriotic minority to resist the aggressions of Great +Britain; at thirty-six, holding a seat in the Second Continental +Congress, he voted for the Declaration of Independence, and commanded +a brigade of Ulster County militia.</p> + +<p>The election which occurred in June was not preceded by a campaign of +speaking. People were too busy fighting to supplement a campaign of +bullets with one of words. But Jay sent out an electioneering letter +recommending Philip Schuyler for governor and George Clinton for +lieutenant-governor. This was sufficient to secure for these +candidates the conservative vote. It showed, too, Jay's unconcern for +high place. He was modest even to diffidence, an infirmity that seems +to have depressed him at times as much as it did Nathaniel Hawthorne +in a later day.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.21" id="vol1Page_i.21">i. 21</a></span></p> + +<p>The returns were made to the Council of Safety, and Jay carefully +scanned them as they came in. On June 20 he wrote Schuyler: "The +elections in the middle district have taken such a turn as that, if a +tolerable degree of unanimity should prevail in the upper counties, +there will be little doubt of having, ere long, the honour of +addressing a letter to your excellency. Clinton, being pushed for both +offices, may have neither; he has many votes for the first and not a +few for the second. Scott, however, has carried a number from him, and +you are by no means without a share. You may rely on receiving by +express the earliest notice of the event alluded to."<a name="vol1FNanchor_17_17" id="vol1FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> When the +voters from Orange and other southern counties came in, however, Jay +discovered that the result did not follow the line either of his +wishes or of his suggestions. On the contrary, Clinton was elected to +both offices by a considerable plurality.<a name="vol1FNanchor_18_18" id="vol1FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>The result of the election proved a great surprise and something of a +humiliation to the ruling classes. "Gen. Clinton, I am informed, has a +majority of votes for the Chair," Schuyler wrote to Jay, on June 30. +"If so he has played his cards better than was expected."<a name="vol1FNanchor_19_19" id="vol1FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> A few +days later, after confirmation of the rumour, he betrayed considerable +feeling. "Clinton's family and connections do not entitle him to so +distinguished a pre-eminence," he wrote, showing that Revolutionary +heroes were already divided into more democratic and less democratic +whigs, and more aristocratic and less aristocratic patriots; but the +division was still in the mind rather than in any settled policy. "He<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.22" id="vol1Page_i.22">i. 22</a></span> +is virtuous and loves his country," added Schuyler, in the next line; +"he has ability and is brave, and I hope he will experience from every +patriot support, countenance and comfort."<a name="vol1FNanchor_20_20" id="vol1FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Washington understood +his merits. "His character will make him peculiarly useful at the head +of your State," he wrote the Committee of Safety.</p> + +<p>Clinton's inauguration occurred on July 30, 1777. He stood in front of +the courthouse at Kingston on top of the barrel from which the +Constitution had been published in the preceding April, and in the +uniform of his country, with sword in hand, he took the oath of +office. Within sixty days thereafter Sir Henry Clinton had carried the +Highland forts, scattered the Governor's troops, dispersed the first +Legislature of the State, burned Kingston to the ground, and very +nearly captured the Governor himself, the latter, under cover of +night, having made his escape by crossing the river in a small +rowboat. Among the captured patriots was Colonel McClaughry, the +Governor's brother-in-law. "Where is my friend George?" asked Sir +Henry. "Thank God," replied the Colonel, "he is safe and beyond the +reach of your friendship."</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.23" id="vol1Page_i.23">i. 23</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_IV" id="vol1CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /> +<br /> +CLINTON AND HAMILTON<br /> +<br /> +1777-1789</h2> + + +<p><br /> +<span class="smcap">During</span> the war Governor Clinton's duties were largely military. Every +important measure of the Legislature dealt with the public defence, +and the time of the Executive was fully employed in carrying out its +enactments and performing the work of commander-in-chief of the +militia. A large proportion of the population of the State was either +avowedly loyal to the Crown or secretly indisposed to the cause of +independence. "Of all the Colonies," wrote William Jay, "New York was +probably the least unanimous in the assertion and defence of the +principles of the Revolution. The spirit of disaffection was most +extensive on Long Island, and had probably tainted a large majority of +its inhabitants. In Queens County, in particular, the people had, by a +formal vote, refused to send representatives to the colonial congress +or convention, and had declared themselves neutral in the present +crisis."<a name="vol1FNanchor_21_21" id="vol1FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>The Governor sought to crush this spirit by methods much in vogue in +the eighteenth century. At the outset of his career he declared that +he had "rather roast in hell to all eternity than be dependent upon +Great Britain or show mercy to a damned Tory." To add to his fame, he +enforced this judgment with heavy fines, long imprisonments, summary +banishments, and frequent coats of tar and feathers.</p> + +<p>Very soon after the adoption of the Constitution, the Legislature +passed a law requiring an oath of allegiance to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.24" id="vol1Page_i.24">i. 24</a></span> State; and under +the vigorous enforcement of this act the Governor sent many Tories +from the rural districts into the city of New York or expelled them +from the State. Others were required to give a pledge, with security, +to reside within prescribed limits. At times even the churches were +filled with prisoners, some of whom were sent to jails in Connecticut, +or exchanged for prisoners of war. In 1779 the Legislature increased +the penalty of disloyalty to the State, by passing the Confiscation +Act, declaring "the forfeiture and sale of the estates of persons who +had adhered to the enemy."</p> + +<p>Up to this time only one political party had existed among the Whig +colonists. The passage of the Confiscation Act, however, encountered +the opposition of many sincere lovers of the cause of independence, +who favoured a more moderate policy toward loyalists, since they were +probably as sincere in their opinions as those opposed to them. +Besides, a generous and magnanimous course, it was argued, would +induce the return of many desirable citizens after hostilities had +ceased. To this the ultra-Whigs replied that the law of +self-preservation made a severe policy necessary, and if any one +suffered by its operation he must look to the government of his choice +for comfort and reimbursement. As for the return of the Tories, the +ultras declared that only citizens sincerely loyal to an independent +country would be acceptable.</p> + +<p>This division into moderate and ultra Whigs was emphasised in 1781 by +the legislative grant to Congress of such import duties as accrued at +the port of New York, to be levied and collected "under such penalties +and regulations, and by such officers, as Congress should from time to +time make, order, and appoint." Governor Clinton did not cordially +approve the act at the time of its passage, and as the money began +flowing into the national treasury, he opposed the method of its +surrender. In his opinion, the State, as an independent sovereignty, +had associated itself with other Colonies only for mutual protection, +and not for their support. At his instance, therefore, the Legislature +substituted<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.25" id="vol1Page_i.25">i. 25</a></span> for the law of 1781 the act of March, 1783, granting the +duties to Congress, but directing their collection by officers of the +State. Although this act was subsequently amended, making collectors +amenable to Congress, another law was enacted in 1786 granting +Congress the revenue, and reserving to the State, as in the law of +1783, "the sole power of levying and collecting the duties." When +Congress asked the Governor to call a special session of the +Legislature, that the right to levy and collect might be yielded as +before, he refused to do so.</p> + +<p>Governor Clinton understood the commercial advantages of New York's +geographical location, which were greatly enhanced by the navigation +acts of other States. The peace treaty had made New York the port of +entry for the whole region east of the Delaware, and into its coffers +poured a revenue so marvellous as to excite hopes of a prospective +wealth which a century, remarkable as was its productiveness, did +little more than realise. If any State, therefore, could survive +without a union with other Colonies, it was New York, and it is not +surprising that many, perhaps a majority of its people, under the +leadership of George Clinton, settled into a policy unfriendly to a +national revenue, and later to a national government.</p> + +<p>The Governor had gradually become mindful of an opposition as stubborn +as it was persistent. He had encountered it in his treatment of the +Tories, but not until Alexander Hamilton became an advocate of amnesty +and oblivion, did Clinton recognise the centre and future leader of +the opposing forces. Hamilton did not appear among those interested in +the election of governor in 1777. His youth shut him out of Assembly +and Congress, out of committees and conventions, but it did not shut +him out of the army; and while Governor Clinton was wrestling with new +problems of government in the formation of a new State, Hamilton was +acting as secretary, aide, companion, and confidant of Washington, +accepting suggestions as commands, and acquiescing in his chief's +judgment with a fidelity born of love<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.26" id="vol1Page_i.26">i. 26</a></span> and admiration. In the history +of war nothing is more beautiful than the friendship existing between +the acknowledged leader of his country and this brave young officer, +spirited and impulsive, brilliant and able, yet frank and candid, +without ostentation and without egotism. It recalls a later-day +relationship between Ulysses S. Grant and John A. Rawlins, his chief +of staff.</p> + +<p>In July, 1781, Hamilton, in command of a corps, accompanied Washington +in the forced march of the American army from New York to Yorktown. +This afforded him the opportunity, so long and eagerly sought, of +handling an independent command at a supreme moment of danger, and +before the sun went down on the 14th of October, he had led his troops +with fixed bayonets, under a heavy and constant fire, over abatis, +ditch, and palisades; then, mounting the parapet, he leaped into the +redoubt. Washington saw the impetuosity of the attack in the face of +the murderous fire, the daring leap to the parapet with three of his +soldiers, and the almost fatal spring into the redoubt. "Few cases," +he says, "have exhibited greater proofs of intrepidity, coolness, and +firmness." Three days later Cornwallis surrendered.</p> + +<p>In the summer of 1782 Hamilton was admitted to the bar in Albany, but +soon afterward settled in New York City, where he seems to have come +into practice and into fame by defending the rights of Tories. For +four years after the war ended, the treatment of British sympathisers +was the dominant political issue in New York. Governor Clinton +advocated disfranchisement and banishment, and the Legislature enacted +into law what he advised; so that when the British troops, under the +peace treaty, evacuated New York, in November, 1783, loyalists who had +thus far escaped the wrath of this patriot Governor, flocked to Nova +Scotia and New Brunswick like birds seeking a more congenial clime, +recalling the flight of the Huguenots after the revocation of the +Edict of Nantes one hundred years earlier. It is not easy to estimate +the number who fled before this savage and violent action of the +Legislature. Sir Guy Carleton, in com<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.27" id="vol1Page_i.27">i. 27</a></span>mand at New York, fixes the +emigration at one hundred thousand souls. For many years the "Landing +of the Loyalists" was annually commemorated at St. John, and in the +cemeteries of England and Scotland are found the tombstones of these +unfortunate devotees of the mother country.</p> + +<p>It is likely Clinton was too intolerant, but it was the intolerance +that follows revolution. Hamilton, on the other hand, became an early +advocate of amnesty and oblivion, and, although public sentiment and +the Legislature were against him, he finally succeeded in modifying +the one and changing the other. "Nothing is more common," he observed, +"than for a free people in times of heat and violence to gratify +momentary passions by letting in principles and precedents which +afterwards prove fatal to themselves. If the Legislature can +disfranchise at pleasure, it may soon confine all the votes to a small +number of partisans, and establish an aristocracy or an oligarchy; if +it may banish at discretion, without hearing or trial, no man can be +safe. The name of liberty applied to such a government would be a +mockery of common sense."<a name="vol1FNanchor_22_22" id="vol1FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>The differences between Congress and the Legislature respecting the +collection of duties also brought Clinton and Hamilton into conflict. +As early as 1776 Hamilton had considered the question whether Congress +ought not to collect its own taxes by its own agents,<a name="vol1FNanchor_23_23" id="vol1FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> and, when a +member of Congress in 1783, he urged it<a name="vol1FNanchor_24_24" id="vol1FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> as one of the cardinal +features of an adequate federal system. In 1787 he was a member of the +Legislature. Here he insisted upon having the federal revenue system +adopted by the State. His argument was an extended exposition of the +facts which made such action important.<a name="vol1FNanchor_25_25" id="vol1FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> Under the lead of Clinton, +however, New York was willing to surrender the money, but not the +power of collection to Congress.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.28" id="vol1Page_i.28">i. 28</a></span></p><p>Meantime, the pitiable condition to which the Confederation had come, +accented the need of a stronger central government. To this end +Clinton and Hamilton seemed for several years to be working in +harmony. In 1780 Clinton had presented to the Legislature the "defect +of power" in the Confederation, and, in 1781, John Sloss Hobart and +Egbert Benson, representing New York at a convention in Hartford, +urged the recommendation empowering Congress to apportion taxes among +the States in the ratio of their total population. The next year, +Hamilton, although not a member of the Legislature, persuaded it to +adopt resolutions written by him, declaring that the powers of the +central government should be extended, and that it should be +authorised to provide revenue for itself. To this end "it would be +advisable," continued the resolutions, "to propose to Congress to +recommend, and to each State to adopt, the measure of assembling a +general convention of the States, specially authorised to revise and +amend the Constitution." To Washington's farewell letter, appealing +for a stronger central government, Governor Clinton sent a cordial +response, and in transmitting the address to the Legislature in 1784, +he recommended attention "to every measure which has a tendency to +cement the Union, and to give to the national councils that energy +which may be necessary for the general welfare."<a name="vol1FNanchor_26_26" id="vol1FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Clinton was not always candid. His official +communications read like the utterances of a friend; but his +influence, as disclosed in the acts of 1783 and 1786, reserving to the +State the sole power of levying and collecting duties, clearly +indicate that while he loved his country in a matter-of-fact sort of +way, it meant a country divided, a country of thirteen States each +berating the other, a country of trade barriers and commercial +resentments, a country of more importance to New York and to Clinton +than to other Commonwealths which had made equal sacrifices.</p> + +<p>Thus matters drifted until New York and other middle<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.29" id="vol1Page_i.29">i. 29</a></span> Atlantic States +discovered that it was impossible under the impotent Articles of +Confederation to regulate commerce in waters bordered by two or more +States. Even when New York and New Jersey could agree, Pennsylvania, +on the other side of New Jersey, was likely to withhold its consent. +Friction of a similar character existed between Maryland and Virginia, +North Carolina and Virginia, and Maryland and Pennsylvania. This +compelled Congress to call the convention, to which commissioners from +New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia, assembled +at Annapolis in 1786, to consider the trade and commerce of the United +States, and to suggest measures for the action of Congress. Hamilton +and Egbert Benson were members of this body, the former of whom wrote +the address, afterward adopted, which declared the federal government +inefficient, and proposed a convention to revise the Articles of +Confederation,<a name="vol1FNanchor_27_27" id="vol1FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> in order to render them adequate to the exigencies +of the Union. This was the resolution unanimously adopted by the New +York Legislature in 1782, but to the surprise of Hamilton and the +friends of a stronger government, the Legislature now disapproved such +a convention. The idea did not please George Clinton. As Hamilton +summed up the opposition, it meant disinclination to taxation, fear of +the enforcement of debts, democratic jealousy of important officials, +and the influence of foreign powers.<a name="vol1FNanchor_28_28" id="vol1FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> + +<p>In 1787, however, the Legislature adopted a joint resolution +instructing members of Congress from the State to urge that a +convention be held to amend the Articles of Confederation, and, when +Congress issued the call,<a name="vol1FNanchor_29_29" id="vol1FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> Robert Yates, John Lansing, Jr., and +Alexander Hamilton were elected delegates "for the sole purpose of +revising the Articles of Confederation, and reporting to Congress and +the several Legislatures such alterations as shall, when agreed to by +Congress and confirmed by the several States, render the Federal<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.30" id="vol1Page_i.30">i. 30</a></span> +Constitution adequate to the exigencies of government and the +preservation of the Union." Hamilton's election to this convention was +cited as proof of Clinton's disposition to treat fairly the opponents +of state supremacy, since it was well understood that his presence at +Philadelphia would add the ablest and most ultra exponent of a strong, +central government. It was certainly in Clinton's power to defeat +Hamilton as he did John Jay, but his liberality carried a high +check-rein, for Robert Yates and John Lansing were selected to +overcome Hamilton's vote.</p> + +<p>Clinton's first choice for a delegate was Yates, whose criticism of +the work of the convention manifests hostility to a Union. He seemed +to have little conception of what would satisfy the real needs of a +strong government, preferring the vague doctrines of the old Whigs in +the early days of revolution. Lansing was clearer, and, perhaps, less +extreme in his views; but he wanted nothing more than an amendment of +the existing Confederation, known as the New Jersey plan.<a name="vol1FNanchor_30_30" id="vol1FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> The +moment, therefore, that a majority favoured the Virginia plan which +contemplated a national government<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.31" id="vol1Page_i.31">i. 31</a></span> with an executive, legislature, +and judiciary of its own, Lansing and Yates, regarding it a violation +of their instructions, and with the approval of Governor Clinton, +withdrew<a name="vol1FNanchor_31_31" id="vol1FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> from the convention and refused to sign the Constitution +after its adoption.<a name="vol1FNanchor_32_32" id="vol1FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<p>Hamilton doubted if Madison's plan was strong enough to secure the +object in view. He suggested a scheme continuing a President and +Senate during good behaviour, and giving the federal government power +to appoint governors of States and to veto state legislation. In the +notes of a speech presenting this plan, he disclaimed the belief that +it was "attainable," but thought it "a model which we ought to +approach as near as possible."<a name="vol1FNanchor_33_33" id="vol1FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> After the Madison plan had been +preferred, however, Hamilton gave it earnest support, and although he +could not cast New York's vote, since a majority of the State's +representatives had withdrawn, he was privileged to sign the +Constitution. If he had never done anything else, it was glory enough +to have subscribed his name to that immortal record. When Hamilton +returned<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.32" id="vol1Page_i.32">i. 32</a></span> home, however, he found himself discredited by a majority of +the people. "You were not authorised by the State," said Governor +Clinton.<a name="vol1FNanchor_34_34" id="vol1FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> Richard Morris, the chief justice, remarked to him: "You +will find yourself, I fear, in a hornet's nest."<a name="vol1FNanchor_35_35" id="vol1FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>On September 28, 1787, Congress transmitted a draft of the +Constitution, which required the assent of nine of the thirteen +States, to the several legislatures. At once it became the sole topic +of discussion. In New York it was the occasion of riots, of mobs, and +of violent contests. It was called the "triple-headed monster," and +declared to be "as deep and wicked a conspiracy as ever was invented +in the darkest ages against the liberties of a free people." Its +opponents, numbering four-sevenths of the community—although their +strength was mainly in the country<a name="vol1FNanchor_36_36" id="vol1FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a>—and calling themselves Federal +Republicans, organised a society and opened correspondence with +leading men in other States. "All the old alarm about liberty was now +revived," says W.G. Sumner, "and all the elements of anarchy and +repudiation which had been growing so strong for twenty years were +arrayed in hostility."<a name="vol1FNanchor_37_37" id="vol1FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> But its bitterest opponent in the thirteen +Colonies was George Clinton.<a name="vol1FNanchor_38_38" id="vol1FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> "He preferred to remain the most +powerful citizen of New York, rather than occupy a subordinate place +under a national government in which his own State was not +foremost."<a name="vol1FNanchor_39_39" id="vol1FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> On the other hand, the <i>Federalist</i>, written largely by +Hamilton, carried conviction to the minds of thousands who had +previously doubted the wisdom of the plan. In the last number of the +series, he said: "The system, though it may not be perfect in every +part, is upon the whole a good one, is the best that the present views +and circumstances will permit,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.33" id="vol1Page_i.33">i. 33</a></span> and is such an one as promises every +species of security which a reasonable people can desire."<a name="vol1FNanchor_40_40" id="vol1FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + +<p>When the Legislature opened, Governor Clinton delivered the usual +speech or message, but he said nothing of what everybody else was +talking about. Consideration of the Constitution was the only +important business before that body; four States had already ratified +it, and three others had it under consideration; yet the Governor said +not a word. His idea was for New York to hold off and let the others +try it. Then, if the Union succeeded, although revenue difficulties +were expected to break it up immediately,<a name="vol1FNanchor_41_41" id="vol1FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> the State could come in. +Meantime, like Patrick Henry of Virginia, he proposed another general +convention, to be held as soon as possible, to consider amendments. +Thus matters drifted until January, 1788, when Egbert Benson, now a +member of the Legislature, offered a resolution for holding a state +convention to consider the federal document. Dilatory motions blocked +its way, and its friends began to despair of better things; but Benson +persisted, until, at last, after great bitterness, the resolution was +adopted.</p> + +<p>Of the sixty-one delegates to this convention, which assembled at the +courthouse in Poughkeepsie on June 17, two-thirds were opposed to the +Constitution.<a name="vol1FNanchor_42_42" id="vol1FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> The convention organised with Governor Clinton for +president. Among the champions of the Constitution appeared Hamilton, +Jay, Robert R. Livingston, Robert Morris, James Duane, then mayor of +New York, John Sloss Hobart, Richard Harrison, and others of like +character. Robert Yates, Samuel Jones, Melancthon Smith, and John +Lansing, Jr., led the fight against it. Beginning on June 19, the +discussion continued until July 28. Hamilton, his eloquence at its +best, so that at times there was not a dry eye in the assembly,<a name="vol1FNanchor_43_43" id="vol1FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> +especially emphasised the public debt. "It is a fact that should +strike us with shame, that we are obliged to borrow money in order<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.34" id="vol1Page_i.34">i. 34</a></span> to +pay the interest of our debt. It is a fact that these debts are +accumulating every day by compound interest."<a name="vol1FNanchor_44_44" id="vol1FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> In the old +Confederation, he declared, the idea of liberty alone was considered, +but that another thing was equally important—"I mean a principle of +strength and stability in the organisation of our government, and of +vigour in its operations."<a name="vol1FNanchor_45_45" id="vol1FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> Professor Sumner, in his admirable +biography, expresses surprise that nothing is said about debts in the +<i>Federalist</i>, and comparatively little about the Supreme Court. "This +is very remarkable," he says, "in view of the subsequent history; for +if there is any 'sleeping giant' in the Constitution, it has proved to +be the power of the Supreme Court to pass upon the constitutionality +of laws. It does not appear that Hamilton or anybody else foresaw that +this function of the Court would build upon the written constitution a +body of living constitutional law."<a name="vol1FNanchor_46_46" id="vol1FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> + +<p>Melancthon Smith was the ablest opponent of the Constitution. Familiar +with political history, and one of the ablest debaters in the country, +he proved himself no mean antagonist even for Hamilton. "He must have +been a man of rare candour, too," says John Fiske, "for after weeks of +debate he owned himself convinced."<a name="vol1FNanchor_47_47" id="vol1FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> Whatever could be said against +the Constitution, Smith voiced it; and there was apparent merit in +some of his objections. To a majority of the people, New York appeared +to be surrendering natural advantages in much larger measure than +other Commonwealths, while its concession of political power struck +them as not unlikely to endanger the personal liberty of the citizen +and the independence of the State. They disliked the idea of a far-off +government, with many officers drawing large salaries, administering +the army, the navy, and the diplomatic relations with nations of the +Old World. It was so different from anything experienced since their +separation from England, that they dreaded this centralised power;<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.35" id="vol1Page_i.35">i. 35</a></span> +and, to minimise it, they proposed several amendments, among them one +that no person should be eligible to the office of President for a +third term. Time has demonstrated the wisdom of some of these +suggestions; but commendable as they now appear after the lapse of +more than a century, they were of trifling importance compared to the +necessity for a closer, stronger union of the States in 1787.</p> + +<p>Federalists were much alarmed over the failure of New York to ratify. +Although the State ranked only fifth in population, commercially it +was the centre of the Union. From the standpoint of military +movements, too, it had been supremely important in the days of +Montcalm and Burgoyne, and it was felt that a Federal Union cut in +twain by the Mohawk and Hudson valleys must have a short life. "For my +own part," said Hamilton, "the more I can penetrate the views of the +anti-federal party in this State, the more I dread the consequences of +the non-adoption of the Constitution by any of the other States—the +more I fear eventual disunion and civil war."<a name="vol1FNanchor_48_48" id="vol1FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> His fear bred an +apparent willingness to agree to a conditional ratification,<a name="vol1FNanchor_49_49" id="vol1FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> until +Madison settled the question that there could be no such thing as +conditional ratification since constitutional secession would be +absurd. On July 11 Jay moved that "the Constitution be ratified, and +that whatever amendments might be deemed expedient should be +recommended." This, however, did not satisfy the opposition, and the +discussion continued.</p> + +<p>Hamilton, however, did not rely upon argument alone. He arranged for +news of the Virginia and New Hampshire conventions, and while Clinton, +clinging to his demand for conditional ratification, still hesitated, +word came from New Hampshire, by a system of horse expresses, telling +the glad story that the requisite number of States had been secured. +This reduced the question to ratification or secession. A few days +later it was learned that Virginia had also joined the majority. The +support of Patrick Henry had been a tower of strength to Governor +Clinton, and his defeat exaggerated Clinton's fear that New York City +and the southern counties<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.36" id="vol1Page_i.36">i. 36</a></span> which favoured the Constitution might now +execute their threat to split off unless New York ratified. Then came +Melancthon Smith's change to the federalist side. This was like +crushing the centre of a hostile army. Finally, on July 28, a +resolution "that the Constitution be ratified <i>in full confidence</i> +that the amendments proposed by this convention will be adopted," +received a vote of thirty to twenty-seven. Governor Clinton did not +vote, but it was known that he advised several of his friends to +favour the resolution. On September 13, he officially proclaimed the +Federal Constitution as the fundamental law of the Republic.</p> + +<p>Posterity has never severely criticised George Clinton's opposition to +national development. His sincerity and patriotism have been accepted. +To Washington and Hamilton, however, his conduct seemed like a cold +and selfish desertion of his country at the moment of its utmost +peril. "The men who oppose a strong and energetic government," wrote +Washington to Hamilton on July 10, 1787, the day of Yates' and +Lansing's retirement from the Philadelphia convention, "are, in my +opinion, narrow-minded politicians, or are under the influence of +local views." This reference to "local views" meant George Clinton, +upon whose advice Yates and Lansing acted, and who declared +unreservedly that only confusion could come to the country from a +convention and a measure wholly unnecessary, since the Confederation, +if given sufficient trial, would probably answer all the purposes of +the Union.</p> + +<p>The march of events has so clearly proved the wisdom of Hamilton and +the unwisdom of Clinton, that the name of one, joined inseparably with +that of Washington, has grown with the century, until it is as much a +part of the history of the Union as the Constitution itself. The name +of George Clinton, on the contrary, is little known beyond the limits +of his native State. It remained for DeWitt Clinton, the Governor's +distinguished nephew, to link the family with an historic enterprise +which should bring it down through the ages with increasing respect +and admiration.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.37" id="vol1Page_i.37">i. 37</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_V" id="vol1CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /> +<br /> +CLINTON’S FOURTH TERM<br /> +<br /> +1789-1792</h2> + + +<p><br /> +<span class="smcap">At</span> each triennial election for twelve years, ever since the adoption +of the State Constitution in 1777, George Clinton had been chosen +governor. No one else, in fact, had ever been seriously talked of, +save John Jay in 1786. Doubtless Clinton derived some advantage from +the control of appointments, which multiplied in number and increased +in influence as term succeeded term, but his popularity drew its +inspiration from sources other than patronage. A strong, rugged +character, and a generous, sympathetic nature, sunk their roots deeply +into the hearts of a liberty-loving people who supported their +favourite with the fidelity of personal friendship.</p> + +<p>The time had, however, come at last when Clinton's right to continue +as governor was to be contested. Hamilton's encounter with the New +York opponents of the Federal Constitution had been vigorous and +acrimonious. It was easy to stand with one's State in opposing the +Constitution when opposition had behind it the powerful Clinton +interest and the persuasive Clinton argument that federal union meant +the substitution of experiment for experience, and the exchange of a +superior for an inferior position; but it required a splendid +stubbornness to face, daringly and aggressively, the desperate odds +arrayed against the Constitution. Every man who wanted to curry favour +with Clinton was ready to strike at Hamilton, and they covered him +with obloquy. Very likely his attitude was not one to tempt the +forbearance of angry opponents. He did not fight with gloves. +Never<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.38" id="vol1Page_i.38">i. 38</a></span>theless, his success added one more to his list of splendid +victories. He had beaten Clinton in his intolerant treatment of +loyalists; he had beaten him in obtaining for Congress the sole power +of regulating commerce; he had beaten him in the Philadelphia +convention called to frame a federal constitution; he had beaten him +in a state convention called to ratify that constitution; and now he +proposed to beat him for governor in a State which would have great +influence in smoothing the way for the new federal government.</p> + +<p>After the close of the Revolution, there had been local parties in the +various Stales, divided on issues of hard and soft money, on imposts, +on treatment of Tories, and on state rights, and these issues had +coincided in many of the States. During the contest growing out of the +adoption of the Federal Constitution, all these elements became +segregated into two great political parties, those who supported the +Constitution being known as Federalists—those who were opposed to +strengthening the bond between the States being called +anti-Federalists. The latter were clearly in the majority in New York, +and Hamilton rightly inferred that, notwithstanding the people, since +the adoption of the Constitution, manifested a disposition to sustain +the general government, a large majority of freeholders, having +heretofore supported Clinton as a wise, patriotic governor, would not +now desert him for an out-and-out Federalist. To meet this emergency, +several Federalists, at a meeting held February 11, 1789, nominated +Robert Yates, an anti-Federalist judge of the Supreme Court, hoping +thus to form a coalition with the more moderate men of his party.</p> + +<p>In support of such politics, of the doubtful wisdom of which there was +abundant illustration in the recent unnatural coalition between Lord +North and the brilliant Charles James Fox, Hamilton wrote to his +friends in Albany that in settling upon a candidate, some difficulties +occurred. "Our fellow citizens in some parts of the State," he said, +"had proposed Judge Yates, others had been advocates of +Lieutenant-Governor Van Cortlandt, and others for Chief Justice<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.39" id="vol1Page_i.39">i. 39</a></span> +Morris. It is well known that the inhabitants of this city are, with +few exceptions, strongly attached to the new Constitution. It is also +well known that the Lieutenant-Governor and Chief Justice, whom we +respect and esteem, were zealous advocates for the same cause. Had it +been agreed to support either of them for governor, there would have +been reason to fear that the measure would have been imputed to party, +and not to a desire of relieving our country from the evils they +experience from the heats of party. It appeared, therefore, most +advisable to elect some man of the opposite party, in whose integrity, +patriotism, and temper, confidence might be placed, however little his +political opinions on the question lately agitated might be approved +by those who were assembled upon that occasion.</p> + +<p>"Among the persons of this description, there were circumstances which +led to a decision in favour of Judge Yates. It is certain that as a +man and a judge he is generally esteemed. And, though his opposition +to the new Constitution was such as his friends cannot but disapprove, +yet, since the period of its adoption, his conduct has been tempered +with a degree of moderation, and seems to point him out as a man +likely to compose the differences of the State. Of this at least we +feel confident, that he has no personal revenge to gratify, no +opponents to oppress, no partisans to provide for, nor any promises +for personal purposes to be performed at the public expense."<a name="vol1FNanchor_50_50" id="vol1FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p> + +<p>To many the selection of Robert Yates seemed almost ungracious. The +Federalists wanted Richard Morris, chief justice of the Supreme Court, +who had encouraged the establishment of a strong government, and, as a +member of the Poughkeepsie convention, had voted to ratify the Federal +Constitution. Besides, he was a gentleman of the old school, of +inflexible integrity, firm and decided in character, whose full, +rounded face and commanding presence appeared to advantage among the +stately and dignified personages who supported knee breeches and silk +stockings, and displayed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.40" id="vol1Page_i.40">i. 40</a></span> delicate ruffles of a shirt under the +folds of a rich velvet coat. Hamilton was fond of Morris, and +recognised the justice of his claims. Their views in no wise differed, +their families were intimate, and at the Poughkeepsie convention, +after listening for three hours to Hamilton's speech, Morris had +pronounced it the ablest argument and most patriotic address ever +heard in the State of New York. But the great Federalist, determined +to destroy Clinton, wanted availability, not fidelity, and so Morris +declined in favour of Yates.</p> + +<p>In everything Robert Yates was an anti-Federalist. He dressed like one +and he talked like one. He had been an opponent of the Federal +Constitution, an advocate of the doctrine of state supremacy, and an +ardent supporter of the Governor. With Clinton's approval he had +withdrawn from the Philadelphia convention when the majority favoured +a strong government wielding supreme authority; with Clinton's +approval, he had opposed the ratification of the Federal Constitution +in the state convention at Poughkeepsie, and with Clinton's approval +he declined to change his vote, although New Hampshire's action and +Hamilton's speech had already settled the question of ratification. +What Hamilton proposed, Yates opposed; what Clinton advocated, Yates +approved. After the ratification of the Constitution, however, Robert +Yates charged the grand jury that it would be little short of treason +against the Republic to disobey it. "Let me exhort you, gentlemen," he +said, "not only in your capacity as grand jurors, but in your more +durable and equally respectable character as citizens, to preserve +inviolate this charter of our national rights and safety, a charter +second only in dignity and importance to the Declaration of our +Independence."</p> + +<p>Upon the bench Yates distinguished himself for impartiality and +independence, if not for learning. He abated the intemperate zeal of +patriotic juries, and he refused to convict men suspected of +disloyalty, without proof. On one occasion he sent a jury back four +times to reconsider a verdict of guilty unauthorised by the evidence, +and subsequently<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.41" id="vol1Page_i.41">i. 41</a></span> treated with indifference a legislative threat of +impeachment, based upon a fearless discharge of duty. He could afford +to be just, for, like George Clinton, he had early embraced the cause +of the Colony against the Crown. From an Albany alderman he became a +maker of the State Constitution, and from a writer of patriotic +essays, he shone as an active member of the Committee of Safety. +Together with John Jay and Robert R. Livingston, he had obstructed the +passage of Lord Howe's ships up the Hudson, and with General Schuyler +he devised measures to repel the British from the northern and western +frontier. He had helped to fix the dividing line between Massachusetts +and New York, and, as one of the Council of Administration, he +governed southern New York from the withdrawal of the British until +the assembling of the Legislature.</p> + +<p>Having decided to go outside his own party, Hamilton made no mistake +in picking his man. If Clinton was the Hampden of the colonial period, +Robert Yates could well be called its Pym. He had toleration as well +as patriotism. But he also had an itching desire for office. Some one +has said that the close connection between man and a child is never +more clearly illustrated than in the joy and pride which the wisest +statesman feels in the wearing of a ribbon or a star. It could not be +said of Robert Yates then, as it was said, with good reason, six years +later, that his desire for office extinguished his devotion to party +and his character for political consistency, but it was openly charged +that, upon the suggestion of Hamilton, he urged the grand jury to +support the Federal Constitution in order to strengthen himself with +the Federalists. Whether this be true or not, Yates' previous devotion +to the anti-Federalist party set his present conduct in sharp contrast +to that of other distinguished anti-Federalist statesmen of the +time—to men like Samuel Jones and Melancthon Smith, who accepted the +action of the Poughkeepsie convention, but supported George Clinton. +"Men, not principles, are involved," they declared.</p> + +<p>All that we know of Yates would seem to deny his sur<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.42" id="vol1Page_i.42">i. 42</a></span>render of +principle, or his condescension to any act of baseness, to obtain +office. It was indeed a question whether Clinton, or Hamilton through +Yates, should control the state government; but the gubernatorial +contest involved more than that. The new government, soon to be placed +on trial, needed the help of sympathetic governors and legislatures, +and Clinton and his supporters, forced to accept the Constitution, +could hardly be regarded as its wisest and safest guardians. From +Hamilton's standpoint, therefore, it was more principle than men. +However agreeable to him it might be to defeat and humiliate Clinton, +greater satisfaction must spring from the consciousness that while in +its leading-strings, at least, the general government would have the +hearty support of New York.</p> + +<p>Hamilton's great coalition, intended to work such wonders, boasted +many brilliant names. Of the younger men Robert Troup, of Hamilton's +age, an early friend of Burr, took a most conspicuous part, while +among the older members of this galaxy was James Duane, a lawyer of +rare ability, the first mayor of New York, for ten years continuously +in the Continental Congress, a man of great force, of large wealth, +and superb character. He was in his forties when Hamilton, a boy of +seventeen, won his heart by a single speech, denouncing the act of +Parliament which closed the port of Boston. The most notable man in +the coalition, next to Hamilton and Jay, was Robert R. Livingston, now +Hamilton's devoted friend, before long to be his bitter enemy. He was +still young, little more than forty, but in everything he was bold and +skilful, vigorous as a writer, eloquent as a speaker, deeply learned +as a jurist, and rich in scholarship. Of the same age as Livingston +was William Duer,<a name="vol1FNanchor_51_51" id="vol1FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> who started at eighteen as an aide to Lord Clive +in India. Duer was at one time the most useful man in America. Nobody +could cheat him. As soon as Hamilton became<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.43" id="vol1Page_i.43">i. 43</a></span> secretary of the +treasury, he made Duer assistant secretary, an office which he held +with credit until 1790, when he resigned to become the chief of a ring +of speculators, who, two years later, left him insolvent and in jail. +Hamilton's coalition also furnished the only instance of the political +association of himself and Burr, although Burr's support of Yates is +said to have been personal rather than political. The story is that +Burr, seeking admission to the bar after reading law less than a year, +induced Judge Yates to suspend the rule requiring three years of +study, because of the applicant's term as a soldier, a service that +laid the foundation of a lasting friendship.</p> + +<p>On the opposite side were many men who live in history as builders of +the Empire State. None belong to the gallery of national characters, +perhaps, but John Lansing, Livingston's successor as chancellor, and +Samuel Jones,<a name="vol1FNanchor_52_52" id="vol1FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> the first state comptroller, known, by common +consent, as the father of the New York bar, find places in the list of +New York's ablest statesmen. To this memorable company also belonged +Melancthon Smith, the head of the anti-Federalist forces at the +Poughkeepsie convention, and Gilbert Livingston of Dutchess, whose one +patriotic address was the last blow needed to ratify the Constitution. +He was not, like Smith, a great debater, but his ready eloquence +classed him among the orators who were destined to live in the memory +of a later generation. Beside him was James Clinton, brother of the +Governor and father of DeWitt Clinton. A soldier by profession, he had +taken part in several important battles and marches, charging with +Bradstreet at the capture of Fort Frontenac, following the lamented +Montgomery to Quebec, and serving with Sullivan in his famous +expedition<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.44" id="vol1Page_i.44">i. 44</a></span> against the Indians. Finally, he shared in the glory of +being with Washington at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. He seems to +have been the real soldier of the family, blending the strong, active +powers of the Clinton mind with the gentler virtues which made him as +sympathetic on the field as he was affectionate in the home.</p> + +<p>Thus the contest between Yates and Clinton, although the first real +political conflict in the history of the State, became one of the +sharpest and most bitterly fought. For six weeks the atmosphere was +thick and hot with political passion. Veteran observers declared that +their generation had seen nothing like it. But the arguments of Duer, +the powerful influence of Chancellor Livingston, the leadership of +Hamilton, and the phenomenal popularity of John Jay, could not win the +voters who saw nothing more in the arrangement than a question of +individual preference, and while Yates carried the western district by +a large majority and held his own in the southern, Clinton's home +county gave him 1093 out of 1245 votes, making his majority 429 in a +total vote of 12,353.</p> + +<p>The call for the Governor was so close that he quickly prepared for a +repetition of the contest in 1792. The inauguration of Washington on +April 30 had given Hamilton control of the federal offices in New +York, and, although of trifling importance compared to state +patronage, they were used to strengthen federalism, and, if possible, +to destroy Clinton. John Jay became chief justice of the Supreme +Court, James Duane judge of the District Court, Richard Harrison +United States attorney, and William S. Smith United States marshal. It +was a brilliant array of talent and legal learning. Of the lights and +ornaments of the law in his day, Richard Harrison excelled in an +intimate knowledge of its intricacies and mysteries. Added to these +officials were Rufus King and Philip Schuyler, United States senators, +and three members of Congress, with Egbert Benson at their head. As +secretary of the treasury and the trusted friend of the President, +Hamilton had also multiplied his personal influence.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.45" id="vol1Page_i.45">i. 45</a></span></p> + +<p>Governor Clinton felt the full force of the Federalist combination, +the fear of which had intensified his hostility to the Union; but he +governed his conduct with the toleration and foresight of a master +politician. He declined to punish those who had deserted his standard, +refusing to accept Robert Yates' apostacy as sufficient cause to bar +his promotion as chief justice, and appointing to the vacancy John +Lansing, Jr., who, although a strong anti-Federalist, had already +shown an independence of political domination.</p> + +<p>But the master-stroke of Clinton's diplomacy displayed itself in the +appointment of Aaron Burr as attorney-general. After Burr left the +army "with the character of a true knight," as John Adams put it, he +began the practice of law at Albany. Later he removed to New York, +taking up his home in Maiden Lane. Thus far his political career, +limited to two terms in the Legislature, had been insignificant. +During the great controversy over the Federal Constitution he remained +silent. His silence, however, was the silence of concealment. He +shared no confidences, he exploited no principles, he did nothing in +the open. He lived in an air of mystery, writing letters in cipher, +using messengers instead of the mails, and maintaining espionage upon +the movements of others. Of himself he wrote to Theodosia, "he is a +grave, silent, strange sort of animal, inasmuch that we know not what +to make of him." In the political parlance of to-day, his methods +savoured of the "still hunt," and in their exercise he exhibited the +powers of a past-master in stirring up men's prejudices, and creating +divisions among his rivals; but his methods, whether practised in law +or in politics, were neither modern nor moral. He marshalled forces +with equal celerity under either flag.</p> + +<p>Shortly after Burr moved into Maiden Lane, Hamilton made his home in +Wall Street. Their first meeting, which occurred on the road from +Harlem bridge to White Plains during the disastrous retreat of +Washington's army from Manhattan in September, 1776, had been +characterised by mutual dislike. Burr, with the rank of major, acted +as aide to General Putnam; Hamilton, as an officer of artillery, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.46" id="vol1Page_i.46">i. 46</a></span> +soon to become an aide to Washington. Both were young then—Hamilton +not yet twenty, Burr scarcely twenty-one; yet their character, then +fully developed, shines out in their estimate of the +commander-in-chief. Burr thought Washington inferior as an officer, +and weak, though honest, as a man; Hamilton thought him a great +soldier and a great statesman, upon whose services the welfare of the +country largely depended. Burr's prejudices settled into positive +dislike; Hamilton's appreciation voiced the sentiment of the people +and the judgment of posterity.</p> + +<p>There is a legend that from the first, destiny seemed determined to +oppose the genius and fame of Hamilton with the genius and fame of +Aaron Burr. It is certainly a remarkable coincidence that two men, +born without the State, so nearly of an age, so similar in brilliant +attainments, so notably distinguished in charm of manner and +phenomenal accomplishments, and so strikingly alike in ripeness of +intelligence and bent of ambition, should happen to have lived at the +same time, in the same city, and become members of the same +profession; yet it is not surprising that these men should prove +formidable rivals and deadly foes, since difference in character was +far more real than resemblance of mental attainments. Both were +fearless and brave, but the one was candid, frank and resolute; the +other subtle, crafty and adventurous. Perhaps their only common +characteristic was an ungoverned admiration for the charms of women, +though, unlike Burr, Hamilton neither bragged of his amours, nor +boasted that success attended his pursuit of pleasure.</p> + +<p>It can hardly be supposed that in appointing Burr attorney-general, +Clinton did not have in mind the necessity of securing to the ranks of +the anti-Federalists all talented and spirited young men; but it is +none the less evident that Clinton was thinking more of himself than +of his party. Burr figured as an ugly opponent in the recent campaign. +Besides, he possessed the happy faculty of surrounding himself with +young men who recognised in him a superlative<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.47" id="vol1Page_i.47">i. 47</a></span> combination of bravery, +chivalry, and ability. Hamilton called them "Burr's myrmidons," but +Theodosia, with a daughter's devotion and diplomatic zeal, entitled +them "the Tenth Legion." They had joined Burr when a violent Whig in +1784, sending him to the Assembly for two terms; they had rallied +under his call to the Sons of Liberty, attracting the fierce fire of +Hamilton; and they had broken party bonds to support Robert Yates +because of their chief's personal friendship.</p> + +<p>Such a man would attract the attention of any political manager, and +although Clinton up to this time had had no particular relations with +Burr, the latter's enthusiastic support of Yates accentuated his +political value. In after years Burr declared that Clinton had always +been his rival, and Clinton no less frankly avowed his distrust of +Burr, charging him with always being "for sale;" but Burr's rivalry +and Clinton's distrust do not date back to 1790.</p> + +<p>If Clinton thought himself fortunate in gaining Burr, he was still +more fortunate in the defection of the influential Livingstons. What +Cæsar said of Gaul used to be said of the Empire State, that all New +York was divided into three parts—the Clintons, the Livingstons, and +the Schuylers. Parton said "the Clintons had power, the Livingstons +had numbers, and the Schuylers had Hamilton."<a name="vol1FNanchor_53_53" id="vol1FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> In 1788 seven<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.48" id="vol1Page_i.48">i. 48</a></span> +members of the Livingston family, with the Schuylers, had overthrown +the Clintons, and turned the Confederation into the Union. Robert R. +Livingston, standing at their head, was the exponent of a liberal +policy toward all American citizens, and the champion of a broader +national life. His associates were the leading Federalists; his +principles were the pillars of his party; and his ambitions centred in +the success and strength of his country.</p> + +<p>Prudence, therefore, if no higher motive, required that the +Livingstons be not overlooked in the division of federal patronage. +There was much of it to divide. Besides cabinet positions and judicial +appointments, the foreign service offered rare opportunities to a few +accomplished statesmen and recognised scholars. Robert R. Livingston, +as chancellor of New York, stood in line of promotion for chief +justice of the United States Supreme Court, but John Jay stood nearer +to Hamilton, just as Philip Schuyler did when United States senators +were chosen. Other honourable and most desirable positions, however, +were open. John Quincy Adams thought a mission to England or France +better than the Cabinet, but Gouverneur Morris went to France, Thomas +Pinckney to England, William Short to Spain, and David Humphreys to +Portugal. The Livingstons were left out.</p> + +<p>Hamilton's funding system, especially the proposed assumption of state +debts, then dividing the public mind, afforded plausible cause for +opposing federalism; and ostensibly for this reason, the Livingstons +ceased to be Federalists. Some of the less conspicuous members, +residents of Columbia County, continued their adherence, but the +statesmen who give the family its name in history wanted nothing more +of a party whose head was a "young adventurer," a man "not native to +the soil," a "merchant's clerk from the West Indies." The story is +that the Chancellor convened the family and made the separation so +complete that Washington's subsequent offer of the mission to France +failed to secure his return.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.49" id="vol1Page_i.49">i. 49</a></span></p> + +<p>The first notice of the Livingston break was in the election of a +United States senator in 1791. Philip Schuyler, Hamilton's +father-in-law, confidently expected a re-election. His selection for +the short term was with this understanding. But several members of the +Assembly, nominally Federalists, were friendly to Clinton, who +preferred Aaron Burr to Schuyler because of Hamilton's influence over +him;<a name="vol1FNanchor_54_54" id="vol1FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> and when the Governor promised Morgan Lewis, the Chancellor's +brother-in-law, Burr's place as attorney-general, Livingston's +disposition to injure Hamilton became intensified, and to the +disappointment of Schuyler, the vote of the Legislature disclosed a +small majority for Burr.</p> + +<p>It is easy to conjecture that the haughty, unpopular, aristocratic old +General<a name="vol1FNanchor_55_55" id="vol1FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> would not be as acceptable as a young man of thirty-five, +fascinating in manner, gifted in speech, and not yet openly and +offensively partisan; but it needed something more than this charm of +personality to line up the hard-headed, self-reliant legislator +against Hamilton and Philip Schuyler, and Burr found it in his appeal +to Clinton, and in the clever brother-in-law suggestion to Livingston.</p> + +<p>The defeat of Schuyler was a staggering blow to Hamilton. The great +statesman had achieved success as secretary of the treasury, but as a +political manager, his lack of tact, impatience of control, and +infirmity of temper, had crippled the organisation. In less than three +years the party had lost a United States senator, suffered the +separation of a family vastly more important than federal appointees, +and sacrificed the prestige of victory, so necessary to political +success.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.50" id="vol1Page_i.50">i. 50</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_VI" id="vol1CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /> +<br /> +GEORGE CLINTON DEFEATS JOHN JAY<br /> +<br /> +1792-1795</h2> + + +<p><br /> +<span class="smcap">Burr’s</span> rapid advancement gave full rein to his ambition. Not content +with the exalted office to which he had suddenly fallen heir, he now +began looking for higher honours; and when it came time to select +candidates for governor, he invoked the tactics that won him a place +in the United States Senate. He found a few anti-Federalists willing +to talk of him as a stronger candidate than George Clinton, and a few +Federalists who claimed that the moderate men of both parties would +rally to his support. In the midst of the talk Isaac Ledyard wrote +Hamilton that "a tide was likely to make strongly for Mr. Burr,"<a name="vol1FNanchor_56_56" id="vol1FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> +and James Watson, in a similar strain, argued that Burr's chances, if +supported by Federalists, would be "strong."<a name="vol1FNanchor_57_57" id="vol1FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>Clinton's firm hold upon his party quickly checked Burr's hope from +that quarter, but the increasing difficulty among Federalists to find +a candidate offered opportunity for Burr's peculiar tactics, until his +adherents were everywhere—on the bench, in the Legislature, in the +drawing-rooms, the coffee-houses, and the streets. Hamilton had only +to present him and say, "Here is your candidate," and Aaron Burr would +cheerfully have opposed the friend who, within less than two years, +had appointed him attorney-general and elected him United States +senator. But Hamilton deliberately snuffed him out. The great +Federalist had finally induced John Jay to become the candidate of his +party. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.51" id="vol1Page_i.51">i. 51</a></span> was on February 13, 1792. Two days later, the +anti-Federalists named George Clinton and Pierre Van Cortlandt, the +old ticket which had done service for fifteen years.</p> + +<p>In inducing John Jay to lead his party, Hamilton made a good start. +Heretofore Jay had steadily refused to become a candidate for +governor. "That the office of the first magistrate of the State," he +wrote, May 16, 1777, "will be more respectable as well as more +lucrative than the place I now fill is very apparent; but my object in +the course of the present great contest neither has been nor will be +either rank or money."<a name="vol1FNanchor_58_58" id="vol1FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> After his return from Europe, when Governor +Clinton's division of patronage and treatment of royalists had become +intensely objectionable, Jay was again urged to stand as a candidate, +but he answered that "a servant should not leave a good old master for +the sake of more pay or a prettier livery."<a name="vol1FNanchor_59_59" id="vol1FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> If this was good +reasoning in 1786 and 1789, when he was secretary of foreign affairs, +it was better reasoning in 1792, when he was chief justice of the +United States; but the pleadings of Hamilton seem to have set a +presidential bee buzzing, or, at least, to have started ambition in a +mind until now without ambition. At any rate, Jay, suddenly and +without any apparent reason, consented to exchange the most exalted +office next to President, to chance the New York governorship.</p> + +<p>There had never been a time since John Jay entered public life that he +was not the most popular man in the city of New York. In 1788 he +received for delegate to the Poughkeepsie convention, twenty-seven +hundred and thirty-five votes out of a total of twenty-eight hundred +and thirty-three. John Adams called him "a Roman" because he resembled +Cato more than any of his contemporaries. Jay's life divided itself +into three distinct epochs of twenty-eight years each—study and the +practice of law, public employment, and retirement. During the years +of uninterrupted public life, he ran the gamut of office-holding. It +is a long<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.52" id="vol1Page_i.52">i. 52</a></span> catalogue, including delegate to the Continental Congress, +framer of the New York Constitution, chief justice of the New York +Supreme Court, president of the Continental Congress, minister to +Spain, member of the Peace Commission, secretary of foreign affairs, +chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, negotiator of the +Jay treaty, and finally governor of New York. No other American save +John Quincy Adams and John Marshall ever served his country so +continuously in such exalted and responsible place. On his return from +Europe after an absence of five years, Adams said he returned to his +country "like a bee to its hive, with both legs loaded with merit and +honour."<a name="vol1FNanchor_60_60" id="vol1FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>Jay accepted the nomination for governor in 1792, on condition that he +be not asked to take part in the campaign. "I made it a rule," he +wrote afterward, "neither to begin correspondence nor conversation +upon the subject."<a name="vol1FNanchor_61_61" id="vol1FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> Accordingly, while New York was deeply stirred, +the Chief Justice leisurely rode over his circuit, out of hearing and +out of sight of the political disturbance, apparently indifferent to +the result.</p> + +<p>The real political campaign which is still periodically made in New +York, may be said to have had its beginning in April, 1792. Seldom has +an election been contested with such prodigality of partisan fury. The +rhetoric of abuse was vigorous and unrestrained; the campaign lie +active and ingenious; the arraignment of class against class sedulous +and adroit, and the excitement most violent and memorable. If a weapon +of political warfare failed to be handled with craft and with courage, +its skilful use was unknown.</p> + +<p>Indeed, if any one doubts that it was a real time of political +upheaval, he has only to glance at local histories. Federalists and +anti-Federalists were alike convulsed by a movement which was the +offspring of a genuine and irresistible enthusiasm of that strong, +far-reaching kind that makes epochs in the history of politics. The +people having cut loose<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.53" id="vol1Page_i.53">i. 53</a></span> from royalty, now proposed cutting loose from +silk stockings, knee breeches, powdered hair, pigtails, shoe buckles, +and ruffled shirts—the emblems of nobility. Perhaps they did not then +care for the red plush waistcoats, the yarn stockings, and the +slippers down at the heel, which Jefferson was to carry into the White +House; but in their effort to overthrow the tyranny of the past, they +were beginning to demand broader suffrage and less ceremony, a larger, +freer man, and less caste. To them, therefore, Jay and Clinton +represented the aristocrat and the democrat. Jay, they said, had been +nurtured in the lap of ease, Clinton had worked his way from the most +humble rank; Jay luxuriated in splendid courts, Clinton dwelt in the +home of the lowly son of toil; Jay was the choice of the rich, Clinton +the man of the people; Jay relied upon the support of the President +and the Secretary of the Treasury, Clinton upon the poor villager and +the toiling farmer.</p> + +<p>Newspapers charged Jay with saying that "there ought to be in America +only two sorts of people, one very rich, the other very poor,"<a name="vol1FNanchor_62_62" id="vol1FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> and +to support the misrepresentation, they quoted his favourite maxim that +"those who own the country ought to govern it," pointing to the State +Constitution which he drafted, to prove that only the well-to-do could +vote. The Dutch, largely the slave holders of the State, accused him +of wishing to rob them by the abolition of slavery. Dressed in other +rhetorical clothes, these stories did service again in 1795 and 1798.</p> + +<p>But the assumption of state debts, and Hamilton's financial system, +became the fiercest objects of attack. To them were traced the "reign +of speculators" that flowered in the year 1791. "Bank bubbles, +tontines, lotteries, monopolies, usury, gambling and swindling +abound," said the New York <i>Journal</i>; "poverty in the country, luxury +in the capitals, corruption and usurpation in the national councils." +Hamilton's system had given the deepest stab to the hopes of the +anti-Federalists, since it taught people to look to the Union<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.54" id="vol1Page_i.54">i. 54</a></span> rather +than to the State. Internal taxes and import duties were paid to the +United States; coin was minted by the United States; paper money +issued by the United States; letters carried and delivered by the +United States; and state debts assumed by the United States. All this +had a tendency to break state attachments and state importance; and in +striking back, Republican orators branded the reports of the Secretary +of the Treasury as "dangerous to liberty," the assumption of debts as +"a clever device for enslaving the people," and the whole fiscal +system "a dishonest scheme." The failure and imprisonment of William +Duer, until recently Hamilton's trusted assistant, followed by riots +in New York City, gave colour to the charge, and, although the most +bitter opponents of the great Federalist in no wise connected him with +any corrupt transaction, yet in the spring of 1792 Hamilton, the +friend and backer of Jay, was the most roundly abused man in the +campaign.</p> + +<p>The Federalists resented misrepresentation with misrepresentation. +Clinton's use of patronage, his opposition to the Federal +Constitution, and the impropriety of having a military governor in +time of peace, objections left over from 1789, still figured as set +pieces in rhetorical fireworks; but the great red light, burned at +every meeting throughout the State, exposed Governor Clinton as +secretly profiting by the sale of public lands. The Legislature of +1791 authorised the five state officers, acting as Commissioners of +the Land Office, to sell unappropriated lands in such parcels and on +such terms as they deemed expedient, and under this power 5,542,173 +acres returned $1,030,433. Some of the land brought three shillings +per acre, some two shillings six pence, some one shilling, but +Alexander McComb picked up 3,635,200 acres at eight pence. McComb was +a friend of Clinton. More than that, he was a real estate dealer and +speculator. In the legislative investigation that followed, +resolutions condemning the commissioners' conduct tangled up Clinton +in a division of the profits, and sent McComb to jail. This was a +sweet morsel for the Federalists. It mattered not<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.55" id="vol1Page_i.55">i. 55</a></span> that the Governor +denied it; that McComb contradicted it; that no proof supported it; or +that the Assembly acquitted him by a party vote of thirty-five to +twenty; the story did effective campaign service, and lived to torture +Aaron Burr, one of the commissioners, ten years afterward. Burr tried +to escape responsibility by pleading absence when the contracts were +made; but the question never ceased coming up—if absence included all +the months of McComb's negotiations, what time did the +Attorney-General give to public business?</p> + +<p>It was a deep grief to Jay that the Livingstons opposed him. The +Chancellor and Edward were his wife's cousins, Brockholst her brother. +Brockholst had been Jay's private secretary at the embassy in Madrid, +but now, to use a famous expression of that day, "the young man's head +was on fire," and violence characterised his political feelings and +conduct. Satirical letters falsely attributed to Jay fanned the sparks +of the Livingston opposition into a bright blaze, and, although the +Chief Justice denied the insinuation, the Chancellor gave battle with +the enthusiasm of a new convert.</p> + +<p>As one glances through the list of workers in the campaign of 1792, he +is reminded that the juniors or beginners soon came to occupy higher +and more influential positions than some of their elders and leaders. +DeWitt Clinton, for instance, not yet in office, was soon to be in the +Assembly, in the State Senate, and in the United States Senate—a +greater force than any man of his time in New York, save Hamilton. +James Kent had just entered the Assembly. As a student in Egbert +Benson's office, his remarkable industry impressed clients and +teacher, but when his voice sounded the praises of John Jay, few could +have anticipated that this young man, small in stature, vivacious in +speech, quick in action, with dark eyes and a swarthy complexion, was +destined to become one of the most famous jurists in a century. +Ambrose Spencer had not yet scored his first political honour, but his +herculean frame and stately<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.56" id="vol1Page_i.56">i. 56</a></span> presence, with eyes and complexion darker +than Kent's, are to be seen leading in every political contest for +more than forty years.</p> + +<p>There were also Smith Thompson, taught in the law by Chancellor Kent +and tutored in politics by George Clinton, who was to follow the +former Chief Justice and end his days on the United States Supreme +bench; Joseph C. Yates, founder of Union College, and Samuel L. +Mitchill, scientist and politician, who has been called the Franklin +of New York. Younger than these, but equally alert, was Cadwallader A. +Colden, grandson of the royal lieutenant-governor of Stamp Act days. +He was now only twenty-two, just beginning at the bar, but destined to +be the intimate friend of Robert Fulton, a famous leader of a famous +bar, and a political chieftain of a distinguished career.<a name="vol1FNanchor_63_63" id="vol1FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> + +<p>At the election, the people gave Jay a majority of their votes; but at +the count, a majority of the state canvassers gave Clinton the +governorship. This was the first vicious party precedent established +in the Empire State. It has had many successors at the polls, in the +Legislature, and at the primaries, but none bolder and more harmful, +or ruder and more outrageously wrong. Under the law, inspectors of +election sealed the ballots, delivered them to the sheriff or his +deputy, who conveyed them to the secretary of state. In Otsego County, +Richard R. Smith's term as sheriff had expired, and the new sheriff +had not yet qualified, but Smith delivered the ballots to a person +specially deputised by him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.57" id="vol1Page_i.57">i. 57</a></span> Tioga's sheriff turned the ballots over +to his deputy, who, being taken ill on the journey, handed them to a +clerk for transmission. In Clinton the sheriff gave the votes to a man +without deputation. No ballots were missing, no seals were broken, nor +had their delivery been delayed for a moment. But as soon as it became +known that these counties gave Jay a majority of about four hundred, +quite enough to elect him, it was claimed that the votes had not been +conveyed to the secretary of state by persons authorised to do so +under the law, and the canvassers, voting as their party preferences +dictated, ruled out the returns by a vote of seven to four in +Clinton's favour. The discussion preceding this action, however, was +so acrimonious and the alleged violation of law so technical, that the +board agreed to refer the controversy to Rufus King and Aaron Burr, +the United States senators.</p> + +<p>Burr had many an uneasy hour. He preferred to avoid the +responsibility, since an opinion might jeopardise his political +interests. If he found for Clinton, his Federalist friends would take +offence; if he antagonised Clinton, the anti-Federalists would cast +him out. Thus far it had been his policy to keep in the background, +directing others to act for him; now he must come out into the open. +He temporised, delayed, sought suggestions of friends, and endeavoured +to induce his colleague to join him in declining to act as a referee, +but King saw no reason for avoiding an opinion, and in answering the +question of the canvassers, he took the broad ground that an election +law should be construed in furtherance of the right of suffrage. The +act was for the protection of voters whose rights could not be +jeopardised by the negligence or misconduct of an agent charged with +the delivery of the ballots, nor by canvassers charged with their +counting. It was preposterous to suppose that the sudden illness of a +deputy, or the failure of an official to qualify, could disfranchise +the voters of a whole county. If it were otherwise, then the foolish +or intentional misconduct of a sheriff might at any time overturn the +will of a major<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.58" id="vol1Page_i.58">i. 58</a></span>ity. There was no pretence of wrong-doing. The ballots +had been counted, sealed, and delivered to the secretary of state no +less faithfully than if there had been a technical adherence to the +strict letter of the law. He favoured canvassing Tioga's vote, +therefore, although it was doubtful if a deputy sheriff could deputise +a deputy, while the vote of Clinton should be canvassed because a +sheriff may deputise by parol. As to Otsego, on which the election +really turned, King held that Smith was sheriff until a successor +qualified, if not in law, then in fact; and though such acts of a <i>de +facto</i> officer as are voluntarily and exclusively beneficial to +himself are void, those are valid that tend to the public utility.</p> + +<p>Burr was uninfluenced by respect for suffrage. Being statutory law, it +must be construed literally, not in spirit, or because of other rights +involved. He agreed with his colleague as to the law governing the +Clinton case; but following the letter of the act, he held that +Tioga's votes ought not to be counted, since a deputy could not +appoint a deputy. The Otsego ballots were also rejected because the +right of a sheriff to hold over did not exist at common law; and as +the New York statute did not authorise it, Smith's duties ceased at +the end of his term; nor could he be an officer <i>de facto</i>, since he +had accepted and exercised for one day the office of supervisor, which +was incompatible with that of sheriff. In other words, Burr reduced +the question of Jay's election to Smith's right to act, and to avoid +the <i>de facto</i> right, so ably presented by Senator King, he relied +upon Smith's service of a day as supervisor before receiving and +forwarding the ballots, notwithstanding sheriffs invariably held over +until their successors qualified. Seven of such cases had occurred in +fifteen years, and never before had the right been seriously +questioned. In one instance a hold-over sheriff had executed a +criminal. When urged to appoint a sheriff for Otsego earlier in the +year, Governor Clinton excused his delay because the old one could +hold over.</p> + +<p>After this decision, only Clinton himself could avert the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.59" id="vol1Page_i.59">i. 59</a></span> judgment +certain to be rendered by a partisan board. Nevertheless, the Governor +remained silent. Thus, by a strict party vote of seven to four, the +canvassers, omitting the three counties with four hundred majority in +Jay's favour, returned 8,440 votes for Clinton and 8,332 for Jay. +Then, to destroy all evidence of their shame, the ballots were burned, +although the custom obtained of preserving them in the office of the +secretary of state.<a name="vol1FNanchor_64_64" id="vol1FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + +<p>News travelled slowly in those days. There were no telegrams, no +reporters, no regular correspondents, no special editions to tell the +morning reader what had happened the day before; but when it once +became known that John Jay had been counted out, the people of the +State were aroused to the wildest passion of rage, recalling the +famous Tilden-Hayes controversy three-quarters of a century later. A +returning board, it was claimed, had overturned the will of the +people; and to the superheated excitement of the campaign, was added +the fierce anger of an outraged party. Wild menaces were uttered, and +the citizens of Otsego threatened an appeal to arms. "People are +running in continually," wrote Mrs. Jay to her husband, "to vent their +vexation. Senator King says he thinks Clinton as lawfully governor of +Connecticut as of New York, but he knows of no redress."<a name="vol1FNanchor_65_65" id="vol1FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> Hamilton +agreed with King, and counselled peaceful submission.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.60" id="vol1Page_i.60">i. 60</a></span></p> +<p>Meantime the Chief Justice was returning home from Vermont by way of +Albany. At Lansingburgh the people met him, and from thence to New +York public addresses and public dinners were followed with the roar +of artillery and the shouts of the populace. "Though abuse of power +may for a time deprive you and the citizens of their right," said one +committee, "we trust the sacred flame of liberty is not so far +extinguished in the bosoms of Americans as tamely to submit to the +shackles of slavery, without at least a struggle to shake them +off."<a name="vol1FNanchor_66_66" id="vol1FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> Citizens of New York met him eight miles from the city, and +upon his arrival, "the friends of liberty" condemned the men who would +deprive him of the high office "in contempt of the sacred voice of the +people, in defiance of the Constitution, and in violation of the +uniform practice and settled principles of law."<a name="vol1FNanchor_67_67" id="vol1FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p> + +<p>During these days of excitement, Jay conducted himself with remarkable +forbearance and dignity. It was the poise of Washington. "The +reflection that the majority of electors were for me is a pleasing +one," he wrote his wife; "that injustice has taken place does not +surprise me, and I hope will not affect you very sensibly. The +intelligence found me perfectly prepared for it. A few years more will +put us all in the dust, and it will then be of more importance to me +to have governed myself than to have governed the State."<a name="vol1FNanchor_68_68" id="vol1FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> This +thought influenced his conduct throughout. When armed resistance +seemed inevitable, he raised his voice in opposition to all feeling. +"Every consideration of propriety forbids that difference in opinion +respecting candidates should suspend or interrupt that natural good +humour which harmonises society, and softens the asperities incident +to human life and human affairs."<a name="vol1FNanchor_69_69" id="vol1FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> At a large dinner on the 4th of +July, Jay gave the toast: "May the people always respect themselves, +and remember what they owe to posterity;" but after he had retired, +the banqueters let loose their tongues, drinking to "John Jay, +Governor by voice of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.61" id="vol1Page_i.61">i. 61</a></span> people," and to "the Governor (of right) of +the State of New York."</p> + +<p>Clinton entered upon his sixth term as governor amidst vituperation +and obloquy. He was known as the "Usurper," and in order to reduce him +to a mere figurehead, the Federalists who controlled the Assembly, led +by Josiah Ogden Hoffman, the brilliant New York lawyer, now proposed +to choose a new Council of Appointment, although the term of the old +Council had not yet expired. The Constitution provided that the +Council should hold office one year, and that the Governor, with the +advice of the Council, should appoint to office. Up to this time such +had been the accepted practice. Nevertheless, the Federalists, having +a majority of the Assembly, forced the election of a Council made up +entirely of members of their own party, headed by Philip Schuyler, the +veteran legislator and soldier, and then proceeded to nominate and +confirm Egbert Benson as a judge of the Supreme Court. Clinton, as +governor and a member of the Council, refused to nominate Benson, +insisting that the exclusive right of nomination was vested in him. +Here the matter should have ended under the Constitution as Jay +interpreted it; but Schuyler held otherwise, claiming that the Council +had a concurrent right to nominate. He went further, and decided that +whenever the law omitted to limit the number of officers, the Council +might do it, and whenever an officer must be commissioned annually, +another might be put in his place at the expiration of his commission. +This would give the Council power to increase at will the number of +officials not otherwise limited by law, and to displace every +anti-Federalist at the expiration of his commission.</p> + +<p>Clinton argued that the governor, being charged under the Constitution +with the execution of the laws, was vested with exclusive discretion +as to the number of officers necessary to their execution, whereas, if +left to one not responsible for such execution, too many or too few +officials might be created. With respect to the continuation of an +incumbent in office at the pleasure of the Council, "the Constitution<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.62" id="vol1Page_i.62">i. 62</a></span> +did not intend," he said, "a capricious, arbitrary pleasure, but a +sound discretion to be exercised for the promotion of the public good; +that a contrary practice would deprive men of their offices because +they have too much independence of spirit to support measures they +suppose injurious to the community, and might induce others from undue +attachment to office to sacrifice their integrity to improper +considerations."<a name="vol1FNanchor_70_70" id="vol1FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> This was good reasoning and good prophecy; but +his protests fell upon ears as deaf to a wise policy as did the +protests of Jay's friends when the board of canvassers counted Jay out +and Clinton in.</p> + +<p>The action of the Council of Appointment was a stunning blow to +Clinton. Under Jay's constitution, every officer in city, county, and +State, civil and military, save governor, lieutenant-governor, members +of the Legislature, and aldermen, could now be appointed by the +Council regardless of the Governor; and already these appointments +mounted up into hundreds. In 1821 they numbered over fifteen thousand. +Thus, as if by magic, the Council was turned into a political machine. +Under this arrangement, a party only needed a majority of the Assembly +to elect a Council which made all appointments, and the control of +appointments was sufficient to elect a majority of the Assembly. Thus +it was an endless chain the moment the Council became a political +machine, and it became a political machine the moment Philip Schuyler +headed the Council of 1793.</p> + +<p>This arbitrary proceeding led to twenty years of corrupt methods and +political scandals. Schuyler's justification was probably the +conviction that poetic justice required that Clinton, having become +governor without right, should have his powers reduced to their lowest +terms; but whatever the motive, his action was indefensible, and his +reply that the Governor's practices did not correspond to his precepts +fell for want of proof. Clinton had then been in office seventeen +years, and, although he took good care to select members of his own +party, only one case, and that a doubtful one,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.63" id="vol1Page_i.63">i. 63</a></span> could be cited in +support of the charge that appointments had been made solely for +political purposes.</p> + +<p>In a published address, on January 22, 1795, Governor Clinton declined +to stand for re-election in the following April because of ill health +and neglected private affairs. Included in this letter was the +somewhat apocryphal statement that he withdrew from an office never +solicited, which he had accepted with diffidence, and from which he +should retire with pleasure. The reader who has followed the story of +his career through the campaigns of 1789 and 1792 will scarcely +believe him serious in this declaration, although he undoubtedly +retired with pleasure. At the time of his withdrawal, he had an attack +of inflammatory rheumatism, but he was neither a sick man nor an old +one, being then in his fifty-fifth year, with twelve years of +honourable public life still before him. It is likely the reason in +the old rhyme, "He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another +day," had more to do with his retirement than shattered health and +crippled fortune. Defeat has never been regarded helpful to future +political preferment, and this shrewd reader of the signs of the +times, his ambition already fixed on higher honours and more exalted +place, saw the coming political change in New York as clearly and +unmistakably as an approaching storm announced itself in an increase +of his rheumatic aches.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.64" id="vol1Page_i.64">i. 64</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_VII" id="vol1CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /> +<br /> +RECOGNITION OF EARNEST MEN<br /> +<br /> +1795-1800</h2> + + +<p><br /> +<span class="smcap">With</span> Clinton out of the race for governor in 1795, his party's +weakness discovered itself in the selection of Chief Justice Robert +Yates, Hamilton's coalition candidate in 1789. It was a makeshift +nomination, since none cared to run after Clinton's declination +sounded a note of defeat. Yates' passion for office led him into +strange blunders. He seemed willing to become the candidate of any +party, under any conditions, at any time, if only he could step into +the official shoes of George Clinton. He was excusable in 1789, +perhaps, when the way opened up a fair chance of success, but in 1795 +his ambition subjected him to ridicule as well as to humiliation. It +was said derisively that he was defeated, although every freeholder in +the State had voted for him.</p> + +<p>The Federalists were far from unanimous in their choice of John Jay. +He had not yet returned from England, whither Washington had sent him +in the preceding year to negotiate a treaty to recover, among other +things, compensation for negroes who followed English troops across +the Atlantic at the close of the war; to obtain a surrender of the +Western military posts not yet evacuated; and to secure an article +against impressments. It was believed that a storm of disapproval +would greet his work, and the timid ones seriously questioned the +expediency of his nomination. The submission of the treaty had already +precipitated a crisis in the United States Senate, and while it might +not be ratified and officially promulgated before election, grave +danger ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.65" id="vol1Page_i.65">i. 65</a></span>isted of its clandestine publication by the press. Hamilton, +however, insisted, and Jay became the nominee. "It had been so decreed +from the beginning," wrote Egbert Benson.</p> + +<p>The campaign that followed was featureless. Chief Justice Yates +aroused no interest, and Chief Justice Jay was in England. From the +outset, Jay's election was conceded; and a canvass of the votes showed +that he had swept the State by a large majority. In 1789 Clinton +received a majority of 489; in 1792 the canvassers gave him 108; but +in 1795 Jay had 1589.<a name="vol1FNanchor_71_71" id="vol1FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p> + +<p>What would have happened had the treaty been published before +election, fills one with interested conjecture. Its disclosure on July +2, the day after Jay's inauguration, turned the applause of that +joyous occasion into the most exasperating abuse. Such a sudden and +tempestuous change in the popularity of a public official is +unprecedented in the history of American politics. In a night the +whole State was thrown into a ferment of intense excitement, the storm +of vituperation seeming to centre in New York city. Jay was burned in +effigy; Hamilton was struck in the face with a stone while defending +Jay's work; a copy of the treaty was burned before the house of the +British Minister; riot and mob violence held carnival everywhere. +Party spirit never before, and never since, perhaps, ran so high. One +effigy represented Jay as saying, while supporting a pair of scales, +with the treaty on one side and a bag of gold on the other, "Come up +to my price, and I will sell you my country." Chalked in large white +letters on one of the principal streets in New York, appeared these +words: "Damn John Jay! Damn every one that won't damn John Jay!! Damn +every one that won't put lights in his windows and sit up all night +damning John Jay!!!"<a name="vol1FNanchor_72_72" id="vol1FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> This revulsion of public sentiment was not +exactly a tempest in a teapot, but it proved<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.66" id="vol1Page_i.66">i. 66</a></span> a storm of limited +duration, the elections in the spring of 1796 showing decided +legislative gains for the Federalists.</p> + +<p>Hamilton divined the cause of the trouble. "There are three persons," +he wrote,<a name="vol1FNanchor_73_73" id="vol1FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> "prominent in the public eye as the successor of the +President—Mr. Adams, Mr. Jay, and Mr. Jefferson.... Mr. Jay has been +repeatedly the object of attacks with the same view. His friends, as +well as his enemies, anticipated that he could make no treaty which +would not furnish weapons against him; and it were to have been +ignorant of the indefatigable malice of his adversaries to have +doubted that they would be seized with eagerness and wielded with +dexterity. The peculiar circumstances which have attended the two last +elections for governor of this State have been of a nature to give the +utmost keenness to party animosity. It was impossible that Mr. Jay +should be forgiven for his double, and, in the last instance, +triumphant success; or that any promising opportunity of detaching +from him the public confidence, should pass unimproved.... Trivial +facts frequently throw light upon important designs. It is remarkable +that in the toasts given on July 4, 1795, whenever there appears a +direct or indirect censure of the treaty, it is pretty uniformly +coupled with compliments to Mr. Jefferson, and to our late governor, +Mr. Clinton, with an evident design to place those gentlemen in +contrast to Mr. Jay, and, decrying him, to elevate them. No one can be +blind to the finger of party spirit, visible in these and similar +transactions. It indicates to us clearly one powerful source of +opposition to the treaty."</p> + +<p>The treaty was undoubtedly a disappointment to the country, and not +greatly pleasing to Washington. Perhaps Jay said the best thing that +could be said in its favour: "One more favourable was not attainable." +The thing he was sent especially to do, he failed to accomplish, +except the evacuation of the posts, and a concession as to the West +Indian trade, which the Senate rejected. Nevertheless the country was +greatly and permanently benefited. The treaty acquired<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.67" id="vol1Page_i.67">i. 67</a></span> extradition +for criminals; it secured the collection of debts barred by the +Revolution, amounting to ten million dollars; it established the +principle that war should not again be a pretext for the confiscation +of debts or for the annulment of contracts between individuals; and it +avoided a war with England, for which the United States was never more +unprepared. "As the first treaty negotiated under the new government," +says John W. Foster, "it marked a distinct advance in international +practice."<a name="vol1FNanchor_74_74" id="vol1FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> In a recent biography of Andrew Jackson, Professor +Sumner says: "Jay's treaty was a masterpiece of diplomacy, considering +the times and the circumstances of this country." Even the +much-criticised commercial clause, "the entering wedge," as Jay called +it, proved such a gain to America, that upon the breaking out of war +in 1812, Lord Sheffield declared that England had "now a complete +opportunity of getting rid of that most impolitic treaty of 1794, when +Lord Grenville was so perfectly duped by Jay."<a name="vol1FNanchor_75_75" id="vol1FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></p> + +<p>John Jay's first term as governor was characteristically cautious and +conservative. He began with observing the proprieties, gracefully +declining the French Consul's invitation to a republican +entertainment, and courageously remaining at his post during the +yellow fever epidemic of 1795. With equal ease he settled the growing +conflict between the severity of the past and the sympathy of the +present, by changing the punishment in cases of ordinary felony, from +death to imprisonment. Up to that time men might have been executed +for stealing a few loaves of high-priced bread to relieve the +sufferings of a hungry family. Under Jay's humane plea for mercy the +death penalty was limited to treason, murder, and stealing from a +church. A quarter of a century passed before Sir James Mackintosh +succeeded in carrying a similar measure through the British +Parliament.</p> + +<p>In his first message Jay recommended neither the abolition<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.68" id="vol1Page_i.68">i. 68</a></span> of +slavery, nor the discontinuance of official changes for political +reasons, "since the best and most virtuous men," he said, "must, in +the distribution of patronage, yield to the influence of party +considerations." As the only important questions before him just then +involved the freedom of slaves and reform in the civil service, his +silence as to the one and his declaration as to the other were +certainly sufficient to allay any suspicion that he was to become a +radical reformer. He did recommend a legislative interpretation of the +Constitution relating to the governor's exclusive right to nominate to +office; but in the blandest and most complimentary words, the +Legislature invited the Governor to let well enough alone. "The +evidence of ability, integrity and patriotism," so the answer ran, +"which has been invariably afforded by your conduct in the discharge +of the variety of arduous and important trusts, authorise us to +anticipate an administration conducive to the welfare of your +constituents." This amiable answer betrayed the deft hand of Ambrose +Spencer, who, to make it sweeter and more acceptable, moved the +insertion of the word "invariably."<a name="vol1FNanchor_76_76" id="vol1FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> Thus ended the suggestion of a +law that might have undone the mischief of Schuyler, and prevented the +scandal and corrupt methods that obtained during the next two decades. +At least, this is the thought of a later century, when civil service +reform has sunk a tap-root into American soil, still frosty, perhaps, +yet not wholly congealed as it seems to have been one hundred years +ago.</p> + +<p>Jay's administration might be called the reward days of earnest, able +men, whose meritorious service became their passport to office. Upon +the retirement in 1798 of Robert Yates and John Sloss Hobart from the +Supreme bench, he appointed James Kent and Jacob Radcliff. If Jay had +never done anything else, the appointment of Kent would immortalise +him, just as the selection of John Marshall placed a halo about the +head of President Adams. Kent, now thirty-five years old, a great +lawyer and a strong partisan, had the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.69" id="vol1Page_i.69">i. 69</a></span> conservatism of Jay, and held +to the principles of Hamilton. He was making brilliant way in +politics, showing himself an administrator, a debater, and a leader of +consummate ability; but he steadily refused to withdraw from the +professional path along which he was to move with such distinction. +Until Kent's appearance, the administration of the law had been +inefficient and unsatisfactory. Men of ability had occupied the bench; +but the laborious and business methods which subsequently gave +strength and character to the court, had not been applied. The custom +of writing opinions in the most important cases did not then obtain, +while the principles and foundation of the law were seldom explored. +But Kent began at once, after a most laborious examination of the +cases and the law, to bring the written opinions which enrich the +reports of Caines and Johnson, to the consultations of the judges, +thus setting an example to his associates, and opening the way for +that admirable and orderly system of jurisprudence that has adorned +the judiciary of New York for more than a century. The men of the +older school had had their day. The court of Hobart was closed; the +age of Kent had opened.</p> + +<p>Radcliff, the other judicial appointee, was not a new name in 1798; +but it was destined to become dearer to every lover of a chancery +lawyer. He had a natural gift for chancery, and no natural inclination +whatever for politics or the bench. So, after serving a single term in +the Assembly, two years as an assistant attorney-general, and six +years on the Supreme Court, he returned to the practice, to which he +devoted the remaining forty years of his life, save when holding the +office of mayor of New York in 1810, and again in 1815 during the +brief retirement of DeWitt Clinton. Wherever he appeared, Radcliff's +erect, dignified bearing and remarkably handsome face, illuminated +with large eyes and a highly intellectual expression, marked him as a +man of distinction. He set the custom of dictating bills in chancery +to an amanuensis, doing it with such accuracy that a word had seldom +to be changed. Of the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.70" id="vol1Page_i.70">i. 70</a></span> age as Kent, he must have been of great +help to that distinguished jurist, had he continued with the court. +While hovering somewhat uncertain between the bench and the bar, he +removed to New York City, where the opportunities for one of his gifts +soon settled the question.</p> + +<p>Other appointments of Jay were equally satisfactory. The +comptrollership of state, recently created, went to Samuel Jones in +return for having patiently worked out this more perfect method of +controlling and disbursing state funds. Ambrose Spencer became an +assistant attorney-general, and the appointment of Rufus King as +minister to England made room for the election of John Lawrence to the +United States Senate. Lawrence had little claim, perhaps, to be +entered in the class with Rufus King, since he was neither leader nor +statesman; but he had been the faithful adjutant-general of +Washington, and a steady, fearless supporter of Hamilton. Lawrence, an +Englishman by birth, had settled in New York at an early period in +life, and by his marriage to the daughter of Alexander McDougall, +quickly came into conspicuous sympathy with the radical wing of the +patriotic party. He will always be remembered in history as +judge-advocate of the court that tried Major André. He held office +almost continuously from 1775 until his death in 1810, serving eight +years in the army, one in the State Senate, six in Congress, four as +judge of the United States District Court, and four as a United States +senator, closing his honourable career as president pro tem. of that +body.</p> + +<p>As a rebuke to Aaron Burr's snap game so successfully played in 1791, +Philip Schuyler succeeded him in the United States Senate in 1797, an +event that must have sweetened the closing years of the Revolutionary +veteran. But Schuyler was now a sick man, and in January, 1798, he +resigned the senatorial toga to others, upon whose shoulders it rested +briefly, and possibly with less ease and grace. John Sloss Hobart wore +it for three months. After him, for ten months, came William North, +followed by James Watson, who, in turn, resigned in March, 1800. Thus, +in the short period<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.71" id="vol1Page_i.71">i. 71</a></span> of thirty-six months, four men tasted the sweets +of the exalted position so brilliantly filled by the erratic grandson +of Jonathan Edwards. North and Watson were men of certain ability and +certain gifts. Both had been soldiers. North had followed Arnold to +Quebec, had charged with his regiment at Monmouth, had served with +credit upon Baron Steuben's staff,<a name="vol1FNanchor_77_77" id="vol1FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> and had acquitted himself with +honour at Yorktown. He belonged to that coterie of brilliant young +men, noted for bravery and endurance, who quickly found favour with +the fighting generals of the Revolution. Watson resigned his captaincy +in 1777, and engaged successfully in mercantile pursuits, subsequently +entering the Assembly with North, the former becoming speaker in 1794 +and the latter in 1795 and 1796. At the time of North's election to +the United States Senate, Watson was a member of the State Senate. +Like Lawrence, both were perfervid Federalists, zealous champions of +Hamilton, and profound believers in the wisdom of minimising, if not +abrogating, the rights of States.</p> + +<p>Watson's resignation from the United States Senate enabled the +Federalists to elect Gouverneur Morris just before the political +change in 1800 swept them from power. Morris was a fit successor to +Schuyler. His family had belonged to the State for a century and a +half. The name<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.72" id="vol1Page_i.72">i. 72</a></span> stood for tradition and conservatism—an embodiment of +the past amid the changes of revolution. His home near Harlaem, an +estate of three thousand acres, with a prospect of intermingled +islands and water, stretching to the Sound, which had been purchased +by a great-grandfather in the middle of the preceding century, +reflected the substantial character of its founder, a distinguished +officer in Cromwell's army.</p> + +<p>Gouverneur was the child of his father's second marriage. The +family,<a name="vol1FNanchor_78_78" id="vol1FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> especially the older children, of whom Richard, chief +justice of the State, was the third and youngest boy, resented the +union, making Gouverneur's position resemble that of Joseph among his +brethren. Twenty-two years intervened between him and Richard. Before +the former left the schoolroom, the latter had succeeded his father as +judge of the vice-admiralty; but as for being of any assistance to the +fatherless lad Richard might as well have been vice-admiral of the +blue, sailing the seas. There would be something pathetic in this +estrangement, if independence and self-reliance had not dominated the +youngest son as well as the older heirs of this noble family. Lewis, +the eldest, served in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.73" id="vol1Page_i.73">i. 73</a></span> the Continental Congress and became a signer of +the Declaration of Independence, while Staats Long, the second son, +wandered to England, married the Countess of Gordon, became a general +in the British army, and a member of Parliament in the days of Lord +North and Charles James Fox. It was a strange coincidence, one brother +resisting Parliament in Congress, the other resisting Congress in +Parliament.</p> + +<p>The influences surrounding Gouverneur's youth were decidedly Tory. His +mother warmly adhered to George the Third; his professors at King's +taught loyalty to the Crown; his distinguished tutor in the law, +William Smith, New York's Tory historian, magnified the work and the +strength of Parliament; while his associates, always his mother's +welcomed guests at Morrisania, were British officers, who talked of +Wolfe and his glorious struggles for England. But there never was a +moment from the time Gouverneur Morris entered the Provincial Congress +of New York on May 22, 1775, at the age of twenty-three, that he was +not conspicuously and brilliantly active in the cause of America. +Whenever or wherever a Revolutionary body was organised, or for +whatever purpose, Congress, Convention, or Committee of Safety, he +became a member of it. Six years younger than Jay, and six years older +than Hamilton, he seemed to complete that remarkable New York trio, so +fertile in mental resources and so successful in achievement. He did +not, like Jay, outline a constitution, but he believed, with Jay, in +balancing wealth against numbers, and in contending for the protection +of the rights of property against the spirit of democracy. It is +interesting to study these young men, so different in temperament, yet +thinking alike and acting together for a quarter of a century—Jay, +gentle and modest; Hamilton, impetuous and imperious; Morris, +self-confident and conceited; but on all essential matters of state, +standing together like a tripod, firm and invincible. In his distrust +of western influences, however, Morris was more conservative than Jay +or Hamilton. He was broad and lib<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.74" id="vol1Page_i.74">i. 74</a></span>eral toward the original thirteen +States, but he wanted to subordinate the balance of the country to +their control. He regarded the people who might seek homes west of the +Alleghanies with something of the suspicion Jay entertained for the +propertyless citizens of New York. The day would come, he believed, +when those untutored, backwoods settlers would outnumber their +brethren on the Atlantic coast, and he desired some provision in the +Constitution which would permit the minority to rule such a majority. +If these views shrivelled his statesmanship, it may be said to his +credit that they discovered a prophetic gift most uncommon in those +days, giving him the power to see a great empire of people in the +fertile valley of the Mississippi and its tributaries.<a name="vol1FNanchor_79_79" id="vol1FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> Fifteen +years later Robert R. Livingston expressed the belief that not in a +century would a white man cross the Father of Waters.</p> + +<p>Into the life of Jay's peaceful administration came another +interesting character, the champion of every project known to the +inventive genius of his day. We shall hear much of Samuel Latham +Mitchill during the next three decades. He was now thirty-five years +old, a sort of universal eccentric genius, already known as +philosopher, scientist, teacher, and critic, a professor in Columbia, +the friend of Joseph Priestley, the author of scientific essays, and +the first<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.75" id="vol1Page_i.75">i. 75</a></span> in America to make mineralogical explorations. Perhaps if +he had worked in fewer fields he might have won greater renown, making +his name familiar to the general student of our own time; but he +belonged to an order of intellect far higher than most of his +associates, filling the books with his doings and sayings. Although +his influence, even among specialists, has probably faded now, he +inspired the scientific thought of his time, and established societies +which still exist, and whose history, up to the time of his death in +1831, was largely his own. Mitchill belonged to the Republican party +because it was the party of Jefferson, and he followed Jefferson +because Jefferson was a philosopher. For the same reason he became the +personal friend of Chancellor Livingston, with whom, among other +things, he founded the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, +Manufactures, and the Useful Arts. It was said of Mitchill that "he +was equally at home in studying the geology of Niagara, or the anatomy +of an egg; in offering suggestions as to the angle of a windmill, or +the shape of a gridiron; in deciphering a Babylonian brick, or in +advising how to apply steam to navigation."</p> + +<p>Mitchill became a member of the Assembly in 1798, and it was his +interest in the experiments then being made of applying steam to +navigation, that led him to introduce a bill repealing the act of +1787, giving John Fitch the sole right to use steamboats on the +Hudson, and granting the privilege to Chancellor Livingston for a term +of twenty years, provided that within a year he should build a boat of +twenty tons capacity and propel it by steam at a speed of four miles +an hour. John Fitch had disappeared, and with him his idea of applying +steam to paddles. He had fitted a steam engine of his own invention +into a ferry-boat of his own construction, and for a whole summer this +creation of an uneducated genius had been seen by the people of +Philadelphia moving steadily against wind and tide; but money gave +out, the experiment was unsatisfactory, and Fitch wandered to the +banks of the Ohio, where opium helped him end his life in an obscure +Kentucky inn, while his steamboat<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.76" id="vol1Page_i.76">i. 76</a></span> rotted on the shores of the +Delaware. Then John Stevens of Hoboken began a series of experiments +in 1791, trying elliptical paddles, smoke-jack wheels, and other +ingenious contrivances, which soon found the oblivion of Fitch's +inventions. Subsequently Rumsey, another ingenious American, sought +with no better success to drive a boat by expelling water from the +stern. When it was announced that the great Chancellor also had a +scheme, it is not surprising, perhaps, that the wags of the Assembly +ridiculed the project as idle and whimsical. "Imagine a boat," said +one, "trying to propel itself by squirting water through its stern." +Another spoke of it as "an application of the skunk principle." Ezra +L'Hommedieu, then a state senator, declared that Livingston's +"steamboat bill" was a standing subject of ridicule throughout the +entire session.</p> + +<p>But there were others than legislators who made sport of these +apparently visionary projects to settle the value of steam as a +locomotive power. Benjamin H. Latrobe, the most eminent engineer in +America, did not hesitate to overwhelm such inventions with objections +that, in his opinion, could never be overcome. "There are indeed +general objections to the use of the steam engine for impelling +boats," he wrote, in 1803, "from which no particular mode of +application can be free. These are, first, the weight of the engine +and of the fuel; second, the large space it occupies; third, the +tendency of its action to rack the vessel and render it leaky; fourth, +the expense of maintenance; fifth, the irregularity of its motion and +the motion of the water in the boiler and cistern, and of the +fuel-vessel in rough water; sixth, the difficulty arising from the +liability of the paddles or oars to break, if light, and from the +weight, if made strong. Perhaps some of the objections against it may +be obviated. That founded on the expense and weight of the fuel may +not for some years exist in the Mississippi, where there is a +redundance of wood on the banks; but the cutting and loading will be +almost as great an evil."<a name="vol1FNanchor_80_80" id="vol1FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.77" id="vol1Page_i.77">i. 77</a></span></p> +<p>Mitchill, however, would not be suppressed by the fun-making +legislators or the reasoning of a conservative engineer. "I had to +encounter all their jokes and the whole of their logic," he wrote a +friend. His bill finally became a law, and Livingston, with the help +of the Doctor, placed a horizontal wheel in a well in the bottom and +centre of a boat, which propelled the water through an aperture in the +stern. The small engine, however, having an eighteen-inch cylinder and +three feet stroke, could obtain a speed of only three miles an hour, +and finding that the loss of power did not compensate for the +encumbrance of external wheels and the action of the waves, which he +hoped to escape, Livingston relinquished the plan. Four years later, +however, the Chancellor's money and Robert Fulton's genius were to +enrich the world with a discovery that has immortalised Fulton and +placed Livingston's name among the patrons of the greatest inventors.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.78" id="vol1Page_i.78">i. 78</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_VIII" id="vol1CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /> +<br /> +OVERTHROW OF THE FEDERALISTS<br /> +<br /> +1798-1800</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap"> +It is</span> difficult to select a more popular or satisfactory +administration than was Jay's first three years as governor. +Opposition growing out of his famous treaty had entirely subsided, +salutary changes in laws comforted the people, and with Hamilton's +financial system, then thoroughly understood and appreciated, came +unprecedented good times. To all appearances, therefore, Jay's +re-election in 1798 seemed assured by an increased majority, and the +announcement that Chancellor Livingston was a voluntary rival proved +something of a political shock.<a name="vol1FNanchor_81_81" id="vol1FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> For many years the relations +between Jay and Livingston were intimate. They had been partners in +the law, associates in the Council of Revision, colleagues in +Congress, co-workers in the formation of a state constitution, and +companions in the Poughkeepsie convention. Jay had succeeded +Livingston in 1784 as secretary of foreign affairs under the +Confederation, and while the charming Mrs. Jay was giving her now +historic dinners and suppers at 133 Broadway, her cousin, Robert R. +Livingston, of No. 3 Broadway, was among her most distinguished +guests. In her home Livingston made those arrangements with Hamilton +and Jay, the Morrises and the Schuylers, that resulted in the +overthrow of Governor Clinton and his supporters in the convention +which ratified the Federal Constitution.</p> + +<p>But after Washington's inauguration, and Jay's appointment as chief +justice of the United States Supreme Court, the Chancellor had been as +intense, if not as violent an oppo<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.79" id="vol1Page_i.79">i. 79</a></span>nent of Federalism as Brockholst +Livingston. In their criticism of Jay's treaty these two cousins had +been especially bitter. The Chancellor attacked it as "Cato," +Brockholst as "Decius;" the one spoke against it on the platform with +Aaron Burr, the other voluntarily joined the mob—if he did not +actually throw the stone—that wounded Hamilton; while the Chancellor +saw a copy of the treaty slowly destroyed at Bowling Green, Brockholst +coolly witnessed its distinguished author burned in effigy "in the +Fields." Relationship did not spare John Jay. Cousin and +brother-in-law had the "love frenzy for France," which finally +culminated in celebrating the ninth anniversary of the treaty of +alliance between France and America, at which Brockholst became +proudly eloquent, and the Chancellor most happy in the felicity of an +historic toast: "May the present coolness between France and America +produce, like the quarrels of lovers, a renewal of love."</p> + +<p>Chancellor Livingston was now in the fifty-first year of his age, tall +and handsome, with an abundance of hair already turning gray, which +fell in ringlets over a square high forehead, lending a certain +dignity that made him appear as great in private life as he was when +gowned and throned in his important office.<a name="vol1FNanchor_82_82" id="vol1FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> In the estimation of +his contemporaries he was one of the most gifted men of his time, and +the judgment of a later age has not reversed their decision. He added +learning to great natural ability, and brilliancy to profound thought; +and although so deaf as to make communication with him difficult, he +nearly concealed the defect by his remarkable eloquence and +conversational gifts. Benjamin Franklin called him "the Cicero of +America." His love for the beautiful attracted Edmund Burke. It is +doubtful<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.80" id="vol1Page_i.80">i. 80</a></span> if he had a superior in the State in the knowledge of +history and the classics, and in the study of science Samuel L. +Mitchill alone stood above him. He lacked the creative genius of +Hamilton, the prescient gifts of Jay, and the skill of Burr to marshal +men for selfish purposes, but he was at home in debate with the ablest +men of his time, a master of sarcasm, of trenchant wit, and of +felicitous rhetoric.</p> + +<p>Livingston's candidacy for governor was clearly a dash for the +Presidency. He reasoned, as every ambitious New York statesman has +reasoned from that day to this, that if he could carry the State in an +off year, he would be needed in a presidential year. This reasoning +reduces the governorship to a sort of spring-board from which to vault +into the White House, and, although only one man in a century has +performed the feat, it has always figured as a popular and potent +factor in the settlement of political nominations. George Clinton +thought promotion would come to him, and Hamilton inspired Jay with a +similar notion, although it is doubtful if the people ever seriously +considered the candidacy of either; but Livingston, sanguine of better +treatment, was willing voluntarily to withdraw from the professional +path along which he had moved to great distinction, staking more than +he had a right to stake on success. In his reckoning, as the sequel +showed, he miscalculated the popularity of Jay as much as Hamilton did +that of George Clinton in 1789.</p> + +<p>The Chancellor undoubtedly believed the tide of Federalism, which had +been steadily rising for six years, was about to ebb. There were +sporadic indications of it. Perhaps Livingston thought it had already +turned, since Republicans had recently won several significant +elections. Two years before DeWitt Clinton and his associates had +suffered defeat in a city which now returned four assemblymen and one +senator with an average Republican majority of more than one thousand. +This indicated that the constant talk of monarchical tendencies, of +Hamilton's centralising measures, and of the court customs introduced +by Washington and fol<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.81" id="vol1Page_i.81">i. 81</a></span>lowed by Adams, was beginning to influence the +timid into voting with Republicans.</p> + +<p>But counteracting influences were also at work, which Livingston, in +his zeal for political honours, possibly did not observe. New England +Federalists, attracted by the fertile valleys of the Hudson and the +Mohawk, had filled the western district, and were now holding it +faithful to the party of Jay and Hamilton. Just at this time, too, +Federalists were bound to be strengthened by the insulting treatment +of American envoys sent to France to restore friendly intercourse +between the two republics. President Adams' message, based upon their +correspondence, asserted that nothing could be accomplished "on terms +compatible with the safety, honour, and essential interests of the +United States," and advised that immediate steps be taken for the +national defence. What the President had withheld for prudential +reasons, the public did not know; but it knew that the Cabinet +favoured an immediate declaration of war, and that the friends of the +Administration in Congress were preparing for such an event. This of +itself should have taken Livingston out of the gubernatorial contest; +for if war were declared before the April election, the result would +assuredly be as disastrous to him as the publication of Jay's treaty +in April, 1795, would have been hurtful to the Federalists. But +Chancellor Livingston, following the belief of his party that France +did not intend to go to war with America, accepted what he had been +seeking for months, and entered the campaign with high hopes.</p> + +<p>Jay had intended retiring from public life at the close of his first +term as governor.<a name="vol1FNanchor_83_83" id="vol1FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> For a quarter of a century he had been looking +forward to a release from the cares of office, and to the quiet of his +country home in Westchester; but "the indignities which France was at +that time heaping upon his country," says William Jay, his son and +biographer, "and the probability that they would soon lead to war, +forbade him to consult his personal gratification."<a name="vol1FNanchor_84_84" id="vol1FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> On the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.82" id="vol1Page_i.82">i. 82</a></span> 6th of +March, therefore, he accepted renomination on a ticket with Stephen +Van Rensselaer for lieutenant-governor.</p> + +<p>It is significant that the anti-Federalists failed to nominate a +lieutenant-governor on the ticket with Livingston. Stephen Van +Rensselaer was a Federalist of the old school, a brother-in-law of +Hamilton, and a vigorous supporter of his party. It is difficult to +accept the theory that none of his opponents wanted the place; it is +easier to believe that under existing conditions no one of sufficient +prominence cared to make the race, especially after President Adams +had published the correspondence of the American envoys, disclosing +Talleyrand's demand for $240,000 as a gift and $6,000,000 as a loan, +with the threat that in the event of failure to comply, "steps will be +taken immediately to ravage the coast of the United States by French +frigates from St. Domingo." The display of such despicable greed, +coupled with the menace, acted very much as the fire of a file of +British soldiers did in Boston in 1770, and sent the indignant and +eloquent reply of Charles C. Pinckney, then minister to France, +ringing throughout the country—"Millions for defence, but not a cent +for tribute." Within four weeks Congress authorised the establishment +of a navy department, the construction of ten war vessels, the +recapture of American ships unlawfully seized, the purchase of cannon, +arms, and military stores, and the raising of a provisional army of +ten thousand, with the acceptance of militia volunteers. The French +tri-colour gave place to the black cockade, a symbol of patriotism in +Revolutionary days, and "Hail Columbia," then first published and set +to the "President's March," was sung to the wildest delight of +American audiences in theatres and churches.</p> + +<p>In the midst of this excitement occurred the election for governor. +The outcome was a decided change, sending Jay's majority up to +2380.<a name="vol1FNanchor_85_85" id="vol1FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> It is not easy to estimate how much of this result was +influenced by the rising war cloud, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.83" id="vol1Page_i.83">i. 83</a></span> how much is to be credited to +the individuality of the candidates. Both probably entered into the +equation. But the fact that Jay carried legislative districts in which +Republicans sent DeWitt Clinton and Ambrose Spencer to the Senate, +would indicate that confidence in Jay, if not dislike of Livingston, +had been the principal factor in this sweeping victory. "The result of +this election terminated, as was foreseen," wrote William P. Van Ness, +four years later, "in the defeat and mortification of Mr. Livingston, +and confirmed the conviction of the party, that the people had no +confidence in his political integrity, and had been disgusted by his +unwarrantable expectations. His want of popularity was so well known +that nothing could have induced this inexpedient measure, but a desire +to show the futility of his pretensions, and thus in future avoid his +hitherto unceasing importunities."<a name="vol1FNanchor_86_86" id="vol1FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a></p> + +<p>Livingston's search for distinction in the political field seems to +have resulted in unhappiness. The distinguished ability displayed as +chancellor followed him to the end, but the joy of public life +vanished when he entered the domain of partisan politics. Had he +possessed those qualities of leadership that bind party and friends by +ties of unflinching services, he might have reaped the reward his +ambition so ardently craved; but his peculiar temper unfitted him for +such a career. Jealous, fretful, sensitive, and suspicious, he was as +restless as his eloquence was dazzling, and, although generous to the +poor, his political methods savoured of selfishness, making enemies, +divorcing friends, and darkening his pathway with gathering clouds.</p> + +<p>The story of John Jay's second term is not all a record of success. +Strenuous statesmen, catching the contagion of excitement growing out +of the war news from France, formed themselves into clubs, made +eloquent addresses, and cheered John Adams and his readiness to fight +rather than pay tribute, while the Legislature, in extra session, +responded to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.84" id="vol1Page_i.84">i. 84</a></span> Jay's patriotic appeal by unanimously pledging the +President the support of the State, and making appropriations for the +repair of fortifications and the purchase of munitions of war. From +all indications, the Federalists seemed certain to continue in power +for the next decade, since the more their opponents sympathised with +the French, the stronger became the sentiment against them. If ever +there was a period in the history of the United States when the +opposite party should have been encouraged to talk, and to talk loudly +and saucily, it was in the summer of 1798, when the American people +had waked up to the insulting treatment accorded their envoys in +France; but the Federalist leaders, horrified by the bloody record of +the French Revolution, seemed to cultivate an increasing distrust of +the common people, whom they now sought to repress by the historic +measures known as the Naturalisation Act of June 18, 1798, the Alien +Act of June 25, and the Sedition Act of July 14.</p> + +<p>The briefest recital of the purpose of these laws is sufficient to +prove the folly of the administration that fathered them, and when one +considers the possible lengths to which an official, representing the +President, might go if instigated by private or party revenge, Edward +Livingston's declaration that they "would have disgraced the age of +Gothic barbarity" does not seem too strong.<a name="vol1FNanchor_87_87" id="vol1FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> Under the Alien Act +persons not citizens of the United States could be summarily banished +at the sole discretion of the President, without guilt or even +accusation, thus jeopardising the liberty and business of the most +peaceable and well-disposed foreigner. Under the Act of Sedition a +citizen could be dragged from his bed at night and taken hundreds of +miles from home to be tried for circulating a petition asking that +these laws be repealed. The intended effect was to weed out the +foreign-born and crush political opponents, and, the better to +accom<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.85" id="vol1Page_i.85">i. 85</a></span>plish this purpose, the Alien Act set aside trial by jury, and +the Sedition Act transferred prosecutions from state courts to federal +tribunals.</p> + +<p>Governor Jay approved these extreme measures because of alleged secret +combinations in the interest of the French; and, although no proof of +their existence appeared except in the unsupported statements of the +press, he submitted to the Legislature, in January, 1799, several +amendments to the Federal Constitution, proposed by Massachusetts, +increasing the disability of foreigners, and otherwise limiting their +rights to citizenship. The Legislature, still strongly Federal in both +its branches, did not take kindly to the amendments, and the Assembly +rejected them by the surprising vote of sixty-two to thirty-eight. +Then came up the famous Kentucky and Virginia resolutions. The +Virginia resolves, drafted by Madison and passed by the Virginia +Legislature, pronounced the Alien and Sedition laws "palpable and +alarming infractions of the Constitution;" the Kentucky resolutions, +drafted by Jefferson, declared each act to be "not law, but altogether +void and of no force." This was nullification, and the States north of +the Potomac hastened to disavow any such doctrine, although the vote +in the New York Assembly came perilously near indorsing it.</p> + +<p>The discussion of these measures gave opportunity for the public +opening of a great career in New York legislation—a career that was +to continue into the years made memorable by Martin Van Buren and +William L. Marcy. The record of New York party politics for forty +years is a record of long and brilliant contests in which Erastus +Root, if not a recognised party chieftain, was one of the ablest +lieutenants that marshalled on the field of combat. He was a man of +gigantic frame, scholarly and much given to letters, and, although +somewhat uncouth in manner and rough in speech, his forceful logic, +coupled with keen wit and biting sarcasm, made him a dreaded opponent +and a welcomed ally. He resembled Hamilton in his independence, +relying less upon organisation and more upon the strength of his +personality,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.86" id="vol1Page_i.86">i. 86</a></span> yet shrewdly holding close relations with those whose +careful management and adroit manipulation of the spoils kept men in +line whatever the policy it seemed expedient to adopt. For eleven +years he served in the Assembly, and thrice became speaker; for eight +years he served in the Senate, and twice became its president; for +twelve years he served in the lower house of Congress, and once became +lieutenant-governor. Wherever he served, he was recognised as a +master, not always consistent, but always earnest, eloquent, and +popular, fighting relentlessly and tirelessly, and compelling respect +even when unsuccessful.</p> + +<p>Just now Root was an ardent admirer of Aaron Burr and a bitter +opponent of Alexander Hamilton. He was only twenty-six years old. +During the contest over the Federal Constitution he was a leader in +boyish sports at his Connecticut home, thinking more of the next +wrestling match and the girl he should escort from the lyceum than of +the character of the constitution under which he should live; but he +came to the Assembly in 1798 a staunch supporter of republicanism, +believing that Federalists should give place to men inclined to trust +the people with larger power, and in this spirit he led the debate +against the Alien and Sedition laws with such brilliancy that he +leaped into prominence at a single bound. Freedom and fearlessness +characterised the work of this young orator, singling him out as the +people's champion, and giving him the confidence of five thousand +"Wild Irishmen," as Otis called them, who had sought America as an +asylum for the oppressed of all nations. Unrestrained by precedent and +unruled by fear for the future, he spoke with confidence to a people +whom he delighted with the breadth and liberality of his views, +lifting them onto heights from which they had never before surveyed +their political rights.</p> + +<p>In the debate in the Assembly on the indorsement of the Kentucky +resolutions Root maintained with great force the right of the people's +representatives in the Legislature to express an opinion upon an act +of Congress, however solemn, and he ridiculed the argument that +questions limited to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.87" id="vol1Page_i.87">i. 87</a></span> judiciary were beyond the jurisdiction of +any other body of men to criticise and condemn. This touched a popular +chord, and if the mere expression of an opinion by the Assembly had +been the real question at issue, young Root might have carried his +point as he did the fight against the amendments proposed by +Massachusetts. But there was one question Root did not successfully +meet. Although Jefferson's eighth and ninth resolutions—declaring +that whenever the general government assumed powers not delegated, "a +nullification of the act is the rightful remedy" of every State—had +been stricken out, the dangerous doctrine was still present in the +preamble, making it apparent to the friends of the Constitution that +the promulgation of such a monstrous heresy would be worse than the +acts sought to be annulled. It is not clear that Root's understanding +of these resolutions went so far; for the question discussed by him +concerned only the right of the Legislature to express an opinion +respecting the wisdom or unwisdom of an act of Congress. Nor does it +appear that he favoured what afterward became known as +"nullification;" for it is certain that when, thirty-four years later, +the doctrine came up again under John C. Calhoun's leadership, Erastus +Root, then in Congress, struck at it as he would at the head of a +viper, becoming the fearless expounder of principles which civil war +permanently established.</p> + +<p>While young Root was leading the debate in the Assembly, Ambrose +Spencer led it in the Senate. Spencer's apostacy produced a profound +sensation in political circles. He had given no intimation of a change +of political principles. Although still a young man, barely +thirty-three, he had ranked among the foremost leaders of the +Federalist party, having been honoured as an assistant +attorney-general, a state senator, a member of the Council of +Appointment, a friend of Hamilton, and the confidential adviser of +Jay. The latter's heart might well sink within him to be abandoned by +such a colleague at a time when the stability of the Union was +insidiously attacked; nor ought Spencer to have been surprised that +public rumour immediately set to work to find<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.88" id="vol1Page_i.88">i. 88</a></span> some reason for his +change less simple and less honest, perhaps, than a dislike of the +Federalist policy. Various causes have been given for his mysterious +behaviour. Some thought him eager for a high mark of presidential +favour, possibly a mission abroad, which was not warmly advocated by +Hamilton; others believed that the bitter quarrel between Adams and +Hamilton influenced him to desert a sinking party; but the rumour +generally accepted by the Federalists ascribed it to his failure to +become state comptroller in place of Samuel Jones, an office which he +sought. It was recalled that shortly after Jones' appointment, Spencer +raised the question, with some show of bitterness, that Jones' seat in +the Senate should be declared vacant.</p> + +<p>Spencer denied the charges with expletives and with emphasis, treating +the accusations as a calumny, and insisting that his change of +principles occurred in the spring of 1798 before his re-election as +senator. This antedated the alien and sedition measures, but not the +appointment of Samuel Jones, making his conversion contemporary with +the candidacy for governor of Chancellor Livingston, to whom he was +related. It is not unlikely that he shared Livingston's confidence in +an election and thought it a good time to join the party of his +relative; but whether his change was a matter of principle, of +self-interest, or of resentment, it bitterly stung the Federalists, +who did not cease to assail him as a turncoat for the flesh-pots.<a name="vol1FNanchor_88_88" id="vol1FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a></p> + +<p>The début of the brilliant Root and the St. Paul-like conversion of +Ambrose Spencer were not, however, needed to overthrow a party +responsible for the famous alien and sedition laws. No one has ever +yet successfully defended this hasty, ill-considered legislation, nor +has any one ever admitted responsibility for it, except President +Adams who approved it, and who, up to the last moment of his long +life,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.89" id="vol1Page_i.89">i. 89</a></span> contended that it was "constitutional and salutary, if not +necessary." President Adams had, indeed, refrained from using the +power so lavishly given him; but rash subordinates listened to the +dictate of unwise party leaders. The ridiculous character of these +prosecutions is illustrated by a fine of one hundred dollars because +one defendant wished that the wadding used in a salute to John Adams +had lodged in the ample part of the President's trousers.</p> + +<p>But the sedition law had a more serious enemy than rash subordinates. +John Armstrong, author of the celebrated "Newburgh Letters," and until +recently a Federalist, wrote a vitriolic petition for its repeal, +which Jedediah Peck circulated for signatures. This incited the +indiscreet and excitable Judge Cooper, father of the distinguished +novelist, to begin a prosecution; and upon his complaint, the United +States marshal, armed with a bench-warrant, carried off Peck to New +York City for trial. It is two hundred miles from Cooperstown to the +mouth of the Hudson, and in the spring of 1800 the marshal and his +prisoner were five days on the way. The newspapers reported Peck as +"taken from his bed at midnight, manacled, and dragged from his home," +because he dared ask his neighbours to petition Congress to repeal an +offensive law. "The rule of George Third," declared the press, "was +gracious and loving compared to such tyranny." In the wildest delirium +of revolutionary days, when patriots were refusing to drink tea, and +feeding it to the fishes, New York had not been more deeply stirred +than now. "A hundred missionaries in the cause of democracy, stationed +between New York and Cooperstown," says Hammond, the historian, "could +not have done so much for the Republican cause as this journey of +Jedediah Peck from Otsego to the capital of the State. It was nothing +less than the public exhibition of a suffering martyr for the freedom +of speech and the press, and for the right of petition."<a name="vol1FNanchor_89_89" id="vol1FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p> + +<p>This was the political condition when Aaron Burr, in the spring of +1800, undertook to gain twelve electoral votes for<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.90" id="vol1Page_i.90">i. 90</a></span> the Republicans by +carrying the Legislature of New York. It required seventy electoral +votes to choose a President, and outside of New York the +anti-Federalists could count sixty-one. The capture of this State, +therefore, would give them a safe majority. Without advertising his +purposes, Burr introduced the sly methods that characterised his +former campaigns, beginning with the selection of a ticket that would +commend itself to all, and ending with an organisation that would do +credit to the management of the later-day chiefs of Tammany. To avoid +the already growing rivalry between the Clinton and Livingston +factions, George Clinton and Brockholst Livingston headed the ticket, +followed by Horatio Gates of Revolutionary fame, John Broome, soon to +be lieutenant-governor, Samuel Osgood, for two years Washington's +postmaster-general, John Swartout, already known for his vigorous +record in the Assembly, and others equally acceptable. Burr himself +stood for the county of Orange. For the first time in the history of +political campaigning, too, local managers prepared lists of voters, +canvassed wards by streets, held meetings throughout the city, and +introduced other methods of organisation common enough nowadays, but +decidedly novel then.</p> + +<p>Hamilton was alive to the importance of the April election, but +scarcely responsible for the critical character of the situation. He +had not approved the alien and sedition measures, nor did he commit +himself to the persecuting policy sanctioned by most Federal leaders, +and although he favoured suppressing newspaper libels against the +government, he was himself alien-born, and of a mind too broad not to +understand the danger of arousing foreign-born citizens against his +party on lines of national sentiment. "If we make no false step," he +wrote Oliver Wolcott, "we shall be essentially united, but if we push +things to extremes, we shall then give to faction body and +solidity."<a name="vol1FNanchor_90_90" id="vol1FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> It was hasty United States attorneys and indiscreet +local politicians rather than the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.91" id="vol1Page_i.91">i. 91</a></span> greatest of the Federal leaders, +who gave "to faction body and solidity."</p> + +<p>Hamilton threw himself with energy into the desperate fight. For four +days, from April 29 to May 2, while the polls were open, he visited +every voting precinct, appealing to the public in his wonderfully +persuasive and captivating manner. On several occasions Burr and +Hamilton met, and it was afterward recalled that courtesy +characterised the conduct of each toward the other, one champion +waiting while the other took his turn. Rarely if ever in the history +of the country have two men of such ability and astuteness +participated in a local canvass. The rivalry was all the more exciting +because it was a rivalry of styles as well as of capacities. Burr was +smooth, polished, concise, never diffuse or declamatory, always +serious and impressive. If we may accept contemporary judgment, he was +a good speaker whom everybody was curious to hear, and from whom no +one turned away in disappointment. On the other hand, Hamilton was an +acknowledged orator, diffuse, ornate, full of metaphor, with flashes +of poetical genius, revelling in exuberant strength, and endowed with +a gift of argumentative eloquence which appealed to the intellect and +the feelings at the same time. Erastus Root says Hamilton's words were +so well chosen, and his sentences so finely formed into a swelling +current, that the hearer would be captivated if not convinced, while +Burr's arguments were generally methodised and compact. To this Root +added a judgment, after thirty years' experience in public life at +Washington and in New York, that "they were much the greatest men in +the State, and perhaps the greatest men in the United States."</p> + +<p>When the polls closed the Republicans had carried the Legislature by +twenty-two majority on joint ballot. This secured to them the election +of the needed twelve presidential electors. To recover their loss the +Federalists now clamoured for a change in the law transferring the +election of presidential electors from the Legislature to districts +cre<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.92" id="vol1Page_i.92">i. 92</a></span>ated for that purpose. Such an amendment would give the +Federalists six of the twelve electors.</p> + +<p>This was Hamilton's plan. In an earnest plea he urged Jay to convene +the Legislature in extraordinary session for this purpose. "The +anti-Federal party," he wrote to the Governor, "is a composition +indeed of very incongruous materials, but all tending to mischief; +some of them to the overthrow of the government by stripping it of its +due energies; others of them by revolutionising it after the manner of +Bonaparte. The government must not be confided to the custody of its +enemies, and, although the measure proposed is open to objection, a +popular government cannot stand if one party calls to its aid all the +resources which vice can give, and the other, however pressing the +emergency, feels itself obliged to confine itself within the ordinary +forms of delicacy and decorum."<a name="vol1FNanchor_91_91" id="vol1FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a></p> + +<p>Jay's response to Hamilton's proposal is not of record, but some time +afterward the great Federalist's letter was found carefully filed +among the papers in the public archives, bearing an indorsement in the +Governor's handwriting: "This is a measure for party purposes which I +think it would not become me to adopt."</p> + +<p>The sincerity of Jay's action has been doubted. He was about to retire +from public life, it was said, with no political future before him, +and with that courage which inspires a man under such circumstances, +he declined to act. But Jay's treatment of Hamilton's suggestion +stands out conspicuously as his best judgment at the most trying +moment in a long and eventful life. Jay was a stalwart Federalist. He +had supported Washington and Hamilton in the making of a federal +constitution; he had approved the alien and sedition laws; he had +favourably reported to the Legislature the proposed amendments of +Massachusetts, limiting service in Congress to native-born citizens; +he regarded the advent of Jefferson and his ideas with as much alarm +as Hamilton, and he knew as well as Hamilton that the adoption of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.93" id="vol1Page_i.93">i. 93</a></span> +district plan of choosing electors would probably defeat the +Virginian; but to call an extra session of the Legislature for the +purpose indicated by Hamilton, would defeat the expressed will of the +people as much as the action of the state canvassers defeated it in +1792. Should he follow such a precedent and save his party, perhaps +his country, from the dire ills so vividly portrayed by Hamilton? The +responsibility was upon him, not upon Hamilton, and he wisely refused +to do what the people of the State had so generally and properly +condemned in the canvassers.</p> + +<p>Hamilton's proposition naturally provoked the indignation of his +opponents, and later writers have used it as a text for unlimited +vituperation; but if one may judge from what happened and continued to +happen during the next three decades, not a governor who followed Jay +in those eventful years would have declined under similar +circumstances to concur in Hamilton's suggestion. It was undoubtedly a +desperate proposal, but it was squarely in line with the practice of +party leaders of that day. George Clinton countenanced, if he did not +absolutely advise, the deliberate disfranchisement of hundreds of +voters in 1792 that he might continue governor. A few years later, in +1816, methods quite as disreputable and unscrupulous were practised, +that Republicans might continue to control the Council of Appointment. +Hamilton's suggestion involved no concealment, as in the case of the +Manhattan Bank, which Jay approved; no violation of law, as in the +Otsego election case, which Clinton approved; no deliberate fraud, as +in the Allen-Fellows case, which Tompkins approved. All this does not +lessen the wrong involved in Hamilton's proposed violation of moral +ethics, but it places the suggestion in the environment to which it +properly belongs, making it appear no worse if no better than the +political practices of that day.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.94" id="vol1Page_i.94">i. 94</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_IX" id="vol1CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /> +<br /> +MISTAKES OF HAMILTON AND BURR<br /> +<br /> +1800</h2> + + +<p><br /> +<span class="smcap">The</span> ten months following the Republican triumph in New York on May 2, +1800, were fateful ones for Hamilton and Burr. It is not easy to +suggest the greater sufferer, Burr with his victory, or Hamilton with +his defeat. Hamilton's bold expedients began at once; Burr's desperate +schemes waited until after the election in November; but when the +conflict was over, the political influence of each had ebbed like +water in a bay after a tidal wave. Although Jay's refusal to reconvene +the old Legislature in extra session surprised Hamilton as much as the +Republican victory itself, the great Federalist did not despair. He +still thought it possible to throw the election of President into the +House of Representatives, and to that end he wrote his friends to give +equal support to John Adams and Charles C. Pinckney, the candidates of +the Federal party. "This is the only thing," he said, "that can +possibly save us from the fangs of Jefferson."<a name="vol1FNanchor_92_92" id="vol1FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a></p> + +<p>But the relations between Adams and Hamilton were now to break. For +twelve years Hamilton had kept Adams angry. He began in 1789 with the +inconsiderate and needless scheme of scattering the electoral votes of +Federalists for second place, lest Washington fail of the highest +number, and thus reduced Adams' vote to thirty-four, while Washington +received sixty-nine. In 1796 he advised similar tactics, in order that +Thomas Pinckney might get first place. For the past three years the +President had endured the mortification<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.95" id="vol1Page_i.95">i. 95</a></span> of having Hamilton control +his cabinet advisers. After the loss of New York, however, Adams +turned elsewhere for strength, appointing John Marshall secretary of +state in place of Timothy Pickering, and Samuel Dexter secretary of +war in place of James McHenry. The mutual dislike of Hamilton and +Adams had become so intensified that the slightest provocation on the +part of either would make any form of political reconciliation +impossible, and Adams' reconstruction of his Cabinet furnished this +provocation. Pickering and McHenry were Hamilton's best supporters. +They had done more to help him and to embarrass Adams, and their +dismissal, because of the loss of New York, made Hamilton thirsty for +revenge. Pickering suggested "a bold and frank exposure of Adams," +offering to furnish the facts if Hamilton would put them together, and +agreeing to arrange with George Cabot and other ultra Federalists of +New England, known as the "Essex Junto," to throw Adams behind Charles +C. Pinckney in the electoral vote. Their plan was to start Pinckney as +the second Federalist candidate, with the hope that parties would be +so divided as to secure his election for President. It was nothing +more than the old "double chance" manœuvres of 1796, when Thomas +Pinckney was Hamilton's choice for President; but the iniquity of the +scheme was the deception practised upon the voters who desired Adams.</p> + +<p>Of course, Adams soon learned of the revival of this old conspiracy, +and passionately and hastily opened a raking fire upon the "Essex +Junto," calling them a "British faction," with Hamilton as its chief, +a designation to which the Republican press had made them peculiarly +sensitive. This aroused Hamilton, who, preliminary to a quarrel, +addressed the President, asking if he had mentioned the writer as one +who belonged to a British faction. Receiving no reply, he again wrote +the President, angrily repelling all aspersions of the kind. This the +President likewise ignored.</p> + +<p>Then Hamilton listened to Timothy Pickering. Fiery as his temper had +often proved, and grotesquely obstinate as he<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.96" id="vol1Page_i.96">i. 96</a></span> had sometimes shown +himself, Hamilton's most erratic impulse appears like the coolness of +Jay when contrasted with the conduct upon which he now entered. The +letter he proposed to write, ostensibly in justification of himself, +was apparently intended for private circulation at some future day +among Federal leaders, to whom it would furnish reasons why electors +should unite in preferring Pinckney. It is known, too, that Hamilton's +coolest and ablest advisers opposed such a letter, recalling the +congressional caucus agreement, which he had himself advised, to vote +fairly for both Adams and Pinckney. Besides, to impair confidence in +Adams just at that moment, it was argued, would impair confidence in +the Federal party, while at best such a letter could only produce +confusion without compensatory results. But between Adams and +Jefferson, Hamilton now preferred the latter. "I will never be +responsible for him by my direct vote," he wrote in May, 1800, "even +though the consequence be the election of Jefferson."<a name="vol1FNanchor_93_93" id="vol1FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> Moreover, +Hamilton was accustomed to give, not to receive orders. Had Washington +lived, Hamilton would doubtless never have written the letter, but now +he wrote it, printed it, and in a few days was forced to publish it, +since garbled extracts began appearing in the press. Many theories +have been advanced as to how it fell into the hands of a public +printer, some fanciful, others ridiculous, and none, perhaps, +absolutely truthful. The story that Burr unwittingly coaxed a +printer's errand boy to give him a copy, is not corroborated by +Matthew L. Davis; but, however the publication happened, it was not +intended to happen in that way and at that time.</p> + +<p>It was an ugly letter, not up to Hamilton's best work. The vindication +of himself and the Pinckneys lost itself in the severity of the attack +upon Adams, whose career was reviewed from the distant day of an +unsound judgment ventured in military affairs during the Revolution, +to the latest display of a consuming egotism, vanity, and jealousy as +President. In a word, all the quarrels, resentments, and an<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.97" id="vol1Page_i.97">i. 97</a></span>tagonisms +which had torn and rent the Federal party for four years, but which, +thanks to Washington, had not become generally known, were now, in a +moment, officially exposed to the whole country, to the great +astonishment of most Federalists, and to the great delight of all +Republicans. "If the single purpose had been to defeat the President," +said John Adams, "no more propitious moment could have been chosen." +Fisher Ames declared that "the question is not how we shall fight, but +how we shall fall." In vain did Hamilton journey through New England, +struggling to gain votes for Pinckney; in vain did the "Essex Junto" +deplore the appearance of a document certain to do their Jacobin +opponents great service. The party, already practically defeated by +its alien and sedition legislation, and now inflamed with angry +feelings, hastened on to the inevitable catastrophe like a boat sucked +into the rushing waters of Niagara, while the party of Jefferson, +united in principle, and encouraged by the divisions of their +adversaries, marched on to easy victory. When the result was known, +Jefferson and Burr had each seventy-three electoral votes, Adams +sixty-five, Pinckney sixty-four, and Jay one.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to realise the arguments which persuaded Hamilton to +follow the suggestion of the fallen minister. Hot-tempered and +impatient of restraint as he was, he knew Adams' attack had only paid +him in kind. Nor is mitigation of Hamilton's conduct found in the +statement, probably true, that the party could not in any case have +carried the election. The great mass of Federalists believed, as +Hamilton wrote Jay when asking an extra session of the Legislature, +that the defeat of Jefferson was "the only means to save the nation +from more disasters," and they naturally looked to him to accomplish +that defeat. Of all men that ever led a political party, therefore, it +was Hamilton's duty to sink personal antipathy, but in this attack +upon Adams he seems deliberately to have sinned against the light. +This was the judgment of men of his own day, and at the end of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.98" id="vol1Page_i.98">i. 98</a></span> +century it is the judgment of men who cherish his teachings and revere +his memory.</p> + +<p>While Hamilton wrote and worried and wrestled, Aaron Burr rested on +the well-earned laurels of victory. It had been a great fight. George +Clinton did not take kindly to Thomas Jefferson, and stubbornly +resisted allowing the use of his name to aid the Virginian's +promotion; Horatio Gates and other prominent citizens who had left the +political arena years before, if they could be said ever to have +entered it, were also indisposed to head a movement that seemed to +them certain to end in rout and confusion; but Burr held on until +scruples disappeared, and their names headed a winning ticket. It was +the first ray of light to break the Republican gloom, and when, six +months later, the Empire State declared for Jefferson and Burr it +added to the halo already surrounding the grandson of Jonathan +Edwards.</p> + +<p>It was known that Jefferson and Burr had run very evenly, and by the +middle of December, 1800, it became rumoured that their vote was a +tie. "If such should be the result," Burr wrote Samuel Smith, a +Republican congressman from Maryland, "every man who knows me ought to +know that I would utterly disclaim all competition. Be assured that +the Federalist party can entertain no wish for such an exchange. As to +my friends, they would dishonour my views and insult my feelings by a +suspicion that I would submit to be instrumental in counteracting the +wishes and the expectations of the people of the United States. And I +now constitute you my proxy to declare these sentiments if the +occasion should require."<a name="vol1FNanchor_94_94" id="vol1FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> At the time this letter was much +applauded at public dinners and other Republican gatherings as proof +of Burr's respect for the will of the people.</p> + +<p>But the Federalists had plans of their own. "To elect Burr would be to +cover the opposition with chagrin, and to sow among them the seeds of +a morbid division," wrote Harrison Gray Otis of Massachusetts.<a name="vol1FNanchor_95_95" id="vol1FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> +Gradually this sentiment took possession of New England and the Middle +States, until<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.99" id="vol1Page_i.99">i. 99</a></span> it seemed to be the prevailing opinion of the Federal +party. "Some, indeed most of our eastern friends are warm in support +of Burr," said Gouverneur Morris, which James A. Bayard of Delaware +corroborated in a note to Hamilton. "There appears to be a strong +inclination in a majority of the Federal party to support Burr," he +said.<a name="vol1FNanchor_96_96" id="vol1FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> "The current has already acquired considerable force, and is +manifestly increasing." John Rutledge, governor of South Carolina, +thought "his promotion will be prodigiously afflicting to the Virginia +faction, and must disjoint the party. If Mr. B.'s Presidency be +productive of evils, it will be very easy for us to get rid of him. +Opposed by the Virginia party, it will be his interest to conciliate +the Federalists."<a name="vol1FNanchor_97_97" id="vol1FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> Theodore Sedgwick, speaker of the House of +Representatives, likewise declared that "most of the Federalists are +for Burr. It is very evident that the Jacobins dread this appointment +more even than that of General Pinckney. If he be elected by the +Federalists against the hearty opposition of the Jacobins, the wounds +mutually given and received will probably be incurable. Each will have +committed the unpardonable sin. Burr must depend on good men for his +support, and that support he cannot receive, but by a conformity to +their views. At first, I confess, I was strongly disposed to give +Jefferson the preference, but the more I have reflected, the more I +have inclined to the other."<a name="vol1FNanchor_98_98" id="vol1FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p> + +<p>To such a course Hamilton was bitterly opposed, not only because he +distrusted Burr more than he did Jefferson, but because the +Federalists should leave the responsibility of a selection to the +Republicans and thus in nowise be answerable for the consequences. "If +the anti-Federalists who prevailed in the election," he wrote Bayard +of Delaware, "are left to take their own man, they remain responsible, +and the Federalists remain free, united, and without stain, in a +situation to resist with effect pernicious measures. If the +Federalists substitute Burr, they adopt him, and become answerable for +him. Whatever may be the theory of the case,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.100" id="vol1Page_i.100">i. 100</a></span> abroad and at home, Mr. +Burr must become, in fact, the man of our party; and if he acts ill, +we must share in the blame and disgrace. By adopting him, we do all we +can to reconcile the minds of Federalists to him, and we prepare them +for the effectual operation of his acts. He will, doubtless, gain many +of them; and the Federalists will become a disorganised and +contemptible party. Can there be any serious question between the +policy of leaving the anti-Federalists to be answerable for the +elevation of an objectionable man, and that of adopting him ourselves, +and becoming answerable for a man who, on all hands, is acknowledged +to be a complete Catiline? 'Tis enough to state the question to +indicate the answer, if reason, not passion, presides in the +decision."<a name="vol1FNanchor_99_99" id="vol1FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></p> + +<p>Gouverneur Morris, now a United States senator, had already taken a +similar position. Bayard of Delaware, who carried the vote of the +little State in his pocket, and several other leading Federalists, +listened with profound respect; but the great portion of the party, +maddened by reverses, eager for revenge, and not yet mindless of +Hamilton's campaign indiscretion, was in no temper to follow such +prudent advice. As already indicated, the disposition was "to cover +the opposition with chagrin," and "to sow among them the seeds of +morbid division." Nor did they agree with Hamilton's estimate of Burr, +which seemed to them attributable to professional and personal feuds, +but maintained that he was a matter-of-fact man, artful and dexterous +to accomplish his ends, and without pernicious theories, whose very +selfishness was a guard against mischievous foreign predilection, and +whose local situation was helpful to his appreciation of the utility +of the country's commercial and federal systems, while his elevation +to the Presidency would be a mortal stab to the Jacobins, breeding +invincible hatred and compelling him to lean on the Federalists, who +had nothing to fear from his ambition, since it would be checked by +his good sense, or from any scheme of usurpation that he might +attempt.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.101" id="vol1Page_i.101">i. 101</a></span></p> + +<p>In vain did Hamilton combat these points, insisting that Burr was a +man of extreme and irregular ambition, selfish to a degree which even +excluded social affection, and decidedly profligate. He admitted that +he was far more artful than wise, far more dexterous than able, but +held that artfulness and dexterity were objections rather than +recommendations, while he thought a systematic statesman should have a +theory. "No general principles," he said, "will work much better than +erroneous ones."<a name="vol1FNanchor_100_100" id="vol1FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> As to foreign predilection, he thought Burr as +warm a partisan of France as Jefferson, and instead of leaning on good +men, whom he knew would never support his bad projects, he would +endeavour to disorganise both parties, and from the wreck form a third +out of conspirators and other men fitted by character to carry out his +schemes of usurpation. As the campaign advanced he became more +emphatic, insisting that Burr's election would disgrace the country +abroad, and that no agreement with him could be relied upon. "As well +think to bind a giant by a cobweb as his ambition by promises."<a name="vol1FNanchor_101_101" id="vol1FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a></p> + +<p>In the meantime the electoral count, as already anticipated, had +thrown the election into the House of Representatives, where it would +be decided on the 11th of February, 1801. In the House the Republicans +controlled eight States to the Federalists' six, with Maryland and +Vermont without a majority of either party. To elect Jefferson, +therefore, an additional State must be secured, and to prevent it, if +possible, the Federalists, by a party caucus held in January, resolved +to support Burr, Bayard and three others, any one of whom could decide +the choice for Jefferson, reserving the right to limit the contest to +March 4, and thus avoid the risk of general anarchy by a failure to +elect.</p> + +<p>Very naturally the Republicans became alarmed and ugly. Jefferson +wrote Madison of the deplorable tie, suggesting that it had produced +great dismay and gloom among Republicans and exultation among +Federalists, "who openly de<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.102" id="vol1Page_i.102">i. 102</a></span>clare they will prevent an election."<a name="vol1FNanchor_102_102" id="vol1FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> +James Gunn, a United States senator from Georgia and a Federalist, +advised Hamilton that "the Jacobins are determined to resist the +election of Burr at every hazard, and I am persuaded they have taken +their ground with a fixed resolution to destroy the government rather +than yield their point."<a name="vol1FNanchor_103_103" id="vol1FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> Madison thought if the then House of +Representatives did not choose Jefferson, the next House would do so, +supported as he was by the great body of the people, who would no +longer submit "to the degradation of America by attempts to make Burr +the President."<a name="vol1FNanchor_104_104" id="vol1FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a></p> + +<p>Not a word came from Burr. Jefferson tried repeatedly to bring him to +an explicit understanding without avail. His only published utterance +on the subject, save the letter to Samuel Smith, was in a family note +of January 15 to his son-in-law, Joseph Allston of South Carolina, in +which he spoke of the tie as exciting great speculation and much +anxiety, adding, "I believe that all will be well, and that Jefferson +will be our President."<a name="vol1FNanchor_105_105" id="vol1FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> Five days before this, Speaker Sedgwick +informed Hamilton that "Burr has expressed his displeasure at the +publication of his letter by Samuel Smith,"<a name="vol1FNanchor_106_106" id="vol1FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> which, wrote Bayard +on January 7, "is here understood to have proceeded either from a +false calculation as to the result of the electoral vote, or was +intended as a cover to blind his own party."<a name="vol1FNanchor_107_107" id="vol1FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> But there was no +danger of Joseph Allston publishing his note, at least not until the +fight was over.</p> + +<p>Burr's letter to his son-in-law bore date at Albany. Being a member of +the Legislature he had gone there early in January, where he not only +kept silent but mysteriously aloof, although his lobbyists thronged +Washington in such numbers that Senator Morris, on February 14, asked +his colleague, John Armstrong, "how it happened that Burr, who is four +hundred miles off, has agents here at work with great<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.103" id="vol1Page_i.103">i. 103</a></span> activity, while +Mr. Jefferson, who is on the spot, does nothing?"<a name="vol1FNanchor_108_108" id="vol1FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> That these +agents understood their mission and were quite as active as Morris +represented, was evident by the reports sent from time to time to +Hamilton, who remained in New York. "Some who pretend to know his +views," wrote Morris, "think he will bargain with the +Federalists."<a name="vol1FNanchor_109_109" id="vol1FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> Bayard was also approached. "Persons friendly to +Mr. Burr state distinctly that he is willing to consider the +Federalists as his friends, and to accept the office of President as +their gift."<a name="vol1FNanchor_110_110" id="vol1FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> As early as January 10 Governor Rutledge wrote that +"we are assured by a gentleman who lately had some conversation with +Mr. Burr on this subject that he is disposed to maintain and expand +our systems."<a name="vol1FNanchor_111_111" id="vol1FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a></p> + +<p>As the campaign proceeded it became evident to Burr that Republicans +were needed as well as Federalists, and a bright young man, William P. +Van Ness, who had accompanied Burr to Albany as a favourite companion, +wrote Edward Livingston, the brilliant New York congressman, that "it +is the sense of the Republicans in this State that, after some trials +in the House, Mr. Jefferson should be given up for Mr. Burr."<a name="vol1FNanchor_112_112" id="vol1FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> +This was wholly conjectural, and Burr and his young friend knew it; +but it was a part of the game, since Burr, so Hamilton wrote Morris, +"perfectly understands himself with Edward Livingston, who will be his +agent at the seat of government," adding that Burr had volunteered the +further information "that the Federalists might proceed in the +certainty that, upon a second ballot New York and Tennessee would join +him."<a name="vol1FNanchor_113_113" id="vol1FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> There is no doubt Burr believed then, and for some time +afterward, that Edward Livingston was his friend, but he did not know +that Jefferson had offered the secretaryship of the navy to Edward's +brother, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.104" id="vol1Page_i.104">i. 104</a></span> powerful Chancellor,<a name="vol1FNanchor_114_114" id="vol1FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> or that the Chancellor's young +brother was filling Jefferson's diary with the doings and sayings of +those who were interested in Burr's election. Edward got a United +States attorneyship for his treachery, and soon after became a +defaulter for thirty thousand dollars under circumstances of culpable +carelessness, as the Treasury thought.<a name="vol1FNanchor_115_115" id="vol1FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a></p> + +<p>The voting began on February 11. On the first ballot eight States +voted for Jefferson and six for Burr, Vermont and Maryland being +neutralised by an even party division. In this manner the voting +continued for six days, through thirty-five ballots, the House taking +recesses to give members rest, caucuses opportunity to meet, and the +sick time to be brought in on their beds. Finally, on the thirty-sixth +ballot, the Vermont Federalist withdrew, and the four Maryland +Federalists, with Bayard of Delaware, put in blanks, giving Jefferson +ten States and Burr five.</p> + +<p>Burr had played his game with the skill of a master. The tactics that +elected him to the United States Senate in 1791 and made him a +gubernatorial possibility in 1792 were repeated on a larger scale and +shrouded in deeper mystery. He had appeared to disavow any intention +of supplanting Jefferson, and yet had played for Federalist and +Republican support so cleverly that Jefferson pronounced his conduct +"honourable and decisive, and greatly embarrassing" to those who tried +to "debauch him from his good faith." In the evening of the +inauguration, President and Vice President received together the +congratulations of their countrymen at the presidential mansion. At +Albany banqueting Republicans drank the health of "Aaron Burr, Vice +President of the United States; his uniform and patriotic exertions in +favour of Republicanism eclipsed only by his late disinterested +conduct."<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.105" id="vol1Page_i.105">i. 105</a></span></p> + +<p>But when soberer thoughts came the Republican mind was disturbed with +the question why Burr, after the Federalists had openly resolved to +support him, did not proclaim on the housetop what he had written to +Samuel Smith before the tie was known. Gradually the truth began to +dawn as men talked and compared notes, and before three months had +elapsed Jefferson's estimate of Burr's character corresponded with +Hamilton's. It is of record that from 1790 to 1800 Jefferson +considered him "for sale," and when the Virginians, after twice +refusing to vote for him, finally sustained him for Vice President, +they did so repenting their act.<a name="vol1FNanchor_116_116" id="vol1FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a></p> + +<p>It is not easy to indicate the source of Burr's inherent badness. His +father, a clergyman of rare scholarship and culture, became, at the +age of thirty-two, the second president of Princeton College, while +Jonathan Edwards, his maternal grandfather, whose "Freedom of the +Will" made him an intellectual world-force, became its third +president; but if one may accept contemporary judgment, Aaron Burr had +scarcely one good or great quality of heart. Like Lord Chesterfield, +his favourite author, he had intellect without truth or virtue; like +Chesterfield, too, he was small in stature and slender.<a name="vol1FNanchor_117_117" id="vol1FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> Here, +however, the comparison must end if Lord Hervey's description of +Chesterfield be accepted, for in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.106" id="vol1Page_i.106">i. 106</a></span>stead of broad, rough features, and +an ugly face, Burr's personal appearance, suggested by the delicately +chiselled features in the marble, was the gift of a mother noted for +beauty as well as for the inheritance of her father's great +intellectuality. Writers never forget the large black eyes, keen and +penetrating, so irresistible to gifted and beautiful women. They came +from the Edwards side; but from whence came the absence of honour that +distinguished this son and grandson of the Princeton presidents, +tradition does not inform us.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.107" id="vol1Page_i.107">i. 107</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_X" id="vol1CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /> +<br /> +JOHN JAY AND <span class="smcap">DeWITT</span> CLINTON<br /> +<br /> +1800</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap"> +The</span> election that decided the contest for Jefferson, returned DeWitt +Clinton to the State Senate, and a Republican majority to the +Assembly. As soon as the Legislature met, therefore, Clinton proposed +a new Council of Appointment. Federalists shrieked in amazement at +such a suggestion, since the existing Council had served little more +than half its term. To this Republicans replied, good naturedly, that +although party conditions were reversed, arguments remained the same, +and reminded them that in 1794, when an anti-Federalist Council had +served only a portion of its term, the Federalists compelled an +immediate change. Whatever was fair for Federalists then, they argued, +could not be unfair for Republicans now. If it was preposterous, as +Josiah Ogden Hoffman had asserted, for a Council to serve out its full +term in 1794, it was preposterous for the Council of 1800 to serve out +its full term; if Schuyler was right that it was a dangerous and +unconstitutional usurpation of power for the anti-Federalist Council +to continue its sittings, it was a dangerous and unconstitutional +usurpation of power for the Federalist Council of 1800 to continue its +sittings. Of course Federalists were wrong in 1794, and Republicans +were wrong in 1800, but there was as much poetic justice in the +situation as a Republican could desire. As soon as the Assembly had +organised, therefore, DeWitt Clinton, Ambrose Spencer, Robert +Roseboom, and John Sanders became the Council of Appointment. Sanders +was a Federalist, but Roseboom was a Republican, whose pliancy and +weakness made him the tool of Clinton and Spencer.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.108" id="vol1Page_i.108">i. 108</a></span></p> + +<p>DeWitt Clinton had at last come to his own. Until now his life had +been uncheckered by important incident and unmarked by political +achievement. He had run rapidly through the grammar school of Little +Britain, his native town; through the academy at Kingston, the only +one then in the State; through Columbia College, which he entered as a +junior at fifteen and from which he graduated at the head of his +class; and through his law studies with Samuel Jones. In 1789 came an +appointment as private secretary to his uncle, George Clinton. When +Governor Jay sought the assistance of another in 1795, Clinton resumed +the law; but he continued to practise politics for a living, and at +last found himself in the Assembly of 1797. He was then twenty-eight, +strong, handsome, and well equipped for any struggle. He had devoted +his leisure moments to reading, for which he had a passion that lasted +him all his lifetime. He was especially fond of scientific studies, +and of the active-minded Samuel L. Mitchill, six years his senior, who +gave scientific reputation to the whole State.</p> + +<p>In spite of his love for science, DeWitt Clinton was a born +politician, with all the characteristic incongruities incident to such +a life. He had the selfishness of Livingston, the inconsistency of +Spencer, the imperiousness of Root, and the ability of a statesman. +Unlike most other men of his party, he did not rely wholly upon +discipline and organisation, or upon party fealty and courtesy. +Hamilton had cherished the hope that Clinton might become a +Federalist, not because he was a trimmer, or would seek a party in +power simply for the spoils in sight, but because he had the breadth +and liberality of enlightened opinions, the prophetic instinct, and +the force of character to make things go his way, without drifting +into success by a fortunate turn in tide and wind. He was not a mere +day-dreamer, a theorist, a philosopher, a scholar, although he +possessed the gifts of each. He was, rather, a man of +action—self-willed, self-reliant, independent—as ambitious as Burr +without his slippery ways, and as determined as Hamilton with all his +ability to criticise an<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.109" id="vol1Page_i.109">i. 109</a></span> opponent. Clinton relied not more upon men +than upon measures, and in the end the one thing that made him +superior to all his contemporaries of the nineteenth century was a +never-failing belief in the possibility of success along lines marked +out for his life's work. He had faults and he committed errors. His +one great political defect filled him with faults. He would be all or +nothing. Attachment to his interests was the one supreme and only test +of fitness for favours or friendship, and at one time or another he +quarrelled with every friend who sought to retain independence of +action.</p> + +<p>Just now Clinton was looking with great expectancy into the political +future. From defeat in 1796 he had reached the Assembly in 1797, and +then passed to the State Senate in 1798; and from defeat in 1799 he +passed again into the Senate in 1800. Thus far his record was without +blemish. As a lad of eighteen he sided with his uncle in the contest +over the Federal Constitution; but once it became the supreme law of +the land he gave it early and vigorous support, not even soiling his +career by a vote for the Kentucky resolutions. Unlike the Livingstons, +he found little to commend in the controversy with Genet and the +French, and in Jay's extra session of the Legislature he voted arms +and appropriations to sustain the hands of the President and the +honour of the flag. But he condemned the trend of Federalism as +unwise, unpatriotic, and dangerous to the liberty of the citizen and +to the growth of the country; and with equal force he opposed the +influence of the French Revolution, maintaining that deeds of violence +were unnecessary to startle the public into the knowledge that +suffering exists, and that bad laws and bad social conditions result +in hunger and misery. If he had been a great orator he would have +charmed the conservatives who hated Federalism and dreaded Jacobinism. +Like his uncle he spoke forcibly and with clearness, but without grace +or eloquence; his writing, though correct in style and sufficiently +polished, lacked the simplicity and the happy gift of picturesque +phrase which characterised<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.110" id="vol1Page_i.110">i. 110</a></span> the letters of so many of the public men +of that day. Yet he was a noble illustration of what may be +accomplished by an indomitable will, backed by a fearless independence +and a power to dominate people in spite of antagonism of great and +successful rivals.</p> + +<p>Clinton was now only at the opening of his great career. Even at this +time his contemporaries seem to have made up their minds that he had a +great career before him, and when he and Governor Jay met as members +of the new Council of Appointment, on February 11, 1801, it was like +Greek meeting Greek. If Jay was the mildest mannered man in the State, +he was also one of the firmest; and on this occasion he did not +hesitate to claim the exclusive right of nomination for office as had +Governor Clinton in 1794. Clinton, on the other hand, following the +course pursued by Philip Schuyler, boldly and persistently claimed a +concurrent right on the part of the senatorial members. The break came +when Jay nominated several Federalists for sheriff of Orange County, +all of whom were rejected. Then Clinton made a nomination. Instead of +putting the question Jay made a further nomination, on which the +Council refused to vote. This ended the session. Jay asked for time to +consider, and never again convened the Council; but two days later he +sent a message to the Assembly, reviewing the situation and asking its +advice. He also requested the opinion of the Chancellor and the +Supreme Court Judges. The Assembly replied that it was a +constitutional question for the Governor and the Council; the Judges +declined to express an opinion on the ground that it was +extra-judicial. Three weeks later Clinton, Spencer, and Roseboom +reported to the Assembly, with some show of bitterness, that they had +simply followed the precedent of Egbert Benson's appointment to the +Supreme Court in 1794, an appointment, it will be remembered, which +was made on the nomination of Philip Schuyler and confirmed, over the +protest of Governor Clinton, by a majority of the Council.</p> + +<p>Jay's failure to reconvene the Council seemed to gratify<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.111" id="vol1Page_i.111">i. 111</a></span> Clinton—if, +indeed, his action had not been deliberately taken to provoke the +Governor into such a course. Appointments made under such conditions +could scarcely satisfy an ambitious leader who had friends to reward; +and, besides, the election of a new governor in the following month +would enable him to appoint a corps of men willing to do the bidding +of their new master. On the other hand, Governor Jay closed his +official career as he began it. His first address to the Legislature +discovered an intention of adhering to the dogmas of civil service, +and so far as directly responsible he seems to have maintained the +principle of dismissing no one for political reasons.</p> + +<p>The closing days of Jay's public life included an act for the gradual +abolition of domestic slavery. It cannot be called an important +feature of his administration, since Jay was entitled to little credit +for bringing it about. Although he had been a friend of emancipation, +and as president of an anti-slavery society had characterised slavery +as an evil of "criminal dye," his failure to recommend emancipation in +his messages emphasises the suggestion that he was governed by the +fear of its influence upon his future political career. However this +may be, it is certain that he resigned the presidency of the abolition +society at the moment of his aroused ambition immediately preceding +his nomination for governor in 1792. His son explains that the people +of the State did not favour abolition; yet the reform apparently +needed only the vigorous assistance of the Governor, for in 1798 a +measure similar to the act of 1799 failed in the Assembly only by the +casting vote of the chairman in committee of the whole.</p> + +<p>One thing, though, may be assumed, that a man so animated by high +principles as John Jay must have felt amply justified in taking the +course he did. Of all distinguished New Yorkers in the formative +period of the government, John Jay, perhaps, possessed in fullest +measure the resplendent gifts that immortalise Hamilton. Nevertheless, +it was the purity of his life, the probity of his actions, the +excel<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.112" id="vol1Page_i.112">i. 112</a></span>lence of his public purposes, that commended him to the +affectionate regard of everybody. "It was never said of him," wrote +John Quincy Adams, "that he had a language official and a language +confidential." During a political career of eight and twenty years, if +he ever departed from the highest ideal of an irreproachable +uprightness of character, it is not of record. His work was +criticised, often severely, at times justly, but his character for +honesty and goodness continued to the end without blemish.</p> + +<p>It is difficult to say in what field Jay did the best work. He +excelled in whatever he undertook. He had poise, forcefulness, +moderation, moral earnestness, and mental clearness. Whether at home +or abroad the country knew his abiding place; for his well-doing +marked his whereabouts as plainly as smoke on a prairie indicates the +presence of a camp. He has been called the draftsman of the +Continental Congress, the constitution-maker of New York, the +negotiator of the peace treaty, and dictator under the Confederation, +and he came very near being all that such designations imply. In a +word, it may be said that what George Washington was in the field, in +council, and as President, John Jay was in legislative halls, in +diplomatic circles, and as a jurist.</p> + +<p>The crowning act of his life was undoubtedly the peace treaty of 1783. +But great as was this diplomatic triumph he lived long enough to +realise that the failure to include Canada within the young Republic's +domain was ground for just criticism. In his note to Richard Oswald, +preliminary to any negotiations, Franklin suggested the cession of +Canada in token "of a durable peace and a sweet reconciliation," +having in mind England's desire that loyalists in America be restored +to their rights. This was one of the three essentials to peace, and to +meet it Franklin's note proposed that compensation be paid these +loyalists out of the sale of Canada's public lands. Subsequent +revelations made it fairly certain that had such cession, with its +concessions to the loyalists, been firmly pressed, Canada would have +become American<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.113" id="vol1Page_i.113">i. 113</a></span> territory. Why it was not urged remains a secret. +There is no evidence that Franklin ever brought his suggestion to +Oswald to the attention of Jay,<a name="vol1FNanchor_118_118" id="vol1FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> but it is a source of deep regret +that Jay's profound sagacity did not include a country whose existence +as a foreign colony on our northern border has given rise to continued +embarrassment. The feeling involuntarily possesses one that he, who +owned the nerve to stop all negotiations until Englishman and American +met on equal terms as the representatives of equal nations, and dared +to break the specific instructions of Congress when he believed France +favoured confining the United States between the Atlantic and the +Alleghanies, would have had the temerity to take Canada, had the great +foresight been his to discern the irritating annoyances to which its +independence would subject us.</p> + +<p>Jay's brief tenure of the chief-justiceship of the United States +Supreme Court gave little opportunity to test his real ability as a +jurist. The views expressed by him pending the adoption and +ratification of the Federal Constitution characterised his judicial +interpretation of that instrument, and he lived long enough to see his +doctrine well established that "government proceeds directly from the +people, and is ordained and established in the name of the people." +His distinguishing trait as chief justice was the capacity to +confront, wisely and successfully, the difficulties of any situation +by his own unaided powers of mind, but it is doubtful<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.114" id="vol1Page_i.114">i. 114</a></span> if the Court, +under his continued domination, would have acquired the strength and +public confidence given it by John Marshall. Jay believed that "under +a system so defective it would not obtain the energy, weight, and +dignity essential to its affording due support to the general +government." This was one reason for his declining to return to the +office after he ceased to be governor; he felt his inability to +accomplish what the Court must establish, if the United States +continued to grow into a world power. Under these circumstances, it +was well, perhaps, that he gave place to John Marshall, who made it a +great, supporting pillar, strong enough to resist state supremacy on +the one side, and a disregard of the rights of States on the other; +but Jay did more than enough to confirm the wisdom of Washington, who +declared that in making the appointment he exercised his "best +judgment."</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.115" id="vol1Page_i.115">i. 115</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XI" id="vol1CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /> +<br /> +SPOILS AND BROILS OF VICTORY<br /> +<br /> +1801-1803</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap"> +John Jay</span>, tired of public life, now sought his Westchester farm to +enjoy the rest of an honourable retirement, leaving the race for +governor in April, 1801, to Stephen Van Rensselaer. On the other hand, +George Clinton, accepting the Republican nomination, got onto his +gouty legs and made the greatest run of his life.<a name="vol1FNanchor_119_119" id="vol1FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> Outside of New +England, Federalism had become old-fashioned in a year. Following +Jefferson's sweeping social success, men abandoned knee breeches and +became democratic in garb as well as in thought. Henceforth, New York +Federalists were to get nothing except through bargains and an +occasional capture of the Council of Appointment.</p> + +<p>The election of George Clinton gave the party of Jefferson entire +control of the State. It had the governor, the Legislature, and the +Council of Appointment. It only remained to empower the Council to +nominate as well as to confirm, and the boss system, begun in 1794, +would have the sanction of law. For this purpose delegates, elected by +the people, met at Albany on the 13th of October, 1801, and organised +a constitutional convention by the election of Aaron Burr as +president. Fortune had thus far been very good to Burr. At forty-five +he stood one step only below the highest place in the nation, and now +by a unanimous vote he became president of the second constitutional +convention of the Empire State. His position was certainly imposing, +but when the convention declared, as it did, that each member of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.116" id="vol1Page_i.116">i. 116</a></span> +Council had the right to nominate as well as to confirm, Burr sealed +DeWitt Clinton's power to overthrow and humiliate him.</p> + +<p>In its uncompromising character DeWitt Clinton's dislike of Burr +resembled Hamilton's, although for entirely different reasons. +Hamilton thought him a dangerous man, guided neither by patriotism nor +principle, who might at any moment throttle constitutional government +and set up a dictatorship after the manner of Napoleon. Clinton's +hostility arose from the jealousy of an ambitious rival who saw no +room in New York for two Republican bosses. Accordingly, when the +Council, which Jay had refused to reassemble, reconvened under the +summons of Governor Clinton, it quickly disclosed the policy of +destroying Burr and satisfying the Livingstons.<a name="vol1FNanchor_120_120" id="vol1FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> President +Jefferson had already sent the Chancellor to France, and the +Legislature had made John Armstrong, his brother-in-law, a United +States senator. But enough of the Chancellor's family remained to fill +other important offices, and the Council made Edward, a brother, mayor +of New York; Thomas Tillotson, a brother-in-law, secretary of state; +Morgan Lewis, a fourth brother-in-law, chief justice, and Brockholst +Livingston, a cousin, justice of the Supreme Court.</p> + +<p>Out of the spoils that remained, and there was an abundance, DeWitt +Clinton and Ambrose Spencer helped themselves; and then they divided +the balance between their relatives and supporters. Sylvanus Miller, +an ardent and lifelong friend of the former, became surrogate of New +York; Elisha<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.117" id="vol1Page_i.117">i. 117</a></span> Jenkins, who deserted the Federalists in company with +Spencer, took John V. Henry's place as state comptroller; Richard +Riker, the friend and second of Clinton in his famous duel with John +Swartout, became district attorney in place of Cadwallader D. Colden, +a worthy grandson of "Old Silver Locks," the distinguished colonial +lieutenant-governor; John McKisson, a protégé of Spencer, took the +clerkship of the Circuit Court from William Coleman, subsequently the +brilliant editor of the <i>Evening Post</i>, established by Jay and +Hamilton; and William Stewart, a brother-in-law of George Clinton, +displaced Nathan W. Howell as assistant attorney-general. Thus the +work of the political guillotine went on. It took sheriffs and +surrogates; it spared neither county clerks nor justices of the peace; +it left not a mayor of a city, nor a judge of a county. Even the +residence of an appointee did not control. Sylvanus Miller of Ulster +was made surrogate of New York with as much disregard of the people's +wishes as Ruggles Hubbard of Rensselaer, who had visited the city but +twice and knew nothing of its people or its life, was afterward made +its sheriff.</p> + +<p>When Clinton and Spencer finished their work a single Federalist, +Josiah Ogden Hoffman, the attorney-general, remained in office, and he +survived only until Ambrose Spencer could take his place. Soon +afterward Spencer was advanced to the Supreme Court in place of Jacob +Radcliff, a promotion that filled Federalists with the greatest alarm. +Looking back upon the distinguished career of Chief Justice Spencer, +it seems strange, almost ridiculous, in fact, that his appointment to +the bench should have given rise to such fears; but Spencer had been +the rudest, most ferocious opponent of all. The Federalists were +afraid of him because they believed with William P. Van Ness, the +young friend of Burr, that he was "governed by no principles or +feelings except those which avarice and unprincipled ambition +inspired."<a name="vol1FNanchor_121_121" id="vol1FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> Van Ness wrote with a pen dipped in gall, yet, if +contemporary criticism be accepted, he did not exaggerate<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.118" id="vol1Page_i.118">i. 118</a></span> the feeling +entertained for Spencer by the Federalists of that day. Like DeWitt +Clinton, he was a bad hater, often insolent, sometimes haughty, and +always arbitrary. After he left the Federalist party and became a +member of the celebrated Council of 1801, he seemed over-zealous in +his support of the men he had recently persecuted, and unnecessarily +severe in his treatment of former associates. "The animosity of the +apostate," said Van Ness, "cannot be controlled. Savage and +relentless, he thirsts for vengeance. Such is emphatically the temper +of Ambrose Spencer, who, after his conversion, was introduced to a +seat in the Legislature, by his new friends, for the express purpose +of perplexing and persecuting his old ones."<a name="vol1FNanchor_122_122" id="vol1FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> Spencer never got +over being a violent partisan, but he was an impartial, honest judge. +The strength of his intellect no one disputed, and if his political +affiliations seemed to warp his judgment in affairs of state, it was +none the less impartial and enlightened when brought to bear on +difficult questions of law.</p> + +<p>The timely resignation of John Armstrong from the United States Senate +made room for DeWitt Clinton, who, however, a year later, resigned the +senatorship to become mayor of New York. The inherent strength of the +United States Senate rested, then as now, upon its constitutional +endowment, but the small body of men composing it, having +comparatively little to do and doing that little by general assent, +with no record of their debates, evidently did not appreciate that it +was the most powerful single chamber in any legislative body in the +world. It is doubtful if the framers of the Constitution recognised +the enormous power they had given it. Certainly DeWitt Clinton and his +resigning colleagues did not appreciate that the combination of its +legislative, executive, and judicial functions would one day +practically dominate the Executive and the Congress, for the reason +that its members are the constitutional advisers of the President, +without whose assent no bill can become a law, no office can be +filled, no officer of the government impeached, and no treaty made +operative.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.119" id="vol1Page_i.119">i. 119</a></span></p> + +<p>In taking leave of the United States Senate, Clinton probably gave +little thought to the character of the place, whether it was a step up +or a step down to the mayoralty. Just then he was engaged in the +political annihilation of Aaron Burr, and he felt the necessity of +entering the latter's stronghold to deprive him of influence. Out of +six or seven thousand appointments made by the Council of Appointment +not a friend of Aaron Burr got so much as the smallest crumb from the +well-filled table. Even Burr himself, and his friend, John Swartout, +were forced from the directorate of the Manhattan Bank that Burr had +organised. "With astonishment," wrote William P. Van Ness, "it was +observed that no man, however virtuous, however unspotted his life or +his fame, could be advanced to the most unimportant appointment, +unless he would submit to abandon all intercourse with Mr. Burr, vow +opposition to his elevation, and like a feudal vassal pledge his +personal services to traduce his character and circulate +slander."<a name="vol1FNanchor_123_123" id="vol1FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a></p> + +<p>Governor Clinton feebly opposed this wholesale slaughter by refusing +to sign the minutes of the Council and by making written protests +against its methods; but greater emphasis would doubtless have availed +no more, since the constitutional convention had reduced the governor +to the merest figurehead. His one vote out of five limited the extent +of his prerogative. Power existed in the combine only, and so well did +DeWitt Clinton control that when the famous Council of 1801 had +finished its work nothing remained for succeeding Councils to do until +Clinton, the prototype of the party boss, returned in 1806 to crush +the Livingstons.</p> + +<p>Occasionally a decapitated office-holder fiercely resented the +Council's action, and, to make it sting the more, complimented the +Governor for his patriotic and unselfish opposition. John V. Henry +evidenced his disgust by ever after declining public office, though +his party had opportunities of recognising his great ability and +rewarding his fidelity. Ebenezer Foote, a bright lawyer, who took his +removal from<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.120" id="vol1Page_i.120">i. 120</a></span> the clerkship of Delaware County very much to heart, +opened fire on Ambrose Spencer, charging him with base and unworthy +motives in separating from the Federalists. To this Spencer replied +with characteristic rhetoric. "Your removal was an act of justice to +the public, inasmuch as the veriest hypocrite and the most malignant +villain in the State was deprived of the power of perpetuating +mischief. If, as you insinuate, your interests have by your removal +been materially affected, then, sir, like many men more honest than +yourself, earn your bread by the sweat of your brow."<a name="vol1FNanchor_124_124" id="vol1FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a></p> + +<p>At Washington, Jefferson had rewarded friends as openly as DeWitt +Clinton took care of them in Albany. In telling the story, James A. +Bayard of Delaware produced an oratorical sensation in the House of +Representatives. "And now, sir, let me ask the honourable gentleman," +said the congressman, in reply to William Giles' defence of the +Virginia President, "what his reflections and belief will be when he +observes that every man on whose vote the event of Mr. Jefferson's +election hung has since been distinguished by presidential favour. Mr. +Charles Pinckney of South Carolina was one of the most active, +efficient and successful promoters of the election of the present +chief magistrate, and he has since been appointed minister +plenipotentiary to the court of Madrid—an appointment as high and +honourable as any within the gift of the Executive. I know what was +the value of the vote of Mr. Claiborne of Tennessee; the vote of a +State was in his hands. Mr. Claiborne has since been raised to the +high dignity of governor of the Mississippi Territory. I know how +great, and how greatly felt, was the importance of the vote of Mr. +Linn of New Jersey. The delegation of the State consists of five +members; two of the delegation were decidedly for Mr. Jefferson, two +were decidedly for Mr. Burr. Mr. Linn was considered as inclining to +one side, but still doubtful; both parties looked up to him for the +vote of New Jersey. He gave it to Mr. Jefferson; and Mr. Linn has +since had the profitable office of supervisor of his district<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.121" id="vol1Page_i.121">i. 121</a></span> +conferred upon him. Mr. Lyon of Vermont was in this instance an +important man; he neutralised the vote of Vermont; his absence alone +would have given the State to Mr. Burr. It was too much to give an +office to Mr. Lyon; his character was low; but Mr. Lyon's son has been +handsomely provided for in one of the executive offices. I shall add +to the catalogue but the name of one more gentleman, Mr. Edward +Livingston of New York. I knew well—full well I knew—the consequence +of this gentleman. His means were not limited to his own vote; nay, I +always considered more than the vote of New York within his power. Mr. +Livingston has been made the attorney for the district of New York; +the road of preferment has been opened to him, and his brother has +been raised to the distinguished place of minister plenipotentiary to +the French Republic."<a name="vol1FNanchor_125_125" id="vol1FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a></p> + +<p>Albert Gallatin, Jefferson's secretary of the treasury, thought Burr +less selfish than either the Clintons or the Livingstons, and, on the +score of office-seeking, Gallatin was probably correct. But Burr, if +without relatives, had several devoted friends whom he pressed for +appointment, among them John Swartout for marshal, Daniel Gelston for +collector, Theodorus Bailey for naval officer, and Matthew L. Davis +for supervisor. Swartout succeeded, but DeWitt Clinton, getting wind +of the scheme, entered an heroic protest to Jefferson, who quickly +concurred in Clinton's wishes without so much as a conference with +Gallatin or Burr. The latter, hearing rumours of the secret +understanding, sent a sharp letter to Gallatin, pressing Davis' +appointment on the ground of good faith, with a threat that he would +no longer be trifled with; but Gallatin was helpless as well as +ignorant, and the President silent. Davis' journey to Monticello +developed nothing but Jefferson's insincerity, and on his return to +New York the press laughed at his credulity.</p> + +<p>This ended Burr's pretended loyalty to the Administration. On his +return to Washington, in January, 1802, he quietly watched his +opportunity, and two weeks later gave the cast<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.122" id="vol1Page_i.122">i. 122</a></span>ing vote which sent +Jefferson's pet measure, the repeal of the judiciary act of 1801, to a +select committee for delay, instead of to the President for approval. +Soon after, at a Federalist banquet celebrating Washington's birthday, +Burr proposed the toast, "The union of all honest men." This was the +fatal stab. The country didn't understand it, but to Jefferson and the +Clintons it meant all that Burr intended, and from that moment DeWitt +Clinton's newspaper, the <i>American Citizen and Watchtower</i>, owned by +his cousin and edited by James Cheetham, an English refugee, took up +the challenge thus thrown down, and began its famous attack upon the +Vice President.</p> + +<p>Burr's conduct during those momentous weeks when Federalists did their +utmost to make him President, gave his rivals ample ground for +creating the belief that he had evidenced open contempt for the +principles of honest dealing. Had he published a letter after the +Federalists decided to support him, condemning their policy as a +conspiracy to deprive the people of their choice for President, and +refusing to accept an election at their hands if tendered him, it must +have disarmed his critics and smoothed his pathway to further +political preferment; but his failure so to act, coupled with his +well-known behaviour and the activity of his friends, gave opponents +an advantage that skill and ability were insufficient to overcome.</p> + +<p>James Cheetham handled his pen like a bludgeon. Even at this distance +of time Cheetham's "View of Aaron Burr's Political Conduct," in which +is traced the Vice President's alleged intrigues to promote himself +over Jefferson, is interesting and exciting. Despite its bitter +sarcasm and torrent of vituperation, Cheetham's array of facts and +dates, the designation of persons and places, and the bold assumptions +based on apparent knowledge, backed by foot-notes that promised +absolute proof if denial were made, impress one strongly. There is +much that is weak, much that is only suspicion, much that is fanciful. +A visit to an uncle in Connecticut, a call upon the governor of Rhode +Island, a com<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.123" id="vol1Page_i.123">i. 123</a></span>munication sent under cover to another, letters in +cipher, pleasant notices in Federalist newspapers, a journey of +Timothy Green to South Carolina—all these belong to the realm of +inference; but the method of blending them with well established facts +was so artful, the writer's sincerity so apparent, and the strokes of +the pen so bold and positive, that it is easy to understand the effect +which Cheetham's accusation, taken up and ceaselessly repeated by +other papers, would have upon the political fortunes of Burr.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless the Vice President remained silent. He did not feel, or +seem to feel, newspaper criticism with the acuteness of a sensitive +nature trying to do right. "They are so utterly lost on me that I +should never have seen even this," he wrote Theodosia, "but that it +came inclosed to me in a letter from New York." Still Cheetham kept +his battery at work. After his "Narrative" came the "View," and then, +in 1803, "Nine Letters on the Subject of Burr's Defection," a heavier +volume, a sort of siege-gun, brought up to penetrate an epidermis +heretofore apparently impregnable. Finally, the Albany <i>Register</i> took +up the matter, followed by other Republican papers, until their +purpose to drive the grandson of Jonathan Edwards from the party could +no longer be mistaken.<a name="vol1FNanchor_126_126" id="vol1FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a></p> + +<p>Burr's coterie of devoted friends so understood it, and when the +gentle Peter Irving, whose younger brother was helping the newly +established <i>Chronicle</i> into larger circulation by his Jonathan +Oldstyle essays, showed an indisposition as editor of the Burrite +paper to vituperate and lampoon in return, William P. Van Ness, the +famous and now historic "Aristides," appeared in the political +firmament<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.124" id="vol1Page_i.124">i. 124</a></span> with the suddenness and brilliancy of a comet that dims the +light of stars.</p> + +<p>Van Ness coupled real literary ability with political audacity, +putting Cheetham's fancy flights and inferences to sleep as if they +were babes in the woods. It was quickly seen that Cheetham was no +match for him. He had neither the finish nor the venom. Compared to +the sentences of "Aristides," as polished and attractive as they were +bitter and ill-tempered, Cheetham's periods seemed coarse and tame. +The letters of Junius did not make themselves felt in English +political life more than did this pamphlet in the political circles of +New York. It was novel, it was brilliantly able, and it drove the +knife deeper and surer than its predecessors. What Taine, the great +French writer, said of Junius might with equal truth be said of +"Aristides," that if he made his phrases and selected his epithets, it +was not from the love of style, but in order the better to stamp his +insult. No one knew then, nor until long afterward, who "Aristides" +was—not even Cheetham could pierce the <i>incognito</i>; but every one +knew that upon him the full mind of Aaron Burr had unloaded a volume +of information respecting men, their doings and sayings, which +enriched the work and made his rhetoric an instrument of torture. It +bristled with history and character sketches. Whatever the Vice +President knew, or thought he knew, was poured into those eighty pages +with a staggering fulness and disregard of consequences that startled +the political world and captivated all lovers of the brilliant and +sensational in literature. Confidences were revealed, conversations +made public, quarrels uncovered, political secrets given up, and the +gossip of Council and Legislature churned into a story that pleased +every one. What Hamilton's attack on Adams did for Federalists, +"Aristides'" reply to Cheetham did for the Republicans; but the latter +wrote with a ferocity unknown to the pages of the great Federalist's +unfortunate letter.</p> + +<p>"Aristides" struck at everybody and missed no one. The Governor "has +dwindled into the mere instrument of an am<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.125" id="vol1Page_i.125">i. 125</a></span>bitious relative;" +Tillotson was "a contemptible shuffling apothecary, without ingenuity +or devise, or spirit to pursue any systematic plan of iniquity;" +Richard Riker was "an imbecile and obsequious pettifogger, a vain and +contemptible little pest, who abandoned the Federal standard on the +third day of the election, in April, 1800;" John McKisson, "an +execrable compound of every species of vice," was the man whom Clinton +"exultingly declared a great scoundrel." The attack thus daringly +begun was steadily maintained. Ambrose Spencer was "a man as +notoriously infamous as the legitimate offspring of treachery and +fraud can possibly be;" Samuel Osgood, "a born hypocrite, propagated +falsehood for the purpose of slander and imposition;" Chancellor +Livingston, "a capricious, visionary theorist," was "lamentably +deficient in the practical knowledge of a politician, and heedless of +important and laborious pursuits, at which his frivolous mind +revolted."</p> + +<p>The greatest interest of the pamphlet, however, began when +"Aristides," taking up the cause of Burr, struck at higher game than +Richard Riker or Ambrose Spencer. DeWitt Clinton was portrayed as +"formed for mischief," "inflated with vanity," "cruel by nature," "an +object of derision and disgust," "a dissolute and desperate +intriguer," "an adept in moral turpitude, skilled in all the +combination of treachery and fraud, with a mind matured by the +practice of iniquity, and unalloyed with any virtuous principle." "Was +it not disgraceful to political controversy," continues "Aristides," +with an audacity of denunciation and sternness of animosity, "I would +develop the dark and gloomy disorders of his malignant bosom, and +trace each convulsive vibration of his wicked heart. He may justly be +ranked among those, who, though destitute of sound understandings, are +still rendered dangerous to society by the intrinsic baseness of +character that engenders hatred to everything good and valuable in the +world; who, with barbarous malignity, view the prevalence of moral +principles, and the extension of benevolent designs; who, foes to +virtue, seek the subversion<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.126" id="vol1Page_i.126">i. 126</a></span> of every valuable institution, and +meditate the introduction of wild and furious disorders among the +supporters of public virtue. His intimacy with men who have long since +disowned all regard to decency and have become the daring advocates of +every species of atrocity; his indissoluble connection with those, +who, by their lives, have become the finished examples of profligacy +and corruption; who have sworn enmity, severe and eternal, to the +altar of our religion and the prosperity of our government, must +infallibly exclude him from the confidence of reputable men. What +sentiments can be entertained for him, but those of hatred and +contempt, when he is seen the constant associate of a man whose name +has become synonymous with vice, a dissolute and fearless assassin of +private character, of domestic comfort, and of social happiness; when +he is known to be the bosom friend and supporter of the profligate and +abandoned libertine, who, from the vulgar debauches of night, hastens +again to the invasion of private property. Who, through the robbery of +the public revenue, and the violation of private seals, hurries down +the precipice of deep and desperate villainy."</p> + +<p>This parting shot at Cheetham penetrated the most secret corners of +private life, and leaves an impression that Cicero's denunciation of +Catiline had delighted the youth of "Aristides." It would be fruitless +to attempt the separation of the truth from the undeserved reproaches +of Van Ness, but at the end of the discussion, Burr's character had +not benefited. However unscrupulous and selfish the Clintons and the +Livingstons might be, Burr's unprincipled conduct was fixed in the +mind of his party, not by Cheetham's indulgence in fancy and +inference, but by the well known and well established facts of +history, which no rhetoric could wipe out, and no denunciation +strengthen.</p> + +<p>In the days of the duello such a war of words could hardly go on for +two or three years without a resort to the pistol. Cheetham's pen had +stirred up the tongues of men who resented charge with countercharge, +and the high spirited United States marshal, John Swartout, the only +friend<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.127" id="vol1Page_i.127">i. 127</a></span> of Burr in office, was quick to declare that DeWitt Clinton's +opposition to the Vice President was based upon unworthy and selfish +motives. Clinton answered promptly and passionately. The Governor's +nephew displayed a fondness for indulging the use of epithets even in +mature years, after he had quarrelled with William L. Marcy and Martin +Van Buren. In those calmer days when age is supposed to bring a desire +for peace, he was accustomed to call Erastus Root "a bad man," Samuel +Young "much of an imbecile," Marcy "a scoundrel," and Van Buren "the +prince of villains." Just now, however, Clinton was younger, only +thirty-two years old, about the age of Swartout, and on hearing of the +latter's criticism he trebled his epithets, pronouncing him "a liar, a +scoundrel and a villain." Swartout quickly demanded a retraction, +which Clinton declined unless the Marshal first withdrew his offensive +words. Thereupon, the latter sent a challenge, and Clinton, calling in +his friend, Richard Riker, the district attorney, met his adversary +the next day at Weehawken and exchanged three shots without effect. On +the fourth Clinton's bullet struck Swartout's left leg just below the +knee, and while the surgeon was cutting it out, the Marshal renewed +his demand for an apology. Clinton still refused, although expressing +entire willingness to shake hands and drop the matter. On the fifth +shot, the Marshal caught Clinton's ball in the same leg just above the +ankle. Still standing steadily at his post and perfectly composed, +Swartout demanded further satisfaction; but Clinton, tired of filling +his antagonist with lead, declined to shoot again and left the field. +In the gossip following the duel, Riker reported Clinton as saying in +the course of the contest, "I wish I had the principal here."<a name="vol1FNanchor_127_127" id="vol1FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> The +principal, of course, was Burr, to whose house the wounded Swartout +was taken. "No one ever explained," says Henry Adams,<a name="vol1FNanchor_128_128" id="vol1FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> "why Burr +did not drag DeWitt Clin<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.128" id="vol1Page_i.128">i. 128</a></span>ton from his ambush and shoot him, as two +years later he shot Alexander Hamilton with less provocation."</p> + +<p>Out of this quarrel grew another, in which Robert Swartout, John's +younger brother, fought Riker, wounding him severely. William Coleman +of the <i>Evening Post</i>, in letting fly some poisoned arrows, also got +tangled up with Cheetham. "Lie on Duane, lie on for pay, and Cheetham, +lie thou too; more against truth you cannot say, than truth can say +'gainst you." The spicy epigrams ended in a challenge, but Cheetham +made such haste to adjust matters that a report got abroad of his +having shown the white feather. Harbour-Master Thompson, an appointee +of Clinton, now championed Cheetham's cause, declaring that Coleman +had weakened. Immediately the young editor sent him a challenge, and, +without much ado, they fought on the outskirts of the city, now the +foot of Twenty-first Street, in the twilight of a cold winter day, +exchanging two shots without effect. Meantime, the growing darkness +compelled the determined combatants to move closer together, and at +the next shot Thompson, mortally wounded, fell forward into the +snow.<a name="vol1FNanchor_129_129" id="vol1FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.129" id="vol1Page_i.129">i. 129</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XII" id="vol1CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /> +<br /> +DEFEAT OF BURR AND DEATH OF HAMILTON<br /> +<br /> +1804</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap"> +The</span> campaign for governor in 1804 was destined to become historic. +Burr was driven from his party; George Clinton, ambitious to become +Vice President, declined re-election;<a name="vol1FNanchor_130_130" id="vol1FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> and the Federalists, beaten +into a disunited minority, refused to put up a candidate. This +apparently left the field wide open to John Lansing, with John Broome +for lieutenant-governor.</p> + +<p>For many years the Lansing family had been prominent in the affairs of +the State and influential in the councils of their party. The +Chancellor, some years younger than Livingston, a large, handsome, +modest man, was endowed with a remarkable capacity for public life. +The story of his career is a story of rugged manhood and a tragic, +mysterious death. He rose by successive steps to be mayor of Albany, +member of the Assembly of which he was twice speaker, member of +Congress under the Confederation, judge and chief justice of the +Supreme Court, and finally chancellor. Indeed, so long as he did the +bidding of the Clintons he kept rising; but the independence that +early characterised his action at Philadelphia in 1787 and at +Poughkeepsie in 1788 became more and more pronounced, until it +separated him at last from the faction that had steadily given him +support. Perhaps his nearest approach to a splendid virtue was his<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.130" id="vol1Page_i.130">i. 130</a></span> +stubborn independence. Whether this characteristic, amounting almost +to stoical indifference, led to his murder is now a sealed secret. All +that we know of his death is, that he left the hotel, where he lived +in New York, to mail a letter on the steamer for Albany, and was never +afterward seen. That he was murdered comes from the lips of Thurlow +Weed, who was intrusted with the particulars, but who died with the +secret untold. Lansing disappeared in 1829 and Weed died in 1882, yet, +after the lapse of half a century, the latter did not feel justified +in disclosing what had come to him as a sort of father confessor, +years after the tragedy. "While it is true that the parties are beyond +the reach of human tribunals and of public opinion," he said, "yet +others immediately associated with them, and sharing in the strong +inducement which prompted the crime, survive, occupying high positions +and enjoying public confidence. To these persons, should my proof be +submitted, public attention would be irresistibly drawn."<a name="vol1FNanchor_131_131" id="vol1FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a></p> + +<p>Lansing had the instinct, equipment, and training for a chancellor. It +has been truly said of him that he seemed to have no delights off the +bench except in such things as in some way related to the business +upon it. He had the unwearied application of Kent, coupled with the +ability to master the most difficult details, and, although he lacked +Livingston's culture, he was as resolute, and, perhaps, as restless +and suspicious; but it is doubtful if he possessed the trained +sagacity, the native shrewdness, and the diplomatic zeal to have +negotiated the Louisiana treaty. Lansing began the study of law in +1774, and from that moment was wedded to its principles and constant +in his devotions. His mysterious murder must have been caused by an +irresistible longing to trace things to their source, bringing into +his possession knowledge of some missing link or defective title, +which would throw a great property away from its owner, but which, by +his death, would again be buried from the ken of men. This, of course, +is only surmise; but Weed indicates<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.131" id="vol1Page_i.131">i. 131</a></span> that property prompted the crime, +and that the heirs of the murderer profited by it. Lansing was in his +seventy-sixth year when the fatal blow came, yet so vigorous that old +age had not set its seal upon him.</p> + +<p>In 1804 Lansing hesitated to exchange the highest place on the bench, +which would continue until the age limit set him aside in 1814, for a +political office that would probably end in three years; but he +finally consented upon representations that he alone could unite his +party. Scarcely, however, had his name been announced before a caucus +of Republican legislators named Aaron Burr, with Oliver Phelps of +Ontario for lieutenant-governor—nominations quickly ratified at +public meetings in New York and Albany. Among Burr's most conspicuous +champions were Erastus Root of Delaware, James Burt of Orange, Peter +B. Porter of Ontario, and Marinus Willett of New York.</p> + +<p>If it is surprising that these astute and devoted friends did not +appreciate, in some measure, at least, the extent to which popular +esteem had been withdrawn from their favourite, it is most astonishing +that Burr himself did not recognise the strength of the +Clinton-Livingston-Spencer machine as it existed in 1804. Its managers +were skilled masters of the political art, confident of success, +fearless of criticism, unscrupulous in methods, and indefatigable in +attention to details. They controlled the Council of Appointment, its +appointees controlled the Assembly, and the Assembly elected the +Council, an endless chain of links, equally strong and equally +selfish. To make opposition the more fruitless, the distrust of Burr, +hammered into the masses by Cheetham's pen, practically amounted to a +forfeiture of party confidence. One cannot conceive a more inopportune +time for Burr to have challenged a test of strength, yet Lansing's +selection had hardly sounded in the people's ears before Burr's +"Little Band," burning with indignation and resentment at his +treatment, gathered about the tables in the old Tontine Coffee House +at Albany and launched him as an independent candidate.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.132" id="vol1Page_i.132">i. 132</a></span></p> + +<p>Rarely has a candidate for governor encountered greater odds; but with +Burr, as afterward with DeWitt Clinton, it was now or never. In one of +his dramas Schiller mourns over the man who stakes reputation, health, +everything upon success—and no success in the end. Even Robert Yates, +the coalition candidate in 1789, started with the support of a +Federalist machine and the powerful backing of Hamilton. But in 1804 +Burr found himself without a party, without a machine, and bitterly +opposed by Hamilton.</p> + +<p>When the sceptre passed from Federalist to Republican in 1801, +Hamilton gave himself to his profession with renewed zeal, earning +fifteen thousand dollars a year, and a reputation as a lawyer scarcely +surpassed by Daniel Webster. "In creative power Hamilton was +infinitely Webster's superior," says Chief Justice Ambrose Spencer, +before whom both had practised.<a name="vol1FNanchor_132_132" id="vol1FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> Erastus Root, possibly looking +through the eyes of Theodosia, thought Burr not inferior to Hamilton +as a lawyer, although other contemporaries who knew Burr at his best, +regarded him as an indefatigable, tireless, adroit lawyer rather than +a profound and learned one. This put him in a different class from +Hamilton. As well might one compare Offenbach with Mozart as Burr with +Hamilton.</p> + +<p>Hamilton journeyed to Albany in February, 1804, to argue the case of +Harry Croswell, so celebrated and historic because of Hamilton's +argument. Croswell, the editor of the <i>Balance</i>, a Federalist +newspaper published at Hudson, had been convicted of libelling +President Jefferson. Chief Justice Lewis, before whom the case was +originally tried, declined to permit the defendant to prove the truth +of the alleged libel. To this point, in his argument for a new trial, +Hamilton addressed himself, contending that the English doctrine was +at variance with common sense, common justice, and the genius of +American institutions. "I have always considered General Hamilton's +argument in this cause," said his great contemporary, Chancellor Kent, +"as the greatest forensic ef<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.133" id="vol1Page_i.133">i. 133</a></span>fort he ever made. He had come prepared +to discuss the points of law with a perfect mastery of the subject. He +believed that the rights and liberties of the people were essentially +concerned. There was an unusual solemnity and earnestness on his part +in this discussion. He was at times highly impassioned and pathetic. +His whole soul was enlisted in the cause, and in contending for the +rights of the jury and a free press, he considered that he was +establishing the surest refuge against oppression. He never before in +my hearing made any effort in which he commanded higher reverence for +his principles, nor equal admiration of the power and pathos of his +eloquence."<a name="vol1FNanchor_133_133" id="vol1FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> Such a profound impression did his argument make, +that, although the Court declined to depart from the settled rule of +the common law, the Legislature subsequently passed a statute +authorising the truth to be given in evidence, and the jury to be the +judges of the law as well as of the facts in libel cases.</p> + +<p>It was during the argument of this case at Albany that Hamilton, +joining his Federalist friends at Lewis' Tavern, gave his reasons for +preferring Chancellor Lansing to Aaron Burr for governor. There was +something new in these reasons. In 1801 he preferred Jefferson to Burr +because the latter, as he wrote Gouverneur Morris, "has no principles, +public or private; could be bound by no argument; will listen to no +monitor but his ambition; and for this purpose will use the worst +portion of the community as a ladder to climb to permanent power, and +an instrument to crush the better part. He is sanguine enough to hope +everything, daring enough to attempt everything, wicked enough to +scruple nothing."<a name="vol1FNanchor_134_134" id="vol1FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a></p> + +<p>Nothing had occurred in the intervening years to change this opinion, +but much was now happening to strengthen it. A Federalist faction in +New England, led by Pickering in the United States Senate and Roger +Griswold in the House, thought a dissolution of the Union inevitable +to save Federalism, and for months the project had been discussed in +a<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.134" id="vol1Page_i.134">i. 134</a></span> stifled, mysterious manner. "It (separation) must begin in +Massachusetts," wrote Pickering to George Cabot, "but New York must be +the centre of the confederacy."<a name="vol1FNanchor_135_135" id="vol1FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> To Rufus King, Pickering became +more specific. "The Federalists have in general anxiously desired the +election of Burr—and if a separation should be deemed proper, the +five New England States, New York and New Jersey, would naturally be +united."<a name="vol1FNanchor_136_136" id="vol1FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> But King disapproved disunion. "Colonel Pickering has +been talking to me about a project they have for a separation of the +States and a northern confederacy," he said to Adams of Massachusetts; +"and he has also been this day talking with General Hamilton. I +disapprove entirely of the project, and so, I am happy to tell you, +does General Hamilton."<a name="vol1FNanchor_137_137" id="vol1FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> But the conspirators were not to be +quieted by disapproving words. Griswold, in a letter to Oliver +Wolcott, declared Burr's election and consequent leadership of the +Federalist party "the only hope which at this time presents itself of +rallying in defence of the Northern States,"<a name="vol1FNanchor_138_138" id="vol1FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> and in order not to +remain longer inactive, he entered into a bargain with Burr, of which +he wrote Wolcott fully. Wolcott sent the letter to Hamilton.<a name="vol1FNanchor_139_139" id="vol1FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a></p> + +<p>It was plain to Hamilton that these timid conspirators wanted a bold +chief to lead them into secession, and that since he would have +nothing to do with them, they had invoked the aid of Aaron Burr. Thus, +to his former desire to defeat Burr, was now added a determination to +defeat incipient disunion, and in the Lewis Tavern conference he +argued that Burr, a Democrat either from principle or calculation,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.135" id="vol1Page_i.135">i. 135</a></span> +would remain a Democrat; and that, though detested by leading +Clintonians, it would not be difficult for a man of his talents, +intrigue and address, possessing the chair of government, to rally +under his standard the great body of the party, and such Federalists +as, from personal goodwill or interested motives, may give him +support. The effect of his elevation, with the help of Federalists +would, therefore, be to reunite, under a more adroit, able and daring +chief, not only the now scattered fragments of his own party, but to +present to the confidence of the people of Federalist New England the +grandson of President Edwards, for whom they had already a strong +predilection. Thus he would have fair play to disorganise the party of +Jefferson, now held in light esteem, and to place himself at the head +of a northern party favouring disunion.</p> + +<p>"If he be truly, as the Federalists have believed, a man of irregular +and insatiable ambition," continued Hamilton, "he will endeavour to +rise to power on the ladder of Jacobin principles, not leaning on a +fallen party, unfavourable to usurpation and the ascendancy of a +despotic chief, but rather on popular prejudices and vices, ever ready +to desert a government by the people at a moment when he ought, more +than ever, to adhere to it. On the other hand, Lansing's personal +character affords some security against pernicious extremes, and, at +the same time, renders it certain that his party, already much divided +and weakened, will disintegrate more and more, until in a recasting of +parties the Federalists may gain a great accession of force. At any +rate it is wiser to foster schism among Democrats, than to give them a +chief, better able than any they have yet had, to unite and direct +them."<a name="vol1FNanchor_140_140" id="vol1FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.136" id="vol1Page_i.136">i. 136</a></span></p> +<p>Within a week after the Lewis Tavern conference Burr's chances +brightened by the sudden withdrawal of Lansing, because the latter +would not allow the Clintons to dictate his appointments. This was a +great surprise to Republicans and a great grief to Hamilton—the more +so since it was not easy to find an available successor. The mention +of DeWitt Clinton raised the cry of youth; Ambrose Spencer had too +recently come over from the Federalists; Morgan Lewis lacked capacity +and fitness. Thus the contention continued, but with a leaning more +and more toward Morgan Lewis, a brother-in-law of Chancellor and +Edward Livingston.</p> + +<p>Lewis' youth had promised a brilliant future. He graduated with high +honours at Princeton, and when the guns of Bunker Hill waked the +country he promptly exchanged John Jay's law office for John Jay's +regiment. In the latter's absence he retained command as major until +ordered to the northern frontier, when he suddenly dropped into a +place as assistant quartermaster-general, useful and important enough, +but stripped of the glory usually preferred by the hot blood of a +gallant youth. In time, the faithful, efficient quartermaster became a +plodding, painstaking lawyer, a safe, industrious attorney-general, +and a dignified, respectable judge; but he had not distinguished +himself, nor did he possess the striking, showy characteristics of +mind or manner often needed in a doubtful and bitterly contested +campaign. Heretofore place had sought him by appointment. He became +attorney-general when Aaron Burr gave it up for the United States +Senate; and a year later, by the casting vote of Governor Clinton, the +Council made him a Supreme Court judge. In 1801 the chief-justiceship +dropped into his lap when Livingston went to France and Lansing became +chancellor, just as the chancellorship would probably have come to him +had Lansing continued a candidate for governor. In 1803 he wanted to +be mayor of New York.</p> + +<p>But with all his ordinariness no one else in sight seemed so available +a candidate for governor. The Livingstons, already jealous of DeWitt +Clinton's growing influence, se<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.137" id="vol1Page_i.137">i. 137</a></span>cretly nourished the hope that Lewis +might develop sufficient independence to check the young man's +ambition. On the other hand, DeWitt Clinton, equally jealous of the +power wielded by the Livingstons, thought the Chief Justice, a kind, +amiable man of sixty, without any particular force of character, +sufficiently plastic to mould to his liking. "From the moment Clinton +declined," wrote Hamilton to Rufus King, "I began to consider Burr as +having a chance of success. It was still my reliance, however, that +Lansing would outrun him; but now that Chief Justice Lewis is his +competitor, the probability, in my judgment, inclines to Burr."<a name="vol1FNanchor_141_141" id="vol1FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a></p> + +<p>Burr's friends, knowing his phenomenal shrewdness in cloaking bargains +and intrigues until the game was bagged, now relied upon him with +confidence to bring victory out of the known discord and jealousy of +his opponents, and for a time it looked as if he might succeed. +Lansing's withdrawal and Hamilton's failure to put up Rufus King as he +contemplated, gave Burr the support of Lansing's sympathy and a clear +field among Federalists, except as modified by Hamilton's influence. +In addition, his friends cited his ability and Revolutionary services, +his liberal patronage of science and the arts, his distinguished and +saintly ancestry, his freedom from family connections to quarter upon +the public treasury, and his honest endeavour to free himself from +debt by disposing of his estate. Especially in New York City did he +meet with encouragement. His headquarters in John Street overflowed +with ward workers and ward heelers, eager to elect the man upon whom +they could rely for favours and with whom they doubtless sincerely +sympathised. It was the contest of April, 1800, over again, save that +Hamilton did not speak or openly oppose.</p> + +<p>As the fight continued it increased in bitterness. Cheetham pounded +Burr harder than ever, accusing him of seduction and of dancing with a +buxom wench at a "nigger ball" given by one of his coloured servants +at Richmond Hill. Jefferson was quoted as saying that Burr's party was +not the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.138" id="vol1Page_i.138">i. 138</a></span> real democracy, a statement that the <i>American Citizen</i> +printed in capitals and kept standing during the three days of the +election. With great earnestness Hamilton quietly warned the +Federalists not to elevate a man who would use their party only to +strengthen their opponents. In the up-counties, where the influence of +the Clinton-Livingston-Spencer combine held the party together with +cords of steel, every appointee, from judge of the Supreme Court to +justice of the peace, was ranged on the side of Livingston's +brother-in-law.</p> + +<p>But Burr, too, had powerful abettors. In Orange and Dutchess he had +always been a favourite; in Delaware, Erastus Root gave all his +influence and all his gifts with the devotion that animated John +Swartout and Marinus Willett in New York; in Ontario, Oliver Phelps, +the great land speculator, endowed with an unconquerable energy and +the strategy of a tactician, was backed by Peter B. Porter, the young +and exceedingly popular clerk of that county, soon to be dismissed for +his independence; in Albany, John Van Ness Yates, remembering Burr's +support of his father's candidacy in 1789, also came to his +assistance. Zealous and active, however, as these and other friends +were, they were few and weak compared to the army of office-holders +shouting and working for Morgan Lewis. When the returns, therefore, +were in, although Burr carried New York by one hundred, he lost the +State by over eight thousand.<a name="vol1FNanchor_142_142" id="vol1FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> A comparison of the vote with the +senatorial returns of 1803 showed that for every Republican voting for +Burr, a Federalist, influenced by Hamilton, voted for Lewis.</p> + +<p>It was Burr's Waterloo. He had staked everything and lost. Bankrupt in +purse, disowned by his party, and distrusted by a large faction of the +leading Federalists, he was without hope of recovery so long as +Hamilton blocked the way. There is no evidence that Burr ever saw +Hamilton's confidential letters to Morris and other trusted Federal +leaders, or knew their contents, but he did know that Hamilton<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.139" id="vol1Page_i.139">i. 139</a></span> +bitterly opposed him, and that his influence was blighting. To get rid +of him, therefore, Burr now seems to have deliberately determined to +kill him.<a name="vol1FNanchor_143_143" id="vol1FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a></p> + +<p>While in Albany in February to argue the Croswell case, Hamilton had +dined with John Taylor, in company with Dr. Charles D. Cooper, who +wrote a friend that, in the course of the dinner, Hamilton had +declared, in substance, that he looked upon Burr as a dangerous +man—one who ought not to be trusted with the reins of government. "I +could detail to you," continued Cooper, "a still more despicable +opinion which General Hamilton has expressed of Mr. Burr." This letter +found its way into the newspapers, and in a note, dated June 18, 1804, +Burr called Hamilton's attention to the words "more despicable," and +added: "You must perceive, sir, the necessity of a prompt and +unqualified acknowledgment or denial of the use of the expression +which could warrant the assertions of Dr. Cooper."<a name="vol1FNanchor_144_144" id="vol1FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> This note, +purposely offensive in its tone, was delivered by William P. Van Ness, +a circumstance clearly indicating an intention to follow it with a +challenge. Two days later, Hamilton replied, declining to make the +acknowledgment or denial, since he could attach no meaning to the +words used in the letter, nor could he consent to be interrogated as +to the inferences drawn by<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.140" id="vol1Page_i.140">i. 140</a></span> third parties, but he was ready to avow or +disavow any definite opinion with which he might be charged. "I trust +on further reflection," concluded Hamilton, "you will see the matter +in the same light with me. If not, I can only regret the circumstances +and must abide the consequences."<a name="vol1FNanchor_145_145" id="vol1FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a></p> + +<p>Burr's answer, which plainly shows the rhetoric of "Aristides," was +more offensive than his initial letter. After replying to it, Hamilton +prepared a note to be informally communicated to Burr, in which he +stated that if the latter chose to inquire into the purport of any +conversation between himself and Dr. Cooper, he would be able to reply +with truth that it turned wholly on political topics, and had no +relation to Burr's private character, adding that he was ready to make +an equally frank answer with regard to any other conversation which +Burr would specify.<a name="vol1FNanchor_146_146" id="vol1FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> When Burr pronounced this honourable +proposition "a mere evasion," his purpose was as evident as it became +on June 27th, the day he sent the challenge.</p> + +<p>Hamilton's acceptance of the challenge was inevitable. For a hundred +years men have regretted and mourned that he did not dare to stand +alone against duelling, as he had dared to stand alone for economic +and patriotic principles against the clamour of mobs and the malice of +enemies. But absurd and barbarous as was the custom, it flourished in +Christian America, as it did in every other Christian country, in +spite of Christian ethics; and it would not permit a proud, sensitive +nature, jealous of his honour, especially of his military honour, to +ignore it. Lorenzo Sabine's list of duellists includes a score of +prominent Englishmen, Frenchmen and Americans, many of them +contemporary with Hamilton, and some of them as profoundly admired, +who succumbed to its tyranny. Proof of his valour at Monmouth and at +Yorktown would no more placate the popular contempt and obloquy sure +to follow an avoidance of its demands than would the victory at +Waterloo have excused Wellington had he declined to challenge Lord +Winchilsea. All this did not make<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.141" id="vol1Page_i.141">i. 141</a></span> duelling right, but it excuses a +noble soul for yielding "to the force of an imperious custom," as Dr. +Knott put it—a custom that still exists in France and Germany, and in +some parts of America, perhaps, though now universally execrated by +Christian people and pronounced murder by their laws. Even at that +time Hamilton held it in abhorrence. In a paper drawn for publication +in the event of death, he announced his intention of throwing away his +fire, and in extenuation of yielding, he adds: "To those who, with me, +abhorring the practice of duelling, may think that I ought on no +account to have added to the number of bad examples, I answer that my +relative situation, as well in public as in private, enforcing all the +considerations which constitute what men of the world denominate +honour, imposed on me, as I thought, a peculiar necessity not to +decline the call. The ability to be in the future useful, whether in +resisting mischief, or effecting good, in those crises of our public +affairs which seem likely to happen, would probably be inseparable +from a conformity with public prejudice in this particular."<a name="vol1FNanchor_147_147" id="vol1FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> The +pathway of history is strewn with the wrecks of customs and +superstitions which have held men in their grip, compelling obedience +and demanding regularity; but no custom ever had a firmer hold upon +gifted men than duelling, making them its devotees even when their +intellects condemned it, their hearts recognised its cruelty, and +their consciences pronounced it wrong.</p> + +<p>Because of Hamilton's engagements in court, the hostile meeting was +deferred until Wednesday, July 11th. In the meantime the principals +went about their vocations with apparent indifference to the coming +event. On the evening of July 4th, Hamilton and Burr attended the +annual dinner of the Society of the Cincinnati, of which the former +had succeeded Washington as president. The occasion was remembered as +the gayest and most hilarious in the society's history. Hamilton +leaped upon the table and sang "The Drum," an old camp song that +became historic because of his fre<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.142" id="vol1Page_i.142">i. 142</a></span>quent rendition of it. It was +recalled afterward that Burr withdrew before the festivities had +ended. On Saturday evening Hamilton dined Colonel Trumbull, one of +Washington's first aides, and on Monday attended a reception given by +Oliver Wolcott, John Adams' secretary of the treasury. Tuesday evening +he prepared the paper already quoted, and addressed a letter to +Theodore Sedgwick, one of Pickering's sternest conspirators, warning +him against disunion. "Dismemberment of our empire," he said, "will be +a clear sacrifice of great positive advantages, without any +counterbalancing good; administering no relief to our real disease, +which is democracy—the poison of which, by a subdivision, will only +be the more concentred in each part, and consequently the more +virulent."<a name="vol1FNanchor_148_148" id="vol1FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a></p> + +<p>Meantime the secret had been confined to less than a dozen persons, +and to none of Hamilton's intimate friends. Troup remained with him +until a late hour Monday night without suspecting anything, the gaiety +of his manner leading his friend to think his health was mending. Had +Troup divined the hostile meeting, it might not have occurred. When +John Swartout entered Burr's room at daylight on that fatal 11th of +July, he found him sound asleep.</p> + +<p>It was seven o'clock Wednesday morning, a hot July day, that Hamilton +crossed the Hudson to Weehawken, with Pendleton, his second, and Dr. +Hosack, Burr and Van Ness having preceded them. It took but a moment +to measure ten paces, load the pistols, and place the principals in +position. As the word was given, Burr took deliberate aim and fired. +Instantly Hamilton reeled and fell forward headlong upon his face, +involuntarily discharging his pistol. "This is a mortal wound, +Doctor," he gasped, and immediately sank into a swoon. An examination +showed that the ball had penetrated the right side. Burr, sheltered by +Van Ness under an umbrella, hurried from the scene, while Hamilton, +conveyed in his boat to the city, gradually recovered consciousness. +"My vision is indistinct," he murmured; but soon after,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.143" id="vol1Page_i.143">i. 143</a></span> catching +sight of a pistol near him, cautioned them to take care of it. "It is +undischarged and still cocked," he said; "it may go off and do harm. +Pendleton knows I did not intend to fire at him." As the boat neared +the wharf, he asked that Mrs. Hamilton be sent for. "Let the event be +gradually broken to her," he said, "but give her hopes." Thus he +lingered for thirty-one hours in great agony, but retaining his +self-command to the last, and dying in the midst of his stricken +family and sorrowing friends.</p> + +<p>If Washington and Lincoln be excepted, it is doubtful if an American +was ever more deeply mourned. Had he been President, he could not have +been buried with greater pomp, or with manifestations of more profound +sorrow. Although he had been hated by his enemies, and at times +misunderstood by some of his friends, at his death the people, without +division, instantly recognised that his life had been passionately +devoted to his country, and they paid him the tribute only accorded +the memory of a most illustrious patriot. Such demonstrations were not +confined to New York. The sorrow became national; speeches, sermons, +and poems without number, were composed in his honour; in every State, +some county or town received his name; wherever an American lived, an +expression of sympathy found record. It was the consensus of opinion +that the life which began in January, 1757 and ended in July, 1804, +held in the compass of its forty-seven years the epitome of what +America meant for Americans in the days of its greatest peril and its +greatest glory. "Had he lived twenty years longer," said Chancellor +Kent, "I have very little doubt he would have rivalled Socrates or +Bacon, or any other of the sages of ancient or modern times, in +researches after truth and in benevolence to mankind. The active and +profound statesman, the learned and eloquent lawyer, would probably +have disappeared in a great degree before the character of the sage +and philosopher, instructing mankind by his wisdom, and elevating the +country by his example."<a name="vol1FNanchor_149_149" id="vol1FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.144" id="vol1Page_i.144">i. 144</a></span></p> +<p>Burr became a name of horror.<a name="vol1FNanchor_150_150" id="vol1FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> When Hamilton's death was announced +there came a cry of execration on his murderer, which the publication +of the correspondence intensified. A coroner's jury pronounced him a +murderer, the grand jury instructed the district attorney to +prosecute, and the Vice President found it necessary to take refuge in +concealment until the first fury of the people had subsided. +Cheetham's pen, following him remorselessly, charged that he ransacked +the newspapers for the grounds of a challenge; that for three months +he daily practised with a pistol; and that while Hamilton lay dying, +he sat at the table drinking wine with his friends, and apologising +that he had not shot him through the heart.</p> + +<p>Within two years Burr was arrested for treason, charged with an +attempt to place himself at the head of a new nation formed from the +country of the Montezumas and the valley of the Mississippi, and, +although he was acquitted, his countrymen believed him guilty of a +treasonable ambition. In the State where he had found his chief +support, he ever after ranked in infamy next to Benedict Arnold. +Thenceforth he became a stranger and a wanderer on the face of the +earth. His friends left him and society shunned him. "I have not +spoken to the damned reptile for twenty-five years," said former +Governor Morgan Lewis, in 1830.<a name="vol1FNanchor_151_151" id="vol1FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a></p> + +<p>For the moment, one forgets the horrible tragedy of July 11, 1804, and +thinks only of the lonely man who lived to lament it. He was in his +eighty-first year when he died. On his return from Europe in 1812, +only one person welcomed him. This was Matthew L. Davis, his earliest +political friend and biographer. Burr made Davis his literary +executor, and turned over to him the confidential female +correspondence that had accumulated in the days of his popularity as +United States senator and Vice President, and that<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.145" id="vol1Page_i.145">i. 145</a></span> he had carefully +filed and indorsed with the full name of each writer. The treachery, +falsehood, and desertion with which these letters charged him, seemed +to this unnatural man to add to their value, and he gave them to his +executor without instructions, that the extent of his gallantries, his +power of fascination, and the names of the gifted and beautiful +victims of his numerous amours might not become a secret in his grave. +One can conceive nothing baser. The preservation of letters to satisfy +an erotic mind is low enough, but deliberately to identify each +anonymous or initialled letter with the full name of the writer, for +the use of a biographer, is an act of treachery of which few men are +capable. To the credit of Davis, these letters were either returned to +their writers or consigned to the flames.</p> + +<p>Burr was a politician by nature, habit and education. In his younger +days he easily enlisted the goodwill and sympathy of his associates, +surrounding himself with a large circle of devoted, obedient friends; +and, though neither a great lawyer nor a brilliant speaker, his +natural gifts, supplemented by industry and perseverance, and a very +attractive presence, made him a conspicuous member of the New York bar +and of the United States Senate. He was, however, the ardent champion +of nothing that made for the public good. Indeed, the record of his +whole life indicates that he never possessed a great thought, or +fathered an important measure. Throughout the long, and, at times, +bitter controversy over the establishment of the Union, his silence +was broken only to predict its failure within half a century.</p> + +<p>It is doubtful if he was ever a happy man. In the very hours when he +was the most famous and the most flattered, he described himself as +most unhappy. So long, though, as Theodosia lived, he was never alone. +When she died, he suffered till the end. There has hardly ever been in +the world a more famous pair of lovers than Burr and his gifted, noble +daughter, and there is nothing in history more profoundly melancholy +than the loss of the ship, driven by the pitiless wind of fate, on +which Theodosia had taken passage for her<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.146" id="vol1Page_i.146">i. 146</a></span> southern home. Yet one is +shocked at the unnatural parent who instructs his daughter to read, in +the event of his death in the duel with Hamilton, the confidential +letters which came to him in the course of his love intrigues and +affairs of gallantry. It imports a moral obliquity that, happily for +society, is found in few human beings. As he lived, so he died, a +strange, lonely, unhappy man, out of tune with the beautiful world in +which he was permitted to exist upward of four score years. He had +done a great deal of harm, and, except as a Revolutionary soldier, no +good whatever.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.147" id="vol1Page_i.147">i. 147</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XIII" id="vol1CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /> +<br /> +THE CLINTONS AGAINST THE LIVINGSTONS<br /> +<br /> +1804-1807</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap"> +When</span> Morgan Lewis began his term as governor tranquillity +characterised public affairs in the State and in the nation. The +Louisiana Purchase had strengthened the Administration with all +classes of people; Jefferson and George Clinton had received 162 +electoral votes to 14 for Pinckney and Rufus King; Burr had gone into +retirement and was soon to go into obscurity; the Livingstons, filling +high places, were distinguishing themselves at home and abroad as able +judges and successful diplomatists; DeWitt Clinton, happy and +eminently efficient as the mayor of New York, seemed to have before +him a bright and prosperous career as a skilful and triumphant party +manager; while George Clinton, softened by age, rich in favouring +friends, with an ideal face for a strong, bold portrait, was basking +in the soft, mellow glow that precedes the closing of a stormy life. +Never before, perhaps never since, did a governor enter upon his +duties, neither unusual nor important, under more favourable auspices; +yet the story of Lewis' administration is a story of astonishing +mistakes and fatal factional strife.</p> + +<p>The Governor inaugurated his new career by an unhappy act of +patronage. The appointment of Maturin Livingston, his son-in-law, and +the removal of Peter B. Porter, the friend of Burr, showed a selfish, +almost malevolent disregard of public opinion and the public service, +a trait that, in a way, characterised his policy throughout. +Livingston was notoriously unfitted for recorder of New York. He was +unpopular in his manners, deficient in a knowledge of law, without<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.148" id="vol1Page_i.148">i. 148</a></span> +industry, and given to pleasure rather than business, but, because of +his relationship, the Governor forced him into that responsible +position. In like manner, although until then no change had occurred +within the party for opinion's sake, Lewis voted for the removal of +Peter B. Porter, the young and popular clerk of Ontario County. +Porter's youth indicated an intelligence that promised large returns +to his country and his party, and the Governor lived long enough to +see him honourably distinguished in Congress, highly renowned when his +serious career began on the Niagara frontier in the War of 1812, and, +afterward, richly rewarded as secretary of war in the Cabinet of John +Quincy Adams. But in 1805 the Governor cheerfully voted for his +removal, thus establishing the dangerous precedent that a member of +one's political household was to be treated with as little +consideration as a member of the opposite party.</p> + +<p>Although Lewis' conduct in the case of Maturin Livingston and Peter B. +Porter was not the most foolish act in a career of folly, it served as +a fitting preface to his policy in relation to the incorporation of +the Merchants' Bank of New York, a policy that proved fatal to his +ambition and to the influence of the Livingstons. Already doing +business under the general laws, two Republican Legislatures had +refused to incorporate the Merchants' Bank. But during the legislative +session of 1805 the bank people determined to have their way, and in +the efforts that followed they used methods and means common enough +afterward, but probably unknown before that winter. Although in no +wise connected with the scandal growing out of the controversy, Lewis +favoured the incorporation of the bank. On the other hand, DeWitt +Clinton opposed it, maintaining that two banks in New York City were +sufficient. However, the Governor, backed by the Federalists and a +small Republican majority, was successful. In the Council of Revision, +Ambrose Spencer opposed the act of incorporation on the ground that +existing banks, possessing five million dollars of capital, with +authority to issue notes and create debts to the amount of fifteen +million more, were<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.149" id="vol1Page_i.149">i. 149</a></span> sufficient, especially as the United States had +suffered an alarming decrease of specie, and as no one save a few +individuals, inspired solely by cupidity, had asked for a new bank. +Spencer, however, relied principally in his attack upon affidavits of +Obadiah German, the Republican leader of the Assembly, and Stephen +Thorn of the same body, charging that Senator Ebenezer Purdy, the +father of the measure, had offered them large rewards for their votes, +German having Purdy's admission that he had become convinced of the +propriety of incorporating the bank after a confidential conference +with its directors. From this it was to be inferred, argued Spencer, +that before such improper means were made use of, Purdy himself, whose +vote was necessary to its passage, was averse to its incorporation. +"To sanction a bill thus marked in its progress through one branch of +the Legislature with bribery and corruption," concluded the Judge, +"would be subversive of all pure legislation, and become a reproach to +a government hitherto renowned for the wisdom of its councils and the +integrity of its legislatures."<a name="vol1FNanchor_152_152" id="vol1FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> But Spencer's opposition and +Purdy's resignation, to avoid an investigation, did not defeat the +measure, which had the support of Chief Justice Kent, a Federalist, +and two members of the Livingston family, a majority of the Council.</p> + +<p>DeWitt Clinton had not approved the Governor's course. The flagrant +partiality shown Lewis' family in the unpopular appointment of Maturin +Livingston, his son-in-law, displeased him, and the removal of Porter +seemed to him untimely and vindictive. In killing Hamilton, Clinton +reasoned, Burr had killed himself politically, and out of the way +himself there was no occasion to punish his friends who would now +rejoin and strengthen the Republican party. Clinton, however, remained +passive in his opposition until the incorporation of the bank +furnished a plausible excuse for an appeal to the party; then, with a +determination to subjugate the Livingstons, he caused himself and his +adherents to be nominated and elected to the State Senate upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.150" id="vol1Page_i.150">i. 150</a></span> the +platform that "a new bank has been created in our city, and its +charter granted to political enemies." It was a bold move, as stubborn +as it was dangerous. Clinton had little to gain. The Livingstons were +not long to continue in New York politics. Maturin was insignificant; +Brockholst was soon to pass to the Supreme Court of the United States; +Edward had already sought a new home and greater honours in New +Orleans; and the Chancellor, having returned from France, was without +ambition to remain longer in the political arena. Even the +brothers-in-law were soon to disappear. John Armstrong was in France; +Smith Thompson, who was to follow Brockholst upon the bench of the +United States Supreme Court, refused to engage in party or political +contests, and the gifts of Tillotson and Lewis were not of quality or +quantity to make leaders of men. On the other hand, Clinton had much +to lose by forcing the fight. It condemned him to a career of almost +unbroken opposition for the rest of his life; it made precedents that +lived to curse him; and it compelled alliances that weakened him.</p> + +<p>Lewis resented Clinton's imperious methods, but he made a fatal +mistake in furnishing him such a pretext for open opposition. He ought +to have known that in opposing the Merchants' Bank, Clinton +represented the great majority of his party which did not believe in +banks. Undoubtedly Clinton's interest in the Manhattan largely +controlled his attitude toward the Merchants', but the controversy +over the latter was so old, and its claims had been pressed so +earnestly by the Federalists in their own interest, that the question +had practically become a party issue as much as the contest over the +Bank of the United States. Already two Republican Legislatures had +defeated it, and in a third it was now being urged to success with the +help of a solid Federalist vote and a system of flagrant bribery, of +which the Governor was fully advised. A regard for party opinion, if +no higher motive, therefore, might well have governed Lewis' action. +After the fight had been precipitated, resulting in a warfare fatal to +Lewis, the Governor's apologists claimed that in favouring<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.151" id="vol1Page_i.151">i. 151</a></span> the bank +he had simply resisted Clinton's domination. The Governor may have +thought so, but it was further evidence of his inability either to +understand the sentiment dominating the party he sought to represent, +or successfully to compete with Clinton in leadership. DeWitt Clinton, +with all his faults, and they were many and grave, had in him the +gifts of a master and the capacity of a statesman. Lewis seems to have +had neither gifts nor capacity.</p> + +<p>In January, 1806, DeWitt Clinton, securing a majority of the Council +of Appointment by the election of himself and two friends, sounded the +signal of attack upon the Governor and his supporters. He substituted +Pierre C. Van Wyck for Maturin Livingston and Elisha Jenkins for +Thomas Tillotson. The Governor's friends were also evicted from minor +office, only men hostile to Lewis' re-election being preferred. +Nothing could be less justifiable, or, indeed, more nefarious than +such removals. They were discreditable to the Council and disgraceful +to DeWitt Clinton; yet sentiment of the time seems to have approved +them, regarding Clinton's conduct merely as a stroke of good politics. +In the midst of this wretched business it is pleasant to note that +Jenkins' transfer from comptroller to secretary of state opened a way +for the appointment of Archibald McIntyre, whose safe custody of the +purse in days when economies and husbandries were in order, +distinguished him as a faithful official, and kept him in office until +1821.</p> + +<p>After such drastic treatment of the Governor, it is not without +interest to think of Lewis in Albany and Clinton in New York keeping +their eyes upon the election in April, 1806, both alike hopeful of +finding allies in the party breakup. The advantage seemed to be wholly +with the Mayor and not with the Governor. Indeed, Republicans of all +factions were so well assured of Clinton's success that it required +the faith of a novice in politics to believe that Lewis had any +chance. But DeWitt Clinton had to deal with two classes of men, +naturally and almost relentlessly opposed to him—the friends of Burr +and the Federalists. It was of immense im<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.152" id="vol1Page_i.152">i. 152</a></span>portance that the former +should stand with him, since the Federalists were certain to side with +the Lewisites or "Quids," as the Governor's friends came to be known, +and to secure such an advantage Clinton promptly made overtures to the +Burrites, of whom John Swartout, Peter Irving and Matthew L. Davis +were the leaders.</p> + +<p>There is some confusion as to details, but Davis is authority for the +statement that in December, 1805, Theodorus Bailey, as Clinton's +agent, promised to aid Burr's friends through the Manhattan Bank, to +recognise them as Republicans, to appoint them to office on the same +footing with the most favoured Clintonian, and to stop Cheetham's +attacks in the <i>American Citizen</i>. Clinton pronounced the story false, +but it was known that the Manhattan Bank loaned eighteen thousand +dollars to a prominent Burrite; that on January 24, 1806, Clinton met +Swartout, Irving and Davis at the home of Bailey; and that afterward, +on February 20, leading Clintonians banqueted the Burrites at Dyde's +Hotel in the suburbs of New York in celebration of their union. There +were many reasons for maintaining the profoundest secrecy as to this +alliance and Dyde's Hotel had been selected for the purpose of +avoiding publicity, but the morning's papers revealed the secret with +an exaggerated account of their doings and sayings. Immediately, other +Burrites, joining the Lewisites at Martling's Long-room, a popular +meeting-place, organised a protestant faction, afterward known as +Martling Men, whose enmity was destined to follow Clinton to his +downfall.</p> + +<p>As election day approached the Quids made a decisive struggle against +Clinton. They rehearsed the charges of "Aristides;" they denounced him +as cold and imperious; they charged that he had an almost boundless +political ambition; that he maintained his own councils regardless of +his associates, and accepted no suggestion not in harmony with his own +policy. The Martling Men accused him of duplicity, and of a desire +only for place and pay. In aid of Lewis, Chancellor Lansing took this +opportunity of revealing the secret<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.153" id="vol1Page_i.153">i. 153</a></span> that led him to withdraw from the +gubernatorial race in 1804, charging that George Clinton had sought +"to pledge him to a particular course of conduct in the administration +of the government of the State." When the latter denied the statement, +Lansing, becoming more specific, affirmed that the venerable statesman +had mentioned DeWitt Clinton as a suitable person for chancellor. It +is not surprising, perhaps, that DeWitt Clinton's reply that if +tendered the office he would have declined it, fell upon incredulous +ears, since the young man at that very moment was holding three +offices and drawing three salaries.</p> + +<p>But the contest did not become seriously doubtful until the Quids +received the active support of the Federalists, just then led by +William W. Van Ness, who seems to have leaped into prominence as +suddenly as did "Aristides," his cousin. If we may estimate the man by +the praises of his contemporaries, William W. Van Ness' eloquence +delighted the Assembly of which he had become a member in 1805, not +more than his pointed and finished wit charmed every social gathering +which he honoured with his presence. Indeed, as a popular orator he +seems to have had no rival. Though his passion for distinction was too +ardent and his fondness for sensual pleasure immoderate, sober minded +men were carried away with the fascinating effervescence of his public +utterances and the brilliancy of his conversation. He had a commanding +presence, almost a colossal form, and a voice marvellous for its +strength and for the music of its intonations. He was neither profound +nor learned. The common school at Claverack, where he was born in +independence year, furnished him little more than the rudiments of +English, and at the age of twenty he closed the door to further +advancement by prematurely burdening himself with a family; yet he +seemed to know without apparent effort everything that was necessary +to know, and to exert a gentle, unconscious, unpretending power that +was resistless. A sweetness of temper and a native dignity of manner +cast a grace and charm about him which acted as a spell upon all who +came within its influ<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.154" id="vol1Page_i.154">i. 154</a></span>ence. Hammond, the historian, thought him the +possessor of every gift that nature and fortune could bestow—wit, +beauty, good nature, suave manners, eloquence, and admirable +conversation. Such a combination gave him leadership, and he led his +followers solidly to Lewis, with the result that the coalition of +Federalists and Quids won out by a small majority.</p> + +<p>When the Legislature assembled, in January, 1807, the intense +bitterness of the fight exhibited itself in the defeat of Solomon +Southwick for clerk of the Assembly. Southwick possessed the amiable, +winning qualities that characterised William W. Van Ness. He was +associated with his brother-in-law in the management of the Albany +<i>Register</i>, and from his earliest youth had been as zealous a +Republican as he was warm and disinterested in his friendships. To +friend and foe he was alike cordial and generous. He possessed an open +mind, not so eloquent as Van Ness, and less brilliant, perhaps, in +conversation; but the fluent splendour of his speech and the beauty of +his person and manners went as far toward the attainment of his +ambition. He had been elected clerk of the Assembly continuously since +1803, until his popularity among the members, whom he served with +uniform politeness and zeal, seemed proof against the attacks of any +adversary. Just now, however, the enemies of DeWitt Clinton were the +opponents of Solomon Southwick, while his rival, Garret Y. Lansing, +the nephew of the Chancellor, had become the bitterest and most +formidable enemy the Clintons had to encounter. Popular as he was, +Southwick could not win against such odds, although it turned out that +a change of four votes would have elected him.</p> + +<p>A Lewis Council of Appointment made a clean sweep of the Governor's +enemies and of DeWitt Clinton's friends. Clinton himself gave up the +mayoralty of New York, Maturin Livingston again assumed the duties of +recorder, and Thomas Tillotson was restored to the office of secretary +of state. Perhaps Clinton thought he stood too high to be in danger +from Lewis' hand. If he did he found out his mistake,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.155" id="vol1Page_i.155">i. 155</a></span> for Lewis +struck him down in the most unsparing and humiliating way. Public +affront was added to political deprivation. Without warning or +explanation, the first motion put at the first meeting of the new +Council, on February 6, 1807, made him the first sacrifice. Had he +been a justice of the peace in a remote western county he could not +have been treated more rudely; and, it may be added, if better reason +than that already existing were needed to seal the fate of Lewis, +Clinton's removal furnished it. New York has seldom been roused to +greater passion by a governor's act. It could even then be said of +Clinton that his name was associated with every great enterprise for +the public good. Less than a year before, in his efforts to educate +the children of the poor, unprovided for in parochial schools, he had +laid the foundation of the public school system, heading the +subscription list for the purchase of suitable quarters. In spite of +his faults he was a great executive, and before the sun went down on +the day of his removal a large majority of the Republican members of +the Legislature, guided by the deposed mayor, had nominated Daniel D. +Tompkins for governor in place of Morgan Lewis.</p> + +<p>In disposing of the mayoralty, Lewis recognised the importance of +keeping it in the family, and offered it to Smith Thompson, both of +whose wives were Livingstons; but only once in forty years did +Thompson's love for the judiciary give way to political preferment, +and then Martin Van Buren defeated him for governor. The mayoralty +finally went to Marinus Willett, an officer of distinguished service +in the Revolutionary war, whose gallantry at Fort Schuyler in the +summer of 1777 won him a sword from Congress and the admiration of +General Washington. But the steadfast, judicious qualities that +commended him as a soldier seem to have forsaken him as a politician. +He supported Burr, he followed Lewis, and he finally ran for +lieutenant-governor against DeWitt Clinton, the regular nominee of his +party, losing the election by a large majority; yet his amiability and +war services kept him a favourite in spite of his political<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.156" id="vol1Page_i.156">i. 156</a></span> wavering. +It was hard for a lover of his country to dislike a real hero of the +Revolution, even though he forfeited the confidence of his party.</p> + +<p>Clinton, who had kept his head cool in victory, did not lose it in +defeat; but the Governor found himself in an awkward and humiliating +position. Although the Federalists had made it possible for him to +organise the Legislature and elect a friendly Council, he dared not +appoint one of them to office, and the few ambitious Republicans who +had marshalled under his standard proved inferior, inexperienced, or +indiscreet. Only one Federalist fared well, and he succeeded in spite +of Lewis. William W. Van Ness aspired to the Supreme Court judgeship +made vacant by Brockholst Livingston's appointment to the Supreme +Court of the United States. The Governor, favouring, of course, a +member of his own family, proposed Maturin Livingston. To this Thomas +Thomas of the Council agreed, but Edward Savage proposed John +Woodworth; John Nicholas inclined to Jonas Platt, and James Burt, the +fourth member of the Council, preferred Van Ness. Platt was a +Federalist, and in his way a remarkable man. His father, Zephaniah +Platt, served in the Continental Congress, and as judge of the Circuit +Court had pushed his way to the northern frontier, founded Plattsburg, +and advocated a system of canals connecting the Hudson with the lakes. +The son, following his example, studied law and emigrated to the +western frontier, settling in Herkimer County, at Whitesboro. He had +already served one term in the Legislature and one in Congress, and +was destined to receive other honourable preferment. But just now +Nicholas, his political backer, a recent comer from Virginia, who had +served with him in Congress, was no match for the adroit Burt, whose +shrewd management in the interest of Aaron Burr had recently sent +Theodorus Bailey to the United States Senate over John Woodworth. Burt +convinced Nicholas that Platt's candidacy would result in the election +of Livingston or Woodworth, and having thus destroyed the Herkimer +lawyer, he appealed to Savage to drop Woodworth<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.157" id="vol1Page_i.157">i. 157</a></span> in favour of Van +Ness. Savage was a Republican of the old school, a supporter of George +Clinton, an opponent of the Federal Constitution, who had apparently +followed Lewis for what he could make out of it; but he was indisposed +to add to the sin of rebellion against DeWitt Clinton the folly of +voting for Maturin Livingston, and so he joined Burt and Nicholas in +support of Van Ness. Thus it happened that the popular young orator +became a member of the Supreme Court at the early age of thirty-one, +being the youngest member of the court, save Daniel D. Tompkins, to +serve on the old, conservative Council of Revision.</p> + +<p>News of this bad business intensified the angry feeling against the +Governor. A place on the Supreme Court, valued then even more highly +than now, had been lost to the party because of his arrogant and +consuming nepotism, and men turned with enthusiasm to Daniel D. +Tompkins, whose nomination for governor brought him champions that had +heretofore avoided all appearance of violent partisanship. Tompkins +was accepted as the exponent of all that Republicans most prized; +Lewis as their most obstinate and offensive opponent. Thus, at last, +the Clintons faced the Livingstons on a fair field.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.158" id="vol1Page_i.158">i. 158</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XIV" id="vol1CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br /> +<br /> +DANIEL D. TOMPKINS AND <span class="smcap">DeWITT</span> CLINTON<br /> +<br /> +1807-1810</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap"> +Had</span> DeWitt Clinton succeeded to the governorship in 1807, his way to +the Presidency, upon which his eye was already fixed, might have +opened easily and surely. But the bitterness of the Livingstons and +the unfriendly disposition of the Federalists compelled him to flank +the difficulty by presenting a candidate for governor who was void of +offence. If it was humiliating to admit his own ineligibility, it was +no less so to meet the new condition, for Lewis' election in 1804 had +discovered the scarcity of available material, and developed the +danger of relying upon another to do his bidding. Just now Clinton +wanted a candidate with no convictions, no desires, no ambitions, and +no purposes save to please him. There were men enough of this kind, +but they could neither conceal their master's hand, nor command the +suffrages of a majority on their own account. In this crisis, +therefore, he selected, to the surprise of all and to the disgust of +some, Daniel D. Tompkins, the young and amiable justice of the Supreme +Court, who had taken the place of James Kent on the latter's promotion +to chief justice.</p> + +<p>Thus it happened that the day which witnessed DeWitt Clinton's removal +from the New York mayoralty, welcomed into larger political life this +man of honourable parentage, who was destined to play a very +conspicuous part in affairs of state. Daniel D. Tompkins, a youth of +promise and a young man of ripening wisdom, had been for some years in +the public eye, first as a member of the constitutional convention of +1801, afterward as a successful candidate for Con<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.159" id="vol1Page_i.159">i. 159</a></span>gress, and later as +a judge of the Supreme Court. His rise had been phenomenally rapid. He +passed from the farm to the college at seventeen, from college to the +law office at twenty-one, from the law office to the constitutional +convention at twenty-seven, and thence to Congress and the Supreme +Court at thirty. He was now to become governor at thirty-three. But +with all his promise and wisdom and rapid advancement, no one dreamed +in 1807 that he was soon to divide political honour and power with +DeWitt Clinton, five years his senior.</p> + +<p>Tompkins was on the farm when Clinton was in Columbia College; but if +the plow lengthened his days, study shortened his nights, and five +years after Clinton graduated, Tompkins entered the same institution. +Just then it was a stern chase. Clinton had the advantage of family, +Tompkins the disadvantage of being a stranger. When the former entered +the Legislature, the latter had only opened a law office. Then, but +four years later, they met in the constitutional convention, Clinton +on the winning side and Tompkins on the right side. The purpose of +this convention, it will be recalled, had been to give each member of +the Council of Appointment the power to nominate candidates for +office—Clinton holding that the Council had the right to nominate as +well as to confirm appointments; Tompkins, with barely a dozen +associates, took the ground, maintained by Governors Clinton and Jay, +that its power was limited to confirmation. This position showed the +nerve as well as the independence of the younger man, and he was able +proudly to refer to it when, twenty years later, the constitutional +convention of 1821, inspired by the popular contempt, achieved the +abolition of the Council, and with it the political corruption and +favouritism to which it had given rise.</p> + +<p>The record of New York politics is a record of long and bitter +contests between these chiefs of two antagonistic Republican factions. +What the struggle between Stalwarts and Half Breeds was to our own +time, the struggle between Clinton and Tompkins was to our ancestors +of two and three<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.160" id="vol1Page_i.160">i. 160</a></span> generations ago. Two men could hardly be more +sharply contrasted. The one appeared cold and reserved, the other most +gracious and gentle; Clinton's self-confidence destroyed the fidelity +of those who differed in opinion, Tompkins' urbanity disarmed their +disloyalty; Clinton was unrelenting, dogged in his tenacity, quick to +speak harshly, moving within lines of purpose regardless of those of +least resistance. Although he often changed his associates, like Lord +Shaftesbury, he never changed his purposes. Tompkins, always firm and +dignified, was affable in manner, sympathetic in speech, overflowing +with good nature, and unpretending to all who approached him. It used +to be said that Tompkins made more friends in refusing favours than +Clinton did in granting them.</p> + +<p>The two men also differed as much in personal appearance as in manner. +Tompkins, shapely and above the ordinary height, had large, full eyes, +twinkling with kindness, a high forehead wreathed with dark, curly +hair, and an oval face, easily and usually illuminated with a smile; +Clinton had a big frame, square shoulders, a broad, full forehead, +short, pompadour hair, dark penetrating eyes, and a large mouth with +lips firmly set. It was a strong face. A dullard could read his +character at a glance. To his intimate friends Clinton was undoubtedly +a social, agreeable companion; but the dignified imperiousness of his +manner and the severity of his countenance usually overcame the +ordinary visitor before the barriers of his reserve were broken. +Tompkins, on the contrary, carried the tenderness of a wide humanity +in his face.</p> + +<p>It was hardly creditable to Clinton's knowledge of human nature that +he selected Daniel D. Tompkins for a gubernatorial candidate, if he +sought a man whom he might control. The memory of the constitutional +convention, or a glance into the history of the elder Tompkins, who +had stood firm and unyielding in the little settlement of Fox Meadows +in Winchester after the American defeat on Long Island, when all his +neighbours save two had faltered in the cause of inde<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.161" id="vol1Page_i.161">i. 161</a></span>pendence, would +have enlightened him respecting the Tompkins character. The farmer +boy's determined, patient preparation for public life, and his +fortitude in the face of conscious disadvantages, ought also to have +suggested that the young man was made of sterner stuff than the +obedient Theodorus Bailey. Still more surprising is it that Clinton +should overlook, or insufficiently consider the fact that Tompkins was +now the son-in-law of Mangle Minthorne, a wealthy citizen of New York, +and the leader of the Martling Men, of whose opposition he had already +been apprised, and whose bitter hostility he was about to experience. +If he thought to disarm the enmity of Minthorne by helping the +son-in-law, his hopes were raised only to be dashed to earth again.</p> + +<p>It is certain DeWitt Clinton had no one save himself to thank for +taking this Hercules, whose political direction was conspicuously +inevitable from the first. But Clinton wanted an assured victor +against Morgan Lewis and the Livingstons, with their Federalist +supporters, and, although some people inclined to the opinion that +Tompkins had already been promoted too rapidly, Clinton believed his +services on the bench had made him the most available man in the +party. For three years this young judge, substituting sympathy for +severity, had endeared himself to all who knew him. The qualities of +fairness and fitness which Greek wisdom praised in the conduct of life +were characteristic of his life. From what we know of his work it is +fair to presume, had he tarried upon the bench until 1821, he would +have been a worthy associate of Smith Thompson and Ambrose Spencer.</p> + +<p>Sixty-five Republican members of the Legislature signed the address, +drawn by DeWitt Clinton, putting Tompkins into the race for governor; +forty-five indorsed the platform on which Governor Lewis stood for +re-election. The Clinton address gave no reason for preferring +Tompkins to Lewis, but the latter's weakness as an executive, +foreshadowed a defeat which each day made plainer, and when the votes, +counted on the last day of April, gave Tompkins 4085 majority, the +result was as gratifying to Clinton as it was dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.162" id="vol1Page_i.162">i. 162</a></span>astrous to +Lewis.<a name="vol1FNanchor_153_153" id="vol1FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> It was not a sweeping victory, such as Lewis had won over +Burr three years before, for the former's weakness was less offensive +than the latter's wickedness, but it launched the successful candidate +on his long period of authority, which was not to be ended until he +was broken in health, if not in character.</p> + +<p>Daniel D. Tompkins had the good fortune to begin his administration at +a time when England and the United States were about to quarrel over +the former's insistence on impressing American seamen into its +service, thus giving the people something to think about save offices, +and dividing them again sharply into two parties. Indeed, while the +election was pending in April, three deserters from the <i>Melampus</i>, a +British sloop-of-war, by enlisting on the <i>Chesapeake</i>, a United +States frigate of thirty-eight guns, became the innocent cause of +subjecting the United States to gross insult. The American government, +smarting under England's impressment of its seamen, refused to +surrender these deserters, inquiries showing that they were coloured +men of American birth, two of whom had been pressed into the British +service from an American vessel in the Bay of Biscay. When the +<i>Chesapeake</i> sailed, therefore, the <i>Leopard</i>, an English man-of-war +mounting fifty guns, followed her to the high seas and demanded a +return of the deserters. Receiving a prompt refusal, the Englishman +raked the decks of the <i>Chesapeake</i> for the space of twelve minutes, +killing three men and wounding eighteen, among them the commander. The +<i>Chesapeake</i> was not yet ready for action. Her crew was undrilled in +the use of ordnance, her decks littered, appliances for reloading were +wanting, and at the supreme moment neither priming nor match could be +found. Under these distressing circumstances, the boarding officer of +the <i>Leopard</i> took the deserters and sailed for Halifax. The sight of +the dismantled <i>Chesapeake</i>, with its dead and dying, aroused the +people irrespective of party into demanding rep<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.163" id="vol1Page_i.163">i. 163</a></span>aration or war. "This +country," wrote Jefferson, "has never been in such a state of +excitement since the battle of Lexington."<a name="vol1FNanchor_154_154" id="vol1FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> Immediately the most +exposed ports were strengthened, and the States were called upon to +organise and equip 100,000 militia ready to march. Among other things, +Jefferson ordered British cruisers to depart from American waters, +forbidding all aid and intercourse with them.</p> + +<p>On the day of Governor Tompkins' inauguration the crippled +<i>Chesapeake</i> sailed back into Norfolk; and before the New York +Legislature assembled in the following January, England had published +its Orders in Council, forbidding all neutral trade with France. +Napoleon had also promulgated his Milan Decree, forbidding all neutral +trade with England, and the Congress of the United States, with closed +doors, in obedience to the recommendation of the President, had +ordered an embargo forbidding all foreign-bound American vessels to +leave United States ports.</p> + +<p>For several years American commerce, centring chiefly in New England +and New York, and occupying a neutral position toward European +belligerents, had enjoyed unparalleled prosperity. Reaching all parts +of the world, it had, indeed, largely engrossed the carrying trade, +especially of France and the European powers. As restraints increased, +the Yankee skippers became sly and cunning—risking capture, using +neutral flags, and finding other subterfuges for new restrictions. The +embargo would tie up the ships to rot, throw seamen out of employment, +destroy perishable commodities like breadstuffs, and paralyse trade. +From the moment of its passage, therefore, merchants and shipowners +resisted it, charging that Napoleon's Decree had provoked the British +Orders, and that if the former would recede, the latter would be +modified. It revived the old charge of Jefferson's enmity to commerce. +In the excitement, DeWitt Clinton opposed it, and Cheetham, with his +bitter, irritating pen, sustained him. He thought American commerce +might be left to solve the difficulty for itself, by allowing +mer<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.164" id="vol1Page_i.164">i. 164</a></span>chants to arm their vessels or otherwise encounter the risks and +perils at their own discretion, rather than be compelled to abandon +the highway of nations to their British rivals, whose sole purpose, he +maintained, was to drive us from the ocean and capture French supplies +being transported in French vessels.</p> + +<p>But the Republicans in Congress stood firmly by the embargo, holding +that if George Canning would modify the Orders in Council, which were +intended to drive American commerce from the ocean, Napoleon would +modify his decrees, which were provoked by the British Orders. It was +not a question of avoiding sacrifices, said Governor Tompkins, in his +speech to the Legislature, in January, 1808, but whether one sacrifice +might not better be borne than another. The belligerents had issued +decrees regardless of our rights. If we carried for England, France +would confiscate; if for France, England would confiscate. England +exacted tribute, and insisted upon the right of search; France +demanded forfeiture if we permitted search or paid tribute; between +the two the world was closed to us. But the belligerents needed our +wheat and breadstuffs, and while the embargo was intended only for a +temporary expedient, giving the people time for reflection, and +keeping our vessels and cargoes from spoliation, it must prevail in +the end by making Europe feel the denial of neutral favours. "What +patriotic citizen," he concluded, "will murmur at the temporary +privations and inconveniences resulting from this measure, when he +reflects upon the vast expenditure of national treasure, the sacrifice +of the lives of our countrymen, the total and permanent suspension of +commerce, the corruption of morals, and the distress and misery +consequent upon our being involved in the war between the nations of +Europe? The evils which threaten us call for a magnanimous confidence +in the efforts of our national councils to avert them, and for a firm, +unanimous determination to devote everything that is dear to us to +maintain our right and national honour."<a name="vol1FNanchor_155_155" id="vol1FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.165" id="vol1Page_i.165">i. 165</a></span></p> +<p>Governor Tompkins' views, sustained by decided majorities in both +branches of the Legislature, hastened DeWitt Clinton's change of +attitude; and, to the great disgust of Cheetham, he now swung into +line. Deceived by the first outcry against Jefferson's policy, Clinton +had presided at an opposition meeting, while Cheetham, following his +lead, had assailed it in the <i>American Citizen</i>. In the same spirit +George Clinton, the Vice President, imprudently and impulsively +attacked it in letters to his friends; but DeWitt Clinton, seeing his +mistake, quickly jumped into line with his party, leaving Cheetham and +his uncle to return as best they could. It was an ungracious act, +since Cheetham, who had devoted the best of his powers in justifying +the conduct of Clinton, was now left in the air, without the means of +gracefully getting down.</p> + +<p>Meantime, the new Council of Appointment, elected in February, and +controlled by DeWitt Clinton, had reversed the work of Lewis. Marinus +Willett surrendered the mayoralty to DeWitt Clinton, Maturin +Livingston gave up the recordership, Thomas Tillotson turned over the +secretaryship of state to Elisha Jenkins, Sylvanus Miller again became +surrogate of New York, and John Woodworth was dismissed from the +office of attorney-general. Under the Constitution, the Legislature +elected the treasurer of the State, an office which Abraham G. +Lansing, brother of the Chancellor and father of Garrett, had held +continuously since the defalcation of McClanan in 1803. Lansing was +wealthy, and, like his brother, a man of the highest character for +integrity and correct business methods, but he had followed Lewis to +defeat and now paid the penalty by giving place to David Thomas, who, +like McClanan, was also to prove a defaulter. Thus, within a year +after Tompkins' inauguration, an entire change of persons holding +civil offices in the State had taken place, the Governor shrewdly +strengthening himself by assuming to have helped the winners, and +weakening Clinton by permitting the disappointed to charge their +failure to the Mayor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.166" id="vol1Page_i.166">i. 166</a></span></p> + +<p>The nomination of a Republican candidate to succeed Jefferson, gave +Tompkins further opportunity of strengthening himself at the expense +of DeWitt Clinton. For months the latter had been urging the claims of +George Clinton for President, on the ground of the Vice President's +hitherto undisputed right to promotion, and because Virginia had held +the office long enough. But a congressional caucus, greatly to the +disgust of Monroe and the Clintons, and without the knowledge of the +Vice President, hastily got together according to the custom of the +day and nominated James Madison for President and George Clinton for +Vice President. The disappointed friends of Monroe and Clinton charged +that the caucus was irregular, only eighty-nine out of one hundred and +thirty-nine Republican representatives and senators having attended +it, and could they have agreed upon a candidate among themselves +Madison must have been beaten. Leading Federalists waited until late +in April for DeWitt Clinton to make some arrangement which their party +might support, but, while Federalists waited, the threatened +Republican bolt wasted itself in a fruitless endeavour to unite upon a +candidate for first place. Monroe's friends would not have George +Clinton, whom they pronounced too old and too infirm, and Clinton's +friends declined to accept Monroe, who was objectionable, if for no +other reason, because he was a Virginian. Finally, the Federalists +nominated Charles C. Pinckney of South Carolina for President and +Rufus King of New York for Vice President, making Madison's election +absolutely certain.</p> + +<p>This ought to have ended the strife in Republican ranks. Under similar +circumstances any ordinary politician would have hastened to +re-establish himself with his party. But DeWitt Clinton, carrying the +contest to the New York Legislature, called to appoint presidential +electors, insisted that the vote of the State be given to his uncle. +The strong affection for the venerable statesman insured the +suggestion favourable consideration by a large portion of the +Republican party, but Tompkins assailed it with unanswerable +argu<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.167" id="vol1Page_i.167">i. 167</a></span>ment. Without being of the slightest use to George Clinton, he +contended, such a course would exhibit an unhappy division in +Republican ranks, excite the jealousy of Madison's friends, impair the +influence of New York Republicans with the Administration, and make +them appear ridiculous to their brethren in other States. This was the +talk of a wise politician. The contest was squarely between James +Madison, regularly nominated by the method then accepted, and Charles +C. Pinckney, the candidate of the Federalists; and a vote for Clinton +meant a Republican vote thrown away out of pique. DeWitt Clinton +understood this; but he could not curb a disposition to have things +his way, and, upon his insistence, it was finally agreed that each +elector should vote his preference. Under this arrangement, George +Clinton received six votes out of the nineteen, Ambrose Spencer +leading the minority. Of the votes cast for President, Madison +received 122, Clinton 6, and Pinckney 48; for Vice President, George +Clinton had 113, Rufus King 48, John Langdon of New Hampshire 9, and +Madison and Monroe three each, the votes of Judge Spencer and his five +associates.</p> + +<p>Within a twelve-month DeWitt Clinton had plainly made a series of +serious mistakes. He had opposed the embargo, he had antagonised +Madison, who still resented the Clintons' opposition to the Federal +Constitution, and he had forced a discovery of Tompkins' superior +management and political wisdom. To add to his embarrassment, the +Lewisites, the Burrites, and the Martling Men now openly charged him +with hostility to Madison and with insincere support of Jefferson and +Tompkins, since he continued on friendly terms with Cheetham, who +still bitterly opposed the embargo. If these three political groups of +men, having a bond of union in their common detestation of DeWitt +Clinton, could have found a leader able to marshal them, they must +have compassed the latter's political overthrow long before he +prostrated himself. Already it was whispered that Tompkins approved +their attacks, a suspicion that found many believers, since Minthorne +had set to work to destroy Clinton. But the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.168" id="vol1Page_i.168">i. 168</a></span> Governor was too wise to +be drawn openly into gladiatorial relations with DeWitt Clinton at +this time, although, as it afterward appeared, Madison and Tompkins +even then had an understanding to which Clinton was by no means a +stranger.</p> + +<p>Clinton, however, continued seemingly on good terms with Tompkins; and +to disprove the attacks of the Martling Men he introduced a series of +resolutions in the State Senate, to which he had been elected in the +preceding April, approving the administration of President Madison and +pledging support to Governor Tompkins. To make his defence the more +complete, he backed the resolutions with an elaborately prepared +speech, in which he bitterly assailed the Federalists, who, he +declared, thought it "better to reign in hell than serve in heaven." +Clinton may be excused for getting in accord with his party; but since +his change disclosed an absence of principle, it was bad manners, to +say the least, to denounce, with Miltonic quotation, those who +consistently held to the views formerly entertained by himself. Of +Clinton it could scarcely be said, that he was a favourite in the +Legislature. He frequently allowed his fierce indignation to get the +better of his tongue. His sharp sarcasms, his unsparing ridicule, and +his heedless personalities, sometimes withered the effect of his +oratory; yet it is quite certain that the fury of his assaults and the +exuberance of his anger aroused the keenest interest, and that when +the Martling Men finally prevented his return to the Legislature his +absence was generally regretted.</p> + +<p>Clinton's speech did not convince Federalists that embargo was the +product of profound statesmanship. Abraham Van Vechten, the leader of +the Federalists in the Legislature, was a powerful and logical +reasoner, and an orator of singular eloquence. His success as an +advocate at the bar followed him to the Assembly, and in every debate +he proved a formidable antagonist. He had a gift of sarcasm that made +an adversary exceedingly uncomfortable; and as he shattered the +reasoning of Clinton, he exposed the impe<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.169" id="vol1Page_i.169">i. 169</a></span>rious and domineering +trimmer to ridicule and jest. Van Vechten ranked among the ablest men +of New York. His tall, erect, and dignified figure was well known +throughout the State, and although he did not assume to lead his +party, the Federalists recognised his right to share in its +leadership. Governor Jay offered him a place on the Supreme bench; but +he preferred the bar and the brief sessions of the Legislature.</p> + +<p>By the side of Van Vechten sat Daniel Cady, at that time thirty-six +years of age, already renowned as a lawyer, the rival of Ogden Hoffman +and Marcus T. Reynolds, and, in the estimation of his contemporaries, +one of the most generous and gifted men of his time. Three terms in +the Legislature and one in Congress measured, until his election to +the Supreme Court in 1847, his career in public life; but brief as was +this service, his great ability adorned the State and strengthened his +party. His distinguished daughter, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, whose +achievements covered more than half of the last century, represented +in a marked degree his gifts, his accomplishments, and the sweetness +of his nature.</p> + +<p>Under the lead of Van Vechten and Cady, the Federalists tormented +DeWitt Clinton and the friends of embargo, by contrasting the busy +wharves in 1807, covered with bales of cotton, barrels of flour, and +hogsheads of sugar, with the stagnation that characterised all avenues +of commerce in 1809. Ropewalks were deserted, sailmakers idle, draymen +without business, and sailors without bread. If England bled, they +declared, the United States bled faster. An ocean whitened with +American sails had been turned over to British ships which were +absorbing the maritime trade. France showed an indifference to +America's commerce and England boasted an independence of America's +trade. As a weapon of coercion, exclaimed Cady, embargo has been a +failure—as a measure of defence it has been suicidal. What would +happen if our ships were suffered to go to Europe and the Indies? Some +would reach Europe and find a market; oth<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.170" id="vol1Page_i.170">i. 170</a></span>ers would go to England, +obtain a license to sail to a Baltic port, and then sell at great +profit. Out of a hundred ships, two would probably be seized by the +French. Better to lose two by seizure than the destruction of all by +embargo.</p> + +<p>Obadiah German had much to say in defence of the justice and prudence +of the embargo. There was nothing brilliant about German; but ample +evidence of his parliamentary ability lines the pathway of his public +career. Without eloquence or education, he had the full courage of his +convictions and an intellectual vigour sufficient to back them. He +came to the Legislature in 1798, and, in 1809, very unexpectedly +succeeded Samuel L. Mitchill as United States senator. Later he served +one term as speaker of the Assembly. Just now he was the recognised +leader of the Republican majority in that body, and in his wise, +uncouth way dealt many a hard blow with telling effect.</p> + +<p>Nathan Sanford also assisted in repelling the assaults of Cady and Van +Vechten. Sanford was the pet of the Martling Men and the enemy of +DeWitt Clinton. He had been appointed United States attorney upon the +resignation of Edward Livingston in 1803, holding the office until his +election to the United States Senate to succeed Obadiah German in +1815. In the meantime he served two terms in the Assembly, one of them +as speaker, and three terms in the State Senate. Afterward, he became +chancellor for two or three years, and then took another term as +United States senator. His activity gave him strength, and his loyalty +to the Martling Men, now known as Tammany, supplied him with backers +enough to keep him continuously in office for thirty years. Despite +his titles of Senator and Chancellor, however, and his long public +service, he did not leave a memory for eloquence, scholarship, or for +great ability; though he was a ready talker and a willing friend, +quick to catch the favouring breeze and ready to adopt any political +method that promised success. In upholding embargo, Sanford admitted +its seriousness, but emphasised its necessity. He recalled how England +had searched our ships, impressed our seamen,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.171" id="vol1Page_i.171">i. 171</a></span> killed our citizens, +and insulted our towns. The ocean, he argued, had become a place of +robbery and national disgrace, since Great Britain, by its orders in +Council, had provoked France into promulgating the Berlin Decree of +November, 1806, and the Milan Decree of December, 1807, which +denationalised any ship that touched an English port, or suffered an +English search, or paid an English tax—whether it entered a French +port, or fell into the power of a French privateer. Thus, since +England had blockaded one-half of Europe and France the other half, he +thought it time for dignified retirement, until England felt the need +of additional supplies, and France awoke to the loss of its luxuries.</p> + +<p>At the close of the spirited debate, DeWitt Clinton's resolutions were +adopted by both houses—in the Senate without a division; in the +Assembly by a vote of sixty-one to forty-one. But almost before the +result was announced, American wheat dropped from two dollars to +seventy cents a bushel, turning the election of April, 1809, into a +Federalist victory. It was a great surprise to Tompkins and his party, +whose only gleam of hope grew out of the failure of the Federalists to +return senators from the middle and eastern districts, thus +preventing, as they assumed, a Federalist majority in the new Council +of Appointment and a wholesale removal of Republican officials. But +the Federalists understood their work. After welcoming to the +speakership their old friend, William North of Duansburgh, who had +served in the same capacity in 1795 and again in 1796, the Assembly +elected to the Council, two Federalists and two Republicans, including +Robert Williams of the middle district. Williams had been a Lewisite, +a Burrite, and a Clintonian. With the help of a Federalist governor in +1799, he became sheriff of Dutchess County, and, although he bore the +reputation of a trimmer, he seems to have concealed the real baseness +of his character until the meeting of the new Council, when his +casting vote turned out of office every Republican in the State. By +this treachery his son-in-law, Thomas J. Oakley, of whom we shall hear +much hereafter, became surrogate of Dutchess<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.172" id="vol1Page_i.172">i. 172</a></span> County; Jacob Radcliff, +the great chancery lawyer, mayor of New York; Abraham Van Vechten, +attorney-general, and Abraham G. Lansing, treasurer of state. From the +moment of his apostacy Robert Williams, classified by his neighbours +with Judas Iscariot and ignored by men of all parties, passed into +obscurity.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.173" id="vol1Page_i.173">i. 173</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XV" id="vol1CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV<br /> +<br /> +TOMPKINS DEFEATS JONAS PLATT<br /> +<br /> +1810</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap"> +Though</span> DeWitt Clinton again lost the mayoralty of New York, he was +still in the Senate; and to maintain an appearance of friendship with +the Governor, he wrote the address to the people, signed by the +Republican members of the Legislature, placing Tompkins in the race +for re-election. The Federalists, encouraged by their gains in April, +1809, had with confidence nominated Jonas Platt for governor, and +Nicholas Fish for lieutenant-governor. Fish is little known to the +present generation except as the father of Hamilton Fish, the able +secretary of state in President Grant's Cabinet; but in his day +everybody knew of him, and everybody admitted his capacity and +patriotism. His distinguished gallantry during the Revolution won him +the confidence of Washington and the intimate friendship of Hamilton, +after whom he named his illustrious son. For many years he was +adjutant-general of the State, president of the New York Society of +the Cincinnati, and a representative Federalist. It is said that Aaron +Burr felt rebuked in his presence, because he recognised in him those +high qualities of noble devotion to principle which the grandson of +Jonathan Edwards well knew were wanting in his own character. Just now +Fish was fifty-two years old, a member of the New York Board of +Aldermen, and an inveterate opponent of Republicanism, chafing under +DeWitt Clinton's dictatorship in the State and Tammany's control in +the city.</p> + +<p>Jonas Platt had borne an important part in propping up falling +Federalism. He was a born fighter. Though some<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.174" id="vol1Page_i.174">i. 174</a></span>what uncouth in +expression and unrefined in manner, he had won for himself a proud +position at the bar of his frontier home, and was rapidly writing his +name high on the roll of New York statesmen. He had proved his +popularity by carrying his senatorial district in the preceding +election; and he had demonstrated his ability as a debater by replying +to the arguments of DeWitt Clinton with a power that comes only from +wide information and a consciousness of being in the right. He could +not be turned aside from the real issue. Whatever or whoever had +provoked the British Orders in Council, he declared, one thing was +certain, those orders could not have driven American commerce from the +ocean had not the embargo established British commerce in its place. +This was the weak point in the policy of Jefferson, and the strong +point in the argument of Jonas Platt. Five hundred and thirty-seven +vessels, aggregating over one hundred and eighty thousand tons, had +been tied up in New York alone; and the public revenues collected at +its custom house had dropped from four and a half millions to nothing. +History concedes that embargo, since it required a much greater +sacrifice at home than it caused abroad, utterly failed as a weapon +for coercing Europe; and with redoubled energy and prodigious effect, +Platt drove this argument into the friends of the odious and +profitless measure, until the Governor's party in the election of 1809 +had gone down disastrously.</p> + +<p>To Obadiah German, a living embodiment of the Jeffersonian spirit, the +most extravagant arguments in support of the embargo came naturally +and clearly. To a man of DeWitt Clinton's high order of intellect, +however, it must have been difficult, in the presence of Jonas Platt's +logic, backed as it was by an unanswerable array of facts, to believe +that the arguments in favour of embargo were those which history would +approve. As if, however, to establish Platt's position, Congress, in +the midst of the New York campaign, voted to remove the embargo, and +to establish in its stead, non-intercourse with Great Britain and +France—thus reopening<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.175" id="vol1Page_i.175">i. 175</a></span> trade with the rest of Europe and indulging +those merchants who desired to take the risks of capture. For the +moment, this was a great blow to Clinton and a great victory for +Platt, giving him a prestige that his party thought entitled him to +the governorship.</p> + +<p>In the legislative session of 1810, however, Jonas Platt developed +neither the strength nor the shrewdness that characterised his conduct +on the stump during the campaign of 1809. William Erskine, the British +minister, a son of the distinguished Lord Chancellor, whose attachment +to America was strengthened by marriage, had negotiated a treaty with +the United States limiting the life of the Orders in Council to June +10, 1809. This treaty had been quickly disavowed by the English +government, and, in referring to it in his message, Governor Tompkins +accused England of wilfully refusing to fulfil its stipulations. "With +Great Britain an arrangement was effected in April last," wrote the +Governor, "which diffused a lively satisfaction through the nation, +and presaged a speedy restoration of good understanding and harmony +between the two countries. But our hopes were blasted by an unexpected +disavowal of the agreement, and an unqualified refusal to fulfil its +stipulations on the part of England. Since the recall of the minister +who negotiated the arrangement, nothing has occurred to brighten the +prospect of an honourable adjustment of our differences. On the +contrary, instead of evincing an amicable disposition by substituting +other acceptable terms of accommodation in lieu of the disavowed +arrangement, the new minister has persisted in impeaching the veracity +of our Administration, which a sense of respect for themselves, and +for the dignity of the nation they represent, forbade them to brook."</p> + +<p>There was nothing in this statement to rebuke. Young Erskine had been +displaced by an English minister who had acquired the reputation of +being an edged-tool against neutral nations, a curiously narrow, +hide-bound politician, whose language was as insolent as his manners +were offensive. The Governor's reference, therefore, had not been too +severe, nor<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.176" id="vol1Page_i.176">i. 176</a></span> had his statement overleaped the truth; yet Jonas Platt +attacked it with great asperity, arraigning the national +administration and charging that the country had more cause for war +with France than with Great Britain. This was both unwise and +untenable. The Governor had aimed his criticism at France as well as +at England. He spoke of one as controlling the destinies of the +European continent, of the other as domineering upon the ocean, and of +both as overleaping "the settled principles of public law, which +constituted the barriers between the caprice, the avarice, or the +tyranny of a belligerent, and the rights and independence of a +neutral." But Jonas Platt, betrayed by his prejudices against +Jefferson and France, went on with an argument well calculated to give +his opponents an advantage. His language was strong and clear, his +sarcasm pointed; but it gave DeWitt Clinton the opportunity of +charging Federalists with taking sides with the British against their +own country.</p> + +<p>There never was a time when the Federalists, as a national party, were +willing to join hands with England to the disadvantage of their +country. They had the same reasons for disliking England that animated +their opponents. But their antipathy to Jacobins and to Jefferson, and +the latter's partiality for France, drove them into sympathy with +Great Britain's struggle against Napoleon, until the people suspected +them of too great fondness for English institutions and English +principles. Several events, too, seemed to justify such a suspicion, +notably the adherence of British Tories to the Federalist party, and +the latter's zeal to allay hostile feelings growing out of the +Revolutionary war. To such an extent had this sentimental sympathy +been carried, that, in the summer of 1805, the Federalists of Albany, +having a majority in the common council, foolishly refused to allow +the Declaration of Independence to be read as a part of the exercises +in celebration of the Fourth of July. Naturally, such a policy quickly +aroused every inherited and cultivated prejudice against the British, +strengthening the belief that the Federalists, as a party, were +willing to suppress the pa<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.177" id="vol1Page_i.177">i. 177</a></span>triotic utterances of their own countrymen +rather than injure the feelings of America's hereditary foe.</p> + +<p>When DeWitt Clinton, therefore, charged the party of Jonas Platt with +taking the side of the British against their own country, the debate +revived old tales of cruelty and massacre, growing out of England's +alliance with the Indians in the early days of the Revolution; and it +gave John Taylor opportunity to recount the horrors which he had +witnessed in the days of his country's extreme peril. Taylor was +sixty-eight years old. For nearly twenty years he had been a member of +the Legislature, and was soon to be lieutenant-governor for nearly ten +years more. Before the Revolutionary war, he served in the Provincial +Congress; and in Arnold's expedition to Canada, in 1775, he had +superintended the commissary department, contributing to the comfort +of the shattered remnant who stood with Montgomery on the Plains of +Abraham on that ill-fated last day of the year.</p> + +<p>Taylor was a man of undoubted integrity and great political sagacity. +His character suffered, perhaps, because a fondness for money kept +growing with his growing years. "For a good old gentlemanly vice," +says Byron, "I think I must take up with avarice." Taylor did not wait +to be an old gentleman before adopting "the good old gentlemanly +vice," but it did not seem to hurt him with the people, for he kept on +getting rich and getting office. He was formed to please. His tall, +slender form, rising above the heads of those about him, made his +agreeable manners and easy conversation the more noticeable, gaining +him the affection of men while challenging their admiration for his +ability.</p> + +<p>In 1760, Taylor had followed the British army to Oswego, and there +acquired a knowledge of the Indian language. He knew of the alliance +between the British and Indians in 1776, and had witnessed the +horrible massacres growing out of these treaty relations. The most +tragic stories of Indian atrocities begin with the payment of bounties +by the British for the scalps of women and children, and for the +capture of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.178" id="vol1Page_i.178">i. 178</a></span> men and boys who would make soldiers. Often guided by +Tories, the fierce Mohawks sought out the solitary farmhouse, scalped +the helpless, and, with a few prisoners, started back on their lonely +return journey to Canada, hundreds of miles through the forest, simply +to receive the promised reward of a few Spanish dollars from their +British allies. When DeWitt Clinton, therefore, charged the +Federalists with loving the English more than their own country, John +Taylor won the Senate by recalling Indian atrocities set on foot by +British officers, and often carried out with the assistance of British +Tories, now members of the Federalist party. Daniel Parrish, a senator +from the eastern district, having more courage than eloquence, came to +Platt's support with the most exact and honest skill, repelling the +insinuations of Clinton, and indignantly denying Taylor's tactful +argument. But when Taylor, pointing his long, well-formed index finger +at the eastern senator, expressed surprise and grief to hear one plead +the English cause whose father had been foully murdered by an Indian +while under British pay and British orders, Parrish lost his temper +and Platt his cause.</p> + +<p>It was a sad day for Platt. So successfully did Taylor revive the old +Revolutionary hatred of the British that the Herkimer statesman's +arraignment of Governor Tompkins, offered as a substitute for DeWitt +Clinton's friendly answer, was rejected by a vote of twenty-three to +six. Coming as it did on the eve of the gubernatorial election it was +too late to retrieve his lost position. Moreover, the repeal of the +embargo had materially weakened the Federalists and correspondingly +strengthened the Republicans, since the commerce of New York quickly +revived, giving employment to the idle and bread to the hungry. The +conviction deepened, also, that a Republican administration was +sincerely impartial in sentiment between the two belligerents, and +that the present foreign policy, ineffective as it might be, fitted +the emergency better than a bolder one. Added to this, was the keen +desire of the Republicans to recover the offices which<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.179" id="vol1Page_i.179">i. 179</a></span> had been lost +through the apostacy of Robert Williams; and although the Federalists +struggled like drowning men to hold their ill-gotten gains, the strong +anti-British sentiment, backed by a determination to approve the +policy of Madison, swept the State, re-electing Governor Tompkins by +six thousand majority<a name="vol1FNanchor_156_156" id="vol1FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> and putting both branches of the +Legislature in control of the Republicans. Surely, Jonas Platt was +never to be governor.</p> + +<p>In the heated temper of the triumphant party, the new Council of +Appointment, chosen soon after the Legislature convened in January, +1811, began removing officials with a fierceness that in our day would +have brought shame and ruin upon any administration. It was a Clinton +Council, and only Clintonians took office. Jacob Radcliff again turned +over the New York mayoralty to DeWitt Clinton; Abraham Van Vechten +gave up the attorney-generalship to Matthias B. Hildreth; Daniel Hale +surrendered the secretaryship of state to Elisha Jenkins; Theodore +V.W. Graham bowed his adieus to the recordership of Albany as John Van +Ness Yates came in; and James O. Hoffman, Cadwallader D. Colden, and +John W. Mulligan, as recorder, district attorney, and surrogate of New +York, respectively, hastened to make way for their successors. As soon +as an order could reach him, Thomas J. Oakley, surrogate of Dutchess +County, vacated the office that the treachery of his father-in-law had +brought him. It was another clean sweep throughout the entire State. +Even Garrett T. Lansing, because he once belonged to the Lewisites, +found the petty office of master in chancery catalogued among the +"spoils."</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.180" id="vol1Page_i.180">i. 180</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XVI" id="vol1CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br /><span class="smcap"> +<br /> +DeWITT</span> CLINTON AND TAMMANY<br /> +<br /> +1789-1811</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap"> +The</span> death of Lieutenant-Governor Broome, in the summer of 1810, +created a vacancy which the Legislature provided should be filled at +the following election in April. John Broome had been distinguished +since the olden days when the cardinal policy of New York was the +union of the Colonies in a general congress. He had belonged to the +Committee of Fifty-one with John Jay, to the Committee of One Hundred +with James Duane, and to the Committee of Observation with Philip +Livingston. After the Revolution, he became president of the Board of +Aldermen, treasurer of the Chamber of Commerce, and, in 1789, had +stood for Congress against James Lawrence, the trusted +adjutant-general of Washington. Although Broome's overwhelming defeat +for Congress in no wise reflected upon his character as a patriot and +representative citizen, it kept him in the background until the +Federalists had frittered away their power in New York City. Then he +came to the front again, first as state senator, and afterward, in +1804, as lieutenant-governor; but he never reached the coveted +governorship. In that day, as in this, the office of +lieutenant-governor was not necessarily a stepping stone to higher +preferment. Pierre Van Cortlandt served with fidelity for eighteen +years without getting the long wished-for promotion; Morgan Lewis +jumped over Jeremiah Van Rensselaer in 1804; and Daniel D. Tompkins +was preferred to John Broome in 1807. Indeed, with the exception of +Enos T. Throop, Hamilton Fish, David B. Hill, and Frank W. Higgins, +none of the worthy men who have pre<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.181" id="vol1Page_i.181">i. 181</a></span>sided with dignity over the +deliberations of the State Senate have ever been elected governor.</p> + +<p>DeWitt Clinton now wished to succeed Broome; and a large majority of +Republican legislators quickly placed him in nomination. Clinton had +first desired to return to Albany as senator, as he would then have +possessed the right to vote and to participate in debate. But the +Martling Men, who held the balance of power, put forward Morgan Lewis, +his bitterest enemy. It was a clever move on the part of the +ex-Governor. Clinton had literally driven Lewis from the party, and +for three years his name remained a reminiscence; but, with the +assistance of Tammany, he now got out of obscurity by getting onto the +ticket with Governor Tompkins. To add, too, to Clinton's chagrin, +Tammany also put up Nathan Sanford for the Assembly, and thus closed +against him the door of the Legislature. But to carry out his +ambitious scheme—of mounting to the Presidency in 1812—Clinton +needed to be in Albany to watch his enemies; and, although he cared +little for the lieutenant-governorship, the possession of it would +furnish an excuse for his presence at the state capital.</p> + +<p>The announcement of DeWitt Clinton's nomination raised the most +earnest outcries among the Martling Men. They had endeavoured to +defeat his reappointment to the mayoralty; but their wild protests had +fallen upon deaf ears. Indeed, the hatred of Minthorne, the intriguing +genius of Teunis Wortman, and the earnestness of Matthew L. Davis, +seemed only to have been agencies to prepare the way for Clinton's +triumphant restoration. Now, however, these accomplished political +gladiators proposed to give battle at the polls, and if their +influence throughout the State had been as potent as it proved within +the wards of New York City, the day of DeWitt Clinton's destiny must +have been nearly over.</p> + +<p>Since its organisation in 1789, the Society of St. Tammany had been an +influential one. It was founded for charitable purposes; its +membership was made up mostly of na<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.182" id="vol1Page_i.182">i. 182</a></span>tive Americans, and its meetings +were largely social in their character.</p> + +<p class="cpoeml"> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"There's a barrel of porter at Tammany Hall,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And the Bucktails are swigging it all the night long;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In the time of my boyhood 'twas pleasant to call</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">For a seat and cigar 'mid the jovial throng."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Thus sang Fitz-Greene Halleck of the social customs that continued far +into the nineteenth century. Originally, Federalists and +anti-Federalists found a welcome around Tammany's council fire; and +its bucktail badge, the symbol of liberty, hung from the hat of +Clintonian and Hamiltonian alike. But toward the end of Washington's +second administration the society became thoroughly partisan and +thoroughly anti-Federalist, shifting its wigwam to the historic "Long +Room," at the tavern of Abraham Martling, a favourite hostlery which +the Federalists contemptuously called "the Pig-Pen." Then it was, that +Aaron Burr made Tammany a power in political campaigns. He does not +seem to have been its grand sachem, or any sachem at all; nor is it +known that he ever entered its wigwam or affiliated as a member; but +its leaders were his satellites, who began manufacturing public +opinion, manipulating primaries, dictating nominations, and carrying +wards.</p> + +<p>Out of Burr's candidacy for President sprang Tammany's long and bitter +warfare against DeWitt Clinton. The quarrel began in 1802 when Clinton +and Cheetham charged Burr with intriguing to beat Jefferson; it grew +in bitterness when Clinton turned Burr and the Swartouts out of the +directorate of the Manhattan Bank; nor was it softened after the +secret compromise, made at Dyde's Hotel, in February, 1806. Indeed, +from that moment, Tammany seemed the more determined to harass the +ambitious Clinton; and, although his agents, as late as 1809, sought +reconciliation, the society expelled Cheetham and made Clinton an +object of detestation. Cheetham, who died in 1810, did not live to +wreak full vengeance; but he did enough to arouse a shower of +brick-<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.183" id="vol1Page_i.183">i. 183</a></span>bats which broke the windows of his home and threatened the +demolition of the <i>American Citizen</i>.</p> + +<p>Though Cheetham's decease relieved Tammany of one of its earliest and +most vindictive assailants, the political death of DeWitt Clinton +would have been more helpful, since Clinton's opposition proved the +more harmful. As mayor he lived like a prince distributing bounty +liberally among his supporters. He was lavish in the gift of lucrative +offices, lavish in the loan of money, and lavish in contributions to +charity. His salary and fees were estimated at twenty thousand +dollars, an extravagant sum in days when eight hundred dollars met the +expense of an average family, and the possessor of fifty thousand +dollars was considered a rich man. Besides, his wife had inherited +from her father, Walter Franklin, a wealthy member of the Society of +Friends, an estate valued at forty thousand dollars, making her one of +the richest women in New York.</p> + +<p>But Clinton had more than rich fees and a wealthy wife. The foreign +element, especially the Irish, admired him because, when a United +States senator, he had urged and secured a reduction of the period of +naturalisation from fourteen years to five; and because he relieved +the political and financial distress of their countrymen, by aiding +the repeal of the alien and sedition laws. For a score of years, +America had invited to its shores every fugitive from British +persecution. But the heroes of 'Ninety-eight, who had escaped the +gibbet, and successfully made their way to this country through the +cordon of English frigates, were welcomed with laws even more +offensive than the coercion acts which they had left behind. The last +rebellious uprising to occur in Ireland under the Georges, had sent +Thomas Addis Emmet, brother of the famous and unfortunate Irish +patriot, a fugitive to the land of larger liberty. To receive this +brother with laws that might send him back to death, was to despise +the national sentiment of Irishmen; and the men, Clinton declared, who +had been indisposed or unable to take account of the force of a +national sentiment,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.184" id="vol1Page_i.184">i. 184</a></span> were not and never could be fit to carry on the +great work of government.</p> + +<p>Thoughtful, however, as DeWitt Clinton had been of the oppressed in +other lands, he lacked what Dean Swift said Bolingbroke needed—"a +small infusion of the alderman." If he thought a man stupid he let him +know it. To those who disagreed with him, he was rude and overbearing. +All of what is known as the "politician's art" he professed to +despise; and while Tammany organised wards into districts, and +districts into blocks, Clinton pinned his faith on the supremacy of +intellect, and on office-holding friends. The day the news of his +nomination for lieutenant-governor reached New York, Tammany publicly +charged him with attempting "to establish in his person a pernicious +family aristocracy;" with making complete devotion "the exclusive test +of merit and the only passport to promotion;" and with excluding +himself from the Republican party by "opposing the election of +President Madison." There was much truth in some of these charges. +Clinton had quarrelled with Aaron Burr; he had overthrown Morgan +Lewis; and he was ready to defeat Daniel D. Tompkins. Even Cheetham +had left him some months before his death, and Richard Riker, who +acted as second in the duel with John Swartout, was soon to ignore the +chilly Mayor when he passed. The estrangement of these friends is +pathetic, yet one gets no melancholy accounts of Clinton's troubles. +The great clamour of Tammany brought no darkening clouds into his +life. He was soon to learn that Tammany, heretofore an object of +contempt, was now a force to be reckoned with, but he did not show any +qualms of uneasiness even if he felt them.</p> + +<p>Tammany bolted Clinton's nomination, selecting for its candidate +Marinus Willett, its most available member, and most brilliant +historic character. Before and during the Revolution, Willett did much +to make him a popular hero. He served the inefficient Abercrombie in +his unsuccessful attack on Ticonderoga in 1758; he was with the +resolute Bradstreet at the brilliant charge of Fort Frontenac; he led +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.185" id="vol1Page_i.185">i. 185</a></span> historic sortie at Fort Schuyler on the 7th of August, 1777. Men +were still living who saw his furious assault upon the camp of +Johnson's Greens, so sudden and sharp that the baronet himself, before +joining the flight of his Indians to the depths of the thick forest, +did not have time to put on his coat, or to save the British flag and +the personal baggage of Barry St. Leger. The tale was strange enough +to seem incredible to minds more sober than those of the Tammany +braves, who listened with pride to the achievements of their sachem. +With two hundred and fifty men and an iron three-pounder, Willett had +fallen so unexpectedly upon the English and Indians, that the advance +guard, panic-stricken, suddenly disappeared—officers, men, and +savages—leaving twenty-one wagon loads of rich spoil. This heroic +deed was a part of Willett's stock in trade, and, although he was +wobbly in his politics, the people could not forget his courage and +good judgment in war. But Willett's influence was confined to the +wards of a city. The rural counties believed in New York's mayor +rather than in New York's hero; and when the votes were counted, +Clinton had a safe majority. He had fared badly in New York City, +being deprived of more than half his votes through the popular +candidacy of Nicholas Fish; but, in spite of Tammany, he was able to +go to Albany, and to begin work upon a scheme which, until then, had +been only a dream. It was to be a gigantic struggle. Lewis and the +Livingstons opposed him, Tammany detested him, Tompkins was jealous of +him, Spencer deserted him; but he had shown he knew how to wait; and +when waiting was over, he showed he knew how to act.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.186" id="vol1Page_i.186">i. 186</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XVII" id="vol1CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br /> +<br /> +BANKS AND BRIBERY<br /> +<br /> +1791-1812</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap"> +During</span> the early years of the last century, efforts to incorporate +banks in New York were characterised by such an utter disregard of +moral methods, that the period was long remembered as a black spot in +the history of the State. Under the lead of Hamilton, Congress +incorporated the United States Bank in 1791; and, inspired by his +broad financial views, the Legislature chartered the Bank of New York +in the same year, the Bank of Albany in 1792, and the Bank of +Columbia, located at Hudson, in 1793. These institutions soon fell +under the management of Federalists, who believed in banks and were +ready to aid in their establishment, so long as they remained under +Federalist control.</p> + +<p>Republicans, on the other hand, disbelieved in banks. They opposed the +United States Bank; and by George Clinton's casting vote defeated an +extension of its charter, which expired by limitation on March 4, +1811. To them a bank was a combination of the rich against the poor, a +moneyed corporation whose power was a menace to free institutions, and +whose secret machinations were to be dreaded. At the same time, +Republican leaders recognised the political necessity of having +Republican banks to offset the influence of Federalist banks, and in +order to overcome the deep seated prejudice of their party and to +defeat the opposition of Federalists, inducements were offered and +means employed which unscrupulous men quickly turned into base and +shameless bribery.</p> + +<p>In his partisan zeal Burr began the practice of deception.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.187" id="vol1Page_i.187">i. 187</a></span> The +Republicans needed a bank. The only one in New York City was +controlled by the Federalists, who also controlled the Legislature, +and the necessities of the rising party, if not his own financial +needs, appealed to Burr's clever management. Under the cover of +chartering a company to supply pure water, and thus avoid a return of +the yellow fever which had so recently devastated the city, he asked +authority to charter the Manhattan Company, with a capital of two +million dollars, provided "the surplus capital might be employed in +any way not inconsistent with the laws and Constitution of the United +States and of the State of New York." The people remembered the +terrible yellow fever scourge, and the Legislature considered only the +question of relieving the danger with pure and wholesome water; and, +although the large capitalisation aroused suspicion in the Senate, and +Chief Justice Lansing called it "a novel experiment,"<a name="vol1FNanchor_157_157" id="vol1FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> the bill +passed. Thus the Manhattan Bank came into existence, while wells, +brackish and unwholesome, continued the only sufficient source of +water supply.</p> + +<p>That was in 1799. Four years later, the Republicans of Albany, +realising the importance of a bank and the necessity of avoiding the +opposition of their own party, obtained a charter for the State Bank, +by selling stock to Republican members of the Legislature, with an +assurance that it could be resold at a premium as soon as the +institution had an existence. There was a ring of money in this +proposition. Such an investment meant a gift of ten or twenty dollars +on each share, and immediately members clamoured, intrigued, and +battled for stock. The very boldness of the proposition seemed to save +it from criticism. Nothing was covered up. To put the stock at a +premium there must be a bank; to make<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.188" id="vol1Page_i.188">i. 188</a></span> a bank there must be a charter; +and to secure a charter a majority of the members must own its stock. +The result was inevitable.</p> + +<p>It seems incredible in our day that such corruption could go on in +broad daylight without a challenge. At the present time a legislator +could not carry a district in New York if it were known that his vote +had been secured by such ill-gotten gains. Yet the methods of the +Republican promoters of the State Bank seem not to have brought a +blush to the cheek of the youngest legislator. No one of prominence +took exception to it save Abraham Van Vechten, and he was less +concerned about the immorality of the thing than the competition to be +arrayed against the Federalist bank in Albany. Even Erastus Root, then +just entering his first term in Congress, saw nothing in the +transaction to shock society's sense of propriety or to break the +loftiest code of morality. "There was nothing of mystery in the +passage of the bank," he wrote. "The projectors sought to push it +forward by spreading the stock among the influential Republicans of +the State, including members of the Legislature, and carry it through +as a party measure. It was argued by the managers of the scheme that +the stock would be above par in order to induce the members of the +Legislature to go into the measure, but nothing in the transaction had +the least semblance of a corrupt influence. No one would hesitate from +motives of delicacy, to offer a member, nor for him to take, shares in +a bank sooner than in a turnpike or in an old canal."<a name="vol1FNanchor_158_158" id="vol1FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a></p> + +<p>One can hardly imagine Erastus Root serious in the expression of such +a monstrous doctrine. His life had been pure and noble. He was a +sincere lover of his country; a statesman of high purpose, and of the +most commanding talents. No one ever accused him of any share in this +financial corruption. Yet a more Machiavellian opinion could not have +been uttered. On principle, Republican members of the Leg<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.189" id="vol1Page_i.189">i. 189</a></span>islature +opposed banks, and that principle was overcome by profits; in other +words, members must be bought, or the charter would fail. That the +stock did go above par is evident from Root's keen desire to get some +of it. As an influential Republican, he was allowed to subscribe for +fifty shares, but when he called for it the papers could not be found. +The bank was not a bubble. It had been organised and its stock issued, +but its hook had been so well baited that the legislators left nothing +for outsiders. Subsequently the directors sent Root a certificate for +eight shares, and John Lamb, an assemblyman from Root's home, gave up +eight more; but the Delaware congressman, angry because deprived of +his fifty shares, refused to accept any. "I had come prepared to take +the fifty," he wrote, "and in a fit of more spunk than wisdom, I +rejected the whole."<a name="vol1FNanchor_159_159" id="vol1FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a></p> + +<p>Two years after, in 1805, the Federalists desired to charter the +Merchants' Bank of New York City. But the Legislature, largely +Republican, was led by DeWitt Clinton, now at the zenith of his power, +who resented its establishment because it must become a competitor of +the Manhattan, an institution that furnished him fat dividends and +large influence. Clinton had undoubtedly acquired a reputation for +love of gain as well as of power, but he had never been charged, like +John Taylor, with avarice. He spent with a lavish hand, he loaned +liberally to friends, and he borrowed as if the day of payment was +never to come; yet he had no disposition to help opponents of a bank +that must cripple his control and diminish his profits. In this +contest, too, he had the active support of Ambrose Spencer, who fought +the proposed charter in the double capacity of a stockholder in the +Manhattan and the State, and a member of the Council of Revision. +Three banks, with five millions of capital and authority to issue +notes and create debts for fifteen millions more, he argued, were +enough for one city. He had something to say also about "an alarming +decrease of specie,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.190" id="vol1Page_i.190">i. 190</a></span> and "an influx of bills of credit," which +"tended to further banish the precious metals from circulation."<a name="vol1FNanchor_160_160" id="vol1FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a></p> + +<p>Governor Lewis would have been wiser had he joined Clinton and Spencer +in their opposition. But Lewis would not play second fiddle in any +game with Clinton, and so when he discovered that Clinton opposed the +bank, he yielded party principle to personal prejudice and favoured +it. With this powerful recruit the managers still lacked a majority, +and, to influence others, Ebenezer Purdy, a Republican senator, +employed his gifts in offering his legislative associates large +rewards and rich benefits. As a statesman, Purdy seems to have been +without any guiding principle, or any principle at all. He toiled and +pushed and climbed, until he had landed in the Senate; then he pulled +and bargained and promised until he became a member of the Council of +Appointment, and, later, chairman of the legislative caucus that +nominated Chancellor Lansing for governor; but not until the +Merchants' Bank wanted a charter did Purdy find an opportunity to +develop those aldermanic qualifications which distinguish him in +history. He was getting on very well until he had the misfortune to +confide his secret to Stephen Thorn, a senator from the eastern +district, and Obadiah German, the well-known assemblyman from +Chenango, whose views were not as liberal as Erastus Root's. "No one +would hesitate, from motives of delicacy, to offer a member shares in +a bank," said Root. This was Purdy's view also; but Thorn and German +thought such an offer had the "semblance of a corrupt influence," and +they made affidavits that Purdy had attempted to corrupt their votes. +According to these affidavits the Senator promised German fifty shares +of stock, with a profit of twenty dollars a share, and Thorn thirty +shares, with a profit of twenty-five dollars a share. Similar +affidavits were made by other members.</p> + +<p>Erastus Root took exception to such transactions. "The Merchants' Bank +in 1805," he says, "had powerful opposition to encounter, and, of +course, made use of powerful means to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.191" id="vol1Page_i.191">i. 191</a></span> accomplish the object. Then the +shares and the assurance became down-right corruption."<a name="vol1FNanchor_161_161" id="vol1FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> But it is +not easy to observe the difference between the methods of the State +Bank managers, which Root affirms "had not the least semblance of a +corrupt influence," and those of the Merchants' Bank, which he +pronounces "down-right corruption," except that the one was open +bribery and the other secret bribery. In either case, votes were +obtained by the promise of profits. It is likely the methods of the +Merchants' would have escaped notice, as did those of the State Bank, +had not Clinton, determined to beat it, complained of Purdy's bribery. +The latter resigned to escape expulsion, but the bank received its +charter. This aroused the public conscience, and in the following +winter the Legislature provided suitable punishment for the crime of +bribery.</p> + +<p>It was not until 1812 that any one had the hardihood to suggest +another bank. Then the Federalists sought a charter for the Bank of +America, with a capital of six millions, to be located in New York +City. The applicants proposed to pay the school fund four hundred +thousand dollars, the literature fund one hundred thousand, and the +State one hundred thousand, provided no other bank be chartered for +twenty years. In addition to this extravagant bonus, its managers +agreed to loan the State one million dollars at five per cent. for the +construction of canals, and one million to farmers at six per cent. +for the improvement of their real estate. This bold and liberal +proposal recalls John Law's South Sea Bubble of the century before; +for, although the Bank of America sought no monopoly and promised the +payment of no national debt, it did seem to be aiming its flight above +the clouds, since, counting the Manhattan at two, the united capital +of the banks of the State did not exceed five millions. The promoters, +anticipating an outcry against the incorporation of such a gigantic +institution, employed David Thomas of Washington and Solomon Southwick +of Albany<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.192" id="vol1Page_i.192">i. 192</a></span> to visit members of the Legislature at their homes with the +hope of enlisting their active support.</p> + +<p>It is doubtful if two men better equipped to supply the necessary +legislative majority could have been found in the State. Both were +stalwart Republicans, possessing the confidence of DeWitt Clinton and +an extensive acquaintance among local party managers. Thomas had +caution and rare sagacity. Indeed, his service of four years in the +Legislature and eight years in Congress had added to his political +gifts such shrewdness and craft that he did not scruple, on occasion, +to postpone or hasten an event, even though such arrangement was made +at the expense of some one else. This characteristic had manifested +itself in the removal of Abraham G. Lansing as treasurer of state. The +Chancellor's brother, by long service, had won the confidence of the +people as a keeper of the State's money, and, although his family had +followed the fortunes of Governor Lewis, it did not occur to the +Legislature to dispossess him of his office until David Thomas wanted +a position. Then, the silent, crafty Washingtonian developed so +artfully the iniquity of Lansing's political perfidy that he succeeded +in obtaining the office for himself. It was because of this +craftiness, this unscrupulous use of every weapon of political +warfare, that the bank hired him. His gifts, his schemes, his faults, +his vices, were alike useful.</p> + +<p>Solomon Southwick belonged to a different type. He lacked the caution +of Thomas, but nature had given him the appearance and manners which +well fitted him for the task of attracting those who came within the +range of his influence. He was singularly handsome and graceful. No +stranger came near him without feeling an instant desire to know him. +He was all the more attractive because there seemed to be nothing +artificial or made up about him. He had his intimates, but with an +unstudied and informal dignity, he was hail-fellow with every one, +keeping none at a distance, and concealing his real feelings behind no +mask of conventionalism. It was said of him at this time that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.193" id="vol1Page_i.193">i. 193</a></span> knew +more men personally than any other citizen in the State. He had been +four times elected clerk of the Assembly, he had served as sheriff of +his county, and he was now sole editor and proprietor of the Albany +<i>Register</i>, the leading and most influential Republican paper. To +ability as a writer he also added eloquence of speech. Southwick could +not be called a great orator, but he had grace, wit, imagination, and +a beauty of style that appealed to the hearts and sympathies of his +hearers. In the conduct of his business affairs, nobody could be more +careful, more methodical, more precise. Indeed, we may take it for +granted, without any biographical information on the subject, that in +1811 Solomon Southwick was on the road to the highest honours in the +gift of his State.</p> + +<p>But his connection with the Bank of America covered him with suspicion +from which he never entirely recovered. It must have occurred to him, +when accepting the bank's retainer, that his opposition to the +Merchants' Bank would be recalled to the injury of his consistency. In +1805, he had boldly declared in the <i>Register</i> that any Republican who +voted for a Federalist bank was justly censurable; in 1812, he so far +changed his mind as to hold that any one "who supports or opposes a +bank upon the grounds of Federalism or Republicanism, is either +deceiver or deceived, and will not be listened to by any man of sense +or experience." A little later in the contest, when partisan fury and +public corruption were the opposing forces, several sub-agents of the +bank were indicted for bribery, among them a former clergyman who was +sent to the penitentiary. Then it was whispered that David Thomas, +following the example of Purdy in 1805, had scattered his +purchase-money everywhere, sowing with the sack and not with the hand. +Finally, Casper M. Rouse, a senator from Chenango, accused Thomas of +offering him ten shares of stock, with a profit of one thousand +dollars, adding that Thomas had told him to call upon Southwick in +Albany. Southwick had evidently fallen into bad company, and, although +Rouse disclaimed having seen the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.194" id="vol1Page_i.194">i. 194</a></span> Albany journalist, a week or two +later Alexander Sheldon, speaker of the Assembly, made a charge +against Southwick similar to Rouse's accusation against Thomas. Both +men were indicted, but the jury preferred accepting the denial of the +defendants, since it appeared that Rouse and Sheldon, instead of +treating the accused as bribers and men unworthy of confidence, had +maintained their former relations with them, subsequently voting for +Thomas for treasurer of state, and for Southwick as regent of the +State University. As positive proof of bribery was limited in each +case to the prosecuting witness, we may very well accept the +defendants' repeated declarations of their own integrity and +uprightness, although the conditions surrounding them were too +peculiar not to leave a stigma upon their memory.</p> + +<p>These charges of crime, added to the bank's possession of a solid +majority in both branches of the Legislature, aroused the opposition +into a storm of indignation and resentment. Governor Tompkins had +anticipated its coming, and in a long, laboured message, warned +members to beware of the methods of bank managers. Such institutions, +he declared, "facilitate forgeries, drain the country of specie, +discourage agriculture, swallow up the property of insolvents to the +injury of other creditors, tend to the subversion of government by +vesting in the hands of the wealthy and aristocratic classes powerful +engines to corrupt and subdue republican notions, relieve the wealthy +stockholder from an equal share of contribution to the public service, +and proportionally enhance the tax on the hard earnings of the farmer, +mechanic and labourer." He spoke of the "intrigue and hollow +pretences" of applicants, insisting that the gratification of +politicians ought not to govern them, nor the "selfish and +demoralising distribution of the stock." "Nor ought we to be +unmindful," he continued, "that the prominent men who seek the +incorporation of new banks, are the very same men who have deeply +participated in the original stock of most of the previously +established banks. Having disposed of that stock at a lucrative +advance, and their avidity being sharpened by<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.195" id="vol1Page_i.195">i. 195</a></span> repeated gratification, +they become more importunate and vehement in every fresh attempt to +obtain an opportunity of renewing their speculations." As if this were +not reason enough, he exhorted them not to be deceived by the apparent +unanimity of sentiment about the capital, since it "is no real +indication of the sentiments of the community at large," but so to +legislate as "to retain and confirm public confidence, not only in the +wisdom, but also in the unbending independence and unsullied integrity +of the Legislature."<a name="vol1FNanchor_162_162" id="vol1FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a></p> + +<p>The Governor's arguments were supplemented by others from Ambrose +Spencer, whose bank holdings seemed more likely than ever to suffer if +this gigantic combination succeeded. Spencer's opposition to the +Merchants' Bank in 1805 had been earnest, but now his whole soul was +aflame. To counteract the influence of Southwick's <i>Register</i>, he +established the Albany <i>Republican</i>, which ceased to exist at the end +of the campaign, but which, during its brief life, struck at every +head that favoured the bank. Its editorials, following the line of his +objections in the Council of Revision, lifted into prominence the +injurious effect likely to flow from such an alarming extension of +banking capital at a time when foreign commerce was stagnant, and when +the American nation was on the eve of a war in defence of its +commercial rights. This was mixed with a stronger personal refrain, +discovering the danger to his bank-holdings and revealing the +intensity of a nature not yet inured to defeat. A bank controlling +three times as much capital as any other, he argued, with unlimited +power to establish branches throughout the State, must be a constant +menace to minor institutions, which were established under the +confidence of governmental protection and upon the legislative faith +that no further act should impair or destroy their security. "A power +thus unlimited," he declared, "may be exercised not only to prejudice +the interests, but to control the operations, destroy the +independence, and impair the security of every bank north of the city +of New York. A bill thus improvisory<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.196" id="vol1Page_i.196">i. 196</a></span> and alarming, giving undefined +and unnecessary powers, and leaving the execution of those powers to a +few individuals, would materially weaken the confidence of the +community in the justice, wisdom, and foresight of the +Legislature."<a name="vol1FNanchor_163_163" id="vol1FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a></p> + +<p>With Tompkins and Spencer stood John Taylor, whose fear for his stock +in the State Bank, of which he was president, made his opposition more +conspicuous than it appeared in 1805, when he assaulted Purdy, +knocking him down as he left the senate chamber; but in this contest, +he did not strike or threaten. He moved among his associates in the +Senate with the grace of a younger man, his tall, spare form bending +like a wind-swept tree as he reasoned and coaxed. In the same group of +zealous opponents belonged Erastus Root, who had just entered the +Senate, and whose speech against the Bank of America was distinguished +for its suppressed passion and its stern severity. He had waked up, at +last, to the scandalous barter in bank charters.</p> + +<p>There was, however, one Republican in Albany whose course excited more +serious censure than was meted out to all others. At a moment when the +methods of bank managers aroused the most bitter hostility of his +closest political allies, DeWitt Clinton became conspicuous by his +silence. At heart he opposed the Bank of America as bitterly as +Ambrose Spencer and for the same reasons; nor did he recognise any +difference in the conditions surrounding it and those which existed in +1805 when he drove Ebenezer Purdy from the Senate; but, consumed with +a desire to get a legislative indorsement for President, before +Madison secured a congressional nomination, he refused to take sides, +since the bank people, who dominated the Legislature, refused such an +indorsement until the passage of their charter. In vain did Spencer +threaten and Taylor plead. He would vote, Clinton said, against the +bank if opportunity presented, but he would not be drawn into the +bitter contest; he would not denounce Southwick; he would not judge +Thomas; he would not even venture to criticise the bank. For fourteen +years<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.197" id="vol1Page_i.197">i. 197</a></span> Clinton and Spencer had been fast political friends; but now, +at the supreme moment of Clinton's ambition, these brothers-in-law +were to fall under the guidance of different stars.</p> + +<p>Governor Tompkins, whose desire to enter the White House no longer +veiled itself as a secret, understood the purpose and importance of +Clinton's silence, and to give President Madison an advantage, he used +a prerogative, only once exercised under the Constitution of 1777, to +prorogue the Legislature for sixty days. Ostensibly he did it to +defeat the bank; in reality he desired the defeat of Clinton. It is +not easy to appreciate the wild excitement that followed the +Governor's act. It recalled the days of the provincial governors, when +England's hand rested heavily upon the liberties of the people; and +the friends of the bank joined in bitter denunciation of such a +despotic use of power. Meantime, a congressional caucus renominated +Madison. But whatever the forced adjournment did for Clinton, it in no +wise injured the bank, which was chartered as soon as the Legislature +reassembled on May 21.</p> + +<p>While the Bank of America was engrossing the attention of the +Legislature and the nomination of a presidential candidate convulsed +Congress, George Clinton closed his distinguished career at Washington +on the 20th of April, 1812. If he left behind him a memory of long +service which had been lived to his own advantage, it was by no means +lived to the disadvantage of his country or his State. He did much for +both. Perhaps he was better fitted for an instrument of revolution +than a governor of peace, but the influence which he exercised upon +his time was prodigious. In the two great events of his life—the +revolt of the Colonies and the adoption of a Federal Constitution—he +undoubtedly swayed the minds of his countrymen to a degree unequalled +among those contemporaries who favoured independence and state +supremacy. He lacked the genius of Hamilton, the scholarly, refined +integrity of Jay, and the statesmanship of both; but he was by odds +the strongest, ablest, and most astute man of his party<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.198" id="vol1Page_i.198">i. 198</a></span> in the State. +Jay and Hamilton looked into the future, Clinton saw only the present. +The former possessed a love for humanity and a longing for progress +which encouraged them to work out a national existence, broad enough +and strong enough to satisfy the ambition of a great nation a century +after its birth; Clinton was satisfied to conserve what he had, +unmoved by the great possibilities even then indistinctly outlined to +the eye of the statesman whose vision was fixed intently upon an +undivided America. But Clinton wisely conserved what was given to his +keeping. As he grew older he grew more tolerant and humane, +substituting imprisonment for the death penalty, and recommending a +complete revision of the criminal laws. His administration, too, saw +the earliest attempts made in a systematic way toward the spread of +education among the multitudes, his message to the Legislature of 1795 +urging a generous appropriation to common schools. This was the first +suggestion of state aid. Colleges and seminaries had been remembered, +but schools for the common people waited until Clinton had been +governor for eighteen years.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.199" id="vol1Page_i.199">i. 199</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XVIII" id="vol1CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> +<br /> +CLINTON AND THE PRESIDENCY<br /> +<br /> +1812</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap"> +For</span> many years DeWitt Clinton had had aspirations to become a +candidate for President. He entered the United States Senate in 1802 +with such an ambition; he became mayor of New York in 1803 with this +end in view; he sought the lieutenant-governorship in 1811 for no +other purpose; and, although he had never taken a managing step in +that direction, looking cautiously into the future, he saw his way and +only waited for the passing of the Vice President. DeWitt Clinton, +whatever his defects of character and however lacking he may have been +in an exalted sense of political principle, appears to have been +sincere in his anxiety to elevate his uncle to the presidential chair. +During Jefferson's administration his efforts seem never to have been +intermitted, and only when the infirmities of advanced age admonished +him that George Clinton's life and career were nearly at an end, did +his mind and heart, acquiescing in the appropriation of his relative's +mantle, seize the first opportunity of satisfying his unbounded +ambition.</p> + +<p>The opening presented in the spring of 1812 was not an unattractive +one. A new party, controlled by a remarkable coterie of brilliant +young men from the South, whose shibboleth was war with England, had +sprung up in Congress, and, by sheer force of will and intellect, had +dragged to the support of its policies the larger part of the +Republican majority.<a name="vol1FNanchor_164_164" id="vol1FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> President Madison was thoroughly in +sympathy<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.200" id="vol1Page_i.200">i. 200</a></span> with these members. He thought war should be declared before +Congress adjourned, and, to hasten its coming, he had recommended an +embargo for sixty days. "For my own part," he wrote Jefferson, "I look +upon a short embargo as a step to immediate war, and I wait only for +the Senate to make the declaration."<a name="vol1FNanchor_165_165" id="vol1FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> This did not sound like a +peace voice; yet the anti-English party felt little cordiality for +him. His abilities, as the event amply proved, were not those likely +to wage a successful war. He was regarded as a timid man, incapable of +a burst of passion or a bold act. In place of resolute opinion he +courted argument; with an inclination to be peevish and fretful, he +was at times arrogantly pertinacious. Although his health, moreover, +was delicate and he looked worn and feeble, he exhibited no +consciousness of needing support, declining to reconstruct his Cabinet +that abler men might lend the assistance his own lack of energy +demanded. As time went on Republicans would gladly have exchanged him +for a stronger leader, one better fitted by character and temperament +to select the men and find a way for a speedy victory. It was no less +plain that the conservatives thoroughly disliked him, and if they +could have wrought a change without disrupting the party, it would +have suited their spirit and temper to have openly opposed his +renomination.</p> + +<p>DeWitt Clinton understood the situation, and his friends pointed with +confidence to his well known character for firmness and nerve. Of +Clinton, it may be justly said, that he seems most attractive, not as +a politician, not as a mayor solicitous for the good government of a +growing city, not as a successful promoter of the canal, but as a +rugged, inflexible, determined, self-willed personality. Perhaps not +many loved him, or longed for his companionship, or had any feeling of +tenderness for him; yet, in spite of his manners or want of manners, +there was a fascination about the man that often<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.201" id="vol1Page_i.201">i. 201</a></span> disarmed censure and +turned the critic into a devotee. At this time he undoubtedly stood at +the head of his party in the North. He was still young, having just +entered his forties, still ambitious to shine as a statesman of the +first magnitude. An extraordinary power of application had equipped +him with the varied information that would make him an authority in +the national life. Even his enemies admitted his capacity as a great +executive. He had sometimes been compelled, for the sake of his own +career, to regulate his course by a disregard of party creed, +especially at a time when the principles of Republicanism were +somewhat undefined in their character; but amid all the doubts and +distractions of a checkered, eventful political career he was known +for his absolute integrity, his clear head, and his steady nerve. His +very pride made it impossible for him to condescend to any violation +of a promise.</p> + +<p>Clinton's New York party friends naturally desired a legislative +indorsement for him before Congress could act. But Governor Tompkins' +sudden adjournment of the Legislature had stripped him of that +advantage, and three days before the houses reassembled, on May 18, +Madison was renominated by a congressional caucus, seventeen senators +and sixty-six representatives, including three from New York, taking +part in its proceedings. Eleven days later, ninety out of ninety-five +Republican members of the New York Legislature voted in caucus to +support Clinton.<a name="vol1FNanchor_166_166" id="vol1FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> If the Madison caucus doubted the wisdom of its +action, the Clinton caucus was no less uncertain of the expediency of +its decision. Governor Tompkins opposed it; the Livingstons assailed +it; the Martling Men, led by Sanford and Lewis, refused to attend; +Ambrose Spencer and John Taylor went into it because they<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.202" id="vol1Page_i.202">i. 202</a></span> were +driven; and Erastus Root, in maintaining that Clinton could not, and +as a Federal candidate ought not, to succeed, clearly voiced the +sentiment of a large minority. In short, the most prominent men in the +State opposed the nomination, knowing that Republicans outside of New +York could not support it because of its irregularity.</p> + +<p>But, at the supreme moment, events greatly favoured Clinton. Pierre +Van Cortlandt, Obadiah German, and other members of Congress appeared +upon the scene, bringing the story of Madison's unpopularity and +bearing letters from Gideon Granger, the postmaster-general, urging +the support of Clinton. Granger belonged to Connecticut, and, except +William Eustis, about to retire as an inefficient secretary of war, +was the only cabinet officer from a northern State. He knew that not a +dozen northern members of Congress sincerely favoured war, and that +not a man in the party save Madison himself, sincerely favoured the +President's renomination; but he also knew that the South had +determined to force the issue; and so in a powerful document he +demanded the nomination of a man who, when conflict came, could +shorten it by a vigorous administration. This appeal lifted the +Clinton movement above the level of an ordinary state nomination.</p> + +<p>On the day of his selection, DeWitt Clinton believed his chances more +than even. Though the declaration of war had popularised Madison in +the South and West, and, in a measure, solidified the Republicans in +the North, the young aspirant still counted on a majority of +malcontents and Federalists. The best obtainable information indicated +that three Republicans in Massachusetts would unite with the +Federalists in choosing Clinton electors; that the rest of New England +would act with Massachusetts; and that Clinton would also obtain +support in Maryland, Ohio, North Carolina, Delaware, New Jersey, and, +possibly, Virginia. "If Pennsylvania should be combined," Clinton said +to Gouverneur Morris, "I would come out all right." As late, too, as +the middle of September, Rufus King ventured the opinion<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.203" id="vol1Page_i.203">i. 203</a></span> to +Christopher Gore that while North Carolina was still uncertain, +Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland would probably become Clintonian, +although Pennsylvania and Vermont would be "democratic and +Madisonian."</p> + +<p>To the Federalist leaders, Clinton called himself an American +Federalist. If chosen President he engaged to make immediate peace +with England, and to oppose the views of those Southern States which +sought to degrade the Northern States by oppressing commerce.<a name="vol1FNanchor_167_167" id="vol1FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> It +was this suggestion that led to a secret conference between Clinton, +John Jay, Rufus King and Gouverneur Morris, held at the latter's home +on August 5, to consider the advisability of forming a peace party. +Few scenes in political history are more dramatic than this meeting of +Clinton and the three Federalist leaders of the Empire State. King at +first objected to taking any part. He looked on Clinton, he said, as +one who could lead only so long as he held the views and prejudices of +his followers, and who, unless a large body of Republicans came with +him, was not worth accepting. But King finally consented to be +present, after Jay, although in ill health, promised to join them. +Morris was pleased to undertake his part, for association with Clinton +upon the Canal Commission had made them somewhat intimate. It was +agreed to exclude every topic except the plan of forming a peace +party. The hour fixed was two in the afternoon; but it was five +o'clock before Clinton entered the stately library at Morrisania.</p> + +<p>In opening the interview, Morris simply read the resolu<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.204" id="vol1Page_i.204">i. 204</a></span>tions prepared +for a peace meeting. "Then Clinton observed," says Rufus King, "that +he did not differ from us in opinions respecting public affairs, and +that he entirely approved the resolutions; but, as his friends, +comprehending a great majority of the Republican party in the State, +were divided in their opinions respecting the war—prejudices against +England leading some of them to approve the war—time was necessary to +bring them to one opinion. Disastrous events had already happened, and +owing to the incapacity of the national administration still further +misfortunes would occur, and would serve to produce an union of +opinion respecting the war; that for these reasons the proposed peace +meeting should be deferred four or five weeks; in the interim he would +confer with his friends for the purpose of bringing about a common +opinion, and apprise the movers of his ulterior views on Monday, +August 10, when the canal commissioners would hold a meeting."<a name="vol1FNanchor_168_168" id="vol1FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a></p> + +<p>During the now historic interview, Clinton said that the President's +incapacity made it impossible for him longer to continue his party +relation; and he pledged his honour that the breach between them was +irreparable. Yet, on account of his friends as well as his own +account, he said, he deemed it expedient to avoid publicity on the +subject. He spoke of Spencer with bitterness, styling him "his +creature," whom Armstrong governed, and who, in turn, influenced +Tompkins and John Taylor. "Armstrong," he repeated, "while engaged in +measures to procure a peace meeting in Dutchess County over which he +had promised to preside, had been bought off by the miserable +commission of a brigadier-general."<a name="vol1FNanchor_169_169" id="vol1FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a></p> + +<p>As the campaign grew older, the Federalists were perplexed and +distracted by an increasing uncertainty as to what they should do. +This was especially true of those who sighed for power and despaired +of getting it through the continuance of a Federalist party. Rufus +King, clear as to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.205" id="vol1Page_i.205">i. 205</a></span> the course which ought to be followed, earnestly +advised his friends to nominate a respectable Federalist, not with the +expectation of succeeding in the election, but for the purpose of +keeping the Federal body unbroken in principle; that its character and +influence might be reserved for the occasion which, in the present +course of affairs, he said, could not fail to arrive. King, however, +failed to influence his friends. On September 15, in a convention of +sixty or more delegates from all the States north of the Potomac, it +was recommended that, as it would be inexpedient to name a Federal +candidate because impractical to elect one, Federalists should +co-operate in the election of a President who would be likely to +pursue a different policy from Madison.</p> + +<p>This resolution was largely due to the eloquence of Harrison Gray +Otis. He urged that the defeat of Madison would speedily lead to a +peace, for which the door stood open in the repeal of the Orders in +Council. Rufus King insisted that the name all had in mind be given in +the resolution; although, he admitted, no one knew whether Clinton +would pursue a policy different from Madison's. No man in the country, +he said, was more equivocal in his character. He had disapproved the +embargo and then receded from his opinion; and, to restore himself to +the confidence of his party, he had published a tirade against the +Federalists. "If we succeed in promoting his election," thundered the +orator, "I fear we may place in the chair a Cæsar Borgia instead of a +James Madison."<a name="vol1FNanchor_170_170" id="vol1FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> These were bitter words, recalling Hamilton's +famous criticism of Aaron Burr, but they were spoken without the +wealth of Hamilton's experience to support them. That Clinton would +sacrifice his own interests and his own ambition for the sake of any +political cause no one could believe; that he had played fast and +loose for a time with the great question of embargo was too well known +to be denied; but that anything had occurred in his public career to +justify Rufus King's simile, his worst enemies could not seriously +credit. Even Christopher Gore was<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.206" id="vol1Page_i.206">i. 206</a></span> compelled to admit that the Federal +leaders of Massachusetts "are favourably impressed with the character +and views of Clinton. Indeed, since last spring I have scarcely heard +any one speak of him but extolled the excellence of his moral +character and the purity of his present political views."<a name="vol1FNanchor_171_171" id="vol1FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> To this +King simply replied: "I stated my sentiments to the meeting, a great +majority of whom thought them incorrect. Time, which reveals truth, +must decide between us."<a name="vol1FNanchor_172_172" id="vol1FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a></p> + +<p>By the middle of September, Clinton exhibited lamentable weakness as a +political organiser. Opposing him, he had the whole power of state and +national administrations, and the most prominent men of the party, led +by Erastus Root. Besides, a new Legislature, elected in the preceding +April, had a Republican majority on joint ballot divided between +Clintonians and Madisonians; and, still further to perplex the +situation, twenty Republican assemblymen absolutely refused to vote +unless Madison were given a fair division of the electors. This meant +the surrender of one elector out of three, an arrangement to which +Clinton dared not consent.</p> + +<p>Clinton, though seriously impressed by the gravity of his position, +seems to have done nothing to clear the way; but the hour of crisis +brought with it the man demanded. During recent years a new and very +remarkable figure in political life had been coming to the front. +Martin Van Buren, afterward President of the United States, was +establishing his claim to the position of commanding influence he was +destined to hold during the next three decades. His father, an +innkeeper in the village of Kinderhook, gave him a chance to learn a +little English at the common schools, and a little Latin at the +academy. At the age of fourteen, he began sweeping an office and +running errands for a country attorney, who taught him the law. Then +he went to New York City to finish his education in the office of +William P. Van Ness, an old Columbia County neighbour, at that time +making his brilliant and bitter attack as "Aristides" upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.207" id="vol1Page_i.207">i. 207</a></span> the +Clintons and the Livingstons. A year later, in 1803, Van Buren +celebrated his twenty-first birthday by forming a partnership in +Kinderhook with a half-brother, James J. Van Alen, already established +in the practice. In 1808, he became surrogate; and when the +Legislature convened in November, 1812, he took a seat in the Senate, +the youngest man save one, it is said, until then elected to that +body.</p> + +<p>Martin Van Buren had shown unusual sagacity as a politician. Born +under conditions which might have disheartened one of different mould, +bred in a county given up to Federalism, and taught in the law for six +years by an uncompromising follower of Hamilton, he nevertheless held +steadfastly to the Jeffersonian faith of his father. Nor would he be +moved in his fealty to the Clintons, although Van Ness, his +distinguished law preceptor, worshipped Burr and hated his enemies. As +a very young man, Van Buren was able to see that the principles of +Republicanism had established themselves in the minds of the great +majority of the people interested in political life, and if he had +been persuaded that Aaron Burr and his Federalist allies were to be +restored to power in 1804, he was far too shrewd to be tempted by the +prospects of such a coalition. He had also shown, from his first +entrance into politics, a remarkable capacity for organisation. He had +courage, a social and cheerful temper, engaging manners, and +extraordinary application. He also had the happy faculty of guiding +without seeming to dictate; he could show the way without pushing one +along the path. Finally, back of all, was the ability that soon made +him the peer of Elisha Williams, the ablest lawyer in a county famous +for its brilliant men, enabling him quickly to outgrow the +professional limitations of Kinderhook, and to extend his practice far +beyond the limits of the busy city of Hudson.</p> + +<p>Martin Van Buren cannot be ranked as a great orator. He spoke too +rapidly, and he was wanting in imagination, without which eloquence of +the highest character is impossible. Besides, although his head was +well formed and his face singularly attractive, his small figure +placed him at a<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.208" id="vol1Page_i.208">i. 208</a></span> disadvantage. He possessed, however, a remarkable +command of language, and his graceful, persuasive manner, often +animated, sometimes thrilling, frequently impassioned, inspired +confidence in his sincerity, and easily classed him among the ablest +speakers. His best qualities consisted in his clearness of exposition, +his masterly array of forcible argument, his faculty for balancing +evidence, for acquiring and comparing facts, and for appreciating +tendencies.</p> + +<p>When Van Buren entered the State Senate he was recognised as the +Republican leader of his section. A recent biographer says that his +skill in dealing with men was extraordinary, due no doubt to his +temper of amity and inborn genius for society. "As you saw him once," +wrote William Allen Butler, "you saw him always—always punctilious, +always polite, always cheerful, always self-possessed. It seemed to +any one who studied this phase of his character as if, in some early +moment of destiny, his whole nature had been bathed in a cool, clear, +and unruffled depth, from which it drew this lifelong serenity and +self-control."<a name="vol1FNanchor_173_173" id="vol1FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> Any intelligent observer of public life must have +felt that Martin Van Buren was only at the opening of a great +political career. Inferior to DeWitt Clinton in the endowments which +obtain for their possessor the title of a man of genius, he could, +though thirteen years younger, weigh the strength of conflicting +tendencies in the political world with an accuracy to which Clinton +could not pretend.</p> + +<p>On reaching Albany, in November, 1812, Van Buren saw the electoral +situation at a glance; and naturally, almost insensibly, he became +Clinton's representative. He slipped into leadership as easily as +Bonaparte stepped into the history of Europe, when he seized the fatal +weakness in the well defended city of Toulon. Van Buren had approved +embargo, non-intercourse, and the war itself. The discontent growing +out of Jefferson's severe treatment of the difficulties caused by the +Orders in Council and the Berlin and Milan Decrees, seems never to +have shaken his confidence in Republican<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.209" id="vol1Page_i.209">i. 209</a></span> statesmanship, or aroused +the slightest animosity against the congressional caucus nominee for +President. But he accepted Clinton as the regular and practically the +unanimous nominee of the Republican members of a preceding +Legislature. Although Madison's nomination had come in the way then +accepted, he had a stronger sense of allegiance to the expressed will +of his party in the State. His adversaries, of whom he was soon to +have many, charged him with treachery to the President and to the +party. There came a time when it was asserted, and, apparently, with +some show of truth, that he had neither the courage nor the heart to +keep the side of his convictions boldly and finally; that he was +always thinking of personal interests, and trying to take the position +which promised the greatest advantage and the greatest security. We +shall have occasion, in the course of these pages, to study the basis +of such criticism. But, in the present crisis, had he not been +thoroughly sincere and single-hearted, he could easily have thrown in +his fortunes with the winning side; for at that time he must have had +little faith in the chances of Clinton's election. Vermont had been +given up, Pennsylvania was scarcely in doubt, and the South showed +unmistakable signs of voting solidly for Madison.<a name="vol1FNanchor_174_174" id="vol1FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a></p> + +<p>Van Buren's work not only encouraged several Federalists to vote for +Clinton electors, but it compelled the Madisonians not to vote at all. +It seemed easy, when a master hand guided the helm, to bring order out +of chaos. Upon joint ballot, the Clintonian electors received +seventy-four votes to the Federalists' forty-five; twenty-eight blanks +represented<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.210" id="vol1Page_i.210">i. 210</a></span> the Madison strength. Van Buren, however, could not +control in other States. If some one in Pennsylvania, of equal tact in +the management of men, could have supplemented his work, Clinton must +easily have won. But it is not often given a party, or an individual, +to have the assistance of two such men at the same time. After the +votes were counted, it appeared that Clinton had carried New +Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New +Jersey, Delaware, and had five votes in Maryland—eighty-nine in all. +The remaining one hundred and twenty-eight belonged to Madison.</p> + +<p>In estimating the discontent excited by the declaration of war Clinton +had failed to foresee that there is something captivating to a +spirited people about the opening of a new war. He had also failed to +notice that military failures could not affect Madison's strength. The +surrender of Detroit, Dearborn's blunder in wasting time, and the +inefficiency of the secretary of war had raised a storm of public +wrath sufficient to annihilate Hull and to shake the earth under +Eustis; but it passed harmlessly over the head of the President. The +foreign policy of Jefferson and Madison, approved by the Republican +party, was on trial, and the defeat of the Administration meant a want +of confidence in the party itself. Here, then, was a contingency +against which Clinton had never thought of providing, and, as so often +happens, the one thing not taken into consideration, proved decisive +in the result.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.211" id="vol1Page_i.211">i. 211</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XIX" id="vol1CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX<br /> +<br /> +QUARRELS AND RIVALRIES<br /> +<br /> +1813</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap"> +After</span> Clinton's loss of the Presidency, it must have been clear to his +friends and enemies alike that his influence in the Republican party +was waning. A revolution in sentiment did not then sweep over the +State with anything like the swiftness and certainty of the present +era of cheap newspapers and rapid transit. Yet, in spite of his +genius, which concealed, and, for a time, checked the suddenness of +his fall, the rank and file of the party quickly understood what had +happened. Friends began falling away. For several months Ambrose +Spencer had openly and bitterly denounced him, and Governor Tompkins +took a decisive part in relieving his rival of the last hope of ever +again reckoning on the support of Republicans.</p> + +<p>The feeling against Clinton was intensified by the common belief that +the election of Rufus King, as United States senator to succeed John +Smith, on March 4, 1813, paid the Federalists their price for choosing +Clinton electors. The Republicans had a majority on joint ballot, and +James W. Wilkin, a senator from the middle district, was placed in +nomination; but when the votes were counted King had sixty-four and +Wilkin sixty-one. It looked treacherous, and it suggested gross +ingratitude, since Wilkin had presided at the legislative caucus which +nominated Clinton for President; but, as we have seen, events had been +moving in different ways, events destined to produce a strange crop of +political results. In buying its charter, the Bank of America had +contracted to do many things, and the election of a United<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.212" id="vol1Page_i.212">i. 212</a></span> States +senator was not unlikely among its bargains. This theory seems the +more probable since Clinton, whom Rufus King had denounced as a +dangerous demagogue, would have preferred putting King into a position +of embarrassment more than into the United States Senate. Wilkin +himself so understood it, or, at least, he believed that the Bank, and +not Clinton, had contributed to his defeat, and he said so in a letter +afterward found among the Clinton papers.</p> + +<p>Hostile Republicans were, however, now ready to believe Clinton guilty +of any act of turpitude or ingratitude; and so, on February 4, when a +legislative caucus renominated Daniel D. Tompkins for governor by +acclamation, Clinton received only sixteen votes for +lieutenant-governor. There is no evidence that Van Buren took part in +Clinton's humiliation; but it is certain he did not act with all the +fairness that might have been expected. He could well have said that +Clinton was no worse than the majority of his party who had nominated +him; that his aim, like theirs, was a vigorous prosecution of the war +in the interest of an early peace; that he had no intention of +separating himself from the Republican party, and that his +renomination for lieutenant-governor would reunite the party, making +it more potent to create and support war measures. But Van Buren +himself was not beyond danger. Tammany's mutterings and Spencer's +violent denunciations threatened to exclude others from the party, and +to escape their hostility, this rising young statesman found it +convenient to drop Clinton and shout for Tompkins. A less able and +clear-headed man might have gone wrong at this parting of the ways, +just as did Obadiah German and other friends of Clinton; but Van Buren +never needed a guide-post to point out to him the safest political +road to travel. The better to prove his party loyalty, he consented to +draft the usual grandiloquent address issued by the legislative caucus +to Republican electors, always a sophomoric appeal, but quite in +accord with the rhetoric of the time. If any doubt existed as to the +orthodoxy of Van Buren's Republicanism, this address must have +dissipated it. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.213" id="vol1Page_i.213">i. 213</a></span> sustained the general government by forcible +argument, and it appealed with fervid eloquence and deep pathos to the +patriotism of the people to continue their support of the party.</p> + +<p>How great a part Clinton was yet to play in the history of his State +no one could foresee. Much speculation has been indulged by writers as +to the probable course of history had he been elected President, but +the mere fact that he was able to inspire so small a fraction of his +party with full faith in his leadership is decisive evidence that he +was not then the man of the hour. It is certain that his enemies +believed his political life had been brought to an ignoble close. +Clinton probably felt that he would have no difficulty in living down +the opprobrium put upon him by partisan hostility; and to prove that +he was still in the political arena, a little coterie of distinguished +friends, led by Obadiah German and Pierre Van Cortlandt, made a circle +about him. From this vantage ground he defied his enemies, attacking +Madison's conduct of the war with great severity, and protesting +against the support of Tompkins and Taylor as the mere tools of +Madison.</p> + +<p>Clinton's usual good fortune also attended him. As we have seen, the +April elections in 1812 returned a Federalist Assembly, which selected +a Council of Appointment opposed to Clinton's removal from the +mayoralty. It displaced everybody else throughout the State. +Clintonians and Madisonians alike suffered, including the able and +distinguished Thomas Addis Emmet, an ardent friend of Clinton who had +been urged to accept the attorney-generalship after the death of +Matthias B. Hildreth in the preceding August. But Clinton had the +support of Jonas Platt, the leading member of the Council, and Platt +refused to permit his removal. Doubtless the latter hoped to fill up +the Federalist ranks with Clintonian recruits; and so with greater +confidence than usual the Federalists, when their turn came, nominated +Stephen Van Rensselaer for governor and George Huntington of Oneida +County for lieutenant-governor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.214" id="vol1Page_i.214">i. 214</a></span></p> + +<p>Aside from the result of the elections of the preceding November, +which had given Federalists twenty out of thirty congressmen, it is +difficult to understand upon what the party of Hamilton really based +its confidence. Before the campaign was a month old, it must have been +evident that the defeated candidate for President had as little +influence as Van Rensselaer, who, as a major-general of militia in +command at Fort Niagara, was a miserable failure. After shivering with +fear for sixty days lest Hull's fate overtake him, Van Rensselaer, +apparently in sheer desperation, had suddenly ordered a small part of +his force across the river to be shot and captured in the presence of +a large reserve who refused to go to the assistance of their comrades. +The news of this defeat led Monroe to speak of him as "a weak and +incompetent man with high pretensions." Jefferson thought Hull ought +to be "shot for cowardice" and Van Rensselaer "broke for +incapacity."<a name="vol1FNanchor_175_175" id="vol1FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a></p> + +<p>But the Federalists, unmindful of the real seriousness of that +disaster, contested the election with unusual vehemence, until the +best informed men of both parties conceded their advantage. The +Government's incapacity was abundantly illustrated in the failure of +its armies and in the impoverished condition of its treasury, and if +the home conditions had been disturbed by distress, the confidence of +the Federalists must have been realised. The people of the State, +however, had seen and felt nothing of actual warfare. In spite of +embargoes and blockades, ample supplies of foreign goods had continued +to arrive; and, except along the Niagara frontier, occupied by a few +hundred scattered settlers, the farms produced their usual harvests +and the industries of life were not impaired. Under these conditions, +the voters of the country districts saw no reason for defeating a +governor whom they liked, for a man whose military service added +nothing to his credit or to the lustre of the State. So, when the +election storm subsided, it was found, to the bitter morti<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.215" id="vol1Page_i.215">i. 215</a></span>fication of +the Federalists, that while the chief towns, New York, Hudson and +Albany, were strong in opposition, Tompkins and Taylor had triumphed +by the moderate majority of 3606 in a total vote of over 83,000.<a name="vol1FNanchor_176_176" id="vol1FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> +The Senate stood three to one in favour of the Republicans. The +Assembly was lost by ten votes.</p> + +<p>Tompkins was now at the zenith of his political career. He was one of +those men not infrequently observed in public life, who, without +conspicuous ability, have a certain knack for the management of men, +and are able to acquire influence and even a certain degree of fame by +personal skill in manipulating patronage, smoothing away difficulties, +and making things easy. Nature had not only endowed him with a genius +for political diplomacy, but good fortune had favoured his march to +popularity by disassociating him with any circumstances of birth or +environment calculated to excite jealousy or to arouse the suspicion +of the people. He was neither rich nor highly connected. The people +knew him by the favourite title of the "farmer's boy," and he never +appeared to forget his humble beginnings. "He had the faculty," says +James Renwick, formerly of Columbia College, who knew him personally, +"of never forgetting the name or face of any person with whom he had +once conversed; of becoming acquainted and appearing to take an +interest in the concerns of their families; and of securing, by his +affability and amiable address, the good opinion of the female sex, +who, although possessed of no vote, often exercise a powerful indirect +influence." Thus, while still in the early prime of life, he had risen +to a position in the State which, even in the case of men with +superior intellectual endowments, is commonly the reward of maturer +years and longer experience.</p> + +<p>From the moment Tompkins became governor in 1807 the strongest +ambition of his mind was success in the great game of politics; and, +although never a good hater, his ca<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.216" id="vol1Page_i.216">i. 216</a></span>pacity for friendship depended +upon whether the success of his own career was endangered by the +association. Having laid Clinton in the dust, his eye rested upon John +Armstrong, who had recently won the appointment of secretary of war. +Armstrong had been recalled from Paris at the request of Napoleon, +just in time to get in the way of both Clinton and Tompkins. At first +he was a malcontent, grumbling at Madison, and condemning the conduct +of public affairs generally; but, after the declaration of war, he +supported the Administration, and, on July 6, 1812, to the surprise +and indignation of Clinton, he accepted a brigadiership, with command +of New York City and its defences. Then came the period of danger and +urgency following the surrender of Detroit, and Armstrong, on the 6th +of February, 1813, to the great embarrassment of Tompkins, obtained +quick promotion to the head of the war department.</p> + +<p>There seems to have been no reason why Tompkins should have harboured +the feeling of rivalry toward Armstrong that he cherished for Clinton. +The former was simply a pretentious occupier of high places, without +real ability for great accomplishment. His little knowledge of the +theory and practice of war was learned on the staff of General Gates, +who, Bancroft says, "had no fitness for command and wanted personal +courage." It was while Armstrong was dwelling in the tent of this +political, intriguing adventurer, that he wrote the celebrated +"Newburgh Letters," stigmatised by Washington. These events, coupled +with his want of scruples and known capacity for intrigue and +indolence, made him an object of such distrust that the Senate, in +spite of his social and political connections, barely confirmed him.</p> + +<p>Could Tompkins, looking two years into the future, have foreseen +Armstrong passing into disgraceful retirement after the capture of the +city of Washington, he might easily have dismissed all rivalry from +his mind; but just now the two men who seemed to stand most in his way +were Armstrong and Spencer. He thought Spencer in too close and +friendly alliance with Armstrong, and that Armstrong, whose<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.217" id="vol1Page_i.217">i. 217</a></span> strength +in the State greatly depended upon Spencer's influence, was the only +obstacle in his path to the White House. Thus there arose in his mind +a sentiment of rivalry for Armstrong, and a strong feeling of distrust +and dislike for Spencer. The latter, who now possessed little more +real liking for Tompkins than Clinton did, soon understood the +Governor's feeling toward him; and he also learned that Van Buren, +with an intellect for organisation and control far superior to +anything the Republicans of the State had heretofore known, had come +into the political game to stay.</p> + +<p>By phenomenal luck, DeWitt Clinton's good fortune still continued to +attend him. In April, 1813, the Federalists had again carried the +Assembly, and, although without senators in the middle and western +districts to serve upon the Council of Appointment, Clinton found a +friend in Henry A. Townsend, who answered the purpose of a Federalist. +Townsend would support Jonas Platt for a judgeship if Clinton was +retained as mayor.</p> + +<p>Townsend had come into the Senate in 1810 as a Clinton Republican, but +his brief legislative career had not been as serene as a summer's day. +He fell out with Tompkins and Spencer when he fell in with Thomas and +Southwick, and whether or not the favours distributed by the Bank of +America actually became a part of his assets, the bank's opponents +took such violent exception to his vote that poor Townsend had little +to hope for from that faction of his party. It was commonly believed +at the time, therefore, that a desire to please Clinton and possibly +to gain the favour of Federalists in the event of their future +success, influenced him to support Platt, conditional on the retention +of Clinton. It is quite within the range of probability that some such +motive quickened his instinct for revenge and self-preservation, +although it led to an incident that must have caused Clinton keen +regret and mental anguish.</p> + +<p>Townsend's Republican colleague in the Council was none other than +Morgan Lewis, who saw an opportunity of creating trouble by nominating +Richard Riker as an opposing<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.218" id="vol1Page_i.218">i. 218</a></span> candidate to Platt. Tompkins had +probably something to do with making this nomination—or, at all +events, with giving his friend Lewis the idea of bringing it forward +just then. Surely, they thought, Clinton would reverence Riker, who +acted as second in the Swartout duel and recently headed the committee +to promote his election to the Presidency. Clinton felt the sting of +his enemies. There was a time when Clinton had supported Tompkins +against Lewis; now Lewis, in supporting Tompkins against Clinton, was +thrusting the latter through with a two-edged knife; for if Townsend +voted for Riker, the Federalists would drop Clinton; if he voted for +Platt, Riker would drop him. In vain did Clinton wait for Riker to +suggest some avenue of escape. The plucky second wanted a judgeship +which meant years of good living, as much as Clinton wanted the +mayoralty that might be lost in another year. Clinton had not yet +drunk the dregs of the bitter cup. False friends and their unpaid +security debts were still to bankrupt him; but he had already seen +enough to know that the setting sun is not worshipped. Under these +circumstances his friendship for Riker was not strong enough to induce +him to throw away his last chance of holding the mayoralty and its fat +fees; and so when Townsend voted for Platt, Riker's affection for +Clinton turned to hate.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.219" id="vol1Page_i.219">i. 219</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XX" id="vol1CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX<br /> +<br /> +A GREAT WAR GOVERNOR<br /> +<br /> +1812-1815</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap"> +The</span> assumption of extraordinary responsibilities during the War of +1812, justly conferred upon Daniel D. Tompkins the title of a great +war governor. There is an essential difference between a war governor +and a governor in time of war. One is enthusiastic, resourceful, with +ability to organise victory by filling languishing patriotism with new +and noble inspiration—the other simply performs his duty, sometimes +respectably, sometimes only perfunctorily. George Clinton illustrated, +in his own person, the difference between a great war governor and a +governor in time of war. If he failed to win renown on the +battlefield, his ability to inspire the people with confidence, and to +bring glory out of threatened failure and success out of apparent +defeat, made him the greatest war governor the country had yet known. +Daniel D. Tompkins served his State no less acceptably. In the moment +of greatest discouragement he displayed a patriotic courage in +borrowing money without authority of law that made his Administration +famous.</p> + +<p>Yet Tompkins' patriotism scarcely rose to that sublime height which +suffers its possessor unselfishly to advance a rival even for the +public welfare. There is no doubt of DeWitt Clinton's conspicuous +devotion to the interests of his country throughout the entire war. He +exceeded his power as mayor in inducing the Common Council to borrow +money on the credit of the city and loan it to the United States; at +the supreme moment of a great crisis, when the national treasury was +empty and a British fleet threatened destruction to the coast, an +impressive address which he drafted, accompanied<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.220" id="vol1Page_i.220">i. 220</a></span> by a subscription +paper which he headed, resulted in raising a fund of over one million +dollars for the city's defence. The genius of Clinton had never been +more nobly employed than in his efforts to sustain the war, winning +him universal esteem throughout the municipality for his patriotic +unselfishness and unlimited generosity. Tompkins must have known that +such a man, already holding the rank of major-general in the militia, +would be absolute master of any situation. He was not the one to throw +up the cards because the chances of the game were going against him. +His was a fighting spirit, and his impulse was ever, like that of +Macbeth, to try to the last. But Tompkins could not fail to observe +the party's growing dislike for Clinton, and, much as he wanted +military success, he graciously declined Clinton's request, brought to +him by Thomas Addis Emmet, to be assigned to active service in the +field.</p> + +<p>Tompkins had little to encourage him at the outset of the war. The +election in April, 1812, had turned the Assembly over to the +Federalists, who not only wasted the time of an extra session, called +in November of that year, but carried their opposition through the +regular session begun in January, 1813. The emergency was pressing. +New England Federalists had declined to make the desired loans to the +general government, and the governor of New York wished his State to +relieve the situation by advancing the needed money. It was a +patriotic measure. Whether right or wrong, the declaration of war had +jeopardised the country. Soldiers, poorly equipped, scantily clothed, +without organisation, and without pay, were scattered for hundreds of +miles along a sparsely settled border, opened to the attacks of a +powerful enemy; yet the Federalists refused to vote a dollar to equip +a man. Why should we continue a war from the prosecution of which we +have nothing to gain, they asked? The Orders in Council have been +repealed, England has shrunk from facing the consequences of its own +folly, and America has already won a complete triumph. What further +need, then, for bleeding our exhausted treasury?<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.221" id="vol1Page_i.221">i. 221</a></span></p> + +<p>The Governor's embarrassment, however, did not emanate from the +Federalists alone. The northern frontier of New York was to become the +great battle-ground, and it was conceded that capable generals and a +sufficient force were necessary to carry the war promptly into Canada. +But the President furnished neither. He appointed Henry Dearborn, with +the rank of major-general, to command the district from Niagara to the +St. Lawrence, thus putting all military operations within the State +under the control of a man in his sixty-second year, whose only +military experience had been gained as a deputy quartermaster-general +in 1781, and as colonel of a New Hampshire regiment after the end of +the Revolutionary War. Dearborn was a politician—not a general. After +serving several years in Jefferson's Cabinet, he graduated into the +custom-house at Boston, where he concerned himself more to beat the +Federalists than he ever exerted himself to defeat the British. In his +opinion, campaigning ought to have its regular alternations of +activity and repose, but he never knew when activity should begin. To +make the condition more supremely ironic, Morgan Lewis, now in his +fifty-ninth year, whose knowledge of war, like Dearborn's, had been +learned as a deputy quartermaster-general thirty years before, was +associated with him in command.</p> + +<p>Dearborn submitted a plan of campaign, recommending that the main army +advance by way of Lake Champlain upon Montreal, while three corps of +militia should enter Canada from Detroit, Niagara and Sackett's +Harbour. This was as near as Dearborn ever came to a successful +invasion of Canada. War was declared on June 18, 1812, and July had +been frittered away before he left Albany. Meantime General Hull, +whose success depended largely upon Dearborn's vigorous support from +Niagara, having been a fortnight on British soil, now recrossed the +river and a few days later surrendered his army and Detroit to General +Brock. This tragic event aroused Dearborn sufficiently to send Stephen +Van Rensselaer to command the Niagara frontier, the feeble<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.222" id="vol1Page_i.222">i. 222</a></span> General +assuring the secretary of war that, as soon as the force at Lewiston +aggregated six thousand men, a forward movement should be made; but +Dearborn himself, with the largest force then under arms, took good +care to remain on Lake Champlain, clinging to its shores like a +barnacle, as if afraid of the fate visited upon the unfortunate Hull. +Finally, after two months of waiting, Van Rensselaer sent a thousand +men across the Niagara to Queenstown to be killed and captured within +sight of four thousand troops who refused to go to the help of their +comrades. Disgusted and defeated, Van Rensselaer turned over his +command to Brigadier-General Alexander Smith, a boastful Irish friend +of Madison from Virginia, who issued burlesque proclamations about an +invasion of Canada, and then declined to risk an engagement, although +he had three Americans to one Englishman. This closed the campaign of +1812.</p> + +<p>With the hope of improving the military situation John Armstrong was +made secretary of war in place of William Eustis. Armstrong was never +a favourite. His association with Gates and his subsequent career in +France, made him an object of distrust. But, once in office, he picked +up the Eustis ravellings and announced a plan of campaign which +included an attack on Montreal from Lake Champlain; the destruction of +Kingston and York (Toronto) by the troops from Sackett's Harbour; and +the expulsion of the British from the Niagara frontier. The Kingston +part of the programme possessed genuine merit. Kingston commanded the +traffic of the St. Lawrence, between Upper and Lower Canada, and no +British force could maintain itself in Upper Canada without ready +communication with the lower province; but Dearborn decided to reverse +Armstrong's plan by taking York, afterward the Niagara frontier, and +then unite a victorious army against Kingston. Dearborn, to do him +justice, offered to resign, and Armstrong would gladly have gotten rid +of him, with Morgan Lewis and other incompetents. The President, +however, clung to the old men, making the spring and early summer +campaign of 1813, like its predecessor, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.223" id="vol1Page_i.223">i. 223</a></span> record of dismal failures. +York had, indeed, capitulated after the bloodiest battle of the war, +the American loss amounting to one-fifth the entire force, including +Pike, the best brigadier then in the service. But the British still +held Niagara; two brigade commanders had been sorely defeated; a third +had surrendered five hundred and forty men to a British lieutenant +with two hundred and sixty; and Sackett's Harbour, with its barracks +burned and navy-yard destroyed, had barely escaped capture, while +Kingston was unmolested and Dearborn totally incapacitated "with fever +and mortification."</p> + +<p>It was now mid-summer. Tompkins and a Republican Senate had been +re-elected, but the Federalists, whose policy was to obtain peace on +any terms, still held the Assembly. Just at this time, therefore, +success in the field would have been of immense value politically, and +as sickness had put Dearborn out of commission, it gave Armstrong an +opportunity of promoting Winfield Scott and Jacob Brown, both of whom +had shown unusual ability in spite of the shameless incapacity of +their seniors. The splendid fighting qualities of Jacob Brown had +saved Sackett's Harbour; and the brilliant pluck of Winfield Scott had +withstood a force three times his own until British bayonets pushed +him over the crest of Queenstown Heights. Armstrong, however, had a +liking for James Wilkinson. They had been companions in arms with +Gates at Saratoga, and, although no one knew better than Armstrong the +feebleness of Wilkinson's character, he assigned him to New York after +the President had forced his removal from New Orleans.</p> + +<p>Wilkinson's military life might fairly be described as infamous. +Winfield Scott spoke of him as an "unprincipled imbecile."<a name="vol1FNanchor_177_177" id="vol1FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> He had +recently been several times court-martialled, once for being engaged +in a treasonable conspiracy with Spain, again as an accomplice of +Aaron Burr, and finally for corruption; and, although each time he had +been acquitted, his brother officers regarded him with suspicion<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.224" id="vol1Page_i.224">i. 224</a></span> and +contempt. Nevertheless, this man, fifty-six years of age, and broken +in health as well as character, was substituted for Dearborn and +ordered to take Kingston; and Wade Hampton, one year his senior, +without a war record, and not on speaking terms with Wilkinson, was +ordered to Plattsburg to take Montreal. Folly such as this could only +end in disaster. Whatever Armstrong suggested Wilkinson opposed, and +whatever Wilkinson advised Hampton resented; but Wilkinson so far +prevailed, that, before either expedition started, it was agreed to +abandon Kingston; and before either general had passed far beyond the +limits of the State, it was agreed to abandon Montreal, leaving the +generals and the secretary of war ample time to quarrel over their +responsibility for the failure. Wilkinson charged Hampton with +blasting the honour of the army, and both generals accused Armstrong +of purposely deserting them to shift the blame from himself. On the +other hand, Armstrong accepted Hampton's resignation, sneered at +Wilkinson for abandoning the campaign, and, after Hampton's death, +saddled him with the responsibility of the whole failure.</p> + +<p>Meantime, while the generals and secretary quarrelled, and their +twelve thousand troops rested in winter quarters at French Mills and +Plattsburg—leaving the country between Detroit and Sackett's Harbour +with less than a regiment—the British were vigorously at work. They +pounced upon the Niagara frontier; reoccupied Fort George; carried +Fort Niagara with great slaughter; and burned Black Rock and Buffalo +in revenge for the destruction of Newark and Queenstown and the public +buildings at York. This ended the campaign of 1813.</p> + +<p>On the high seas, however, the American navy, so small that England +had scarcely known of its existence, was redeeming the country from +the disgrace its generals had brought upon it. There are some battles +of that time, fought out in storm and darkness, which taught Americans +the real pleasures of war, and turned the names of vessels and their +brave commanders into household words; but not until<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.225" id="vol1Page_i.225">i. 225</a></span> Oliver H. Perry, +an energetic young officer, was ordered from Newport to the Niagara +frontier, in the spring of 1813, did conditions change from sacrifice +and disgrace to real success. Six vessels were at that time building +at Erie; and three smaller craft rested quietly in the navy-yard at +Black Rock. Perry's orders included the union of these fleets, +carrying fifty-four guns and five hundred men, and the destruction of +six British vessels, carrying sixty-three guns and four hundred and +fifty men. Six months of patient labour on both sides were required to +put the squadrons into fighting condition; but when, on the afternoon +of September 10, Perry had fought the fight to a finish, the British +squadron belonged to him. The War of 1812 would be memorable for this, +if it were for nothing else; and the indomitable Perry, whose stubborn +courage had wrested victory from what seemed inevitable defeat, is +enthroned among the proudest names of the great sea fighters of +history.</p> + +<p>After Wilkinson, Morgan Lewis, and other incompetent generals had +retired in disgrace, Armstrong recognised the genius of Jacob Brown +and Winfield Scott. Brown was of Quaker parentage, a school teacher by +profession, and a farmer by occupation. After founding the town of +Brownsville, he had owned and lived on a large tract of land near +Sackett's Harbour, and for recreation he had commanded a militia +regiment. In 1811, Tompkins made him a brigadier, and when the contest +opened, he found his true mission. He knew nothing of the technique of +war. Laying out fortifications, policing camps, arranging with +calculating foresight for the far future, did not fall within his +knowledge; but for a fighter he must always rank in history with John +Paul Jones; and as a leader of men he had hardly a rival in those +days. Soldiers only wanted his word of command to undertake any +enterprise, no matter how hopeless. Winfield Scott, who understood +Brown's limitations, said there was nothing he could not do if he only +got a fair opportunity. Armstrong commissioned him a major-general in +place of Wilkinson, and assigned Scott to a brigade in his command. +These of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.226" id="vol1Page_i.226">i. 226</a></span>ficers, full of zeal and vigor, infused new life into an army +that had been beaten and battered for two years. In twelve weeks, +during July, August, and September, the British met stubborn +resistance at Chippewa, Lundy's Lane, Fort Erie, and Black Rock, and a +repulse as disgraceful as it was complete at Plattsburg. But before +Brown could establish the new order of things along the whole Canadian +border, the British took Oswego, with its abundant commissary +supplies, and their navy inflicted a wound, in the destruction of the +<i>Chesapeake</i> and the <i>Argus</i>, that turned the Perry huzzas into +suppressed lamentations.</p> + +<p>Following this calamity, occurred the April elections of 1814. The +uncertain temper of the people gave Tompkins little to expect and much +to fear. He believed it had only needed a bold and spirited forward +movement to demonstrate that the United States was in a position to +dictate terms to England; but existing conditions indicated that +England would soon dictate terms to the United States. Tompkins may be +fairly excused, therefore, if he failed to discern in the struggle for +political supremacy the slightest indication of that victory so long +prayed for. Events, however, had been working silently—differently +than either Federalist or Republican guessed; and, to the utter +amazement of all, the war party swept the State, electing assemblymen +even in New York City, twenty out of thirty congressmen, and every +senator, save one. Under these circumstances Tompkins lost no time in +summoning, in September, an extra session of the newly elected +Legislature, which began turning out war measures like cloth from a +loom. It raised the pay of the militia above that of the regular army; +it encouraged privateering; it authorised the enlistment of twelve +thousand men for two years and two thousand slaves for three years; it +provided for a corps of twenty companies for coast defence; it assumed +the State's quota of direct tax, and it reimbursed Governor Tompkins +for personal expenditures incurred without authority of law. Some of +these measures were drastic, especially the conscription bill; but the +act<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.227" id="vol1Page_i.227">i. 227</a></span> showing the determination of the Republican party to fight the +war to a finish, was that allowing slaves to enlist with the consent +of their masters, and awarding them freedom when honourably mustered +out of service.</p> + +<p>There was certainly much need for an active and vigorous Legislature +in the fall of 1814. Washington had been captured and burned; +Armstrong, threatened with removal, had resigned in disgrace; the +national treasury was empty; and every bank between New Orleans and +Albany had suspended specie payment, with their notes from twenty to +thirty per cent. below par. Although, in ten weeks, from July 3 to +September 11, the British had met a bloody and unparalleled check from +an inferior force, under the brilliant leadership of Brown and Scott, +and a most disgraceful repulse by Macdonough and Macomb at Plattsburg, +victorious English veterans, fresh from the battlefields of Spain, +continued to arrive, until Canada contained twenty-seven thousand +regular troops. On the other hand, Macomb had only fifteen hundred men +at Plattsburg, Brown less than two thousand at Fort Erie, and Izard +about four thousand at Buffalo.</p> + +<p>To make bad matters worse, the New England Federalists were renewing +their talk of a dissolution of the Union. "We have been led by the +terms of the Constitution," said Governor Strong of Massachusetts, +addressing the Legislature on October 5, 1814, "to rely on the +government of the Union to provide for our defence. We have resigned +to that government the revenues of the State with the expectation that +this object would not be neglected. Let us, then, unite in such +measures for our safety as the times demand and the principles of +justice and the law of self-preservation will justify."<a name="vol1FNanchor_178_178" id="vol1FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a> Answering +for the Legislature, which understood the Governor's words to be an +invitation to resume powers the State had given up when adopting the +Constitution, Harrison Gray Otis reported that "this people, being +ready and determined to defend themselves, have the greatest need of +those resources derivable from themselves which the na<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.228" id="vol1Page_i.228">i. 228</a></span>tional +government has hitherto thought proper to employ elsewhere. When this +deficiency becomes apparent, no reason can preclude the right of the +whole people who were parties to it, to adopt another."<a name="vol1FNanchor_179_179" id="vol1FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> The +report closed by recommending the appointment of delegates "to meet +and confer with delegates from the States of New England or any of +them," out of which grew the celebrated Hartford Convention that met +on the 15th of December. The report of this convention, made on the +24th of the same month, declared that a severance of the Union can be +justified only by absolute necessity; but, following the Virginia +resolution of 1798, it confirmed the right of a State to "interpose +its authority" for the protection of its citizens against +conscriptions and drafts, and for an arrangement with the general +government to retain "a reasonable portion" of the revenues to be used +in its own defence and in the defence of neighbouring States. In other +words, it favoured the establishment of a New England confederacy. +Thus, after ten years, the crisis had come which Pickering, the storm +petrel, desired to precipitate in the days when Hamilton declined to +listen and Aaron Burr consented to lead.</p> + +<p>It is doubtful if the great body of Federalists in New York really +sympathised with their eastern brethren. Those who did, like +Gouverneur Morris, proclaimed their views in private and confidential +letters. "I care nothing more for your actings and doings," Morris +wrote Pickering, then in Congress. "Your decree of conscription and +your levy of contributions are alike indifferent to one whose eyes are +fixed on a star in the east, which he believes to be the dayspring of +freedom and glory. The traitors and madmen assembled at Hartford will, +I believe, if not too tame and timid, be hailed hereafter as the +patriots and sages of their day and generation."<a name="vol1FNanchor_180_180" id="vol1FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> Looking back on +the history of that portentous event, one is shocked to learn that men +like Morris<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.229" id="vol1Page_i.229">i. 229</a></span> could have sympathy with the principle sought to be +established; but if any leading New York Federalist disapproved the +convention's report he made no public record of it at the time.<a name="vol1FNanchor_181_181" id="vol1FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a></p> + +<p>The violent methods of New England governors in withdrawing their +militia from the service of the United States, coupled with the action +of the New York Federalists in calling a state convention to determine +what course their party should pursue, were well calculated to arouse +Governor Tompkins, who welcomed the privilege of upholding the general +government. He did not minimise the gravity of the situation. Perhaps +he did not feel the alarm expressed in Jefferson's letter to Gallatin, +a year after the crisis had passed; for he now had behind him a +patriotic Legislature and the nucleus of an invincible army under +trained leadership. But if the war had continued, and, as the +Washington authorities anticipated, the British had prevailed at New +Orleans, he would have found a New England confederacy to the east of +him as well as an army of English veterans on the north.</p> + +<p>The conditions that faced Madison made peace his last hope. American +commissioners were already in Europe; but as month after month passed +without agreement, the darkest hour of the war seemed to have settled +upon the country. Suddenly, on the 4th of February, 1815, the +startling and glorious news of General Jackson's decisive victory at +New Orleans electrified the nation. A week later, a British sloop of +war sailed into New York harbour, announcing that the treaty of Ghent +had been signed on the 24th of the preceding December. Instantly +Madison's troubles disappeared. The war was over, the Hartford +commissioners were out of em<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.230" id="vol1Page_i.230">i. 230</a></span>ployment, and the happy phrase of Charles +J. Ingersoll of Pennsylvania became the popular summing up of the +treaty—"not an inch ceded or lost." Jackson's victory had not entered +into the peace negotiations; but intelligent men knew that the superb +fighting along the Canadian frontier during the campaign of 1814, had +had much to do in bringing about the result. Beginning with the battle +of Chippewa, where equal bodies of troops met face to face, in broad +daylight, on an open field, without advantage of position, the +American army faced British troops with the skill and desperate +courage that characterised the struggle between the North and the +South forty years later.</p> + +<p>Among civilians most admired for their part in the struggle, Daniel D. +Tompkins stood first. The genius of an American governor had never +been more nobly employed, and, although he was sometimes swayed by +prejudice and the impulses of his personal ambition, he did enough to +show that he was devotedly attached to his country.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.231" id="vol1Page_i.231">i. 231</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XXI" id="vol1CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI<br /> +<br /> +CLINTON OVERTHROWN<br /> +<br /> +1815</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap"> +The</span> election of a Republican Assembly in the spring of 1814 opened the +way for a Republican Council of Appointment, composed of Jonathan +Dayton, representing the southern district, Lucas Elmendorff the +middle, Ruggles Hubbard the eastern, and Ferrand Stranahan the +western. Elmendorff had been two years in the Assembly, six years in +Congress, and was now serving the first year of a single term in the +State Senate; but like his less experienced colleagues he was on the +Council simply to carry out the wishes of the leaders. It had been +three years since Republicans had tasted the sweets of office, and a +hungrier horde of applicants never besieged the capital. Yet so +dextrous had politicians become in making changes from one party to +the other, that the Council's work must have ended in a week had not +the jealousies, until now veiled by the war, quickly developed into a +conflict destined to reconcile Ambrose Spencer and DeWitt Clinton, and +to rivet the friendly relations between Governor Tompkins and Martin +Van Buren.</p> + +<p>Van Buren desired to become attorney-general. He had been +conspicuously prominent almost from the day he entered the Senate; +and, after the Republicans recovered control of the Assembly, he was +the acknowledged legislative leader of his party. By his persuasive +eloquence, his gift of argument, and his political tact in obtaining +supporters, he secured the passage of a "classification bill" which +divided the military population of the State into twelve thousand +classes, each class being required to furnish one able-bodied<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.232" id="vol1Page_i.232">i. 232</a></span> soldier +by voluntary enlistment, by bounty, or by draft. "This act," declared +Thomas H. Benton, years afterward, "was the most energetic war measure +ever adopted in the country."<a name="vol1FNanchor_182_182" id="vol1FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> There appears to be a general +agreement among writers who have commented upon the character of Van +Buren and his work at this period of his career, that, next to the +Governor among civilians, Van Buren was most entitled to the gratitude +of his party and his State. Besides, his smooth and pleasing address +had become more fascinating the longer he continued in the Senate, +until his influence among legislators was equalled only by the kindly +and sympathetic Tompkins, whose success in the war had won him a place +in the hearts of men similar to that enjoyed by George Clinton after +the close of the Revolution.</p> + +<p>But popular and deserving as Van Buren was Ambrose Spencer opposed his +preferment. He saw in the brilliant young legislator an obstacle to +his own influence; and to break his strength at the earliest moment he +advocated for attorney-general the candidacy of John Woodworth. +Woodworth was filling the position when the Federalists installed +Abraham Van Vechten; his right to restoration appealed with peculiar +force to his party friends. Ruggles Hubbard of the Council, +representing Woodworth's district, naturally inclined to his support, +but Stranahan had no other interest in his candidacy than a desire to +please Spencer. This left the Council a tie. There can be no question +that Tompkins was in thorough accord with Van Buren's wishes, and that +he regarded Spencer with almost unqualified dislike, but he was a +candidate for President and naturally preferred keeping out of +trouble. Nevertheless, when it required his vote to settle the +controversy he gave it ungrudgingly to Van Buren. In selecting a +secretary of state, the Governor applied the same rule. Spencer's +friend, Elisha Jenkins, had previously held the office, and, like +Woodworth, desired reinstatement; but Tompkins—tossing Jenkins aside +and ignoring Samuel Young, speaker of the Assembly, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.233" id="vol1Page_i.233">i. 233</a></span> was promised +and expected the office—insisted upon Peter B. Porter, now a hero of +the Niagara frontier.</p> + +<p>Spencer had long realised that Tompkins was turning against him. It is +doubtful if the Governor ever felt a personal liking for this +political meddling judge, although he accepted his services during the +war with a certain degree of confidence. But now that hostilities were +at an end, he proposed to distribute patronage along lines of his own +choosing. Porter had recently been elected to Congress, and his +presence in Washington would help the Governor's presidential +aspirations, especially if the young soldier's friendship was sealed +in advance by the unsolicited honour of an appointment as secretary of +state. For the same reason, he desired the election of Nathan Sanford +to the United States Senate to succeed Obadiah German. Spencer +favoured John Armstrong, late secretary of war, and when the latter +was thrust aside as utterly undesirable, the Judge announced his own +candidacy. But Van Buren, resenting Spencer's opposition, skilfully +resisted his claims until he grew timid and declined to compete "with +so young a man as Mr. Sanford." Fourteen years divided their ages.</p> + +<p>The change Republicans most clamoured for had not, however, come yet. +DeWitt Clinton still held the mayoralty. Spencer urged his removal and +controlled Stranahan; the Martling Men demanded it and controlled +Dayton; but Elmendorff and Hubbard hesitated, and Tompkins disliked +giving the casting vote. The Governor realised that no statesman had +lived in his day in whom the people had shown greater confidence; and, +in spite of the present clamour, he knew that the iron-willed Mayor +still possessed the friendship of the best men and ripest scholars in +the State. DeWitt Clinton was seen at his best, no doubt, by those who +knew him in private life, among his books; and, though his strong +opinions and earnest desire to maintain his side of the controversy, +brought him into frequent antagonisms, his guests were encouraged to +give free utterance to their own ideas and views.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.234" id="vol1Page_i.234">i. 234</a></span></p> + +<p>These same qualities made him an active, restless leader of men in the +world of politics. No doubt many hated him, for he made enemies more +easily than friends; but neither enemy nor friend could deny the great +natural capacity which had gradually gained a commanding place for him +in public life. Tompkins must have felt that it was only a question of +time when Clinton would again win the confidence of the people and +make his enemies his footstool. What, therefore, to do with him was a +serious question. Chained or unchained he was dangerous. The free +masonry of intellect and education gave him rank; and if compelled to +surrender the mayoralty he might, at any moment, take up some work +which would bring him greater fame and influence. Nevertheless, +Tompkins felt compelled to reach some decision. The Martling Men were +insistent. They charged that Clinton, inspired by unpatriotic motives +in the interest of Federalism, had opposed the war, and was an enemy +of his party; and in demanding his removal they threatened those who +caused delay. Van Buren could probably have relieved Tompkins by +influencing Elmendorff, but Van Buren, like Tompkins, was too shrewd +to rush into trouble.</p> + +<p>It is doubtful if the possibility of a reconciliation between Spencer +and Clinton occurred to Van Buren, and, if it did, it must have seemed +too remote seriously to be considered; for just then Spencer was +indefatigable in his exertions on the opposite side. Van Buren, +moreover, understood politics too well to be blind to the danger of +incurring the hostility of such a mind. A man who could bring to +political work such resources of thought and of experience, who could +look beneath the surface and see clearly in what direction and by what +methods progress was to be made, was not one to be trifled with.</p> + +<p>No doubt Ruggles Hubbard had a sincere attachment for Clinton. In +supporting his presidential aspirations Hubbard visited Vermont, where +he exercised his companionable gifts in an effort to obtain for +Clinton the vote of that State. But Hubbard had neither firmness nor +strength of intellect. Ir<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.235" id="vol1Page_i.235">i. 235</a></span>regular in his habits, lax in his morals, a +spendthrift and an insolvent, he could not resist the incessant +attacks upon Clinton, nor the offer of the shrievalty of New York, +with its large income and fat fees. When, therefore, Elmendorff +finally evidenced a disposition to yield, Hubbard made the vote for +Clinton's removal unanimous.</p> + +<p>There have been seventy-nine mayors of New York since Thomas Willett, +in 1665, first took charge of its affairs under the iron rule of Peter +Stuyvesant, but only one in the long list, averaging a tenure of three +years each, served longer than DeWitt Clinton. Richard Varick, the +military secretary of Schuyler and Washington, and the distinguished +associate of Samuel Jones in revising the laws of the State, held the +mayoralty from 1789 to 1801, continuing through the controlling life +of the Federalist party and the closing years of a century full of +heroic incident in the history of the city. But DeWitt Clinton, +holding office from 1803 to 1815—save the two years given Marinus +Willett and Jacob Radcliff—saw the city's higher life keep pace with +its growth and aided in the forces that widened its achievement and +made it a financial centre. It must have cost this master-spirit of +his age a deep sigh to give up a position in which his work had been +so wise and helpful. His situation, indeed, seemed painfully gloomy; +his office was gone, his salary was spent, and his estate was +bankrupt. It is doubtful if a party leader ever came to a more +distressing period in his career; yet he preserved his dignity and +laughed at the storm that howled so fiercely about him. "Genuine +greatness," he said, in a memorial address delivered about this time, +"never appears in a more resplendent light, or in a more sublime +attitude, than in that buoyancy of character which rises superior to +danger and difficulty."</p> + +<p>In the meantime, Governor Tompkins was riding on the crest of the +political waves. On February 14, 1816, a legislative caucus +unanimously instructed the members of Congress from New York to +support him for President; a week later it nominated him for governor. +Tompkins had no de<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.236" id="vol1Page_i.236">i. 236</a></span>sire to make a fourth race for governor, but the +unexpected nomination of Rufus King left him no alternative. William +W. Van Ness had been determined upon as the Federalist candidate, +until the fraudulent capture of the Council of Appointment by the +Republicans made it inadvisable for the popular young Judge to leave +the bench; and to save the party from disruption Rufus King consented +to head the Federalist ticket. His great strength quickly put +Republicans on the defensive; and the only man whom the party dared to +oppose to him was the favourite champion of the war. Tompkins' +re-election by over six thousand majority<a name="vol1FNanchor_183_183" id="vol1FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> once more attested his +widespread popularity.</p> + +<p>For the moment, every one seemed to be carried away by the fascination +of the man. His friends asserted that he was always right and always +successful; that patriotism had guided him through the long, +discouraging war, and that, swayed neither by prejudice, nor by the +impulses of personal ambition, in every step he took and every measure +he recommended, he was actuated by the most unselfish purpose. Of +course, this was the extravagance of enthusiastic admirers; but it was +founded on twelve years of public life, marked by success and by few +errors of judgment or temper. Even Federalists ceased to be his +critics. It is not easy to parallel Governor Tompkins' standing at +this time. If DeWitt Clinton's position seemed most wretched, +Tompkins' lot appeared most happy. His life had been pure and noble; +he was a sincere lover of his country; a brave and often a daring +executive; a statesman of high purpose if not of the most commanding +talents.</p> + +<p>There was one man, however, with whom he must reckon. Ambrose Spencer +not only loved power, but he loved to exercise it. He lacked the +address of Tompkins, and, likewise, the vein of levity in the +Governor's temperament that made him buoyant and hopeful even when +most eager and earnest; but he was bold, enterprising, and of +commanding intellect,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.237" id="vol1Page_i.237">i. 237</a></span> with a determination to do with all his might +the part he had to perform. His failure to become United States +senator, and the appointment of Van Buren and Porter in place of +Woodworth and Elisha Jenkins, rankled in his bosom. That was his first +defeat. More than this, it proved that he could be defeated. Since +DeWitt Clinton's defection in 1812, he had been the most powerful +political factor in the State, a man whom the Governor had found it +expedient to tolerate and to welcome.</p> + +<p>The events of the past year had, however, convinced Spencer that +nothing was to be gained by longer adherence to Tompkins, whom he had +now come to regard with distrust and dislike. When, therefore, a +candidate for President began to be talked about he promptly favoured +William H. Crawford. The Georgia statesman, high tempered and +overbearing, showed the faults of a strong nature, coupled with an +ambition which made him too fond of intrigue; but Gallatin declared +that he united to a powerful mind a most correct judgment and an +inflexible integrity. In the United States Senate, with the courage +and independence of Clay and the intelligence of Gallatin, he had been +an earnest advocate of war and a formidable critic of its conduct. +Compared to Monroe he was an intellectual giant, whose name was as +familiar in New York as that of the President, and whose character was +vastly more admired. In favouring such a candidate it may be easily +understood how the influence of a man like Spencer affected other +state leaders. Their dislike of the Virginian was as pronounced as in +1812, while their faith in the success of Tompkins, of whom Southern +congressmen knew as little as they did of DeWitt Clinton four years +before, was not calculated to inspire them with the zeal of +missionaries. Spencer's bold declaration in favour of Crawford, +therefore, hurt Tompkins more than his hesitation to support his +brother-in-law in 1812 had damaged Clinton.</p> + +<p>In the early autumn of 1814, the President had invited the Governor to +become his secretary of state. Madison had<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.238" id="vol1Page_i.238">i. 238</a></span> been naturally drawn +toward Tompkins, who had shown from his first entrance into public +life a remarkable capacity for diplomatic management; and, although he +had none of the higher faculties of statesmanship, the President +probably saw that he would make just the kind of a minister to suit +his purposes. Armstrong had not done this. Although a man of some +ability and military information, Armstrong lacked conventional +morals, and was the possessor of objectionable peculiarities. He never +won either the confidence or the respect of Madison. He not only did +harsh things in a harsh way, but he had a caustic tongue, and a tone +of irreverence whenever he estimated the capacity of a Virginia +statesman. On the other hand, Tompkins had gentleness, and that +refined courtesy, amounting almost to tenderness, which seemed so +necessary in successfully dealing with Madison.</p> + +<p>The desire to be first in every path of political success had become +such a passion in Tompkins' nature that the question presented by the +President's invitation found an answer in the immediate impulses of +his ambition. No doubt his duties as Governor and the importance of +his remaining through the impending crisis appealed to him, but they +did not control his answer. He wanted to be President, and he was +willing to sacrifice anything or anybody to secure the prize. So, it +is not surprising that he declined Madison's gracious offer, since the +experience of Northern men with Virginia Presidents did not encourage +the belief that the Presidency was reached through the Cabinet.<a name="vol1FNanchor_184_184" id="vol1FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a> +Yet, had Tompkins fully appreciated, as he did after it was too late, +the importance of a personal and pleasant acquaintance with the +Virginia statesman and the other men who controlled congressional +caucuses, he would undoubtedly have entered Madison's Cabinet. As the +ranking, and, save Monroe, the oldest of the President's advisers, he +would have had two years in which to make himself popular, a +sufficient time, surely, for one having the prestige of a great war +gov<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.239" id="vol1Page_i.239">i. 239</a></span>ernor, with gentleness of manner and sweetness of temper to disarm +all opposition and to conciliate even the fiercest of politicians. +Fifteen years later Martin Van Buren resigned the governorship to go +to the head of Jackson's Cabinet, and it made him President.</p> + +<p>It is not at all unlikely that Madison had it in mind to make Tompkins +his successor. He had little liking for his jealous secretary of state +who had opposed his nomination in 1808, criticised the conduct of the +war, and forced the retirement of cabinet colleagues and the removal +of favourite army officers—who had, in a word, dominated the +President until the latter became almost as tired of him as of +Armstrong. But, as the time approached for the nomination of a new +Executive, Madison's jealous regard for Virginia, as well as his +knowledge of Monroe's fitness, induced him to sustain the candidate +from his own State. This was notice to federal office-holders in New +York to get into line for the Virginian; and very soon some of +Tompkins' closest friends began falling away. To add to the Governor's +unhappiness, the Administration, repeating its tactics toward the +Clintons in 1808 and 1812, began exalting his enemies. In sustaining +DeWitt Clinton's aspirations Solomon Southwick had actively opposed +the Virginia dynasty and bitterly assailed Tompkins and Spencer for +their desertion of the eminent New Yorker. For three years he had +practically excluded himself from the Republican party, criticising +the war with the severity of a Federalist, and continually +animadverting upon the conduct of the President and the Governor; but +Monroe's influence now made this peppery editor of the <i>Register</i> +postmaster at Albany, turning his paper into an ardent advocate of the +Virginian's promotion. The Governor, who had openly encouraged such a +policy when DeWitt Clinton sought the Presidency, now felt the +Virginia knife entering his own vitals.</p> + +<p>Van Buren's part in Tompkins' disappointment, although not active, +showed the shrewdness of a clever politician. He had learned something +of national politics since he advo<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.240" id="vol1Page_i.240">i. 240</a></span>cated the candidacy of DeWitt +Clinton so enthusiastically four years before. He knew the Governor +was seriously bent upon being President, and that his friends +throughout the State were joining in the bitterness of the old Clinton +cry that Virginia had ruled long enough—a cry which old John Adams +had taken up, declaring that "My son will never have a chance until +the last Virginian is laid in the graveyard;" but Van Buren knew, +also, that few New Yorkers in Washington had any hope of Tompkins' +success. It was the situation of 1812 over again. Tompkins was +personally unknown to the country; Crawford and Monroe were national +leaders of wide acquaintance, who practically divided the strength of +their party. Could Van Buren have made Tompkins the President, he +would have done so without hesitation; but he had little disposition +to tie himself up, as he did with Clinton in 1812, and let Crawford, +with Spencer's assistance, take the office and hand the patronage of +New York over to the Judge. The Kinderhook statesman, therefore, +declared for Tompkins, and carried the Legislature for him in spite of +Spencer's support of Crawford; then, with the wariness of an old +campaigner, he prevented New York congressmen from expressing any +preference, although three-fourths of them favoured Crawford. When the +congressional caucus finally met to select a candidate, Van Buren had +the situation so muddled that it is not known to this day just how the +New York congressmen did vote. Monroe, however, was not unmindful of +the service rendered him. After the latter's nomination, Tompkins was +named for Vice President; and if he did not resent taking second +place, as George Clinton did in 1808, it was because the Vice +Presidency offered changed conditions, enlarged acquaintance, and one +step upward on the political ladder.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.241" id="vol1Page_i.241">i. 241</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XXII" id="vol1CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII<br /> +<br /> +CLINTON’S RISE TO POWER<br /> +<br /> +1815-1817</h2> + + +<p><span class="smcap"><br /> +There</span> was never a time, probably, when the white man, conversant with +the rivers and lakes of New York, did not talk of a continuous passage +by water from Lake Erie to the sea. As early as 1724, when Cadwallader +Colden was surveyor-general of the colony, he declared the opportunity +for inland navigation in New York without a parallel in any other part +of the world, and as the Mohawk Valley, reaching out toward the lakes +of Oneida and Cayuga, and connecting by easy grades with the Genesee +River beyond, opened upon his vision, it filled him with admiration. +Even then the thrifty settler, pushing his way into the picturesque +country of the Iroquois, had determined to pre-empt the valleys whose +meanderings furnished the blackest loam and richest meadows, and whose +gently receding foot-hills offered sites for the most attractive homes +in the vicinity of satisfactory and enduring markets. It was this +scene that impressed Joseph Carver in 1776. Carver was an explorer. He +had traversed the country from New York to Green Bay, and looking back +upon the watery path he saw nothing to prevent the great Northwest +from being connected with the ocean by means of canals and the natural +waterways of New York. In one of the rhetorical flights of his young +manhood, Gouverneur Morris declared that "at no distant day the waters +of the great inland seas would, by the aid of man, break through their +barriers and mingle with those of the Hudson." George Washington had +visions of the same vast system as he traversed the State, in 1783, +with George Clinton, on his way to the headwaters of the Susquehanna.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.242" id="vol1Page_i.242">i. 242</a></span></p> + +<p>These were the dreams of statesmen, whose realisation, however, was +yet far, very far, away. In 1768, long after "Old Silver Locks" had +become the distinguished lieutenant-governor, he induced Sir Henry +Moore, the gay and affable successor of Governor Monckton, to ascend +the Mohawk for the supreme purpose of projecting a canal around Little +Falls. Sixteen years later, in 1784, the Legislature tendered +Christopher Colles the entire profits of the navigation of the river +if he would improve it; yet work did not follow words. It was easy to +see what might be done, but the man did not appear who could do it. In +1791, George Clinton took a hand, securing the incorporation of a +company to open navigation from the Hudson to Lake Ontario. The +company completed three sections of a canal—aggregating six miles in +length, with five leaky locks—at a cost of four hundred thousand +dollars, but the price of transportation was not cheapened, nor the +time shortened. This seemed to end all money effort. Other canal +companies were organised, one to build between the Hudson and Lake +Champlain, another to connect the Oswego River with Cayuga and Seneca +lakes; but the projects came to nothing. Finally, in 1805, the +Legislature authorised Simeon DeWitt, the surveyor-general, to cause +the several routes to be accurately surveyed; and, after he had +reported the feasibility of constructing a canal without serious +difficulty from Lake Erie to the Hudson, a commission of seven men, +appointed in 1810, estimated the cost of such construction at five +million dollars. It was hoped the general government would assist in +making up this sum; but it soon became apparent that the war, into +which the country was rapidly drifting, would use up the national +surplus, while rival projects divided attention and lessened the +enthusiasm. Efforts to secure a right of way, developed the avarice of +landowners, who demanded large damages for the privilege. Thus, +discouragement succeeded discouragement until a majority of the +earlier friends of the canal gave up in despair.</p> + +<p>But there was one man who did not weaken. DeWitt<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.243" id="vol1Page_i.243">i. 243</a></span> Clinton had been +made a member of the Canal Commission in 1810, and with Gouverneur +Morris, Peter B. Porter and other associates, he explored the entire +route, keeping a diary and carefully noting each obstacle in the way. +In 1811, he introduced and forced the passage of a bill clothing the +commission with full power to act; and, afterward, he visited +Washington with Gouverneur Morris to obtain aid from Congress. Then +came the war, and, later, in 1815, Clinton's overthrow and retirement.</p> + +<p>This involuntary leisure gave Clinton just the time needed to hasten +the work which was to transmit his name to later generations. Bitterly +mortified over his defeat, he retired to a farm at Newton on Long +Island, where he lived for a time in strict seclusion, indulging, it +was said, too freely in strong drink. But if Clinton lacked patience, +and temporarily, perhaps, the virtue of temperance, he did not lack +force of will and strength of intellect. He corresponded with men of +influence; sought the assistance of capitalists; held public meetings; +and otherwise endeavoured to enlist the co-operation of people who +would be benefited, and to arouse a public sentiment which should +overcome doubt and stir into activity men of force and foresight. +Writing from Buffalo, in July, 1816, he declared that "in all human +probability, before the passing away of the present generation, +Buffalo will be the second city in the State."<a name="vol1FNanchor_185_185" id="vol1FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> A month later, +having examined "the land and the water with scrutinising eye, +superintending our operations and exploring all our facilities and +embarrassments" from the great drop at Lockport to the waters of the +Mohawk at Utica, he again refers to the future Queen City of the Lakes +with prophetic power. "Buffalo is to be the point of beginning, and in +fifty years it will be next to New York in wealth and +population."<a name="vol1FNanchor_186_186" id="vol1FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a></p> + +<p>It is doubtful if any statesman endowed with less genius<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.244" id="vol1Page_i.244">i. 244</a></span> than Clinton +could have kept the project alive during this period of indifference +and discouragement. Even Thomas Jefferson doubted the feasibility of +the plan, declaring that it was a century in advance of the age. "I +confess," wrote Rufus King, long after its construction had become +assured, "that looking at the distance between Erie and the Hudson, +and taking into view the hills and valleys and rivers and morasses +over which the canal must pass, I have felt some doubts whether the +unaided resources of the State would be competent to its +execution."<a name="vol1FNanchor_187_187" id="vol1FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> But Clinton had a nature and a spirit which inclined +him to favour daring plans, and he seems to have made up his mind that +nothing should hinder him from carrying out the enterprise he had at +heart.</p> + +<p>In the end, he compelled the acceptance of his project by a stroke of +happy audacity. A great meeting of New York merchants, held in the +autumn of 1815, appointed him chairman of a committee to memorialise +the Legislature. With a fund of information, obtained by personal +inspection of the route, he set forth with rhetorical effect and great +clearness the inestimable advantages that must come to city and to +State; and, with the ease of a financier, inspired with sounder views +than had been observed in the care of his own estate, he demonstrated +the manner of securing abundant funds for the great work. "If the +project of a canal," he said, in conclusion, "was intended to advance +the views of individuals, or to foment the divisions of party; if it +promoted the interests of a few at the expense of the prosperity of +the many; if its benefits were limited to place, or fugitive as to +duration; then, indeed, it might be received with cold indifference or +treated with stern neglect; but the overflowing blessings from this +great fountain of public good and national abundance will be as +extensive as our own country and as durable as time. It may be +confidently asserted that this canal, as to the extent of its route, +as to the countries which it connects, and as to the consequences +which it will produce,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.245" id="vol1Page_i.245">i. 245</a></span> is without a parallel in the history of +mankind. It remains for a free state to create a new era in history, +and to erect a work more stupendous, more magnificent, and more +beneficial than has hitherto been achieved by the human race."</p> + +<p>When the people heard and read this memorial, monster mass-meetings, +held at Albany and other points along the proposed waterway, gave vent +to acclamations of joy; and Clinton was welcomed whenever and wherever +he appeared. These marks of public favour were by no means confined to +the lower classes. Men of large property openly espoused his cause; +and when the Legislature convened, in January, 1816, a new commission, +with Clinton at its head, was authorised to make surveys and +estimates, receive grants and donations, and report to the next +Legislature.</p> + +<p>It was a great triumph for Clinton. He went to Albany a political +outcast, he returned to New York gilded with the first rays of a new +and rising career, destined to be as remarkable as the most romantic +story belonging to the early days of the last century. To make his +success the more conspicuous, it became known, before the legislative +session ended, that his quarrel with Spencer had been settled. +Spencer's wife, who was Clinton's sister, had earnestly striven to +bring them together; but neither Spencer nor Clinton was made of the +stuff likely to allow family affection to interfere with the promotion +of their careers. As time went on, however, it became more and more +evident to Spencer that some alliance must be formed against the +increasing influence of Van Buren and Tompkins; and, with peace once +declared with Clinton, their new friendship began just where the old +alliance left off. In an instant, like quarrelling lovers, +estrangement was forgotten and their interests and ambitions became +mutual. Of all Clinton's critics, Spencer had been the meanest and +fiercest; of all his friends, he was now the warmest and most +enthusiastic. To turn Clinton's enemies into friends was as earnestly +and daringly undertaken by Spencer, as the old-time work of turning +his friends into enemies; and before the summer of 1816 had advanced +into<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.246" id="vol1Page_i.246">i. 246</a></span> the sultry days of August, Spencer boldly proclaimed Clinton his +candidate for governor to take the place of Tompkins, who was to +become Vice President on the 4th of March, 1817. It was an audacious +political move; and one of less daring mind might well have hesitated; +but it is hardly too much to say of Spencer, that he combined in +himself all the qualities of daring, foresight, energy, enterprise, +and cool, calculating sagacity, which must be united in order to make +a consummate political leader.</p> + +<p>Tompkins, like Jefferson, had never taken kindly to the canal project. +In his message to the Legislature, in February, 1816, he simply +suggested that it rested with them to determine whether the scheme was +sufficiently important to demand the appropriation of some part of the +revenues of the State "without imposing too great a burden upon our +constituents."<a name="vol1FNanchor_188_188" id="vol1FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> The great meetings held in the preceding autumn +had forced this recognition of the existence of such a project; but +his carefully measured words, and his failure to express an opinion as +to its wisdom or desirability, chilled some of the enthusiasm formerly +exhibited for him. To add to the people's disappointment and chagrin, +the Governor omitted all mention of the subject on the 5th of +November, when the Legislature assembled to choose presidential +electors—an omission which he repeated on the 21st of January, 1817, +when the Legislature met in regular session, although the construction +of a canal was just then attracting more attention than all other +questions before the public. If Clinton failed to realise the loss of +popularity that would follow his loss of the Presidency in 1812, +Tompkins certainly failed to appreciate the reaction that would follow +his repudiation of the canal.</p> + +<p>When the Legislature convened, the new Canal Commission, through +DeWitt Clinton, presented an exhaustive report, estimating the cost of +the Erie canal, three hundred and fifty-three miles long, forty feet +wide at the surface, and twenty-eight feet at the bottom, with +seventy-seven locks, at<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.247" id="vol1Page_i.247">i. 247</a></span> $4,571,813. The cost of the Champlain canal +was fixed at $871,000. It was suggested that money, secured by loan, +could be subsequently repaid without taxation; and on the strength of +this report, a bill for the construction of both canals was +immediately introduced in the two houses. This action produced a +profound impression throughout the State. The only topics discussed +from New York to Buffalo, were the magnificent scheme of opening a +navigable waterway between the Hudson and the lakes, and the +desirability of having the man build it who had made its construction +possible. This, of course, meant Clinton for governor.</p> + +<p>Talk of Clinton's candidacy was very general when the Legislature +assembled, in January, 1817; and, although Van Buren had hitherto +attached little importance to it, the discovery that a strong and +considerable part of the Legislature, backed by the stalwart Spencer, +now openly favoured the nomination of the canal champion, set him to +work planning a way of escape. His suggestion that Tompkins serve as +governor and vice president found little more favour than the scheme +of allowing Lieutenant-Governor Taylor to act as governor; for the +former plan was as objectionable to Tompkins and the people, as the +latter was plainly illegal. It is doubtful if Van Buren seriously +approved either expedient; but it gave him time to impress upon party +friends the objections to Clinton's restoration to power. He did not +go back to 1812. That would have condemned himself. But he recalled +the ex-Mayor's open, bitter opposition to Tompkins in 1813, and the +steady support given him by the Federalists. In proof of this +statement he pointed to the present indisposition of Federalists to +oppose Clinton if nominated, and their avowed declarations that +Clinton's views paralleled their own.</p> + +<p>Van Buren had shown, from his first entrance into public life, a +remarkable faculty for winning men to his own way of thinking. His +criticism of Clinton was now directed with characteristic sagacity and +skill. His argument, that the object of those who sustained Clinton +was to establish a con<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.248" id="vol1Page_i.248">i. 248</a></span>spiracy with the Federalists at home and +abroad, for the overthrow of the Republican party in the nation as +well as in the State, seemed justified by the open support of William +W. Van Ness, the gifted young justice of the Supreme Court. Further to +confirm his contention, Jonas Platt, now of the Supreme bench, and +Jacob Rutsen Van Rensselaer of Columbia, a bold, active, and most +zealous partisan, who had served in the Legislature and as secretary +of state, made no secret of their intention to indorse Clinton's +nomination, and, if necessary, to ride over the State to secure his +election. Under ordinary circumstances nothing could discredit the +Clinton agitation, with the more reasonable part of the Republican +legislators, more than Van Buren's charge, strengthened by such +supporting evidence.</p> + +<p>The canal influences of the time, however, were too strong for any +ingenuity of argument, or adroitness in the raising of alarm, to +prevail; and so the skilful manager turned his attention to Joseph G. +Yates, a judge of the Supreme Court, as an opposing candidate who +might be successful. Yates belonged to the old-fashioned American type +of handsome men. He had a large, shapely head, a prominent nose, full +lips, and a face cleanly shaven and rosy. His bearing was excellent, +his voice, manner, and everything about him bespoke the gentleman; but +neither in aspect nor manner of speech did he measure up to his real +desire for political preferment. Yet he had many popular qualities +which commended him to the rank and file of his party. He was a man of +abstemious habits and boundless industry, whose courtesy and square +dealing made him a favourite. Few errors of a political character +could be charged to his account. He had favoured Clinton for +President; he had supported Tompkins and the war with great zeal, and, +to the full extent of his ability and influence, he had proved an +ardent friend of the canal policy.</p> + +<p>It had been a trait of the Yates family—ever since its founder, an +enterprising English yeoman, a native of Leeds in Yorkshire, had +settled in the colony during the troublous<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.249" id="vol1Page_i.249">i. 249</a></span> days of Charles I.—to +espouse any movement or improvement which should benefit the people. +Joseph had already shown his activity and usefulness in founding Union +College; he regarded the proposed canal as a long step in the +development and prosperity of the State; but he did not take kindly to +Van Buren's suggestion that he become a candidate for governor against +Clinton. In this respect he was unlike Robert, chief justice, his +father's cousin, who first ran for governor on the Federalist ticket +at the suggestion of Hamilton, and, three years later, as an +anti-Federalist candidate at the suggestion of George Clinton, +suffering defeat on both occasions. He was, however, as ambitious as +the old Chief Justice; and, had the time seemed ripe, he would have +responded to the call of the Kinderhook statesman as readily as Robert +did to the appeals of Hamilton and George Clinton.</p> + +<p>Peter B. Porter was more willing. He belonged to the Tompkins-Van +Buren faction which nourished the hope that the soldier, who had +recently borne the flag of his country in triumph on several +battlefields, would carry off the prize, although the caucus was to +convene in less than forty-eight hours. There could be no doubt of +General Porter's strength with the people. He had served his State and +his country with a fidelity that must forever class his name with the +bravest officers of the War of 1812. He rode a horse like a centaur; +and, wherever he appeared, whether equipped for a fight, or off for a +hunt through the forests of the Niagara frontier, his easy, familiar +manners surrounded him with hosts of friends. The qualities that made +him a famous soldier made him, also, a favoured politician. As county +clerk, secretary of state, and congressman, he had taken the keenest +interest in the great questions that agitated the political life of +the opening century; and as a canal commissioner, in 1811, he had +supported DeWitt Clinton with all the energy of an enthusiast.</p> + +<p>At this time Porter was forty-four years old. He was a graduate of +Yale, a student of the law, and as quick in intel<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.250" id="vol1Page_i.250">i. 250</a></span>ligence as he was +pleasing of countenance. His speeches, enlivened with gleams of +humour, rays of fancy, and flashes of eloquence, expressed the +thoughts of an honourable, upright statesman who was justly esteemed +of the first order of intellect. Certainly, if any one could take the +nomination from DeWitt Clinton it was Peter B. Porter.</p> + +<p>It is possible, had the nomination been left exclusively to Republican +members of the Legislature, as it had been for forty years, Porter +might have been the choice of his party. Spencer, however, evidently +feared Van Buren's subtle control of the Legislature; for, early in +the winter, he began encouraging Republicans living in counties +represented by Federalists, to demand a voice in the nominating +caucus. It was a novel idea. Up to this time, governors and +lieutenant-governors had been nominated by members of the Legislature; +yet the plan now suggested was so manifestly fair that few dared +oppose it. Why should the Republicans of Albany County, it was asked, +be denied the privilege of participating in the nomination of a +governor simply because, being in a minority, they were unrepresented +in the Legislature? There was no good reason; and, although Van Buren +well understood that such counties would return delegates generally +favourable to Clinton, he was powerless to defeat the reform. The +result was the beginning of nominating conventions, composed of +delegates selected by the people, and the nomination of DeWitt +Clinton.</p> + +<p>The blow to Van Buren was a severe one. "An obscure painter of the +Flemish school," wrote Clinton to his friend and confidant, Henry +Post, "has made a very ludicrous and grotesque representation of Jonah +immediately after he was ejected from the whale's belly. He is +represented as having a very bewildered and dismal physiognomy, not +knowing from whence he came nor to what place bound. Just so looks Van +Buren, the leader of the opposition party."<a name="vol1FNanchor_189_189" id="vol1FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> Yet Van Buren seems +to have taken his defeat with more serenity and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.251" id="vol1Page_i.251">i. 251</a></span> dignity than might +have been expected. Statesmen of far nobler character have allowed +themselves to indulge in futile demonstrations of disappointment and +anger, but Van Buren displayed a remarkable evenness of temper. He +advocated with ability and sincerity the bill to construct the canal, +which passed the Legislature on April 15, the last day of the session. +Indeed, of the eighteen senators who favoured the project, five were +bitter anti-Clintonians whose support was largely due to Van Buren.</p> + +<p>In this vote, the noes, in both Assembly and Senate, came from +Clinton's opponents, including the Tammany delegation and their +friends. From the outset Tammany, by solemn resolutions, had denounced +the canal project as impractical and chimerical, declaring it fit only +for a ditch in which to bury Clinton. At Albany its representatives +greeted the measure for its construction with a burst of mockery; and, +by placing one obstacle after another in its way, nearly defeated it +in the Senate. It was during this contest that the friends of Clinton +called his opponents "Bucktails"—the name growing out of a custom, +which obtained on certain festival occasions, when leading members of +Tammany wore the tail of a deer on their hats.</p> + +<p>Refusing to accept DeWitt Clinton, Tammany made Peter B. Porter its +candidate for governor. There is ample evidence that Porter never +concealed the chagrin or disappointment of defeat; but, though the +distinguished General must have known that his name was printed upon +the Tammany ticket and sent into every county in the State, he did not +co-operate with Tammany in its effort to elect him. Other defections +existed in the party. Peter R. Livingston seemed to concentrate in +himself all the prejudices of his family against the Clintons. Moses +I. Cantine of Catskill, a brother-in-law of Van Buren, though perhaps +incapable of personal bitterness, opposed Clinton with such zeal that +he refused to vote either for a gubernatorial candidate, or for the +construction of a canal. Samuel Young, who seemed to nourish a +deep-seated dislike of Clinton, never tired of disparaging the +ex-Mayor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.252" id="vol1Page_i.252">i. 252</a></span> He apparently took keen pleasure in holding up to ridicule +and in satirising, what he was pleased to call his ponderous +pedantries, his solemn affectation of profundity and wisdom, his +narrow-mindedness, and his intolerable and transparent egotism. But +the canal sentiment was all one way. With the help of the Federalists, +who declined to make an opposing nomination, Clinton swept the State +like a cyclone, receiving nearly forty-four thousand votes out of a +total of forty-five thousand.<a name="vol1FNanchor_190_190" id="vol1FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> Porter had less than fifteen +hundred. Clinton's inauguration as governor occurred on the first day +of July, 1817, and three days later he began the construction of the +Erie canal.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.253" id="vol1Page_i.253">i. 253</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XXIII" id="vol1CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> +<br /> +BUCKTAIL AND CLINTONIAN<br /> +<br /> +1817-1819</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">DeWitt Clinton</span> had now reached the highest point in his political +career. He was not merely all-powerful in the administration, he was +the administration. He delighted in the consciousness that he was +looked up to by men; that his success was fixed as a star in the +firmament; and that the greatest work of his life lay before him. He +was still in the prime of his days, only forty-eight years old, with a +marvellous capacity for work. It is said that he found a positive +delight in doing what seemed to others a wearisome and exhaustive tax +upon physical endurance. "The canal," he writes to his friend, Henry +Post, in the month of his inauguration, "is in a fine way. Ten miles +will be completely finished this season, and all within the estimate. +The application of the simple labour-saving machinery of our +contractors has the operation of magic. Trees, stumps, and everything +vanish before it."<a name="vol1FNanchor_191_191" id="vol1FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> The exceptional work and responsibility put +upon him during the construction of his "big ditch," as his enemies +sarcastically called it, might well have made him complain of the +official burdens he had to bear; but neither by looks nor words did he +indicate the slightest disposition to grumble. Nature had endowed him +with a genius for success. He loved literature, he delighted in +country life, he was at home among farmers, and with those inclined to +science he analysed the flowers and turned with zest to a closer study +of rocks and soils. No man ever en<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.254" id="vol1Page_i.254">i. 254</a></span>joyed more thoroughly, or was +better equipped intellectually to undertake such a career as he had +now entered upon. His audacity, too, amazed his enemies and delighted +his friends.</p> + +<p>But Clinton had learned nothing of the art of political management +either in his retirement or by experience. He was the same +domineering, uncompromising, intolerant dictator, helpful only to +those who continually sounded his praises, cold and distant toward +those who acted with independence and spirit. He had made his enemies +his footstool; and he now assumed to be the recognised head of the +party whose destinies were in his keeping and whose fortunes were +swayed by his will. It is, perhaps, too much to say that this was +purely personal ambition. On the contrary, Clinton seems to have acted +on the honest conviction that he knew better than any other man how +New York ought to be governed, and the result of his effort inclines +one to the opinion that he was right in the belief. At all events, it +is not surprising that a man of his energy and capacity for onward +movement should refuse to regulate his policy to the satisfaction of +the men that had recently crushed him to earth, and who, he knew, +would crush him again at the first opportunity. In this respect he was +not different from Van Buren; but Van Buren would have sought to +placate the least objectionable of his opponents, and to bring to his +support men who were restless under the domination of others.</p> + +<p>Clinton, however, did nothing of the kind. He would not even extend +the olive branch to Samuel Young after the latter had quarrelled with +Van Buren. He preferred, evidently, to rely upon his old friends—even +though some of their names had become odious to the party—and upon a +coterie of brilliant Federalists, led by William W. Van Ness, Jonas +Platt, and Thomas J. Oakley, with whom he was already upon terms of +confidential communication. He professed to believe that the +principles of Republican and Federalist were getting to be somewhat +undefined in their character; and that the day was not far off, if, +indeed, it had not already come, when the Republican party would +break<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.255" id="vol1Page_i.255">i. 255</a></span> into two factions, and, for the real business of statesmanship, +divide the Federalists between them. Yet, in practice, he did not act +on this principle. To the embarrassment of his Federalist friends he +failed to appoint their followers to office, making it difficult for +them to explain why he should profit by Federalist support and turn a +deaf ear to Federalist necessities; and, to the surprise of his most +devoted Republican supporters, he refused to make a clean sweep of the +men in office whom he believed to have acted against him. He quickly +dropped the Tammany men holding places in New York City, and +occasionally let go an up-state politician at the instance of Ambrose +Spencer, but with characteristic independence he disregarded the +advice of his friends who urged him to let them all go.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, a change long foreseen by those who were in the inner +political circle was rapidly approaching. At no period of American +history could such a man as Clinton remain long in power without +formidable rivals. No sooner, therefore, had the Legislature convened, +in January, 1818, than Martin Van Buren, Samuel Young, Peter R. +Livingston, Erastus Root, and their associates, began open war upon +him. For a long time it had been a question whether it was to be +Clinton and Van Buren, or Van Buren and Clinton. Van Buren had been +growing every day in power and influence. Seven years before Elisha +Williams had sneered at him as Little Matty. "Poor little Matty!" he +wrote, "what a blessing it is for one to think he is the greatest +little fellow in the world. It would be cruel to compel this man to +estimate himself correctly. Inflated with pride, flattered for his +pertness, caressed for his assurance, and praised for his +impertinence, it is not to be wondered that in a market where those +qualifications pass for evidence of intrinsic merit he should think +himself great." Williams, great and brilliant as he was, could not +bear with patience the supremacy which Van Buren was all too certainly +obtaining. He struggled against him, intrigued against him, and +finally hated and lampooned him, but the superiority of Van Buren's +talents<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.256" id="vol1Page_i.256">i. 256</a></span> as a managing politician was destined to make him pre-eminent +in the State and in the nation.</p> + +<p>That Van Buren was not always honourable, the famous Fellows-Allen +contest had recently demonstrated. Henry Fellows, a Federalist +candidate for assemblyman in Ontario County, received a majority of +thirty votes over Peter Allen, a Republican; but because the former's +name appeared in his certificate as Hen. Fellows, the Bucktails, +guided by Van Buren, seated Allen, whose vote was absolutely needed to +elect a Republican Council of Appointment. Writing "Hen." for Henry +was not error; it was not even an inadvertence. Van Buren knew that it +stood for Henry as "Wm." did for William, or "Jas." for James. But Van +Buren wanted the Council. It cannot be said that this action was +inconsistent with the sentiment then governing the conduct of parties; +for the maxim obtained that "everything is fair in war." Nevertheless, +it illuminated Van Buren's character, and left the impression upon +some of his contemporaries that he was a stranger to a high standard +of political morality.</p> + +<p>Probably DeWitt Clinton would have taken similar advantage. But in +practical politics Clinton was no match for the Kinderhook statesman. +Van Buren studied the game like a chess-player, taking knights and +pawns with the ease of a skilful mover. Clinton, on the other hand, +was an optimist, who believed in his destiny. In the performance of +his official duties he mastered whatever he undertook and relied upon +the people for his support; and so long as he stood for internal +improvements and needed reform in the public service, he did not rely +in vain. Force, clearness and ability characterised his state papers. +For years he had been a student of municipal and county affairs; and, +in suggesting new legislation, he exhibited rare judgment and absolute +impartiality. A comprehension that sound finance had much to do with +domestic prosperity, entered into his review of the financial +situation—in its relation to the construction of the +canals—indicating fulness of information and great clearness as to +existing conditions. Clinton was honestly<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.257" id="vol1Page_i.257">i. 257</a></span> proud of his canal policy; +more than once he declared, with exultation, that nothing was more +certain to promote the prosperity of the State, or to secure to it the +weight and authority, in the affairs of the nation, to which its +wealth and position entitled it. Seldom in the history of an American +commonwealth has a statesman been as prophetic. But in managing the +details of party tactics—in dealing with individuals for the purpose +of controlling the means that control men—he conducted the office of +governor much as he did his candidacy for President in 1812, without +plan, and, apparently, without organisation. With all his courage, +Clinton must have felt some qualms of uneasiness as one humiliation +followed another; but if he felt he did not show them. Conscious of +his ability, and of his own great purposes, he seems to have borne his +position with a sort of proud or stolid patience.</p> + +<p>This inattention or inability to attend to details of party management +became painfully apparent at the opening of the Legislature in +January, 1818. Van Buren and his friends had agreed upon William +Thompson for speaker of the Assembly. Thompson was a young man, warm +in his passions, strong in his prejudices, and of fair ability, who +had served two or three terms in the lower house, and who, it was +thought, as he represented a western district, and, in opposition to +Elisha Williams, had favoured certain interests in Seneca County +growing out of the location of a new courthouse, would have greater +strength than other more prominent Bucktails. It was known, also, that +Thompson had taken a violent dislike to Clinton and could be relied +upon to advance any measure for the latter's undoing. To secure his +nomination, therefore, Van Buren secretly notified his partisans to be +present at the caucus on the evening before the session opened.</p> + +<p>The Clintonians had talked of putting up John Van Ness Yates, son of +the former Chief Justice, a ready talker, companionable and brilliant, +a gentleman of fine literary taste, with an up-and-down political +career due largely to his con<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.258" id="vol1Page_i.258">i. 258</a></span>sistent following of Clinton. But the +Governor now wanted a stronger, more decided man; and, after advising +with Spencer, he selected Obadiah German, for many years a leader in +the Assembly, and until recently a member of the United States Senate, +with such a record for resistance to Governor Tompkins, and active +complicity with the Federalists who had aided his election to the +Assembly, that the mere mention of his name to the Bucktails was like +a fire-brand thrown onto the roof of a thatched cottage. German +himself doubted the wisdom of his selection. He was an old-time +fighter, preferring debate on the floor to the wielding of a gavel +while other men disputed; but the Governor, with sublime faith in +German's fidelity and courage, and a sublimer faith in his own power +to make him speaker, turned a deaf ear to the assemblyman's wishes. +Had Clinton now conferred with his friends in the Legislature, or +simply urged their presence at the caucus, he might easily have +nominated German in spite of his record. On the contrary, he did +neither, and when the caucus met, of the seventy-five members present, +forty-two voted for Thompson and thirty-three for German. When too +late Clinton discovered his mistake—seventeen Clintonians had been +absent and all the Bucktails present. The great Clinton had been +outwitted!</p> + +<p>The hearts of the Bucktails must have rejoiced when they heard the +count, especially as the refusal of the Clintonians to make the +nomination unanimous indicated an intention to turn to the Federalists +for aid. This was the one error the Bucktails most desired Clinton to +commit; for it would stamp them as the regular representatives of the +party, and reduce the Clintonians to a faction, irregular in their +methods and tainted with Federalism. It is difficult to realise the +arguments which could persuade Clinton to take such a step. Even if +such conduct be not considered a question of principle, and only one +of expediency, he should have condemned it. Yet this is just what +Clinton did not do. After two days of balloting he disclosed his hand +in a motion declaring Obadiah German the speaker, and sixty-seven +mem<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.259" id="vol1Page_i.259">i. 259</a></span>bers, including seventeen Federalists, voted in the affirmative, +while forty-eight, including three Federalists, voted in the negative.</p> + +<p>"The Assembly met on Tuesday," wrote John A. King to his father, on +January 8, 1818, "but adjourned without choosing a speaker. The next +day, after a short struggle, Mr. German was chosen by the aid of some +of the Federalists. I regret to say that there are some of the Federal +gentlemen and influential ones, too, who are deeply pledged to support +the wanderings fortunes of Mr. Clinton. On this point the Federal +party must, if it has not already, divide. Once separated there can be +no middle course; a neutrality party in politics, if not an absurdity, +at least is evidence of indecision. We are not yet declared enemies, +but if I mistake not, the question of Council and the choice of a +United States senator must, if these gentlemen persist, decide the +matter irrevocably. Mr. W. Duer, Van Vechten, Bunner, Hoffman, and +myself are opposed to Mr. W. Van Ness, Oakley, and J. Van Rensselaer. +Mr. Clinton has found means to flatter these gentlemen with the +prospect of attaining their utmost wishes by adhering to and +supporting his administration."<a name="vol1FNanchor_192_192" id="vol1FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a></p> + +<p>Clinton committed the second great error of his life when he consented +to bolt the caucus nominee of his party. It was an act of conscious +baseness. He had not manfully put forward his strength. Instead of +managing, he temporised; instead of meeting his adversaries with a +will, he did nothing, while they worked systematically and in silence. +Even then he need not have entered the caucus; but, once having +voluntarily entered it, it was his plain duty to support its nominee. +As a question of principle or expediency Clinton's conduct, therefore, +admits of no defence. The plea that Van Buren had secretly assembled +the Bucktails in force neither justifies nor palliates it; for the +slightest management on Clinton's part would have controlled the +caucus by bringing together fifty members instead of thirty-three, and +the slight<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.260" id="vol1Page_i.260">i. 260</a></span>est inquiry would have discovered the weakness of having +only thirty-three present instead of fifty.</p> + +<p>Clinton professed to believe that the Federalists no longer existed as +a party; and it is probably true that he desired to create a party of +his own out of its membership, strengthened by the Clintonians, and to +leave Tammany and its Bucktail supporters to build up an opposition +organisation. But in this he was in advance of his time. Though the +day was coming when a majority of the Clintonians and Federalists +would make the backbone of the Whig party in the Empire State, a new +party could not be built up by such methods as Clinton now introduced. +New parties, like poets, are born, not made, and a love for principle, +not a desire for spoils, must precede their birth. If Clinton had +sincerely desired a new organisation, he should have disclaimed all +connection with the Republican or Federalist, and planted his standard +on the corner-stone of internal improvements, prepared to make the +sacrifice that comes to those who are tired of existing conditions and +eager for new policies and new associations. But Clinton was neither +reformer nor pioneer. He loved the old order of things, the Council of +Appointment, the Council of Revision, the Constitution of 1777 as +amended by the convention of 1801, and all the machinery that gave +power to the few and control to the boss. He had been born to power. +From his first entrance into the political arena he had exercised +it—first with the help of his uncle George, afterward with the +assistance of his brother-in-law, Ambrose Spencer; and now that he had +swung back into power again by means of his canal policy, he had no +disposition to let go any part of it by letting go the Republican +party. What Van Buren got from him he must take by votes, not by +gifts.</p> + +<p>Clinton's flagrant violation of the caucus rule, that a minority must +yield to the majority, not only broke the Republican party into the +famous factions known as Clintonians and Bucktails; it alarmed local +leaders throughout the State; made the rank and file distrustful of +the Governor's<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.261" id="vol1Page_i.261">i. 261</a></span> fealty, and consolidated his enemies, giving them the +best of the argument and enabling Van Buren to build up an +organisation against which the Governor was ever after compelled to +struggle with varying fortune. Indeed, in the next month, Van Buren so +managed the selection of a Council that it gave Clinton credit for +controlling appointments without the slightest power of making them, +so that the disappointed held him responsible and the fortunate gave +him no thanks. Following this humiliation, too, came the election, by +one majority, of Henry Seymour, a bitter opponent of Clinton, to the +canal commissionership made vacant by the resignation of Joseph +Ellicott. The Governor's attention had been called to the danger of +his candidate's defeat; but with optimistic assurance he dismissed it +as impossible until Ephraim Hart, just before the election occurred, +discovered that the cunning hand of Van Buren had accomplished his +overthrow. "A majority of the canal commissioners are now politically +opposed to the Governor," declared the Albany <i>Argus</i>, "and it will +not be necessary for a person who wishes to obtain employment on the +canal as agent, contractor or otherwise, to avow himself a +Clintonian." This exultant shout meant that in future only +anti-Clintonians would make up the army of canal employees.</p> + +<p>But a greater <i>coup d'état</i> was to come. Van Buren understood well +enough that Clinton's strength with the people was not as a politician +or Republican leader, but as a stubborn, indefatigable advocate of the +canal; and that, so long as the Bucktails opposed his scheme, their +control of appointments could not overthrow him. Van Buren, therefore, +determined to silence this opposition. Just how he did it is not of +record. It was said, at the time, that a caucus was held of Clinton's +opponents; but, however it was done, it must have required all Van +Buren's strength of will and art of persuasion to sustain him in the +midst of so many difficulties—difficulties which were greatly +increased by the unfriendly conduct of Erastus Root, and two or three +senators from the southern district, including Peter Sharpe,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.262" id="vol1Page_i.262">i. 262</a></span> +afterward speaker of the Assembly. Yet the fact that he accomplished +it, and with such secrecy that Clinton's friends did not know how it +was brought about, showed the quiet and complete control exercised by +Van Buren over the members of the Bucktail party. The <i>National +Advocate</i>, edited by Mordecai Manesseh Noah, a conspicuous figure in +politics for forty years and one of the most unrelenting partisans of +his day, had supported Tammany in its long and bitter antagonism to +the canal with a malevolence rarely equalled in that or any other day. +He measured pens with Israel W. Clarke of the Albany <i>Register</i>, who +had so ably answered every point that Noah charged their authorship to +Clinton himself. But after Van Buren had spoken, the <i>Advocate</i>, +suddenly, as if by magic, changed its course, and, with the rest of +the Bucktail contingent, rallied to the support of Clinton's pet +scheme with arguments as sound and full of clear good sense as the +Governor himself could wish. The people, however, had good reason to +know that statesmen were not all and always exactly as they professed +to be; and the immediate effect of the Bucktail change of heart +amounted to little more than public notice that the canal policy was a +complete success, and that Tammany and its friends had discovered that +further opposition was useless.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.263" id="vol1Page_i.263">i. 263</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XXIV" id="vol1CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV<br /> +<br /> +RE-ELECTION OF RUFUS KING<br /> +<br /> +1819-1820</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Although</span> Clinton's canal policy now dominated Bucktails as well as +Clintonians, eliminating all differences as to public measures, the +bitterness between these factions increased until the effort to elect +a United States senator to succeed Rufus King resulted in a complete +separation. The Clintonians had settled upon John C. Spencer, while +the Bucktails thought Samuel Young, a decided friend of Clinton's +canal policy, the most likely man to attract support. Both were +representative men, and either would have done honour to the State.</p> + +<p>John C. Spencer needed no introduction or advertisement as the son of +Ambrose Spencer. He was a man of large promise. Everything he did he +did well, and he had already done much. Though scarcely thirty-four +years of age, he had established himself as a leading lawyer of the +Commonwealth, whose strong, vigorous English in support of the war had +found its way into Parliament as an unanswerable argument to Lord +Liverpool's unwise policy, winning him an enviable reputation as a +writer. Skilful in expression, adroit in attack, calm and resourceful +in argument, with the sarcasm of the younger Pitt, he had presented +American rights and British outrages in a clearer light than others, +arousing his countrymen very much as the letters of Junius had +quickened English political life forty years before. He made it plain +that England's insistence upon the right to stop and search an +American vessel, and England's persistent refusal to recognise a +naturalised American citizen on board an<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.264" id="vol1Page_i.264">i. 264</a></span> American vessel, were the +real causes of quarrel. "There is not an individual," said a leading +British journal, "who has attended at all to the dispute with the +United States, who does not see that it has been embittered from the +first, and wantonly urged on by those who, for the sake of their own +aggrandisement, are willing to plunge their country into all the evils +portrayed by the American writer."</p> + +<p>A single term in Congress had placed Spencer in the ranks of the +leaders. He was trenchant in speech, forceful on paper, and helpful in +committee. Intellectually, he took the place of the distinguished +South Carolinian, just then leaving Congress to become Monroe's +secretary of war, whose thin face and firm mouth resembled the New +Yorker's. Spencer, like Calhoun, delighted in establishing by the +subtlest train of philosophical reasoning the delicate lines that +exposed sophistry and error, and made clear the disputed point in law +or in legislation. The rhetorical drapery that gave Samuel Young such +signal success found no place in Spencer's arguments or in his +pamphlets; but to a logic that deeply penetrated his subject he added +an ethical interest which captivated the mind, as his reasoning +illuminated and made plain. He was a born fighter. Like his father, he +asked no quarter and he gave none. His eye had the expression one sees +in hawks and game-cocks. At twenty-eight, as district attorney of the +five western counties of the State, he had become a terror to +evil-doers, and it is said of him, at his old home in Canandaigua, +that men, conscious of their innocence, preferred appealing to the +mercy of the court than endure prosecution at his hands. Possibly he +possessed the small affections which Disraeli thought necessary to be +coupled with large brains to insure success in public life, yet his +nature, in every domestic and social relation, was the gentlest and +simplest. DeWitt Clinton did not always approve Spencer's political +course. He thought him "an incubus on the party," "the political +millstone of the west," and he attributed the occasional loss of +Ontario and neighbouring counties "to his deleterious management." The +aus<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.265" id="vol1Page_i.265">i. 265</a></span>terity and haughtiness of his manner naturally lessened his +popularity, just as his caustic pen and satirical tongue made him +bitter enemies; but his strong will and imperious manner were no more +offensive than Clinton's. Like Clinton, too, Spencer was ill at ease +in a harness; he resented being lined up by a party boss. But, at the +time he was talked of for United States senator, the intelligent +action and tireless industry upon which his fame rests, had so +impressed men, that they overlooked unpopular traits in their +admiration for his great ability. People did not then know that he was +to sit in the Cabinet of a President, and be nominated to a place upon +the Supreme bench of the United States; but they knew he was destined +to become famous, because he was already recognised as a professional +and political leader.</p> + +<p>The genius of Samuel Young had also left its track behind. He was not +a great lawyer, but his contemporaries thought him a great man. He +combined brilliant speaking with brilliant writing. The fragments of +his speeches that have been preserved scarcely hint at the +extraordinary power accorded them in the judgment of his neighbours. +It is likely that the magic of presence, voice, and action, +exaggerated their merits, since he possessed the gifts of a trained +orator, rivalling the forceful declamation of Erastus Root, the mellow +tones and rich vocabulary of William W. Van Ness, and the smoothness +of Martin Van Buren. But, if his speeches equalled his pamphlets, the +judgment of his contemporaries must be accepted without limitation. +Chancellor Kent objected to giving joint stock companies the right to +engage in privateering, a drastic measure passed by the Legislature of +1814 in the interest of a more vigorous prosecution of the war; and in +his usual felicitous style, and with much learning, the stubborn +Federalist pronounced the statute inconsistent with the spirit of the +age and contrary to the genius of the Federal Constitution. Young +replied to the great Chancellor in a series of essays, brilliant and +readable even in a new century. He showed that, although America had +been handicapped by Federalist opposition, by a disorganised<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.266" id="vol1Page_i.266">i. 266</a></span> army, +and by a navy so small that it might almost as well have not existed, +yet American privateers—outnumbering the British fleet, scudding +before the wind, defying capture, running blockades, destroying +commerce, and bearing the stars and stripes to the ends of the +earth—had dealt England the most staggering blow ever inflicted upon +her supremacy of the sea. This was plain talk and plain truth; and it +made the speaker of the Assembly known throughout the State as "the +sword, the shield, and the ornament of his party." Young was as +dauntless as Spencer, and, if anything, a more distinguished looking +man. He was without austerity and easy of approach; and, although +inclined to reticence, he seemed fond of indulging in jocular remarks +and an occasional story; but he was a man of bad temper. He fretted +under opposition as much as Clinton, and he easily became vindictive +toward opponents. This kept him unpopular even among men of his own +faction. Clinton thought him "much of an imbecile," and suggested in a +letter to Post that "suspicions are entertained of his +integrity."<a name="vol1FNanchor_193_193" id="vol1FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> Yet Young had hosts of friends eager to fight his +political battles.</p> + +<p>The Bucktails had no serious expectation either of nominating or +electing Samuel Young to the United States Senate. They knew the +Clintonians had a majority, and their purpose, in attending the +caucus, was simply to prevent a nomination. No sooner had the meeting +assembled, therefore, than several Bucktails attacked the Governor, +reproaching him for the conduct of his followers and severely +criticising his political methods and character. To this German +retorted with great bitterness. German made no pretensions to the gift +of oratory; he had neither grace of manner nor alluring forms of +expression. On the contrary, there was a certain quality of antagonism +in his manner, as if he took grim satisfaction in letting fly his +words, seemingly almost coldly indifferent to their effect; and on +this occasion his sledge-hammer blows gave Peter R. Livingston, +evidently<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.267" id="vol1Page_i.267">i. 267</a></span> acting by prearrangement, abundant chance for forcing a +quarrel. In the confusion that followed, the caucus hastily adjourned +amid mutual recriminations. When too late to mend matters the +Clintonians discovered the trick. They had the majority and could +easily have named Spencer as the candidate of the party, but in the +excitement of German's speech and Livingston's attack they lost their +heads. Thus ended forever all caucus relationship between these +warring factions, and henceforth they were known as two distinct +parties.</p> + +<p>At the joint session of the Legislature, on February 2, 1819, the +Clintonians gave Spencer sixty-four votes, while Young received +fifty-seven, and Rufus King thirty-four. "A motion then prevailed to +adjourn," wrote John A. King to his father, "so that this Legislature +will make no choice." Young King, a member of the Assembly, was +looking after his father's re-election to the Senate. He deeply +resented Clinton's control of the Federalists, because it made his +father a leader only in name; and to show his dislike of Federalist +methods he associated and voted with the Bucktails. Nor did the father +dislike Clinton less than the son. Rufus King had felt, what he was +pleased to call "the baleful influence of the Clintons," ever since +his advent into New York politics. They had opposed the Federal +Constitution which he, as a delegate from Massachusetts, helped to +frame; they assisted Jefferson in overwhelming Hamilton; and they +benefited by the election trick which defeated John Jay. For more than +two decades, therefore, Rufus King had watched their control by +methods, which a man cast in a mould that would make no concessions to +his virtue, could not approve. Under his observation, DeWitt Clinton +had grown from young manhood, ambitious and domineering, accustomed to +destroy the friend who got in his way with as much ease, apparently, +as he smote an enemy. Hence King regarded him much as Hamilton did +Aaron Burr; and against his candidacy for President in 1812, he used +the argument that the great Federalist had hurled against the +intriguing New<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.268" id="vol1Page_i.268">i. 268</a></span> Yorker in 1801. He rejoiced that Clinton lost the +mayoralty in 1815; that he was defeated for elector in 1816; and he +deeply regretted his election as governor in 1817.</p> + +<p>On his part, Clinton had little use for Rufus King; but his need of +Federalist votes made him excessively cautious about appearing to +oppose the distinguished Senator; although a deep-laid scheme, +understood if not engineered by Clinton, existed to defeat him. John +King assured his father that Clinton, inviting Joseph Yates to +breakfast, urged him to become a candidate; and that William W. Van +Ness had asked Chancellor Kent to enter the race. "I entertain not the +slightest doubt," he continued, referring to Van Ness, "of being able +to produce such testimony of his hypocrisy and infidelity as will +require more art than ever he is master of to explain or escape +from."<a name="vol1FNanchor_194_194" id="vol1FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a></p> + +<p>As the time approached for the reassembling of the Legislature, in +January, 1820, these machinations of Clinton caused his opponents many +an uneasy hour. The Bucktails, who could not elect a senator of their +own, would not take a Clintonian, and an alliance between Clinton and +the Federalists, led by Van Ness, Oakley, and Jacob R. Van Rensselaer, +threatened to settle the question against them. Van Buren favoured +King, although the Administration at Washington thought his election +impolitic, because of its effect upon the party in the State; but Van +Buren showed great firmness. His party was violently opposed to King. +Van Buren, too, was growing tired of the strain of maintaining the +leadership of one faction without disrupting the other. But so sure +was he of the wisdom of King's support that he insisted upon it, even +though it sacrificed his leadership. "We are committed to his +support," he wrote. "It is both wise and honest. Mr. King's views +toward us are honourable and correct. I will put my head on its +propriety."<a name="vol1FNanchor_195_195" id="vol1FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a></p> + +<p>Van Buren wanted to share in the division of the Feder<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.269" id="vol1Page_i.269">i. 269</a></span>alists; and to +refuse them a United States senator, when Clinton had recently given +them an attorney-general, an influential, and, at that time, a most +lucrative office, struck him as poor policy—especially since John A. +King and other estimable gentlemen had evidenced a disposition to join +them. Two weeks before the Legislature assembled, therefore, an +unsigned letter, skilfully drawn, found its way into the hands of +every Bucktail, summing up the reasons why they could properly support +Rufus King. After recalling his Revolutionary services, this anonymous +writer declared that support of King could not subject Bucktails to +the suspicion of a political bargain, since the Senator had neither +acted with the Federalists who had shown malignity against the +Administration, nor with that numerous and respectable portion who +ignorantly thought the war impolitic; but rather with those who aided +in forcing England to respect the rights of American citizens. It was +a cunning letter. There was rough and rasping sarcasm for the +Clintonians; an ugly disregard for the radical Federalist; a kind word +for the mere party follower, and winning speech for the gifted sons +who had risen superior to inherited prejudices. The concluding +declaration to the Bucktails was that King merited support because he +and his friends opposed Governor Clinton's re-election, the assertion +being justified by reference to John King's vote against German and +the Clinton Council.</p> + +<p>Of the authorship of this remarkable paper, there could be no doubt. +William L. Marcy had aided in its preparation; but the hand of Van +Buren had shaped its character and inspired its winning qualities. It +had the instant effect that Van Buren plainly invoked for it—the +unanimous election of Rufus King. Perhaps, on the whole, nothing in +Van Buren's official life showed greater political courage or +discernment. It is not so famous as his Sherrod Williams letter of +1836, or the celebrated Texas letter with which he faced the crisis of +1844, but it ranks with the public utterances of those years when he +took the risk of meeting living<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.270" id="vol1Page_i.270">i. 270</a></span> issues that divided men on small +margins. There was a strength and character about it that seemed to +leave men powerless to answer. Clintonians objected to King, many +Bucktails opposed him, Van Ness declared that he could easily be +defeated, Thomas J. Oakley recognised him as the candidate of a man +who spoke of Clinton and his Federalist allies as profligates and +political blacklegs. Yet they all voted for Rufus King. Van Buren made +up their minds for them; and, though protesting against the duplicity +of Bucktail, the cowardliness of Federalist, and the timidity of +Clintonian, each party indorsed him, while proclaiming him not its +choice.</p> + +<p>But Rufus King was not an ordinary candidate. His great experience and +exalted character, coupled with his discriminating devotion to the +best interests of the country, yielded strength that no other man in +the State could command. He was now about sixty years of age, and, of +living statesmen, he had no superior. His life had been a pure one, +and his public acts and purposes, measured by the virtues of +patriotism, honesty and integrity, entitled him to the respect and +lasting gratitude of his fellow citizens. The taste for letters which +characterised his Harvard College days, followed him into public +affairs, and if his style lacked the simplicity of Madison's and the +prophetic grasp and instinctive knowledge of Hamilton, he shared their +clearness of statement and breadth of view. He displayed similar +capacity in administration and in keeping abreast of the times. +Although a lifelong member of the Federal party, whose leadership in +New York he inherited upon the death of its great founder, he +supported the War of 1812 with zeal, giving no countenance to the +Hartford Convention if he did not openly oppose it, and promising +nothing in the way of aid that he did not amply and promptly fulfil. +At the supreme moment of the crisis, in 1814, when the general +government needed money and the banks would loan only upon the +indorsement of the Governor, he pledged his honour to support Tompkins +in whatever he did.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.271" id="vol1Page_i.271">i. 271</a></span></p> + +<p>To the society of contemporaries, regardless of party, King was always +welcome. He disliked a quarrel. It seemed to be his effort to avoid +controversy; and when compelled to lead, or to participate +conspicuously in heated debate, he carefully abstained from giving +offence. Benton bears testimony to his habitual observance of the +courtesies of life. Indeed, his urbanity made a deep impression upon +all his colleagues. Yet King was not a popular man. The people thought +him an aristocrat; and, although without arrogance, his appearance and +manner gave character to their opinion. His countenance inclined to +austerity, forbidding easy approach; his indisposition to talk lent an +air of reserve, with the suggestion of coldness, which was unrelieved +by the touch of amiability that commended John Jay to the affectionate +regard of men. It was his nature to be serious and thoughtful. Among +friends he talked freely, often facetiously, becoming, at times, +peculiarly instructive and fascinating, as his remarkable memory gave +up with accuracy and facility the product of extensive travel, varied +experiences, close observation, and much reading. His statements, +especially those relating to historical and political details, were +rarely questioned. We read that he was of somewhat portly habit, above +the middle size, strongly made, with the warm complexion of good +health, large, attractive eyes, and a firm, full mouth; that, although +men no longer chose to be divided sharply by marked distinction of +attire, he always appeared in the United States Senate in full dress, +with short clothes, silk stockings and shoes—having something of +pride and hauteur in his manner that was slightly offensive to plain +country gentlemen, as well as inconsistent with the republican idea of +equality. Wealthy, he lived at Jamaica, in a stately mansion, +surrounded by noble horse chestnut trees, an estate known as King +Park, and kept at public expense as a typical Long Island colonial +homestead.</p> + +<p>It is possible that the extension of slavery into Missouri influenced +King's return to the United States Senate; for the election occurred +in the midst of that heated contest,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.272" id="vol1Page_i.272">i. 272</a></span> a contest in which he had +already taken a conspicuous part in the Fifteenth Congress, and in +which he was destined to earn, in still greater degree, the +commendation of friends, outside and inside the Senate, as the +champion of freedom. But whatever the cause of his election, it is +certain that it was free from suspicion, other than that he preferred +Van Buren to Clinton—a choice which necessarily created the +impression that King's prejudice against Clinton resulted more from +jealousy than from aversion to his character. No doubt Clinton's +ability to dominate Federalist support, in spite of King's opposition, +wounded the latter's pride and created a dislike which gradually +deepened into a feeling of resentment. It had practically left him +without a party; and he turned to Van Buren very much as Charles James +Fox turned to Lord North in 1782. He cheerfully accepted the most +confidential relations with the Kinderhook statesman, and when, a year +or two later, Van Buren joined him in the United States Senate, Benton +observed the deferential regard paid by Van Buren to his venerable +colleague, and the marked kindness and respect returned by King. Yet +King did not openly ally himself with the Bucktails. They could rely +with certainty upon his support to antagonise Clinton, but he declined +to join a party whose character and principles did not promise such +companionship as he had been accustomed to.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.273" id="vol1Page_i.273">i. 273</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XXV" id="vol1CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV<br /> +<br /> +TOMPKINS’ LAST CONTEST<br /> +<br /> +1820</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> coming of 1820 was welcomed by the Van Buren forces. It was the +year for the selection of another governor, and the Bucktails, very +weary of Clinton, were anxious for a change. For all practical +purposes Bucktails and Clintonians had now become two opposing +parties, Van Buren's removal as attorney-general, by the Council of +1819, ending all semblance of friendship and political affiliation. +This Council was known as "Clinton's Council;" and, profiting by the +lesson learned in 1817, Clinton had made a clean sweep of the men he +believed to have acted against him. He gave Van Buren's place to +Thomas J. Oakley, and Peter A. Jay, eldest son of John Jay, who had +rendered valuable assistance in promoting the construction of the +canal, he made recorder of New York City, an office which Richard +Riker had held since 1815. These appointments naturally subjected the +Governor to the criticism of removing Republicans to make places for +Federalists. But the new officers were Clinton's friends, while Riker, +at least, had been an open enemy since Jonas Platt's appointment to +the Supreme bench in 1814. Jay's appointment was also a thrust at the +so-called "high-minded" Federalists, composed of the sons of Alexander +Hamilton, Rufus King, and other well known men of the party.</p> + +<p>Clinton's intimates had long known his desire to get rid of Van Buren. +In his letters to Henry Post, the Kinderhook statesman is termed "an +arch scoundrel," "the prince of villains," and "a confirmed +knave;"<a name="vol1FNanchor_196_196" id="vol1FNanchor_196_196"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> yet Clinton put off the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.274" id="vol1Page_i.274">i. 274</a></span> moment of his removal from week +to week, very much as Tompkins hesitated to remove Clinton from the +mayoralty; that is, not so much to save the feelings of Van Buren as +to avert the hostility of James Tallmadge and John C. Spencer, both of +whom sought the office. Tallmadge had recently returned from Congress +full of honours because of his brilliant part in the great debate on +the Missouri Compromise, and he now confidently expected the +appointment. The moment, therefore, the Council, at its meeting in +July, 1819, named Oakley, Tallmadge ranged himself squarely among +Clinton's enemies. Van Buren had expected dismissal, and he seems to +have taken it with the outward serenity and dignity that characterised +the departure of Clinton from the mayoralty in 1815; but in +confidential communications to Rufus King, he spoke of Clinton and his +friends as "very profligate men," "politician blacklegs," and "a set +of desperadoes."<a name="vol1FNanchor_197_197" id="vol1FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a></p> + +<p>In the Bucktail mind, Daniel D. Tompkins seemed the only man +sufficiently popular to oppose DeWitt Clinton in the gubernatorial +contest. He was remembered as the great War Governor; and the up-state +leaders, representing the old war party, thought he could rally and +unite the opposing factions better than any one else. In some respects +Tompkins' position in 1820 was not unlike that of John A. Andrew in +Massachusetts in 1870, the great war governor of the Civil War. His +well-doing in the critical days of the contest had passed into +history, making his accomplishment a matter of pride to the State, and +giving him an assured standing. Everybody knew that he had raised +troops after enlistments had practically stopped elsewhere; that he +had bought army supplies, equipped regiments, constructed +fortifications, manned forts, fitted out privateers, paid bills from +funds raised on his individual indorsement, and worked with energy +while New England sulked. When the grotesque treaty of Ghent closed +the war, the Governor's star shone brightly in the zenith. At this +time, there<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.275" id="vol1Page_i.275">i. 275</a></span>fore, Daniel D. Tompkins was undoubtedly the most popular +man personally that ever participated in New York politics. Hammond, +the historian, relates that a father, desiring the pardon of his son, +left the capital better pleased with Governor Tompkins, who refused +it, than with Governor Clinton, who granted it. It is not easy to say +just wherein lay the charm of his wonderful personality. His voice was +rich and mellow; his face, prepossessing in repose, expressed sympathy +and friendship; while his manner, gentle and gracious without +unnaturalness, appealed to his auditor as if he of all men, was the +one whom the Governor wished to honour. His success, too, had been +marvellous. He had carried the State by the largest majority ever +given to a governor up to that time; larger than Jay's triumphant +majority in 1798; larger than George Clinton's in 1801 after the +election of Jefferson and the organisation of the Republican party; +larger even than the surprising vote given Morgan Lewis in 1804, when +Alexander Hamilton and the Clintons combined against Aaron Burr. +Tompkins' nomination for governor, therefore, was made on January 16, +1820, without the slightest opposition.</p> + +<p>It was known, at this time, that Tompkins' accounts as governor showed +a shortage. He had failed to take vouchers during the war, and it was +thought not unlikely that he had paid for army supplies out of his own +money, and for family supplies out of the State's money; but no one +believed him guilty of intentional misconduct. Nevertheless, his +accounts, after the comptroller had audited them, after a commission +of expert accountants had sought for missing vouchers, and after +friends had made explanations, were still $120,000 short. By an act, +approved April 13, 1819, the Legislature authorised the comptroller to +balance this shortage by allowing Tompkins a premium of twelve per +cent. on $1,000,000, and people thought nothing more about it until +Tompkins presented an account, demanding a premium of twenty-five per +cent., which brought the State in debt to him in the sum of $130,000.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.276" id="vol1Page_i.276">i. 276</a></span></p> + +<p>The comptroller, overwhelmed by the extravagance of the claim, +construed the law to limit the premium on moneys borrowed solely on +Tompkins' personal responsibility, and out of this a correspondence +was conducted with much asperity. Archibald McIntyre, the comptroller +since 1806, possessed the absolute confidence of the people; and when +his letters became public a suspicion that the Vice President might be +wrong was quickly encouraged by the friends of Clinton. This suspicion +was increased as soon as the Legislature of 1820 got to work. It was +intent on mischief. By a fusion of Clintonians and Federalists John C. +Spencer became speaker of the Assembly, and to cripple Tompkins, who +had now been nominated for governor, Jedediah Miller of Schoharie +offered a resolution approving the conduct of the Comptroller in +settling the accounts of the former Governor. This precipitated a +discussion which has rarely been equalled in Albany for passion and +brilliancy. A coterie of the most skilful debaters happened to be +members of this Assembly; and for several weeks Thomas J. Oakley, John +C. Spencer, and Elisha Williams sustained the Comptroller, while +Erastus Root, Peter Sharpe, and others pleaded for Tompkins.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, on the 9th of March, a Senate committee, with Van Buren as +chairman, reported that the Comptroller ought to have allowed Tompkins +a premium of twelve and a half per cent. on $1,000,000, leaving a +balance due the Vice President of $11,870.50. It was a strange mix-up, +and the more committees examined it the worse appeared the muddle. +After Van Buren had reported, the question arose, should the +Comptroller be sustained, or should the report of Van Buren's +committee be accepted? It was a long drop from $130,000 claimed by +Tompkins to $11,780.50 awarded him by Van Buren, yet it was better to +take that than accept a settlement which made him a defaulter, and the +Senate approved the Van Buren report. But Thomas J. Oakley, chairman +of the Assembly committee to which it was referred, did not propose to +let the candidate for governor escape so easily. In an able review of +the whole question he sustained<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.277" id="vol1Page_i.277">i. 277</a></span> the Comptroller, maintaining that the +Vice President must seek relief under the law like other parties, and +instructing the Comptroller to sue for any balance due the State, +unless Tompkins reimbursed it by the following August. This ended +legislation for the session.</p> + +<p>Van Buren seems to have had no concern about Tompkins' canal record. +Possibly he thought the disappearance of Bucktail opposition took that +issue out of the campaign; but he was greatly worked up over the +unsettled accounts, and in his usual adroit manner set influences to +work to discourage Tompkins' acceptance of the nomination, and to +secure the consent of Smith Thompson, then secretary of the navy, to +make the race himself. He had little difficulty in accomplishing this +end, for Thompson was not at all unwilling. But to get rid of Tompkins +was another question. "The Republican party in this State never was +better united," he wrote Smith Thompson, on January 19, 1820, three +days after Tompkins' nomination; "they all love, honour and esteem the +Vice President; but such is their extreme anxiety to insure the +prostration of the Junto, who have stolen into the seats of power, +that they all desire that you should be the candidate. They will +support Tompkins to the bat's end if you refuse, or he should not +decline; but if he does, and you consent to our wishes, you will be +hailed as the saviour of New York."<a name="vol1FNanchor_198_198" id="vol1FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> On the same day Van Buren +also wrote Rufus King: "Some of our friends think it is dangerous to +support the Vice President under existing circumstances.... A few of +us have written him freely on the subject and to meet the event of his +having left the city of Washington, I have sent a copy of our letter +to Secretary Thompson, of which circumstance the Secretary is not +informed. There are many points of view in which it would be desirable +to place this subject before you, but I am fully satisfied you will +appreciate without further explanation. I will, therefore, only say, +that if the Vice President is with you, and upon a free dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.278" id="vol1Page_i.278">i. 278</a></span>cussion +between you, the Secretary and himself, he should resolve to decline, +and you can induce the Secretary to consent to our using his name, you +will do a lasting benefit to the Republican interest of this +State."<a name="vol1FNanchor_199_199" id="vol1FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a></p> + +<p>To this most adroit and cunning letter Rufus King replied on the last +day of the month: "The Vice President left us to-day at noon; on his +way he stopped at the Senate and we had a short conference.... I +observed as between him and Mr. Clinton my apprehension was that a +majority, possibly a large majority of Federalists would vote for Mr. +Clinton; adding that between the Secretary of the Navy and Mr. Clinton +I was persuaded that a majority of the Federalists would prefer the +Secretary.... Apologising for the frankness with which I expressed my +opinion, I added that I hoped he would wait until he reached New York +before he decided; perhaps he would think it best to delay his answer +until he arrived in Albany; one thing I considered absolutely +necessary—that his accounts should be definitely closed before +election. He answered that he was going immediately to Albany with +four propositions which would lead to a final settlement; that he +might think it best to delay his answer to the nomination until he +should reach Albany. I said in conclusion that my earnest wish was the +exclusion of Mr. Clinton, and my preference (knowing the personal +sacrifice he would make in consenting to his own nomination) that the +candidate selected should be the man who, in the opinion of those most +capable to decide, will be the most likely to accomplish the +work."<a name="vol1FNanchor_200_200" id="vol1FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a></p> + +<p>Rufus King certainly did his work well. He had abundantly discouraged +him as to the Federalists and had fully advised him as to the +importance of settling his accounts; but all to no purpose. Two days +later Thompson wrote Van Buren that the Vice President "will stand." +The Kinder<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.279" id="vol1Page_i.279">i. 279</a></span>hook statesman, however, disinclined to give it up, asked +the Secretary in a note on the same day for authority to use his name +"if the Vice President, when he arrives here, should wish to decline." +On the 7th of February, John A. King wrote his father: "Hopes are +still entertained that the Vice President's decision may yet yield to +the wishes of many of his oldest friends. Those, however, who know him +best have no such hopes. Judge Yates has said that he never refused an +offer of any sort in his life."<a name="vol1FNanchor_201_201" id="vol1FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> And so it proved in this +instance. Tompkins was immovable. Like a race horse trained to +running, he only needed to be let into the ring and given a free rein. +When the bell sounded he was off on his fifth race for governor.</p> + +<p>If Tompkins was handicapped with a shortage and a canal record, +Clinton was harassed for want of a party. To conceal the meagreness of +his strength in a legislative caucus, Clinton was renominated with +John Taylor at a meeting of the citizens of Albany. He had a following +and a large one, but it was without cohesion or discipline. Men felt +at liberty to withdraw without explanation and without notice. Within +eight months after his election as a Clintonian senator, Benjamin +Mooers of Plattsburg accepted the nomination for lieutenant-governor +on the ticket with Governor Tompkins, apparently without loss of +political prestige, or the respect of neighbours. The administration +at Washington recognised the Bucktails as the regular Republican +party, and showered offices among them, until Clinton later made it a +matter of public complaint and official investigation. Other +disintegrating influences were also at work. The "high minded" +Federalists, in a published document signed by forty or fifty leading +men, declared the Federal party dissolved and annihilated, and +pronounced the Clinton party simply a personal one. To belong to it +independence must be surrendered, and to obtain office in it, one must +laud its head and bow the knee, a system of sycophancy, they said,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.280" id="vol1Page_i.280">i. 280</a></span> +disgusting all "high minded" men. But DeWitt Clinton's strength was +not in parties nor in political management. He belonged to the great +men of his time, having no superior in New York, and, in some +respects, no equal in the country. He possessed a broader horizon, a +larger intellect, a greater moral courage, than most of his +contemporaries. It is probably true that, like a mountain, he appeared +best at a distance, but having confidence in his ability and +integrity, people easily overlooked his rough, unpopular manners. The +shrewd, sagacious Yankee farmers who were filling up the great western +counties of Ontario and Genesee believed in him. The Bucktails did not +know, until the eastern and western districts responded with five +thousand eight hundred and four majority for Clinton, as against four +thousand three hundred and seventy-seven for Tompkins in the middle +and southern districts, what a capital cry Clinton had in the canal +issue; what a powerful appeal to selfish interests he could put into +voice; and what a loud reply selfish interests would make to the +appeal. It was not, in fact, a race between parties at all; it was not +a question of shortage or settlement. It is likely the shortage +affected the result somewhat; but the majority of over fourteen +hundred meant approval of Clinton and his canal policy rather than +distrust of Tompkins and his unsettled accounts. The question in 1820 +was, shall the canal be built? and, although the Bucktails had ceased +their hostility, the people most interested in the canal's +construction wanted Clinton to complete what he had so gloriously and +successfully begun.</p> + +<p>The campaign was fought out with bitterness and desperation until the +polls closed. No national or state issue divided the parties. In fact, +there were no issues. It was simply a question whether Clinton and his +friends, or Tompkins and the Bucktails should control the state +government. The arguments, therefore, were purely personal. Clinton's +friends relied upon his canal policy, his honesty, and his +integrity—the Bucktails insisted that Clinton was no longer a +Republican; that the canal would be constructed as well<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.281" id="vol1Page_i.281">i. 281</a></span> without him +as with him, and that his defeat would wipe out factional strife and +give New York greater prominence in the councils of the party. "For +the last ten days," wrote Van Buren to Rufus King, on April 13, "I +have scarcely had time to take my regular meals and am at this moment +pressed by at least half a dozen unfinished concerns growing out of +this intolerable political struggle in which we are involved."<a name="vol1FNanchor_202_202" id="vol1FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> +Nevertheless, he had no doubt of Tompkins' election. "I entertain the +strongest convictions that we shall succeed,"<a name="vol1FNanchor_203_203" id="vol1FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a> he wrote later in +the month. On the other hand, Clinton was no less certain. In his +letters to Henry Post he is always confident; but at no time more so +than now. "The canal proceeds wondrously well," he says. "The Martling +opposition has ruined them forever. The public mind was never in a +better train for useful operations. John Townsend has just come from +the west. There is but one sentiment."<a name="vol1FNanchor_204_204" id="vol1FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> Yet, when the battle +ended, it looked like a Clintonian defeat and Bucktail victory; for +the latter had swept the Legislature, adding to their control in the +Senate and capturing the Assembly by a majority of eighteen over all. +It was only the presence of Tompkins among the slain that transferred +the real glory to Clinton, whose majority was fourteen hundred and +fifty-seven in a total vote of ninety-three thousand four hundred and +thirty-seven. This exceeded any former aggregate by nearly ten +thousand.<a name="vol1FNanchor_205_205" id="vol1FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a></p> + +<p>Daniel D. Tompkins took his defeat much to heart. He believed his +unsettled accounts had occasioned whispered slanders that crushed him. +After his angry controversy with Comptroller McIntyre, in the +preceding year, he seriously considered the propriety of resigning as +Vice President; for he sincerely believed his figures were right and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.282" id="vol1Page_i.282">i. 282</a></span> +that the Comptroller's language had classed him in the public mind +with what, in these latter days, would be called "grafters." "Our +friend on Staten Island is unfortunately sick in body and mind," +Clinton wrote to Post in September, 1819. "His situation upon the +whole is deplorable and calculated to excite sympathy."<a name="vol1FNanchor_206_206" id="vol1FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> It was, +indeed, a most unfortunate affair, for the State discovered, years +after it was too late, that it did owe the War Governor ninety-two +thousand dollars.</p> + +<p>Tompkins' public life continued four years longer. In the autumn of +1820, the Legislature balanced his accounts and the country re-elected +him Vice President. The next year his party made him a delegate to the +constitutional convention, and the convention made him its president; +but he never recovered from the chagrin and mortification of his +defeat for the governorship. Soon after the election, melancholy +accounts appeared of the havoc wrought upon a frame once so full of +animal spirits. He began to drink too freely even for those days of +deep drink. His eye lost its lustre; deep lines furrowed the round, +sunny face; the unruffled temper became irritable; and, within three +months after the close of his second term as Vice President, before he +had entered his fifty-second year, he was dead.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.283" id="vol1Page_i.283">i. 283</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XXVI" id="vol1CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI<br /> +<br /> +THE ALBANY REGENCY<br /> +<br /> +1820-1822</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">When</span> the Legislature assembled to appoint presidential electors in +November, 1820, Bucktail fear of Clinton was at an end for the +present. Before, his name had been one to conjure with; thenceforth it +was to have no terrors. He had, indeed, been re-elected governor, but +the small majority, scarcely exceeding one per cent. of the total +vote, showed that he was now merely an independent, and a very +independent member, of the Republican party. To the close of his +career he was certain to be a commanding figure, around whom all party +dissenters would quickly and easily rally; but it was now an +individual figure, almost an eccentric figure, whose work as a +political factor seemed to be closed.</p> + +<p>Yet Clinton was not ready to go into a second retirement. On the +theory, as he wrote Henry Post, that "the meekness of Quakerism will +do in religion, but not in politics,"<a name="vol1FNanchor_207_207" id="vol1FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> he looked about him for +something to arouse public attention and to excite public indignation, +and, for the want of a better subject, he charged the Monroe +administration with interference in the recent state election. Post +advised caution; but Clinton, stung by the defeat of his friends and +by his own narrow escape, had become possessed with the suspicion that +federal officials had used the patronage of the government against +him. So, in his speech to the Legislature in November, he protested +against the outrage. "If the officers under the appointment of the +federal government,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.284" id="vol1Page_i.284">i. 284</a></span> he declared, "shall see fit as an organised and +disciplined corps to interfere in state elections, I trust there will +be found a becoming disposition in the people to resist these alarming +attempts upon the purity and independence of their local +governments."<a name="vol1FNanchor_208_208" id="vol1FNanchor_208_208"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> Clinton had no evidence upon which to support this +charge. It was, at best, only a suspicion based upon his own methods; +but the Senate demanded proof, and failing to get specifications, it +declared it "highly improper that the Chief Magistrate of the State +should incriminate the administration of the general government, +without ample testimony in his possession." The resolutions closed +with an expression of confidence in the patriotism and integrity of +the government.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Clinton was urging Post to help him out of his difficulty. +"I want authenticated testimony of the interference of the general +government in our elections," he wrote on November 19. "Our friends +must be up and doing on this subject. It is all important."<a name="vol1FNanchor_209_209" id="vol1FNanchor_209_209"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> Eight +days later he stirred up Post again. "What is the annual amount of +patronage of the national government in this State?" he asked.<a name="vol1FNanchor_210_210" id="vol1FNanchor_210_210"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a> +"Knowing the accuracy of your calculations, I rely much on you." Then +he developed his plan: "The course of exposition ought, I think, to be +this—to collect a voluminous mass of documents detailing facts, and +to form from them a lucid, intelligible statement. On the +representation of facts recourse must also be had to inferences, and +it ought also to unite boldness and prudence."<a name="vol1FNanchor_211_211" id="vol1FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> It is evident that +thus far inferences outnumbered facts, for far into December Clinton +was still calling upon his friends to collect testimony. "Go on with +your collection of proofs," he wrote. "I think with a little industry +this matter will stand well."<a name="vol1FNanchor_212_212" id="vol1FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.285" id="vol1Page_i.285">i. 285</a></span></p><p>When submitted to the Legislature, on January 17, 1821, the documents, +according to the Governor's instructions, were indeed very voluminous. +It required a bag to take them to the capitol—the green bag message, +it was called; but it proved to be smoke, with little fire. It fully +established that the naval storekeeper at Brooklyn, and other federal +officials were offensive partisans, just as they had been under +Clinton's control, and just as they have been ever since. The +Bucktails saw distinctly enough that the State could not be aroused +into indignation by such a mass of documents; but there was one letter +from Van Buren to Henry Meigs, the congressman, dated April 5, 1820, +advising the removal of postmasters at Bath, Little Falls, and Oxford, +because it seemed impossible to secure the free circulation of +Bucktail newspapers in the interior of the State, which provoked much +criticism. How the Governor got it does not appear, but it gives a +glimpse of Van Buren's political methods that is interesting. "Unless +we can alarm them (the Clintonians) by two or three prompt removals," +he says, "there is no limiting the injurious consequences that may +result from it."</p> + +<p>Soon after, two of the postmasters were removed. If the charge was +true, that postmasters were preventing the circulation of Bucktail +newspapers, Van Buren's course was very charitable. Evidently he did +not want places for his friends so much as a proper delivery of the +mails; for otherwise he would have insisted upon the removal of all +offenders. The gentle suggestion that the removal of two or three +would be a warning to others, explains how this devout lover of men +lived through a long life on most intimate terms with his neighbours. +If such conditions existed under the modern management of the +Post-Office Department, every wrong-doer would be summarily dismissed, +regardless of party or creed. Van Buren's methods had no such drastic +discipline; yet his letter became the subject of much animadversion by +the Clintonians, not so much because they disapproved the suggestion +as because Van Buren wrote it. "It is very im<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.286" id="vol1Page_i.286">i. 286</a></span>portant to destroy this +prince of villains," Clinton declared, in a letter to Post of December +2, 1820.<a name="vol1FNanchor_213_213" id="vol1FNanchor_213_213"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a></p> + +<p>Like many other brilliant political leaders, Van Buren was somewhat +thin-skinned; he happened, too, to be out of the State Senate, and +thus was compelled to endure, in silence, the attacks of the +opposition. It is believed that at this time, Van Buren had a strong +inclination to accept a Supreme Court judgeship, and thus withdraw +forever from political life. But the fates denied him any chance of +making this serious anti-climax in his great political career. While +the green bag message convulsed the Clintonians with simulated +indignation, the Bucktails declared him, by a caucus vote of +fifty-eight to twenty-four, their choice for United States senator in +place of Nathan Sanford, whose term expired on March 4, 1821.</p> + +<p>It appeared then as it appears now, that Martin Van Buren was "the +inevitable man." He was thirty-nine years of age, in the early +ripeness of his powers, a leader at the bar, and the leader of his +party. He had accumulated from his practice the beginnings of the +fortune which his Dutch thrift and cautious habits made ample for his +needs. The simple and natural rules governing his astute political +leader<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.287" id="vol1Page_i.287">i. 287</a></span>ship seemed to leave him without a rival, or, at least, without +an opponent who could get in his way. Times had changed, too, since +the days when United States senators resigned to become postmasters +and mayors of New York. A seat in the United States Senate had become +a great honour, because it was a place of great power and great +influence; and in passing from Albany to Washington Van Buren would +add to state leadership an opportunity of becoming a national figure. +It is not surprising, therefore, that Clinton sought to defeat him; +for he had ever been ready to retaliate upon men who ventured to cross +his purposes. But Clinton's scheme had no place in the plans of +Bucktails. "I am afraid Van Buren will beat Sanford for senator," he +wrote Post as early as the 30th of December, 1820. "He will unless his +friends stand out against a caucus decision."<a name="vol1FNanchor_214_214" id="vol1FNanchor_214_214"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a> This is what +Clinton wanted the twenty-four Sanford delegates to do, and, to +encourage such a bolt, he compelled every Federalist and Clintonian, +save one, to vote for him, although Sanford represented Tammany and +its bitter hostility to Clinton. But the Bucktails had at last +established a party organisation that could not be divided by Clinton +intrigue, and Van Buren received the full party vote.</p> + +<p>When Roger Skinner and his three associates on the new Council of +Appointment got to work, Clinton quickly discovered that he could +expect little from such a body of Bucktails; and he received less than +he expected. For, when the Council had finished, only one Clintonian +remained in office. Oakley, the able attorney-general; Jay, the gifted +recorder of New York; Colden, the acceptable mayor of New York; +Hawley, the ideal superintendent of common schools; Solomon Van +Rensselaer, the famous and fearless adjutant-general; McIntyre, the +trusted and competent comptroller, had all disappeared in a night. +Only Simeon DeWitt, who had been surveyor-general for forty years, was +left undisturbed. Former Councils had been radical and vigorous in +their ac<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.288" id="vol1Page_i.288">i. 288</a></span>tion, but the Skinner council cut as deep and swift as the +famous Clinton Council of 1801. At its first meeting, clerks and +sheriffs and surrogates and district attorneys fell in windrows. Yet +it was no worse than its predecessors; it could not be worse, since +precedents existed in support of conduct however scandalous.</p> + +<p>The removal of Hawley, McIntyre, and Van Rensselaer produced a greater +sensation throughout the State than any previous dismissals, except +that of DeWitt Clinton from the mayoralty in 1815. Gideon Hawley had +held the office of school superintendent for nine years, organising +the State into school districts, distributing the school fund +equitably, and perfecting the work, so that the entire system could be +easily handled by a superintendent. In 1818, he reported five thousand +schools thus organised, with upward of two hundred thousand pupils in +attendance for a period of four to six months each year. He did this +work on a salary of three hundred dollars—only to receive, at last, +in place of thanks so richly deserved, the unmerited rebuke of a +summary dismissal.</p> + +<p>The removal of Archibald McIntyre made a sensation almost as great. +For fifteen years, McIntyre had been such an acceptable comptroller +that the waves of factional and party strife had broken at his feet, +leaving him master of the State's finances. The Lewisites retained him +in 1807; the Federalists kept him in 1809; the Republicans continued +him in 1811; the Federalists again spared him in 1813; while the +frequent changes that followed Clinton's downfall left him +undisturbed. He took no part in political contests. It was his duty to +see that the State's money was paid according to law, and he so +conducted the office; but the Bucktails deeply resented his treatment +of the Vice President, and a swift removal was the penalty. In some +degree McIntyre may have been responsible for the defeat of Tompkins. +The perfervid strength of his convictions as to the injustice of the +Vice President's claim betrayed him into an intemperance of language +that suggests overzeal in a public official.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.289" id="vol1Page_i.289">i. 289</a></span> In refusing, too, to +balance the Vice President's accounts, as the Legislature clearly +intended, and as he might have done regardless of the Vice President's +additional claim, he seems to have assumed an unnecessary +responsibility, and to have learned what many men have experienced in +public life, that nothing is so dangerous as being too faithful. But +McIntyre may have had no reason to regret his removal. He was +immediately returned to the Legislature as a senator, and the next +year appointed agent for the state lotteries, a business that enabled +him in a few years to retire with an independent fortune.</p> + +<p>It is unnecessary to introduce here a full list of the new +office-holders; but there came into notice at this time three young +lawyers who subsequently occupied a conspicuous place in the history +of their State and country. Samuel A. Talcott took the place of Thomas +J. Oakley as attorney-general; William L. Marcy became +adjutant-general in place of Van Rensselaer, and Benjamin F. Butler +was appointed district attorney of Albany County. Marcy was then +thirty-five years of age, Talcott thirty-two, and Butler twenty-six. +Talcott was tall and commanding, with high forehead and large mellow +blue eyes that inspired confidence and admiration. His manners +combined dignity and ease; and as he swept along the street, or stood +before judge or jury, he appeared like nature's nobleman. Marcy had a +bold, full forehead, with heavy brows and eyes deep set and +expressive. It was decidedly a Websterian head, though the large, firm +mouth and admirably moulded chin rather recalled those of Henry Clay. +The face would have been austere, forbidding easy approach, except for +the good-natured twinkle in the eye and a quiet smile lingering about +the mouth. Marcy was above the ordinary height, with square, powerful +shoulders, and carried some superfluous flesh as he grew older; but, +at the time of which we are writing, he was as erect as the day he +captured St. Regis. Butler was slighter than Marcy, and shorter than +Talcott, but much larger than Van Buren, with fulness of form and +perfect proportions. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.290" id="vol1Page_i.290">i. 290</a></span> had an indescribable refinement of face which +seemed to come from the softness of the eye and the tenderness and +intellectuality of the mouth, which reflected his gentle and generous +spirit.</p> + +<p>At the time of Talcott's appointment, though he had not distinguished +himself as a legal competitor of Van Buren, he displayed the gentle +manners and amiable traits that naturally commended him to one of Van +Buren's smooth, adroit methods. The Kinderhook statesman had, however, +in selecting him for attorney-general, looked beyond the charming +personality to the rapidly developing powers of the lawyer, who was +even then captivating all hearers by the strength of his arguments and +the splendour of his diction. Contemporaries of Talcott were fond of +telling of this remarkable, almost phenomenal gift of speech. One of +them mentions "those magical transitions from the subtlest argument to +the deepest pathos;" another describes him as "overpowering in the +weight of his intellect, who produced in the minds of his audience all +the sympathy and emotion of which the mind is capable." William H. +Dillingham, a classmate and lifelong friend, declared that the +extraordinary qualities which marked his career and so greatly +distinguished him in after life—towering genius, astonishing facility +in acquiring knowledge, and surpassing eloquence, were developed +during his college days. The life of Talcott recalls, in its brilliant +activity, the dazzling legal career of Alexander Hamilton. Wherever +the greatest lawyers gathered he was in their midst, the "Erskine of +the bar." At his last appearance in the Supreme Court of the United +States he opposed Daniel Webster in the "Sailors' Snug Harbor" case. +"Beginning in a low and measured tone," says Bacon, in his <i>Early Bar +of Oneida County</i>, "he gathered strength and power as he proceeded in +his masterly discourse, and for five hours held the breathless +attention of bench and bar and audience, in an argument which the +illustrious Marshall declared had not been equalled in that court +since the days of the renowned William Pinckney."<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.291" id="vol1Page_i.291">i. 291</a></span></p> + +<p>Benjamin F. Butler was very much like Talcott in gentleness of manner +and in power of intellect. He was born in Kinderhook, Columbia County, +where his father, starting as a mechanic, became a merchant, and, +after a brief service in the Legislature, received the appointment of +county judge. But there was no more reason to expect Medad Butler to +bring an illustrious son into the world than there was that his +neighbour, Abraham Van Buren, should be the father of the eighth +President of the United States. Thirteen years divided the ages of Van +Buren and Butler; and, while the latter attended the district school +and aided his father about the store, Van Buren was practising law and +talking politics with Butler's father. Young Butler was not a dreamer. +He had no wild ambition to be great, and cherished no thought of +sitting in cabinets or controlling the policy of a great party; but +his quiet, respectful manners and remarkable acuteness of mind +attracted Van Buren. When Van Buren went to Hudson as surrogate of the +county, Butler entered the Hudson academy. There he distinguished +himself, as he had already distinguished himself in the little +district school, acquiring a decided fondness for the classics. His +teachers predicted for him a brilliant college career; but, whatever +his reasons, he gave up the college, and, at the age of sixteen, +entered Van Buren's law office and Van Buren's family. On his +admission to the bar, in 1817, he became Van Buren's partner at +Albany.</p> + +<p>Though Talcott began life a Federalist, in the party breakup he joined +the Bucktails, with Butler and Van Buren. It seemed to be a love +match—the relations between Talcott and Butler. They were frequently +associated in the most important cases, the possession of scholarly +tastes being the powerful magnet that drew them together. Talcott, at +Williams College, had evidenced an astonishing facility for acquiring +knowledge; Butler, after leaving the academy, had continued the study +of the languages until he could read his favourite authors in the +original with great ease. This was their delight. Neither of them took +naturally to public ser<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.292" id="vol1Page_i.292">i. 292</a></span>vice, though offices seemed to seek them at +every turn of the road—United States senator, judge of the Supreme +Court, and seats in the cabinets of three Presidents. Nevertheless, +with the exception of a brief service under Jackson and Van Buren, +Butler declined all the flattering offers that came to him.</p> + +<p>It was Marcy who seemed born for a politician. A staid old Federalist +teacher sent him away from school at fourteen years of age, because of +his love for Jeffersonian principles and his fondness for argument. +The early years of this Massachusetts lad seem to have been strangely +varied and vexed. He was the leader of a band of noisy, roguish boys +who made the schoolroom uncomfortable for the teacher, and the +neighbourhood uncomfortable for the parents. Neither the father nor +his wife appear to have had any idea of their good fortune. Mrs. Marcy +once declared him the worst boy in the country. He showed little +disposition to study and less inclination to work; yet it was noticed +that he read all the books to be found in the homes of his playfellows +and in the libraries of the district. The character of the books made +no difference; he preferred reading anything to reading nothing, +though history and general literature, such as the works of Addison, +on whose style he seems to have moulded his own, were his favourite +volumes. When, at last, he met Salem Towne, his earliest, and, in a +sense, his best education began. Towne recognised the latent genius of +the lad and told him of it, encouraging him to enter college and the +law. Marcy used often to declare, in later years, that he owed +everything he ever gained in life to the influence and example of +Salem Towne. The affectionate regard which Marcy felt for his boyhood +friend, a regard which endured until the day of his death, belongs to +the chapter of pathetic incidents in Marcy's life.</p> + +<p>Soon after leaving Brown University, Marcy settled in Troy and became +violently hostile to DeWitt Clinton. After Clinton's downfall, he was +appointed recorder of Troy; and after Clinton's restoration, he was +promptly removed. Just<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.293" id="vol1Page_i.293">i. 293</a></span> now he was trying to practise law, and to edit +the Troy <i>Budget</i>, a Bucktail newspaper; but he preferred to read, +sitting with his unblacked boots on the table, careless of his dress, +and indifferent to his personal appearance. He looked dull and +inactive, and people thought he lacked the industry and energy so +necessary to success in any profession; but when the <i>Budget</i> +appeared, its editorials made men read and reflect. It was the skill +with which he marshalled facts in a gentle and winning style that +attracted Van Buren and made them friends.</p> + +<p>Marcy's appointment as adjutant-general created intense indignation, +because he took the place of Solomon Van Rensselaer, who had served in +the War of 1812, bravely leading the attack on Queenstown Heights and +holding his ground until dislodged by superior force; but, it was said +in reply, that Marcy had the honour of capturing the first British +fort and the first British flag of the war. The fight was not a bloody +encounter like the Queenstown engagement; yet, for men new to war, it +evidenced coolness and great courage. A detachment of British soldiers +had taken a position at St. Regis, seven miles from the American camp. +Selecting one hundred and seventy picked men, Lieutenant Marcy +cautiously approached the fort at night, overpowered the guards on the +outposts, surprised the sentries at the entrance, broke down the +gates, and charged the enemy in the face of a volley of musketry. When +it was over he had the fort, a file of prisoners, several stands of +arms, and a flag. Van Buren thought this record was good enough.</p> + +<p>The appointment of Talcott, Marcy, and Butler changed the existing +political system. Prior to their activity, the distribution of +patronage depended largely upon the local boss. His needs determined +the men who, regardless of their personal fitness, should be given +office. But Talcott and his colleagues introduced new methods, with a +higher standard of political morality, and a better system of party +discipline. They refused to tolerate unworthy men, and when the little +souls stormed and raged, their wise counsels silenced the self<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.294" id="vol1Page_i.294">i. 294</a></span>ish and +staggered the boss. Gradually, their control of patronage and of the +party's policy became so absolute that they were called the "Albany +Regency." It was, at first, simply a name given them by Thurlow +Weed;<a name="vol1FNanchor_215_215" id="vol1FNanchor_215_215"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> there was neither organisation nor legal authority. Power +came from their great ability and high purpose.</p> + +<p>The Albany Regency was destined to continue many years, and to number +among its members men of character and great influence. Roger Skinner, +a United States district judge, was an early member of it; so were +Edwin Croswell of the Albany <i>Argus</i>, and Benjamin Knower, the state +treasurer. At a later day came John A. Dix, Azariah C. Flagg, Silas +Wright, and Charles E. Dudley. In his autobiography, Thurlow Weed says +he "had never known a body of men who possessed so much power and used +it so well." They had, he continues, "great ability, great industry, +indomitable courage, and strict personal integrity."<a name="vol1FNanchor_216_216" id="vol1FNanchor_216_216"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> But the men +who organised the Regency, giving it power and the respect of the +people, by refusing to do what their fine sense of honour did not +approve, were Talcott, Marcy, and Butler. It was as remarkable a trio +as ever sat about a table.</p> + +<p>In the passing of these three great intellects, there is something +peculiarly touching. Talcott died suddenly at the early age of +forty-five, leaving the members of the New York bar as sincere +mourners. Butler, after the highest and purest living, died at +fifty-nine, just as he landed in France to visit the scenes of which +he had read and dreamed. Marcy, at sixty-two, having recently retired +as President Pierce's secretary of state, was found lifeless, lying +upon his bed, book in hand. He had been reading, as he had read since +childhood, whenever there came a lull in the demand for his wisdom, +his counsel, and his friendship.<a name="vol1FNanchor_217_217" id="vol1FNanchor_217_217"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.295" id="vol1Page_i.295">i. 295</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XXVII" id="vol1CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII<br /> +<br /> +THE THIRD CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION<br /> +<br /> +1821</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">New England</span> people, passing through the Mohawk Valley into the rich +country beyond Seneca Lake, found many reasons for settling in central +and western New York. Out of this section the Legislature organised +twelve new counties in 1812. The sixteen counties that existed in the +State, in 1790, had increased to fifty-five in 1820. Settlers had +rapidly filled up the whole region. New York City, according to the +third census, had 123,706 inhabitants, and, of these, only 5390 were +unnaturalised foreigners. Indeed, the population of the State, in +1820, was made up largely of native Americans; and the descendants of +English families outnumbered those of the Dutch.</p> + +<p>Administrative reform had not, however, kept pace with the increase in +population. The number of freeholders qualified to vote for senator +and governor, was, relatively, no larger; the power of the Council of +Appointment had become odious; the veto of the Council of Revision +distasteful; and the sittings of the Supreme Court infrequent. It was +said that the members of the Council of Revision, secure from removal, +had resisted the creation of additional judges, until the speedy +administration of justice was a lost art. Gradually, the spirit that +demanded independence, in 1776, began to insist upon a broader +suffrage and additional rights. The New Englanders in the central, +western, and northern parts of the State had very pronounced +sentiments upon the subject of reform. They sympathised little with +the views of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.296" id="vol1Page_i.296">i. 296</a></span> landowning and conservative classes that largely +controlled the making of the Constitution of 1777. The people of New +York City, as well, who had increased over fifty per cent. in twelve +years, clamoured for a radical change in conditions that seemed to +them to have no application to life in a republic.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the politicians were slow in recognising the necessity +of amending the State Constitution. Although trouble increased from +year to year, governors avoided recommendations; and legislators +hesitated to put in motion the machinery for correcting abuses. After +Clinton had defeated Tompkins for governor, in 1820, however, the +agitation suddenly blazed into a flame. Tammany resolved in favour of +a convention having unlimited powers to amend the Constitution. +Following this suggestion, Governor Clinton, in his speech to the +Legislature in November, 1820, recommended that the question be +submitted to the people. But the Bucktails, indifferent to the views +of their opponents, pushed through a bill calling for a convention +with unlimited powers, whose work should subsequently be submitted in +gross to the people for ratification or rejection.</p> + +<p>Governor Clinton preferred a convention of limited powers, a +convention that could not abolish the judiciary or turn out of office +the only friends left him. Nevertheless, it was not easy for a +governor, who loved popularity, to take a position against the +Bucktail bill; for the popular mind, if it had not yet formally +expressed itself on the subject, was well understood to favour a +convention. When, therefore, the bill came before the Council of +Revision, Clinton thought he had taken good care to have a majority +present to disapprove it, without his assistance. Van Ness and Platt +were absent holding court; but, of the others, Joseph C. Yates, the +only Bucktail on the bench, was presumably the only one likely to +favour it. Chancellor Kent, in giving his reasons for disapproving the +measure, contended that the Legislature had no constitutional +authority to create a convention of unlimited powers, and, if it did, +it should require the convention to sub<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.297" id="vol1Page_i.297">i. 297</a></span>mit its amendments to the +people separately and not in gross. Spencer agreed with the +Chancellor. Yates, as expected, approved the bill, but there was +consternation in the Council when Woodworth agreed with Yates. +Woodworth was the creature of Clinton. He had made him a judge, and, +having done so, the Governor relied with confidence upon his support, +in preference to that of either Van Ness or Jonas Platt. It recalls +the mistake of the historic conclave which elected a Pope whom the +cardinals believed too feeble to have any will of his own, but who +suddenly became their master. One can easily understand Clinton's +dilemma. He wanted the bill disapproved without his aid; Woodworth's +action compelled him to do the very thing he had planned to avoid. To +the day of his death, Clinton never got over the affront. "Yates and +Woodworth were both frightened and have damned themselves," he wrote +Henry Post, on the 27th of November, 1820. "The latter supposed also +that he would distinguish himself by his independence. I don't know a +fellow more intrinsically despicable. I intend the first convenient +opportunity to cut him to the quick. Y—— is a miserable fellow—the +dupe of his own vanity and the tool of bad principles!"<a name="vol1FNanchor_218_218" id="vol1FNanchor_218_218"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> +Woodworth's action was severely criticised; and when, shortly +afterward, the Bucktails in the Senate sitting as a Court of Errors, +reversed a judgment against him for several thousand dollars, +overruling the opinion of Chancellor Kent, it seemed to impeach the +purity of his motives.</p> + +<p>After Clinton had voted in the Council, the convention bill, thus +vetoed, did not get the necessary two-thirds support. At the regular +session of the Legislature, which began in January, 1821, an amendment +was accepted submitting to the people the simple question of a +convention or no convention. Of the one hundred and forty-four +thousand votes cast, one hundred and nine thousand favoured a +convention. Delegates were then elected; and the convention, having<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.298" id="vol1Page_i.298">i. 298</a></span> +been organised, continued in session from August 28 to November 10, +1821.</p> + +<p>This convention passed into history as a remarkable gathering of +distinguished persons. With a few exceptions, all the men then living, +whose names have figured in these pages, took an active part in its +deliberations; and by their eloquence and ability contributed to a +constitution which was to answer the purposes of a rapidly growing +State for another quarter of a century. John Jay, the +constitution-maker of 1777, then seventy-six years of age, who still +lived upon his farm, happy in his rustic tastes and in his simple +pleasures, was represented by his gifted son, Peter A. Jay of +Westchester; Daniel D. Tompkins came from Richmond; Rufus King from +Queens; Nathan Sanford and Jacob Radcliff from New York; James Kent, +Ambrose Spencer, Abraham Van Vechten, and Stephen Van Rensselaer from +Albany; Jonas Platt, Ezekiel Bacon, and Nathan Williams from Oneida; +William W. Van Ness, Elisha Williams, and Jacob R. Van Rensselaer from +Columbia; and James Tallmadge and Peter R. Livingston from Dutchess. +There was one new name among them—Samuel Nelson of Cortland, a young +man, yet destined to become a well-known and influential chief justice +of the State, and an associate justice of the United States Supreme +Court. The Federalists of Albany did not return Martin Van Buren, who +now made his home in their city; but the people of Otsego honoured +themselves and greatly strengthened the convention by making him their +representative. He was clearly its leader. Root and Young did more +talking, but when others had argued until argument seemed hopeless, +Van Buren usually spoke the last word with success.</p> + +<p>From the first, it was recognised that Clinton's friends were without +influence. They could talk and vote, but the convention was a Bucktail +body, in which the election of delegates, the choice of a president, +the appointment of committees, the selection of chairmen, and the +transaction of business were made party questions. The vote of sixteen +to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.299" id="vol1Page_i.299">i. 299</a></span> ninety-four for Daniel D. Tompkins, for president, showed Bucktail +delegates overwhelmingly in the majority. Of the chairmen of the ten +standing committees, all were prominent Bucktail leaders, save Rufus +King, who had practically ceased to act with the Federalists of his +State, and James, Tallmadge, who ended his affection for DeWitt +Clinton when the latter preferred Thomas J. Oakley for +attorney-general.</p> + +<p>The convention's work centred about three great principles—broader +suffrage, enlarged local government, and a more popular judiciary +system. There was no difficulty in abolishing the Councils of +Appointment and of Revision; in clothing the governor with power of +veto; in fixing his term of office at two years instead of three; and +in making members of the Legislature ineligible for appointment to +office. But, on the questions of suffrage and the judiciary, the +convention was thrown into weeks of violent debate, memorable by +prophecies never fulfilled, and by criticism that the future quickly +disproved. In respect to the suffrage, there were practically three +different views. A few members favoured freehold qualifications; a +larger number believed in universal suffrage; while others stood +between the two, desiring the abolition of a freehold qualification, +yet opposing universal suffrage and wishing to place some restrictions +on the right to vote. Erastus Root and Samuel Young ably represented +the second class; Ambrose Spencer and the Federalists were intensely +loyal to a freehold qualification; and Van Buren, backed probably by a +majority of the convention, presented the compromise view.</p> + +<p>Preliminary to the great debate, a lively skirmish occurred over the +limitation of suffrage to the white voter. Strangely enough, this +proposition was sustained by Erastus Root, the ardent champion of +universal suffrage and the abolition of slavery; and it was opposed +with equal warmth by Peter A. Jay and the Federalists, who advocated a +freehold qualification. Van Buren did not speak, but he voted for the +resolution, to eliminate the word "white," which was carried by a +close vote—sixty-three to fifty-nine. Then it was proposed<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.300" id="vol1Page_i.300">i. 300</a></span> that +coloured voters should be freeholders. Again the advocates of +universal suffrage favoured the proposition, and the friends of a +freehold qualification opposed it; but this time the convention +decided against the negro, thirty-three to seventy-one. New York was +slow to give equal suffrage to the blacks. Nearly three-fourths of the +voters of the State withheld it in 1846; and, six years after +President Lincoln's emancipation proclamation, when the black soldier +had served his country throughout the Civil War with a fidelity and +courage that awoke the strongest emotions of a patriotic people, it +was again refused.</p> + +<p>The debate, however, which aroused the greatest interest, and in which +members of the convention most generally participated, sprang from +Ambrose Spencer's proposition limiting to freeholders the right to +vote for senators. It must have occurred to the Chief Justice that the +convention was against him, because its committee had unanimously +agreed to abolish the freehold qualification; and, further, because +the convention, by its action on the negro question, had demonstrated +its purpose to wipe out all property distinctions among white voters; +yet Spencer, at this eleventh hour, proposed to re-establish a +freehold difference between senators and assemblymen. The Chief +Justice, with all his faults, and they were many and grave, had in him +the capacity of a statesman; but it was a statesman of fifty years +before. He had learned little by experience. The prejudices of Jay and +other patriots of the Revolution, still lingered in his mind, arousing +painful apprehensions of what would happen if the exclusive privileges +of landowners should disappear, and robbing him of that faith in the +people which made Erastus Root the forerunner of the broad suffrage +that obtains to-day. Chancellor Kent backed Spencer's proposition in +an abler speech than that made by the Chief Justice himself. Kent was +an honourable, upright statesman, who, unlike Spencer, had never +wavered in his fealty to that federalism which had been learned at the +feet of John Jay and Alexander Hamilton; but, like Spencer, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.301" id="vol1Page_i.301">i. 301</a></span> had +failed to discover that the people, jealous of their rights and +liberties, could be trusted regardless of property holdings. "By the +report before us," he said, "we propose to annihilate, at one stroke, +all property distinctions, and to bow before the idol of universal +suffrage. That extreme democratic principle has been regarded with +terror by the wise men of every age, because in every European +republic, ancient and modern, in which it has been tried, it has +terminated disastrously, and been productive of corruption, injustice, +violence, and tyranny. And dare we flatter ourselves that we are a +peculiar people, who can run the career of history exempted from the +passions which have disturbed and corrupted the rest of mankind? If we +are like other races of men, with similar follies and vices, then I +greatly fear that our posterity will have reason to deplore in +sackcloth and ashes the delusion of the day."<a name="vol1FNanchor_219_219" id="vol1FNanchor_219_219"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a></p> + +<p>Though Erastus Root and Samuel Young employed all their eloquence and +all their energy against Spencer's proposition, it was Martin Van +Buren's speech which made the deepest impression. It cannot be said +that the latter's remarks defeated the amendment, because the vote of +nineteen to one hundred, showed no one behind the Chief Justice's +proposal save himself and a few Federalists. But Van Buren greatly +strengthened the report of the committee, which gave a vote to every +male citizen twenty-one years old, who had resided six months in the +State and who had within one year paid taxes or a road assessment, or +had been enrolled and served in the militia. Although, said Van Buren, +this report is on the verge of universal suffrage, it did not cheapen +the invaluable right, by conferring it indiscriminately upon every +one, black or white, who would condescend to accept it. He was +opposed, he said, to a precipitate and unexpected prostration of all +qualifications, and looked with dread upon the great increase of +voters in New York City, believing that such an increase would render +elections a curse rather than a blessing. But he maintained that the +events of the past<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.302" id="vol1Page_i.302">i. 302</a></span> forty years had discredited the speculative fears +of Franklin, Hamilton, and Madison; that venality in voting, in spite +of property qualifications, already existed in grossest forms in +parliamentary elections in England, and that property had been as safe +in those American communities which had given universal suffrage as in +the few which retained a freehold qualification. Then, with great +earnestness, his eye resting upon the distinguished Chancellor, he +declared that whenever the principles of order and good government +should yield to principles of anarchy and violence, all constitutional +provisions would be idle and unavailing.</p> + +<p>It was a captivating speech. There was little rhetoric and less +feeling. Van Buren took good care to show his thorough knowledge of +the subject, and, without the use of exclamations or interrogations, +he pointed out the unwisdom of following the constitution-makers of +1777, and the danger of accepting the dogma of universal suffrage. The +impression we get from the declaration of some of those who heard it, +is that Van Buren surpassed himself in this effort. He seems to have +made a large majority of the convention happy because he said just +what they wanted to know, and said it in just the way they wanted to +hear it. It must be admitted, too, that the evils which he prophesied, +if universal suffrage were given to New York City, have been too +unhappily verified. With the defeat of Spencer's proposition, the +suffrage question quickly settled itself along the lines of the +committee's report.</p> + +<p>The judiciary article excited less debate but more feeling. Delegates +brooded over the well known fact that judges had become political +partisans, opposed to increasing their number to meet the growing +demands of business, and anxious to retain the extraordinary power +given them under the Constitution of 1777. Whenever a suggestion was +made to retain these judges, therefore, it provoked bitter opposition +and denunciation. A few men in the convention had very fierce +opinions, seasoned with a kind of wit, and of these, the restless +energy of Erastus Root soon earned for him consid<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.303" id="vol1Page_i.303">i. 303</a></span>erable notoriety. +Indeed, it passed into a sort of proverb that there were three parties +in the convention—the Republicans, the Federalists, and Erastus Root. +It is not so clear that he had as much influence as his long +prominence in public life would seem to entitle him; but when he did +happen to stand with the majority, he pleased it with his witty +vehemence more than Peter R. Livingston did with his coarse +vituperation. In the debate on the judiciary, however, abuse and +invective were not confined to Root and Livingston. Abraham Van +Vechten and some of those who acted with him, employed every means in +their power to defeat the opponents of the judges, although they +scarcely equalled the extra-tribunal methods of their adversaries.</p> + +<p>The contest opened as soon as the chairman of the judiciary committee +reported in favour of a vice chancellor, from whom appeals should be +taken to the chancellor; and of a superior court of common pleas, +having practically the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, which should +form a part of the Court for the Correction of Errors. This meant the +continuation of the old judges. Immediately, Erastus Root offered a +substitute, abolishing the existing courts, and creating a new Supreme +Court, with a corps of <i>nisi prius</i> district judges. Root's plan also +provided for the transfer of the equitable powers of the Court of +Chancery to the courts of common law. This was the extreme view. +Although the convention, or at least a majority of it, might wish to +get rid of the old Supreme Court judges, it was plainly unwilling to +let go the Court of Chancery. So it rejected the Root substitute by a +vote of seventy-three to thirty-six, and the report of the judiciary +committee by seventy-nine ayes to thirty-three noes. But the attack +thus daringly begun by Root, was steadily maintained. Martin Van +Buren, who figured as a sort of peacemaker, proposed the retention of +the Chancery and Supreme Courts, and the creation of circuit judges. +This proposition went to a special committee, which presented two +reports—one for the preservation of the Court of Chancery and the +Supreme Court, the other for the crea<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.304" id="vol1Page_i.304">i. 304</a></span>tion of a Court of Chancery, a +Supreme Court, and courts of common pleas. It was plain that the +second of these was Root's former substitute, with the Court of +Chancery continued, and, in support of it, he now arraigned the +political conduct of the judges with a severity that was speedily +rebuked. Root was radical or nothing. He hated Spencer, he despised +Van Ness, and he disliked James Kent and Jonas Platt; and with an +exuberance of apparent anger he demanded the abolition of their courts +and the creation of others in no wise different.</p> + +<p>In replying to Root, Van Buren again discovered his kindliness of +heart. The only question, he said, was whether the convention would +insert an article in the Constitution for the sole purpose of vacating +the offices of the present chancellor, and Supreme Court judges, and +thus apply a rule which had not yet been applied in a single instance. +There could be no public reason for the measure and personal feeling +should not control. Referring to William W. Van Ness, he declared that +he could with truth say that, throughout his whole life, he had been +assailed by him with hostility—political, professional and +personal—hostility which had been keen, active, and unyielding. "But, +sir, am I on that account to indulge my individual resentment in the +prostration of my private and political adversary? If I could be +capable of such conduct I should forever despise myself." In +conclusion, he expressed the hope that the convention would not ruin +its character and credit by proceeding to such extremities. Van Buren +struck hard, and for the time had routed the judges' opponents by a +vote of sixty-four to forty-four. But if the delegates hesitated to +back Root, they did not propose to follow Van Buren, and they crushed +the first report under the unexpected vote of eighty-six to +twenty-five.</p> + +<p>The convention had now been in session over two months, and this most +troublesome question seemed no nearer settlement than on the opening +day. As in the suffrage debate, there were three factions—one +determined to get rid of Chan<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.305" id="vol1Page_i.305">i. 305</a></span>cellor Kent and the five Supreme Court +judges; another, less numerous, desirous of continuing them all in +office, and a third, probably composed of a majority of the +convention, who wished to save the chancellor and lose the others. +Finally, on the first day of November, ten days before adjournment, a +proposition appeared to create a Supreme Court to consist of a chief +justice and two justices, and to divide the State into not less than +four or more than eight districts, as the Legislature should decide, +in each of which a district judge should be appointed, with the tenure +and powers of Supreme Court judges. It was also provided that such +equity powers should be vested in the district judges, in courts of +common pleas, or in other subordinate courts, as the Legislature might +direct, subject to the appellate jurisdiction of the chancellor. This +was practically Root's old proposition in another form, and its +reappearance made it the more certain that a majority of the +convention had determined to destroy the present judges.</p> + +<p>Up to this time, the members of the court, all of whom were delegates, +either from motives of modesty, or with the hope that the many plans +might result in no action, had taken no part in the debates on the +judiciary. Now, however, Ambrose Spencer, with doubtful propriety, +broke the silence. His friends feared the assaults of Root and Peter +R. Livingston might drive him into a fierce retort, and that he would +antagonise the convention if he did not also weary it. But he did +nothing of the kind. He spoke with calmness and excellent taste, +saying that he favoured the appointment of circuit judges who should +aid the Supreme Court in the trial of issues of fact, and who should +also be members, <i>ex-officio</i>, of the Court of Errors; that he had +little or no personal interest in the question since he should very +soon be constitutionally ineligible to the office; that for eighteen +years he had tried to discharge his duties with fidelity and +integrity, and that he should leave the bench conscious of having done +no wrong if he had not always had the approval of others. He seemed to +capture the convention for a mo<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.306" id="vol1Page_i.306">i. 306</a></span>ment. His tones were mellow, his +manner gentle, and when he suggested leaving Albany on the morrow to +resume his labours on the bench, his remarks took the form of a +farewell speech, which added a touch of pathos. Indeed, the Chief +Justice had proved so wise and discreet that Henry Wheaton thought it +an opportune time to propose an amendment to the proposition before +the convention, providing that the present justices hold office until +their number be reduced to three, by death, resignation, removal, or +by age limitation. This brought the convention face to face with the +question of retaining the old judges, stripped of all other +provisions, and the result was awaited with great interest. It was Van +Buren's idea. It had the support, too, of Nathan Sanford, of Peter B. +Sharpe, the speaker of the Assembly, and of half a score of prominent +Bucktails who hoped, with Van Buren, that the convention would not +ruin its character by extreme measures based upon personal dislikes; +but a majority of the delegates was in no mood for such a suggestion. +It had listened respectfully to the Chief Justice, and would doubtless +have cheerfully heard from the Chancellor and other members of the +court, but it could not surrender the principle over which sixty days +had been spent in contention. When, therefore, the roll was called, +Wheaton's amendment was rejected by a vote of sixty-six to +thirty-nine. Then came the call on the original proposition, to have +Supreme and District Courts, which disclosed sixty-two ayes and +fifty-three noes. If the weakness of the noes on the first vote was a +disappointment, the strength of the noes on the second vote was a +surprise. A change of only five votes was needed to defeat the +proposition, and these might have been reduced to three had Daniel D. +Tompkins, who favoured Van Buren's idea, and the four judges who +refrained from voting, felt at liberty to put themselves upon record. +It is a notable fact that the conspicuous, able men of the convention, +with the exception of Erastus Root and Samuel Young, voted to continue +the judges in office.</p> + +<p>Martin Van Buren, as chairman of the committee to con<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.307" id="vol1Page_i.307">i. 307</a></span>sider the +question of filling offices, reported in favour of abolishing the +Council of Appointment, and of electing state officers by the +Legislature, justices of the peace by the people, and military +officers, except generals, by the rank and file of the militia. +Judicial officers, with surrogates and sheriffs, were to be appointed +by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, while courts were +authorised to select county clerks and district attorneys. To the +common councils of cities was committed the duty of choosing mayors +and clerks. In his statement, Van Buren said that of the eight +thousand two hundred and eighty-seven military officers in the State, +all would be elected by the rank and file, except seventy-eight +generals; and of the six thousand six hundred and sixty-three civil +officers, all would be elected by the people or designated as the +Legislature should direct, except four hundred and fifty-three. To +provide for these five hundred and thirty-one military and civil +officers, the committee thought it wise to have the governor appoint +and the Senate confirm them. The constitutions recently formed in +Kentucky, Louisiana, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, he said, had +such a provision—similar, in fact, to that in the Federal +Constitution—and, although this method was open to objection, the +committee was unable to devise a better system.</p> + +<p>Aside from James Tallmadge, who thought the Legislature should have +nothing to do with the patronage of government, this report called out +little opposition, so far as it provided for the election of state +officers by the Legislature, military officers by the militia, and the +appointment of higher military and judicial officers by the governor. +Van Buren had made it plain, by his exhaustive argument, that +constitution-makers, seeking the latest expression of the people's +will, could devise no better plan, and that experience in the newest +States having the same system, had developed no serious objection. +There was a readiness, also, to accept the recommendation allowing the +Legislature to designate the manner of selecting the three thousand +six hundred and forty-three notaries public, commissioners of deeds, +and other<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.308" id="vol1Page_i.308">i. 308</a></span> minor officers. But a buzz of disapproval ran through the +convention when the article providing for the election of justices of +the peace was reached. It was evident from the outset, that a +concerted movement was on foot among Republican leaders to establish, +at the seat of government, a central appointing power of large +authority, and the appointment of justices of the peace was peculiarly +essential to its strength. A justice was of more importance then than +now. He was usually the strongest character in his vicinage, and +whether he followed the plow, or wore upon the bench the homely +working clothes in which he tended cattle, he was none the less +familiar with the politics of every suitor in his court. In the +absence of higher courts, neighbours were compelled to go before him, +and in settling their troubles, it was usually understood that he held +the scales of justice without being blindfolded.</p> + +<p>Van Buren did not conceal his hostility to the election of these +justices. If he had developed radical tendencies in the suffrage +debate, he now exhibited equally strong conservative proclivities in +limiting the power of the voter. His vigorous protests in the +committee-room against the election of surrogates, sheriffs and county +clerks had defeated that proposition, and in referring to the section +of the report making justices of the peace elective, he said it had +been a source of sincere regret that the committee overruled him. But +a majority of the committee, he continued, in his smooth and adroit +manner, had no strong personal predilections on the question of the +election of sheriffs and surrogates, and if, on a fair and deliberate +examination, it should be thought better to have these officials +elected by the people, they would cheerfully acquiesce in that +decision. This was the quintessence of diplomacy. He knew that Erastus +Root and Samuel Young insisted upon having these officers elected, +and, to secure their opposition to the election of justices of the +peace, he indicated a willingness to be convinced as to the expediency +of electing sheriffs and surrogates.</p> + +<p>To bring the question of electing or appointing justices of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.309" id="vol1Page_i.309">i. 309</a></span> the peace +squarely before the convention, Van Buren, at a later day, introduced +a resolution providing that the board of supervisors in every county +should, at such time as the Legislature directed, recommend to the +governor a list of persons equal in number to the justices of the +peace in such county; that the respective courts of common pleas of +the several counties should also recommend a like number, and from the +lists so recommended the governor should appoint. In the event of +vacancies, like recommendations were to be made. The governor was also +authorised to remove a justice upon the application in writing of the +body recommending his appointment. This scheme was not very +magnificent. It put the responsibility of selection neither upon +supervisors, courts, nor governor, although each one must act +independently of the other, but it gave the governor a double chance +of appointing men of his own political faith. This was Van Buren's +purpose. He believed in a central appointing power, which the Albany +Regency might control, and, that such power should not be impotent, +these minor and many magistrates, thickly distributed throughout the +State, with a jurisdiction broad enough to influence their +neighbourhoods, became of the greatest importance. To secure their +appointment, therefore, Van Buren was ready to sacrifice the +appointment of sheriffs, with their vast army of deputies.</p> + +<p>Van Buren's scheme was ably resisted. Rufus King, who was counted a +Bucktail but until now had taken little part in debate, spoke against +it with all the sincere emotion of one whose mind and heart alike were +filled with the cause for which he pleaded. He thought justices should +be elected. Each locality knew the men in whom it could trust to +settle its disputes, and farmers as well as townspeople should be +allowed to select the arbitrator of all their petty quarrels and +disagreements. It was the very essence of home rule. In vigorous +English Ambrose Spencer, William W. Van Ness, and Jacob R. Van +Rensselaer supported the Senator, while Ogden Edwards of New York +City, an able representative of Tammany, burning with a sense of +injustice, violently as<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.310" id="vol1Page_i.310">i. 310</a></span>sailed the proposed plan. "The unanimous vote +of this convention," he said, "had shown that the Council of +Appointment was an evil. A unanimous sentence of condemnation has been +passed upon it, and I had not expected so soon to find a proposition +for its revival."</p> + +<p>Probably no stranger scene was ever witnessed in a parliamentary body +than Erastus Root and Samuel Young, two radical legislators, advocates +of universal suffrage, and just now especially conspicuous because of +their successful support of the election of sheriffs and county +clerks, arguing with zeal and ability for the appointment of justices +of the peace. It seemed like a travesty, since there was not an +argument in favour of electing sheriffs that did not apply with added +force to the election of justices. The convention stood aghast at such +effrontery. It is impossible to read, without regret, of the voluntary +stultification of these orators, pleading piteously for the +appointment of justices of the peace while declaiming with passionate +righteousness against the appointment of sheriffs. With acidulated +satire, Van Ness, enrapturing his hearers by his brilliancy, held them +up to public ridicule if not to public detestation. But Van Buren's +bungling proposition, though once rejected by a vote of fifty-nine to +fifty-six, was in the end substantially adopted, and it remained a +part of the amended constitution until the people, very soon satisfied +of its iniquity, ripped it out of the organic law with the same +unanimity that their representatives now abolished the Councils of +Appointment and of Revision. Could Van Buren have had his way, the +Council of Appointment would have been changed only in name.</p> + +<p>The work of the convention concluded, a motion for the passage of the +Constitution as a whole developed only eight votes in the negative, +though twenty-four members, including the eight delegates from Albany +and Columbia Counties, four from Montgomery, Jonas Platt of Oneida, +and Peter A. Jay of Westchester, because it extended and cheapened +suffrage, refused to sign it. Other objections were urged. Ezekiel +Bacon of Utica, explaining his affirmative vote,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.311" id="vol1Page_i.311">i. 311</a></span> thought it worse +than the existing Constitution of 1777; yet he approved it because the +provision for amendment afforded the people a means of correcting +defects with reasonable facility, without resorting to the difficult +and dangerous experiment of a formal convention.</p> + +<p>The Constitution, however, in spite of the opposition, was +overwhelmingly ratified. The vote for it was 74,732; against it +41,043. And it proved better than even its sponsors prophesied. It +abolished the Councils of Appointment and of Revision; it abolished +the power of the governor to prorogue the Legislature; it abolished +the property qualification of the white voter; it extended the +elective franchise; it made a large number of officers elective; it +modified the management of the canals and created a canal board; it +continued the Court of Errors and Impeachments; it reorganised the +judicial department, making all judges, surrogates, and recorders +appointive by the governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate; +it made state officers, formerly appointed by the Council, elective by +joint ballot of the Senate and Assembly; and it gave the power of veto +exclusively to the governor, requiring a two-thirds vote of the +Legislature to overcome it. No doubt it had radical defects, but with +the help of a few amendments it lived for a quarter of a century.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.312" id="vol1Page_i.312">i. 312</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="vol1CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII<br /> +<br /> +THE SECOND FALL OF CLINTON<br /> +<br /> +1822</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> new Constitution changed the date of elections from April to +November, and reduced the gubernatorial term from three years to two, +thus ending Governor Clinton's administration on January 1, 1823. As +the time approached for nominating his successor, it was obvious that +the Bucktails, having reduced party discipline to a science and +launched the Albany Regency upon its long career of party domination, +were certain to control the election. Indeed, so strong had the party +become that a nomination for senator or assemblyman was equivalent to +an election, and the defeat of John W. Taylor of Saratoga for speaker +of the Seventeenth Congress showed that its power extended to the +capital of the nation. Taylor's ability and splendid leadership, in +the historic contest of the Missouri Compromise, had made him speaker +during the second session of the Sixteenth Congress; but Bucktail +resentment of his friendly attitude toward Clinton, in 1820, changed a +sufficient number of his New York colleagues to deprive him of +re-election. It was not until the Nineteenth Congress, after the power +of the Albany Regency had been temporarily broken by the election of +John Quincy Adams to the Presidency, that Taylor finally received the +reward to which he was so richly entitled.</p> + +<p>At this moment of the Regency's domination, Joseph C. Yates showed +himself the coming man. Though it was the desire of his party that he +take the nomination for governor in 1820, the cautious, modest Justice +of the Supreme Court had discreetly decided not to sacrifice himself +in the year of DeWitt Clinton's greatest strength. Conscious of his +own<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.313" id="vol1Page_i.313">i. 313</a></span> popularity with the people, he was prepared to wait. But he had +not to wait long. During the last two years of Clinton's +administration, Yates had distinguished himself in the Council of +Revision, by voting for the bill creating a constitutional +convention—a vote which was applauded by Van Buren, although overcome +by Clinton; and when the time approached for the selection of another +gubernatorial candidate, he rightly saw that his hour was come. Yates +was not cut out for the part which a strange combination of +circumstances was to allow him to play. He was a man of respectable +character, but without remarkable capacity of any kind. He had a +charming personality. He was modest and mild in his deportment, and +richly gifted with discretion, caution, and prudence. Vindictiveness +formed no part of his disposition. The peculiar character of his +intellect made him a good Supreme Court judge; but he lacked the +intellectual energy and courage for an executive, who must thoroughly +understand the means of getting and retaining public support.</p> + +<p>A majority of the leading politicians of the party, appreciating +Yates' mental deficiencies, ranged themselves on the side of Samuel +Young, who enjoyed playing a conspicuous part and liked attacking +somebody. Young was not merely a debater of apparently inexhaustible +resource, but a master in the use of parliamentary tactics and +political craft. His speeches, or such reports of them as exist, are +full of striking passages and impressive phrases; and, as an orator, +full, round and joyous, with singularly graceful and charming manners, +he was then without a rival in his party. But his ultra-radicalism and +illiberal, often rude, treatment of opponents prevented him from +obtaining all the influence which would otherwise have been fairly due +to his talents and his political and personal integrity.</p> + +<p>There were, also, other aspirants. Daniel D. Tompkins, preferring +governor to Vice President, was willing to be called; and Peter B. +Porter, Erastus Root, and Nathan Sanford, figured among those whose +names were canvassed. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.314" id="vol1Page_i.314">i. 314</a></span> contest, however, soon settled down between +Yates and Young, with the chances decidedly in favour of the former. +People admired Young and were proud of him—they thoroughly liked +Yates and trusted him. If Young had possessed the kindly, sympathetic +disposition of Yates, with a tithe of his discretion, he would have +rivalled Martin Van Buren in influence and popularity, and become a +successful candidate for any office in the gift of the voters; but, +with all his splendid genius for debate and eloquent speaking, he was +neither a patient leader nor a popular one. When the Republican +members of the Legislature got into caucus, therefore, Joseph C. Yates +had a pronounced majority, as had Erastus Root for +lieutenant-governor.</p> + +<p>Young's defeat for the nomination left bitter enmity. A reconciliation +did, indeed, take place between him and Yates, but it was as formal +and superficial as that of the two demons described in Le Sage's +story. "They brought us together," says Asmodeus; "they reconciled us. +We shook hands and became mortal enemies." Young and Yates were +reconciled; but from the moment of Yates' nomination, until, chagrined +and disappointed, he was forced into retirement after two years of +humiliating obedience to the Regency, Samuel Young spared no effort to +render his late opponent unpopular.</p> + +<p>Although Clinton's canal policy, upon the success of which he had +staked his all, was signally vindicating itself in rapidity of +construction, and the very moderate estimate of cost, his friends did +not hesitate to advise him that his re-election to the governorship +was impossible. It was a cold proposition for a man to face who had +inaugurated a system of improvement which would confer prosperity and +wealth upon the people, and enrich and elevate the State. For a time, +like a caged tiger, he bit at the bars that seemed to limit his +ambition. But his friends were right. Through his management, or want +of management, the Clintonians had ceased to exist as an organisation, +and his supporting Federalists, as evidenced by the election of +delegates to the constitu<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.315" id="vol1Page_i.315">i. 315</a></span>tional convention in 1821, had passed into a +hopeless minority. "Governor Clinton, though governor," said Thurlow +Weed, "was much in the condition of a pastor without a congregation." +It was striking proof of the absence of tact and that address which, +in a popular government, is necessary for one to possess who expects +to succeed in public life. Clinton had now been governor for five +consecutive years. His motives had undoubtedly been pure and +patriotic, and he had within his control the means of a great office +to influence people in his favour; yet a cold exterior, an arrogant +manner, and a disposition to rule or ruin, had cooled his friends and +driven away the people until opponents took little heed of his +existence.</p> + +<p>No doubt Clinton had good reason to know that the statesmen of that +time were not exactly what they professed to be. He was well aware +that many of them, like John Woodworth, Ambrose Spencer, and James +Tallmadge, had played fast and loose as the chances of Bucktail and +Clintonian had gone up or gone down; and, although he gracefully +declined to become a candidate for re-election, when convinced of the +utter hopelessness of such a race, his brain was no less active in the +conception of plans which should again return him to power. As early +as October, 1822, he wrote Post: "The odium attached to the name of +Federalist has been a millstone round the neck of true policy. It is +now almost universally dropped in this district, in the district of +which Oneida County is part, and in the Herkimer County meeting. I +hail this as an auspicious event. Names in politics as well as science +are matters of substance, and a bad name in public is as injurious to +success as a bad name in private life. The inferences I draw from the +signs of the times are: First, the ascendancy of our party from the +collisions of parties. In proportion as they quarrel with each other +they will draw closer to us. The last hate being the most violent will +supersede the former antipathy. Second, the old names as well as the +old lines of party will be abolished. Third, nominations by caucuses +will be exploded. Fourth, Yates, Van<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.316" id="vol1Page_i.316">i. 316</a></span> Buren, etc., will go down like +the stick of a rocket. Our friends are up and doing in Ulster."</p> + +<p>It is impossible not to feel admiration for the indomitable courage +and the inexhaustible animal spirits which no defeat could reduce to +prostration. Furthermore, Clinton had written with the inspiration of +a prophet. Not only were the old names and the old party lines soon to +vanish, but the last legislative caucus ever to be held in the State, +would be called in less than two years. Within the same period Yates +was to fall like the stick of a rocket, and Van Buren to suffer his +first defeat.</p> + +<p>In the absence of a Clintonian or Federalist opponent, Solomon +Southwick announced himself as an independent candidate. His was a +strange story. He had many of the noblest qualities and some of the +wildest fancies, growing out of an extravagant imagination that seemed +to control his mind. Among other things, he opened an office for the +sale of lottery tickets, reserving numbers for himself which had been +indicated in dreams or by fortune-tellers, with whom he was in +frequent consultation. Writing of his disposition to hope for aid from +the miraculous interposition of some invisible power, Hammond says: +"He was in daily expectation that the next mail would bring him news +that he had drawn the highest prize in the lottery; and I have known +him to borrow money of a friend under a solemn pledge of his honour +for its repayment in ten days, and have afterward ascertained that his +sole expectation of redeeming his pledge depended on his drawing a +prize when the next lottery in which he was interested should be +drawn."<a name="vol1FNanchor_220_220" id="vol1FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a></p> + +<p>Southwick was undoubtedly a man of genius, as his work on the Albany +<i>Register</i>, the <i>Ploughboy</i>, and the <i>Christian Visitant</i> clearly +indicates; but erroneous judgment and defective impulses resulted in +misfortunes which finally darkened and closed his life in adversity if +not in poverty. As a young man he had been repeatedly elected clerk of +the Assembly, and had afterward served as sheriff, as state printer,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.317" id="vol1Page_i.317">i. 317</a></span> +and, finally, as postmaster. In the meantime, he became the first +president of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank, making money easily and +rapidly, living extravagantly, giving generously, and acquiring great +political influence. But his trial for bribery, of which mention has +been made, his removal as state printer, and his defalcation as +postmaster, prostrated him financially and politically. In the hope of +retrieving his fortunes he embarked in real estate speculation, thus +completing his ruin and making him still more visionary and fantastic. +Nevertheless, he struggled on with industry and courage for more than +twenty years, occasionally coming into public or political notice as a +writer of caustic letters, or as a candidate for office.</p> + +<p>In 1822, the wild fancy possessed Southwick of becoming governor, and +to preface the way for his visionary scheme he applied to a bright +young journalist, the editor of the Manlius <i>Republican</i>, to canvass +the western and southwestern counties of the State. Thurlow Weed at +this time was twenty-six years old. He had worked on a farm, he had +blown a blacksmith's bellows, he had shipped as a cabin-boy, he had +done chores at a tavern, he had served as a soldier, and he had +learned the printer's trade. For twenty years he lived a life of +poverty, yet of tireless industry, with a simplicity as amazing as his +genius. The only thing of which he got nothing was schooling. His +family was an old Connecticut one, which had come down in the world. +Everything went wrong with his father. He was hard-working, +kind-hearted, and strictly honest, but nothing succeeded. With the +hope of "bettering his condition," he moved five times in ten years, +getting so desperately poor at last that a borrowed two-horse sleigh +carried all his worldly goods, including a wife and five children. +Joel Weed was, perhaps, as unfortunate a man as ever brought an +illustrious son into the world. He was neither shiftless nor +worthless, but what others did he could not do. He never took up land +for himself because he had nothing to begin with. A neighbour who +began with an axe and a hoe, entered fifty acres, and got rich.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.318" id="vol1Page_i.318">i. 318</a></span></p> + +<p>If Joel Weed lived as a beggar, Thurlow thought as a king. He revelled +in the mountains and streams interspersed along the routes of the +family's frequent movings; his taste for adventure made the sloop's +cabin a home, and his love for reading turned the blacksmith shop and +printing office into a schoolroom. As he read he forgot that he was +poor, forgot that he was ragged, forgot that he was hungry. In his +autobiography he tells of walking bare-footed six miles through the +snow to borrow a history of the French Revolution, and of reading it +at night in the blaze of a pitch-pine knot. Men found him lovable. He +was large and awkward; but even as a boy there was a charm of manner, +a tender, sympathetic nature, a sweet, sparkling humour, and a +nobility of character that irresistibly drew people to him. In many +respects his boyhood resembled Lincoln's, and, though he lived in some +of the evil days of the last century, his youth, like Lincoln's, +escaped pollution. At the age of twelve, as an apprentice in a weekly +newspaper office at Onondaga Hollow, he read and filed every exchange +paper, familiarising himself with discussions in Congress, and +imbibing a deadly hatred of England because of Indian barbarities +excited by British agents, and cruelties to American seamen impressed +by British officers. With the true instinct of his fine nature, he +made his friends and companions among the wisest and highest of his +time, although he loved all company that was not vicious and depraved. +He knew Gerrit Smith in 1814; a few months' stay, as a journeyman +printer, at Auburn, forged a lasting friendship with Elijah Miller, +the father-in-law of William H. Seward, and with Enos T. Throop, +afterward governor. His intimacy with Gorham A. Worth, a financier of +decided literary tastes, and for thirty years president of the New +York City Bank, began in Albany in 1816. Thus, in whatever town he +worked or settled, the prominent men and those to grow into prominence +became his intimates. He had women friends, too, as wisely chosen as +the men, but Catherine Ostrander was the star of his life. He tells a +touching little story of this Cooperstown maiden.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.319" id="vol1Page_i.319">i. 319</a></span> Their engagement +occurred in his seventeenth year, but her parents, objecting to the +roving, unsettled youth, he proposed three years of absolute +separation, and if then no change had come to her affections she +should write and tell him so. In his hours of poverty, he was cheered +by the thought of her, and when, at last, her letter came, he hastened +to claim her as his bride. At the conclusion of the ceremony, he had +money enough only to take them back to Albany.</p> + +<p>Weed began the publication of the Manlius <i>Republican</i> in June, 1821. +For three years previously the <i>Agriculturist</i>, published at Norwich, +in Chenango County, had given him proprietorship, some reputation, and +less money; but it had also classified him politically. He had never +been a Federalist, nor could he be called a Clintonian, although his +belief in canal improvement led him to the support of Governor Clinton +and earned for him the opposition of the Bucktails. Like his father he +worked without success, and then moved on to Albany; but he left +behind him a coterie of distinguished Chenango friends who were ever +after to follow his leadership. At Albany, he began to earn eighteen +dollars a week as a journeyman printer on the <i>Argus</i>. The Bucktails +forced him out and he went on to Manlius, resurrecting the <i>Times</i>, an +old Federalist paper, which he called the <i>Republican</i>.</p> + +<p>It was at this time that Southwick sought him. "He was insanely +anxious to be governor," says Weed, "and all the more insane because +of its impossibility. He had been editing with great industry and +ability the <i>Ploughboy</i> and the <i>Christian Visitant</i>, and beguiled +himself with a confident belief that farmers and Christians, +irrespective of party, would sustain him. He provided me with a horse +and wagon, and gave me a list of the names of gentlemen on whom I was +to call, but I soon discovered that my friend's hopes and chances were +not worth even the services of a horse that was dragging me through +the mud. Years afterward I learned that in politics, as almost in +everything else, Mr. Southwick was blinded by his enthusiasm and +credulity."<a name="vol1FNanchor_221_221" id="vol1FNanchor_221_221"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.320" id="vol1Page_i.320">i. 320</a></span></p> +<p>But Southwick was not the only blinded one in 1822. On the 10th of +January, Governor Clinton wrote Henry Post "that Yates and Van Buren +are both prostrate, and the latter particularly so."<a name="vol1FNanchor_222_222" id="vol1FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> Later in the +year, on August 21, he declared: "Yates is unpopular, and Southwick +will beat him in this city and in Schenectady."<a name="vol1FNanchor_223_223" id="vol1FNanchor_223_223"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> In the next +month, September 21, he is even more outspoken. "Yates is despised and +talked against openly. Savage and Skinner talk plainly against him, +and he is the subject of commonplace ridicule."<a name="vol1FNanchor_224_224" id="vol1FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> Clinton was the +last person to abandon hope of Yates' defeat; and yet Yates' election +could, without exaggeration, be declared practically unanimous.<a name="vol1FNanchor_225_225" id="vol1FNanchor_225_225"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> +Republican legislative candidates fared equally well. Clintonians and +Federalists were entirely without representation in the Senate, and in +the Assembly their number was insufficient to make their presence +appreciable.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.321" id="vol1Page_i.321">i. 321</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XXIX" id="vol1CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX<br /> +<br /> +CLINTON AGAIN IN THE SADDLE<br /> +<br /> +1823-1824</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> election in the fall of 1822 was one of those sweeping, crushing +victories that precede a radical change; and the confidence with which +the victors used their power hurried on the revolution prophesied in +Clinton's clever letter to Post. The blow did not, indeed, come at +once. The legislators, meeting in January, 1823, proceeded cautiously, +agreeing in caucus upon the state officers whom the Legislature, under +the amended Constitution, must now elect. John Van Ness Yates, the +Governor's nephew, was made secretary of state; William L. Marcy, +comptroller; Simeon DeWitt, surveyor-general, and Alexander M. Muir, +commissary-general. The caucus hesitated to nominate DeWitt because he +was a Clintonian; but forty years of honourable, efficient, quiet +service finally appealed to a Republican Legislature with all the +force that it had formerly appealed to the Skinner Council. There was +more of a contest over the comptrollership. James Tallmadge suddenly +blossomed into a rival candidate. Tallmadge, like John W. Taylor, won +his spurs as a leader of the opposition to the Missouri Compromise. He +had been an ardent supporter of Clinton until the latter preferred +Thomas J. Oakley as attorney-general; then he swung into communion +with the Bucktails. He was impulsively ambitious, sensitive to +opposition, fearless in action, and such an inveterate hater that he +could not always act along lines leading to his own preferment.</p> + +<p>Under the new Constitution, county judges, surrogates, and notaries +public were selected from the dominant party with more jealous care +than by the old Council; and if Yates<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.322" id="vol1Page_i.322">i. 322</a></span> failed to observe the edict of +the Regency, the Senate failed to confirm his appointees. Hammond, the +historian, gives an instance of its refusal to confirm the +reappointment of a bank cashier as a notary public because of his +politics. But the really absorbing question was the appointment of +Supreme Court judges. Though there was no objection to Nathan Sanford +for chancellor, since he would not take office until the retirement of +James Kent, in August, by reason of age limitation, the spirit shown +in the constitutional convention, toward the old Supreme Court judges, +pervaded the Senate. The Governor, who had served with Ambrose Spencer +since 1808, and with Platt and Woodworth from the time of their +elevation to the court, was prompted, perhaps through his kindly +interest in their welfare, to nominate them for reappointment, but the +Senate rejected them by an almost unanimous vote. If the Governor had +now let the matter rest, he would doubtless have escaped the serious +charge of insincerity. The next day, however, without giving the +rejected men opportunity to secure a rehearing, he nominated John +Savage, Jacob Sutherland, and Samuel R. Betts. The suddenness of these +second nominations seemed to indicate a greater desire to continue +cordial relations with the Senate than to help his former associates. +Whatever the cause, though, Ambrose Spencer never forgave him; nor did +he outlive Samuel Young's criticism of playing politics at the expense +of his old comrades upon the bench.</p> + +<p>With the exception of Ambrose Spencer, who was destined to be +remembered for a time by friends and enemies, the old judges of the +Supreme Court may now be said to drop out of state history. Spencer +lived twenty-five years longer, until 1848, serving one term in +Congress, one term as mayor of Albany, and finally rounding out his +long life of eighty-three years as president of the national Whig +convention at Baltimore in 1844; but his political and public +activity, as a factor to be reckoned with, ceased at the age of +fifty-eight. The close of his life was spent in happy quietude among +his<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.323" id="vol1Page_i.323">i. 323</a></span> books, and in the midst of new-found friends in the church, with +which he united some six or eight years before his death. Jonas Platt +returned to Clinton County, and, for a time, practised his profession +with great acceptance as an advocate; but as a master-politician he, +like Spencer, was out of employment forever. At last, he, too, retired +to a farm, and with composure awaited the end that came in 1834. +William W. Van Ness was destined to go earlier. Not seeking +reappointment to the bench, he settled in New York, with apparently +forty years of life before him, his genius in all the glow of its +maturity marking him for greater political success than he had yet +achieved; yet, within a year, on February 27, 1823, death found him +while he sought health in a Southern State. He was only forty-seven +years old at the time. Disease and not age had thrown him. Born in +1776, he had won for himself the proudest honours of the law, and +written his name high up on the roll of New York statesmen.</p> + +<p>Governor Yates had thus far travelled a difficult and dusty road. In +the duty of organising the government, which, under the new +Constitution fell to him, and in making appointments, he received the +censure and was burdened with the resentment of the mortified and +disappointed. His opponents, with the hearty and poorly concealed +approval of Young's friends, made it their business to create a public +opinion against him. They assailed him at all points with ridicule, +with satire, with vituperation, and with personal abuse. They seemed +to lie in wait to find occasion for attacking him, exaggerating his +weaknesses and minimising his strength. But the blunder that broke his +heart, and sent him into unexpected and sudden retirement, was his +opposition to a change in the law providing for the choice of +presidential electors by the people. The demand for such a measure +grew out of a divided sentiment between William H. Crawford, then +secretary of the treasury, John Quincy Adams, secretary of state, and +Henry Clay, speaker of the national House of Representatives, the +leading candidates for President. There was, as yet, no real break in +the Re<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.324" id="vol1Page_i.324">i. 324</a></span>publican party. No national question had appeared upon which +the nation was divided; and, although individuals in the South took +exception to protective duties, the party had made no claim that the +tariff system of 1816 was either inexpedient or unconstitutional. The +selection of a candidate for President had, however, become intensely +personal, dividing the country into excited factions equivalent to a +division of parties. In New York, Van Buren and the Albany Regency +favoured Crawford; James Tallmadge, Henry Wheaton, Thurlow Weed and +others preferred Adams; and Samuel Young, Peter B. Porter and their +friends warmly supported Clay. The heated contest extended to the +people, who understood that the choice of Crawford electors by the +Legislature would control the election for the Georgian, while a +change in the law would give Adams or Clay a chance. To insure such a +change, the opponents of Crawford, calling themselves the People's +party, made several nominations for the Assembly, and among those +elected by overwhelming majorities were Tallmadge and Wheaton.</p> + +<p>If Tallmadge was the most conspicuous leader of the People's party, +Henry Wheaton was easily second. Though seven years younger, he had +already made himself prominent, not merely as a politician of general +ability, but as a reporter of the United States Supreme Court, whose +conscientious and intelligent work was to link his name forever with +the jurisprudence of the country. During the War of 1812, Wheaton had +edited the <i>National Advocate</i>, writing a series of important papers +on neutral rights; and, subsequently, he had become division +judge-advocate of the army, and justice of the marine court of New +York City. From the constitutional convention of 1821, he stepped into +the Assembly of 1824, where, in the debates over the choice of +electors by the people, his ready eloquence made him a valuable ally +for Tallmadge and a formidable opponent to Flagg. His ambition to +shine as a statesman, and an extraordinary power of application, +equipped him with varied information, and made him an authority on +many subjects. He joined Benjamin F. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.325" id="vol1Page_i.325">i. 325</a></span>ler in the revision of the +statutes of the State, and was associated with Daniel Webster in +settling the limits of the bankruptcy legislation of the state and +federal governments. Just now he was still a young man, only in his +thirty-ninth year; but those who had seen his keen, clever articles on +neutral rights, polished and penetrating in style, and who heard his +skilful and fearless advocacy of the people's right to choose +electors, were not surprised to learn of his appointment, in later +life, as a lecturer at Harvard, or to read his great work on the +<i>Elements of International Law</i>, published in 1836. As a reward for +the part he took in the election of 1824, President Adams sent him to +Denmark, from whence he went to Prussia—these appointments keeping +him abroad for twenty years.</p> + +<p>John Van Ness Yates urged his uncle to recommend a change in the law +regulating the choice of electors; and if the Governor had possessed +the political wisdom necessary in such an emergency, he would +doubtless have taken the suggestion. But Yates thought it wise to +follow the Regency; the Regency thought it wise to follow Van Buren; +and Van Buren opposed a change, as prejudicial to Crawford's +interests. The result was a bungling attempt on the part of the +Governor to evade the direct expression of an opinion. Finally, +however, he said that as Congress was likely soon to present an +amendment to the Constitution for legislative sanction, it was +inadvisable "under existing circumstances" to change the law "at this +time."<a name="vol1FNanchor_226_226" id="vol1FNanchor_226_226"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> This was neither skilful nor truthful. Congress had no +thought of doing anything of the kind, and, if it had, men knew that +an amendment could not be secured in time to operate at the coming +election. Yates' message, therefore, was pronounced "a shabby dodge," +a trick familiar to many statesmen in difficulties.</p> + +<p>When the Legislature convened, in January, 1824, a bill authorising +the people to choose electors naturally excited a long and bitter +debate, in which Azariah C. Flagg repre<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.326" id="vol1Page_i.326">i. 326</a></span>sented the Regency. Flagg was +a printer by trade, the publisher of a Republican paper at Plattsburg, +and a veteran of the War of 1812. He was not prepossessing in +appearance; his diminutive stature, surmounted by a big, round head +gave him the appearance of Atlas with the world upon his shoulders. +His voice, too, was shrill and unattractive; but he suddenly evinced +shrewdness and address in legislative tactics that greatly worried his +opponents and pleased his friends. A majority of the Assembly, +however, afraid of their excited and indignant constituents, finally +passed the bill. When it reached the Senate, the supporters of +Crawford indefinitely postponed it by a vote of seventeen to fourteen.</p> + +<p>The defeat of this measure raised a storm of popular indignation. +People were exasperated. Newspapers, opposed to the Van Buren leaders, +published in black-letter type the names of senators who voted against +it, while the frequenters of public places denounced them as +"traitors, villains, and rascals," with the result that most of them +were consigned to retirement during the remainder of their lives. "The +impression here is that Van Buren and his junto are politically dead," +wrote DeWitt Clinton to Henry Post on the 17th of February, 1824. "The +impression will produce the event."<a name="vol1FNanchor_227_227" id="vol1FNanchor_227_227"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_227_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a></p> + +<p>In the midst of this excitement, came the selection of a candidate for +governor, to be elected in the following November. Yates had done the +bidding of the Regency and Flagg demanded his renomination, but the +men who supported a change in the mode of choosing electors declared +that Yates was the original opponent of the people's wishes, and that, +if renominated, he could not be re-elected. "If the Governor is to be +sacrificed for his fidelity," retorted Flagg, "I am ready to suffer +with him." From a sentimental standpoint, this avowal was most +creditable and generous, but it had no place in the councils of +politicians to whom sentiment never appeals when the shrouded figure +of defeat stands at the open<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.327" id="vol1Page_i.327">i. 327</a></span> door. Just now, too, their fears +increased as evidence accumulated that Samuel Young would certainly be +offered a nomination by the People's party, and would certainly accept +it, if he were not quickly nominated by the Regency Republicans. When +the legislators went into caucus on the 3d of April, 1824, therefore, +the friends of Van Buren were ready to throw over Yates and to accept +Young, with Erastus Root for lieutenant-governor.</p> + +<p>Three days afterward, the most influential and active friends of John +Quincy Adams and Henry Clay decided that a state +convention—consisting of as many delegates as there were members of +the Assembly, to be chosen by voters opposed to William H. Crawford +for President and in favour of restoring the choice of presidential +electors to the people—should assemble at Utica, on September 21, +1824, to nominate candidates for governor and lieutenant-governor. It +had long been a dream of Clinton to have nominations made by delegates +elected by the people. That dream was now to be realised, and the door +to a new political era opened.</p> + +<p>Though Clinton had announced a determination to support Andrew +Jackson, he displayed no zeal in the state contest, and contented +himself with writing gossipy letters to Post and in watching the rapid +growth of the Erie canal. As early as 1819, the canal had been opened +between Utica and Rome, and from the Hudson to Lake Champlain. The +middle section, recently completed, was now actively in use between +Utica and Montezuma. In little more than a year, the jubilee over the +letting in of the waters of Lake Erie would deaden the strife of +parties with booming of cannon and expressions of joy. Throughout all +the delays and vexations of this wonderful enterprise, DeWitt Clinton +had been the great inspiring force, and, although for several years +the board of canal commissioners had been reorganised in the interest +of the Bucktails, not a whisper was heard intimating any desire or +intention to interfere with him. When it was known, however, that +James Tallmadge had been agreed upon as the candidate of the People's +party for governor,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.328" id="vol1Page_i.328">i. 328</a></span> the Regency, in order to split his forces, +determined upon Clinton's removal from all participation in the +management of the canal. If Tallmadge voted for such a resolution, +reasoned the Van Buren leaders, it would alienate the political +friends with whom he was just now acting; if he voted against it, he +would alienate Tammany.</p> + +<p>It was a bold game of politics, and a dangerous one. The people did +not love Clinton, but they believed in his policy, and a blow at him, +in their opinion, was a blow at the canal. Nothing in the whole of Van +Buren's history exhibits a more foolish disregard of public sentiment, +or led to a greater disaster. But the Regency, blinded by its +overwhelming victory at the last election, was prepared to pay a +gambler's price for power, and, in the twinkling of an eye, before the +Assembly knew what had happened, the Senate removed Clinton from the +office of canal commissioner, only three votes being recorded for him. +Thurlow Weed happened to be a witness of the proceeding, and, rushing +to the Assembly chamber, urged Tallmadge to resist its passage through +the house. "I knew how bitterly General Tallmadge hated Mr. Clinton," +he says, "but in a few hurried and emphatic sentences implored him not +to be caught in the trap thus baited for him. I urged him to state +frankly, in a brief speech, how entirely he was estranged personally +and politically from Mr. Clinton, but to denounce his removal during +the successful progress of a system of improvement which he had +inaugurated, and which would confer prosperity and wealth upon the +people and enrich and elevate our State, as an act of vandalism to +which he could not consent to be a party. I concluded by assuring him +solemnly that if he voted for that resolution he could not receive the +nomination for governor."<a name="vol1FNanchor_228_228" id="vol1FNanchor_228_228"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_228_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a></p> + +<p>But Tallmadge remained dumb. Gamaliel H. Barstow, formerly a +Clintonian, walked out of the chamber. Other old friends showed +indifference. Only Henry Cunningham of Montgomery, entering the +chamber while the clerk was read<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.329" id="vol1Page_i.329">i. 329</a></span>ing the resolution, eloquently +denounced it. "When the miserable party strifes shall have passed by," +he said, in conclusion; "when the political jugglers who now beleaguer +this capital shall be overwhelmed and forgotten; when the gentle +breeze shall pass over the tomb of that great man, carrying with it +the just tribute of honour and praise which is now withheld, the pen +of the future historian will do him justice, and erect to his memory a +monument of fame as imperishable as the splendid works that owe their +origin to his genius and perseverance."<a name="vol1FNanchor_229_229" id="vol1FNanchor_229_229"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_229_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a> One or two others spoke +briefly in Clinton's behalf, and then the resolution passed—ayes +sixty-four, noes thirty-four. Among the ayes were Tallmadge and +Wheaton.</p> + +<p>Had Clinton been assassinated, the news could not have produced a +greater shock. Scarcely had the Assembly adjourned, before the +citizens of Albany—rushing into the vacant chamber and electing the +old and venerable John Taylor, the former lieutenant-governor, for +chairman—expressed their indignation in denunciatory speeches and +resolutions. In New York City, a committee of twenty-five, headed by +Thomas Addis Emmet, called in person upon Clinton to make known the +feeling of the meeting. Everywhere throughout the State, the removal +awakened a cyclone of resentment, the members who voted for it being +the storm-centres. At Canandaigua, personal indignities were +threatened.<a name="vol1FNanchor_230_230" id="vol1FNanchor_230_230"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_230_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> "Several members," says Weed, "were hissed as they +came out of the capitol. Tallmadge received unmistakable evidence, on +his way through State Street to his lodgings, of the great error he +had committed. His hotel was filled with citizens, whose rebukes were +loudly heard as he passed through the hall to his apartment, and as he +nervously paced backward and forward in his parlour, 'the victim of +remorse that comes too late,' he perceived both the depth and the +darkness of the political pit into which he had fallen."<a name="vol1FNanchor_231_231" id="vol1FNanchor_231_231"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_231_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.330" id="vol1Page_i.330">i. 330</a></span></p><p>Immediately, the tide began setting strongly in favour of Clinton for +governor. Clintonian papers urged it, and personal friends wrote and +rode over the State in his interest. Clinton himself became sanguine +of success. "Tallmadge can scarcely get a vote in his own county," he +wrote Post on the 21st of April. "He is the prince of rascals—if +Wheaton does not exceed him."<a name="vol1FNanchor_232_232" id="vol1FNanchor_232_232"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_232_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a></p> + +<p>Meanwhile, a sensation long foreseen by those in the Governor's inner +circle, was about to be sprung. Yates was not a man to be rudely +thrust out of office. He knew he had blundered in opposing an +electoral law, and he now proposed giving the Legislature another +opportunity to enact one. The Regency did not believe there would be +an extra session, because, as Attorney-General Talcott suggested, the +power to convene the Legislature was a high prerogative, the exercise +of which required more decision and nerve than Yates possessed; but, +on the 2nd of June, to the surprise and consternation of the Van Buren +leaders, Yates issued a proclamation reconvening the Legislature on +August 2. It was predicated upon the failure of Congress to amend the +Constitution, upon the recent defeat of the electoral bill in the +Senate, and upon the just alarm of the people, that "their undoubted +right" of choosing presidential electors would be withheld from them. +Very likely, it afforded the Governor much satisfaction to make this +open and damaging attack upon the Regency. He had surrendered +independence if not self-respect, and, in return for his fidelity, had +been ruthlessly cast aside for his less faithful rival. Yet his +purpose was more than revenge. Between the Clintonian prejudice +against Tallmadge, and the People's party's hatred of Clinton, the +Governor hoped he might become a compromise candidate at the Utica +convention. The future, however, had no<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.331" id="vol1Page_i.331">i. 331</a></span> place for him. He was +ridiculed the more by his enemies and dropped into the pit of oblivion +by his former friends. Nothing in his public life, perhaps, became him +so well as his dignified retirement at Schenectady, amid the scenes of +his youth, where he died at the age of sixty-nine, leaving a place in +history not strongly marked.</p> + +<p>Yates' extra session lasted four days and did nothing except to snub +the Governor and give the eloquent Tallmadge, amidst tumultuous +applause from the galleries, an opportunity of annoying the Regency by +keeping up the popular excitement over a change in the choice of +electors until the assembling of the Utica convention. As the days +passed, the sentiment for Clinton became stronger and more apparent. +Thurlow Weed, travelling over the State in the interest of Tallmadge, +found Clinton's nomination almost universally demanded, with Tallmadge +a favourite for second place. This, the eloquent gentleman +peremptorily refused, until an appeal for harmony, and the suggestion +that Adams' election might open to him a broader field for usefulness +than that of being governor, produced the desired change. Probably +Tallmadge felt within himself that he was not destined to a great +political career. In any case, he finally accepted the offer with +perfect good humour, giving Weed a brief letter consenting to the use +of his name as lieutenant-governor. With this the young journalist +arrived at Utica on the morning of convention day.</p> + +<p>There were one hundred and twenty-two delegates in the convention, of +whom one-fourth belonged to the People's party. These supported +Tallmadge for governor. When they discovered that Tallmadge's vote to +remove Clinton had put him out of the race, they suggested John W. +Taylor; but a delegate from Saratoga produced a letter in which the +distinguished opponent of the Missouri Compromise declined to become a +candidate. This left the way open to DeWitt Clinton, and, as he +carried off the nomination by a large majority, with Tallmadge for +lieutenant-governor by acclamation, many representatives of the +People's party walked out<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.332" id="vol1Page_i.332">i. 332</a></span> of the hall and reorganised another +convention, resolving to support Tallmadge, but protesting against the +nomination of Clinton—"a diversion," says Weed, "which was soon +forgotten amid the general and pervading enthusiasm."<a name="vol1FNanchor_233_233" id="vol1FNanchor_233_233"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_233_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a></p> + +<p>The election of governor in 1824 passed into history as one of the +most stirring ever witnessed in the State. In a fight, Samuel Young +and DeWitt Clinton were at home. They neither asked nor gave quarter. +There is no record that their fluency or invective did more than add +to the excitement of the campaign; but each was well supplied with +ready venom. Young was rhetorical and dramatic—Clinton energetic and +forceful. People, listening to Young, rocked with laughter and +revelled in applause as he pilloried his opponents, the ferocity of +his attacks being surpassed only by the eloquence of his periods. With +Clinton, speaking was serious business. He lacked the oratorical gift +and the art of concealing the labour of his overwrought and too +elaborate sentences; but his addresses afforded ample evidence of the +capacity and richness of his mind. In spite of great faults, both +candidates commanded the loyalty of followers who swelled with pride +because of their courage and splendid ability. The confidence of the +Regency and the usual success of Tammany at first made the friends of +Clinton unhappy; but as the campaign advanced, Young discovered that +the Regency, in insisting on the choice of electors by the +Legislature, had given the opposition the most telling cry it could +possibly have found against him; that the popular tumult over +Clinton's removal was growing from day to day; and that his opponents +were banded together against him on many grounds and with many +different purposes. Two weeks before the election, it was evident to +every one that the Regency was doomed, that Van Buren was +disconcerted, and that Young was beaten; but no one expected that +Clinton's majority would reach sixteen thousand,<a name="vol1FNanchor_234_234" id="vol1FNanchor_234_234"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_234_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> or that +Tallmadge<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.333" id="vol1Page_i.333">i. 333</a></span> would run thirty-two thousand ahead of Erastus Root. The +announcement came like a thunderbolt, bringing with it the +intelligence that out of eight senators only two Regency men had been +spared, while, in the Assembly, the opposition had three to one. In +other words, the election of 1822 had been completely reversed. +Clinton was again in the saddle.</p> + +<p>Samuel Young's political fortunes never recovered from this encounter +with the illustrious champion of the canals. He was much in office +afterward. For eight years he served in the State Senate, and once as +lieutenant-governor; for a quarter of a century he lived on, a +marvellous orator, whom the people never tired of hearing, and whom +opponents never ceased to fear; but the glow that lingers about a +public man who had never been overwhelmed by the suffrage of his +fellow-citizens was gone forever.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.334" id="vol1Page_i.334">i. 334</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XXX" id="vol1CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX<br /> +<br /> +VAN BUREN ENCOUNTERS WEED<br /> +<br /> +1824</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Political</span> interest, in 1824, centred in the election of a President as +well as a Governor. Three candidates,—William H. Crawford of Georgia, +John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, and Henry Clay of +Kentucky,—divided the parties in New York. No one thought of DeWitt +Clinton. Very likely, after his overwhelming election, Clinton, in his +joy, felt his ambition again aroused. He had been inoculated with +presidential rabies in 1812, and his letters to Henry Post showed +signs of continued madness. "I think Crawford is <i>hors de combat</i>," he +wrote in March, 1824. "Calhoun never had force, and Clay is equally +out of the question. As for Adams, he can only succeed by the +imbecility of his opponents, not by his own strength. In this crisis +may not some other person bear away the palm?"<a name="vol1FNanchor_235_235" id="vol1FNanchor_235_235"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_235_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a> Then follows the +historic illustration, indicating that the canal champion thought he +might become a compromise candidate: "Do you recollect the story of +Themistocles the Athenian? After the naval victory of Salamis a +council of generals was held to determine on the most worthy. Each man +was to write down two names, the first and the next best. Each general +wrote his own name for the first, and that of Themistocles for the +second. May not this contest have a similar result? I am persuaded +that with common prudence we will stand better than ever."<a name="vol1FNanchor_236_236" id="vol1FNanchor_236_236"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_236_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.335" id="vol1Page_i.335">i. 335</a></span></p><p>But the field was preoccupied and the competitors too numerous. So, +getting no encouragement, Clinton turned to the hero of New Orleans. +"In Jackson," he wrote Post, "we must look for a sincere and honest +friend. Whatever demonstrations are made from other quarters are +dictated by policy and public sentiment."<a name="vol1FNanchor_237_237" id="vol1FNanchor_237_237"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_237_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> He grows impatient with +Clay, indignant at the apparent success of Adams, and vituperative +over the tactics of Calhoun. "Clay ought to resign forthwith," he +writes on the 17th of April, 1824; "his chance is worse than nothing. +Jackson would then prevail with all the Western States, if we can get +New Jersey."<a name="vol1FNanchor_238_238" id="vol1FNanchor_238_238"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_238_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> Four days later he was sure of New Jersey. "We can +get her," he assures Post, on April 21. "I see no terrors in Adams' +papers; his influence has gone with his morals."<a name="vol1FNanchor_239_239" id="vol1FNanchor_239_239"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_239_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a></p> + +<p>But by mid-summer Clinton had become alarmed at the action of the +candidate from South Carolina. "Calhoun is acting a treacherous part +to Jackson," he says, under date of July 23, "and is doing all he can +for Adams. Perhaps there is not a man in the United States more +hollow-headed and base. I have long observed his manœuvres."<a name="vol1FNanchor_240_240" id="vol1FNanchor_240_240"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_240_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a> A +week later Clinton speaks of Calhoun as "a thorough-paced political +blackleg."<a name="vol1FNanchor_241_241" id="vol1FNanchor_241_241"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_241_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a> In August he gives Adams another slap. "The great +danger is that there will be a quarrel between the friends of Jackson +and Adams, and that in the war between the lion and the unicorn the +cur may slip in and carry off the prize."<a name="vol1FNanchor_242_242" id="vol1FNanchor_242_242"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_242_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.336" id="vol1Page_i.336">i. 336</a></span></p><p>Though Clinton and Jackson had long been admirers, there is no +evidence that, at this time, so much as a letter had passed between +them. One can easily understand, however, that a man of the iron will +and great achievement of the Tennesseean would profoundly interest +DeWitt Clinton. On the other hand, the proud, aspiring, unpliant man +whose canal policy brought national renown, had won the admiration of +Andrew Jackson. In 1818, at a Nashville banquet, he had toasted +Clinton, declaring him "the promoter of his country's best interests;" +and one year later, at a dinner given in his honour by the mayor of +New York, Jackson confounded most of the Bucktail banqueters and +surprised them all by proposing "DeWitt Clinton, the enlightened +statesman and governor of the great and patriotic State of New York." +The two men had many characteristics in common. Neither would stoop to +conquer. But the dramatic thing about Clinton's interest just now, was +his proclamation for Jackson, when everybody else in New York was for +some other candidate. The bitterness of that hour was very earnest. +Whatever chance existed for Jackson outside of the State, there was +not the slightest hope for him within it. Nevertheless, Clinton seemed +indifferent. He was a statesman without being a politician. He +believed in Jackson's star, and it was this prescience, as the sequel +showed, that was to give him, in spite of opponents, a sixth term as +governor.</p> + +<p>Clinton's résumé of the political situation, written to Post, also +showed his unfailing knowledge of the conditions about<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.337" id="vol1Page_i.337">i. 337</a></span> to be enacted +at Albany. The Legislature which assembled in extra session, in +November, 1824, for the appointment of presidential electors, was the +same Assembly that had favoured the choice of electors by the people, +and the same Senate which had indefinitely postponed that measure by a +vote of seventeen to fourteen. The former struggle, therefore, was +immediately renewed in the legislative halls, with Martin Van Buren +confident of seventeen Crawford votes in the Senate, and enough more +in the Assembly, with the help of the Clay men, to give the Georgian a +majority on joint ballot.</p> + +<p>The Adams men had less confidence, but no less shrewdness and skill. A +new Richmond had arrived on the field. Since his visitation through +the State two years before, in behalf of Solomon Southwick's candidacy +for governor, Thurlow Weed had been growing rapidly in political +experience. He left Manlius without a penny in the autumn of 1822 to +find work on the Rochester <i>Telegraph</i>, a Clintonian paper of small +pretensions and smaller circulation. Under its new manager, and with +the name of John Quincy Adams for President at the head of the +editorial page, it soon became so popular and belligerent that the +business men of Rochester sent Weed to Albany as their agent to secure +from the Legislature a charter for a bank. Upon his arrival at the +capital, the friends of the New England candidate welcomed him to the +great political arena in which he was to fight so long, so +brilliantly, and with such success.</p> + +<p>It was at this period in his history, that Thurlow Weed's connection +with public life began, developing into that wonderful career which +made him one of the most influential writers and strongest +personalities of his day. He was not an orator; he was not even a +public talker. One attempt to speak met with failure so embarrassing +that he never tried a second time; but he was a companionable being. +He loved the company of men. He had suffered so much, and yet retained +so much of the serenity of a child, that he was ever ready to share +his purse and his mantle of pity with the un<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.338" id="vol1Page_i.338">i. 338</a></span>fortunate, brightening +their lives with a tender sympathy that endeared him to all. It was so +natural for him to guide wisely and noiselessly that he seemed +unconscious of his great gifts. Men in high places, often opulent and +happy in their ease, deferred to him with the confidence of pupils to +a beloved teacher. But he possessed more than philosophic wisdom. He +was sleepless and tireless. It was his custom to attend political +gatherings in all parts of the State, and to make the acquaintance of +men in that "inner circle," who controlled the affairs of party and +the destiny of aspiring statesmen. In 1822 he had toured the State in +the interest of Solomon Southwick. From April to December, in 1824, he +attended two extra sessions of the Legislature and a meeting of the +Electoral College, besides travelling twice throughout the State in +behalf of the candidacy of John Quincy Adams. Traversing New York, +over rough roads, before the days of canals and railroads, in the +heavy, lumbering stage coach that took five or six days and nights, +and, in muddy seasons, six days and seven nights of continuous travel, +to go from Albany to Buffalo, made a strenuous life, but Weed's +devotion to party, and fidelity to men and principles, sent him on his +way with something of the freshness of boyhood still shining on his +face. He had his faults, but they were not of a kind to prevent men +from finding him lovable.</p> + +<p>When Weed came to Albany, in November, 1824, as the advocate of John +Quincy Adams, the only hope of success was the union of the friends of +Clay and Adams, since only two electoral tickets, under the +Constitution, could be voted for. In the Senate, Crawford had +seventeen votes, and Adams and Clay seven each; in the Assembly, the +first ballot gave Crawford forty-three, Adams fifty, and Clay +thirty-two. Until some combination was made, therefore, a majority +could not be obtained for any candidate. To make such an union +required fine diplomacy between the Adams and Clay men; for it +appeared that Clay must have at least seven electoral votes from New +York in order to become one of the three candidates to be voted for in +the House of Representatives,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.339" id="vol1Page_i.339">i. 339</a></span> should the election of President be +thrown into Congress. Fortunately for the Adams men, the Crawford +people also had their troubles, and to hold two senators in line they +placed the names of six moderate Clay men on their ticket. Thereupon, +at a secret meeting, the Adams and Clay leaders agreed to support +thirty Adams men and the six Clay men upon the Crawford ticket, the +friends of Adams promising, if Clay carried Louisiana, to furnish him +the needed seven votes. Naturally enough, the success of this +programme depended upon the utmost secrecy, since their ticket, with +the help of all the Clay votes that could be mustered, would not +exceed two majority. The better to secure such secrecy Weed personally +printed the ballots on the Sunday before the final vote on Tuesday.</p> + +<p>There was another well-kept secret. Thurlow Weed had had his +suspicions turned into absolute evidence that Henry Eckford of New +York City, a wealthy supporter of Crawford, had furnished money to +influence three Adams men to vote for the Georgian. He had followed +their go-between from Syracuse to Albany, from Albany to New York, and +from New York back to Albany; he had heard their renunciation of Adams +and their changed sentiments toward Crawford; and he knew also that +the Adams ticket was lost if these three votes, or even two of them, +were cast for the Crawford ticket. Weed straightway proposed that the +dishonourable purposes of these men should be anticipated by an +immediate declaration of war; and, upon their appearance in Albany, +Henry Wheaton faced them with the story of their dishonour, +threatening an exposure unless they voted a ballot bearing the +initials of himself and Tallmadge. Conscious of their guilty purposes, +the timid souls consented to Wheaton's proposition and then kept their +pledges.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, Van Buren's confidence in the weakness of the +Adams-Clay men was never for a moment shaken. Of the thirty-nine Clay +supporters in the Legislature, Crawford only needed sixteen; and +these, Samuel Young and his Clay friends, had promised to deliver. +There is no evidence<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.340" id="vol1Page_i.340">i. 340</a></span> that Van Buren had any knowledge of Weed's +management at this time; it so happened, by design or by accident, +that in their long careers they never met but once, and then, not +until after Van Buren had retired from the White House. But the +Senator knew that some hand had struck him, and struck him hard, when +Lieutenant-Governor Root drew from the box the first union ballot. +Instead of reading it, Root involuntarily exclaimed, "A printed split +ticket." Thereupon Senator Keyes of Jefferson County, sprang to his +feet, and, in a loud voice, shouted, "Treason, by God!" In the +confusion, Root was about to vacate the speaker's chair and return +with the senators to their chamber, when James Tallmadge, in a +stentorian voice, called for order. "I demand, under the authority of +the Constitution of the United States," he said, "under the +Constitution of the State of New York, in the name of the whole +American people, that this joint meeting of the two houses of the +Legislature shall not be interrupted in the discharge of a high duty +and a sacred trust."<a name="vol1FNanchor_243_243" id="vol1FNanchor_243_243"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_243_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a> This settled it. The count went on, but, so +nearly were the parties divided that only thirty-two electors, and +these on the union ticket, received votes enough to elect them. On the +second ballot, four Crawford electors were chosen. "Had our secret +transpired before the first ballot," says Weed, "such was the power of +the Regency over two or three timid men, that the whole Crawford +ticket would have been elected."<a name="vol1FNanchor_244_244" id="vol1FNanchor_244_244"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_244_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a></p> + +<p>Writing without full information of the agreement made in the secret +caucus, Hammond<a name="vol1FNanchor_245_245" id="vol1FNanchor_245_245"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_245_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> intimates that the Adams men did not keep faith +with the Clay men, since the four votes taken from Clay and given to +Crawford on the second ballot made Crawford, instead of Clay, a +candidate in the national House of Representatives. Other writers have +followed this opinion, charging the Adams managers with having played +foul with the Kentucky statesman. But Weed and his associates did +nothing of the kind. The agreement<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.341" id="vol1Page_i.341">i. 341</a></span> was that Clay should have seven +electoral votes from New York, provided he carried Louisiana, but as +Jackson carried that State, it left the Adams men free to give all +their votes to the New Englander. What would have happened had Clay +carried Louisiana is not so clear, for Weed admits that up to the time +news came that Louisiana had gone for Jackson, he was unable to find a +single Adams elector who would consent to vote for Clay, even to save +his friends and his party from dishonour.</p> + +<p>The failure of the people to elect a President in 1824, and the choice +of John Quincy Adams by the House of Representatives, are among the +most widely known events in our political history. New York remained, +throughout, the storm-centre of excitement. After a large majority of +its presidential electors had declared for Adams, thus throwing the +election into Congress, the result still depended upon the vote of its +closely divided delegation in the House. Of the thirty-four +congressmen, seventeen favoured Adams, sixteen opposed him, and +Stephen Van Rensselaer was doubtful. The latter's action, therefore, +became of the utmost importance, since, if he voted against Adams, it +would tie the New York delegation and exclude it from the count, thus +giving Adams twelve States instead of the necessary thirteen, and +making his election on a second ballot even more doubtful. This +condition revived the hopes of Van Buren and gave Clinton a chance to +work for Jackson.</p> + +<p>Stephen Van Rensselaer,<a name="vol1FNanchor_246_246" id="vol1FNanchor_246_246"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_246_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a> born in 1764, had had a conspicuous and +in some respects a distinguished career. He was the fifth in lineal +descent from Killian van Rensselaer, the wealthy pearl merchant of +Amsterdam, known as the first Patroon, whose great manor, purchased in +the early part of the seventeenth century, originally included the +present<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.342" id="vol1Page_i.342">i. 342</a></span> counties of Albany, Rensselaer, and Columbia. Stephen +inherited the larger part of this territory, and, with it, the old +manor house at Albany. His mother was a daughter of Philip Livingston, +a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his wife a daughter +of Philip Schuyler. This made him the brother-in-law of Alexander +Hamilton.</p> + +<p>Stephen began filling offices as soon as he was old enough. For +several years he served in the Assembly and in the Senate. In 1795, he +became lieutenant-governor for two terms. George Clinton defeated him +for governor in 1801; but before Jay's term expired, he made him +commander of the State's cavalry. In 1812, at the outbreak of +hostilities with England, Governor Tompkins promoted him to be chief +of the state militia—an office which he resigned in disgust after the +disgraceful defeat at Queenstown Heights on the Niagara frontier, +because his troops refused to follow him. In 1810, he became a member +of the first canal commission, of which he was president for fifteen +years. Later, he served as a regent and chancellor of the State +University, and, in 1824, established the Troy Polytechnical +Institute. It was at this time he went to Congress, and while serving +his first term, held the casting vote that would elect a President of +the United States.</p> + +<p>Rensselaer had been a Federalist of the Hamilton school, and, although +the Federal party had practically ceased to exist, he owed his +election to its former members. This was sufficient reason to believe +that he would not support Van Buren's candidate, and that his +predilections would incline him to take a President from the North, +provided Adams was <i>persona grata</i> to the old Federalists. The latter +had never quite forgiven Adams for deserting them; and, having been +long excluded from power, they were anxious to know whether, if +elected, he would continue to proscribe them. Finally, when Daniel +Webster removed their doubts on this subject, Van Rensselaer still +hesitated on account of Clinton. He had a strong liking for the +Governor. They had served as canal commissioners, and their +association in the great<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.343" id="vol1Page_i.343">i. 343</a></span> work, then nearing completion, filled him +with admiration for the indomitable spirit exhibited by the +distinguished canal builder. His probable action, therefore, kept men +busy guessing. The suspense resembled that of the Tilden Hayes +controversy of 1877, for the result meant much to the several factions +in the State. Crawford's election would continue Van Buren and the +Regency in power; the choice of Jackson must make Clinton the supreme +dispenser of federal patronage; and Adams' success meant a better +opportunity for Thurlow Weed to form a new party.</p> + +<p>Van Rensselaer did not talk. Experience had accustomed him to outside +pressure, and he now kept his head cool when Clinton and other +influential New Yorkers overwhelmed him with prayers and petitions. At +last, on the morning of February 9, 1825, he walked leisurely into the +hall of the House and took his seat with the New York delegation. +Every member of the House was in his place, except one who was sick in +his lodgings. The galleries were packed with spectators, and the areas +thronged with judges, ambassadors, governors, and other privileged +persons. After the formal announcement, that no one had received a +majority of electoral votes for the Presidency, and that the House of +Representatives must elect a President from the three highest +candidates, the roll was called by States, and the vote of each State +deposited in a box by itself. Then the tellers, Daniel Webster and +John Randolph, opened the boxes and counted the ballots.</p> + +<p>The report of the tellers surprised almost every one. A long contest +had been expected. Friends of Crawford hoped the House would weary +itself with many ballots and end the affair by electing him. But the +announcement gave Crawford only four States, Jackson seven, and Adams +thirteen—a majority over all. Then it was known that Van Rensselaer's +vote had given New York to Adams, and that New York's vote had made +Adams the President. For the moment, Van Buren was checkmated, and he +knew it.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.344" id="vol1Page_i.344">i. 344</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XXXI" id="vol1CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI<br /> +<br /> +CLINTON’S COALITION WITH VAN BUREN<br /> +<br /> +1825-1828</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> election of John Quincy Adams as President of the United States +staggered the Regency and seriously threatened the influence of Martin +Van Buren. It was likely to close the portals of the White House to +him, and to open the doors of custom-houses and post-offices to his +opponents. More injurious than this, it established new party +alignments and gave great prestige at least to one man before +unrecognised as a political factor. The successful combination of the +Adams and Clay electors was the talk of the State; and, although +Thurlow Weed's dominant part in the game did not appear on the +surface, Van Buren and every intelligent political worker understood +that some strong hand had been at work.</p> + +<p>The absence of available candidates, around whom he could rally his +shattered forces, cast the deepest shadow across Van Buren's pathway. +He had staked much upon Samuel Young's candidacy for governor, and +everything upon William H. Crawford's candidacy for President. But +Young fell under Clinton's overwhelming majority, and Crawford +exhibited a weakness that surprised even his inveterate opponents. In +the House of Representatives Crawford had carried but four out of the +twenty-four States. This seemed to leave Van Buren without a man to +turn to; while Clinton's early declaration for Andrew Jackson gave him +the key to the situation. Although Jackson, for whom eleven States had +given an electoral plurality, received the vote of but seven States in +the House, the contest had narrowed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.345" id="vol1Page_i.345">i. 345</a></span> a choice between Adams and +himself, making the popular General the coming man. Besides, Clinton +was very active on his own account. On the 26th of October, 1825, the +waters of Lake Erie were let into the Erie canal, and navigation +opened from the lake to the Hudson. It was a great day for the +Governor. A popular jubilation extended from Buffalo to New York, and, +amidst the roar of artillery and the eloquence of many orators, the +praises of the distinguished canal builder sounded throughout the +State and nation. To a man of intellect far lower than that of Martin +Van Buren, it must have been obvious that forces were at work in the +minds and hearts of people which could not be controlled by Regency +edicts or party traditions.</p> + +<p>But the Kinderhook statesman did not despair. In the election to occur +in November he desired simply to strengthen himself in the +Legislature; and, with consummate skill, he sought to carry Republican +districts. National issues were to be avoided. So ably did Edwin +Croswell, the wise and sagacious editor of the Albany <i>Argus</i>, lead +the way, that not a word was written or spoken against the national +administration. This cunning play renewed the old charge of +"non-committalism,"<a name="vol1FNanchor_247_247" id="vol1FNanchor_247_247"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_247_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> which for many years was used to +charac<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.346" id="vol1Page_i.346">i. 346</a></span>terise Van Buren's policy and action; but it in no wise +disconcerted his plans, or discovered his intentions. All he wanted +now was the Legislature, and while the whole State was given up to +general rejoicing over the completion of the canal, the Regency +leaders, under the direction of the astute Senator, practised the +tactics which Van Buren had learned from Aaron Burr, and which have +come to be known in later days as a "political still-hunt." When the +contest ended, the Regency Republicans had both branches of the +Legislature by a safe working majority. This result, so overwhelming, +so sudden, and so entirely unexpected, made Clinton's friends believe +that his end had come.</p> + +<p>Van Buren, however, had broader views. He knew that Andrew Jackson, as +a candidate for the Presidency, had little standing in 1824 until +Pennsylvania took him up, and he now believed that if New York +supported him, with the Keystone State, in 1828, the hero of New +Orleans must succeed Adams. To elect him President, therefore, became +the purpose of Van Buren's political life; and, as the first step in +that direction, he determined to make DeWitt Clinton his friend. The +Governor was Jackson's champion. He had declared for him in the early +days of the Tennesseean's candidacy, and to reach him through such an +outspoken ally would give Van Buren an open way to the hero's heart.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, Van Buren insisted upon a conciliatory course. He sent +Benjamin Knower, the state treasurer and now a member of the Regency, +to inform Clinton that, if the Van Buren leaders could control their +party, he should have no opposition at next year's gubernatorial +election. Clinton and Bucktail, like oil and water, had refused to +combine until this third ingredient, that Van Buren knew so well how +to add, completed the mixture. Whether the coalition would<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.347" id="vol1Page_i.347">i. 347</a></span> have +brought Clinton the reward of success or the penalty of failure must +forever remain a secret, for the Governor did not live long enough to +solve the question. But in the game of politics he had never been a +match for Van Buren. He was a statesman without being a politician.</p> + +<p>Just now, however, Clinton and Van Buren, like lovers who had +quarrelled and made up, could not be too responsive to each other's +wishes. To confirm the latter's good intentions, the Regency senators +promptly approved Clinton's nomination of Samuel Jones for chancellor +in place of Nathan Sanford, who was now chosen United States senator +to succeed Rufus King. It was bitter experience. The appointment +rudely ignored the rule, uniformly and wisely adhered to since the +formation of a state government, to promote the chief justice.</p> + +<p>Besides, Jones had been a pronounced Federalist for a quarter of a +century. Moreover, he was a relative of the Governor's wife, and to +some men, even in that day, nepotism was an offence. But he was an +eminent lawyer, the son of the distinguished first comptroller, and to +make their consideration of the Governor's wishes more evident, the +senators confirmed the nomination without sending it to a committee.</p> + +<p>A more remarkable illustration of Van Buren's conciliatory policy +occurred in the confirmation of James McKnown as recorder of Albany. +McKnown was a bitter Clintonian. It was he who, at the Albany meeting, +so eloquently protested against the removal of Clinton as a canal +commissioner, denouncing it as "the offspring of that malignant and +insatiable spirit of political proscription which has already so +deeply stained the annals of the State," and the perpetrators as +"utterly unworthy of public confidence."<a name="vol1FNanchor_248_248" id="vol1FNanchor_248_248"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_248_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a> But the Senate confirmed +him without a dissenting vote. Later, when a vacancy occurred in the +judgeship of the eighth circuit by the resignation of William B. +Rochester, it seemed for a time as if the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.348" id="vol1Page_i.348">i. 348</a></span> coalition must break. The +Regency wanted Herman J. Redfield, one of the seventeen senators whose +opposition to the electoral bill had caused his defeat; but the eighth +district was Clinton's stronghold, and if he nominated Redfield, the +Governor argued, it would deprive him of strength and prestige, and +seriously weaken the cause of Jackson. The Regency, accustomed to +remain faithful to the men who incurred popular odium for being +faithful to them, found it difficult, either to reconcile the +conditions with their wishes, or to compromise upon any one else. +Nevertheless, on the last day of the session, through the active and +judicious agency of Benjamin Knower, John Birdsall of Chautauqua +County, a friend of Clinton, was nominated and confirmed.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, Van Buren had returned to his seat in Congress. He +entered the United States Senate in 1821, and, although observing the +decorum expected of a new member of that body, he displayed powers of +mind that distinguished him as a senator of more than ordinary +ability. He now became a parliamentary orator, putting himself at the +head of an anti-Administration faction, and developing the tact and +management of a great parliamentary leader. He had made up his mind +that nothing less than a large and comprehensive difference between +the two wings of the Republican party would be of any real use; so he +arraigned the Administration, with great violence, as un-Republican +and Federalistic. He took a definite stand against internal +improvements by the United States government; he led the opposition to +the appointment of American representatives to the Congress of Panama, +treating the proposed mission as unconstitutional and dangerous; and +he charged the Administration with returning to the practices of the +Federalist party, to which Adams originally belonged, declaring that +the presidential choice of 1825 was not only the restoration of the +men of 1798, but of the principles of that day; that the spirit of +encroachment had become more wary, but not more honest; and that the +system then was coercion, now it was seduction. He classed the famous +alien and sedition<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.349" id="vol1Page_i.349">i. 349</a></span> laws, of the elder Adams, with the bold avowal of +the younger Adams that it belonged to the President alone to decide +upon the propriety of a foreign mission. Thus, he associated the +administration of John Quincy Adams with the administration of his +father, insisting that if the earlier one deserved the retribution of +a Republican victory, the latter one deserved a similar fate.</p> + +<p>Van Buren's language had the courteous dignity that uniformly +characterised his speeches. He charged no personal wrong-doing; he +insinuated no base motives; he rejected the unfounded story of the +sale of the Presidency to Adams; he voted for Clay's confirmation as +secretary of state, and, as a member of the senatorial committee, he +welcomed the new President upon his inauguration; but from the moment +John Quincy Adams became President, the Senator from New York led the +opposition to his administration with the astuteness of a great +parliamentary leader, determined to create a new party in American +politics. Van Buren also had some strong allies. With him, voted +Findlay of Pennsylvania, Holmes of Maine, Woodbury of New Hampshire, +Dickerson of New Jersey, and Kane of Illinois, besides twelve Southern +senators. But, from the outset, he was the leader. His speeches, +smooth and seldom impassioned, were addressed to the intellect rather +than to the feelings. He was the master of the art of making a +perfectly clear statement of the most complicated case, and of +defending his measures, point by point, with never-failing readiness +and skill throughout the most perplexing series of debates. He talked +to make converts, appealing to his colleagues with a directness well +calculated to bring to his side a majority of the waverers.</p> + +<p>Van Buren's opposition to the Adams administration has been called +factious and unpatriotic. It was certainly active and continuous, and, +perhaps, now and then, somewhat more unscrupulous than senatorial +opposition is in our own time; but his policy was, unquestionably, the +policy of more modern political parties. His tactics created an +organisation<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.350" id="vol1Page_i.350">i. 350</a></span> which, inside and outside of the Senate, was to work +unceasingly, with tongue and pen, to discredit everything done by the +men in office and to turn public opinion against them. It was a part +of his plan not only to watch with jealous care all the acts of the +Administration, but to make the most of every opportunity that could +be used to turn them out of office; and when the Senate debate ended, +the modern Democratic party had been formed. Adams recorded in his now +famous diary that Van Buren made "a great effort to combine the +discordant elements of the Crawford and Jackson and Calhoun men into a +united opposition against the Administration." He might have added, +also, that the debate distinctly marked Van Buren's position in +history as a party-maker in the second great division of parties in +America.</p> + +<p>Van Buren's coalition with DeWitt Clinton, however, came perilously +near prostrating them both. At their state convention, held at Utica, +in September, 1826, the Clintonians and the People's party renominated +Clinton for governor. In the following month, the Bucktails met at +Herkimer, and, if Van Buren could have had his way, the convention +would have indorsed Clinton. Finding such action inadvisable, however, +Van Buren secured the nomination of William B. Rochester, on the +theory that he was a good enough candidate to be beaten. Rochester was +not a man of marked ability. He had done nothing to make himself known +throughout the State; he did not even favour a state road through the +southern tier of counties. He was simply a lawyer of fair attainments +who had served a term in the Legislature, one in Congress, and two +years as a circuit judge, a position from which he resigned, in 1825, +to become minister to Panama.</p> + +<p>But Rochester proved vastly more formidable as a candidate for +governor than the Van Buren leaders anticipated. It became well known +that he was a supporter of the Adams administration, and that Henry +Clay regarded him with favour. Indeed, it was through the latter's +personal and political friendship that he secured the mission to +Panama.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.351" id="vol1Page_i.351">i. 351</a></span> Thus, the feeling began to obtain that Rochester, although +the nominee of the Regency party, more nearly represented the +interests and principles of the Adams administration than DeWitt +Clinton, an avowed Jackson man, who had formed a coalition with Van +Buren. For this reason, Peter B. Porter, an ardent admirer of Clay, +and now a member of the People's party, entered with spirit into the +campaign, appealing to the Clintonians, a large majority of whom +favoured Adams, to resent Clinton's deal with Jackson's friends, and +vote for Rochester, whose election would insure the success of the +President, and bring credit to the people of the western counties, +already ambitious to give the State a governor. This potent appeal was +taken up throughout the State, influencing many Clintonians to support +Rochester, and holding in line scores of Bucktails who favoured Adams.</p> + +<p>It was a critical moment for Van Buren. He was not only a candidate +for re-election to the United States Senate, but he had staked all +upon the overthrow of the Adams administration. Yet, the election of +his party's candidate for governor would in all probability overthrow +the Clinton-Van Buren coalition, giving the vote of the State to the +President, and possibly defeat his own re-election. It was a singular +political mix-up.</p> + +<p>Van Buren had hoped to exclude from the campaign all national issues, +as he succeeded in doing the year before. But the friends of Clay and +Adams could not be hoodwinked. The canvass also developed combinations +that began telling hard upon Van Buren's party loyalty. Mordecai M. +Noah, an ardent supporter of Van Buren, and editor of the New York +<i>Enquirer</i>, came out openly for Clinton. For years, Noah had been +Clinton's most bitter opponent. He opposed the canal, he ridiculed its +champion, and he lampooned its supporters; yet he now swallowed the +prejudices of a lifetime and indorsed the man he had formerly +despised. Van Buren, it may safely be said, was at heart quite as +devoted a supporter of the Governor, since the latter's re-election +would be of the greatest advantage to his own personal in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.352" id="vol1Page_i.352">i. 352</a></span>terests; but +whatever his defects of character, and however lacking he may have +been in an exalted sense of principle, Van Buren appeared to be +sincere in his devotion to Rochester. This was emphasised by the +support of the Albany <i>Argus</i> and other leading Regency papers.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the election returns furnished ample grounds for +suspicion. Steuben County, then a Regency stronghold, gave Clinton +over one thousand majority. Other counties of that section did +proportionately as well. It was explained that this territory would +naturally support Clinton who had insisted in his message that the +central and northern counties, having benefited by the Erie and +Champlain canals, ought to give Steuben and the southern tier a public +highway. But William B. Rochester went to his watery grave<a name="vol1FNanchor_249_249" id="vol1FNanchor_249_249"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_249_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> +thirteen years afterward with the belief that Van Buren and his +confidential friends did not act in good faith.</p> + +<p>With the help of the state road counties, however, Clinton had a +narrow escape; the returns gave him only 3650 majority.<a name="vol1FNanchor_250_250" id="vol1FNanchor_250_250"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_250_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a> This +margin appeared the more wonderful when contrasted with the vote of +Nathaniel Pitcher, candidate for lieutenant-governor on the Rochester +ticket, who received 4182 majority. "Clinton luck!" was the popular +comment.</p> + +<p>The closeness of the result prompted the friends of the President to +favour Rochester for United States senator to succeed Van Buren, whose +term expired on March 4, 1827. Several of the Adams assemblymen acted +with the Regency party, and it was hoped that through them a winning +combination might be made. But Van Buren had not been sleeping. He +knew his strength, and with confidence he returned to Washington to +renew his attacks upon the Adminis<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.353" id="vol1Page_i.353">i. 353</a></span>tration. When, finally, the +election occurred, he had a larger majority than sanguine friends +anticipated. Three Clintonians in the Senate and two in the Assembly, +recognising the coalition of Van Buren and Clinton, cast their votes +for the former. In thanking the members of the Legislature for this +renewed expression of confidence, Van Buren spoke of the "gratifying +unanimity" of their action, declaring that it should be his "constant +and zealous endeavour to protect the remaining rights reserved to the +States by the Federal Constitution; to restore those of which they +have been divested by construction; and to promote the interests and +honour of our common country."</p> + +<p>Thus, in much less than two years, Van Buren easily retrieved all, and +more, than he had lost by the election of Clinton and the defeat of +Crawford. His position was singularly advantageous. Whatever happened, +he was almost sure to gain. He stood with Clinton, with Jackson, and +with a party drilled and disciplined better than regular troops. In +his biography of Andrew Jackson, James Parton says of Van Buren at +this time: "His hand was full of cards, and all his cards were +trumps."<a name="vol1FNanchor_251_251" id="vol1FNanchor_251_251"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_251_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a> Andrew Jackson, who had been watching his career, said +one day to a young New Yorker: "I am no politician; but if I were a +politician, I would be a New York politician."<a name="vol1FNanchor_252_252" id="vol1FNanchor_252_252"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_252_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a></p> + +<p>Van Buren's advantage, however, great as it was, did not end with his +re-election to the United States Senate. One after another, the men +who stood between him and the object of his ambition had gradually +disappeared. Ambrose Spencer was no longer on the bench, James +Tallmadge had run his political course, and Daniel D. Tompkins was in +his grave. Only DeWitt Clinton was left, and on February 11, 1828, +death very suddenly struck him down. Stalwart in form and tremendous +in will power, few dreamed that he had any malady, much less that +death was shadowing him. He was in his fifty-ninth year.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.354" id="vol1Page_i.354">i. 354</a></span></p> + +<p>Of DeWitt Clinton it may fairly be said that "his mourners were two +hosts—his friends and his foes." Everywhere, regardless of party, +marks of the highest respect and deepest grief were evinced. The +Legislature voted ten thousand dollars to his four minor children, an +amount equal to the salary of a canal commissioner during the time he +had served without pay. Indeed, nothing was left undone or unsaid +which would evidence veneration for his memory and sorrow for his +loss. He had lived to complete his work and to enjoy the reward of a +great achievement. Usually benefactors of the people are not so +fortunate; their halo, if it comes at all, generally forms long after +death. But Clinton seemed to be the creature of timely political +accidents. The presentation of his canal scheme had made him governor +on July 1, 1817; and he represented the State when ground was broken +at Rome on July 4; his removal as canal commissioner made him governor +again in 1825; and he represented the State at the completion of the +work. On both occasions, he received the homage of the entire people, +not only as champion of the canal, but as the head of the Commonwealth +for which he had done so much.</p> + +<p>There were those who thought the time of his death fortunate for his +fame, since former opponents were softened and former friends had not +fallen away. An impression also obtained that little was left him +politically to live for. New conditions and new men were springing up. +As a strict constructionist of the Federal Constitution, with a +leaning toward states' rights, he could not have followed Clintonians +into the Whig party soon to be formed, nor would he have been at home +among the leaders of the Jackson or new Democratic party, who were +unlikely to have any use for him. He would not be second to Van Buren, +and Van Buren would not suffer him to interfere with the promotion of +his own career. It is possible Van Buren might have supported him for +governor in 1828, but he would have had no hesitation in playing his +own part regardless of him. Had<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.355" id="vol1Page_i.355">i. 355</a></span> Clinton insisted, so much the worse +for Clinton. Of the two men, Van Buren possessed the advantage. He had +less genius and possibly less self-reliance, but in other respects—in +tact, in prudence, in self-control, in address—indeed, in everything +that makes for party leadership, Van Buren easily held the mastery.</p> + +<p>Clinton's career was absolutely faultless in two aspects—as an honest +man, and a husband, only praise is due him. He died poor and pure. +Yet, there are passages in his history which evidence great defects. +Life had been for him one long dramatic performance. Many great men +seem to have a suit of armour in the form of coldness, brusqueness, or +rudeness, which they put on to meet the stranger, but which, when laid +aside, reveals simple, charming, and often boyish manners. Clinton had +such an armour, but he never put it off, except with intimates, and +not then with any revelation of warmth. He was cold and arrogant, +showing no deference even to seniors, since he denied the existence of +superiors. Nobody loved him; few really liked him; and, except for his +canal policy, his public career must have ended with his dismissal +from the New York mayoralty. It seemed a question whether he really +measured up to the stature of a statesman.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the judgment of posterity is easily on the side of +Clinton's greatness. Thurlow Weed spoke of him as a great man with +weak points; and Van Buren, in his attractive eulogy at Washington, +declared that he was "greatly tempted to envy him his grave with its +honours." He may well have done so; for, although Van Buren reached +the highest office in the gift of the people, and is clearly one of +the ablest leaders of men in the history of the Empire State, his fame +does not rest on so sure a foundation. Clinton was a man of great +achievement. He was not a dreamer; nor merely a statesman with +imagination, grasping the idea in its bolder outlines; but, like a +captain of industry, he combined the statesman and the practical man +of affairs, turning<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.356" id="vol1Page_i.356">i. 356</a></span> great possibilities into greater realities. It +may be fairly said of him that his career made an era in the history +of his State, and that in asserting the great principle of internal +improvements he blazed the way that guided all future comers.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.357" id="vol1Page_i.357">i. 357</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XXXII" id="vol1CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII<br /> +<br /> +VAN BUREN ELECTED GOVERNOR<br /> +<br /> +1828</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">In September</span>, 1827, Van Buren permitted the New York wing of the +Republican party to come out plainly for Andrew Jackson for President. +The announcement, made by the general committee, which met in Tammany +Hall, declared that the Bucktails reposed full confidence in Andrew +Jackson's worth, integrity, and patriotism, and would support only +those who favoured him for President of the United States.</p> + +<p>Peter B. Sharpe, a Tammany chief of courage, recently speaker of the +Assembly, voiced a faint protest; and later he summoned Marinus +Willett from his retirement to preside at an opposition meeting. It +was, no doubt, an inspiring sight to see this venerable soldier of the +Revolution, who had won proud distinction in that long and bloody war, +presiding at an assembly of his fellow citizens nearly half a century +afterward; it accentuated the fact that other heroes existed besides +the victor of New Orleans; but the Van Buren papers spoke in concert. +Within a week, the whole State understood that the election of 1827 +must be conducted with express reference to the choice of Jackson in +1828.</p> + +<p>The note of this bugle call, blown by Edwin Croswell, the famous +editor of the Albany <i>Argus</i>, resounded the enthusiasm of the party. +The ablest and most popular men, preliminary to the contest, were +selected for legislative places. Erastus Root was again nominated in +Delaware County; Robert Emmet, the promising son of the distinguished +Thomas Addis Emmet, and Ogden Hoffman, the eloquent and brilliant son +of Josiah Ogden Hoffman, who was to become<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.358" id="vol1Page_i.358">i. 358</a></span> the best criminal lawyer +of his day, found places on the ticket in New York City; Nathaniel P. +Tallmadge, heretofore an opponent of the Regency, but now to begin a +public career which finally placed him in the United States Senate for +twelve years, was brought out in Dutchess County; and Benjamin F. +Butler, whose revision of the state statutes had made him exceedingly +popular, accepted a nomination in the anti-Regency stronghold of +Albany.</p> + +<p>Not to be outdone in the character or strength of their ticket, the +Adams men summoned their ablest and most eloquent campaigners to share +the burden of the contest; and Elisha Williams, Peter B. Sharpe, +Francis Granger, and Peter B. Porter readily responded. Ezra C. Gross, +who had served a term in Congress, also bore a conspicuous part. Gross +was rapidly forging to the front, and would doubtless have become one +of the most gifted and brilliant men in the State had he not fallen an +early victim to intemperance.</p> + +<p>For a purely local campaign, without the assistance of a state ticket, +it proved a canvass of unusual vehemence, filling the air with +caricatures and lampoons, and bringing victory to the drilled and +disciplined forces which were now to follow, for half a score of +years, the fortunes of the New Orleans hero. From the moment Jackson +became the standard-bearer, the crowds were with him. Adams was +represented as cold and personally unpopular; Jackson as frank, +cordial in manner, and bravely chivalric. When everything in favour of +Adams was carefully summed up and admitted, his ability as a writer, +as a lawyer, as a diplomatist, and as a statesman, the people, +fascinated by the distinguished traits of character and the splendour +of the victory at New Orleans, threw their hats into the air for +Andrew Jackson. The eloquence of Williams could carry Columbia County; +Porter, ever popular and interesting, could sweep the Niagara +frontier; and Gross, with an illuminated rhetoric that lives to this +day in the memory of men who heard their fathers talk about it, had no +trouble in Essex; but from the Hudson to Lake Oneida the Jackson party +may be said to have carried<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.359" id="vol1Page_i.359">i. 359</a></span> everything by storm, electing its ticket +by over four thousand majority in New York City, and securing nearly +all the senatorial districts and the larger part of the Assembly. So +overwhelming was the victory that Van Buren had no trouble at the +opening of the Twentieth Congress to defeat the re-election of John W. +Taylor for speaker.</p> + +<p>As the time approached for nominating a governor to lead the campaign +of 1828, Van Buren realised that the anti-masonic sentiment, which had +been rapidly growing since the abduction of William Morgan, had +developed into an influence throughout the western part of the State +that threatened serious trouble. Morgan was a native of Virginia, born +in 1776, a man of fair education, and by trade a stone-mason. Little +is known of his life until 1821, when he resided first in York, +Canada, and, a year later, in Rochester, New York, where he worked at +his trade. Then he drifted to LeRoy, in Genesee County, becoming an +active Free Mason. Afterward, he moved back to Rochester, and then to +Batavia, where he sought out David C. Miller, a printer, who agreed to +publish whatever secrets of Free Masonry Morgan would reveal. The +work, done by night and on Sundays, was finally interrupted on +September 11, 1826, by Morgan's arrest, on a trifling criminal charge, +and transfer to Canandaigua for examination. His acquittal was +immediately followed by a second arrest upon a civil process for a +small debt and by his imprisonment in the Canandaigua jail. When +discharged on the succeeding night, he was quickly seized, and, as it +subsequently appeared from the evidence taken at the trial of his +abductors, he was bound, gagged, thrust violently into a covered +carriage, driven by a circuitous route, with relays of horses and men, +to Fort Niagara, and left in confinement in the magazine. Here he +dropped out of view.</p> + +<p>The excitement following the discovery of this crime was without a +parallel in the history of Western New York. Citizens everywhere +organised committees for the apprehension of the offenders; the +Governor offered a reward for their discovery; the Legislature +authorised the appointment of able<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.360" id="vol1Page_i.360">i. 360</a></span> lawyers to investigate; and +William L. Marcy and Samuel Nelson, then judges of the Supreme Court, +were designated to hold special circuits for the trial of the accused. +Many persons were convicted and punished as aiders and abettors of the +conspiracy. For three years the excitement continued without +abatement, until the whole State west of Syracuse became soaked with +deep and bitter feeling, dividing families, sundering social ties, and +breeding lawsuits in vindication of assailed character. Public +sentiment was divided as to whether Morgan had been put to death. Half +a century afterward, in 1882, Thurlow Weed published an affidavit, +rehearsing a statement made to him in 1831 by John Whitney, who +confessed that he was one of five persons who took Morgan from the +magazine and drowned him in Lake Ontario.<a name="vol1FNanchor_253_253" id="vol1FNanchor_253_253"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_253_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a></p> + +<p>The trouble stirred up by this unfortunate affair gradually drifted +into politics. In the spring of 1827, a disinclination had shown +itself among the people of Genesee County to support Free Masons for +supervisors or justices of the peace, and, although the leading men of +the western part of the State deprecated political action, the +pressure became so great that Free Masons were excluded from local +tickets in certain towns of Genesee and Monroe Counties. This course +was resented by their friends. In the summer of the same year, the old +treasurer of Rochester, who had been elected year after year without +opposition, was defeated. No one had openly opposed him, but a canvass +of the returns disclosed a silent vote which was quickly charged to +the Masons. This discovery, says Thurlow Weed, "was like a spark of +fire dropped into combustible materials." Immediately, Rochester +became the centre of anti-Masonry. In September, an anti-masonic +convention nominated a legislative ticket, which, to the amazement and +confusion of the old parties, swept Monroe County by a majority of +over seventeen hundred. Direction was thus given to the movement. In +the following year, when the state and national election was +approaching, it appeared that throughout "the infected dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.361" id="vol1Page_i.361">i. 361</a></span>trict," as +it was called, the opponents of Masonry, although previously about +equally divided in political sentiment, had aligned themselves with +the Adams party, and that the Masons had affiliated with the followers +of Jackson. There was good reason for this division. The prominent men +in the anti-masonic body, for the most part, were not only leaders of +the Adams party, but, very early in the excitement, President Adams +took occasion to let it be known that he was not a Mason. On the other +hand, it was well understood that Jackson was a Mason and gloried in +it.</p> + +<p>This was the situation when the Adams followers, who now called +themselves National Republicans, met in convention at Utica on July +22, 1828. The wise policy of nominating candidates acceptable to all +Anti-Masons was plain, and the delegates from the western half of the +State proposed Francis Granger for governor. Granger was not then a +political Anti-Mason, but he was clean, well-known, and popular, and +for two years had been a leading member of the Assembly. Thurlow Weed +said of him that he was "a gentleman of accomplished manners, genial +temperament, and fine presence, with fortune, leisure, and a taste for +public life."<a name="vol1FNanchor_254_254" id="vol1FNanchor_254_254"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_254_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a> Indeed, he appears to have felt from the first a +genuine delight in the vivid struggles of the political arena, and, +although destined to be twice beaten for governor, and once for Vice +President, he had abundant service in the Cabinet, in the Legislature, +and in Congress. Just then he was thirty-six years old, the leading +antagonist of John C. Spencer at the Canandaigua bar, and one whom +everybody regarded as a master-spirit. Dressed in a bottle-green coat +with gilt buttons, a model of grace and manhood, he was the attraction +of the ladies' gallery. He had youth, enthusiasm, magnificent gifts, +and a heart to love. All his resources seemed to be at instant +command, according as he had need of them. Besides, he was a born +Republican. Thomas Jefferson had made his father postmaster-general, +and during the thirteen years<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.362" id="vol1Page_i.362">i. 362</a></span> he held the office, the son was +studying at Yale and fighting Federalism.<a name="vol1FNanchor_255_255" id="vol1FNanchor_255_255"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_255_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a></p> + +<p>Eastern delegates wanted Smith Thompson. Thompson was a man of great +learning and an honoured member of the Republican party. But he was +sixty years old. With the exception of five years as secretary of the +navy, under Monroe, he had been continuously upon the bench for over a +quarter of a century, first as justice and chief justice of the +Supreme Court of the State, latterly as associate justice of the +United States Supreme Court. It was suggested, with some pertinency as +it afterward appeared, that the people of the State having declared in +the recently adopted Constitution, that a judge, holding office during +good behaviour, ought not to be a candidate for an elective office, +would resent such a nomination. It was further suggested, with even +greater force, that Thompson's nomination would offend the ultra +Anti-Masons and bring an independent ticket into the field, thus +dividing the Adams vote and giving the election to the Jackson +candidate. On the other hand, it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.363" id="vol1Page_i.363">i. 363</a></span> maintained with equal spirit +that the nomination of Granger, avowedly to secure the anti-masonic +vote, would offend the National Republicans and jeopardise the state +as well as the electoral ticket. It took a ballot to decide the +question, and Thompson won by a close vote. Francis Granger was then +nominated for lieutenant-governor by acclamation.</p> + +<p>As predicted, several ultra anti-masonic editors in Genesee and +Ontario counties immediately denounced the nomination of Thompson. The +Adams people knew it portended danger; but Thompson would not withdraw +and the ultras would not relent. Thereupon, the anti-masonic +convention, already called to meet at Utica, added to the difficulty +of the situation by nominating Francis Granger and John Crary. Granger +had not solicited nomination, and now he was burdened with two. But +Thompson refused to relieve the embarrassment, and Crary proved +wickedly false to his agreement. The latter admitted that the union of +the Adams and anti-masonic forces would probably elect Granger for +lieutenant-governor, and he promised to withdraw as soon as<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.364" id="vol1Page_i.364">i. 364</a></span> Granger +should do so. Upon this Granger declined the anti-masonic nomination; +but the wily Van Buren, who was intently watching the embarrassment of +the National Republicans, took good care to have Crary remain and +Solomon Southwick substituted for Granger. The general sentiment of +the Anti-Masons did not respond to this movement. But the angry +feeling excited by Granger's declination, aided by Van Buren's +finesse, gave Southwick, who had acquired some credit with the +Anti-Masons by an early renunciation of his masonic ties, an +opportunity of advancing his visionary projects of personal ambition. +Thurlow Weed declared that the people had been "juggled" out of a +candidate for governor; but Weed did not know that Van Buren, needing +money to help along the jugglery, wrote James A. Hamilton, the son of +the great Federalist, that unless "you do more in New York than you +promised, our friends in Albany, at best poor, will break down." Crary +was one of the assemblymen who, in 1824, had boldly denounced the +removal of Clinton as a canal commissioner. After his broken promise +to Granger and his bargain with Van Buren, however, he ceased to be +called "Honest John Crary."</p> + +<p>Before the meeting of the National Republican convention, Martin Van +Buren was announced as the Jackson candidate for governor. It was +well-known, at least to the Albany Regency, that if Jackson became +President, Van Buren would be his secretary of state. One can readily +understand that Van Buren would willingly exchange the Senate for the +head of the Cabinet, since the office of secretary of state had been +for twenty years a certain stepping-stone to the Presidency. Madison +had been Jefferson's secretary of state, Monroe had filled the exalted +place under Madison, and John Quincy Adams served Monroe in the same +capacity. But Van Buren's willingness to exchange the Senate, an arena +in which he had ranked among the ablest statesmen of the Republic, for +the governorship, was prompted by the force of circumstances and not +by choice. Jackson's election was be<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.365" id="vol1Page_i.365">i. 365</a></span>lieved to depend upon New York, +and the carrying of New York, to depend upon Van Buren. The latter, at +this time, was at the zenith of his popularity. His speeches had not +only stamped him as a genuine parliamentary debater, but had gained +for him the reputation of being the congressional leader and chief +organiser of the Jackson party. During his seven and a half years in +the Senate, his name was associated with every event of importance; +his voice was heard on one side or the other of every question that +interested the American people; and the force he brought to bear, +whether for good or evil, swayed the minds of contemporaries to an +unusual degree.</p> + +<p>Van Buren looked his best in these days. His complexion was a bright +blonde, and he dressed with the taste of Disraeli. Henry B. Stanton +describes him as he appeared at church in Rochester on a Sunday during +the campaign. "He wore an elegant snuff-colored broadcloth coat with +velvet collar; his cravat was orange with modest lace tips; his vest +was of a pearl hue; his trousers were white duck; his silk hose +corresponded to the vest; his shoes were morocco; his nicely fitting +gloves were yellow kid; his long-furred beaver hat, with broad brim, +was of Quaker color. As he sat in the wealthy aristocratic church of +the town, in the pew of General Gould who had been a lifelong +Federalist and supporter of Clinton, all eyes were fixed upon the man +who held Jackson's fate in his hands."<a name="vol1FNanchor_256_256" id="vol1FNanchor_256_256"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_256_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a></p> + +<p>Van Buren did not propose to take any chances, either in securing the +nomination or the election for governor—hence his visit to Rochester +and the western counties to study for himself the anti-masonic +situation. "The excitement has been vastly greater than I supposed," +he wrote Hamilton. In order to find some way of pacifying it, he +turned aside to visit the home of his friend, Enos T. Throop, then +living on the wooded and beautiful banks of Lake Owasco. In January, +1827, Throop, who presided at the first trial of the Morgan abductors, +had, to the great delight of all Anti-<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.366" id="vol1Page_i.366">i. 366</a></span>Masons, flayed the defendants, +before pronouncing sentence, in a remarkably effective and emphatic +address. Such a man was needed to strengthen the Jackson ticket, and +before Van Buren got home it was charged that he had secured Throop's +promise to stand for lieutenant-governor, with the assurance that +within three months after his inauguration, if everything went +according to programme, he should be the acting governor.</p> + +<p>These tactics meant the turning down of Nathaniel Pitcher, the acting +governor in place of DeWitt Clinton. Pitcher had served four years in +the Assembly, one term in Congress, and as a delegate to the +convention in 1821. Though a man of limited education and strong +prejudices, with a depth of feeling that made him as vigorously +independent as he was rigidly honest, he proved his fitness for the +high office to which he had suddenly fallen heir by several excellent +appointments to the Superior Court, just then created for the city of +New York. He honoured himself further by restoring the rule, so rudely +broken by Clinton, of offering the chancellorship to Chief Justice +Savage, and, upon his declining it, to Reuben H. Walworth, then a +young and most promising circuit judge. Later in the year, he named +Daniel Mosely for the seventh circuit vacated by the resignation of +Enos T. Throop, soon to become lieutenant-governor. These appointments +marked him as a wise and safe executive. Van Buren understood this, +and his correspondence with Hamilton, and others, while absent in the +west, affords many interesting glimpses into his political methods in +their immodest undress. As the candidate for governor, he was very +active just now. His letters indicate that he gave personal attention +to the selection of all delegates, and that he wanted only those in +whom reliance could be absolutely placed. "Your views about the +delegates are correct," he says to Hamilton. "It would be hazarding +too much to make out a list." A list might contain names of men who +could not be safely trusted at such a supreme moment; and Van Buren +naturally desired that his nomination should be en<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.367" id="vol1Page_i.367">i. 367</a></span>thusiastically +unanimous. The slightest protest from some disappointed friend of +Nathaniel Pitcher, who was to be sacrificed for Throop, or of Joseph +C. Yates, who was spending his years in forced retirement at +Schenectady, would take away the glory and dull the effect of what was +intended to be a sudden and unanimous uprising of the people's free +and untrammelled delegates in favour of the senior United States +senator, the Moses of the newly-born Democratic party.</p> + +<p>The anticipated trouble at the Herkimer convention, however, did not +appear. Delegates were selected to nominate Martin Van Buren and Enos +T. Throop, and, after they had carried out the programme with +unanimity, Pitcher ceased to act with the Jackson party. But the +contest between the opposing parties proved exceedingly bitter and +malevolent. It resembled the scandalous campaign of John Adams and +Thomas Jefferson in 1800, and the more recent Blaine and Cleveland +canvass of 1884. Everything that could be tortured into apparent wrong +was served up to listening thousands. Van Buren had about him the +genius of Edwin Croswell, the unerring judgment of Benjamin F. Butler, +the wisdom of William L. Marcy, the diplomacy of Benjamin Knower, and +the scintillating brilliancy of Samuel A. Talcott; but like McGregor, +Van Buren sat at the head of the table. He cautioned Noah, he +complimented Coleman, he kept Southwick and Crary on the anti-masonic +ticket, he selected the candidate for lieutenant-governor, he called +for funds, and he insisted upon making the Adams administration +odious. In referring to the President and his secretary of state, he +did not personally join in the cry of bargain and sale, of fraud and +corruption, of treachery and knavery; nor did he speak of them as "the +Puritan and the Blackleg;" but for three years his criticisms had so +associated the Administration with Federalism and the offensive alien +and sedition laws which Jefferson condemned and defeated in 1800, that +the younger Adams inherited the odium attached to his father a quarter +of a century before.</p> + +<p>The National Republicans retaliated with statements no<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.368" id="vol1Page_i.368">i. 368</a></span> less base and +worthless, exhibiting Jackson as a military butcher and utterly +illiterate, and publishing documents assailing his marriage, the +chastity of his wife, and the execution of six militiamen convicted of +mutiny. Thurlow Weed, who conducted the Adams campaign in the western +part of the State, indulged in no personal attacks upon Jackson or his +wife, refusing to send out the documents known as "Domestic Relations" +and "Coffin Handbills." "The impression of the masses was that the six +militiamen deserved hanging," he says, in his autobiography, "and I +look back now with astonishment that enlightened and able statesmen +could believe that General Jackson would be injured with the people by +ruthlessly invading the sanctuary of his home, and permitting a lady +whose life had been blameless to be dragged forth into the arena of +politics."<a name="vol1FNanchor_257_257" id="vol1FNanchor_257_257"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_257_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a></p> + +<p>The result of the election for governor and lieutenant-governor was +practically settled by the nomination of an anti-masonic independent +ticket. Thurlow Weed advised Smith Thompson that votes enough to +defeat him would be thrown away upon Southwick. Van Buren wrote +Hamilton to "bet for me on joint-account five hundred dollars that +Thompson will be defeated, and one hundred dollars on every thousand +of a majority up to five thousand; or, if you can't do better, say +five hundred on the result and fifty on every thousand up to ten." The +returns justified his confidence. He received one hundred and +thirty-six thousand votes to one hundred and six thousand for Thompson +and thirty-three thousand for Southwick.<a name="vol1FNanchor_258_258" id="vol1FNanchor_258_258"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_258_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a> Francis Granger would +probably have received the aggregate vote of Thompson and Southwick, +or three thousand more than Van Buren. That Weed rightly understood +the situation is evidenced by his insistence that a candidate be +nominated acceptable to the Anti-Masons. "Van Buren's election," said +Thurlow Weed, in his autobiography, the tears of disappointment and +chagrin almost trickling down his cheeks when he wrote the words +nearly<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.369" id="vol1Page_i.369">i. 369</a></span> half a century afterward, "enabled his party to hold the State +for the twelve succeeding years."<a name="vol1FNanchor_259_259" id="vol1FNanchor_259_259"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_259_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a> But it was the last time, for +many years, that Thurlow Weed did not have his way in the party. It +was apparent that the opponents of Van Buren needed a leader who could +lead; and, although it took years of patient effort to cement into a +solid fighting mass all the heterogeneous elements that Clinton left +and Van Buren could not control, the day was destined to come when one +party flag floated over an organisation under the leadership of the +stately form of Thurlow Weed.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.370" id="vol1Page_i.370">i. 370</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="vol1CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII<br /> +<br /> +WILLIAM H. SEWARD AND THURLOW WEED<br /> +<br /> +1830</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Although</span> the election in 1828 brought hopeless defeat to the National +Republicans, apparently it imparted increased confidence and vigour to +anti-Masonry. For a time, this movement resembled the growth of +abolitionism at a later day, people holding that a secret society, +which sought to paralyse courts, by closing the mouths of witnesses +and otherwise unnerving the arm of justice, threatened the existence +of popular government. The moral question, too, appealed strongly to +persons prominent in social, professional, and church life, who +increased the excitement by renouncing masonic ties and signifying +their conversion to the new gospel of anti-Masonry. Cadwallader D. +Colden, formerly the distinguished mayor of New York and a lawyer of +high reputation, wrote an effective letter against Free Masonry, which +was supplemented by the famous document of David Barnard, a popular +Baptist divine of Chautauqua County. Henry Dana Ward established the +<i>Anti-Masonic Review</i> in New York City, and Frederick Whittlesey +became equally efficient and influential as editor of the Rochester +<i>Republican</i>.</p> + +<p>But the man who led the fight and became the centre from which all +influences emanated was Thurlow Weed. Early in the struggle, as a +member of the Morgan committee, he investigated the crime of 1826. +Soon after, he founded the <i>Anti-Masonic Enquirer</i> of Rochester, whose +circulation, unparalleled in those days, quickly included the western +and northern counties of New York, and the neighbouring States of +Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. Weed had been slow to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.371" id="vol1Page_i.371">i. 371</a></span> yield to the +influences which carried the question into politics, but, once having +determined to appeal to the ballot-box, he set to work to strengthen +and enlarge the party. It became a quasi-religious movement, ministers +and churches, without any very far-reaching hopes and plans, labouring +to bring about a spirit which should induce men to renounce Masonry; +and in their zeal they worked with the singleness of thought and the +accepted methods that dominate the revivalist and temperance advocate.</p> + +<p>The aim of Thurlow Weed was to reach the people, and it mattered not +how often he had to bear defeat, or the sneers of older politicians +and an established press; he flung himself into the work with an +indomitable spirit and an entire disregard of trouble and pain. Weed +was a born fighter. He saw no visions, he believed in no omens, and he +had no thought of bearing a charmed life; but he seems to have been +indifferent to changes of season or the assaults of men, as he +travelled from one end of the State to the other regardless of +inclement weather, answering attacks with rough and rasping sarcasms, +and meeting every crisis with the candour and courage of a John +Wesley. One reads in his autobiography, almost with a feeling of +incredulity, of the toil cheerfully borne and the privations eagerly +endured while the guiding member of the Morgan committee.</p> + +<p>Weed proved a great captain, not only in directing and inspiring +anti-masonic movements, but in rallying to his standard a body of +young men destined to occupy conspicuous places in the State and in +the nation. Among those entering the Assembly, in 1829, were Philo C. +Fuller of Livingston and Millard Fillmore of Erie. When Weed first met +him, in 1824, Fuller was a law clerk in James Wadsworth's office, only +twenty-three years old. But Weed noted his fitness for public place, +and in 1828 had him nominated and elected to the Assembly.</p> + +<p>Millard Fillmore was a year or two older. His youth, like that of +Weed, had been crowded with everything except schooling. He learned +the clothier's trade, he was appren<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.372" id="vol1Page_i.372">i. 372</a></span>ticed to a wool-carder, and he +served his time at the woodpile, in the harvest field, and as chore +boy. Only at odd moments did he get an education; but when he began +studying law and teaching school he quickly evidenced a strength of +intellect that distinguished him throughout life. Weed met him at an +Adams convention in Buffalo, in 1828, and so favourably impressed was +he with his ability that he suggested his nomination for the Assembly.</p> + +<p>One year later, Weed insisted upon the nomination of Albert H. Tracy, +of Erie, for the Senate. Tracy, who had already served six years in +Congress, had the advantage of being well born and well educated. His +father, a distinguished physician of Connecticut, urged him to adopt +the profession of medicine, but when about ready for a degree, he +entered his brother's law office at Madison, New York, and, in 1815, +upon his admission to the bar, settled in Buffalo. He was then +twenty-two years old. Four years later he entered Congress. He had +earned this quick start by good ability; and so acceptably did he +maintain himself, that, in spite of the acrimony existing between +Clintonian and Bucktail, his name was regarded with much favour in +1825 as the successor of Rufus King in the United States Senate. Tracy +was a man of marked ability. Though neither brilliant nor +distinguished as a public speaker, he was a skilful advocate, easy and +natural; with the help of a marvellous memory, and a calm, philosophic +temperament, he ranked among the foremost lawyers of his day. Like +James Tallmadge, he was inordinately ambitious for public life, and +his amiability admirably fitted him for it; but like Tallmadge, he was +not always governed by principle so much as policy. He showed at times +a lamentable unsteadiness in his leadership, listening too often to +the whispers of cunning opponents, and too easily separating himself +from tried friends. In 1838, he practically left his party; and, soon +after, he ceased to practise his profession, burying a life which had +promised great usefulness and a brilliant career. In mien, size, +bearing, visage, and conversation he was the counterpart of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.373" id="vol1Page_i.373">i. 373</a></span> Thomas +Jefferson when about the same age—a likeness of which Tracy was fully +conscious.</p> + +<p>Tracy's nomination to the Senate in 1829 came as a great surprise and +a greater gratification. He had not taken kindly to the anti-masonic +party. Only the year before, he dissuaded John Birdsall from accepting +its nomination to Congress, because of the obloquy sure to follow +defeat; but its strength, evidenced in the campaign of 1828, opened +his eyes; and, while absent in Albany, unsuccessfully seeking a +judgeship from Governor Throop, Thurlow Weed had him nominated. On his +way home, he stopped at Rochester to call upon the great apostle of +anti-Masonry, reaching the house before sunrise. "He was wrapped in a +long camlet cloak," says Weed, "and wore an air of depression that +betokened some great disappointment. 'You have been east?' I asked, +for I had not heard of his absence from home. 'Yes,' he answered. +'Then you don't know what happened at Batavia yesterday?' He replied +in the negative, and I continued: 'We had a convention and nominated a +candidate for senator.' When he laughingly inquired, 'Who?' I said, +'Why, we nominated you.' He instantly jumped two feet from the floor +and whooped like an Indian. Then, with brightened countenance and +undisguised elation of spirit that he was to have a seat in the Senate +for four years, he informed me of his disappointment in not obtaining +either the judgeship, or the presidency of the branch of the United +States Bank about to be established at Buffalo."<a name="vol1FNanchor_260_260" id="vol1FNanchor_260_260"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_260_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a></p> + +<p>Thus far, Thurlow Weed had won more reputation than money in +Rochester. He dwelt in a cheap house in an obscure part of the +village. Sometimes he had to borrow clothes to be presentable. "One +day," says Henry B. Stanton, "I was standing in the street with him +and Frederick Whittlesey when his little boy came up and said: +'Father, mother wants a shilling to buy some bread.' Weed put on a +queer look, felt in his pockets, and remarked: 'That is a home appeal, +but I'll be hanged if I've got the shilling.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.374" id="vol1Page_i.374">i. 374</a></span> Whittlesey drew out a +silver dollar and gave the boy who ran off like a deer."<a name="vol1FNanchor_261_261" id="vol1FNanchor_261_261"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_261_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a> Yet, at +that moment, Weed with his bare arms spattered with printer's ink, was +the greatest power in the political life of Western New York.</p> + +<p>But a scheme more helpful to Weed and to his party than the election +of young men of large promise was just now on foot. The need of a +newspaper at Albany, to represent the sentiments of the Anti-Masons +had long been recognised; and, to enable Weed to establish it, he had +been re-elected to the Assembly in the autumn of 1829. In the course +of the winter the project quickly took shape; a fund of twenty-five +hundred dollars was subscribed; and on March 22, 1830, appeared the +first number of the Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, in which were soon to be +published the sparkling paragraphs that made it famous.<a name="vol1FNanchor_262_262" id="vol1FNanchor_262_262"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_262_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a> Weed's +salary as editor was fixed at seven hundred and fifty dollars. The +paper was scarcely larger than the cloud "like a man's hand;" and its +one hundred and seventy subscribers, scattered from Buffalo to New +York, became somewhat disturbed by the acrimonious and personal +warfare instantly made upon it by Edwin Croswell of the <i>Argus</i>.</p> + +<p>Croswell and Weed had been boys together at Catskill. They were +neither intimates nor equals, although of the same age; for young +Croswell had the advantage of position and education given him by his +father, then publisher of the <i>Recorder</i>. To Weed, only such work came +as a bare-footed, ragged urchin of eleven was supposed to be capable +of doing. This was in 1808. The two boys did not meet again for twenty +years, and then only to separate as Hamilton and Burr had parted, on +the road to White Plains, in the memorable retreat from Manhattan in +September, 1776. But Croswell, retaining the quiet, studious habits +that characterised<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.375" id="vol1Page_i.375">i. 375</a></span> his youth, climbed rapidly. He had become editor +of the <i>Argus</i>, state printer, and one of the ablest and most zealous +members of the Albany Regency. He possessed a judgment that seemed +almost inspired, with such untiring industry and rare ability that for +years the Democratic press of the country looked upon the <i>Argus</i> as +its guiding star.</p> + +<p>Against this giant in journalism Thurlow Weed was now to be opposed. +"You have a great responsibility resting upon your shoulders," wrote +the accomplished Frederick Whittlesey, "but I know no man who is +better able to meet it."<a name="vol1FNanchor_263_263" id="vol1FNanchor_263_263"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_263_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a> This was the judgment of a man who had +personal knowledge of the tremendous power of Weed's pen. In his later +years, Weed mellowed and forgave and forgot, but when he went to +Albany, and for years before, as well as after, he seemed to enjoy +striking an adversary. An explosion followed every blow. His sarcasms +had needle-points, and his wit, sometimes a little gross, smarted like +the sting of wasps. Often his attacks were so severe and merciless +that the distress of his opponents created sympathy for them.</p> + +<p>Very early in the <i>Evening Journal's</i> history Croswell invited Weed's +fire. It is doubtful if the <i>Argus'</i> publisher thought or cared much +about the character of the reply. Editors are not usually sensitive to +the stricture of others. But when Weed's retort came, the rival +writers remained without personal or business relations until, years +afterward, Croswell, financially crushed by the failure of the Albany +Canal Bank, and suspected of dishonesty, implored Weed's assistance to +avoid a criminal indictment. In the meantime subscriptions poured into +the <i>Journal</i>. The people recognised a fighter; the thoughtful +distinguished a powerful mind; and politicians discovered such a +genius for leadership that Albany became a political centre for the +National Republicans as it was for the Bucktails. Within ten years +after its establishment, the <i>Evening Journal</i> had the largest +circulation of any political paper in the United States.</p> + +<p>The birth year of the <i>Journal</i> also witnessed a reorganisa<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.376" id="vol1Page_i.376">i. 376</a></span>tion of +the Anti-Masons. Heretofore, this party had declared only its own +peculiar principles, relying for success upon the aid of the National +Republicans; but, as it now sympathised with Henry Clay upon questions +of governmental policy, especially the protection of American +industry, it became evident that, to secure the greatest political +strength, its future policy must be ardent antagonism to the +principles of the Jackson party. Accordingly, at the Utica convention, +held in August, 1830, it adopted a platform substantially embracing +the views of the National Republicans. In acknowledgment of this +change, the Adams party accepted the nomination of Francis Granger for +governor and Samuel Stevens, a prominent lawyer of Albany City and the +son of a distinguished Revolutionary officer, for lieutenant-governor.</p> + +<p>The Bucktails did not get on so smoothly at their convention, held at +Herkimer, on September 8. Erastus Root thought if Van Buren could +afford to take the nomination away from Acting Governor Pitcher, he +might deprive Enos T. Throop of the same honour. Throop, who was +acting governor in the place of Van Buren, had proved a feeble +executive. Besides, it could not be forgotten that Throop suffered Van +Buren to humiliate Pitcher simply to make his own election sure. But +Throop had friends if nothing else. On the first ballot, he received +seventy-eight votes to forty for Root. The wrangle over +lieutenant-governor proved less irritating, and Edward P. Livingston, +after several ballots, secured seventy-seven votes.</p> + +<p>These contests created unusual bitterness. Root had the offer of +support from a working men's convention; and his failure to secure the +Herkimer nomination left the working men, especially in New York City, +in no mood to support the Bucktail choice. All this greatly encouraged +the Anti-Masons. Granger and Stevens commanded the cordial support of +the National Republicans, while Throop and Livingston were personally +unpopular. Throop had the manners of DeWitt Clinton without a tithe of +his ability, and Livingston, stripped of his family's intellectual +traits, exhibited<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.377" id="vol1Page_i.377">i. 377</a></span> only its aristocratic pride. But there were +obstacles in the way of anti-masonic success. Among other things, +Francis Granger had become chairman of an anti-masonic convention at +Philadelphia, which Weed characterised as a mistake. "The men from New +York who urged it are stark mad," he wrote; "more than fifty thousand +electors are now balancing their votes, and half of them want an +excuse to vote against you."<a name="vol1FNanchor_264_264" id="vol1FNanchor_264_264"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_264_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> Whether this "mistake" had the +baleful influence that Weed anticipated, could not, of course, be +determined. The returns, however, proved a serious +disappointment.<a name="vol1FNanchor_265_265" id="vol1FNanchor_265_265"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_265_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a> Granger had carried the eighth or "infected +district" by the astounding majority of over seven thousand in each of +the first five districts. In the sixth district the anti-masonic vote +fell over four thousand. It was evident that the Eastern masons, who +had until now acted with the National Republicans, preferred the rule +of the Regency to government by Anti-Masons.</p> + +<p>The year that witnessed this disheartening defeat of the Anti-Masons, +welcomed into political life a young man of great promise, destined to +play, for the next forty years, a conspicuous part in the history of +his country. William Henry Seward was twenty-nine years old when +elected to the State Senate; but to all appearances he might have been +eight years younger. He was small, slender, boyish, punctilious in +attire, his blue eyes and finely moulded chin and mouth giving an +unconscious charm to his native composure, which attracted with a +magnetism peculiarly its own; but there was nothing in his looks or +manner to indicate that the chronicle of the century would record his +name among the country's most prominent statesmen. He had neither the +bold, full forehead of Marcy, nor the tall, commanding form of +Talcott, although the boyish face suggested the refinement of Butler's +features, softened by the blue eyes and light sandy hair. The only +noticeable feature was the nose,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.378" id="vol1Page_i.378">i. 378</a></span> neither Roman nor Semitic, but long, +prominent and aggressive, with nostrils slightly distended. In after +years, the brow grew heavier, the eyes more deeply set, and the chin, +slightly drawn, gave greater prominence to the jaw and firmness to the +mouth.</p> + +<p>In 1830, Seward had not yet made his great legal contest in the +Freeman case, setting up the then novel and unpopular defence of +insanity, and establishing himself as one of the ablest and grittiest +lawyers in the State. But early in that year, he made a speech, at an +anti-masonic conference, which won the confidence of the delegates +sufficiently to admit him to leadership with Thurlow Weed, Francis +Granger, John C. Spencer, Frederick Whittlesey, William H. Maynard, +and Albert H. Tracy. He was the youngest man in the council, younger +than Whittlesey, four years younger than Weed, and eight years younger +than Tracy. Granger and John C. Spencer belonged almost to an earlier +generation. Millard Fillmore was one year his senior; but Fillmore, +whose force and feeling made for conservatism, had not yet entered +that coterie of brilliant anti-masonic leaders.</p> + +<p>Seward was neither precocious nor gifted beyond his years. He had +spirit and gifts, with sufficient temper and stubbornness to defend +him against impositions at home or in college; but the love for +adventure and the strenuous life, that characterised Weed's capricious +youth, were entirely absent. As a boy, Weed, untidy even to +slovenliness, explored the mountain and the valley, drifted among the +resolute lads of the town, and lingered in gardens and orchards, +infinitely lovable and capable of the noblest tenderness. On the +contrary, Seward was precise, self-restrained, possessing the gravity +and stillness of a youth who husbanded his resources as if conscious +of physical frailty, yet wholesome and generous, and once, at least, +splendidly reckless in his race for independence of a father who +denied him the means of dressing in the fashion of other college +students. By the time he reached the age of nineteen, he had run away +to Georgia, taught school six months, studied law six months, and +grad<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.379" id="vol1Page_i.379">i. 379</a></span>uated with honour from Union College. Two years later, in 1822, +he was admitted to the bar, and, having accepted a partnership with +Elijah Miller, located at Auburn. To make this arrangement the more +binding, he married his partner's daughter and became a member of his +family.</p> + +<p>Seward retained the political affiliations of his father, who was a +Republican and a Bucktail, until the journey on the canal to Auburn +opened his eyes to the importance of internal improvements. This so +completely changed him into a Clintonian, that, in the autumn of 1824, +he assailed the Albany Regency with great vigour and voted for DeWitt +Clinton for governor. Four years later, he presided over a state +convention of young National Republicans, favourable to the +re-election of John Quincy Adams; and then witnessed that party's +defeat and dispersion under the murderous fire of the Jackson forces, +aided by Southwick and Crary on the anti-masonic ticket. Seward had +not taken kindly to the anti-masonic party. What would have been his +final attitude toward it is problematical had he not fallen under the +influence of Weed. The first meeting of this illustrious pair, a very +casual meeting, occurred in the summer of 1824 while Seward was +passing through Rochester on his return from a visit to Niagara Falls. +A wheel of the coach came off, and among the curious who quickly +assembled "one taller and more effective, while more deferential and +sympathising than the rest," says Seward, in his autobiography, "lent +his assistance."<a name="vol1FNanchor_266_266" id="vol1FNanchor_266_266"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_266_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a> This was Thurlow Weed. "My acquaintance with +William H. Seward grew rapidly on subsequent occasions," adds Weed, +"when he was called to Rochester on professional business. Our views +in relation to public affairs, and our estimate of public men, rarely +differed, and in regard to anti-Masonry he soon became imbued with my +own opinions."<a name="vol1FNanchor_267_267" id="vol1FNanchor_267_267"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_267_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a></p> + +<p>This was the key that opened the way to great achievement. Tracy +listened to others and was lost; Fillmore finally<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.380" id="vol1Page_i.380">i. 380</a></span> preferred the +judgment of his associates in Washington, and is to-day without a +statue even in his own home; but Seward kept closely in touch with the +man whose political judgment inspired him with confidence. "Come now +and let us reason together," said Weed, and together these two friends +worked out the policy of success. "I saw in him, in a remarkable +degree," continued Weed, "rapidly developing elements of character +which could not fail to render him eminently useful in public life. I +discerned also unmistakable evidences of stern integrity, earnest +patriotism, and unswerving fidelity. I saw also in him a rare capacity +for intellectual labour, with an industry that never tired and +required no relaxation; to all of which was added a purity and +delicacy of habit and character almost feminine."<a name="vol1FNanchor_268_268" id="vol1FNanchor_268_268"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_268_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a></p> + +<p>In his <i>Autobiography</i>, Seward says he joined the anti-masonic party +because he thought it the only active political organisation opposed +to Jackson and Van Buren, whose policy seemed to him to involve "not +only the loss of our national system of revenue, and of enterprises of +state and national improvement, but also the future disunion of the +States, and ultimately the universal prevalence of slavery."<a name="vol1FNanchor_269_269" id="vol1FNanchor_269_269"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_269_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> Once +an Anti-Mason, he became, like Weed, a zealous and aggressive member +of the party. He embodied its creed in resolutions, he attended its +first national convention at Philadelphia, he visited John Quincy +Adams at Quincy—just then an anti-masonic candidate for Congress—he +aided in the establishment of the Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, and, a +little later, as a delegate to the party's second national convention +at Baltimore, he saw Chief Justice Marshall upon the platform, sat +beside Thaddeus Stevens, and voted for William Wirt as an anti-masonic +candidate for President. It was during his attendance upon the +Philadelphia convention that Thurlow Weed had him nominated, without +his knowledge, for state senator. "While stopping at Albany on my way +south," he<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.381" id="vol1Page_i.381">i. 381</a></span> says,<a name="vol1FNanchor_270_270" id="vol1FNanchor_270_270"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_270_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a> "Weed made some friendly but earnest inquiries +concerning my pecuniary ability, whether it was sufficient to enable +me to give a portion of my time to public office. When I answered my +ability was sufficient, but I had neither expectation nor wish for +office, he replied that he had learned from my district enough to +induce him to think it possible that the party might desire my +nomination to the Senate."</p> + +<p>Thurlow Weed had many claims to the regard of his contemporaries, but +the greatest was the intelligence that enabled him to discern the +rising genius of a recruit to anti-Masonry whose name was to help make +illustrious any cause which he served.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.382" id="vol1Page_i.382">i. 382</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="vol1CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV<br /> +<br /> +VAN BUREN’S ENEMIES MAKE HIM<br /> +VICE PRESIDENT<br /> +<br /> +1829-1832</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Martin Van Buren’s</span> single message as governor exhibited a knowledge of +conditions and needs that must rank it among the ablest state-papers +in the archives of the capitol. Unlike some of his predecessors, with +their sentences of stilted formality, he wrote easily and with vigour. +His message, however, was marred by the insincerity which shows the +politician. He approved canals, but, by cunningly advising "the utmost +prudence" in taking up new enterprises, he coolly disparaged the +Chenango project; he shrewdly recommended the choice of presidential +electors by general ticket instead of by congressional districts, +knowing that opposition to the change died with DeWitt Clinton. With +full knowledge of what he himself had done, in the last campaign, in +urging upon John A. Hamilton the necessity of raising funds, he boldly +attacked the use of money in elections, proposing "the imposition of +severe penalties upon the advance of money by individuals for any +purposes connected with elections except the single one of printing." +It is not surprising, perhaps, that a man of Van Buren's personal +ambition found himself often compelled, for the sake of his own +career, to make his public devotion to principle radically different +from his practice; but it is amazing that he should thus brazenly +assume the character of a reformer before the ink used in writing +Hamilton was dry.</p> + +<p>The prominent feature of Van Buren's message was the bank question, +which, to do him credit, he discussed with<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.383" id="vol1Page_i.383">i. 383</a></span> courage, urging a general +law for chartering banks without the payment of money bonus, and +declaring that the only concern of the State should be to make banks +and their circulation secure. In accord with this suggestion, he +submitted the "safety fund" project, subsequently enacted into law, +providing that all banks should contribute to a fund, administered +under state supervision, to secure dishonoured banknotes. There was a +great deal of force in Van Buren's reasoning, and the New York City +banks, which, at first, declined to recharter under the law, finally +accepted the scheme with apparent cheerfulness. Had the real test, +which came with the hard times of 1837, not broken it down, Van +Buren's confidence in the project might have continued. After that +catastrophe, which was destined to prove his Waterloo, he had +confidence in nothing except gold and silver.</p> + +<p>As anticipated, Van Buren's inauguration as governor preceded his +appointment as secretary of state under President Jackson only seventy +days. It gave him barely time gracefully to assume the duties of one +position before taking up those of the other. But, in making the +change, he did not forget to keep an anchor to windward by having the +amiable and timid Charles E. Dudley succeed him in the United States +Senate. Dudley had the weakness of many cultured, charming men, who +are without personal ambition or executive force. He was incapable of +taking part in debate, or of exerting any perceptible influence upon +legislation in the committee-room. Nevertheless, he was sincere in his +friendships; and the opinion obtained that if Van Buren had desired +for any reason to return to the Senate, Dudley would have gracefully +retired in his favour.</p> + +<p>The appointments of Green C. Bronson as attorney-general, and Silas +Wright as comptroller of state, atoned for Dudley's election; for they +brought conspicuously to the front two men whose unusual ability +greatly honoured the State. Bronson had already won an enviable +reputation at the bar of Oneida County. He was now forty years old, a +stalwart in the Jackson party, bold and resolute, with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.384" id="vol1Page_i.384">i. 384</a></span> sturdy +vigour of intellect that was to make him invaluable to the Regency. He +had been a Clintonian surrogate of his county and a Clintonian member +of the Assembly in 1822, but he had changed since then, and his +present appointment was to give him twenty-two years of continuous +public life as a Democrat, lifting him from justice to chief justice +of the Supreme Court, and transferring him finally to the Court of +Appeals.</p> + +<p>Silas Wright was a younger man than Bronson, not yet thirty-five years +old; but his admittance to the Regency completely filled the great gap +left by Marcy's retirement. Like Marcy, he was large and muscular, +although with a face of more refinement; like Marcy, too, he dressed +plainly. He had an affable manner stripped of all affectation. From +his first entrance into public life, he had shown a great capacity for +the administration of affairs. He looked like a great man. His +unusually high, square forehead indicated strength of intellect, and +his lips, firmly set, but round and full, gave the impression of +firmness, with a generous and gentle disposition. There was no +evidence of brilliancy or daring. Nor did he have a politician's face, +such as Van Buren's. Even in the closing years of Van Buren's +venerable life, when people used often to see him, white-haired and +bright-eyed, walking on Wall Street arm in arm with his son John, his +was still the face of a master diplomatist. Wright, on the other hand, +looked more like a strong, fearless business man. His manner of +speaking was not unlike Rufus King's. He spoke slowly, without +rhetorical embellishment, or other arts of the orator; but, unlike +King, he had an unpleasant voice; nevertheless, if one may accept the +opinion of a contemporary and an intimate, "there was a subdued +enthusiasm in his style of speaking that was irresistibly +captivating." The slightly rasping voice was "almost instantly +forgotten in the beauty of his argument," which was "clear, forcible, +logical and persuasive."<a name="vol1FNanchor_271_271" id="vol1FNanchor_271_271"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_271_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a></p> + +<p>Silas Wright had already been in public life eight years,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.385" id="vol1Page_i.385">i. 385</a></span> first as +surrogate of St. Lawrence County, afterward as state senator, and +later as a member of Congress. He had also increased his earnings at +the bar by holding the offices of justice of the peace, town clerk, +inspector of schools, and postmaster at Canton. From the outset, he +had allied himself with the Regency party, and, with unfailing +regularity he had supported all its measures, even those which his +better judgment opposed. His ability and gentle manners, too, +apparently won the people; for, although St. Lawrence was a Clintonian +stronghold, a majority of its voters believed in their young +office-holder—a fact that was the more noteworthy since he had broken +faith with them. In the campaign of 1823, he favoured the choice of +presidential electors by the people; afterward, in the Senate, he +voted against the measure. So bitter was the resentment that followed +this bill's defeat, that many of the seventeen senators, who voted +against it, ever afterward remained in private life. But Wright was +forgiven, and, two years later, sent to Congress, where his public +career really began. In a bill finally amended into the tariff act of +1828, he sought to remove the complaint of manufacturers that the +tariff of 1824 was partial to iron interests, and the criticism of +agriculturalists, that the woollens bill, of 1827, favoured the +manufacturer. In this debate, he gave evidence of that genius for +legislation which was destined soon to shine in the United States +Senate at a time when some of the fiercest political fights of the +century were being waged.</p> + +<p>It is evident Van Buren did not appreciate the capacity of Silas +Wright in 1831; otherwise, instead of William L. Marcy, Wright would +have succeeded Nathan Sanford in the United States Senate.<a name="vol1FNanchor_272_272" id="vol1FNanchor_272_272"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_272_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a> Marcy +had made an excellent state<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.386" id="vol1Page_i.386">i. 386</a></span> comptroller; his able and luminous +reports had revealed the necessity of preserving the general fund, and +the danger of constructing additional lateral canals. As a judge of +the Supreme Court, also, his sound judgment had won him an enviable +reputation, especially in the trial of the Morgan abductors, which was +held at a time of great excitement and intense feeling. But, as a +United States senator, Marcy failed to realise the expectations of his +friends. Very likely two years were insufficient to test fairly his +legislative capacity. Besides, his services, however satisfactory, +would naturally be dwarfed in the presence of the statesmen then +engaged in the great constitutional debate growing out of the Foote +resolution, limiting the sale of public lands. Congress was rapidly +making history; and the Senate, lifted into great prominence by the +speeches of Webster and Hayne, had become a more difficult place than +ever for a new member. At all events, Marcy did not exhibit the +parliamentary spirit that seeks to lead, or which delights in the +struggles of the arena where national reputations are made. He, +moreover, had abundant opportunity. Thomas H. Benton says that the +session of 1832 became the most prolific of party topics and party +contests in the annals of Congress; yet Marcy was dumb on those +subjects that were interesting every one else.</p> + +<p>Even when the great opportunity of Marcy's senatorial career was +thrust upon him—the defence of Van Buren at the time of the latter's +rejection as minister to Great Britain—he failed signally. The +controversy growing out of Jackson's cabinet disagreements, ostensibly +because of the treatment of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.387" id="vol1Page_i.387">i. 387</a></span> Mrs. Eaton, wife of the Secretary of War, +but really because of Calhoun's hostility to Van Buren, due to the +President's predilections for him as his successor, had made it +evident to Van Buren that an entire reorganisation of the Cabinet +should take place. Accordingly, on April 11, 1831, he opened the way, +by voluntarily and chivalrously resigning. President Jackson soon +after appointed him minister to England, and Van Buren sailed for his +post. But when the question of his confirmation came up, in the +following December, Calhoun and his friends, joined by Webster and +Clay, formed a combination to defeat it. Calhoun's opposition was +simply the enmity of a political rival, but Webster sought to put his +antagonism on a higher level, by calling Van Buren to account for +instructions addressed to the American Minister at London in regard to +our commercial relations with the West Indian, Bahama, and South +American colonies of England.</p> + +<p>In 1825 Parliament permitted American vessels to trade with British +colonies, on condition that American ports be opened within a year to +British vessels on the same terms as to American vessels. The Adams +administration, failing to comply with the statute within the year, +set up a counter prohibition, which was in force when Van Buren, +wishing to reopen negotiations, instructed McLane, the American +Minister at London, to say to England that the United States had, as +the friends of the present administration contended at the time, been +wrong in refusing the privileges granted by the act of 1825, but that +our "views have been submitted to the people of the United States, and +the counsels by which your conduct is now directed are the result of +the judgment expressed by the only earthly tribunal to which the late +administration was amenable for its acts." In other words, Van Buren +had introduced party contests in an official dispatch, not brazenly or +offensively, perhaps, but with questionable taste, and, for this, the +great senators combined and spoke against him—Webster, Clay, Hayne, +Ewing of Ohio, Holmes of Maine, and seven others—"just a dozen and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.388" id="vol1Page_i.388">i. 388</a></span> +equal to a full jury," wrote Benton. Webster said he would pardon +almost anything when he saw true patriotism and sound American +feeling, but he could not forgive the sacrifice of these to party. +Clay characterised his language as that of an humble vassal to a proud +and haughty lord, prostrating the American eagle before the British +lion. In the course of his remarks, Clay also referred, in an +incidental way, to the odious system of proscription practised in the +State of New York, which, he alleged, Van Buren had introduced into +the general government.</p> + +<p>Only four senators spoke in Van Buren's defence, recalling the weak +protest made in the Legislature on the day of DeWitt Clinton's removal +as canal commissioner, but this gave William L. Marcy the greater +opportunity for acquitting himself with glory and vindicating his +friend. It was not a strong argument he had to meet. Van Buren had +been unfortunate in his language, although in admitting that the +United States was wrong in refusing the privileges offered by the +British law of 1825, he did nothing more than had Gallatin, whom Adams +sent to England to remedy the same difficulty. Furthermore, by +assuming a more conciliatory course Van Buren had been entirely +successful. To Webster's suggestion of lack of patriotism, and to +Clay's declaration that the American eagle had been prostrated before +the British lion, Marcy might have pointed to Van Buren's exalted +patriotism during the War of 1812, citing the conscription act, which +he drafted, and which Benton declared the most drastic piece of war +legislation ever enacted into law. To Clay's further charge, that he +brought with him to Washington the odious system of proscription, the +New York senator could truthfully have retorted that the system of +removals, inaugurated by Jackson, was in full swing before Van Buren +reached the national capital; that if he did not oppose it he +certainly never encouraged it; that of seventeen foreign +representatives, the Secretary of State had removed only four; and +that, in making appointments as governor, he never departed from the +rule of refusing either to displace<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.389" id="vol1Page_i.389">i. 389</a></span> competent and trustworthy men, or +to appoint the dishonest and incompetent. He could also have read +Lorenzo Hoyt's wail that Van Buren would "not lend the least weight of +his influence to displace from office such men as John Duer," Adams' +appointee as United States attorney at New York. But Marcy did nothing +of the kind. He made no use of the abundant material at hand, out of +which he might have constructed a brilliant speech if not a perfect +defence. Quite on the contrary he contented himself simply with +replying to Clay's slur. He defended the practice of political +proscription by charging that both sides did it. Ambrose Spencer, he +said, the man whom Clay was now ready to honour, had begun it, and he +himself "saw nothing wrong in the rule that to the victors belong the +spoils of the enemy."</p> + +<p>If the conspiracy of distinguished statesmen to defeat Van Buren's +confirmation was shallow and in bad taste, Marcy's defence was +scarcely above the standard of a ward politician. Indeed, the +attempted defence of his friend became the shame of both; since it +forever fixed upon Marcy the odium of enunciating a vicious principle +that continued to corrupt American political life for more than half a +century, and confirmed the belief that Van Buren was an inveterate +spoilsman.<a name="vol1FNanchor_273_273" id="vol1FNanchor_273_273"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_273_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a></p> + +<p>Probably an abler defence would in no wise have changed the result. +From the first a majority of senators had opposed Van Buren's +confirmation, several of whom refrained from voting to afford Vice +President Calhoun the exquisite satisfaction of giving the casting +vote. "It will kill him, sir, kill him dead," Calhoun boasted in +Benton's hearing; "he will never kick, sir, never kick." This was the +thought of other opponents. But Thomas H. Benton believed otherwise. +"You have broken a minister and elected a Vice Presi<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.390" id="vol1Page_i.390">i. 390</a></span>dent," he said. +"The people will see nothing in it but a combination of rivals against +a competitor."</p> + +<p>This also was the prophecy of Thurlow Weed. While the question of +rejection was still under consideration, that astute editor declared +"it would change the complexion of his prospects from despair to hope. +His presses would set up a fearful howl of proscription. He would +return home as a persecuted man, throw himself upon the sympathy of +the party, be nominated for Vice President, and huzzaed into office at +the heels of General Jackson."<a name="vol1FNanchor_274_274" id="vol1FNanchor_274_274"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_274_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a> On the evening Van Buren heard of +his rejection, in London, Lord Auckland, afterward governor-general of +India, said to him: "It is an advantage to a public man to be the +subject of an outrage."</p> + +<p>In New York, Van Buren's party took his rejection as the friends of +DeWitt Clinton had taken his removal as canal commissioner. +Indignation meetings were held and addresses voted. In stately words +and high-sounding sentences, the Legislature addressed the President, +promising to avenge the indignity offered to their most distinguished +fellow citizen; to which Jackson replied with equal warmth and skill, +assuming entire responsibility for the instructions given the American +minister at London and for removals from office; and acquitting the +Secretary of State of all participation in the occurrences between +himself and Calhoun. He had called Van Buren to the State Department, +the President said, to meet the general wish of the Republican party, +and his signal success had not only justified his selection, but his +public services had in nowise diminished confidence in his integrity +and great ability. This blare of trumpets set the State on fire; and +various plans were proposed for wiping out the insult of the Senate. +Some suggested Dudley's resignation and Van Buren's re-election, that +he might meet his slanderers face to face; others thought he should be +made governor; but the majority, guided by the wishes of the Cabinet, +and the expression of friends in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.391" id="vol1Page_i.391">i. 391</a></span> other States, insisted that his +nomination as Vice President would strengthen the ticket and open the +way to the Presidency in 1836.</p> + +<p>When, therefore, the Democratic national convention met at Baltimore, +in May, 1832, only one name was seriously considered for Vice +President. Van Buren had opponents in P.P. Barbour of Virginia and +Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky, but his friends had the convention. On +the first ballot, he received two hundred and sixty votes out of three +hundred and twenty-six. Barbour had forty, Johnson twenty-six. +Delegates understood that they must vote for Van Buren or quarrel with +Jackson.</p> + +<p>Van Buren returned from London on July 5. New York was filled with a +multitude to welcome him back. At a great dinner, ardent devotion, +tempered by decorum, showed the loyalty of old neighbours, in whose +midst he had lived, and over whom he had practically reigned for +nearly a quarter of a century. Instead of killing him, the Senate's +rejection had swung open a wider door for his entrance to the highest +office in the gift of the people.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.392" id="vol1Page_i.392">i. 392</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol1CHAPTER_XXXV" id="vol1CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV<br /> +<br /> +FORMATION OF THE WHIG PARTY<br /> +<br /> +1831-1834</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> campaign of 1832 seemed to be without an issue, save Van Buren's +rejection as Minister to Great Britain, and Jackson's wholesale +removals from office. Yet it was a period of great unrest. The debate +of Webster and Hayne had revealed two sharply defined views separating +the North and the South; and, although the compromise tariff act of +1832, supported by all parties, and approved by the President, had +temporarily removed the question of Protection from the realm of +discussion, the decided stand in favour of a State's power to annul an +act of Congress had made a profound impression in the North. Under +these circumstances, it was deemed advisable to organise a Clay party, +and, to this end, a state convention of National Republicans, +assembled in Albany in June, 1831, selected delegates to a convention, +held in Baltimore in December, which unanimously nominated Henry Clay +for President. The Anti-Masons, who had previously nominated William +Wirt, of Maryland, and were in practical accord with the National +Republicans on all questions relating to federal authority, agreed to +join them, if necessary, to sustain these principles.</p> + +<p>A new issue, however, brought them together with great suddenness. +Though the charter of the United States Bank did not expire until +1836, the subject of its continuance had occupied public attention +ever since President Jackson, in his first inaugural address, raised +the question of its constitutionality; and when Congress convened, in +December, 1831, the bank applied for an extension of its charter. +Louis<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.393" id="vol1Page_i.393">i. 393</a></span> McLane, then secretary of the treasury, advised the president +of the bank that Jackson would approve its charter, if certain +specified modifications were accepted. These changes proved entirely +satisfactory to the bank; but Webster and Clay declared that the +subject had assumed aspects too decided in the public mind and in +Congress, to render any compromise or change of front expedient or +desirable. Later in the session, the bill for the bank's recharter +passed both branches of Congress. Then came the President's veto. The +act and the veto amounted to an appeal to the people, and in an +instant the country was on fire.</p> + +<p>Under these conditions, the anti-masonic state convention, confident +of the support of all elements opposed to the re-election of Andrew +Jackson, met at Utica on June 21, 1832. Albert H. Tracy of Buffalo +became its chairman. After he had warmed the delegates into +enthusiastic applause by his happy and cogent reasons for the success +of the party, Francis Granger was unanimously renominated for +governor, with Samuel Stevens for lieutenant-governor. The convention +also announced an electoral ticket, equally divided between +Anti-Masons and National Republicans, headed by James Kent<a name="vol1FNanchor_275_275" id="vol1FNanchor_275_275"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_275_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a> and +John C. Spencer. In the following month, the National Republicans +adopted the anti-masonic state and electoral tickets. It looked like a +queer combination, a "Siamese twin party" it was derisively called, in +which somebody was to be cheated. But the embarrassment, if any +existed, seems to have been fairly overcome by Thurlow Weed, who +patiently traversed the State harmonising conflicting opinions in the +interest of local nominations.</p> + +<p>Meantime, the Van Buren leaders proceeded with rare caution. There had +been some alarming defections, notably the secession of the New York +<i>Courier and Enquirer</i>, now edited by James Watson Webb, and the +refusal of Erastus<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.394" id="vol1Page_i.394">i. 394</a></span> Root longer to follow the Jackson standard. Samuel +Young had also been out of humour. Young declared for Clay in 1824, +and had inclined to Adams in 1828. It was in his heart also to rally +to the support of Clay in 1832. But, looking cautiously to the future, +he could not see his way to renounce old associates altogether; and +so, as evidence of his return, he published an able paper in defence +of the President's veto. There is no indication, however, that Erastus +Root was penitent. He had been playing a double game too long, and +although his old associates treated him well, electing him speaker of +the Assembly in 1827, 1828, and again in 1830, he could not overlook +their failure to make him governor. Finally, after accepting a +nomination to Congress, his speeches indicated that he was done +forever with the party of Jackson.</p> + +<p>The Republican convention, which met at Herkimer, in September, 1832, +nominated William L. Marcy for governor. Marcy had reluctantly left +the Supreme Court in 1831; and he did not now take kindly to giving up +the United States Senate, since the veto message had made success in +the State doubly doubtful. But no other candidate excited any +interest. Enos T. Throop had been practically ridiculed into +retirement. He was nicknamed "Small-light," and the longer he served +the smaller and the more unpopular he became. If we may accept the +judgment of contemporaries, he lacked all the engaging qualities that +usually characterise a public official, and possessed all the faults +which exaggerate limited ability.</p> + +<p>Marcy had both tact and ability, but his opposition to the Chenango +canal weakened him in that section of the State. The Chenango project +had been a thorn in the Regency's side ever since Francis Granger, in +1827, forced a bill for its construction through the Assembly, +changing Chenango from a reliable Jackson county to a Granger +stronghold; but Van Buren now took up the matter, assuring the people +that the next Legislature should pass a law for the construction of +the canal, and to bind the con<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.395" id="vol1Page_i.395">i. 395</a></span>tract Edward P. Livingston, with his +family pride and lack of gifts, was unceremoniously set aside as +lieutenant-governor for John Tracy of Chenango. This bargain, however, +did not relieve Marcy's distress. He still had little confidence in +his success. "I have looked critically over the State," he wrote Jesse +Hoyt on the first day of October, "and have come to the conclusion +that probably we shall be beaten. The United States Bank is in the +field, and I can not but fear the effect of fifty or one hundred +thousand dollars expended in conducting the election in such a city as +New York."</p> + +<p>This was a good enough excuse, perhaps, to give Hoyt. But Marcy's +despair was due more to the merciless ridicule of Thurlow Weed's pen +than to the bank's money. Marcy had thoughtlessly included, in one of +his bills for court expenses, an item of fifty cents paid for mending +his pantaloons; and the editor of the <i>Evening Journal</i>, in his +inimitable way, made the "Marcy pantaloons" and the "Marcy patch" so +ridiculous that the slightest reference to it in any company raised +immoderate laughter at the expense of the candidate for governor. At +Rochester, the Anti-Masons suspended at the top of a long pole a huge +pair of black trousers, with a white patch on the seat, bearing the +figure 50 in red paint. Reference to the unfortunate item often came +upon him suddenly. "Now, ladies and gentlemen," shouted the driver of +a stage-coach on which Marcy had taken passage, "hold on tight, for +this hole is as large as the one in the Governor's breeches." All this +was telling hard upon Marcy's spirits and the party's confidence. +Jesse Hoyt wrote him that something must be done to silence the absurd +cry; but the candidate was without remedy. "The law provided for the +payment of the judge's expenses," he said, "and while on this business +some work was done on pantaloons for which the tailor charged fifty +cents. It was entered on the account, and went into the comptroller's +hands without a particle of reflection as to how it would appear in +print." There was no suggestion of dishonesty.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.396" id="vol1Page_i.396">i. 396</a></span> Weed was too skilful +to raise a point that might be open to discussion, but he kept the +whole State in laughter at the candidate's expense. Marcy felt so +keenly the ridiculous position in which his patched pantaloons put him +that, although he usually relished jokes on himself, "the patch" was a +distressing subject long after he had been thrice elected governor.</p> + +<p>The Granger forces had, however, something more influential to +overcome than a "Marcy patch." Very early in the campaign it dawned +upon the bankers of the State that, if the United States Bank went out +of business, government deposits would come to them; and from that +moment every jobber, speculator and money borrower, as well as every +bank officer and director, rejoiced in the veto. The prejudices of the +people, always easily excited against moneyed corporations, had +already turned against the "monster monopoly," with its exclusive +privileges for "endangering the liberties of the country," and now the +banks joined them in their crusade. In other words, the Jackson party +was sustained by banks and the opponents of banks, by men of means and +men without means, by the rich and the poor. It was a great +combination, and it resulted in the overwhelming triumph of Marcy and +the Jackson electoral ticket.<a name="vol1FNanchor_276_276" id="vol1FNanchor_276_276"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_276_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a></p> + +<p>The western anti-masonic counties gave their usual majorities for +Francis Granger, but New York City and the districts bordering the +Hudson, with several interior coun<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.397" id="vol1Page_i.397">i. 397</a></span>ties, wiped them out and left the +Jackson candidate ten thousand ahead.<a name="vol1FNanchor_277_277" id="vol1FNanchor_277_277"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_277_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a></p> + +<p>This second defeat of Francis Granger had a depressing influence upon +his party. It had been a contest of giants. Webster's great speeches +in support of the United States Bank were accepted as triumphant +answers to the arguments of the veto message, but nothing seemed +capable of breaking the solid Jackson majorities in the eastern and +southern counties; and, upon the assembling of the Legislature, in +January, 1833, signs of disintegration were apparent among the +Anti-Masons. Albert H. Tracy, despairing of success, began accepting +interviews with Martin Van Buren, who sought to break anti-Masonry by +conciliating its leaders. It was the voice of the tempter. Tracy +listened and then became a missionary, inducing John Birdsall and +other members of the Legislature to join him. Tracy had been an +acknowledged leader. He was older, richer, and of larger experience +than most of his associates, and, in appealing to him, Van Buren +exhibited the rare tact that characterised his political methods. But +the Senator from Buffalo could not do what Van Buren wanted him to do; +he could not win Seward or capture the <i>Evening Journal</i>. "We had both +been accustomed for years," says Thurlow Weed, "to allow Tracy to do +our political thinking, rarely differing from him in opinion, and +never doubting his fidelity. On this occasion, however, we could not +see things from his standpoint, and, greatly to his annoyance, we +determined to adhere to our principles."<a name="vol1FNanchor_278_278" id="vol1FNanchor_278_278"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_278_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.398" id="vol1Page_i.398">i. 398</a></span></p> +<p>It must be admitted that many reasons existed well calculated to +influence Tracy's action. William Wirt had carried only Vermont, and +Henry Clay had received but forty-nine out of two hundred and +sixty-five electoral votes. Anti-Masonry had plainly run its course. +It aroused a strong public sentiment against secret societies, until +most of the lodges in western New York had surrendered their charters; +but it signally failed to perpetuate its hold upon the masses. The +surrendered charters were soon reissued, and the institution itself +became more popular and attractive than ever. These disheartening +conditions were re-emphasised in the election of 1833. The county of +Washington, before an anti-masonic stronghold, returned a Jackson +assemblyman; and the sixth district, which had elected an anti-masonic +senator in 1829, now gave a Van Buren member over seven thousand +majority. But the most surprising change occurred in the eighth, or +"infected district." Three years before it had given Granger thirteen +thousand majority; now it returned Tracy to the Senate by less than +two hundred. For a long time his election was in doubt. Of the one +hundred and twenty-eight assemblymen, one hundred and four belonged to +the Jackson party, and of the eight senators elected Tracy alone +represented the opposition.</p> + +<p>It was certainly not an encouraging outlook, and the leaders, after +full consultation, virtually declared the anti-masonic party +dissolved. But this did not, however, mean an abandonment of the +field. It was impossible for men who believed in internal +improvements, in the protection of American industries, and in the +United States Bank, to surrender to a party controlled by the Albany +Regency, which was rapidly drifting into hostility to these great +principles and into the acceptance of dangerous state rights'<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.399" id="vol1Page_i.399">i. 399</a></span> +doctrines. In giving up anti-Masonry, therefore, Weed, Seward, +Granger, Whittlesey, Fillmore, John C. Spencer, and other leaders, +simply intended to let go one name and reorganise under another. +Several Anti-Masons, following the lead of Tracy, fell by the way, but +practically all the people who made up the anti-masonic and National +Republican forces continued to act together.</p> + +<p>Several events of the year aided the opposition party. The hostility +of the Jackson leaders to internal improvements aroused former +Clintonians who believed in canals, and the widespread financial +embarrassment alarmed commercial and mercantile interests. They +resented the remark of the President that "men who trade on borrowed +capital ought to fail," and the bold denial that "any pressure existed +which an honest man should regret." Business men, cramped for money, +or already bankrupt because the United States Bank, stripped of its +government deposits, had curtailed its discounts, did not listen with +patience or amiability to statements of such a character; nor were +they inclined to excuse the President's action on the theory that the +United States Bank had cut down its loans to produce a panic, and thus +force a reversal of his policy. To them such utterances seemed to +evince a want of sympathy, and opposition orators and journals took +advantage of the situation by eloquently denouncing a policy that +embarrassed commerce and manufactures, throwing people out of +employment and bringing suffering and want to the masses.</p> + +<p>The New York municipal election in the spring of 1834 plainly showed +that the voters resented the President's financial policy. For the +first time in the history of the city, the people were to elect their +mayor, and, although purely a local contest, it turned upon national +issues. All the elements of opposition now used the one name of +"Whig." Until this time local organisations had adopted various +titles, such as "Anti-Jackson," "Anti-Mortgage," and "Anti-Regency;" +but the opponents of Jackson now claimed to be the true successors of +the Whigs of 1776, calling their move<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.400" id="vol1Page_i.400">i. 400</a></span>ment a revolution against the +tyranny and usurpation of "King Andrew." They raised liberty poles, +spoke of their opponents as Tories, and appropriated as emblems the +national flag and portraits of Washington.</p> + +<p>The prospects of the new party brightened, too, when it nominated for +mayor Gulian C. Verplanck, a member of Tammany Hall, a distinguished +congressman of eight years' service, and, until then, a representative +of the Jackson party, highly esteemed and justly popular. Although +best known, perhaps, as a scholar and writer, Verplanck's active +sympathies early led him into politics. He entered the Whig party and +the mayoralty campaign with high hopes of success. He led the +merchants and business men, while his opponent, Cornelius V.R. +Lawrence, also a popular member of Tammany, rallied the mechanics and +labouring classes. The spirited contest, characterised by rifled +ballot-boxes and broken heads, revealed at once its national +importance. If the new party could show a change in public sentiment +in the foremost city in the Union, it would be helpful in reversing +Jackson's financial policy. So the great issue became a cry of "panic" +and a threat of "hard times." Like the strokes of a fire bell at +night, it alarmed the people, whose confidence began to waver and +finally to give way.</p> + +<p>The evident purpose of the United States Bank was to create, if +possible, the fear of a panic. By suddenly curtailing its loans, +ostensibly because of the removal of the deposits, it brought such +pressure upon the state banks that a suspension of specie payment +seemed inevitable. To relieve this situation, Governor Marcy and the +Legislature, acting with great promptness, pledged the State's credit +to the banks, should the exigency require such aid, to the amount of +six million dollars. This was called "Marcy's mortgage." The Whigs +stigmatised it as a pledge of the people's property for the benefit of +money corporations, denouncing the project as little better than a +vulgar swindle in the interest of the Democratic party. Whether +Marcy's scheme really averted the threatened calamity, or whether<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.401" id="vol1Page_i.401">i. 401</a></span> the +United States Bank had already carried its contraction as far as it +intended, it is certain that the fear of a panic served its purpose in +the campaign. The Whigs became enthusiastic, and, as the United States +Bank now began relieving the commercial embarrassment by extending its +loans and giving its friends in New York special advantages, the party +felt certain of victory. When the polls closed the result did not +fully realise Whig anticipations; yet it disclosed a Democratic +majority, cut down from five thousand to two hundred, with a loss of +the Council. Verplanck had, indeed, been beaten by one hundred and +eighty-one votes; but the Common Council, carrying with it the +patronage of the city, amounting to more than one million dollars a +year, had been easily won. The Democrats had the shadow, it was said, +and the Whigs the substance.</p> + +<p>This election, and other successes in many towns throughout the State, +greatly encouraged the leaders of the opposition. A convention held at +Syracuse, in August, 1834, adopted the title of "Whig," and the new +party exulted in its name. To add to the enthusiasm, Daniel Webster +declared, in a letter, that, from his cradle, he had "been educated in +the principles of the Whigs of '76." The New York City election was +referred to as the "Lexington" of the revolution against "King +Andrew," as its prototype was against King George.</p> + +<p>The Whigs' hope of success was heightened, also, by the unanimous +nomination of William H. Seward for governor. Seward was now +thirty-three years of age. During his four years in the Senate, +political expediency neither limited nor controlled his opinions. He +had argued for reform in the military system; he had favoured the +abolition of imprisonment for debt; he had vigorously opposed the +attacks upon the United States Bank and the removal of the deposits; +he had antagonised the Chenango canal for reasons presented by +Comptroller Marcy, and he gave generously of his time in the Court of +Errors. He had grown into a statesman of acknowledged genius and +popularity, placing himself in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.402" id="vol1Page_i.402">i. 402</a></span> sympathy with the masses, denouncing +misrule and supporting measures of reform. Of all the old and +experienced members of the Senate, it was freely admitted that none +surpassed him in a knowledge of the affairs of the State, or in a +readiness to debate leading questions. But, well fitted as he was, he +did not solicit the privilege of being a candidate for governor. On +the contrary, with Weed and Whittlesey, he tried to find some one +else. Granger preferred going to Congress; Verplanck had not yet +recovered from the chagrin and disappointment of losing the mayoralty; +Maynard was dead, and James Wadsworth would not accept office. To +Seward an acceptance of the nomination, therefore, appealed almost as +a matter of duty.</p> + +<p>Silas M. Stilwell of New York became the candidate for +lieutenant-governor. Stilwell had been a shoemaker, and, until the +organisation of the Whig party, a stalwart supporter of the Regency, +occupying a conspicuous place as an industrious and ambitious member +of the Assembly. When the deposits were removed and a panic threatened +he declared himself a Whig.</p> + +<p>Confidence characterised the convention which nominated Seward and +Stilwell. Young men predominated, and their enthusiasm was aroused to +the highest pitch by the eloquence of Peter R. Livingston, their +venerable chairman. Like a new convert, Livingston prophesied victory. +Livingston had been a wheel-horse in the party of Jefferson. He had +served in the Senate with Van Buren; he had taken a leading part in +the convention of 1821, and he had held, with distinction, the +speakership of the Assembly and the presidency of the Senate. His +creed was love of republicanism and hatred of Clinton. At one time he +was the faithful follower, the enthusiastic admirer, almost the +devotee of Van Buren; and, so long as the Kinderhook statesman opposed +Clinton, he needed Livingston. But, when the time came that Van Buren +must conciliate Clinton, Livingston was dropped from the Senate. The +consequences were far more serious than Van Buren intended. Livingston +was as able as he was elo<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.403" id="vol1Page_i.403">i. 403</a></span>quent, and Van Buren's coalition with +Clinton quickly turned Livingston's ability and eloquence to the +support of Clay. Then he openly joined the Whigs; and to catch his +influence, and the thrill of his remarkable voice, they made him +chairman of their first state convention. As an evidence of their +enthusiasm, the whole body of delegates, with music and flags, drove +from Syracuse to Auburn, twenty-six miles, to visit their young +candidate for governor.</p> + +<p>In the same month the Democrats renominated Marcy and John Tracy, +strong in prestige of past success and present power. Instantly, the +two leading candidates were contrasted—Marcy, the mature and +experienced statesman; Seward, a "red-haired young man," without a +record and unknown to fame. Stilwell was told to "stick to his boots +and shoes;" and, in resentment, tailors, printers, shoemakers, and men +of other handicraft, organised in support of "the working man" against +the "Jackson Aristocrats." In answer to the <i>Commercial Advertiser's</i> +sneer that Seward was "red-haired," William L. Stone, with felicitous +humour, told how Esau, and Cato, Clovis, William Rufus, and Rob Roy +not only had red hair, but each was celebrated for having it; how +Ossian sung a "lofty race of red-haired heroes," how Venus herself was +golden-haired, as well as Patroclus and Achilles. "Thus does it +appear," the article concluded, "that in all ages and in all +countries, from Paradise to Dragon River, has red or golden hair been +held in highest estimation. But for his red hair, the country of Esau +would not have been called Edom. But for his hair, which was doubtless +red, Samson would not have carried away the gates of Gaza. But for his +red hair, Jason would not have navigated the Euxine and discovered the +Golden Horn. But for the red hair of his mistress, Leander would not +have swum the Hellespont. But for his red hair, Narcissus would not +have fallen in love with himself, and thereby become immortal in song. +But for his red hair we should find nothing in Van Buren to praise. +But for red hair, we should not have written this article. And, but +for his red hair, William H. Sew<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.404" id="vol1Page_i.404">i. 404</a></span>ard might not have become governor of +the State of New York! Stand aside, then, ye Tories, and 'Let go of +his hair.'"<a name="vol1FNanchor_279_279" id="vol1FNanchor_279_279"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_279_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a></p> + +<p>The mottoes of this campaign illustrate the principles involved in it. +"Seward and Free Soil, or Marcy with his Mortgage" was a favourite +with the Whigs. "The Monster Bank Party" became the popular cry of +Democrats, to which the Whigs retorted with "The Party of Little +Monsters." "Marcy's Pantaloons," "No Nullification," and "Union and +Liberty" also did service. Copper medals bearing the heads of +candidates were freely distributed, and humourous campaign songs, set +to popular music, began to be heard.</p> + +<p>It was a lively campaign, and reports of elections in other States, +showing gratifying gains, kept up the hopes of Whigs. But, at the end, +the withering majorities in Democratic strongholds remained unbroken, +re-electing Marcy and Tracy by thirteen thousand majority,<a name="vol1FNanchor_280_280" id="vol1FNanchor_280_280"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_280_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a> and +carrying every senatorial district save the eighth, and ninety-one of +the one hundred and twenty-two assemblymen. The Whigs had put forward +their ablest men for the Legislature and for Congress, but, outside of +those chosen in the infected district, few appeared in the halls of +legislation, either at Albany or at Washington. Francis Granger went +to Congress. "He has had a fortunate escape from his dilemma, and I +rejoice at it," wrote Seward to Thurlow Weed. "He is a noble fellow, +and I am glad that, if we could not make him what we wished, we have +been able to put him into a career of honour and usefulness."<a name="vol1FNanchor_281_281" id="vol1FNanchor_281_281"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_281_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a></p> + +<p>Seward was not broken-hearted over his defeat. The majority against +him was not so large as Granger encountered in 1832; but it was +sufficiently pronounced to send him back to his profession with the +feeling that his principles and opinions were not yet wanted. "If I +live," he said to Weed, "and my principles ever do find favour with +the people, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol1Page_i.405" id="vol1Page_i.405">i. 405</a></span> shall not be without their respect. Believe me, there +is no affectation in my saying that I would not now exchange the +feelings and associations of the vanquished William H. Seward for the +victory and 'spoils' of William L. Marcy."<a name="vol1FNanchor_282_282" id="vol1FNanchor_282_282"></a><a href="#vol1Footnote_282_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a></p> + +<hr /> + +<h2>FOOTNOTES TO VOLUME I</h2> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_1_1" id="vol1Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> E.B. Andrews, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 1, p. +172.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_2_2" id="vol1Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 172.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_3_3" id="vol1Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> City Hall Park.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_4_4" id="vol1Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Memorial History of the City of New York</i>, Vol. 2, p. +608.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_5_5" id="vol1Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> John Jay, <i>Correspondence and Public Papers</i>, Vol. 1, p. +68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_6_6" id="vol1Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Memorial History of the City of New York</i>, Vol. 2, p. +610.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_7_7" id="vol1Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 2, p. 610.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_8_8" id="vol1Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> "The clause directing the governor to <i>nominate</i> officers +to the Legislature for their approbation being read and debated, was +generally disapproved. Many other methods were devised by different +members, and mentioned to the house merely for consideration. I +mentioned several myself, and told the convention at the time, that, +however I might then incline to adopt them, I was not certain, but +that after considering them, I should vote for their rejection. While +the minds of the members were thus fluctuating between various +opinions, I spent the evening of that day with Mr. Morris at your +lodgings, in the course of which I proposed the plan for the +institution of the Council as it now stands, and after conversing on +the subject we agreed to bring it into the house the next day. It was +moved and debated and carried."—John Jay, <i>Correspondence and Public +Papers</i>, Vol. 1, p. 128. Letter of Jay to Robert R. Livingston and +Gouverneur Morris, April 29, 1777.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_9_9" id="vol1Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Memorial History of the City of New York</i>, Vol. 2, p. +612.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_10_10" id="vol1Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Duke's Laws</i>, Vol. 1, Chap. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_11_11" id="vol1Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> William Jay, <i>Life of John Jay; Jay MSS.</i>, Vol. 1, p. +72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_12_12" id="vol1Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> John Jay, <i>Correspondence and Public Papers</i>, Vol. 1, p. +126. "Such a recommendation was introduced by Gouverneur Morris and +passed, but subsequently omitted."—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 136, <i>note</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_13_13" id="vol1Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 140.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_14_14" id="vol1Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> While in command of the northern department, embracing +the province of New York, Schuyler was known as "Great Eye," so +watchful did he become of the enemy's movements; and although +subsequently, through slander and intrigue, superseded by Horatio +Gates, history has credited Burgoyne's surrender largely to his wisdom +and patriotism, and has branded Gates with incompetency, in spite of +the latter's gold medal and the thanks of Congress.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_15_15" id="vol1Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> John Adams, <i>Life and Works</i>, Vol. 2, p. 349 (Diary).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_16_16" id="vol1Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Thomas Jones, <i>History of New York</i>, Vol. 1, p. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_17_17" id="vol1Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> John Jay, <i>Correspondence and Public Papers</i>, Vol. 1, p. +142.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_18_18" id="vol1Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> "A fragment of the canvass of 1777 shows the returns +from Albany, Cumberland, Dutchess, Tryon, and Westchester, as follows: +Clinton, 865; Scott, 386; Schuyler, 1012; Jay, 367; Philip Livingston, +5; Robert R. Livingston, 7. The votes from Orange and other southern +counties gave the election to Clinton."—<i>Civil List, State of New +York</i> (1886), p. 164. Subsequently, when the Legislature met at +Kingston on September 1, Pierre Van Cortlandt as president of the +Senate performed the duties of lieutenant-governor.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_19_19" id="vol1Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> John Jay, <i>Correspondence and Public Papers</i>, Vol. 1, p. +144.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_20_20" id="vol1Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> John Jay, <i>Correspondence and Public Papers</i>, Vol. 1, p. +146.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_21_21" id="vol1Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> William Jay, <i>Life of John Jay</i>, Vol. 1, p. 41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_22_22" id="vol1Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 3, p. 450.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_23_23" id="vol1Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>Republic</i>, Vol. 1, p. 122.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_24_24" id="vol1Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Madison Papers</i>, Vol. 1, pp. 288, 291, 380.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_25_25" id="vol1Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>Works</i>, Vol. 2, p. 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_26_26" id="vol1Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 1, p. 277.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_27_27" id="vol1Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Journal of Congress</i>, Vol. 12, p. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_28_28" id="vol1Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 1, p. 401.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_29_29" id="vol1Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> In <i>Madison Papers</i>, Vol. 2, Introductory to Debates of +1787, is a history of previous steps toward union.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_30_30" id="vol1Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> "After an amendment of the first, so as to declare that +'the government of the United States ought to consist of a supreme +legislative, judiciary, and executive,' Lansing moved a declaration +'that the powers of legislation be vested in the United States +Congress.' He stated that if the Jersey plan was not adopted, it would +produce the mischiefs they were convened to obviate. That the +principles of that system were an equality of representation, and +dependence of the members of Congress on the States. That as long as +state distinctions exist, state prejudices would operate, whether the +election be by the States or the people. If there was no interest to +oppress, there was no need of an apportionment. What would be the +effect of the other plan? Virginia would have sixteen, Delaware one +representative. Will the general government have leisure to examine +the state laws? Will it have the necessary information? Will the +States agree to surrender? Let us meet public opinion, and hope the +progress of sentiment will make future arrangements. He would like the +system of his colleague (Hamilton) if it could be established, but it +was a system without example."—<i>Hamilton's MSS. notes</i>, Vol. 6, p. +77. Lansing's motion was negatived by six to four States, Maryland +being divided.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_31_31" id="vol1Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Yates and Lansing retired finally from the convention on +July 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_32_32" id="vol1Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> "That they acted in accordance with Clinton was proved +by his deportment at this time. Unreserved declarations were made by +him, that no good was to be expected from the appointment or +deliberations of this body; that the country would be thrown into +confusion by the measure. Hamilton said 'Clinton was not a man +governed in ordinary cases by sudden impulses; though of an irritable +temper, when not under the immediate influence of irritation, he was +circumspect and guarded, and seldom acted or spoke without +premeditation or design.' When the Governor made such declarations, +therefore, Hamilton feared that Clinton's conduct would induce the +confusion he so confidently and openly predicted, and to exhibit it +before the public in all its deformity, Hamilton published a pointed +animadversion, charging these declarations upon him, and avowing a +readiness to substantiate them."—John C. Hamilton, <i>Life of Alexander +Hamilton</i>, Vol. 2, p. 528.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_33_33" id="vol1Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> <i>Works</i>, Vol. 1, p. 357. G.T. Curtis, <i>Commentaries on +the Constitution</i>, pp. 371, 381, presents a very careful analysis of +Hamilton's plan. For fac-simile copy of Hamilton's plan, see +<i>Documentary History of the Constitution</i> (a recent Government +publication), Vol. 3, p. 771.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_34_34" id="vol1Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> M.E. Lamb, <i>History of the City of New York</i>, Vol. 2, p. +318.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_35_35" id="vol1Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 2, p. 318.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_36_36" id="vol1Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> W.G. Sumner, <i>Life of Hamilton</i>, p. 137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_37_37" id="vol1Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 135.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_38_38" id="vol1Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> John Fiske, <i>Critical Period of American History</i>, p. +340.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_39_39" id="vol1Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> John Fiske, <i>Essays Historical and Literary</i>, Vol. 1, p. +118.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_40_40" id="vol1Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> <i>Works of Hamilton</i>, Vol. 9, p. 548.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_41_41" id="vol1Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> W.G. Sumner, <i>Life of Hamilton</i>, p. 137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_42_42" id="vol1Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_43_43" id="vol1Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> M.E. Lamb, <i>History of the City of New York</i>, Vol. 2, p. +320.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_44_44" id="vol1Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i>, Vol. 1, p. 491.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_45_45" id="vol1Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 449.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_46_46" id="vol1Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> W.G. Sumner, <i>Life of Hamilton</i>, p. 139.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_47_47" id="vol1Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> John Fiske, <i>Essays Historical and Literary</i>, Vol. 1, p. +125.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_48_48" id="vol1Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i>, Vol. 8, p. 187.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_49_49" id="vol1Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 191.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_50_50" id="vol1Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 1, p. 509.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_51_51" id="vol1Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> It was his son, William Alexander Duer, the brilliant +and accomplished writer, who presided for thirteen years with such +distinguished ability over Columbia College.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_52_52" id="vol1Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> "No one," said Chancellor Kent, writing of Samuel Jones, +"surpassed him in clearness of intellect and in moderation and +simplicity of character; no one equalled him in his accurate knowledge +of the technical rules and doctrines of real property, and his +familiarity with the skilful and elaborate, but now obsolete and +mysterious, black-letter learning of the common law."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_53_53" id="vol1Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> James Parton, <i>Life of Aaron Burr</i>, Vol. 1, p. 169. "New +York, much more than New England, was the home of natural leaders and +family alliances. John Jay, the governor; the Schuylers, led by Philip +Schuyler and his son-in-law, Alexander Hamilton; the Livingstons, led +by Robert R. Livingston, with a promising younger brother, Edward, +nearly twenty years his junior, and a brother-in-law, John Armstrong, +besides Samuel Osgood, Morgan Lewis and Smith Thompson, other +connections by marriage with the great Livingston stock; the Clintons, +headed by George, the governor, and supported by the energy of DeWitt, +his nephew,—all these Jays, Schuylers, Livingstons, Clintons, had +they lived in New England, would probably have united in the support +of their class; but being citizens of New York they +quarrelled."—Henry Adams, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 1, pp. +108-09.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_54_54" id="vol1Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> In a letter to Theodorus Bailey, Chancellor Kent, then a +member of the Assembly, expressed the opinion that "things look +auspicious for Burr. It will be in some measure a question of northern +and southern interests. The objection of Schuyler's being related to +the Secretary has weight."—William Kent, <i>Memoirs and Letters of +James Kent</i>, p. 39.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_55_55" id="vol1Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> "The defeat of Schuyler was attributed partly to the +unprepossessing austerity of his manner."—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_56_56" id="vol1Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> James Parton, <i>Life of Aaron Burr</i>, Vol. 1, p. 187.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_57_57" id="vol1Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 188.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_58_58" id="vol1Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> William Jay, <i>Life of John Jay</i>, Vol. 1, p. 162.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_59_59" id="vol1Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 198.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_60_60" id="vol1Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> To Thos. Barclay, May 24, 1784, <i>Hist. Mag.</i>, 1869, p. +358.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_61_61" id="vol1Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> William Jay, <i>Life of John Jay</i>, Vol. 1, p. 289.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_62_62" id="vol1Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> George Pellew, <i>Life of John Jay</i>, p. 275.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_63_63" id="vol1Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Interested in this exciting campaign was yet a younger +generation, who soon contested their right-of-way to political +leadership. Erastus Root was a junior at Dartmouth; Daniel D. Tompkins +had just entered Columbia; Martin Van Buren was in a country school on +the farm at Kinderhook; John Treat Irving was playing on the banks of +the river to be made famous by his younger brother; and William W. Van +Ness, the rarest genius of them all, and his younger cousin, William +P. Van Ness, were listening to the voices that would soon summon them, +one in support of the brilliant Federalist leader, the other as a +second to Aaron Burr in the great tragedy at Weehawken on the 11th of +July, 1804.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_64_64" id="vol1Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> A few days after Clinton's inauguration Burr wrote a +Federalist friend: "I earnestly wished and sought to be relieved from +the necessity of giving any opinion, particularly as it would be +disagreeable to you and a few others whom I respect and wish always to +gratify; but the conduct of Mr. King left me no alternative. I was +obliged to give an opinion.... It would, indeed, be the extreme of +weakness in me to expect friendship from Mr. Clinton. I have too many +reasons to believe that he regards me with jealousy and +malevolence.... Some pretend, but none can believe, that I am +prejudiced in his favour. I have not even seen or spoken to him since +January last." This letter had scarcely been delivered when Clinton +appointed him to the Supreme Court, an office which Burr declined, +preferring to remain in the Senate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_65_65" id="vol1Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> <i>Jay MSS.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_66_66" id="vol1Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> William Jay, <i>Life of John Jay</i>, Vol. 1, p. 290.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_67_67" id="vol1Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 292.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_68_68" id="vol1Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 289.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_69_69" id="vol1Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 293.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_70_70" id="vol1Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +1, p. 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_71_71" id="vol1Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> John Jay, 13,481; Robert Yates, 11,892. <i>Civil List, +State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_72_72" id="vol1Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> John Jay, <i>Second Letter on Dawson's Federalist</i>, N.Y., +1864, p. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_73_73" id="vol1Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> Hamilton's <i>Camillus</i>, July 23, 1795, <i>Works</i>, Vol. 4, +p. 371.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_74_74" id="vol1Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> <i>A Century of American Diplomacy</i>, p. 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_75_75" id="vol1Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> To Mr. Abbott, November 6, 1812, <i>Correspondence of Lord +Colchester</i>, Vol. 2, p. 409.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_76_76" id="vol1Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +1, p. 97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_77_77" id="vol1Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> At twenty-two years of age, while witnessing the +disgraceful rout of General Lee at Monmouth, North attracted the +attention of Steuben, whose tactics and discipline the young officer +subsequently introduced throughout the Continental army. The +cordiality existing between the earnest aide and the brave Prussian, +so dear to his friends, so formidable to his enemies, ripened into an +affectionate regard that recalls the relation between Washington and +Hamilton. After the war, with an annuity of twenty-five hundred +dollars and sixteen thousand acres of land in Oneida County, the gift +of New York, Steuben built a log house, withdrew from society, and +played at farming, until in 1794 his remains were borne to the spot, +not far from Trenton Falls, where stands the monument that bears his +name. The faithful North visited and cared for him to the end, and +under the terms of the will parcelled out the great estate among his +tenants and old staff officers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_78_78" id="vol1Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> There was a slight vein of eccentricity running through +the Morris family, with its occasional outcroppings accentuated in the +presence of death. The grandfather, distinguished as chief justice of +New York and governor of New Jersey, forbade in his will the payment +of any one for preaching his funeral sermon, but if a person +volunteered, he said, commending or blaming his conduct in life, his +words would be acceptable. Gouverneur's father desired no notice of +his dissolution in the newspapers, not even a simple announcement of +his death. "My actions," he wrote, "have been so inconsiderable in the +world, that the most durable monument will not perpetuate my folly +while it lasts." It is evident that Gouverneur did not inherit from +him the almost bumptious self-confidence which was to mar more than +help him. That inherent defect came from his mother, who gave him, +also, a brilliancy and versatility that other members of the family +did not share, making him more conspicuously active in high places +during the exciting days of the Revolution. Gouverneur Morris was a +national character; Richard and Lewis belonged exclusively to New +York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_79_79" id="vol1Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Gouverneur Morris seemed to find history-making places. +With Washington and Greene he opposed the Conway cabal; with Jay and +Livingston he drafted the Constitution of the State; with Hamilton and +Madison he stood for the Federal Constitution, the revision of its +style being committed to his pen. Then Washington needed him, first in +England, afterward as minister to France; and when Monroe relieved him +in 1794 he travelled leisurely through Europe for four years, meeting +its distinguished writers and statesmen, forming friendships with +Madame De Staël and the Neckers, aiding and witnessing the release of +Lafayette from Olmutz prison, and finally assisting the young and +melancholy, but gentle and unassuming Duke of Orleans, afterward King +of France, to find a temporary asylum in the United States. He +returned to America ten years after he had sailed from the Delaware +capes, just in time to be called to the United States Senate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_80_80" id="vol1Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> Rep. to the Am. Philosophical Society, Phila., May, +1803. Within four years the steamboat was running. Latrobe was +architect of the Capitol at Washington, which he also rebuilt after +the British burned it in 1814.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_81_81" id="vol1Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> William Jay, <i>Life of John Jay</i>, Vol. 1, p. 400.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_82_82" id="vol1Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> "The tall and graceful figure of Chancellor Livingston, +and his polished wit and classical taste, contributed not a little to +deepen the impression resulting from the ingenuity of his argument, +the vivacity of his imagination, and the dignity of his +station."—Chancellor Kent's address before The Law Association of New +York, October 21, 1836. George Shea, <i>Life of Alexander Hamilton</i>, +Appendix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_83_83" id="vol1Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> William Jay, <i>Life of John Jay</i>, Vol. 1, p. 400.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_84_84" id="vol1Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_85_85" id="vol1Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> John Jay, 16,012; Robert Livingston, 13,632. <i>Civil +List, State of New York</i>, (1887), p. 1166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_86_86" id="vol1Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> William P. Van Ness, <i>Examination of Charges against +Aaron Burr</i>, p. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_87_87" id="vol1Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> "Let us not establish a tyranny," Hamilton wrote Oliver +Wolcott.—<i>Works of</i>, Vol. 8, p. 491. "Let us not be cruel or +violent."—<i>Ibid.</i>, 490. He thought the Alien Law deficient in +guarantees of personal liberty.—<i>Ibid.</i>, 5, 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_88_88" id="vol1Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> "Ambrose Spencer's politics were inconsistent enough to +destroy the good name of any man in New England; but he became a +chief-justice of ability and integrity."—Henry Adams, <i>History of the +United States</i>, Vol. 1, p. 112.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_89_89" id="vol1Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +1, p. 132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_90_90" id="vol1Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 8, p. 491.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_91_91" id="vol1Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 8, p. 549.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_92_92" id="vol1Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 8, p. 549. Letter to +Theo. Sedgwick.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_93_93" id="vol1Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 8, p. 552.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_94_94" id="vol1Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> James Parton, <i>Life of Aaron Burr</i>, 267.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_95_95" id="vol1Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 267.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_96_96" id="vol1Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> James Parton, <i>Life of Aaron Burr</i>, 270.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_97_97" id="vol1Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 275.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_98_98" id="vol1Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 275.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_99_99" id="vol1Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 8, p. 581.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_100_100" id="vol1Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 8, p. 584.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_101_101" id="vol1Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 581.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_102_102" id="vol1Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> James Parton, <i>Life of Aaron Burr</i>, 274.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_103_103" id="vol1Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 274.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_104_104" id="vol1Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 274.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_105_105" id="vol1Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 279.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_106_106" id="vol1Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 272.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_107_107" id="vol1Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 272.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_108_108" id="vol1Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> <i>Jefferson's Diary</i>, Feb. 14, 1801.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_109_109" id="vol1Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> James Parton, <i>Life of Aaron Burr</i>, p. 272.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_110_110" id="vol1Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 272.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_111_111" id="vol1Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 275.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_112_112" id="vol1Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> William P. Van Ness, <i>Examination of Charges against +Aaron Burr</i>, p. 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_113_113" id="vol1Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 8, p. 586.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_114_114" id="vol1Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> Jefferson to Livingston, Feb. 24, 1801; <i>Jefferson's +Works</i>, Vol. 4, p. 360.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_115_115" id="vol1Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> Henry Adams, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 2, p. +173. <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 1, p. 113.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_116_116" id="vol1Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> Henry Adams, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 1, p. +229. Jefferson's <i>Anas</i>; <i>Works</i>, Vol. 9, p. 207.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_117_117" id="vol1Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> "When the Senate met at ten o'clock on the morning of +March 4, 1801, Aaron Burr stood at the desk, and having duly sworn to +support the Constitution took his seat in the chair as Vice President. +This quiet, gentlemanly and rather dignified figure, hardly taller +than Madison, and dressed in much the same manner, impressed with +favour all who first met him. An aristocrat imbued in the morality of +Lord Chesterfield and Napoleon Bonaparte, Colonel Burr was the chosen +head of Northern democracy, idol of the wards of New York City, and +aspirant to the highest offices he could reach by means legal or +beyond the law; for, as he pleased himself with saying after the +manner of the First Consul of the French Republic, 'great souls care +little for small morals.'"—Henry Adams, <i>History of the United +States</i>, Vol. 1, p. 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_118_118" id="vol1Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> "Mr. Oswald returned to Paris on the fourth of May +(1782), having been absent sixteen days; during which Dr. Franklin +informed each of his colleagues of what had occurred—Mr. Jay, at +Madrid, Mr. Adams, in Holland—Mr. Laurens, on parole, in +London."—James Parton, <i>Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin</i>, Vol. 2, +p. 461. Franklin wrote to Adams and Laurens on April 20, suggesting +that he had "hinted that, if England should make us a voluntary offer +of Canada, expressly for that purpose, it might have a good effect." +<i>Works of Franklin</i> (Sparks), Vol. 9, pp. 253-256. But his letter to +Jay simply urged the latter's coming to Paris at once. <i>Works of +Franklin</i> (Bigelow), Vol. 8, p. 48. Also, <i>Works of Franklin</i> +(Sparks), Vol. 9, p. 254.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_119_119" id="vol1Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> George Clinton, 24,808; Stephen Van Rensselaer, +20,843.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_120_120" id="vol1Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> "Young DeWitt Clinton and his friend Ambrose Spencer +controlled this Council, and they were not persons who affected +scruple in matters of political self-interest. They swept the +Federalists out of every office even down to that of auctioneer, and +without regard to appearances, even against the protests of the +Governor, installed their own friends and family connections in +power."—Henry Adams, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 1, pp. 228, +229. "DeWitt Clinton was hardly less responsible than Burr himself for +lowering the standard of New York politics, and indirectly that of the +nation."—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 112.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_121_121" id="vol1Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> <i>Letters of "Aristides"</i>, p. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_122_122" id="vol1Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> <i>Letters of "Aristides"</i>, p. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_123_123" id="vol1Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> <i>Letters of "Aristides"</i>, p. 69.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_124_124" id="vol1Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +1, p. 177.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_125_125" id="vol1Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> Henry Adams, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 1, +pp. 294-5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_126_126" id="vol1Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> "All the world knew that not Cheetham, but DeWitt +Clinton, thus dragged the Vice President from his chair, and that not +Burr's vices but his influence made his crimes heinous; that behind +DeWitt Clinton stood the Virginia dynasty, dangling Burr's office in +the eyes of the Clinton family, and lavishing honours and money on the +Livingstons. All this was as clear to Burr and his friends as though +it was embodied in an Act of Congress."—Henry Adams, <i>History of the +United States</i>, Vol. 1, pp. 331, 332.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_127_127" id="vol1Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> Henry Adams, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 1, p. +332.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_128_128" id="vol1Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 332. +</p><p> +Writing to Henry Post of the duel, Clinton (using the name, "Clinton," +instead of the pronoun "I") said: "The affair of the duel ought not to +be brought up. It was a silly affair. Clinton ought to have declined +the challenge of the bully, and have challenged the principal, who was +Burr. There were five shots, the antagonist wounded twice, and fell. +C. behaved with cool courage, and after the affair was over challenged +Burr on the field."—<i>Harper's Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 565. "How +Clinton should have challenged Burr on the field," writes John +Bigelow, in <i>Harper's New Monthly Magazine</i> for May, 1875, "without +its resulting in a meeting is not quite intelligible to us now. Though +not much given to the redress of personal grievances in that way, Burr +was the last man to leave a hostile message from an adversary like +Clinton, then a Senator of the United States, unanswered."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_129_129" id="vol1Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> "Thompson was brought," says William Cullen Bryant in +<i>Reminiscences of the Evening Post</i>, "to his sister's house in town; +he was laid at the door; the bell was rung; the family came out and +found him bleeding and near his death. He refused to name his +antagonist, or give any account of the affair, declaring that +everything which had been done was honourably done, and desired that +no attempt should be made to seek out or molest his adversary."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_130_130" id="vol1Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> "DeWitt Clinton was annoyed at his uncle's conduct, and +tried to prevent the withdrawal by again calling Jefferson to his aid +and alarming him with fear of Burr. But the President declined to +interfere. No real confidence ever existed between Jefferson and the +Clintons."—Henry Adams, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 2, pp. +173, 174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_131_131" id="vol1Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_132_132" id="vol1Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> H.C. Lodge, <i>Life of Alexander Hamilton</i>, pp. 276-7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_133_133" id="vol1Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> H.C. Lodge, <i>Life of Alexander Hamilton</i>, pp. 240-1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_134_134" id="vol1Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 8, p. 570.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_135_135" id="vol1Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> January 29, 1804; Lodge's <i>Cabot</i>, p. 337.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_136_136" id="vol1Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 447.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_137_137" id="vol1Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> <i>New England Federalism</i>, p. 148.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_138_138" id="vol1Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's History</i>, Vol. 7, p. 781; <i>New England +Federalism</i>, p. 354.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_139_139" id="vol1Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> Henry Adams, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 2, p. +180. "Pickering and Griswold could win their game only by bartering +their souls; they must invoke the Mephistopheles of politics, Aaron +Burr. To this they had made up their minds from the beginning. Burr's +four years of office were drawing to a close. He had not a chance of +regaining a commanding place among Republicans, for he was bankrupt in +private and public character."—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_140_140" id="vol1Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 7, p. 325. "The +struggle for control between Hamilton and the conspirators lasted to +the eve of the election,—secret, stifled, mysterious; the intrigue of +men afraid to avow their aims, and seeming rather driven by their own +passions than guided by lofty and unselfish motives."—Henry Adams, +<i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 2, p. 184.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_141_141" id="vol1Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 8, p. 608.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_142_142" id="vol1Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> Morgan Lewis, 30,829; Aaron Burr, 22,139.—<i>Civil List, +State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_143_143" id="vol1Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> "That all Hamilton's doings were known to Burr could +hardly be doubted. He was not a vindictive man, but this was the +second time Hamilton had stood in his way and vilified his character. +Burr could have no reason to suppose that Hamilton was deeply loved; +for he knew that four-fifths of the Federal party had adopted his own +leadership when pitted against Hamilton's in the late election, and he +knew, too, that Pickering, Griswold, and other leading Federalists had +separated from Hamilton in the hope of making Burr himself the chief +of a Northern confederacy. Burr never cared for the past,—the present +and future were his only thoughts; but his future in politics depended +on his breaking somewhere through the line of his personal enemies; +and Hamilton stood first in his path, for Hamilton would certainly +renew at every critical moment the tactics which had twice cost Burr +his prize."—Henry Adams, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 2, pp. +185, 186.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_144_144" id="vol1Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 8, p. 617.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_145_145" id="vol1Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 8, p. 618.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_146_146" id="vol1Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 621.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_147_147" id="vol1Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 8, pp. 626-8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_148_148" id="vol1Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> <i>Hamilton's Works</i> (Lodge), Vol. 8, p. 615. Letter to +Theo. Sedgwick.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_149_149" id="vol1Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> William Kent, <i>Life of James Kent</i>, appendix, p. 328.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_150_150" id="vol1Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> "Orators, ministers, and newspapers exhausted +themselves in execration of Burr."—Henry Adams, <i>History of the +United States</i>, Vol. 2, p. 190.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_151_151" id="vol1Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 370.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_152_152" id="vol1Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> Alfred B. Street, <i>New York Council of Revision</i>, p. +429.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_153_153" id="vol1Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> Daniel D. Tompkins, 35,074; Morgan Lewis, +30,989.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_154_154" id="vol1Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> Jefferson to Colonel Taylor, August 1, 1807; <i>Works</i>, +v., 148.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_155_155" id="vol1Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> <i>Governor's Speeches.</i> January 26, 1808, p. 98.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_156_156" id="vol1Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> Daniel D. Tompkins, 43,094; Jonas Platt, +36,484.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_157_157" id="vol1Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> "This, in the opinion of the Council, as a novel +experiment, the result whereof, as to its influence on the community, +must be merely speculative and uncertain, peculiarly requires the +application of the policy which has heretofore uniformly +obtained—that the powers of corporations relative to their money +operations, should be of limited instead of perpetual +duration."—Alfred B. Street, <i>New York Council of Revision</i>, p. 423.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_158_158" id="vol1Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +1. Appendix, p. 583, Note J.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_159_159" id="vol1Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +1. Appendix, p. 582, Note S.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_160_160" id="vol1Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> Alfred B. Street, <i>New York Council of Revision</i>, p. +427.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_161_161" id="vol1Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +2. Appendix, p. 582.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_162_162" id="vol1Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> <i>Governors' Speeches</i>, January 28, 1812, pp. 115-8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_163_163" id="vol1Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> Alfred B. Street, <i>New York Council of Revision</i>, p. +432.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_164_164" id="vol1Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> Of ninety-eight senators and representatives who voted, +on June 18, 1812, for a declaration of war against England, +seventy-six, or four less than a majority, resided south of the +Delaware. No Northern State except Pennsylvania declared for war, +while every Southern State except Kentucky voted solidly for it.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_165_165" id="vol1Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> Madison to Jefferson, April 24, 1812, <i>Writings</i>, Vol. +2, p. 532.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_166_166" id="vol1Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> "This unusual unanimity among the New York Republicans +pointed to a growing jealousy of Virginia, which threatened to end in +revival of the old alliance between New York and New England."—Henry +Adams, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 6, p. 215. "George +Clinton, who had yielded unwillingly to Jefferson, held Madison in +contempt."—<i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 4, p. 227.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_167_167" id="vol1Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> "No canvass for the Presidency was ever less creditable +than that of DeWitt Clinton in 1812. Seeking war votes for the reason +that he favoured more vigorous prosecution of the war; asking support +from peace Republicans because Madison had plunged the country into +war without preparation; bargaining for Federalist votes as the price +of bringing about a peace; or coquetting with all parties in the +atmosphere of bribery in bank charters—Clinton strove to make up a +majority which had no element of union but himself and money."—Henry +Adams, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 6, p. 410.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_168_168" id="vol1Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> Rufus King, <i>Life and Correspondence</i>, Vol. 5, p. 269.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_169_169" id="vol1Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 5, p. 271.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_170_170" id="vol1Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> Rufus King, <i>Life and Correspondence</i>, Vol. 5, p. 281.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_171_171" id="vol1Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> Rufus King, <i>Life and Correspondence</i>, Vol. 5, pp. +281-4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_172_172" id="vol1Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 5, p. 283.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_173_173" id="vol1Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> William Allen Butler, <i>Address on Martin Van Buren</i> +(1862).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_174_174" id="vol1Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> "DeWitt Clinton was classed by most persons as a +reckless political gambler, but Martin Van Buren, when he intrigued, +preferred to intrigue upon the strongest side. Yet one feeling was +natural to every New York politician, whether a Clinton or a +Livingston, Burrite, Federalist, or Republican,—all equally disliked +Virginia; and this innate jealousy gave to the career of Martin Van +Buren for forty years a bias which perplexed his contemporaries, and +stood in singular contradiction to the soft and supple nature he +seemed in all else to show."—Henry Adams, <i>History of the United +States</i>, Vol. 6, pp. 409, 410.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_175_175" id="vol1Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> Jefferson to Madison, Nov. 5, 1812; <i>Jefferson MSS. +Series V.</i>, Vol. XV.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_176_176" id="vol1Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> Daniel D. Tompkins, 43,324; Stephen Van Rensselaer, +39,718.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_177_177" id="vol1Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> Winfield Scott, <i>Autobiography</i>, p. 94, <i>note</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_178_178" id="vol1Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> Message; <i>Niles</i>, Vol. 7, p. 113.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_179_179" id="vol1Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> Report of Oct. 8, 1814; <i>Niles</i>, Vol. 7, p. 149.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_180_180" id="vol1Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> Gouverneur Morris to Timothy Pickering, Dec. 22, 1814, +<i>Morris's Works</i>, Vol. 3, p. 324.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_181_181" id="vol1Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> "Among the least violent of Federalists was James +Lloyd, recently United States senator from Massachusetts. To John +Randolph's letter, remonstrating against the Hartford Convention, +Lloyd advised the Virginians to coerce Madison into retirement, and to +place Rufus King in the Presidency as the alternative to a fatal +issue. The assertion of such an alternative showed how desperate the +situation was believed by the moderate Federalists to be."—Henry +Adams, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 8, p. 306.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_182_182" id="vol1Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> Edward M. Shepard, <i>Martin Van Buren</i>, p. 62.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_183_183" id="vol1Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> Daniel D. Tompkins, 45,412; Rufus King, 38,647.—<i>Civil +List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_184_184" id="vol1Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> Henry Adams, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 8, p. +163.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_185_185" id="vol1Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's +Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 411.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_186_186" id="vol1Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 50, p. 411.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_187_187" id="vol1Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> Charles R. King, <i>Life and Correspondence of Rufus +King</i>, Vol. 6, p. 97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_188_188" id="vol1Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> <i>Governors' Speeches</i>, February 2, 1816, p. 132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_189_189" id="vol1Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's +Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 412.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_190_190" id="vol1Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton, 43,310; Peter B. Porter, 1479.—<i>Civil +List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_191_191" id="vol1Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's +Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 412.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_192_192" id="vol1Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> Charles R. King, <i>The Life and Correspondence of Rufus +King</i>, Vol. 6, p. 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_193_193" id="vol1Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's +Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 417.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_194_194" id="vol1Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> Charles R. King, <i>Life and Correspondence of Rufus +King</i>, Vol. 6, p. 251.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_195_195" id="vol1Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> Edward M. Shepard, <i>Life of Van Buren</i>, p. 71.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_196_196" id="vol1Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's +Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 412-7, 563-71.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_197_197" id="vol1Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> Martin Van Buren to Rufus King, January 19, 1820; +Charles R. King, <i>Life and Correspondence of Rufus King</i>, Vol. 6, p. +252.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_198_198" id="vol1Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> Charles R. King, <i>Life and Correspondence of Rufus +King</i>, Vol. 6, p. 254.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_199_199" id="vol1Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> Charles R. King, <i>Life and Correspondence of Rufus +King</i>, Vol. 6, p. 252.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_200_200" id="vol1Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 6, p. 263.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_201_201" id="vol1Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> Charles R. King, <i>Life and Correspondence of Rufus +King</i>, Vol. 6, p. 267.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_202_202" id="vol1Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> Charles R. King, <i>Life and Correspondence of Rufus +King</i>, Vol. 6, p. 331.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_203_203" id="vol1Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 6, p. 332.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_204_204" id="vol1Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's Magazine</i>, +Vol. 50, p. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_205_205" id="vol1Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton, 47,444; Daniel D. Tompkins, +45,990.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_206_206" id="vol1Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's +Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_207_207" id="vol1Footnote_207_207"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's +Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_208_208" id="vol1Footnote_208_208"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> <i>Governors' Speeches</i>, November 7, 1820, p. 179.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_209_209" id="vol1Footnote_209_209"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's +Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_210_210" id="vol1Footnote_210_210"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 50, p. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_211_211" id="vol1Footnote_211_211"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 50, p. 414.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_212_212" id="vol1Footnote_212_212"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 50, p. 415.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_213_213" id="vol1Footnote_213_213"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's +Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 415. +</p><p> +Clearly discerning Van Buren as his most formidable competitor for +political leadership, Clinton's letters to Post from 1817 to 1824 +abound in vituperative allusions, as, for example: "Whom shall we +appoint to defeat the arch scoundrel Van Buren?" November 30, 1820. +"Of his cowardice there can be no doubt. He is lowering daily in +public opinion, and is emphatically a corrupt scoundrel," August 30, +1820. "Van Buren is now excessively hated out of the State as well as +in it. There is no doubt of a corrupt sale of the vote of the State, +although it cannot be proved in a court of justice," August 6, 1824. +"We can place no reliance upon the goodwill of Van Buren. In his +politics he is a confirmed knave." And again: "With respect to Van +Buren, there is no developing the man. He is a scoundrel of the first +magnitude, ... without any fixture of principle or really of virtue." +"Van Buren must be conquered through his fears. He has no heart, no +sincerity."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_214_214" id="vol1Footnote_214_214"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's +Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 414.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_215_215" id="vol1Footnote_215_215"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_216_216" id="vol1Footnote_216_216"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 1, p. 103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_217_217" id="vol1Footnote_217_217"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> "Always an honoured citizen of New York, it has seemed +fitting that the highest mountain-peak in the State by bearing his +name should serve as a monument to his memory."—James F. Rhodes, +<i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 1, p. 247.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_218_218" id="vol1Footnote_218_218"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's +Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 415.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_219_219" id="vol1Footnote_219_219"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +2, p. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_220_220" id="vol1Footnote_220_220"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +2, p. 101.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_221_221" id="vol1Footnote_221_221"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_222_222" id="vol1Footnote_222_222"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's +Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 507.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_223_223" id="vol1Footnote_223_223"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 565.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_224_224" id="vol1Footnote_224_224"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 565.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_225_225" id="vol1Footnote_225_225"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> Southwick received 2910 out of a total of 131,403 votes +cast.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_226_226" id="vol1Footnote_226_226"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> <i>Governors Speeches</i>, Aug. 2, 1824, p. 218.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_227_227" id="vol1Footnote_227_227"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_227_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's +Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 568.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_228_228" id="vol1Footnote_228_228"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_228_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 109.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_229_229" id="vol1Footnote_229_229"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_229_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 110.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_230_230" id="vol1Footnote_230_230"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_230_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 114.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_231_231" id="vol1Footnote_231_231"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_231_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 113.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_232_232" id="vol1Footnote_232_232"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_232_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's +Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 569. Clinton seems to have taken a particular +dislike to Henry Wheaton. Elsewhere, he writes to Post: "There is but +one opinion about Wheaton, and that is that he is a pitiful +scoundrel."—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 417.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_233_233" id="vol1Footnote_233_233"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_233_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 120.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_234_234" id="vol1Footnote_234_234"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_234_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton, 103,452; Samuel Young, 87,093.—<i>Civil +List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_235_235" id="vol1Footnote_235_235"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_235_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's +Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 568.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_236_236" id="vol1Footnote_236_236"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_236_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 50, p. 586.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_237_237" id="vol1Footnote_237_237"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_237_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> DeWitt Clinton's Letters to Henry Post, in <i>Harper's +Magazine</i>, Vol. 50, p. 568.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_238_238" id="vol1Footnote_238_238"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_238_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 568.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_239_239" id="vol1Footnote_239_239"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_239_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 569.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_240_240" id="vol1Footnote_240_240"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_240_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 569.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_241_241" id="vol1Footnote_241_241"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_241_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 569.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_242_242" id="vol1Footnote_242_242"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_242_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 569. +</p><p> +"Clinton's presidential aspirations made him a very censorious judge +of all who did not sympathise with them. The four competing +candidates, Crawford, Clay, Calhoun, and Adams, could hardly be +paralleled, Clinton being judge, by an equal number of the twelve +Cæsars of Suetonius. Crawford is 'as hardened a ruffian as Burr'; +Calhoun is 'treacherous', and 'a thorough-paced political blackleg.' +Adams 'in politics was an apostate, and in private life a pedagogue, +and everything but amiable and honest', while his father, the +ex-President, was 'a scamp.' Governor Yates is 'perfidious and weak.' +Henry Wheaton's 'conduct is shamefully disgraceful, and he might be +lashed naked round the world.' Chief Justice Ambrose Spencer is +classed as a minus quantity, and his son John C., 'the political +millstone of the West.' Peter B. Porter 'wears a mask.' Woodworth 'is +a weak man, with sinister purposes.' Root is 'a bad man.' Samuel Young +'is unpopular and suspicions are entertained of his integrity.' Van +Buren 'is the prince of villains.' The first impression produced is +one of astonishment that a man capable of such great things could ever +have taken such a lively interest, as he seemed to, in the mere +scullionery of politics."—John Bigelow, in <i>Harper's Magazine</i>, +March, 1875.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_243_243" id="vol1Footnote_243_243"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_243_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 127.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_244_244" id="vol1Footnote_244_244"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_244_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 127.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_245_245" id="vol1Footnote_245_245"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_245_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, p. +177.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_246_246" id="vol1Footnote_246_246"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_246_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> Thurlow Weed, in his <i>Autobiography</i>, says (p. 461): +"Of his estimable private character, and of the bounties and blessings +he scattered in all directions, or of the pervading atmosphere of +happiness and gratitude that his lifelong goodness created, I need not +speak, for they are widely known and well remembered."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_247_247" id="vol1Footnote_247_247"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_247_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> "'I heard a great deal about Mr. Van Buren,' said +Andrew Jackson, who occupied a seat in the United States Senate with +him, 'especially about his non-committalism. I made up my mind that I +would take an early opportunity to hear him and judge for myself. One +day an important subject was under debate. I noticed that Mr. Van +Buren was taking notes while one of the senators was speaking. I +judged from this that he intended to reply, and I determined to be in +my seat when he spoke. His turn came; and he arose and made a clear, +straightforward argument, which, to my mind, disposed of the whole +subject. I turned to my colleague, Major Seaton, who sat next to me. +'Major,' I said, 'is there anything non-committal about that?' 'No, +sir,' said the Major."—Edward M. Shepard, <i>Life of Martin Van Buren</i>, +p. 151. +</p><p> +"In Van Buren's senatorial speeches there is nothing to justify the +charge of 'non-committalism' so much made against him. When he spoke +at all he spoke explicitly; and he plainly, though without acerbity, +exhibited his likes and dislikes. Van Buren scrupulously observed the +amenities of debate. He was uniformly courteous towards adversaries; +and the calm self-control saved him, as some great orators were not +saved, from a descent to the aspersion of motive so common and futile +in political debate."—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 152.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_248_248" id="vol1Footnote_248_248"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_248_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +2, p. 164.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_249_249" id="vol1Footnote_249_249"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_249_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> Rochester was lost off the coast of North Carolina, on +June 15, 1838, by the explosion of a boiler on the steamer <i>Pulaski</i>, +bound from Charleston to Baltimore. Of 150 passengers only 50 +survived.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_250_250" id="vol1Footnote_250_250"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_250_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> Clinton's vote was 99,785—a falling off of 3,667 from +1824, while Rochester's was 96,135, an increase of 9,042 over Young's +vote.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_251_251" id="vol1Footnote_251_251"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_251_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> James Parton, <i>Life of Andrew Jackson</i>, Vol. 3, p. +131.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_252_252" id="vol1Footnote_252_252"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_252_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 136.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_253_253" id="vol1Footnote_253_253"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_253_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 332.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_254_254" id="vol1Footnote_254_254"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_254_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 391.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_255_255" id="vol1Footnote_255_255"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_255_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> Writing of Granger, in January, 1831, Seward says: "I +believe I have never told you all I thought about this star of the +first magnitude in Anti-masonry, and the reason was that, with a +limited personal acquaintance, I might give you erroneous impressions +which I should afterward be unable to reverse. He is 'six feet and +well-proportioned,' as you well know, handsome, graceful, dignified, +and affable, as almost any hero of whom you have read; is probably +about thirty-six or seven years old. In point of talent he has a quick +and ready apprehension, a good memory, and usually a sound judgment. +Has no 'genius,' in its restricted sense, not a very brilliant +imagination, nor extraordinary reasoning faculties; has no deep store +of learning, nor a very extensive degree of information. Yet he is +intimately acquainted with politics, and with the affairs, interests, +and men of the State. He is never great, but always successful. He +writes with ease and speaks with fluency and elegance—never attempts +an argument beyond his capacity, and, being a good judge of men's +character, motives, and actions, he never fails to command admiration, +respect, and esteem. Not a man do I know who is his equal in the skill +of exhibiting every particle of his stores with great advantage. You +will inquire about his manners. His hair is ever gracefully curled, +his broad and expansive brow is always exposed, his person is ever +carefully dressed, to exhibit his face and form aright and with +success. He is a gallant and fashionable man. He seems often to +neglect great matters for small ones, and I have often thought him a +trifler; yet he is universally, by the common people, esteemed grave +and great. He is an aristocrat in his feelings, though the people who +know him think him all condescension. He is a prince among those who +are equals, affable to inferiors, and knows no superiors. In principle +he has redeeming qualities—more than enough to atone for his +faults—is honest, honourable, and just, first and beyond comparison +with other politicians of the day. You will ask impatiently, 'Has he a +heart?' Yes. Although he has less than those who do not know him +believe him to possess, he has much more than those who meet him +frequently, but not intimately, will allow him to have. He loves, +esteems, and never forgets his friends; but you must not understand me +that he possesses as confiding and true a heart as Berdan had, or as +you think I have, or as we both know Weed has. There is yet one +quality of Granger's character which you do not dream of—he loves +money almost as well as power."—Frederick W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. +Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_256_256" id="vol1Footnote_256_256"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_256_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> H.B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_257_257" id="vol1Footnote_257_257"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_257_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 309.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_258_258" id="vol1Footnote_258_258"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_258_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> <i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_259_259" id="vol1Footnote_259_259"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_259_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 307.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_260_260" id="vol1Footnote_260_260"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_260_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 340.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_261_261" id="vol1Footnote_261_261"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_261_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> H.B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_262_262" id="vol1Footnote_262_262"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_262_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> "Writing slowly and with difficulty, Weed was for +twenty years the most sententious and pungent writer of editorial +paragraphs on the American press."—Horace Greeley, <i>Recollections of +a Busy Life</i>, p. 312.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_263_263" id="vol1Footnote_263_263"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_263_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 361.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_264_264" id="vol1Footnote_264_264"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_264_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +39.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_265_265" id="vol1Footnote_265_265"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_265_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> Throop, 128,842; Granger, 120,361.—<i>Civil List, State +of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_266_266" id="vol1Footnote_266_266"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_266_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of William H. Seward</i>, p. 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_267_267" id="vol1Footnote_267_267"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_267_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_268_268" id="vol1Footnote_268_268"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_268_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 423.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_269_269" id="vol1Footnote_269_269"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_269_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of William H. Seward</i>, p. 74.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_270_270" id="vol1Footnote_270_270"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_270_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of William H. Seward</i>, p. 79.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_271_271" id="vol1Footnote_271_271"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_271_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> John S. Jenkins, <i>Lives of the Governors of New York</i>, +p. 790.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_272_272" id="vol1Footnote_272_272"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_272_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> "Marcy was the immediate predecessor of Wright as state +comptroller and United States senator. Each possessed rare talents, +but they were totally dissimilar in mental traits and political +methods. Both were statesmen of scrupulous honesty, who despised +jobbery. Marcy was wily and loved intrigue. Wright was proverbially +open and frank. Marcy never trained himself to be a public speaker, +and did not shine in the hand-to-hand conflicts of a body that was +lustrous with forensic talents. A man's status in the United States +Senate is determined by the calibre and skill of the opponents who are +selected to cross weapons with him in the forum. Wright was +unostentatious, studious, thoughtful, grave. Whenever he delivered an +elaborate speech the Whigs set Clay, Webster, Ewing, or some other of +their leaders to reply to him."—H.B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, +p. 39.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_273_273" id="vol1Footnote_273_273"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_273_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> "To this celebrated and execrable defence Van Buren +owes much of the later and unjust belief that he was an inveterate +spoilsman. Benton truly says that Van Buren's temper and judgment were +both against it."—Edward M. Shepard, <i>Life of Martin Van Buren</i>, p. +233.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_274_274" id="vol1Footnote_274_274"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_274_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 1, p. +375.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_275_275" id="vol1Footnote_275_275"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_275_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> "Chancellor Kent's bitter, narrow, and unintelligent +politics were in singular contrast with his extraordinary legal +equipment and his professional and literary accomplishments."—Edward +M. Shepard, <i>Life of Martin Van Buren</i>, p. 246.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_276_276" id="vol1Footnote_276_276"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_276_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> "On one important question, Mr. Weed and I were +antipodes. Believing that a currency in part of paper, kept at par +with specie, and current in every part of our country, was +indispensable, I was a zealous advocate of a National Bank; which he +as heartily detested, believing that its supporters would always be +identified in the popular mind with aristocracy, monopoly, exclusive +privileges, etc. He attempted, more than once, to overbear my +convictions on this point, or at least preclude their utterance, but +was at length brought apparently to comprehend that this was a point +on which we must agree to differ."—Horace Greeley, <i>Recollections of +a Busy Life</i>, p. 314.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_277_277" id="vol1Footnote_277_277"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_277_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> William L. Marcy, 166,410; Francis Granger, 156,672. +<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_278_278" id="vol1Footnote_278_278"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_278_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 421. Seward, in his +<i>Autobiography</i>, says of Tracy, p. 166: "Albert H. Tracy is ... a man +of original genius, of great and varied literary acquirements, of +refined tastes, and high and honourable principles. He seems the most +eloquent, I might almost say the only eloquent man in the Senate. He +is plainly clothed and unostentatious. Winning in his address and +gifted in conversation, you would fall naturally into the habit of +telling him all your weaknesses, and giving him unintentionally your +whole confidence. He is undoubtedly very ambitious; though he +protests, and doubtless half the time believes, that dyspepsia has +humbled all his ambition, and broken the vaultings of his spirit. I +doubt not that, dyspepsia taken into the account, he will be one of +the great men of the nation."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_279_279" id="vol1Footnote_279_279"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_279_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 238.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_280_280" id="vol1Footnote_280_280"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_280_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> William L. Marcy, 181,905; William H. Seward, +168,969.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_281_281" id="vol1Footnote_281_281"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_281_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of William H. Seward</i>, p. 241.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol1Footnote_282_282" id="vol1Footnote_282_282"></a><a href="#vol1FNanchor_282_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of William H. Seward</i>, p. 241.</p></div> + + + +<div class="bbox"> +<h1>A POLITICAL HISTORY<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small">OF THE</span><br /> +<br /> +STATE OF NEW YORK</h1> + + +<h2><br /><span class="small">BY</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">DeALVA</span> STANWOOD ALEXANDER, A.M.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small"><i>Member of Congress, Formerly United States Attorney<br /> +for the Northern District of New York</i></span></h2> + + +<h3><br /><span class="smcap">Vol. II</span><br /> +<br /> +1833-1861</h3> + +<p class="center"><br /><b><a href="#vol2CONTENTS">Volume II Contents</a></b><br /> +</p> + +<p class="center"><br /> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="81" height="100" alt="" /></p> + + +<p class="center"><br />NEW YORK<br /> +HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY<br /> +1906<br /> +</p> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="small">Copyright, 1906<br /> +By<br /> +HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY</span><br /><br /></p> +</div> + + + + +<p><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.iii" id="vol2Page_ii.iii">ii. iii</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CONTENTS" id="vol2CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<h3>VOL. II</h3> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="contents"> +<tbody> +<tr><td><span class="small">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="small">PAGE</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_I">I. <span class="smcap">Van Buren and Abolition</span>. 1833-1837</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_II">II. <span class="smcap">Seward Elected Governor</span>. 1836-1838</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.15">15</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_III">III. <span class="smcap">The Defeat of Van Buren for President</span>. 1840</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.31">31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_IV">IV. <span class="smcap">Humiliation of the Whigs</span>. 1841-1842</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.47">47</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_V">V. <span class="smcap">Democrats Divide into Factions</span>. 1842-1844</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.56">56</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_VI">VI. <span class="smcap">Van Buren Defeated at Baltimore</span>. 1844</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.65">65</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_VII">VII. <span class="smcap">Silas Wright and Millard Fillmore</span>. 1844</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.76">76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_VIII">VIII. <span class="smcap">The Rise of John Young</span>. 1845-1846</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.90">90</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_IX">IX. <span class="smcap">Fourth Constitutional Convention</span>. 1846</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.103">103</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_X">X. <span class="smcap">Defeat and Death of Silas Wright</span>. 1846-1847</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.114">114</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XI">XI. <span class="smcap">The Free-Soil Campaign</span>. 1847-1848</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.129">129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XII">XII. <span class="smcap">Seward Splits the Whig Party</span>. 1849-1850</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.145">145</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XIII">XIII. <span class="smcap">The Whigs' Waterloo</span>. 1850-1852</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.159">159</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XIV">XIV. <span class="smcap">The Hards and the Softs</span>. 1853</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.180">180</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XV">XV. <span class="smcap">A Breaking-up of Party Ties</span>. 1854</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.190">190</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XVI">XVI. <span class="smcap">Formation of the Republican Party</span>. 1854-1855</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.205">205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XVII">XVII. <span class="smcap">First Republican Governor</span>. 1856</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.222">222</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII. <span class="smcap">The Irrepressible Conflict</span>. 1857-1858</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.243">243</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XIX">XIX. <span class="smcap">Seward's Bid for the Presidency</span>. 1859-1860</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.256">256</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XX">XX. <span class="smcap">Dean Richmond's Leadership at Charleston</span>. 1860</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.270">270</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXI">XXI. <span class="smcap">Seward Defeated at Chicago</span>. 1860</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.281">281</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXII">XXII. <span class="smcap">New York's Control at Baltimore</span>. 1860</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.294">294</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXIII">XXIII. <span class="smcap">Raymond, Greeley, and Weed</span>. 1860</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.305">305</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXIV">XXIV. <span class="smcap">Fight of the Fusionists</span>. 1860</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.324">324</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.iv" id="vol2Page_ii.iv">ii. iv</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXV">XXV. <span class="smcap">Greeley, Weed, and Secession</span>. 1860-1861</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.334">334</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXVI">XXVI. <span class="smcap">Seymour and the Peace Democrats</span>. 1860-1861</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.346">346</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXVII">XXVII. <span class="smcap">Weed's Revenge Upon Greeley</span>. 1861</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.361">361</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXVIII">XXVIII. <span class="smcap">Lincoln, Seward, and the Union</span>. 1860-1861</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.367">367</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol2CHAPTER_XXIX">XXIX. <span class="smcap">The Weed Machine Crippled</span>. 1861</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol2Page_ii.388">388</a></td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p class="center"><b><a href="#politicalindex">INDEX</a></b></p> + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.1" id="vol2Page_ii.1">ii. 1</a></span></p> +<h2>A POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE<br /> +STATE OF NEW YORK</h2> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_I" id="vol2CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /> +<br /> +VAN BUREN AND ABOLITION<br /> +<br /> +1833-1837</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">After</span> Van Buren's inauguration as Vice President, he made Washington +his permanent residence, and again became the President's chief +adviser. His eye was now intently fixed upon the White House, and the +long, rapid strides, encouraged by Jackson, carried him swiftly toward +the goal of his ambition. He was surrounded by powerful friends. +Edward Livingston, the able and accomplished brother of the +Chancellor, still held the office of secretary of state; Benjamin F. +Butler, his personal friend and former law partner, was +attorney-general; Silas Wright, the successor of Marcy, and Nathaniel +P. Tallmadge, the eloquent successor of the amiable Dudley, were in +the United States Senate. Among the members of the House, Samuel +Beardsley and Churchill C. Cambreling, firm and irrepressible, led the +Administration's forces with conspicuous ability. At Albany, Marcy was +governor, Charles L. Livingston was speaker of the Assembly, Azariah +C. Flagg state comptroller, John A. Dix secretary of state, Abraham +Keyser state treasurer, Edwin Croswell state printer and editor of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.2" id="vol2Page_ii.2">ii. 2</a></span> +the <i>Argus</i>, and Thomas W. Olcott the able financier of the Regency. +All were displaying a devotion to the President, guided by infinite +tact, that distinguished them as the organisers and disciplinarians of +the party. "I do not believe," wrote Thurlow Weed, "that a stronger +political organisation ever existed at any state capital, or even at +the national capital. They were men of great ability, great industry, +indomitable courage, and strict personal integrity."<a name="vol2FNanchor_1_1" id="vol2FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>John A. Dix seemed destined from the first to leave an abiding mark in +history. Very early in life he was distinguished for executive +ability. Although but a boy, he saw active service throughout the War +of 1812, having been appointed a cadet at fourteen, an ensign at +fifteen, and a second lieutenant at sixteen. After the war, he served +as aide-de-camp on the staff of General Brown, living at Fortress +Monroe and at Washington, until feeble health led to his resignation +in 1828. Then he began the practice of law at Cooperstown. In 1830, +when Governor Throop made him adjutant-general, he removed to Albany. +He was now twenty-six years old, an accomplished writer, a vigorous +speaker, and as prompt and bold in his decisions as in 1861, when he +struck the high, clear-ringing note for the Union in his order to +shoot the first man who attempted to haul down the American flag. He +was not afraid of any enterprise; he was not abashed by the stoutest +opposition; he was not even depressed by failure. When the call came, +he leaped up to sudden political action, and very soon was installed +as a member of the Regency.</p> + +<p>Dix had one great advantage over most of his contemporaries in +political life—he was able to write editorials for the <i>Argus</i>. It +took a keen pen to find an open way to its columns. Croswell needed +assistance in these days of financial quakings and threatened party +divisions, but he would accept it only from a master. Until this time, +Wright and Marcy had aided him. Their love for variety of subject, +characteristic, perhaps, of the gifted writer, presented widely<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.3" id="vol2Page_ii.3">ii. 3</a></span> +differing themes, flavoured with humour and satire, making the paper +attractive if not spectacular. To this work Dix, who had already +published a <i>Sketch of the Resources of the City of New York</i>, now +brought the freshness of a strong personality and the training of a +scholar and linguist. He had come into public life under the influence +of Calhoun, for whom the army expressed a decided preference in 1828; +but he never accepted the South Carolinian's theory of nullification. +Dix had inherited loyalty from his father, an officer in the United +States army, and he was quick to strike for his country when South +Carolina raised the standard of rebellion in 1861.</p> + +<p>There was something particularly attractive about John A. Dix in these +earlier years. He had endured hardships and encountered dangers, but +he had never known poverty; and after his marriage he no longer +depended upon the law or upon office for life's necessities. Educated +at Phillips Exeter Academy, at the College of Montreal, and at St. +Mary's College in Baltimore, he learned to be vigorous without +egotism, positive without arrogance, and a man of literary tastes +without affectation. Even long years of earnest controversy and +intense feeling never changed the serene purity of his life, his lofty +purposes, or the nobility of his nature. It is doubtful if he would +have found distinction in the career of a man of letters, to which he +was inclined. He had the learning and the scholarly ambition. Like +Benjamin F. Butler, he could not be content with a small measure of +knowledge. He studied languages closely, he read much of the world's +literature in the original, and he could write on political topics +with the firm grasp and profound knowledge of a statesman of broad +views; but he could not, or did not, turn his English into the realm +of literature. Yet his <i>Winter in Madeira and a Summer in Spain and +Florence</i>, published in 1850, ran through five editions in three +years, and is not without interest to-day, after so many others, with, +defter pen, perhaps, have written of these sunny lands. His +appointment as secretary of state in 1833 made him also<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.4" id="vol2Page_ii.4">ii. 4</a></span> state +superintendent of common schools, and his valuable reports, published +during the seven years he filled the office, attest his intelligent +devotion to the educational interests of New York, not less than his +editorial work on the <i>Argus</i> showed his loyal attachment to Van +Buren.</p> + +<p>But, despite the backing of President Jackson, and the influence of +other powerful friends, there was no crying demand outside of New York +for Van Buren's election to the Presidency. He had done nothing to +stir the hearts of his countrymen with pride, or to create a +pronounced, determined public sentiment in his behalf. On the +contrary, his weaknesses were as well understood without New York as +within it. David Crockett, in his life of Van Buren, speaks of him as +"secret, sly, selfish, cold, calculating, distrustful, treacherous," +and "as opposite to Jackson as dung is to a diamond." Crockett's book, +written for campaign effect, was as scurrilous as it was interesting, +but it proved that the country fully understood the character of Van +Buren, and that, unlike Jackson, he had no great, redeeming, +iron-willed quality that fascinates the multitude. Tennessee, the home +State of Jackson, opposed him with bitterness; Virginia declared that +it favoured principles, not men, and that in supporting Van Buren it +had gone as far astray as it would go; Calhoun spoke of the Van Buren +party as "a powerful faction, held together by the hopes of plunder, +and marching under a banner whereon is written 'to the victors belong +the spoils.'" Everywhere there seemed to be unkindness, unrest, or +indifference.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Van Buren's candidacy had been so persistently and +systematically worked up by the President that, from the moment of his +inauguration as Vice President, his succession to the Presidency was +accepted as inevitable. It is doubtful if a man ever slipped into an +office more easily than Martin Van Buren secured the Presidency. That +there might be no failure at the last moment, a national democratic +convention, the second one in the history of the party, was called to +nominate him at Baltimore, in May, 1835, eight<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.5" id="vol2Page_ii.5">ii. 5</a></span>een months before the +election. When the time came, South Carolina, Alabama, and Illinois +were unrepresented; Tennessee had one delegate, and Mississippi and +Missouri only two each; but Van Buren's nomination followed with an +ease and a unanimity that caused a smile even among the office-holding +delegates.</p> + +<p>Indeed, slavery was the only thing in sight to disturb Van Buren. At +present, it was not larger than a cloud "like a man's hand," but the +agitation had begun seriously to disturb politicians. After the North +had emerged from the Missouri struggle, chafed and mortified by the +treachery of its own representatives, the rapidly expanding culture of +cotton, which found its way in plenty to northern seaports, had +apparently silenced all opposition. A few people, however, had been +greatly disturbed by the arguments of a small number of reformers, +much in advance of their time, who were making a crusade against the +whole system of domestic slavery. Some of these men won honoured names +in our history. One of them was Benjamin Lundy. In 1815, when +twenty-six years old, Lundy organised an anti-slavery association, +known as the "Union Humane Society," and, in its support, he had +traversed the country from Maine to Tennessee, lecturing, editing +papers, and forming auxiliary societies. He was a small, deaf, +unassuming Quaker, without wealth, eloquence, or marked ability; but +he had courage, tremendous energy, and a gentle spirit. He had lived +for a time in Wheeling, Virginia, where the horrors, inseparable from +slavery, impressed him very much as the system in the British West +Indies had impressed Zachary Macaulay, father of the distinguished +essayist and historian; and, like Macaulay, he ever after devoted his +time and his abilities to the generous task of rousing his countrymen +to a full sense of the cruelties practised upon slaves.</p> + +<p>In 1828, he happened to meet William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison's +attention had not previously been drawn to the slavery question, but, +when he heard Lundy's arguments, he joined him in Baltimore, +demanding, in the first issue of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.6" id="vol2Page_ii.6">ii. 6</a></span> <i>The Genius</i>, immediate emancipation +as the right of the slave and the duty of the master. William Lloyd +Garrison was young then, not yet twenty-three years of age, but he +struck hard, and soon found himself in jail, in default of the payment +of fifty dollars fine and costs for malicious libel. At the end of +forty-nine days, Arthur Tappan, of New York City, paid the fine, and +Garrison, returning to Boston, issued the first number of <i>The +Liberator</i> on January 1, 1830.</p> + +<p>This opened the agitation in earnest. Garrison treated slavery as a +crime, repudiating all creeds, churches, and parties which taught or +accepted the doctrine that an innocent human being, however black or +down-trodden, was not the equal of every other and entitled to the +same inalienable rights. The South soon heard of him, and the Georgia +Legislature passed an act offering a reward of five thousand dollars +for his delivery into that State. Indictments of northern men by +southern grand juries now became of frequent occurrence, one governor +making requisition upon Governor Marcy for the surrender of Arthur +Tappan, although Tappan had never been in a Southern State. The South, +finding that long-distance threats, indictments, and offers of reward +accomplished nothing, waked into action its northern sympathisers, who +appealed with confidence to riot and mob violence. In New York City, +the crusade opened in October, 1833, a mob preventing the organisation +of an anti-slavery society at Clinton Hall. Subsequently, on July 4, +1834, an anti-slavery celebration in Chatham Street chapel was broken +up, and five days later, the residence of Lewis Tappan was forced open +and the furniture destroyed. These outrages were followed by the +destruction of churches, the dismantling of schoolhouses, and the +looting of dwellings, owned or used by coloured people. In October, +1835, a committee of respectable citizens of Utica, headed by Samuel +Beardsley, then a congressman and later chief justice of the State, +broke up a meeting called to organise a state anti-slavery society, +and destroyed the printing press of a democratic journal which had +spoken kindly<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.7" id="vol2Page_ii.7">ii. 7</a></span> of Abolitionists. The agitators, however, were in no +wise dismayed or disheartened. It would have taken a good deal of +persecution to frighten Beriah Green, or to confuse the conscience of +Arthur Tappan.</p> + +<p>In the midst of such scenes came tidings that slavery had been +abolished in the British West Indies, and that the Utica indignity had +been signalised by the conversion of Gerrit Smith. Theretofore, Smith +had been a leading colonisationist—thereafter he was to devote +himself to the principles of abolitionism. Gerrit Smith, from his +earliest years, had given evidence of precocious and extraordinary +intelligence. Thurlow Weed pronounced him "the handsomest, the most +attractive, and the most intellectual young man I ever met." Smith was +then seventeen years old—a student in Hamilton College. "He dressed +<i>à la</i> Byron," continues Weed, "and in taste and manners was +instinctively perfect."<a name="vol2FNanchor_2_2" id="vol2FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> His father was Peter Smith, famous in his +day as one of the largest landowners in the United States; and, +although this enormous estate was left the son in his young manhood, +it neither changed his simple, gentle manners, nor the purpose of his +noble life.<a name="vol2FNanchor_3_3" id="vol2FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> By profession, Gerrit Smith was a philanthropist, and +in his young enthusiasm he joined the American Colonisation Society, +organised in 1817, for the purpose of settling the western coast of +Africa with emancipated blacks. It was a pre-eminently respectable +association. Henry Clay was its president, and prominent men North and +South, in church and in state, approved its purpose and its methods.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.8" id="vol2Page_ii.8">ii. 8</a></span> +In 1820 it purchased Sherbro Island; but finding the location +unfortunate, other lands were secured in the following year at Cape +Mesurado, and about a thousand emigrants sent thither during the next +seven years. Gerrit Smith, however, found the movement too slow, if +not practically stranded, by the work of the cotton-gin and the +doctrine of Calhoun, that "the negro is better off in slavery at the +South than in freedom elsewhere." So, in 1830, he left the society to +those whose consciences condemned slavery, but whose conservatism +restrained them from offensive activity. The society drifted along +until 1847, when the colony, then numbering six or seven thousand, +declared itself an independent republic under the name of Liberia. In +the meantime, Smith, unaided and alone, had provided homes in northern +States, on farms of fifty acres each, for twice as many emancipated +blacks, his gifts aggregating over two hundred thousand acres.</p> + +<p>Gerrit Smith's conversion to abolitionism helped the anti-slavery +cause, much as the conversion of St. Paul benefited the Christian +church. He brought youth, courage, enthusiasm, wealth, and marked +ability. Although alienated from him for years because of his peculiar +creed, Thurlow Weed refers in loving remembrance to "his great +intellect, genial nature, and ample fortune, which were devoted to all +good works." When the people of Utica, his native town, broke up the +meeting called to form a state anti-slavery society, Smith promptly +invited its projectors to his home at Peterborough, Madison County, +where the organisation was completed. He was thirty-three years old +then, and from that day until Lincoln's proclamation and Lee's +surrender freed the negro, he never ceased to work for the abolition +of slavery. The state organisation, nourished under his fostering +care, led to greater activity. Anti-slavery societies began to form in +every county and in most of the towns of some counties. Abolitionism +did not take the place of anti-Masonry, which was now rapidly on the +wane; but it awakened the conscience, setting people to thinking and, +then, to talk<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.9" id="vol2Page_ii.9">ii. 9</a></span>ing. The great contest to abolish slavery in the British +West Indies, led by the Buxtons, the Wilberforces, and the Whitbreads, +had aroused public indignation in the United States, as well as in +England, by the overwhelming proofs that men and women were being +constantly flogged; and that branding female slaves on the breast with +red-hot iron, was used as a means of punishment, as well as of +identification. Other more revolting evidences of the horrors, which +seemed to be the inevitable accompaniment of the slave system, found +lodgment in American homes through the eloquence of the noted English +abolition lecturer, George Thompson, then in this country; until the +cruelties, characterising slavery in Jamaica, were supposed and +believed by many to be practised in the Southern States.</p> + +<p>Naturally enough, the principal avenue between the promoter of +anti-slavery views and the voter was the United States mails, and +these were freighted with abolition documents. It is likely that +Harrison Gray Otis, the wealthy and aristocratic mayor of Boston, did +not exaggerate when he advised the southern magistrate, who desired +the suppression of Garrison's <i>Liberator</i>, that "its office was an +obscure hole, its editor's only visible auxiliary a negro boy, and his +supporters a few insignificant persons of all colours;"<a name="vol2FNanchor_4_4" id="vol2FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> but the +Southerners knew that from that "obscure hole" issued a paper of +uncompromising spirit, which was profoundly impressing the people of +the United States, and their journals and orators teemed with +denunciations. The Richmond <i>Whig</i> characterised Abolitionists as +"hell-hounds," warning the northern merchants that unless these +fanatics were hung they would lose the benefit of southern trade. A +Charleston paper threatened to cut out and "cast upon the dunghill" +the tongue of any one who should lecture upon the evils or immorality +of slavery. The Augusta <i>Chronicle</i> declared that if the question be +longer discussed the Southern States would secede and settle the +matter by the sword, as the only possible means of self-preservation. +A prominent Alabama<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.10" id="vol2Page_ii.10">ii. 10</a></span> clergyman advised hanging every man who favoured +emancipation, and the Virginia Legislature called upon the +non-slave-holding States to suppress abolition associations by penal +statutes.</p> + +<p>In the midst of such sentiments, it was evident to Van Buren, whose +election depended upon the Southern States, that something definite +must be done, and that nothing would be considered definite by the +South which did not aim at the total abolition of the anti-slavery +agitator. Accordingly, his friends held meetings in every county in +the State, adopting resolutions denouncing them as "fanatics and +traitors to their country," and indorsing Van Buren "as a patriot +opposed to the hellish abolition factions and all their heresies." Van +Buren himself arranged for the great meeting at Albany at which +Governor Marcy presided. "I send you the inclosed proceedings of the +citizens of Albany," wrote Van Buren to the governor of Georgia, "and +I authorise you to say that I concur fully in the sentiments they +advance."</p> + +<p>In commenting upon the Albany meeting, Thurlow Weed, with the +foresight of a prophet, wrote in the <i>Evening Journal</i>: "This question +of slavery, when it becomes a matter of political controversy, will +shake, if not unsettle, the foundations of our government. It is too +fearful, and too mighty, in all its bearings and consequences, to be +recklessly mixed up in our partisan conflicts."<a name="vol2FNanchor_5_5" id="vol2FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> When the +Legislature convened, in January, 1836, Governor Marcy took up the +question in his message. "I cannot doubt," he said, "that the +Legislature possesses the power to pass such penal laws as will have +the effect of preventing the citizens of this State, and residents +within it, from availing themselves, with impunity, of the protection +of its sovereignty and laws, while they are actually employed in +exciting insurrection and sedition in a sister State, or engaged in +treasonable enterprises, intending to be executed therein."<a name="vol2FNanchor_6_6" id="vol2FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Not +content with this<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.11" id="vol2Page_ii.11">ii. 11</a></span> show of loyalty to the South on the part of his +friends, Van Buren secured the support of Silas Wright and Nathaniel +P. Tallmadge for the bill, then pending in the United States Senate, +prohibiting postmasters from knowingly transmitting or delivering any +documents or papers relating to the abolition of slavery, and when the +measure, on a motion for engrossment, received a tie vote, Van Buren +cast the decisive vote in the affirmative.<a name="vol2FNanchor_7_7" id="vol2FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>Van Buren's prompt action gave him the confidence and support of +three-fourths of the slave-holding States, without losing his hold +upon the Democracy of the free States. Indeed, there was nothing new +that the Whigs could oppose to Van Buren. They were not ready to take +the anti-slavery side of the issue, and questions growing out of the +bank controversy had practically been settled in 1832. This, +therefore, was the situation when the two parties in New York +assembled in convention, in September, 1836, to nominate state +candidates. Marcy and John Tracy were without opposition. From the +first moment he began to administer the affairs of the State, Marcy +must have felt that he had found his work at last.</p> + +<p>The Whigs were far from being united. Henry Clay's disinclination to +become a nominee for President resulted in two Whig candidates, Hugh +L. White of Tennessee, the favourite of the southern Whigs, and +William Henry Harrison, preferred by the Eastern, Middle, and Western +States. This weakness was soon reflected in New York. Thurlow Weed was +full of forebodings, and William H. Seward found his<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.12" id="vol2Page_ii.12">ii. 12</a></span> law office more +satisfactory than a candidate's berth. Like Clay he was perfectly +willing another should bear the burden of inevitable defeat. So the +Whigs put up Jesse Buel for governor, Gamaliel H. Barstow for +lieutenant-governor, and an electoral ticket favourable to Harrison.</p> + +<p>Jesse Buel was not a brilliant man. He was neither a thinker, like +Seward, nor an orator, like Granger; but he was wise, wealthy, and +eminently respectable, with enough of the statesman in him to be able +to accept established facts and not to argue with the inexorable. +Years before, he had founded the Albany <i>Argus</i>, editing it with +ability and great success. Through its influence he became state +printer, succeeding Solomon Southwick, after the latter's quarrel with +Governor Tompkins over the Bank of America. This was in 1813. Three +years later Thurlow Weed, then a young man of nineteen, worked for him +as a journeyman printer. "From January till April," he writes, "I +uniformly reached the office before daylight, and seldom failed to +find Mr. Buel at his case, setting type by a tallow candle and smoking +a long pipe." Buel made so much money that the party managers invited +him to let others, equally deserving, have a turn at the state +printing. So he went into the Assembly, distinguishing himself as an +able, practical legislator. But he gradually drew away from the +Democrats, as their financial policy became more pronounced; and upon +the organisation of the Whig party gave it his support. Had he chosen +he might have been its candidate for governor in 1834; and it is +difficult to un<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.13" id="vol2Page_ii.13">ii. 13</a></span>derstand why he should have accepted, in 1836, with +little expectation of an election, what he declined two years before +when success seemed probable.</p> + +<p>Gamaliel H. Barstow had been a Clintonian and an anti-Clintonian, a +follower and a pursuer of Van Buren, an Adams man and an +Anti-Mason—everything, in fact, except a Federalist. But, under +whatever standard he fought, and in whatever body he sat, he was a +recognised leader, full of spirit, fire, and force. In 1824, he had +stood with James Tallmadge and Henry Wheaton at the head of the Adams +party; in 1831, he had accompanied John C. Spencer and William H. +Seward to the national anti-masonic convention at Baltimore; and, in +the long, exciting debate upon the bill giving the people power to +choose presidential electors, he exhibited the consummate shrewdness +and sagacity of an experienced legislator. There was nothing sinister +or vindictive about him; but he had an unsparing tongue, and he +delighted to indulge it. This is what he did in 1836. Having turned +his back upon the Democratic party, the campaign to him became an +occasion for contrasting the past and "its blighting Regency +majorities" with the future of a new party, which, no doubt, seemed to +him and to others purer and brighter, since the longer it was excluded +from power the less opportunity it had for making mistakes.</p> + +<p>But 1836 was a year of great prosperity. The undue depression of 1835 +was now succeeded by commercial activity and an era of expansion and +inflation. Visionary schemes were everywhere present. Real estate +values doubled, farms were platted into village lots, wild lands were +turned into farms, and a new impulse was given to legitimate and +illegitimate enterprises. Stocks rose, labour went up, farm products +sold at higher prices, and the whole country responded to the +advantages of the money plethora. Democracy rode on the crest of the +wave, and Jackson's financial policy was accepted with joy.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless the Whig party, hoping to strengthen its numbers in +Congress, did not relax its zeal. When the vote,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.14" id="vol2Page_ii.14">ii. 14</a></span> however, revealed +nearly thirty thousand majority for Marcy<a name="vol2FNanchor_8_8" id="vol2FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> and the Van Buren +electoral ticket, with ninety-four Democrats in the Assembly and only +one Whig in the Senate, it made Thurlow Weed despair for the Republic.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.15" id="vol2Page_ii.15">ii. 15</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_II" id="vol2CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /> +<br /> +SEWARD ELECTED GOVERNOR<br /> +<br /> +1836-1838</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> overwhelming defeat of the Whigs, in 1836, left a single rift in +the dark cloud through which gleamed a ray of substantial hope. It was +plain to the most cautious business man that if banking had been +highly remunerative, with the United States Bank controlling +government deposits, it must become more productive after Jackson had +transferred these deposits to state institutions; and what was plain +to the conservative banker, was equally patent to the reckless +speculator. The legislatures of 1834 and 1835, therefore, became noted +as well as notorious for the large number of bank charters granted. As +the months passed, increased demands for liberal loans created an +increasing demand for additional banks, and the greater the demand the +greater the strife for charters. Under the restraining law of the +State, abundant provision had been made for a fair distribution of +bank stocks; but the dominant party, quick to take an advantage +helpful to its friends, carefully selected commissioners who would +distribute it only among their political followers. At first it went +to merchants or capitalists in the locality of the bank; but +gradually, Albany politicians began to participate, and then, +prominent state officers, judges, legislators and their relatives and +confidential friends, many of whom resold the stock at a premium of +twenty to twenty-five per cent. before the first payment had been +made. Thus, the distribution of stock became a public scandal, +deplored in the messages of the Governor and assailed by the press. +"The unclean drippings of venal legislation," the New York <i>Evening +Post</i> called it. But no remedy was applied. The Gover<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.16" id="vol2Page_ii.16">ii. 16</a></span>nor, in spite of +his regrets, signed every charter the Legislature granted, and the +commissioners, as if ignorant of the provisions to secure a fair +distribution of the stock, continued to evade the law with boldness +and great facility.</p> + +<p>Members of the Democratic party in New York City, who believed that +banking, like any other business, ought to be open to competition, had +organised an equal rights party in 1834 to oppose all monopolies, and +the bank restraining law in particular. Several meetings were held +during the summer. Finally, in October, both factions of Tammany Hall +attempted forcibly to control its proceedings, and, in the contest, +the lights were extinguished. The Equal Righters promptly relighted +them with loco-foco or friction matches and continued the meeting. +From this circumstance they were called Locofocos, a name which the +Whigs soon applied to the whole Democratic party.</p> + +<p>The Equal Rights party was not long-lived. Two years spanned its +activity, and four or five thousand votes measured its strength; but, +while it lasted, it was earnest and the exponent of good principles. +In 1836, these people held a state convention at Utica, issued a +declaration of principles, and nominated a state and congressional +ticket. In New York City, the centre of their activity, Frederick A. +Tallmadge was put up for state senator and Edward Curtis for Congress, +two reputable Whigs; and, to aid them, the Whig party fused +successfully with the Equal Righters, electing their whole ticket. +This victory was the one ray of hope that came to the Whigs out of the +contest of 1836. It proved that some people were uneasy and resentful.</p> + +<p>But other Whig victories were soon to follow. Reference has already +been made to the unprecedented prosperity that characterised the year +1836. This era of expansion and speculative enterprises, which began +with the transfer of government deposits, continued at high pressure +under the influence of the newly chartered banks. With such a money +plethora, schemes and projects expanded and inflated, until success +seemed to turn the heads of the whole population. So<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.17" id="vol2Page_ii.17">ii. 17</a></span> wild was the +passion for new enterprises, that one had only to announce a scheme to +find people ready to take shares in it. Two per cent. a month did not +deter borrowers who expected to make one hundred per cent. before the +end of the year. In vain did the Governor inveigh against this +"unregulated spirit of speculation." As the year advanced, men grew +more reckless, until stocks and shares were quickly purchased at any +price without the slightest care as to the risk taken.</p> + +<p>The beginning of the end of this epoch of insane speculation was felt, +early in the spring of 1837, by a money pressure of unexampled +severity. Scarcely had its effect reached the interior counties, +before every bank in the country suspended specie payments. Then +confidence gave way, and tens of thousands of people, who had been +wealthy or in comfortable circumstances, waked up to the awful +realisation of their bankruptcy and ruin. The panic of 1837 reached +the proportions of a national calamity. Most men did not then know the +reason for the crash, and the knowledge of those who did, brought +little comfort. But, gradually, the country recognised that the +prosperity of a nation is not increased in proportion to the quantity +of paper money issued, unless such currency be maintained at its full +value, convertible, at pleasure, into hard cash—the money standard of +the world.</p> + +<p>It so happened that the Legislature had not adjourned when the crash +came, and, without a moment's delay, it suspended for one year the +section of the Safety Fund act forbidding banks to issue notes after +refusing to pay them in coin on demand; but it refused to suspend the +act, passed in March, 1835, prohibiting the issue or circulation of +bills under the denomination of five dollars. This left the people +without small bills, and, as New York banks dared not issue them, +necessity forced into circulation foreign bills, issued by solvent and +insolvent banks, the losses from which fell largely upon the poorer +classes who could not discriminate between the genuine and the +spurious. So great was the in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.18" id="vol2Page_ii.18">ii. 18</a></span>convenience and loss suffered by the +continuance of this act, that the people petitioned the Governor to +call an extra session of the Legislature for its repeal; but Marcy +declined, for the reason that the Legislature had already refused to +give the banks the desired authority. Thus, the citizens of New York, +staggering under a panic common to the whole country, were compelled +to suffer the additional hardships of an irredeemable, and, for the +most part, worthless currency, known as "shin-plasters."</p> + +<p>In the midst of these "hard times," occurred the election in November, +1837. The New York municipal election, held in the preceding spring +and resulting, with the help of the Equal Righters, in the choice of a +Whig mayor, had prepared the way for a surprise; yet no one imagined +that a political revolution was imminent. But the suffering people +were angry, and, like a whirlwind, the Whigs swept nearly every county +in the State. Of one hundred and twenty-eight assemblymen, they +elected one hundred and one, and six of the eight senators. It +happened, too, that as the triennial election of sheriffs and clerks +occurred this year, the choice of these officers swelled the triumph +into a victory that made it the harder to overthrow. In a moment, the +election of 1837 had given the Whigs a powerful leverage in local +contests, enabling them to build up a party that could be disciplined +as well as organised. To add to their strength, the Legislature, when +it convened, in January, 1838, proceeded to take the "spoils." Luther +Bradish was chosen speaker, Orville L. Holley surveyor-general, and +Gamaliel L. Barstow state treasurer. It also suspended for two years +the act prohibiting banks from issuing small bills, passed a general +banking law, and almost unanimously voted four millions for enlarging +the Erie canal.</p> + +<p>Although the spring elections of 1838 showed a decided falling off in +the Whig vote, hopes of carrying the State in November were so well +founded that Whig candidates for governor appeared in plenty. Looking +back upon the contest from a distance, especially with the present +knowledge<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.19" id="vol2Page_ii.19">ii. 19</a></span> of his superlative fitness for high place, it seems strange +that William H. Seward should not have had an open way in the +convention. But Francis Granger had also won the admiration of his +party by twice leading a forlorn hope. Amidst crushing defeat he had +never shown weariness, and his happy disposition kept him in friendly +touch with his party. The Chenango people were especially ardent in +his support. Twice he had forced their canal project through a hostile +Assembly, and they did not forget that, in the hour of triumph, Seward +opposed it. Besides, Granger had distinguished himself in Congress, +resisting the policy of Jackson and Van Buren with forceful argument +and ready tact. He was certainly a man to be proud of, and his +admirers insisted with great pertinacity that he should now be the +nominee for governor.</p> + +<p>There was another formidable candidate in the field. Luther Bradish +had proved an unusually able speaker, courteous in deportment, and +firm and resolute in his rulings at a time of considerable political +excitement. He had entered the Assembly from Franklin in 1828, and, +having early embraced anti-Masonry with Weed, Granger, and Seward, +was, with them, a leader in the organisation of the Whig party. The +northern counties insisted that his freedom from party controversies +made him peculiarly available, and, while the supporters of other +candidates were quarrelling, it was their intention, if possible, to +nominate him. Seward and Granger were eager for the nomination, but +neither seems to have encouraged the ill-will which their followers +exhibited. Indeed, Seward evidenced a disposition to withdraw; and he +would doubtless have done so, had not his friends, and those of +Granger, thought it better to let a convention decide. As the campaign +grew older, the canvass proceeded with asperity. Granger's adherents +accused Seward of an unjust conspiracy to destroy him, and of having +canvassed the State, personally or by agents, to secure the prize even +at the cost of a party division. They charged him with oppressing the +settlers in Chautauqua, with editing the Albany <i>Journal</i>, with +regulat<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.20" id="vol2Page_ii.20">ii. 20</a></span>ing the Bank of the United States, and controlling the +movements of Henry Clay. "I am already so wearied of it," Seward +wrote, "that, if left to myself, I should withdraw instantly and +forever. I am ill-fitted for competition with brethren and friends. +But with a clear conscience and greater magnanimity than there is +manifested toward me, I shall go safely through all this storm."<a name="vol2FNanchor_9_9" id="vol2FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>The confidence disclosed in the closing sentence was due largely to +his confidence in Thurlow Weed. The editor of the Albany <i>Journal</i> +seriously desired to take no part in the choice of delegates, since +his personal and political relations with all the candidates were +intimate and confidential; but he had known Granger longer than the +others, and, if controlled by personal friendship, he must have +favoured the Ontario candidate. Weed, however, believed that Seward's +nomination would awaken greater enthusiasm, especially among young +men, thus giving the ticket its best chance of success. At the last +moment, therefore, he declared in favour of the Auburn statesman.</p> + +<p>The sequel showed that his help came none too soon. Four informal +ballots were taken, and, on the following day the formal and final +one. The first gave Seward 52, Granger 39, and Bradish 29, with 4 for +Edwards of New York. This was supposed to be Granger's limit. On the +second ballot, Bradish's friends transferred thirteen votes to him, +making Seward 60, Granger 52, Bradish 10, and Edwards 3. If this was a +surprise to the friends of Seward, the third ballot was a tremendous +shock, for Seward fell off to 59, and Granger got 60. Bradish had 8. +Then Weed went to work. Though he had understood that Granger, except +in a few counties, had little strength, the last ballot plainly showed +him to be the popular candidate; and during an intermission between +the third and fourth ballots, the <i>Journal's</i> editor exhibited an +influence few men in the State have ever exercised. The convention was +made up of the strongest and most independent men in the party. Nearly +all had held seats in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.21" id="vol2Page_ii.21">ii. 21</a></span> the state or national legislature, or had +occupied other important office. Experience had taught them to act +upon their own convictions. The delegates interested in the Chenango +Valley canal were especially obstinate and formidable. "Weed," said +one of them, "tell me to do anything else; tell me to jump out of the +window and break my neck, and I will do it to oblige you; but don't +ask me to desert Granger!"<a name="vol2FNanchor_10_10" id="vol2FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Yet the quiet, good-natured Weed, his +hand softly purring the knee of his listener as he talked—never +excited, never vehement, but sympathetic, logical, prophetic—had his +way. The fourth ballot gave Seward 67, Granger 48, Bradish 8. The work +was done. When the convention reassembled the next morning, on motion +of a warm supporter of Granger, the nomination was made unanimous, and +Bradish was named for lieutenant-governor by acclamation.</p> + +<p>Much disappointment was exhibited by Granger's friends, especially the +old anti-Mason farmers who were inclined to reproach Weed with +disloyalty. Granger himself stoically accepted defeat and zealously +supported the ticket. He had said to a departing delegate, "if either +Mr. Seward or Mr. Bradish attain a majority at the informal ballot, my +friends must give the successful competitor their united support."<a name="vol2FNanchor_11_11" id="vol2FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> +How heartily Seward would have responded under like circumstances is +evidenced by his action when a premature report went forth of +Granger's selection. Being informed of it, Seward at once told his +friends that Auburn must be the first to ratify, and immediately set +to work preparing resolutions for the meeting.</p> + +<p>Thurlow Weed was pre-eminently a practical politician. He believed in +taking advantage of every opportunity to strengthen his own party and +weaken the adversary, and he troubled himself little about the means +employed. He preferred to continue the want of small bills for another +year rather than allow the opposite party to benefit by a repeal of +the obnoxious law; he approved Van Buren's course in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.22" id="vol2Page_ii.22">ii. 22</a></span> infamous +Fellows-Allen controversy; and, had he been governor in place of John +Jay in 1800, the existing Legislature would undoubtedly have been +reconvened in extra session, and presidential electors chosen +favourable to his own party, as Hamilton wanted. But, at the bottom of +his nature, there was bed-rock principle from which no pressure could +swerve him. He could exclaim with Emerson, "I will say those things +which I have meditated for their own sake and not for the first time +with a view to that occasion." In these words is the secret of his +relation to the Whig party. He asked no office, and he gave only the +ripe fruit of his meditative life. It is not to be supposed that, in +1838, he saw in the young man at Auburn the astute United States +Senator of the fifties; or the still greater secretary of state of the +Civil War; but he had seen enough of Seward to discern the qualities +of mind and heart that lifted him onto heights which extended his +horizon beyond that of most men, enabling him to keep his bearing in +the midst of great excitement, and, finally, in the presence of war +itself. Seward saw fewer things, perhaps, than the more active and +eloquent Granger, but Weed knew that he saw more deeply.<a name="vol2FNanchor_12_12" id="vol2FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>The Democratic state convention assembled at Herkimer on September 12, +and unanimously renominated William L.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.23" id="vol2Page_ii.23">ii. 23</a></span> Marcy and John Tracy. Marcy +had made an able governor for three consecutive terms. His declaration +that "to the victors belong the spoils" had not impaired his +influence, since all parties practised, if they did not preach it; +and, although he stultified himself by practically recommending and +finally approving the construction of the Chenango canal, which he +bitterly opposed as comptroller, he had lost no friends. Canal +building was in accord with the spirit of the times. A year later, he +had recommended an enlargement of the Erie canal; but when he +discovered that the Chenango project would cost two millions instead +of one, and the Erie enlargement twelve millions instead of six, he +protested against further improvements until the Legislature provided +means for paying interest on the money already borrowed. He clearly +saw that the "unregulated spirit of speculation" would lead to ruin; +and, to counteract it, he appealed to the Legislature, seeking to +influence the distribution of bank stock along lines set forth in the +law. But Marcy failed to enforce his precepts with the veto. In +refusing, also, to reassemble the Legislature, for the repeal of the +Small Bills act, the passage of which he had recommended in 1835, he +gave the <i>Evening Post</i> opportunity to assail him as "a weak, +cringing, indecisive man, the mere tool of a monopoly junto—their +convenient instrument."</p> + +<p>Marcy held office under difficult conditions. The panic, coming in the +summer of 1837, was enough to shatter the nerves of any executive; +but, to the panic, was now added the Canadian rebellion which occurred +in the autumn of 1837. Though not much of a rebellion, William L. +McKenzie's appeal for aid to the friends of liberty aroused hundreds +of sympathetic Americans living along the border. Navy Island, above +the Falls of Niagara, was made the headquarters of a provisional +government, from which McKenzie issued a proclamation offering a +reward for the capture of the governor-general of Canada and promising +three hundred acres of land to each recruit.</p> + +<p>The Canadian authorities effectually guarded the border,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.24" id="vol2Page_ii.24">ii. 24</a></span> and +destroyed the <i>Caroline</i>, presumably an insurgent steamer, lying at +Schlosser's dock on the American side. In the conflict, one member of +the crew was killed, and several wounded. The steamer proved to be an +American vessel, owned by New York parties, and its destruction +greatly increased the indignation against Canada; but Governor Marcy +did not hesitate to call upon the people to refrain from unlawful acts +within the territory of the United States; and, to enforce his +proclamation, supplied General Scott, now in command of the Canadian +frontier, with a force of militia. The American troops quickly forced +the abandonment of Navy Island, scattered the insurgents and their +allies to secret retreats, and broke up the guerrilla warfare. The +loss of life among the patriots, due to their audacity and incompetent +leadership, was considerable, and the treatment of prisoners harsh and +in some instances inhuman. Many young men of intelligence and +character were banished for life to Van Dieman's Land, McKenzie was +thrown into a Canadian dungeon, and, among others, Van Schoulty, a +brave young officer and refugee from Poland, who led an unsuccessful +attack upon Prescott, was executed. Small as was the uprising, it +created an intense dislike of Marcy among the friends of those who +participated in it.</p> + +<p>Still another political splinter was festering in Marcy's side. +Several leading Democrats, who had sustained Jackson in his war upon +the United States Bank, and in his removal of the deposits, refused to +adopt Van Buren's sub-treasury scheme, proposed to the extra session +of Congress, convened in September, 1837. This measure meant the +disuse of banks as fiscal agents of the government, and the +collection, safekeeping, and disbursement of public moneys by treasury +officials. The banks, of course, opposed it; and thousands who had +shouted, "Down with the United States Bank," changed their cry to +"Down with Van Buren and the sub-treasury scheme." Among those +opposing it, in New York, Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, a Democratic United +States senator, took the lead, calling a state convention to meet at +Syracuse. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.25" id="vol2Page_ii.25">ii. 25</a></span> convention immediately burned its bridges. It +denounced Van Buren, it opposed Marcy, and it indorsed Seward. Behind +it were bank officers and stockholders who were to lose the privilege +of loaning the money of the United States for their own benefit, and +the harder it struck them the more liberally they paid for fireworks +and for shouters.</p> + +<p>If trouble confronted the Democrats, discouragement oppressed the +Whigs. Under the direction of Gerrit Smith the Abolitionists were on +the war-path, questioning Seward as to the propriety of granting +fugitive slaves a fair trial by jury, of abolishing distinctions in +constitutional rights founded solely on complexion, and of repealing +the law authorising the importation of slaves into the State and their +detention as such during a period of nine months. Seward avowed his +firm faith in trial by jury and his opposition to all "human bondage," +but he declined making ante-election pledges. He preferred to wait, he +said, until each case came before him for decision. Seward undoubtedly +took the wise course; but he did not satisfy the extremists +represented by Smith, and many of the Whig leaders became +panic-stricken. "The Philistines are upon us," wrote Millard Fillmore, +who was canvassing the State. "I now regard all as lost irrevocably. +We shall never be able to burst the withes. Thank God, I can endure it +as long as they, but I am sick of our Whig party. It can never be in +the ascendant."<a name="vol2FNanchor_13_13" id="vol2FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>Francis Granger was no less alarmed. He estimated the Abolitionist +vote at twenty thousand, "and before the grand contest of 1840," he +wrote Weed, "they will control one-fourth the votes of the State. They +are engaged in it with the same honest purpose that governed the great +mass of Anti-Masons."<a name="vol2FNanchor_14_14" id="vol2FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> The young candidate at Auburn was also in +despair. "I fear the State is lost," he wrote Weed on November 4. +"This conclusion was forced upon me strongly by news from the southern +tier of counties, and is confirmed by an analogy in Ohio. But I will +not stop to reason on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.26" id="vol2Page_ii.26">ii. 26</a></span> causes. Your own sagacity has doubtless +often considered them earlier and more forcibly than mine."<a name="vol2FNanchor_15_15" id="vol2FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<p>But Horace Greeley did not share these gloomy forebodings. He was then +engaged in editing the <i>Jeffersonian</i>, a weekly journal of eight +pages, which had been established in February solely as a campaign +newspaper. His regular business was the publication of the <i>New +Yorker</i>, a journal of literature and general intelligence. During the +campaign he consented to spend two days of each week at Albany making +up the <i>Jeffersonian</i>, which was issued from the office of the +<i>Evening Journal</i>, and he was doing this work with the indefatigable +industry and marvellous ability that marked his character.</p> + +<p>Greeley had battled for a place in the world after the manner of +Thurlow Weed. He was born on a New Hampshire farm, he had worked on a +Vermont farm, and for a time it seemed to him as if he must forever +remain on a farm; but after a few winters of schooling he started over +the Vermont hills to learn the printer's trade. A boy was not needed +in Whitehall, and he pushed on to Poultney. There he found work for +four years until the <i>Northern Spectator</i> expired. Then he went back +to the farm. But newspaper life in a small town had made him ambitious +to try his fortunes in a city, and, journeying from one printing +office to another, he finally drifted, in 1831, at the age of twenty, +into New York.</p> + +<p>Up to this time Greeley's life had resembled Weed's only in his +voracious appetite for reading newspapers. He cared little for the +boys about town and less for the sports of youth; he could dispense +with sleep, and wasted no time thinking about what he should eat or +wear; but books, and especially newspapers, were read with the avidity +that a well-fed threshing machine devours a stack of wheat. He seemed +to have only one ambition—the acquisition of knowledge and the career +of a man of letters, and in his efforts to succeed, he ignored forms +and social usages, forgot that he had a physical body to care for, and +detested man-worship.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.27" id="vol2Page_ii.27">ii. 27</a></span> Standing at last before a printer's case on +Broadway, he was able to watch, almost from the beginning, the great +political drama in which he was destined to play so great a part. +Seward had just entered the State Senate; Weed, having recently +established the <i>Evening Journal</i>, was massing the Anti-Masons and +National Republicans for their last campaign; William Lloyd Garrison +had issued the first number of the <i>Liberator</i>; Gerrit Smith, already +in possession of his father's vast estate, still clung to the Liberian +colonisation scheme; and Van Buren, not yet returned from England, was +about entering upon the last stage of his phenomenally successful +political career. Politicians for the first time disturbed about the +tariff, the bank, and internal improvements, had come to the parting +of the ways; the old order of things had ended under John Quincy +Adams—the new had just commenced under Andrew Jackson. But the young +compositor needed no guide-post to direct his political footsteps. In +1834, he had established the <i>New Yorker</i> and those who read it became +Whigs. His mind acted upon other minds of a certain constitution with +wonderful magnetism, attracting thousands of readers by his marvellous +gift of expression and the broad sympathies and clear discernments +that characterised his writings. He had his own ideas about the +necessity for reforms, and he seems easily to have fallen a victim to +countless delusions and illusions which young visionaries and +gray-headed theorists brought to him; but, in spite of remonstrances +and crushing opposition, he stood resolutely for whatever awoke the +strongest emotions of his nature.</p> + +<p>Thurlow Weed had been a constant reader of the <i>New Yorker</i>. He did +not know the name of its editor and had never taken the trouble to +inquire, but when a cheap weekly Whig newspaper was needed for a +vigorous campaign in 1838, the editor of the <i>New Yorker</i>, whoever he +might be, seemed the proper man to edit and manage it. Going to New +York, he called at the Ann Street office and found himself in the +presence of a young man, slender, light-haired, slightly stooping, and +very near-sighted, who introduced himself as<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.28" id="vol2Page_ii.28">ii. 28</a></span> Horace Greeley. At the +moment, he was standing at the case, with coat off and sleeves rolled +up, setting type with the ease and rapidity of an expert. "When I +informed him of the object of my visit," says Weed, "he was, of +course, surprised, but evidently gratified. Nor was his surprise and +gratification diminished to learn that I was drawn to him without any +other reason or information but such as I had derived from the columns +of the <i>New Yorker</i>. He suggested the <i>Jeffersonian</i> as the name for +the new paper, and the first number appeared in February, 1838."<a name="vol2FNanchor_16_16" id="vol2FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p>It is one of the privileges of genius to discern the genius of others; +but even Thurlow Weed could not have dreamed that he was giving +opportunity to a man whose name was to rank higher than his own in +history. There was a certain affinity between the intellectual nature +of the two men, and they had now a common object. Both were +journalists of tremendous energy, indomitable industry, and marvellous +gifts; but Weed was a politician, Greeley a political preacher. Weed's +influence lay in his remarkable judgment, his genius for diplomacy, +and his rare gift of controlling individuals by personal appeal and by +the overpowering mastery of his intellect; Greeley's supremacy grew +out of his broad sympathies with the human race and his matchless +ability to write. Weed's field of operations was confined largely to +the State of New York and to delegates and men of influence who +assemble at national conventions; Greeley preached to the whole +country, sweeping along like a prairie fire and converting men to his +views as easily as steel filings are attracted to the magnet. From the +outset he was above dictation. He lacked judgment, and at times +greatly grieved the friends who were willing to follow him through +fire and flood; but once his mind was made up he surrendered his +understanding, his consciousness of convictions, of duty, and of +public good, to no man or set of men. "I trust we can never be +enemies," he once wrote Weed, "but better anything than I should feel +the weight of chains about my neck, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.29" id="vol2Page_ii.29">ii. 29</a></span> I should write and act with +an eye to any man's pleasure, rather than to the highest good."<a name="vol2FNanchor_17_17" id="vol2FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<p>As the editor of the <i>Jeffersonian</i>, which now quickly won a multitude +of readers, he did his work with marked ability, discussing measures +calmly and forcibly, and with an influence that baffled his opponents +and surprised his friends. Greeley seems never to have been an +immature writer. His felicity of expression and ability to shade +thought, with a power of appeal and invective that belongs to +experience and mature age, came to him, as they did to Hamilton, +before he was out of his teens, and whether he was right or whether he +was wrong, he was always the most interesting, always the most +commanding figure in American journalism in the epoch-making political +controversies of his day.</p> + +<p>The Whigs thought it a happy omen that election day, November 7, came +this year on the anniversary of General Harrison's victory at +Tippecanoe. As the returns came in Seward's friends grew more elated, +and on Saturday, the 11th, Weed covered the entire first page of the +<i>Evening Journal</i> with the picture of an eagle, having outspread wings +and bearing in its beak the word "Victory." It was the first +appearance in politics of this American bird, which was destined to +play a part in all future celebrations of the kind. The completed +returns showed that the Whigs had elected Seward and Bradish by ten +thousand four hundred and twenty-one majority,<a name="vol2FNanchor_18_18" id="vol2FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> five of the eight +senators, and nearly two-thirds of the assemblymen. "Well, dear +Seward," wrote Weed, "we are victorious; God be thanked—gratefully +and devoutly thanked."<a name="vol2FNanchor_19_19" id="vol2FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> Seward was no less affected. "It is a +fearful post I have coveted," he wrote; "I shudder at my temerity.... +Indeed, I feel just now as if your zeal had been blind; but I may, +perhaps, get over this. God grant, at all events, that I be spared +from committing<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.30" id="vol2Page_ii.30">ii. 30</a></span> the sin of ingratitude. I hate it as the foulest in +the catalogue."<a name="vol2FNanchor_20_20" id="vol2FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<p>Marcy seemed to accept his defeat good-naturedly. "Even before the +ballot-boxes were closed," he wrote, facetiously, "I had partly +persuaded myself to engage in a work for <i>my</i> posterity, by writing +the history of the rise, progress, and termination of the Regency. It +will embrace the transactions of the golden days of the Republic +(Empire State). It began with my entrance into public life, and +terminates with my exit from it. The figures in the tableau will not +be of the largest size, but the ascendancy of honest men, for such I +think them to have been (<i>Ilium fuit</i>), will be interesting on account +of great rarity." But, to the same friend, a few weeks later, he took +a desponding view, expressing the fear that the power which had passed +from the Democratic party would not return to as honest hands. His +financial condition, too, caused him much uneasiness. He had given +eighteen years to the State, he said, the largest portion of an active +and vigorous life, and now found himself poorer than when he took +office. "If my acquisitions in a pecuniary way have probably been less +and my labours and exertions greater," he asks, "what compensating +advantages are to be brought into the calculation to balance the +account?" An office-holder rarely asks such a question until thrown +out of a position; while in office, it is evident he thinks the +privilege of holding it sufficient compensation; otherwise, it may be +presumed, he would resign. Marcy, however, was not forgotten. Indeed, +his political career had scarcely begun, since the governorship became +only a stepping-stone to continued honours. Within a few months, +President Van Buren appointed him, under the convention of April, +1839, to the Mexican Claims Commission, and a few years later he was +to become a member of two Cabinets.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.31" id="vol2Page_ii.31">ii. 31</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_III" id="vol2CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /> +<br /> +THE DEFEAT OF VAN BUREN FOR PRESIDENT<br /> +<br /> +1840</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">After</span> Seward's election, the Whig party in New York may be fairly +described as under the control of Thurlow Weed, who became known as +the "Dictator." Although no less drastic and persevering, perhaps, +than DeWitt Clinton's, it was a control far different in method. +Clinton did not disguise his power. He was satisfied in his own mind +that he knew better than any other how to guide his party and govern +his followers, and he acted accordingly—dogmatic, overbearing, often +far from amiable, sometimes unendurable, to those around him. Weed, on +the contrary, was patient, sympathetic, gentle, and absolutely without +asperity. "My dear Weed," wrote Seward on December 14, 1838, "the +sweetness of his temper inclines me to love my tyrant. I had no idea +that dictators were such amiable creatures."<a name="vol2FNanchor_21_21" id="vol2FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> In a humourous vein, +William Kent, the gifted son of the Chancellor, addressed him. "Mr. +Dictator, the whole State is on your shoulders. I take it, some future +chronicler, in reciting the annals of New York during this period, in +every respect equal to England in the time of Elizabeth, will devote +the brightest colours to 'the celebrated Thurlow Weed, who so long +filled the office of Governor Seward during his lengthened and +prosperous administration.' It behooves you, therefore, to act +circumspectly, and particularly in the advice you give the Governor as +to appointments to office."<a name="vol2FNanchor_22_22" id="vol2FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.32" id="vol2Page_ii.32">ii. 32</a></span></p><p>Few chapters of personal history can be more interesting than that +which tells of the strange, subtle influence exercised by Weed over +the mind of Seward; but it is doubtful if there was conscious control +at any time. Certainly Seward never felt "the weight of chains" about +his neck. Weed probably saw good reason to believe that in Seward he +could have just the sort of an associate who would suit all his +purposes, since their views of public affairs and their estimate of +public men rarely differed. "Our relations had become so intimate," he +says, "and our sentiments and sympathies proved so congenial, that our +interests, pursuits, and hopes of promoting each other's welfare and +happiness became identical."<a name="vol2FNanchor_23_23" id="vol2FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> Weed seemed to glory in Seward's +success, and Seward was supremely happy in and proud of Weed's +friendship. Weed and Greeley were so differently constituted that, +between them, such a relation could not exist, although at times it +seemed to give Greeley real pain that it was so. "I rise early from a +bed of sleepless thought," he once wrote Weed, "to explain that we +differ radically on the bank question, and I begin to fear we do on +the general policy and objects of political controversy."<a name="vol2FNanchor_24_24" id="vol2FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> But +there were no such sleepless nights for Seward. Looking back upon four +years of gubernatorial life, he opens his heart freely to the friend +of his young manhood. "Without your aid," he declares, "how helpless +would have been my prospect of reaching the elevation from which I am +to-day descending. How could I have sustained myself there; how could +I have secured the joyous reflections of this hour, but for the +confidence I so undenyingly reposed on your affection?"<a name="vol2FNanchor_25_25" id="vol2FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> It was not +Seward's nature to depend upon somebody to have his path in life or +his ways of thinking pointed out to him; nor did he have the weakness +of many highly cultured and gifted men who believe too much in the +supremacy of intellect and culture. On the contrary, he had a way of +speaking out his<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.33" id="vol2Page_ii.33">ii. 33</a></span> own honest thoughts, and would have despised +himself, as much as would Greeley, if it had been necessary to enjoy +any one's friendship on terms of humiliation. It was his nature, as +well as his wish, to share with Weed the benefit of the latter's +almost infallible judgment in political matters. In this way, Weed, +more than either realised, had great influence with Seward. But Weed +was no more the directing mind of the administration of Seward than +was Hamilton of Washington's, or Van Buren of Jackson's, or Seward of +Lincoln's. Many anecdotes were told illustrative of this influence, +which serve to show how strongly the notion obtained in the minds of +the common people that Weed was really "the Dictator." The best, +associated Seward with his invariable custom of riding outside the +coach while smoking his after-dinner cigar. The whip, on this +occasion, did not know the distinguished traveller, and, after +answering Seward's many questions, attempted to discover the identity +of his companion. The Governor disclaimed being a merchant, a +lecturer, a minister, or a teacher. "Then I know what you are," said +the driver; "you must be a lawyer, or you wouldn't ask so many +questions." "That is not my business at present," replied Seward. +"Then who are you?" finally demanded Jehu. "I am the governor of this +State," replied Seward. The driver at once showed incredulity, and the +Governor offered to leave it to the landlord at the next tavern. On +arriving there, and after exchanging salutations, Seward suggested the +question in dispute. "No, you are not the governor," replied the +landlord, to the great satisfaction of the driver. "What!" exclaimed +Seward, in astonishment; "then who is governor?" "Why," said the +landlord, "Thurlow Weed."<a name="vol2FNanchor_26_26" id="vol2FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<p>"Though the incident never occurred," says Frederick W. Seward, in the +biography of his father, "the story was so accordant with his habit of +riding outside to smoke, and with the popular understanding of his +relations with Mr. Weed, that it was generally accepted as true. +Seward him<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.34" id="vol2Page_ii.34">ii. 34</a></span>self used laughingly to relate it, and say that, though it +was not quite true, it ought to be."<a name="vol2FNanchor_27_27" id="vol2FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>With Governor Seward's inauguration the Whig party was placed on +trial. Ten years had passed since DeWitt Clinton's death, and Seward +was the first successor whose opinions and sentiments harmonised with +those of that distinguished statesman. During the intervening period +the Regency had been in absolute control of the State. It had +contented itself with looking after things as they existed, rather +than undertaking further improvements and reforms. Seward's election, +therefore, was not only a revolution of parties, but a radical change +of policy. Every Whig, fearful lest some misstep might lead to the +early loss of the power just gained, had an opinion as to what should +and should not be done. Some were afraid the Governor would say too +much, others fearful he would say too little. Seward, moving on broad +lines of economics and reform, believed that the promotion of +transportation, the development of capital and credit, and the +enlargement of educational advantages, would bring wealth to the State +and greater happiness to the people; and his first message contained +the policy that guided him throughout his entire political career. In +its preparation, he relied upon President Knott of Union College for +assistance on the subject of education; on John H. Beach for financial +statistics; on Samuel B. Ruggles for canal figures; and on John C. +Spencer for general suggestions. Then he sat down with Weed for its +final revision. When completed, it contained the groundwork of his +political philosophy. He would prosecute the work of the canals, he +would encourage the completion of railroads, establish a board of +internal improvement, extend charitable institutions, improve the +discipline of prisons, elevate the standard of education in schools +and colleges, establish school district libraries, provide for the +education of the coloured race, reform the practice of courts, cut off +superfluous offices, repeal the Small Bills law, authorise banking +under general laws, and apply<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.35" id="vol2Page_ii.35">ii. 35</a></span> rigorous safeguards, especially in +populous cities, for the purity of the ballot-box. In concluding, he +paid a handsome tribute to DeWitt Clinton and recommended that a +monument be erected to his memory in Albany.</p> + +<p>None of our statesmen, with whom reform has been a characteristic +trait, was more devoted or happy. His delight, deep and unfailing, +extended to every department of the government, and the minuteness of +his knowledge betrayed the intimate acquaintance which he had gained +of the affairs of the State during his four years in the Senate. His +message caught the inspiration of this fresh and joyous maturity. It +was written, too, in the easy, graceful style, rhythmical and subdued +in expression, which afterward contributed to his extreme charm as an +orator. From the first, Seward was an ardent optimist, and this first +message is that of noble youth, delighting in the life and the +opportunities that a great office presents to one who is mindful of +its harassing duties and its relentless limitations, yet keenly +sensitive to its novelty and its infinite incitements. The Democrats, +whose hearts must have rejoiced when they heard his message, declared +it the visionary schemes of a theorising politician, the work of a +sophomore rather than a statesman; yet, within little more than a +decade, most of his suggestions found a place in the statute book. +Though the questions of that time are not the questions of our day, +and engage only the historian and his readers, these twenty printed +pages of recommendations, certain to excite debate and opposition, +must always be read with deep enjoyment.</p> + +<p>The chief criticism of his opponents grew out of his acceptance of +Ruggles's estimate that the canals would more than reimburse the cost +of their construction and enlargement. The <i>Argus</i> asserted that +Seward, instead of sustaining the policy of "pay as you go," favoured +a "forty million debt;" and this became the great campaign cry of the +Democrats in two elections. On the other hand, the Whigs maintained +that the canals had enriched the people and the State, and that their +future prosperity depended upon the enlarge<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.36" id="vol2Page_ii.36">ii. 36</a></span>ment of the Erie canal, so +that its capacity would meet the increasing demands of business. In +the end, the result showed how prophetically Seward wrote and how +wisely Ruggles figured; for, although the Erie canal, in 1862, had +cost $52,491,915.74, it had repaid the State with an excess of +$42,000,000.</p> + +<p>In the midst of so many recommendations, one wonders that Seward had +nothing to say for civil service reform. We may doubt, and with +reason, whether anything he might have said could have strengthened +the slight hold which such a theory then had in the minds of the +people, but it would have brought the need of reform strikingly before +the country to bear, in time, ripe fruit. The Whig party, however, was +not organised to keep Democrats in office, and no sooner had the +Albany <i>Journal</i> announced Seward's election than applications began +pouring in upon the Governor-elect until more than one thousand had +been filed. Seward afterward said that, of these applications, only +two came from persons living west of Cayuga Bridge, although the +eighth district had given him a majority equal to his entire majority +in the State.</p> + +<p>Under the Constitution of 1821, there were more places to fill by +appointment than under the Constitution of 1846, and twice as many as +now exist. In 1839, the Governor not only appointed port-wardens, +harbour-masters, notaries public, and superintendents and +commissioners of various sorts, but he nominated judges, surrogates, +county clerks, examiners of prisons, weighers of merchandise, +measurers of grain, cullers of staves, and inspectors of flour, +lumber, spirits, salt, beef and pork, hides and skins, and fish and +oil, besides numerous other officers. They applied formally to the +Governor and then went to Weed to get the place. Just so the Whig +legislators went through the form of holding a caucus to select state +officers after the slate had been made up. John C. Spencer became +secretary of state; Bates Cook of Niagara County, comptroller; Willis +Hall of New York City, attorney-general; Jacob Haight, treasurer; and +Orville L. Holley,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.37" id="vol2Page_ii.37">ii. 37</a></span> surveyor-general. Thurlow Weed's account, read +with the knowledge that he alone selected them, is decidedly +humourous. "Bates Cook had but a local reputation," he says, "and it +required the strongest assurances from Governor Seward and myself that +he was abundantly qualified." In other words, it was necessary for the +caucus to know that Weed wanted him. "The canvass for attorney-general +was very spirited," he continues, "Joshua A. Spencer of Oneida and +Samuel Stevens of Albany being the most prominent candidates;" but +Willis Hall, "who was better known on the stump than at the bar, and +whose zeal, energy, and tact had been conspicuous and effective in +overthrowing the Democratic party," got the office. Van Buren could +not have surpassed this for practical politics. "The nomination of +Jacob Haight," he goes on, "afforded me great satisfaction. I had +learned in my boyhood at Catskill to esteem and honour him. In 1824 +when, as a Democratic senator, he arrayed himself against William H. +Crawford, the caucus nominee for President, and zealously supported +John Quincy Adams, my early remembrances of him grew into a warm +personal friendship."<a name="vol2FNanchor_28_28" id="vol2FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> It was easy to fuse in Weed's big heart +Democratic apostacy and the associations of boyhood.</p> + +<p>Yet Weed had able indorsers behind his candidates. "I hear there is +great opposition to Willis Hall," wrote William Kent, "and I am sorry +for it. He has a great heart, and a great head, too. It has been his +misfortune, but our good fortune, that his time and talents have been +devoted to advancing the Whig party, while those who oppose him were +taxing costs and filing demurrers. The extreme Webster men in New York +have formed a combination against Willis. It is the dog in the manger, +too, for no man from New York is a candidate."<a name="vol2FNanchor_29_29" id="vol2FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p>But the dictator made a greater display of practical politics in the +selection of a United States senator to succeed Nathaniel P. +Tallmadge. There were several aspirants,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.38" id="vol2Page_ii.38">ii. 38</a></span> among them Millard Fillmore, +John C. Spencer, John A. Collier, and Joshua A. Spencer. All these men +were intensely in earnest. Fillmore, then in Congress, was chairman of +the Committee on Ways and Means; and advancement to the Senate would +have been a deserved promotion. But Tallmadge had rallied to the +support of Seward, under the name of Conservatives, many former +National Republicans, who had joined the Democratic party because of +anti-Masonry, and Weed believed in keeping them in the Whig party by +reelecting their leader. Fillmore, and other candidates, earnestly +protested against the policy of discarding tried and faithful friends, +and of conferring the highest and most important place in the gift of +the party upon a new recruit whose fidelity could not be trusted; +"but, strong as those gentlemen were in the Whig party, they were +unable to overcome a conviction in the minds of the Whig members of +the Legislature," says Weed, solemnly, as if the Whig members of the +Legislature really did have something to do with it, "that in view of +the approaching presidential election Mr. Tallmadge was entitled to +their support. He was, therefore, nominated with considerable +unanimity."<a name="vol2FNanchor_30_30" id="vol2FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> It was a great shock to Fillmore, which he resented a +few years later. Indeed, Weed's dictatorship, although quiet and +gentle, was already raising dissent. Albert H. Tracy, indignant at +Seward's nomination over the heads of older and more experienced men, +had withdrawn from politics, and Gamaliel H. Barstow, the first state +treasurer elected by the Whigs, resigned in a huff because he did not +like the way things were going. Weed fully realised the situation. +"There are a great many disappointed, disheartened friends," he wrote +Granger. "It has been a tremendous winter. But for the presidential +question which will absorb all other things, the appointments would +tear us to pieces."<a name="vol2FNanchor_31_31" id="vol2FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> To his door, Seward knew, the censure of the +disappointed would be aimed. "The list of appointments made this +winter is fourteen hun<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.39" id="vol2Page_ii.39">ii. 39</a></span>dred," he writes, "and I am not surprised by +any manifestation of disappointment or dissatisfaction. This only I +claim—that no interest, passion, prejudice or partiality of my own +has controlled any decision I have made."<a name="vol2FNanchor_32_32" id="vol2FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<p>But there was one wheel lacking in the Weed machine. The Democrats +controlled the Senate, obstructing bills deemed by the Whigs essential +to the public welfare, and refusing to confirm Seward's nominations. +By preventing an agreement upon a candidate, preliminary to a joint +ballot, they also blocked the election of a United States senator. +This situation was intolerable to Weed. Without the Senate, little +could be accomplished and nothing of a strictly partisan character. +Besides, Weed had his eye on the lucrative place of state printer. In +the campaign of 1839, therefore, he set to work to win the higher body +of the Legislature by carrying the Albany district, in which three +senators were to be chosen. For eighteen years, the Senate had been +held by the Regency party, and, in all that time, Albany was numbered +among the reliable Democratic districts. But Weed's friends now +brought up eight thousand dollars from New York. The Democrats had +made a spirited fight, and, although they knew Weed was endowed with a +faculty for management, they did not know of his money, or of the +ability of his lieutenants to place it. When the votes were counted, +Weed's three nominees had an average majority of one hundred and +thirty-three. This gave the Whigs nineteen senators and the Democrats +thirteen. It was an appalling change for the Democrats, to whom it +seemed the prologue to a defeat in 1840. In the "clean sweep" of +office-holders that followed, Tallmadge went back to the United States +Senate, and Weed took from Croswell the office of public printer.</p> + +<p>The presidential election of 1840 began in December, 1839. During +Clay's visit to Saratoga, in the preceding summer, Weed had told him +he could not carry New York; but, that Clay's friends in New York +City, and along the river counties, might not be unduly alarmed, Weed +masked his purpose<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.40" id="vol2Page_ii.40">ii. 40</a></span> of forcing Harrison's nomination, by selecting +delegates ostensibly favourable to General Scott. Twenty delegates for +Scott were, therefore, sent to the national convention at Harrisburg, +two for Harrison and ten for Clay. On his way, Weed secured an +agreement from the New England leaders to act with him, and, by a +combination of the supporters of Scott and Harrison, the latter +finally received one hundred and forty-eight votes to ninety for Clay. +The disappointment of Clay's friends is historic. Probably nothing +parallels it in American politics. The defeat of Seward at Chicago in +1860, and of Elaine at Cincinnati in 1876, very seriously affected +their friends, but the disappointment of Clay's supporters at +Harrisburg, in December, 1839, took the form of anger, which, for a +time, seemed fatal to the ticket. "The nomination of Harrison," wrote +Thurlow Weed, "so offended the friends of Clay that the convention was +thrown entirely in the dark on the question of Vice President. The +Kentucky delegation was asked to present a candidate, but they +declined. Then John Clayton of Delaware was fixed upon, but Reverdy +Johnson withdrew his name. Watkins Leigh of Virginia and Governor +Dudley of North Carolina were successively designated, but they +declined. While this was passing the Vice Presidency was repeatedly +offered to New York, but we had no candidate. Albert H. Tracy was +eminently qualified for usefulness in public life. He entertained a +high and strict sense of official responsibility, and had he not +previously left us he would have been nominated. John Tyler was +finally taken because we could get nobody else to accept."<a name="vol2FNanchor_33_33" id="vol2FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></p> + +<p>The Harrisburg convention, unlike its unselfish predecessors, +adjourned without a platform or declaration of principles; nor did the +candidates, in accepting their nominations, indulge in political +discussion. Votes were wanted from all who opposed Van Buren's +administration—from the strict constructionist friends of Tyler, +although opposed to the whole Whig theory of government, as much as +from<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.41" id="vol2Page_ii.41">ii. 41</a></span> the followers of Harrison, who believed in protective tariffs +and internal improvements.</p> + +<p>Such action contrasted strangely with the work of the national +Democratic convention which met at Baltimore on May 6, 1840. If +despondency filled the air, the delegates at least had the courage of +their convictions. After unanimously renominating Van Buren, it +declared for a limited federal power, for the separation of public +moneys from private banks, and for the constitutional inability of +Congress to interfere with slavery in the States, pronouncing the +efforts of Abolitionists both alarming and dangerous to the Union; it +opposed internal improvements by the general government; the fostering +of one industry to the injury of another; the raising of more money +than was needed for necessary expenses; and the rechartering of a +national bank. If this declaration did not shape the phrases, and +marshal the sentences of future platforms of the party, it embraced +the principles upon which Democracy went up to victory or down to +defeat during the next two decades; and it must have carried Van Buren +through successfully had not his administration fallen upon evil +times.</p> + +<p>The President, with great moral courage and keen-sighted wisdom, met +the crisis of 1837 with an admirable bearing. The statesman suddenly +displaced the politician. In the three months intervening between the +suspension of specie payments and the extra session of Congress, Van +Buren prepared a message as clear and as unanswerable as the logic of +Hamilton's state papers. The law, he said, required the secretary of +the treasury to deposit public moneys only in banks paying their notes +in specie, and, since all banks had suspended specie payments, it was +necessary to provide some other custody. For this reason, he had +summoned Congress. Then he analysed the cause of the panic, arguing +that "the government could not help people earn a living, but it could +refuse to aid the deception that paper is gold, and the delusion that +value can arise without labour." Those who look to the action of the +government, he declared, for specific aid<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.42" id="vol2Page_ii.42">ii. 42</a></span> to the citizen to relieve +embarrassments arising from losses by reverses in commerce and credit, +lose sight of the ends for which government is created, and the powers +with which it is clothed. In conclusion, he recommended the enactment +of an independent treasury scheme, divorcing the bank and the state.</p> + +<p>These words of wisdom, often repeated, long ago became the principle +of all administrations, notably of that of President Grant in the +great crisis of 1873; and, except from 1841 to 1846, the sub-treasury +scheme has been a cardinal feature of American finance. But its +enactment was a long, fierce battle. Beginning in 1837, the contest +continued through one Congress and half of another. Clay resisted and +Webster denounced the project, which did not become a law until July +4, 1840—too late to be of assistance to Van Buren in November. +Friends of the New Yorker loved to dwell upon his courage in thus +placing himself in the chasm between failing banks and a patriotic +people, often paralleling it with the historic leap of Marcus Curtius +into the Roman Forum to save the republic. "But with this difference," +once exclaimed Andrew B. Dickinson, an unlearned but brilliant Steuben +County Whig, generally known as Bray Dickinson: "the Roman feller +jumped into the gap of his own accord, but the people throw'd Van +Buren in!"</p> + +<p>On August 12, 1840, the Whigs renominated William H. Seward for +governor, and in the following month the Democrats named William C. +Bouck. There was a rugged honesty and ability about Bouck that +commended him to the people. He was not brilliant; he rarely attempted +to speak in public; and his education had been limited to a few months +of school in each winter; but he was a shrewd, wise Schoharie farmer, +well read in the ways of men and in the book of the world. Seward +thought him "a kind, honest, amiable, and sagacious man, his easy and +fascinating manners lacking neither dignity nor grace." Beginning as +town clerk, Bouck had served acceptably as sheriff, assemblyman, and +for nineteen years as canal commissioner, personally superintending +the construc<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.43" id="vol2Page_ii.43">ii. 43</a></span>tion of the canal from Brockport to Lake Erie, and +disbursing, without loss, eight millions of dollars. He had travelled +up and down the State until the people came to know him as "the old +white horse," in allusion to a favourite animal which he rode for many +years; and to labourers and contractors his election became a matter +of the greatest personal interest.</p> + +<p>But the hardships growing out of the panic of 1837 and the crisis of +1839 guided the actions of men. It made little difference to them that +Bouck had been a faithful, prudent, and zealous supporter of the +canals, or that, like DeWitt Clinton, he had been removed as canal +commissioner on purely political grounds. The issues were +national—not state. Van Buren clearly saw the force and direction of +public sentiment. Yet his sub-treasury measure, so beneficent in its +aims that its theory was not lost in the necessities growing out of +the Civil War, proved the strongest weapon in the armory of his +opponents. Webster, with mingled pathos and indignation, denounced his +"disregard for the public distress" by his "exclusive concern for the +interest of government and revenue," declaring that help must come to +the people "from the government of the United States—from thence +alone!" This was the cry of the greenbacker in 1876 and the argument +of the free silver advocate in 1896. "Upon this," said Webster, "I +risk my political reputation, my honour, my all. He who expects to +live to see these twenty-six States resuming specie payments in +regular succession once more, may expect to see the restoration of the +Jews. Never. He will die without the sight." Yet Webster lived to see +the resumption of specie payments in a very short time, and he lived +long enough also to exclude this St. Louis speech from his collected +works. Nevertheless, Webster's eloquence contributed to Van Buren's +overwhelming defeat.</p> + +<p>Much has been written of the historic campaign of 1840. The enthusiasm +has been called "frenzy" and "crazy fanatacism." It has also been +likened to the crusading spirit, aroused by the preaching of Peter the +Hermit. "The nation," said Clay, "was like the ocean when convulsed by +some<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.44" id="vol2Page_ii.44">ii. 44</a></span> terrible storm." Webster declared that "every breeze says +change; the cry, the universal cry, is for a change." Long before +campaigns usually begin New York was a blaze of excitement. Halls were +insufficient to hold the crowds. Where hundreds had formerly +assembled, thousands now appeared. The long lines of wagons, driven to +the meeting places, raised clouds of dust such as mark the moving of +armies. The Whig state convention at Utica became a mass-meeting of +twenty-five thousand people, who formed into one great parade. "How +long is this procession?" asked a bystander of one of the marshals. +"Indeed, sir, I cannot tell," was the reply. "The other end of it is +forming somewhere near Albany."</p> + +<p>The canvass became one of song, of association, and of imagination, +which aroused thoughts that were intensely animating and absorbing. +The taunt of a Virginia newspaper that Harrison should remain in his +log cabin on the banks of the Ohio made the log cabin "a symbol," as +Weed happily expressed it, "of virtue that dwells in obscurity, of the +hopes of the humble, of the privations of the poor, of toil and +danger, of hospitality and charity and frugality." Log cabins sprang +up like gourds in a night. At the door, stood the cider barrel, and, +hanging by the window, the omnipresent coonskin swayed in the breeze. +They appeared on medals, in pictures, in fancy work, and in +processions. Horace Greeley, who had done so much in 1838 through the +columns of the <i>Jeffersonian</i>, now began the publication of the <i>Log +Cabin</i>, filling whole sides of it with songs elaborately set to music, +and making it so universally popular that the New York <i>Tribune</i>, +established in the following year, became its legitimate successor in +ability and in circulation.</p> + +<p>In his biography of Henry Clay, Schurz says that in no presidential +canvass has there ever been "less thought." It is likely if there had +been no log cabins, no cider, no coon-skins, and no songs, the result +would have been the same, for, in the presence of great financial +distress, the people seek relief very much as they empty a burning +building. But the reader of the <i>Log Cabin</i> will find thought enough. +Greeley's<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.45" id="vol2Page_ii.45">ii. 45</a></span> editorials summed up the long line of mistakes leading to +the panic of 1837, and the people understood the situation. They were +simply unwilling longer to trust the party in power.</p> + +<p>Evidence of this distrust astonished Democrats as much as it pleased +the Whigs. The September election in Maine, followed in October by the +result in Ohio and Indiana, both of which gave large Whig majorities, +anticipated Harrison's overwhelming election in November. In New York, +however, the returns were somewhat disappointing to the Whigs. +Harrison carried the State by thirteen thousand majority, receiving in +all 234 electoral votes to 60 for Van Buren; but Seward's majority of +ten thousand in 1838 now dropped to five thousand,<a name="vol2FNanchor_34_34" id="vol2FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> while the Whig +majority in the Assembly was reduced to four.</p> + +<p>Seward's weakness undoubtedly grew out of his message in the preceding +January. With the approval of Dr. Knott of Union College, and Dr. +Luckey, a distinguished Methodist divine, he recommended the +establishment of separate schools for the children of foreigners and +their instruction by teachers of the same faith and language. The +suggestion created an unexpected and bitter controversy. Influential +journals of both parties professed to see in it only a desire to win +Catholic favour, charging that Bishop Hughes of New York City had +inspired the recommendation. At that time, the Governor had neither +met nor been in communication, with the Catholic prelate; but, in the +excitement, truth could not outrun misstatement, nor could the +patriotism that made Seward solicitous to extend school advantages to +the children of foreign parents, who were growing up in ignorance, be +understood by zealous churchmen.</p> + +<p>After his defeat, Van Buren retired to Lindenwald, in the vicinity of +Kinderhook, his native village, where he was to live twenty-one years, +dying at the age of eighty. Lindenwald was an old estate, whose acres +had been cultivated for<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.46" id="vol2Page_ii.46">ii. 46</a></span> one hundred and sixty years. William P. Van +Ness, the distinguished jurist and orator, once owned it, and, thirty +years before the ex-President bought it, Irving had secluded himself +amidst its hills, while he mourned the death of his betrothed, and +finished the <i>Knickerbocker</i>. As the home of Van Buren, Lindenwald did +not, perhaps, become a Monticello or a Montpelier. Jefferson and +Madison, having served eight years, the allotted term of honour, had +formally retired, and upon them settled the halo of peace and triumph +that belongs to the sage; but life at Lindenwald, with its leisure, +its rural quiet, and its freedom from public care, satisfied Van +Buren's bucolic tastes, and no doubt greatly mitigated the anguish +arising from bitter defeat, the proscription of friends, and the loss +of party regard which he was destined to suffer during the next +decade.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.47" id="vol2Page_ii.47">ii. 47</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_IV" id="vol2CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /> +<br /> +HUMILIATION OF THE WHIGS<br /> +<br /> +1841-1842</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> Whig state convention, assembled at Syracuse on October 7, 1842, +looked like the ghost of its predecessor in 1840. The buoyancy which +then stamped victory on every face had given place to fear and +forebodings. Eighteen months had left nothing save melancholy +recollections. Even the log cabins, still in place, seemed to add to +Whig depression, being silent reminders of the days when melody and +oratory, prophetic of success, filled hearts which could no longer be +touched with hope and faith. This meant that the Whigs, in the +election of 1841, had suffered a decisive defeat, losing the Assembly, +the Senate, and most of the congressmen. Even Francis Granger, whose +majority usually ran into the thousands, was barely elected by five +hundred. Orleans County, at one time the centre of the anti-masonic +crusade, sent Sanford E. Church to Albany, the first Democrat to break +into the Assembly from the "infected district" since the abduction of +William Morgan.</p> + +<p>Several reasons accounted for this change. Harrison's death, within a +month after his inauguration, made John Tyler President, and Tyler +first refused appointments to Whigs, and then vetoed the bill, passed +by a Whig Congress, re-establishing the United States Bank. He said +that he had been opposed, for twenty-five years, to the exercise of +such a power, if any such power existed under the Constitution. This +completed the break with the party that elected him. Henry Clay +denounced his action, the Cabinet, except Webster, resigned in a body, +and the Whigs with great unanimity indorsed the Kentucky statesman for +President in 1844.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.48" id="vol2Page_ii.48">ii. 48</a></span> To add to the complications in New York, John C. +Spencer, who now became secretary of war, so zealously espoused and +warmly defended the President that feelings of mutual distrust and +ill-will soon grew up between him and Weed. It is doubtful if any New +York Whig, at a time of such humiliation, could have accepted place in +Tyler's Cabinet and remained on terms of political intimacy with Weed; +but, of all men, John C. Spencer was the least likely to do so. In +Freeman's celebrated cartoon, "The Whig Drill," Spencer is the only +man in the squad out of step with Thurlow Weed, the drum-major.</p> + +<p>Governor Seward also played a part in the story of his party's +downfall. The school question, growing out of his recommendation that +separate schools for the children of Roman Catholics should share in +the public moneys appropriated by the State for school purposes, lost +none of its bitterness; the McLeod controversy put him at odds with +the national Administration; and the Virginia controversy involved him +in a correspondence that made him odious in the South. In his +treatment of the McLeod matter, Seward was clearly right. Three years +after the destruction of the <i>Caroline</i>, which occurred during the +Canadian rebellion, Alexander McLeod, while upon a visit in the State, +boasted that he was a member of the attacking party and had killed the +only man shot in the encounter. This led to his arrest on a charge of +murder and arson. The British Minister based his demand for McLeod's +release on the ground that the destruction of the <i>Caroline</i> "was a +public act of persons in Her Majesty's service, obeying the orders of +their superior authorities." In approving the demand, Lord Palmerston +suggested that McLeod's execution "would produce war, war immediate +and frightful in its character, because it would be a war of +retaliation and vengeance." Webster, then secretary of state, urged +Seward to discontinue the prosecution and discharge McLeod; but the +Governor, promising a pardon if McLeod was convicted, insisted that he +had no power to interfere with the case until after trial, while the +courts, upon an<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.49" id="vol2Page_ii.49">ii. 49</a></span> application for McLeod's discharge on habeas corpus, +held that as peace existed between Great Britain and the United States +at the time of the burning of the <i>Caroline</i>, and as McLeod held no +commission and acted without authority, England's assumption of +responsibility for his act after his arrest did not oust the court of +its jurisdiction. Fortunately, McLeod, proving his boast a lie by +showing that he took no part in the capture of the <i>Caroline</i>, put an +end to the controversy, but Seward's refusal to intervene broke +whatever relations had existed between himself and Webster.</p> + +<p>The Virginia correspondence created even greater bitterness. The +Governor discovered that a requisition for the surrender of three +coloured men, charged with aiding the escape of a fugitive slave, was +based upon a defective affidavit; but, before he could act, the court +discharged the prisoners upon evidence that no offence had been +committed against the laws of Virginia. Here the matter might very +properly have ended; but, in advising Virginia's governor of their +discharge, Seward voluntarily and with questionable propriety, +enlarged upon an interpretation of the constitutional provision for +the surrender of fugitives from justice, contending that it applied to +acts made criminal by the laws of both States, and not to "an act +inspired by the spirit of humanity and of the Christian religion," +which was not penal in New York. This was undoubtedly as good law as +it was poor politics, for it needlessly aroused the indignation of +Virginia, whose legislature retaliated by imposing special burdens +upon vessels trading between Virginia and New York until such time as +the latter should repeal the statute giving fugitive slaves the right +of trial by jury.</p> + +<p>The immediate cause of the Whig defeat, however, had its origin in +disasters incident to the construction of the canals. It had been the +policy of Governor Marcy, and other Democratic leaders, to confine the +annual canal expenditures to the surplus revenues, and, in enlarging +the Erie, it was determined to continue this policy. On the other +hand, the Whigs advocated a speedy completion of the public works,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.50" id="vol2Page_ii.50">ii. 50</a></span> +limiting the state debt to an amount upon which interest could be paid +out of the surplus revenues derived from the canal. This policy, +backed by several Democratic members of the Senate in 1838, resulted +in the authorisation of a loan of four millions for the Erie +enlargement. In 1839 Seward, still confident of the State's ability to +sustain the necessary debt, advised other improvements, including the +completion of the Genesee Valley and Black River canals, as well as +the construction of three railroads, at a total estimated expenditure +of twelve to fifteen millions. By 1841, the debt had increased to +eighteen millions, including the loan of four millions, while the work +was scarcely half finished. To add to the difficulty, state stocks +depreciated over twenty per cent., embarrassing the administration in +its efforts to raise money. The Democrats pronounced such a policy +disastrous and ruinous; and, although the Whigs replied that the +original estimates were wrong, that the price of labour and material +had advanced, and that when completed the canals would speedily pay +for themselves, the people thought it time to call a halt, and in the +election of 1841 they called it.<a name="vol2FNanchor_35_35" id="vol2FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>It was this overwhelming defeat that so depressed the Whigs, gathered +at the Syracuse convention, as they looked over the field for a +gubernatorial candidate to lead them, if possible, out of the +wilderness of humiliation. Seward had declined a renomination. He knew +that his course, especially<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.51" id="vol2Page_ii.51">ii. 51</a></span> in the Virginia controversy, had aroused +a feeling of hostility among certain Whigs who not only resented his +advancement over Granger and Fillmore, his seniors in years and in +length of public service, but who dreaded his lead as too bold, too +earnest, and too impulsive. The fact that the Abolitionists had +already invited him to accept their nomination for President in 1844 +indicated the extent to which his Virginia correspondence had carried +him. So, he let his determination be known. "My principles are too +liberal, too philanthropic, if it be not vain to say so, for my +party," he wrote Christopher Morgan, then a leading member of +Congress. "The promulgation of them offends many; the operation of +them injures many; and their sincerity is questioned by about all. +Those principles, therefore, do not receive fair consideration and +candid judgment. There are some who know them to be right, and believe +them to be sincere. These would sustain me. Others whose prejudices +are aroused against them, or whose interests are in danger, would +combine against me. I must, therefore, divide my party in convention. +This would be unfortunate for them, and, of all others, the most false +position for me. And what have I to lose by withdrawing and leaving +the party unembarrassed? My principles are very good and popular ones +for a man out of office; they will take care of me, when out of +office, as they always have done. I have had enough, Heaven knows, of +the power and pomp of place."<a name="vol2FNanchor_36_36" id="vol2FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></p> + +<p>With Seward out of the way, Luther Bradish was the logical candidate +for governor. Fillmore had many friends present, and John A. Collier +of Binghamton, alternating between hope and fear, let his wishes be +known. But, as lieutenant-governor, Bradish had won popularity by +firmness, patience, and that tact which springs from right feeling, +rather than cold courtesy; and, in the end, the vote proved him the +favourite. For lieutenant-governor, the convention chose Gabriel +Furman, a Brooklyn lawyer of great natural ability, who had been a +judge of the municipal court and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.52" id="vol2Page_ii.52">ii. 52</a></span> was just then closing a term in the +State Senate, but whose promising career was already marred by the +opium habit. He is best remembered as one of Brooklyn's most valued +local historians. The resolutions, adhering to the former Whig policy, +condemning Tyler's vetoes and indicating a preference for Clay, showed +that the party, although stripped of its enthusiastic hopes, had lost +none of its faith in its principles or confidence in its great +standard-bearer.</p> + +<p>The Democrats had divided on canal improvements. Beginning in the +administration of Governor Throop, one faction, known as the +Conservatives, had voted with the Whigs in 1838, while the other, +called Radicals, opposed the construction of any works that would +increase the debt. This division reasserted itself in the Legislature +which convened in January, 1842. The Radicals elected all the state +officers. Azariah C. Flagg became comptroller, Samuel Young secretary +of state, and George P. Barker attorney-general. Six canal +commissioners, belonging to the same wing of the party, were also +selected. Behind them, as a leader of great force in the Assembly, +stood Michael Hoffman of Herkimer, ready to rain fierce blows upon the +policy of Seward and the Conservatives. Hoffman had served eight years +in Congress, and three years as a canal commissioner. He was now, at +fifty-four years of age, serving his first term in the Assembly, +bringing to the work a great reputation both for talents and +integrity, and as a powerful and effective debater.<a name="vol2FNanchor_37_37" id="vol2FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> Hoffman was +educated for a physician, but afterward turned to the law. "Had he not +been drawn into public life," says Thurlow<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.53" id="vol2Page_ii.53">ii. 53</a></span> Weed, "he would have been +as eminent a lawyer as he became a statesman."<a name="vol2FNanchor_38_38" id="vol2FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> + +<p>The Albany Regency, as a harmonious, directing body, had, by this +time, practically gone out of existence. Talcott was dead, Marcy and +Silas Wright were in Washington, Benjamin F. Butler, having resigned +from the Cabinet as attorney-general, in 1838, had resumed the +practice of his profession in New York City, and Van Buren, waiting +for another term of the Presidency, rested at Lindenwald. The +remaining members of the original Regency, active as ever in political +affairs, were now destined to head the two factions—Edwin Croswell, +still editor of the Albany <i>Argus</i>, leading the Conservatives, with +Daniel S. Dickinson, William C. Bouck, Samuel Beardsley, Henry A. +Foster, and Horatio Seymour. Azariah C. Flagg, with Samuel Young, +George P. Barker, and Michael Hoffman, directed the Radicals. All were +able men. Bouck carried fewer guns than Young; Beardsley had weight +and character, without much aptitude; Foster overflowed with knowledge +and was really an able man, but his domineering nature and violent +temper reduced his influence. Seymour, now only thirty-two years old, +had not yet entered upon his illustrious and valuable public career; +nor had Daniel S. Dickinson, although of acknowledged ability, +exhibited those traits which were to distinguish him in party +quarrels. He did not belong in the class with Marcy and Wright, though +few New Yorkers showed more indomitable courage than Dickinson—a +characteristic that greatly strengthened his influence in the councils +of the leaders whose differences were already marked with asperity.</p> + +<p>Success is wont to have magical effects in producing a wish<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.54" id="vol2Page_ii.54">ii. 54</a></span> to put an +end to difference; and the legislative winter of 1843 became notable +for the apparent adjustment of Democratic divisions. The Radicals +proposed the passage of an act, known as the "stop and tax law of +1842," suspending the completion of the public works, imposing a +direct tax, and pledging a portion of the canal revenues as a sinking +fund for the payment of the existing debt. It was a drastic measure, +and leading Conservatives, with much vigour, sought to obtain a +compromise permitting the gradual completion of the most advanced +works. Bouck favoured sending an agent to Holland to negotiate a loan +for this purpose, a suggestion pressed with some ardour until further +effort threatened to jeopardise his chance of a renomination for +governor; and when Bouck ceased his opposition other Conservatives +fell into line. The measure, thus unobstructed, finally became the +law, sending the Democrats into the gubernatorial campaign of 1842 +with high hopes of success.</p> + +<p>By accident or design, the Democratic state convention also met at +Syracuse on October 7. William C. Bouck and Daniel S. Dickinson had +been the candidates, in 1840, for governor and lieutenant-governor, +and they now demanded renomination. The Radicals wanted Samuel Young +or Michael Hoffman for governor; and, before the passage of the "stop +and tax law," the contest bid fair to be a warm one. But, after making +an agreement to pledge the party to the work of the last Legislature, +the Radicals withdrew all opposition to Bouck and Dickinson. In their +resolutions, the Democrats applauded Tyler's vetoes; approved the +policy of his administration; denounced the re-establishment of a +national bank; opposed a protective tariff; and favoured the +sub-treasury, hard money, a strict construction of the Constitution, +and direct taxation for public works.</p> + +<p>The campaign that followed stirred no enthusiasm on either side. The +Whigs felt the weight of the canal debt, which rested heavily upon the +people; and, although many enthusiastic young men, active in the +organisation of Clay clubs and in preparing the way for the Kentucky +statesman<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.55" id="vol2Page_ii.55">ii. 55</a></span> in 1844, held mass-meetings and read letters from their +great leader, New York again passed under the control of the Democrats +by a majority of nearly twenty-two thousand.<a name="vol2FNanchor_39_39" id="vol2FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> It was not an +ordinary defeat; it was an avalanche. Only one Whig senator, thirty +Whig assemblymen, and nine or ten congressmen were saved in the wreck. +"I fear the party must break up from its very foundations," Fillmore +wrote Weed. "There is no cohesive principle—no common head."<a name="vol2FNanchor_40_40" id="vol2FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + +<p>Seward took no such pessimistic view. He had the promise of the future +in him, a capacity for action, a ready sympathy with men of all +classes, occupations, and interests, and he saw rays of light where +others looked only into darkness. "It is not a bad thing to be left +out of Congress," he wrote Christopher Morgan, depressed by his +defeat. "You will soon be wanted in the State, and that is a better +field."<a name="vol2FNanchor_41_41" id="vol2FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> Seward had the faculty of slow, reflective brooding, and +he often saw both deep and far. In the night of that blinding defeat +only such a nature could find comfort in the outlook.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.56" id="vol2Page_ii.56">ii. 56</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_V" id="vol2CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /> +<br /> +DEMOCRATS DIVIDE INTO FACTIONS<br /> +<br /> +1842-1844</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">From</span> the moment of William C. Bouck's inauguration as governor, in +January, 1843, Democratic harmony disappeared. It was supposed the +question of canal improvement had been settled by the "stop and tax +law" of 1842, and by the subsequent agreement of the Conservatives, at +the Syracuse convention, in the following October. No one believed +that any serious disposition existed on the part of the Governor to +open the wound, since he knew a large majority of his party opposed +the resumption of the work, and that the state officers, who had +viewed his nomination with coldness, were watching his acts and +critically weighing his words.</p> + +<p>But he also knew that his most zealous and devoted friends, living +along the line of the Erie, Black River, and Genesee Valley canals, +earnestly desired the speedy completion of certain parts of these +waterways. In order to please them, his message suggested the +propriety of taking advantage of the low prices of labour and +provisions to finish some of the work. He did it timidly. There was no +positive recommendation. He touched the subject as one handles a live +electric wire, trembling lest he rouse the sleeping opposition of the +Radicals, or fail to meet the expectation of friends. But the +recommendation, too expressionless to cheer his friends and too +energetic to suit his opponents, foreshadowed the pitfalls into which +he was to tumble. He had been the first to suggest the Erie +enlargement, and he knew better than any other man in the State how +important was its completion; yet he said as little in its favour as +could be said, if he said anything at<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.57" id="vol2Page_ii.57">ii. 57</a></span> all, and that little seemed to +be prompted, not so much for the good of the State, as to satisfy the +demands of ardent friends, who had contributed to his nomination and +election.</p> + +<p>Severe criticism of the message, by the radical press, quickly showed +that not even a temporary reconciliation had been effected by the act +of 1842. Had the Governor now been sufficiently endowed with a faculty +for good management, he must have strengthened himself and weakened +his enemies with the vast amount of patronage at his command. Not +since the days of Governor Lewis, had the making of so many +appointments been committed to an executive. The Whigs, under Seward, +had taken every office in the State. But Bouck, practising the +nepotism that characterised Lewis' administration forty years before, +took good care of his own family, and then, in the interest of +harmony, turned whatever was left over to the members of the +Legislature, who selected their own friends regardless of their +relations to the Governor. There is something grim and pathetic in the +picture of the rude awakening of this farmer governor, who, while +working in his own weak way for harmony and conciliation, discovered, +too late, that partisan rivalries and personal ambition had surrounded +him with a cordon of enemies that could not be broken. To add to his +humiliation, it frequently happened that the nominations of those whom +he greatly desired confirmed, were rejected in the Senate by the +united votes of Radicals and Whigs.</p> + +<p>The controversy growing out of the election of a state printer to +succeed Thurlow Weed increased the bitterness between the factions. +Edwin Croswell had been removed from this office in 1840, and the +Conservatives now proposed to reinstate him. Croswell had carefully +avoided taking part in the factional contests then beginning to rend +the party. He had supported, apparently in good faith, the "stop and +tax law" of 1842, and, in the campaigns of 1841 and 1842, had been +associated with Azariah C. Flagg in the publication of the <i>Rough +Hewer</i>, a weekly paper of radical views, issued from the press of the +<i>Argus</i>; but his sympathies were<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.58" id="vol2Page_ii.58">ii. 58</a></span> with the Conservatives, and when +they sought to re-elect him public printer, the Radicals, led by +Flagg, announced as their candidate Henry H. Van Dyck, the owner, +since 1840, of a one-third interest in the <i>Argus</i>. For seventeen +years, from 1823 to 1840, Croswell had held the office of state +printer, accumulating wealth and enjoying the regard of the party; and +Flagg and his colleagues contended that he should now give way to +another equally deserving. This was a strong reason in a party that +believed in rotation in office, especially when coupled with a desire +on the part of the Radicals to control the <i>Argus</i>; and, to avoid an +open rupture, Croswell proposed that a law be passed making the +<i>Argus</i> the state paper, without naming a public printer. Van Dyck +objected to this, as it would leave Croswell in control of the +establishment. Besides, Van Dyck claimed that, at the time he +purchased an interest in the <i>Argus</i>, Croswell promised to support him +for state printer. This Croswell denied.</p> + +<p>Instantly, the air was alive with the thrill of battle. Croswell faced +difficulties such as no other office-seeker had thus far encountered, +difficulties of faction, difficulties of public sentiment, and +difficulties of personnel. Flagg's conceded fidelity and honesty as a +public officer, supplemented by his shrewdness and sagacity, made him +the unquestioned leader of the Radicals; and, in this initial and +crucial test of strength, he was indisposed to compromise or +conciliate; but in Edwin Croswell he met the most impressive figure +among the gladiators of the party. Croswell was the veteran editor +whose judgment had guided its tactics, and whose words were instinct +with life, with prophecy, and with fate. When he entered the +pilot-house of his party, men knew something was going to happen. A +perceptible hush seemed to announce his presence. At such times, his +caustic sentences, clear and compact, were rarely conciliatory; but +when he turned away from the wheel, achievement had proven his right +to leadership.</p> + +<p>In his contest with Flagg, however, Croswell encountered angry +criticism from the Radicals and frigid approval from<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.59" id="vol2Page_ii.59">ii. 59</a></span> some +Conservatives. His candidacy plainly impaired the high respect which +his conduct and abilities had brought him. It was a mistake from every +point of view; but, once committed to such a course his Conservative +friends persevered, giving him finally sixty-six out of one hundred +and six votes cast. A speech made by Assemblyman Leland of Steuben +affords an interesting glimpse of the many influences summoned from +every quarter, until men found themselves in the centre of a political +cauldron from which there seemed no escape. "All who have come up here +for office," said Leland, "have been compelled to take one side or the +other, and as neither side knows what will be the result, some have +been disposed to cry 'good Lord, if a Lord, or good devil, if not a +Lord.'" The newspapers added to the perils of the quarrel. In the +discussion preceding the election, the Albany <i>Atlas</i>, a daily paper +recently established, but until now without political prominence, +became the organ of the Radicals; and between it and the <i>Argus</i> a +fierce editorial battle, which extended to other Democratic papers +throughout the State, made the factional division broader and more +bitter.</p> + +<p>Despite their quarrels, which continued throughout the legislative +session, the Democrats, in the state election of November, 1843, +carried two-thirds of the Assembly and five-sixths of the Senate. +Nevertheless, the strength of the Conservatives was greatly increased. +The utter and sudden abandonment of the canals, marked by a long line +of tools left where the workmen dropped them, had played an important +part in the campaign, and when the Democratic legislative caucus +convened, in January, 1844, the friends of canal improvement easily +defeated Michael Hoffman for speaker by a vote of fifty-six to +thirty-five, in favour of Elisha Litchfield of Onondaga. Henry A. +Foster, also an uncompromising champion of the Conservatives, was +elected president <i>pro tem.</i> of the Senate. Litchfield had been in +Congress. He was a strong man of acknowledged influence in the central +counties of the State. Besides, he had been a faithful fol<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.60" id="vol2Page_ii.60">ii. 60</a></span>lower and +an ardent admirer of Croswell. There were those who thought Horatio +Seymour ought to be speaker; and, for a time, it looked as if he might +secure the office. He was the real leader of the Conservatives, and he +had more friends than Litchfield. But Litchfield had Croswell.</p> + +<p>Backed by such a re-enforcement of Conservatives, Governor Bouck spoke +of canal improvement with less timidity. He admitted the necessity of +the tax law of 1842, but suggested the completion of "such new works +as can be done with better economy than to sustain those designed to +be superseded" and "are exposed to great and permanent injury." There +was nothing forceful in this recommendation. He still kept the middle +of the road, but his request practically amounted to the completion of +some of the new work. It meant the finishing of the Schoharie +aqueduct, improving the Jordan level, enlarging the locks of the Erie +canal, and going on with the construction of the Black River and +Genesee Valley canals.</p> + +<p>The Radicals, realising the seriousness of the situation, now rested +their hopes upon an elaborate report by Robert Dennison, chairman of +the Senate canal committee. It was a telling blow. It attacked the +estimated, as compared to the actual, cost of the canals, charging +engineers with culpable ignorance or corrupt intention. The Chenango +canal, it said, was estimated to cost $1,000,000; it actually cost +$2,417,000. The first estimate of the Black River canal called for an +expenditure of $437,000; after work was commenced, a recalculation +made it $2,431,000. It cost, finally, over $2,800,000. The Genesee +Valley canal presented even greater disparity, and more glaring +ignorance. The original estimate fixed the cost at $1,774,000. +Afterward, the same engineer computed it at $4,900,000; and it cost +over $5,500,000. The State would have made money, the report said, had +it built macadamised roads, instead of canals, at a cost of $4,000 a +mile, and paid teamsters two dollars a day for hauling all the produce +that the canals would transport when finished. In conclusion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.61" id="vol2Page_ii.61">ii. 61</a></span> +Dennison declared that work on the canals could not be resumed without +laying an additional direct tax. This statement touched the +pocket-books of the people; and, in the opinion of the Radicals, +closed the discussion, for no Democrat, confronting a presidential and +gubernatorial election, would dare burden his party with another +direct canal tax.</p> + +<p>Horatio Seymour, chairman of the canal committee of the Assembly, now +appeared with a report, covering seventy-one octavo pages, which +illuminated the question even to the enlightenment of Michael Hoffman. +It was the first display of that mastery of legislative skill and +power, which Seymour's shrewd discerning mind was so well calculated +to acquire. The young Oneida statesman had been a favourite since his +advent in the Assembly in 1842. His handsome face, made more +attractive by large, luminous eyes, and a kind, social nature, +peculiarly fitted him for public life; and, back of his fascinating +manners, lay sound judgment and great familiarity with state affairs. +Like Seward, he possessed, in this respect, an advantage over older +members, and he was now to show something of the moral power which the +Auburn Senator displayed when he displeased the short-sighted +partisans who seemed to exist and to act only for the present.</p> + +<p>In presenting his report Seymour was careful to sustain the pledges of +the act of 1842, and to condemn the pre-existing policy of creating +additional debts for the purpose of constructing new canals or +enlarging the Erie. With gentle and cunning skill he commended Azariah +C. Flagg's policy, adopted in 1835, of using only the surplus revenue +of the canals for such purposes. "The errors we have committed," said +his report, "are not without their utility or profitable teaching. The +corruptions of extravagance and the bitter consequences of +indebtedness, have produced their own correctives, and public opinion, +admonished by the past, has returned to its accustomed and healthful +channels, from which it will not be readily diverted. There is no +portion of our citizens who desire to increase our state indebtedness, +or to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.62" id="vol2Page_ii.62">ii. 62</a></span> do aught to the detriment of our common interests, when they +are shown the evils that inevitably follow in the train of borrowing +large sums of money, to be repaid, perhaps, in periods of pecuniary +distress and embarrassment. Neither is it true, on the other hand, +that any considerable number of our citizens are opposed to the +extension of our canals when it can be effected by the aid of surplus +revenues."<a name="vol2FNanchor_42_42" id="vol2FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p> + +<p>This last sentence was the keynote. Bouck had suggested the principle, +and other Conservatives had vainly tried to enforce it, but it +remained for Seymour to obtain for it a fair and candid hearing. With +great clearness, he unfolded the condition of the public works and of +the public finances, and, with able reasoning, he showed that, out of +the canal revenues, all the pledges of the act of 1842 could be met, +and out of the surplus revenues, all the pledges of the act of 1836 +could be completed. At the conclusion, he introduced a bill providing +for the resumption of work along the lines set forth in the report.</p> + +<p>The reports of Dennison and Seymour reduced the issue to its lowest +terms. Dennison wanted the surplus revenues, if any, applied to the +payment of the state debt; Seymour insisted upon their use for the +enlargement of the Erie and the completion of the Black River and +Genesee Valley canals. Both favoured a sinking fund, with which to +extinguish the state debt, and both opposed the construction of any +new work which should add to that debt. But Dennison, with pessimistic +doggedness, denied that there would be sufficient surplus to produce +the desired result. Seymour, with much of the optimism of Seward, +cherished the hope that rich tolls, growing larger as navigation grew +better, would flow into the treasury, until all the canals would be +completed and all the debts wiped out. The Radical was more than a +pessimist—he was a strict constructionist of the act of 1842. He +held that the Seymour bill was a palpable departure from the policy of +that act, and that other measures, soon to follow, would eventually +overthrow such a policy. To all this Seymour re<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.63" id="vol2Page_ii.63">ii. 63</a></span>plied in his report, +that "just views of political economy are not to be disseminated by +harsh denunciations, which create the suspicion that there is more of +hostility to the interests of those assailed than an honest desire to +protect the treasury of the State."<a name="vol2FNanchor_43_43" id="vol2FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p> + +<p>Hoffman and Seymour set the tone to the debate in the Assembly. They +were, admittedly, the leaders of the two factions, and, although +Hoffman possessed remarkable powers of denunciation, which he used +freely against measures, his courtesy toward opponents was no less +marked than Seymour's.<a name="vol2FNanchor_44_44" id="vol2FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> Other Conservatives supported the measure +with ability. But it was Seymour's firmness of mind, suavity of +manner, unwearied patience, and incomparable temper, under a thousand +provocations, that made it possible to pass the bill, substantially as +he wrote it, by a vote of sixty-seven to thirty-eight. Even Michael +Hoffman refused to vote against it, although he did not vote for it.</p> + +<p>The measure met fiercer opposition in the Senate. It had more acrid +and irritable members than the Assembly, and its talkers had sharper +tongues. In debate, Foster was the most formidable, but Albert +Lester's acerbity of temper fixed the tone of the discussion. Finally, +when the vote was taken the Democrats broke evenly for and against the +measure; but, as five Whigs supported it, the bill finally passed, +seventeen to thirteen.</p> + +<p>It was a great victory for Seymour, then only thirty-four years old. +Indeed, the history of the session may be described as the passage of +a single measure by a single man whose success was based on supreme +faith in the Erie canal. Seymour flowingly portrayed its benefits, +and, with prophetic eye, saw the deeply ladened boats transporting the +produce of prosperous farmers who had chosen homes in the West<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.64" id="vol2Page_ii.64">ii. 64</a></span> when +access was rendered so easy. What seemed to others to threaten +disaster to the State, appealed to him as a great highway of commerce +that would yield large revenues to the Commonwealth and abundantly +bless its people. He predicted the building of villages and the +development of diversified industries along its banks, and, in one of +his captivating sentences, he described the pleasure of travelling +quickly by packets, viewing the scenery of the Mohawk Valley by day +and sleeping comfortably in a cabin-berth at night. But he did not +favour building so rapidly as to burden the State with debt. This was +the mistake of the Seward administration, and the inevitable reaction +gave the Radicals an argument for delay, and Dennison an opportunity +for a telling report. Seymour put his faith in the earning capacity of +the Erie canal. Forty years later, when he advocated the abolition of +tolls, he found all his predictions more than verified.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.65" id="vol2Page_ii.65">ii. 65</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_VI" id="vol2CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /> +<br /> +VAN BUREN DEFEATED AT BALTIMORE<br /> +<br /> +1844</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> canal contest and Horatio Seymour's success preceded many +surprises and disappointments which were to be disclosed in the +campaign of 1844. Never were the motions of the political pendulum +more agitated or more irregular. For three years, public sentiment had +designated Henry Clay and Martin Van Buren as the accepted candidates +of their respective parties for President; and, until the spring of +1844, the confidence of the friends of the Kentucky statesman did not +exceed the assurance of the followers of the ex-President. Indeed, the +Democratic party was known throughout the country as the "Van Buren +party," and, although James Buchanan, John C. Calhoun, and Lewis Cass +had each been named as suitable persons for Chief Executive, the sage +of Lindenwald was the party's recognised leader and prospective +candidate. His sub-treasury scheme, accepted as wise and salutary, was +still the corner-stone of the party, buttressed by a tariff for +revenue and opposition to a national bank.</p> + +<p>In national affairs, the Democratic party in New York was still a +unit. The Legislature of 1843 had re-elected Silas Wright to the +United States Senate, without a dissenting Democratic vote; and a +state convention, held at Syracuse in September of the same year, and +made up of Radicals and Conservatives, had instructed its delegation +to support New York's favourite son. But a troublesome problem +suddenly confronted Van Buren. President Tyler had secretly negotiated +a treaty of annexation with Texas, ostensibly because of the +contiguity and great value of its territory, in reality, because, as +Cal<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.66" id="vol2Page_ii.66">ii. 66</a></span>houn, then secretary of state, showed in his correspondence with +Great Britain, Texas seemed indispensable to the preservation and +perpetuation of slavery. Texas had paved the way for such a treaty by +providing, in its constitution, for the establishment of slavery, and +by prohibiting the importation of slaves from any country other than +the United States. But for three months friends of the treaty in the +United States Senate had vainly endeavoured to find a two-thirds +majority in favour of its ratification. Then, the exponents of +slavery, having secretly brought to their support the enormous +prestige of Andrew Jackson, prepared to nominate a successor to +President Tyler who would favour the treaty.</p> + +<p>Van Buren had never failed the South while in the United States +Senate. He had voted against sending abolition literature through the +mails into States that prohibited its circulation; he had approved the +rules of the Senate for tabling abolition petitions without reading +them; he had publicly deprecated the work of abolition leaders; and, +by his silence, had approved the mob spirit when his friends were +breaking up abolition meetings. But, in those days, American slavery +was simply seeking its constitutional right to exist unmolested where +it was; and, although the anti-slavery crusade from 1830 to 1840, had +profoundly stirred the American conscience, slavery had not yet, to +any extended degree, entered into partisan politics. The annexation of +Texas, however, was an aggressive measure, the first of the great +movements for the extension of slavery since the Missouri Compromise; +and it was important to the South to know in advance where the +ex-President stood. His administration had been adverse to annexation, +and rumour credited him with unabated hostility. To force him into the +open, therefore, William H. Hammit, a member of Congress from +Mississippi, addressed him a letter on the 27th of March, 1844. "I am +an unpledged delegate to the Baltimore convention," wrote Hammit, "and +it is believed that a full and frank declaration of your opinion as to +the constitutionality and expediency of immediately annexing Texas +will be of great service to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.67" id="vol2Page_ii.67">ii. 67</a></span> cause, at a moment so critical of its +destiny."<a name="vol2FNanchor_45_45" id="vol2FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> Van Buren held this letter until the 20th of April, +thirty-seven days before the meeting of the convention. When he did +reply he recalled the fact that in 1837, after an exhaustive +consideration of the question, his administration had decided against +annexation, and that nothing had since occurred to change the +situation; but that if, after the subject had been fully discussed, a +Congress chosen with reference to the question showed that the popular +will favoured it, he would yield. It was a letter of great length, +elaborately discussing every point directly or indirectly relating to +the subject.</p> + +<p>Van Buren deeply desired the nomination, and if the South supported +him he was practically certain of it. It was in view of the necessity +of such support that Van Buren's letter has been pronounced by a +recent biographer "one of the finest and bravest pieces of political +courage, and deserves from Americans a long admiration."<a name="vol2FNanchor_46_46" id="vol2FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> Such +eulogy is worthily bestowed if Van Buren, at the time of the Hammit +letter, fully appreciated the gravity of the situation; but there is +no evidence that he understood the secret and hostile purpose which +led up to the Hammit inquiry, and the letter itself is evidence that +he sought to conciliate the Southern wing of his party. Charles Jared +Ingersoll of Pennsylvania, in his diary of May 6, 1844, declares that +nearly all of Van Buren's admirers and most of the Democratic press +were even then committed to annexation. Nevertheless, Van Buren and +his trusted advisers could not have known of the secret plotting of +Buchanan's and Cass's followers, or of the deception shrewdly +practised by Cave Johnson of Tennessee, ostensibly a confidential +friend, but really a leader in the plot to defeat Van Buren.<a name="vol2FNanchor_47_47" id="vol2FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> +Besides, the sentiment of the country un<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.68" id="vol2Page_ii.68">ii. 68</a></span>mistakably recognised that +powerful and weighty as the inducements for annexation appeared, they +were light when opposed in the scale of reason to the treaty of amity +and commerce with Mexico, which must be scrupulously observed so long +as that country performed its duties and respected treaty rights. Even +after the nomination of a President only sixteen senators out of +fifty-one voted for annexation, proving that the belief still +obtained, in the minds of a very large and influential portion of the +party, that annexation was decidedly objectionable, since it must +lead, as Benton put it in his great speech delivered in May, 1844, to +an unjust, unconstitutional war with Mexico upon a weak and groundless +pretext. Thus, Van Buren had behind him, the weight of the argument, a +large majority of the Senate, including Silas Wright, his noble +friend, and a party sentiment that had not yet yielded to the crack of +the southern whip; and he was ignorant of the plan, already secretly +matured, to defeat him with the help of the followers of Buchanan and +Cass by insisting upon the two-thirds rule in the convention. Under +these circumstances, it did not require great courage to reaffirm his +previous views so forcibly and ably expressed. Cognisant, however, of +the growing desire in the South for annexation, he took good care to +remove the impression that he was a hard-shell, by promising to yield +his opinion to the judgment of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.69" id="vol2Page_ii.69">ii. 69</a></span> new Congress. This was a long step +in the direction of consent. It virtually said, "If you elect a +Congress that will ratify the treaty and pay the price, I will not +stand in your way." In the presence of such complacency, the thought +naturally occurs that he might have gone a step farther and consented +to yield his opinions at once had he known or even suspected the +secret plans of his southern opponents, the bitterness of Calhoun and +Robert J. Walker, and their understanding with the friends of Buchanan +and Cass. Jackson's letter favourable to annexation, skilfully +procured for publication just before the convention, "to blow Van out +of water," as his enemies expressed it, was, indeed, known to Van +Buren, but the latter believed its influence discounted by the great +confidence Jackson subsequently expressed in his wisdom.<a name="vol2FNanchor_48_48" id="vol2FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></p> + +<p>Three days before the date of Van Buren's letter, Henry Clay, writing +upon the same subject, expressed the opinion that annexation at this +time, without the assent of Mexico, would be a measure "compromising +the national character, involving us certainly in war with Mexico, +probably with other foreign powers, dangerous to the integrity of the +Union, inexpedient to the present financial condition of the country, +and not called for by any general expression of public opinion." Van +Buren had visited Clay at Ashland in 1842, and, after the publication +of their letters, it was suggested that a bargain had then been made +to remove the question of annexation from politics. However this may +be, the friends of the ex-President, after the publication of his +letter, understood, quickly and fully, the gravity of the situation. +Subterranean<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.70" id="vol2Page_ii.70">ii. 70</a></span> activity was at its height all through the month of May. +Men wavered and changed, and changed again. So great was the alarm +that leading men of Ohio addressed their delegation in Congress, +insisting upon Van Buren's support. It was a moment of great peril. +The agitators themselves became frightened. A pronounced reaction in +favour of Van Buren threatened to defeat their plans, and the better +to conceal intrigue and tergiversation they deemed it wise to create +the belief that opposition had been wholly and finally abandoned. In +this they proved eminently successful. "Many of the strongest +advocates of annexation," wrote a member of the New York delegation in +Congress, on May 18, nine days before the convention, "have come to +regard the grounds taken by Van Buren as the only policy consistent +not only with the honour, but the true interests of the country. Such +is fast becoming and will soon be the opinion of the whole South."<a name="vol2FNanchor_49_49" id="vol2FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> +But the cloud, at last, burst. No sooner had the Baltimore convention +convened than Benjamin F. Butler, the ardent friend and able spokesman +of Van Buren, discovered that the backers of Cass and Buchanan were +acting with the Southerners in the interest of a rule that required +two-thirds of all the delegates in the convention to nominate. +Instantly the air was thick with suggestion, devices, expedients. All +the arts of party emergency went on at an unprecedented rate. The +eloquent New Yorker, his clear, tenor voice trembling with emotion, +fought the battle on the highest moral grounds.</p> + +<p>With inexhaustible tenacity, force, and resource, he laboured to hold +up to men's imagination and to burn into their understanding the shame +and dishonour of adopting a rule, not only unsound and false in +principle, but which, if adhered to, would coerce a majority to yield +to a minority. "I submit," declared Butler, in closing, "that to adopt +a rule which requires what we know cannot be done, unless the majority +yield to the minority, is to subject ourselves to the rule, not of +reason, but of despotism, and to defeat the true<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.71" id="vol2Page_ii.71">ii. 71</a></span> purposes and objects +of this convention—the accomplishment of the people's will for the +promotion of the people's good."<a name="vol2FNanchor_50_50" id="vol2FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></p> + +<p>The adoption of the rule, by a vote of 148 to 118, showed that the +Democratic party did not have a passionate devotion for Martin Van +Buren. Buchanan opposed his nomination; leading men in other States +did not desire him. The New England States, with Pennsylvania, Ohio, +Michigan, Illinois, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, had +instructed for him; yet sixty-three of these instructed delegates +voted for the two-thirds rule, knowing that its adoption would defeat +him. The rule received thirty majority, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.72" id="vol2Page_ii.72">ii. 72</a></span> Van Buren, on the first +ballot, received only thirteen. On the second ballot he dropped to +less than a majority; on the seventh he had only ninety-nine votes. +The excitement reached a climax when a motion to declare him the +nominee by a majority vote, was ruled out of order. In the +pandemonium, the New Yorkers, for the first time, seemed to unloose +themselves, letting fly bitter denunciations of the treachery of the +sixty-three delegates who were pledged to Van Buren's support. When +order was restored, a Virginian suddenly put forward the name of James +K. Polk as that of "a pure, whole-hogged Democrat." Then the +convention adjourned until the next day.</p> + +<p>Harmony usually follows a bitter convention quarrel. Men become +furiously and sincerely indignant; but the defeated ones must accept +the results, or, Samson-like, destroy themselves in the destruction of +their party. The next morning, Daniel S. Dickinson, the most violently +indignant the day before, declared that "he loved this convention +because it had acted so like the masses." In a high state of nervous +excitement, Samuel Young had denounced "the abominable Texas question" +as the firebrand thrown among them, but his manner now showed that he, +also, had buried the hatchet. Even the serene, philosophic Butler, +who, in "an ecstacy of painful excitement," had "leaped from the floor +and stamped," to use the language of an eye-witness, now resumed his +wonted calmness, and on the ninth ballot, in the midst of tremendous +cheering, used the discretion vested in him to withdraw Van Buren's +name. In doing so, he took occasion to indicate his preference for +James K. Polk, his personal friend. Following this announcement, +Dickinson cast New York's thirty-five votes for the Tennesseean, who +immediately received the necessary two-thirds vote. The situation had +given Polk peculiar advantages. The partisans of Cass and Buchanan, +having willingly defeated Van Buren, made the friends of the New +Yorker thirsty to put their knives into these betrayers. This +situation, opening the door for a compromise, brought a "dark horse" +into the race for<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.73" id="vol2Page_ii.73">ii. 73</a></span> the first time in the history of national +conventions. Such conditions are common enough nowadays, but it may +well be doubted if modern political tactics ever brought to the +surface a more inferior candidate. "Polk! Great God, what a +nomination!" wrote Governor Letcher of Kentucky to Buchanan.</p> + +<p>To make the compromise complete, the convention, by acclamation, +nominated Silas Wright for Vice President. But the man who had +recently declined a nomination to the Supreme Court of the United +States, and who, after the defeat of Van Buren, had refused the use of +his name for President, did not choose, he said, "to ride behind the +black pony." A third ballot resulted in the selection of George M. +Dallas of Pennsylvania. Among the resolutions adopted, it was declared +that "our title to the whole of Oregon is clear and unquestionable; +that no portion of the same ought to be ceded to England or any other +power; and the reoccupation of Oregon and the reannexation of Texas at +the earliest practicable period, are great American measures, which +the convention recommends to the cordial support of the Democracy of +the Union."</p> + +<p>Van Buren's defeat practically closed his career. His failure of +re-election in 1840 had left his leadership unimpaired, but with the +loss of the nomination in 1844 went prestige and power which he was +never to regain. Seldom has it been the misfortune of a candidate for +President to experience so overwhelming an overthrow. Clay's failure +in 1839 and Seward's in 1860 were as complete; but they lacked the +humiliating features of the Baltimore rout. Harrison was an equal +favourite with Clay in 1839; and at Chicago, in 1860, Lincoln shared +with Seward the prominence of a leading candidate; but at Baltimore, +in 1844, no other name than Van Buren's appeared conspicuously above +the surface, until, with the help of delegates who had been instructed +for him, the two-thirds rule was adopted. It seemed to Van Buren the +result of political treachery; and it opened a chasm between him and +his former southern friends that was destined to survive<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.74" id="vol2Page_ii.74">ii. 74</a></span> during the +remaining eighteen years of his life. The proscription of his New York +friends undoubtedly aided this division, and the death of Jackson, in +1845, and rapidly accumulating political events which came to a climax +in 1848, completed the separation.</p> + +<p>There are evidences that Van Buren's defeat did not break the heart of +his party in New York. Contemporary writers intimate that after his +election as President the warm, familiar manners changed to the +stiffer and more formal ways of polite etiquette, and that his visit +to New York, during his occupancy of the White House, left behind it +many wounds, the result of real or fancied slights and neglect. Van +Buren's rule had been long. His good pleasure sent men to Congress; +his good pleasure made them postmasters, legislators, and cabinet +officers. In all departments of the government, both state and +national, his influence had been enormous. For years his friends, +sharing the glory and profits of his continued triumphs, had been +filling other ambitious men with envy and jealousy, until his +overthrow seemed necessary to their success. Even Edwin Croswell +shared this feeling, and, although he did not boldly play a double +part, the astute editor was always seeking a position which promised +the highest advantage and the greatest security to himself and his +faction. This condition of mind made him quick to favour Polk and the +annexation of Texas, and to leave Van Buren to his now limited coterie +of followers.</p> + +<p>Van Buren had much liking for the career of a public man. Very +probably he found his greatest happiness in the triumphs of such a +life; but we must believe he also found great contentment in his +retirement at Lindenwald. He did not possess the tastes and pleasures +of a man of letters, nor did he affect the "classic retirement" that +seemed to appeal so powerfully to men of the eighteenth century; but, +like John Jay, he loved the country, happy in his health, in his +rustic tastes, in his freedom from public cares, and in his tranquil +occupation. Skilled in horticulture, he took pleasure in planting +trees, and in cultivating, with his own hand,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.75" id="vol2Page_ii.75">ii. 75</a></span> the fruits and flowers +of his table. There can be no doubt of his entire sincerity when he +assured an enthusiastic Pennsylvania admirer, who had pronounced for +him as a candidate in 1848, that whatever aspirations he may have had +in the past, he now had no desire to be President.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.76" id="vol2Page_ii.76">ii. 76</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_VII" id="vol2CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /> +<br /> +SILAS WRIGHT AND MILLARD FILLMORE<br /> +<br /> +1844</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> New York delegation, returning from the Baltimore convention, +found the Democratic party rent in twain over the gubernatorial +situation. So long as Van Buren seemed likely to be the candidate for +President, opposition to Governor Bouck's renomination was smothered +by the desire of the Radicals to unite with the Conservatives, and +thus make sure of the State's electoral vote. This was the Van Buren +plan. After the latter's defeat, however, the Radicals demanded the +nomination of Silas Wright of Canton. Van Buren and Wright had taken +no part in the canal controversy; but they belonged to the Radicals, +and, with Wright, and with no one else, could the latter hope to +defeat the "Agricultural Governor." Their importunity greatly +distressed the Canton statesman, who desired to remain in the United +States Senate, to which he had been recently re-elected for a third +term, and to whom, from every point of view, the governorship was +distasteful.<a name="vol2FNanchor_51_51" id="vol2FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> Besides taking him from the Senate, it meant<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.77" id="vol2Page_ii.77">ii. 77</a></span> +contention with two bitterly jealous and hostile factions, one of +which would be displeased with impartiality, the other ready to plunge +the party into a fierce feud on the slightest show of partiality. +Therefore, he firmly declined to be a candidate.</p> + +<p>But the Albany <i>Atlas</i>, representing the Radicals, insisted upon +Wright's making the sacrifice; and, to give Bouck an easy avenue of +escape, Edwin Croswell, representing the Conservatives, advised that +the Governor would withdraw if he should consent to stand. But he +again refused. Still the <i>Atlas</i> continued to insist. By the middle of +July things looked very black. In Albany, the atmosphere became thick +with political passion. Finally, Van Buren interfered. He was +profoundly affected with the idea that political treachery had +compassed his defeat, and he knew the nomination of Polk was +personally offensive to Silas Wright; but, faithful to his promise to +support the action of the Baltimore convention, he requested his +friend to lead the state ticket, since the result in New York would +probably decide, as it did decide, the fate of the Democratic party in +the nation. Still the Senator refused. His decision, more critical +than he seemed to be aware, compelled his Radical friends to invent +new compromises, until the refusal was modified into a conditional +consent. In other words, he would accept the nomination provided he +was not placed in the position of opposing "any Republican who is, or +who may become a candidate."</p> + +<p>This action of the Radicals kept the Conservatives busy bailing a +sinking boat. They believed the candidacy of Bouck would shut out +Wright under the terms of his letter, and, although the Governor's +supporters were daily detached by the action of county conventions, +and the Governor himself wished to withdraw to avoid the humiliation +of a defeat by ballot, the Conservatives continued their opposition. +For once it could be truthfully said of a candidate that he was "in +the hands of his friends." Even the "judicious" delegate, whom the +Governor directed to withdraw his name, declined executing the +commission until a ballot had nomi<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.78" id="vol2Page_ii.78">ii. 78</a></span>nated Wright, giving him +ninety-five votes to thirty for Bouck. "Wright's nomination is the +fatality," wrote Seward. "Election or defeat exhausts him."<a name="vol2FNanchor_52_52" id="vol2FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> Seward +had the gift of prophecy.</p> + +<p>The bitterness of the contest was further revealed in the refusal of +Daniel S. Dickinson, a doughty Conservative, to accept a renomination +for lieutenant-governor, notwithstanding Silas Wright had especially +asked it. There were many surmises, everybody was excited, and the +door to harmony seemed closed forever; but it opened again when the +name of Addison Gardiner of Rochester came up. Gardiner had been +guided by high ideals. He was kind and tolerant; the voice of personal +anger was never heard from his lips; and Conservative and Radical held +him in high respect. At Manlius, in 1821, Gardiner had become the +closest friend of Thurlow Weed, an intimacy that was severed only by +death. He was a young lawyer then, anxious to seek his fortune in the +West, and on his way to Indianapolis happened to stop at Rochester. +The place proved too attractive to give up, and, through his +influence, Weed also made it his residence. "How curious it seems," he +once wrote his distinguished journalistic friend, "that circumstances +which we regard at the time as scarcely worthy of notice often change +the entire current of our lives." A few years later, through Weed's +influence, Gardiner became a judge of the Supreme Court, laying the +foundation for a public life of honourable and almost unceasing +activity.</p> + +<p>Though the Whigs needed their ablest and most popular<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.79" id="vol2Page_ii.79">ii. 79</a></span> men to meet +Wright and Gardiner, preceding events guided the action of their state +convention, which met at Syracuse, on the 11th of September, 1844. +Horace Greeley had picked out Millard Fillmore for the Vice Presidency +on the ticket with Henry Clay, and his New York friends, proud of his +work in Congress, as chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, +presented his name with the hope that other States, profiting by the +tariff which he had framed, might join them in recognising his +valuable public service. But the convention had not taken kindly to +him, probably for the same reason that Greeley desired his promotion; +for, upon the slavery question, Fillmore had been more pronounced and +aggressive than Seward, sympathising and acting in Congress with +Giddings of Ohio and John P. Hale of New Hampshire, a part very +difficult to perform in those days without losing caste as a Whig.</p> + +<p>Fillmore's defeat on May 1, however, made him the candidate for +governor on September 11. Weed pronounced for him very early, and the +party leaders fell into line with a unanimity that must have been as +balm to Fillmore's sores. "I wish to say to you," wrote George W. +Patterson to Weed, "that you are right, as usual, on the question of +governor. After Frelinghuysen was named for Vice President, it struck +me that Fillmore above all others was the man. You may rest assured +that he will help Mr. Clay to a large number of good men's votes. Mr. +Clay's slaves and his old duel would have hurt him with some men who +will now vote the ticket. Fillmore is a favourite everywhere; and +among the Methodists where 'old Father Fillmore' is almost worshipped, +they will go him with a rush."<a name="vol2FNanchor_53_53" id="vol2FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> Yet the Buffalo statesman, not a +little disgruntled over his treatment at Baltimore, disclaimed any +desire for the nomination. To add to his chagrin, he was told that +Weed and Seward urged his selection for his destruction, and whether +he believed the tale or not, it increased his fear and apprehension. +But people did not take his assumed indifference seriously, and he was +unanimously<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.80" id="vol2Page_ii.80">ii. 80</a></span> nominated for governor, with Samuel J. Wilkin, of Orange, +for lieutenant-governor. Wilkin had been a leader of the Adams party +in the Assembly of 1824 and 1825. He was then a young lawyer of much +promise, able and clear-headed, and, although never a showy debater, +he possessed useful business talent, and an integrity that gave him +high place among the men who guided his party. "I like Wilkin for +lieutenant-governor," wrote Seward, although he had been partial to +the selection of John A. King.</p> + +<p>Without doubt, each party had put forward, for governor, its most +available man. Fillmore was well known and at the height of his +popularity. During the protracted and exciting tariff struggle of +1842, he had sustained himself as chairman of the Ways and Means +Committee with marked ability. It added to his popularity, too, that +he had seemed indifferent to the nomination. In some respects Fillmore +and Silas Wright were not unlike. They were distinguished for their +suavity of manners. Both were impressive and interesting characters, +wise in council, and able in debate, with a large knowledge of their +State and country; and, although belonging to opposite parties and in +different wings of the capitol at Washington, their service in +Congress had brought to the debates a genius which compelled +attention, and a purity of life that raised in the public estimation +the whole level of congressional proceedings. Neither was an orator; +they were clear, forcible, and logical; but their speeches were not +quoted as models of eloquence. In spite of an unpleasant voice and a +slow, measured utterance, there was a charm about Wright's speaking; +for, like Fillmore, he had earnestness and warmth. With all their +power, however, they lacked the enthusiasm and the boldness that +captivate the crowd and inspire majorities. Yet they had led +majorities. In no sphere of Wright's activities, was he more strenuous +than in the contest for the independent treasury plan which he +recommended to Van Buren, and which, largely through his efforts as +chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, was finally forced into law +on the 4th of July, 1840. Fill<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.81" id="vol2Page_ii.81">ii. 81</a></span>more, in putting some of the hated +taxes of 1828 into the tariff act of 1842, was no less strenuous, +grappling facts with infinite labour, until, at last, he overcame a +current of public opinion that seemed far too powerful for resistance.</p> + +<p>Of the two men, Silas Wright was undoubtedly the stronger character. +He was five years older than Fillmore, and his legislative experience +had been four or five years longer. His great intellectual power +peculiarly fitted him for the United States Senate. He had chosen +finance as his specialty, and in its discussion had made a mark. He +could give high and grave counsel in great emergencies. His +inexhaustible patience, his active attention and industry, his genius +in overcoming impediments of every kind, made him the peer of the +ablest senator. He was not without ambitions for himself; but they +were always subordinate in him to the love of party and friends. It +will never be known how far he influenced Van Buren's reply to Hammit. +He bitterly opposed the annexation of Texas, and his conferences with +the ex-President must have encouraged the latter's adherence to his +former position. Van Buren's defeat, however, in no wise changed +Wright's attitude toward him. It is doubtful if the latter could have +been nominated President at Baltimore had he allowed the use of his +name, but it was greatly to his credit, showing the sincerity of his +friendship for Van Buren, that he spurned the suggestion and promptly +declined a unanimous nomination for Vice President. Such action places +him in a very small group of American statesmen who have deliberately +turned their backs upon high office rather than be untrue to friends.</p> + +<p>Silas Wright was strictly a party man. He came near subjecting every +measure and every movement in his career to the test of party loyalty. +He started out in that way, and he kept it up until the end. In 1823 +he sincerely favoured the choice of presidential electors by the +people, but, for the party's sake, he aided in defeating the measure. +Two years later, he preferred that the State be unrepresented in the +United States Senate rather than permit the election of Am<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.82" id="vol2Page_ii.82">ii. 82</a></span>brose +Spencer, then the nominee of a Clintonian majority, and he used all +his skill to defeat a joint session of the two houses. For the sake of +party he now accepted the gubernatorial nomination. Desire to remain +in the Senate, opposition to the annexation of Texas, dislike of +participating in factional feuds, refusal to stand in the way of +Bouck's nomination, the dictates of his better judgment, all gave way +to party necessity. He anticipated defeat for a second term should he +now be elected to a first, but it had no influence. The party needed +him, and, whatever the result to himself, he met it without complaint. +This was the man upon whom the Democrats relied to carry New York and +to elect Polk.</p> + +<p>There were other parties in the field. The Native Americans, organised +early in 1844, watched the situation with peculiar emotions. This +party had suddenly sprung up in opposition to the ease with which +foreigners secured suffrage and office; and, although it shrewdly +avoided nominations for governor and President, it demoralised both +parties by the strange and tortuous manœuvres that had ended in the +election of a mayor of New York in the preceding spring. It operated, +for the most part, in that city, but its sympathisers covered the +whole State. Then, there was the anti-rent party, confined to Delaware +and three or four adjoining counties, where long leases and trifling +provisions of forfeiture had exasperated tenants into acts of +violence. Like the Native Americans, these Anti-Renters avoided state +and national nominations, and traded their votes to secure the +election of legislative nominees.</p> + +<p>But the organisation which threatened calamity was the abolition or +liberty party. It had nominated James G. Birney of Michigan for +President and Alvan Stewart for governor, and, though no one expected +the election of either, the organisation was not unlikely to hold the +balance of power in the State. Stewart was a born Abolitionist and a +lawyer of decided ability. In the section of the State bounded by +Oneida and Otsego counties, where he shone conspicuously as a leader +for a quarter of a century, his forensic achieve<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.83" id="vol2Page_ii.83">ii. 83</a></span>ments are still +remembered. Stanton says he had no superior in central New York. "His +quaint humour was equal to his profound learning. He was skilled in a +peculiar and indescribable kind of argumentation, wit, and sarcasm, +that made him remarkably successful out of court as well as in court. +Before anti-slavery conventions in several States he argued grave and +intricate constitutional questions with consummate ability."<a name="vol2FNanchor_54_54" id="vol2FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></p> + +<p>It was evident that the Anti-Renters and Native Americans would draw, +perhaps, equally from Whigs and Democrats; but the ranks of +Abolitionists could be recruited only from the anti-slavery Whigs. +Behind Stewart stood Gerrit Smith, William Jay, Beriah Green, and +other zealous, able, benevolent, pure-minded men—some of them +wealthy. Their shibboleth was hostility to a slave-holder, or one who +would vote for a slave-holder. This barred Henry Clay and his +electors.</p> + +<p>At the outset the Whigs plainly had the advantage. Spring elections +had resulted auspiciously, and the popularity of Clay seemed +unfailing. He had avowed opposition to the annexation of Texas, and, +although his letter was not based upon hostility to slavery and the +slave trade, it was positive, highly patriotic, and in a measure +satisfactory to the anti-slavery Whigs. "We are at the flood," Seward +wrote Weed; "our opponents at the ebb."<a name="vol2FNanchor_55_55" id="vol2FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> The nomination of Wright +had greatly strengthened the Democratic ticket, but the nomination of +Polk, backed by the Texas resolution, weighted the party as with a +ball and chain. Edwin Croswell had characterised Van Buren's letter to +Hammit as "a statesmanlike production," declaring that "every American +reader, not entirely under the dominion of prejudice, will admit the +force of his conclusions."<a name="vol2FNanchor_56_56" id="vol2FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> This was the view generally held by the +party throughout the State; yet, within a month, every American reader +who wished to remain loyal to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.84" id="vol2Page_ii.84">ii. 84</a></span> the Democratic party was compelled to +change his mind. In making this change, the "slippery-elm editor," as +Croswell came to be known because of the nearness of his office to the +old elm tree corner in Albany, led the way and the party followed. It +was a rough road for many who knew they were consigning to one grave +all hope of ending the slavery agitation, while they were resurrecting +from another, bitter and dangerous controversies that had been laid to +rest by the Missouri Compromise. Yet only one poor little protest, and +that intended for private circulation, was heard in opposition, the +signers, among them William Cullen Bryant, declaring their intention +to vote for Polk, but to repudiate any candidate for Congress who +agreed with Polk. Bryant's purpose was palpable and undoubted; but it +soon afterward became part of his courage not to muffle plain truth +from any spurious notions of party loyalty, and part of his glory not +to fail to tell what people could not fail to see.</p> + +<p>As the campaign advanced, the Whig side of it resembled the contest of +1840. The log cabin did not reappear, and the drum and cannon were +less noisy, but ash poles, cut from huge trees and spliced one to +another, carried high the banner of the statesman from Ashland. +Campaign songs, with choruses for "Harry of the West," emulated those +of "Old Tip," and parades by day and torch-light processions by night, +increased the enthusiasm. The Whigs, deeply and personally attached to +Henry Clay, made mass-meetings as common and nearly as large as those +held four years before. Seward speaks of fifteen thousand men gathered +at midday in Utica to hear Erastus Root, and of a thousand unable to +enter the hall at night while he addressed a thousand more within. +Fillmore expressed the fear that Whigs would mistake these great +meetings for the election, and omit the necessary arrangements to get +the vote out. "I am tired of mass-meetings," wrote Seward. "But they +will go on."<a name="vol2FNanchor_57_57" id="vol2FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>Seward and Weed were not happy during this campaign. The friends of +Clay, incensed at his defeat in 1840, had pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.85" id="vol2Page_ii.85">ii. 85</a></span>nounced them the chief +conspirators. Murmurs had been muffled until after Tyler's betrayal of +the party and Seward's retirement, but when these sources of possible +favours ran dry, the voice of noisy detraction reached Albany and +Auburn. It was not an ordinary scold, confined to a few conservatives; +but the censure of strong language, filled with vindictiveness, +charged Weed with revolutionary theories, tending to unsettle the +rights of property, and Seward with abolition notions and a desire to +win the Irish Catholic vote for selfish purposes. In February, 1844, +it was not very politely hinted to Seward that he go abroad during the +campaign; and by June, Weed talked despondingly, proposing to leave +the <i>Journal</i>. Seward had the spirit of the Greeks. "If you resign," +he said, "there will be no hope left for ten thousand men who hold on +because of their confidence in you and me."<a name="vol2FNanchor_58_58" id="vol2FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> In another month Weed +had become the proprietor as well as the editor of the <i>Evening +Journal</i>.</p> + +<p>As the campaign grew older, however, Clay's friends gladly availed +themselves of Seward's influence with anti-slavery Whigs and +naturalised citizens. "It is wonderful what an impulse the nomination +of Polk has given to the abolition sentiment," wrote Seward. "It has +already expelled other<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.86" id="vol2Page_ii.86">ii. 86</a></span> issues from the public mind. Our Whig central +committee, who, a year ago, voted me out of the party for being an +Abolitionist, has made abolition the war-cry in their call for a +mass-meeting."<a name="vol2FNanchor_59_59" id="vol2FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> Even the sleuth-hounds of No-popery were glad to +invite Seward to address the naturalised voters, whose hostility to +the Whigs, in 1844, resembled their dislike of the Federalists in +1800. "It is a sorry consolation for this ominous aspect of things," +he wrote Weed, "that you and I are personally exempt from the +hostility of this class toward our political associates."<a name="vol2FNanchor_60_60" id="vol2FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>Yet no man toiled more sedulously in this campaign than Seward. +"Harrison had his admirers, Clay his lovers," is the old way of +putting it. To elect him, Whigs were ready to make any sacrifice, to +endure any hardship, and to yield every prejudice. Fillmore was +ubiquitous, delivering tariff and anti-Texas speeches that filled all +mouths with praise and all hearts with principle, as Seward expressed +it. An evident desire existed on the part of many in both parties, to +avoid a discussion of the annexation of Texas, and its consequent +extension of slavery, lest too much or too little be said; but leaders +like Seward and Fillmore were too wise to believe that they could fool +the people by concealing the real issue. "Texas and slavery are at war +with the interests, the principles, the sympathies of all," boldly +declared the unmuzzled Auburn statesman. "The integrity of the Union +depends on the result. To increase the slave-holding power is to +subvert the Constitution; to give a fearful preponderance which may, +and probably will, be speedily followed by demands to which the +Democratic free-labour States cannot yield, and the denial of which +will be made the ground of secession, nullification and disunion."<a name="vol2FNanchor_61_61" id="vol2FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> +This was another of Seward's famous prophecies. At the time it seemed +extravagant, even to the strongest anti-slavery Whigs, but the future +verified it.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.87" id="vol2Page_ii.87">ii. 87</a></span></p> +<p>The Whigs, however, did not, as in 1840, have a monopoly of the +enthusiasm. The public only half apprehended, or refused to apprehend +at all, the danger in the Texas scheme; and, after the first chill of +their immersion, the Democrats rallied with confidence to the support +of their ticket. Abundant evidence of their strength had manifested +itself at each state election since 1841, and, although no trailing +cloud of glory now testified to a thrifty and skilful management, as +in 1836, the two factions, in spite of recent efforts to baffle and +defeat each other, pulled themselves together with amazing quickness. +Indeed, if we may rely upon Whig letters of the time, the Democrats +exhibited the more zeal and spirit throughout the campaign. They had +their banners, their songs, and their processions. In place of ash, +they raised hickory poles, and instead of defending Polk, they +attacked Clay. Other candidates attracted little attention. Clay was +the commanding, central figure, and over him the battle raged. There +were two reasons for this. One was the fear of a silent free-soil +vote, which the Bryant circular had alarmed in his favour. The other +was a desire to strengthen the liberty party, and to weaken the Whigs +by holding up Clay as a slave-holder. The corner-stone of that party +was hostility to the slave-holder; and if a candidate, however much he +opposed slavery, owned a single slave, it excluded him from its +suffrage. This was the weak point in Clay's armour, and the one of +most peril to the Whigs. To meet it, the latter argued, with some show +of success, that the conflict is not with one slave-holder, or with +many, but with slavery; and since the admission of Texas meant the +extension of that institution, a vote for Clay, who once advocated +emancipation in Kentucky and is now strongly opposed to Texas, is a +vote in behalf of freedom.</p> + +<p>In September, Whig enthusiasm underwent a marked decline. Clay's July +letter to his Alabama correspondent, as historic now as it was +superfluous and provoking then, had been published, in which he +expressed a wish to see Texas added to the Union "upon just and fair +terms,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.88" id="vol2Page_ii.88">ii. 88</a></span> and hazarded the opinion that "the subject of slavery ought +not to affect the question one way or the other."<a name="vol2FNanchor_62_62" id="vol2FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> This letter was +the prototype of the famous alliteration, "Rum, Romanism, and +Rebellion," in the Blaine campaign of 1884. Immediately Clay's most +active anti-slavery supporters were in revolt. "We had the +Abolitionists in a good way," wrote Washington Hunt from Lockport; +"but Mr. Clay seems determined that they shall not be allowed to vote +for him. I believe his letter will lose us more than two hundred votes +in this county."<a name="vol2FNanchor_63_63" id="vol2FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> The effects of the dreadful blow are as briefly +summed up by Seward: "I met <i>that letter</i> at Geneva, and thence here, +and now everybody droops, despairs. It jeopards, perhaps loses, the +State."<a name="vol2FNanchor_64_64" id="vol2FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> A few weeks later, in company with several friends, +Seward, as was his custom, made an estimate of majorities, going over +the work several times and taking accurate account of the drift of +public sentiment. An addition of the columns showed the Democrats +several thousands ahead. Singularly enough, Fillmore, whose accustomed +despondency exhibited itself even in 1840, now became confident of +success. This can be accounted for, perhaps, on the theory that to a +candidate the eve of an election is "dim with the self-deceiving +twilight of sophistry." He believed in his own safety even if Clay +failed. Although the deep, burning issue of slavery had not yet roused +popular forces into dangerous excitement, Fillmore had followed the +lead of Giddings and Hale, sympathising deeply with the restless flame +that eventually guided the policy of the North with such admirable +effect. On the other hand, Wright approved his party's doctrine of +non-interference with slavery. He had uniformly voted to table +petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, +declaring that any interference with the system, in that district, or +in the territories, endangered<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.89" id="vol2Page_ii.89">ii. 89</a></span> the rights of their citizens, and +would be a violation of faith toward those who had settled and held +slaves there. He voted for the admission of Arkansas and Florida as +slave States; and his opposition to Texas was based wholly upon +reasons other than the extension of slavery. The Abolitionists +understood this, and Fillmore confidently relied upon their aid, +although they might vote for Birney instead of Clay.</p> + +<p>That Seward rightly divined public sentiment was shown by the result. +Polk carried the State by a plurality of little more than five +thousand, and Wright by ten thousand, while Stewart polled over +fifteen thousand votes.<a name="vol2FNanchor_65_65" id="vol2FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> These last figures told the story. Four +years before, Birney had received less than seven thousand votes in +the whole country; now, in New York, the Abolitionists, exceeding +their own anticipations, held the balance of power.<a name="vol2FNanchor_66_66" id="vol2FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> Had their +votes been cast for Clay and Fillmore both would have carried New +York, and Clay would have become the Chief Executive. "Until Mr. Clay +wrote his letter to Alabama," said Thurlow Weed, dispassionately, two +years afterward, "his election as President was certain."<a name="vol2FNanchor_67_67" id="vol2FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p> + +<p>Clay's defeat was received by his devoted followers as the knell of +their hopes. For years they had been engaged labourously in rolling +uphill the stone of Sisyphus, making active friendships and seeking a +fair trial. That opportunity had come at last. It had been an affair +of life or death; the contest was protracted, intense, dramatic; the +issue for a time had hung in poignant doubt; but the dismal result let +the stone roll down again to the bottom of the hill. No wonder stout +men cried, and that thousands declared the loss of all further +interest in politics. To add to their despair and resentment, the +party of Birney and Stewart exulted over its victory not less than the +party of Polk and Silas Wright.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.90" id="vol2Page_ii.90">ii. 90</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_VIII" id="vol2CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /> +<br /> +THE RISE OF JOHN YOUNG<br /> +<br /> +1845-1846</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Although</span> the Democrats were again successful in electing a governor +and President, their victory had not healed the disastrous schism that +divided the party. The rank and file throughout the State had not yet +recognised the division into Radicals and Conservatives; but the +members of the new Legislature foresaw, in the rivalries of leaders, +the approach of a marked crisis, the outcome of which they awaited +with an overshadowing sense of fear.</p> + +<p>The strife of programmes began in the selection of a speaker. Horatio +Seymour was the logical candidate. Of the Democratic members of the +last Assembly, he was the only one returned. He had earned the +preferment by able service, and a disposition obtained generally among +members to give him the right of way; but the state officials had not +forgotten and could not forget that Seymour, whose supple and +trenchant blade had opened a way through the ranks of the Radicals for +the passage of the last canal appropriation, had further sinned by +marshalling Governor Bouck's forces at the Syracuse convention on +September 4, 1844; and to teach him discretion and less independence, +they promptly warned him of their opposition by supporting William C. +Crain of Herkimer, a fierce Radical of the Hoffman school and a man of +some ability. Though the ultimate decision favoured Seymour, Azariah +C. Flagg, the state comptroller, resolutely exhausted every device of +strategy and tactics to avert it. He summoned the canal board, who, in +turn, summoned to Albany their up-state employees, mindful of the +latter's influence with the unsophisticated legislators already<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.91" id="vol2Page_ii.91">ii. 91</a></span> +haunted by the fear of party disruption. To limit the issue, Governor +Wright was quoted as favourable to Crain, and, although it +subsequently became known that he had expressed no opinion save one of +entire indifference, this added to the zeal of the up-state Radicals, +who now showed compliance with every hint of their masters.</p> + +<p>In the midst of all Horatio Seymour remained undaunted. No one had +better poise, or firmer patience, or possessed more adroit methods. +The personal attractions of the man, his dignity of manner, his +finished culture, and his ability to speak often in debate with +acceptance, had before attracted men to him; now he was to reveal the +new and greater power of leadership. Seymour's real strength as a +factor in state affairs seems to date from this contest. It is +doubtful if he would have undertaken it had he suspected the +fierceness of the opposition. He was not ambitious to be speaker. So +far as it affected him personally, he had every motive to induce him +to remain on the floor, where his eloquence and debating power had won +him such a place. But, once having announced his candidacy he pushed +on with energy, sometimes masking his movements, sometimes mining and +countermining; yet always conscious of the closeness of the race and +of the necessity of keeping his activity well spiced with good nature. +Back of him stood Edwin Croswell. The astute editor of the <i>Argus</i> +recognised in Horatio Seymour, so brilliant in battle, so strong in +council, the future hope of the Democratic party. It is likely, too, +that Croswell already foresaw that Van Buren's opposition to the +annexation of Texas, and the growing Free-soil sentiment, must +inevitably occasion new party alignments; and the veteran journalist, +who had now been a party leader for nearly a quarter of a century, +understood the necessity of having available and successful men ready +for emergencies. Under his management, therefore, and to offset the +influence of the canal board's employees, Conservative postmasters and +Conservative sheriffs came to Albany, challenging their Radical canal +opponents to a measurement of strength. When,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.92" id="vol2Page_ii.92">ii. 92</a></span> finally, the caucus +acted, the result showed how closely divided were the factions. Of +seventy Democrats in the Assembly, sixty-five were present, and of +these thirty-five voted for Seymour.</p> + +<p>The irritation and excitement of this contest were in a measure +allayed by an agreement to renominate Azariah C. Flagg for comptroller +of state. His ability and his service warranted it. He had performed +the multiplying duties of the office with fidelity; and, although +chief of the active Radicals, the recollection of his stalwart aid in +the great financial panic of 1837, and in the preparation and advocacy +of the act of 1842, gave him a support that no other candidate could +command. It was also in the minds of two or three members holding the +balance of power between the factions, to add to the harmony by +securing an even division of the other four state offices. In carrying +out their project, however, the gifted Croswell took good care that +Samuel Young, whose zeal and ability especially endeared him to the +Radicals, should be beaten for secretary of state by one vote, and +that Thomas Farrington, another favourite Radical, should fail of +re-election as treasurer of state. Since Young and Farrington were the +only state officers, besides Flagg, seeking re-election, it looked as +if their part in the speakership struggle had marked them for defeat, +a suspicion strengthened by the fact that two Radicals, who took no +part in that contest, were elected attorney-general and +surveyor-general.</p> + +<p>Reproachful ironies and bitter animosity, boding ill for future +harmony, now followed the factions into a furious and protracted +caucus for the selection of United States senators in place of Silas +Wright and Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, the latter having resigned to +accept the governorship of Wisconsin.<a name="vol2FNanchor_68_68" id="vol2FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> The Conservatives supported +Daniel S. Dickinson<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.93" id="vol2Page_ii.93">ii. 93</a></span> and Henry A. Foster; the Radicals John A. Dix and +Michael Hoffman. There was more, however, at stake than the selection +of two senators; for the President would probably choose a member of +his Cabinet from the stronger faction; and to have time to recruit +their strength, the programme of the Radicals included an adjournment +of the caucus after nominating candidates for the unexpired terms of +Wright and Tallmadge. This would possibly give them control of the +full six years' term to begin on the 4th of the following March. A +majority of the caucus, however, now completely under the influence of +Edwin Croswell and Horatio Seymour, concluded to do one thing at a +time, and on the first ballot Dix was nominated for Wright's place, +giving him a term of four years. The second ballot named Dickinson for +the remaining month of Tallmadge's term. Then came the climax—the +motion to adjourn. Instantly the air was thick with suggestions. +Coaxing and bullying held the boards. All sorts of proposals came and +vanished with the breath that floated them; and, though the hour +approached midnight, a Conservative majority insisted upon finishing +the business. The election of Dix for a term of four years, they said, +had given the Radicals fair representation. Still, the latter +clamoured for an adjournment. But the Conservatives, inexorable, +demanded a third ballot, and it gave Dickinson fifty-four out of +ninety-three members present. When the usual motion to make the +nomination unanimous was bitterly opposed, Horatio Seymour took the +floor, and with the moving charm and power of his voice, with temper +unbroken, he made a fervid appeal for harmony. But bitterness ruled +the midnight hour; unanimity still lacked thirty-nine votes. As the +Radicals passed out into the frosty air, breaking the stillness with<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.94" id="vol2Page_ii.94">ii. 94</a></span> +their expletives, the voice of the tempter suggested a union with the +Whigs for the election of Samuel Young. There was abundant precedent +to support the plan. Bailey had bolted Woodworth's nomination; German +had defeated Thompson; and, in 1820, Rufus King had triumphed over +Samuel Young. But these were the tactics of DeWitt Clinton. In 1845, +the men who aspired to office, the men with a past and the men who +looked for a future, had no words of approval for such methods; and +before the Whigs heard of the scheme, Samuel Young had stamped it to +death.</p> + +<p>To add to the chagrin of the Radicals, President Polk now invited +William L. Marcy, a Conservative of great prestige, to become +secretary of war. The Radicals did not know, and perhaps could not +know the exact condition of things at the national capital; certainly +they did not know how many elements of that condition told against +them. President Polk, apparently with a desire of treating his New +York friends fairly, asked Van Buren to recommend a New Yorker for his +Cabinet; and, with the approval of Silas Wright, the former President +urged Benjamin F. Butler for secretary of state, or Azariah C. Flagg +for secretary of the treasury. Either of these men would have filled +the place designated with great ability. Polk was largely indebted to +Van Buren and his friends; Butler had given him the vote of New York, +and Wright, by consenting to stand for governor at the urgent +solicitation of Van Buren, had carried the State and thus made +Democratic success possible. But Polk, more interested in future +success than in the payment of past indebtedness, had an eye out for +1848. He wanted a man devoted solely to his interests and to the +annexation of Texas; and, although Butler was a personal friend and an +ornament to the American bar, he hesitated, despite the insistence of +Van Buren and Wright, to make a secretary of state out of the most +devoted of Van Buren's adherents, who, like the sage of Lindenwald +himself, bitterly opposed annexation.</p> + +<p>In this emergency, the tactics of Edwin Croswell came to Polk's +relief. The former knew that Silas Wright could not,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.95" id="vol2Page_ii.95">ii. 95</a></span> if he would, +accept a place in the Cabinet, since he had repeatedly declared during +the campaign that, if elected, he would not abandon the governorship +to enter the Cabinet, as Van Buren did in 1829. Croswell knew, also, +that Butler, having left the Cabinet of two Presidents to re-enter his +profession, would not give it up for a secondary place among Polk's +advisers. At the editor's suggestion, therefore, the President +tendered Silas Wright the head of the treasury, and, upon his +declination, an offer of the secretaryship of war came to Butler. The +latter said he would have taken, although with reluctance, either the +state or treasury department; but the war portfolio carried him too +far from the line of his profession. Thus the veteran editor's scheme, +having worked itself out as anticipated, left the President at +liberty, without further consultation with Van Buren, to give William +L. Marcy<a name="vol2FNanchor_69_69" id="vol2FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> what Butler had refused. To the Radicals the result was +as startling as it was unwelcome. It left the Conservatives in +authority. Through Marcy they would command the federal patronage, and +through their majority in the Legislature they could block the wheels +of their opponents. It was at this time that the Conservatives, +"hankering," it was said, after the offices to be given by an +Administration committed to the annexation of Texas, were first called +"Hunkers."</p> + +<p>John Young, a Whig member of the Assembly, no sooner scented the +increasingly bitter feeling between Hunker and Radical than he +prepared to take advantage of it. Young was a great surprise to the +older leaders. He had accomplished nothing in the past to entitle him +to distinction. In youth he accompanied his father, a Vermont +innkeeper, to Livingston County, where he received a common school +education and studied law, being admitted to the bar in 1829, at the +age of twenty-seven. Two years later he served a single<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.96" id="vol2Page_ii.96">ii. 96</a></span> term in the +Assembly, and for ten years thereafter he had confined his attention +almost exclusively to his profession, becoming a strong jury lawyer. +In the meantime, he changed his politics from a firm supporter of +Andrew Jackson to a local anti-masonic leader, and finally to a +follower of Henry Clay. Then the Whigs sent him to Congress, and, in +the fall of 1843, elected him to the celebrated Assembly through which +Horatio Seymour forced the canal appropriation. But John Young seems +to have made little more of a reputation in this historic struggle +than he did as a colleague of Millard Fillmore in the Congress that +passed the tariff act of 1842. He did not remain silent, but neither +his words nor his acts conveyed any idea of the gifts which he was +destined to disclose in the various movements of a drama that was now, +day by day, through much confusion and bewilderment, approaching a +climax. From a politician of local reputation, he leaped to the +distinction of a state leader. If unnoticed before, he was now the +observed of all observers. This transition, which came almost in a +day, surprised the Democrats no less than it excited the Whigs; for +Young lifted a minority into a majority, and from a hopeless defeat +was destined to lead his party to glorious victory. "With talents of a +high order," says Hammond, "with industry, with patient perseverance, +and with a profound knowledge of men, he was one of the ablest party +leaders and most skilful managers in a popular body that ever entered +the Assembly chamber."<a name="vol2FNanchor_70_70" id="vol2FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> Hammond, writing while Young was governor, +did not express the view of Thurlow Weed, who was unwilling to accept +tact and cunning for great intellectual power. But there is no doubt +that Young suddenly showed uncommon parliamentary ability, not only as +a debater, owing to his good voice and earnest, persuasive manner, but +as a skilful strategist, who strengthened coolness, courtesy, and +caution with a readiness to take advantage of the supreme moment to +carry things his way. Within a month, he became an acknowledged master +of parliamentary law, easily bring<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.97" id="vol2Page_ii.97">ii. 97</a></span>ing order out of confusion by a few +simple, clear, compact sentences. If his learning did not rank him +among the Sewards and the Seymours, he had no occasion to fear an +antagonist in the field on which he was now to win his leadership.</p> + +<p>The subject under consideration was the calling of a constitutional +convention. The preceding Legislature, hoping to avoid a convention, +had proposed several amendments which the people approved in the +election of 1844; but the failure of the present Legislature to ratify +them by a two-thirds majority, made a convention inevitable, and the +question now turned upon the manner of its calling and the approval of +its work. The Hunkers, with the support of the Governor, desired first +to submit the matter to the people; and, if carried by a majority +vote, taking as a test the number of votes polled at the last +election, the amendments were to be acted upon separately. This was +the plan of Governor Clinton in 1821. On the other hand, the Whigs, +the Anti-Renters, and the Native Americans insisted that the +Legislature call a convention, and that its work be submitted, as a +whole, to the people, as in 1821. This the Hunkers resisted to the +bitter end. An obstacle suddenly appeared, also, in the conduct of +William C. Grain, who thought an early and unlimited convention +necessary. Michael Hoffman held the same view, believing it the only +method of getting the act of 1842 incorporated into the organic law of +the State. Upon the latter's advice, therefore, Crain introduced a +bill in the Assembly similar to the convention act of 1821. It was +charged, at the time, that Crain's action was due to resentment +because of his defeat for speaker, and that the Governor, in filling +the vacancy occasioned by the transfer of Samuel Nelson to the Supreme +Court of the United States, had added to his indignation by +overlooking the claims of Michael Hoffman. It is not improbable that +Crain, irritated by his defeat, did resent the action of the Governor, +although it was well known that Hoffman had not sought a place on the +Supreme bench. But, in preferring an unlimited constitutional +convention, Crain and Hoffman expressed the belief of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.98" id="vol2Page_ii.98">ii. 98</a></span> most +eminent lawyers of the Commonwealth, that the time had come for +radical changes in the Constitution, and that these could not be +obtained unless the work of a convention was submitted in its entirety +to the people and approved by a majority vote.</p> + +<p>Crain's bill was quickly pigeon-holed by the select committee to which +it was referred, and John Young's work began when he determined to +have it reported. There had been little difficulty in marshalling a +third of the Assembly to defeat the constitutional amendments proposed +by the preceding Legislature, since Whigs, Anti-Renters, and Native +Americans numbered fifty-four of the one hundred and twenty-eight +members; but, to overcome a majority of seventeen, required Young's +patient attendance, day after day, watchful for an opportunity to make +a motion whenever the Hunkers, ignorant of his design, were reduced by +temporary absences to an equality with the minority. Finally, the +sought-for moment came, and, with Crain's help, Young carried a motion +instructing the committee to report the Crain bill without amendment, +and making it the special order for each day until disposed of. It was +a staggering blow. The air was thick with suggestions, contrivances, +expedients, and embryonic proposals. The Governor, finding Crain +inexorable, sent for Michael Hoffman; but the ablest Radical in the +State refused to intervene, knowing that if the programme proposed by +Wright was sustained, the Whigs would withdraw their support and leave +the Hunkers in control.</p> + +<p>When the debate opened, interest centred in the course taken by the +Radicals, who accepted the principle of the bill, but who demurred +upon details and dreaded to divide their party. To this controlling +group, therefore, were arguments addressed and appeals made. Hammond +pronounced it "one of the best, if not the best, specimens of +parliamentary discussion ever exhibited in the capital of the +State."<a name="vol2FNanchor_71_71" id="vol2FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> Other writers have recorded similar opinions. It was +certainly a memorable debate, but it was made so by the serious +political<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.99" id="vol2Page_ii.99">ii. 99</a></span> situation, rather than by the importance of the subject. +Horatio Seymour led his party, and, though other Hunkers participated +with credit, upon the Speaker fell the brunt of the fight. He +dispensed with declamation, he avoided bitter words, he refused to +crack the party whip; but with a deep, onflowing volume of argument +and exhortation, his animated expressions, modulated and well +balanced, stirred the emotions and commanded the closest attention. +Seymour had an instinct "for the hinge or turning point of a debate." +He had, also, a never failing sense of the propriety, dignity, and +moderation with which subjects should be handled, or "the great +endearment of prudent and temperate speech" as Jeremy Taylor calls it; +and, although he could face the fiercest opposition with the keenest +blade, his utterances rarely left a sting or subjected him to +criticism. This gift was one secret of his great popularity, and daily +rumours, predicted harmony before a vote could be reached. As the +stormy scenes which marked the progress of the bill continued, +however, the less gifted Hunkers did not hesitate to declare the party +dissolved unless the erring Radicals fell into line.</p> + +<p>John Young, who knew the giant burden he had taken up, showed himself +acute, frank, patient, closely attentive, and possessed of remarkable +powers of speech. Every word surprised his followers; every stroke +strengthened his position. He did not speak often, but he always +answered Seymour, presenting a fine and sustained example of debate, +keeping within strict rules of combat, and preserving a rational and +argumentative tone, yet emphasising the differences between Hunker and +Radical. Young could not be called brilliant, nor did he have the +capacity or finish of Seymour as an orator; but he formed his own +opinions, usually with great sagacity, and acted with vigour and skill +amid the exasperation produced by the Radical secession. Seward wrote +that "he has much practical good sense, and much caution." This was +evidenced by the fact that, although only four Radicals voted to +report Crain's bill, others gradually went over, until<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.100" id="vol2Page_ii.100">ii. 100</a></span> finally, on +its passage, only Hunkers voted in the negative. It was a great +triumph for Young. He had beaten a group of clever managers: he had +weakened the Democratic party by widening the breach between its +factions; and he had turned the bill recommending a convention into a +Whig measure.</p> + +<p>The bad news discouraged the senators who dreamed of an abiding union +between the two factions; and, although one or two Radicals in the +upper chamber favoured the submission of the amendments separately to +the people, the friends of the measure obtained two majority against +all attempts to modify it, and four majority on its passage. The +Governor's approval completed Young's triumph. He had not only +retained his place as an able minority leader against the relentless, +tireless assaults of a Seymour, a Croswell, and a Wright; but, in the +presence of such odds, he had gained the distinction of turning a +minority into a reliable majority in both houses, placing him at once +upon a higher pedestal than is often reached by men of far greater +genius and eloquence.</p> + +<p>The determination of the Hunkers to pass a measure appropriating +$197,000 for canal improvement made the situation still more critical. +Although the bill devoted the money to completing such unfinished +portions of the Genesee Valley and Black River canals as the +commissioners approved, it was clearly in violation of the spirit of +the act of 1842 upon which Hunker and Radical had agreed to bury their +differences, and the latter resented its introduction as an +inexcusable affront; but John Young now led his Whig followers to the +camp of the Hunkers, and, in a few days, the measure lay upon the +Governor's table for his approval or veto.</p> + +<p>Thus far, Governor Wright had been a disappointment to his party. +Complaints from Radicals were heard before his inauguration. They +resented his acceptance of a Hunker's hospitality, asserting that he +should have made his home at a public house where Hunker and Radical +alike could freely counsel with him; they complained of his +resignation as United States senator, insisting that he ought to have +held<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.101" id="vol2Page_ii.101">ii. 101</a></span> the office until his inauguration as governor and thus prevented +Bouck appointing a Hunker as his successor; they denounced his +indifference in the speakership contest; and they murmured at his +opposition to a constitutional convention. There was cause for some of +these lamentations. It was plain that the Governor was neither a +leader nor a conciliator. A little tact would have held the Radicals +in line against a constitutional convention and kept inviolate the act +of 1842, but he either did not possess or disclaimed the arts and +diplomacies of a political manager. He could grapple with principles +in the United States Senate and follow them to their logical end, but +he could not see into the realities of things as clearly as Seymour, +or estimate, with the same accuracy, the relative strength of +conflicting tendencies in the political world. Writers of that day +express amazement at the course of Silas Wright in vetoing the canal +appropriation, some of them regarding him as a sort of political +puzzle, others attributing his action to the advice of false friends; +but his adherence to principle more easily explains it. Seymour knew +that the "up-state" voters, who would probably hold the balance of +power in the next election, wanted the canal finished and would resent +its defeat. Wright, on the other hand, believed in a suspension of +public works until the debt of the State was brought within the safe +control of its revenues, and in the things he stood for, he was as +unyielding as flint.</p> + +<p>When the Legislature adjourned Hunkers and Radicals were too wide +apart even to unite in the usual address to constituents; and in the +fall campaign of 1845, the party fell back upon the old issues of the +year before. To the astonishment of the Hunkers, however, the +legislative session opened in January, 1846, with two Radicals to one +Conservative. It looked to the uninitiated as if the policy of canal +improvement had fallen into disfavour; but Croswell, and other Hunkers +in the inner political circle, understood that a change, long foreseen +by them, was rapidly approaching. The people of New York felt profound +interest in the conflict<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.102" id="vol2Page_ii.102">ii. 102</a></span> between slavery and freedom, and the +fearless stand of Preston King of St. Lawrence in supporting the +Wilmot Proviso, excluding "slavery and involuntary servitude" from the +territory obtained from Mexico, had added fuel to the flame. King was +a Radical from principle and from prejudice. For four successive years +he had been in the Assembly, hostile to canals and opposed to all +improvements. In his bitterness he denounced the Whig party as the old +Federalist party under another name. He was now, at the age of forty, +serving his second term in Congress. But, obstinate and uncompromising +as was his Democracy, the aggressive spirit and encroaching designs of +slavery had so deeply disturbed him that he refused to go with his +party in its avowed purpose of extending slavery into free or newly +acquired territory.</p> + +<p>To the Hunkers, this new departure seemed to offer an opportunity of +weakening the Radicals by forcing them into opposition to the Polk +administration; and a resolution, approving the course of the New York +congressmen who had supported the annexation of Texas, appeared in the +Senate soon after its organisation. Very naturally, politicians were +afraid of it; and the debate, which quickly degenerated into bitter +personalities, indicated that the Free-soil sentiment, soon to inspire +the new Republican party, had not only taken root among the Radicals, +but that rivalries between the two factions rested on differences of +principle far deeper than canal improvement. "If you study the papers +at all," wrote William H. Seward, "you will see that the Barnburners +of this State have carried the war into Africa, and the extraordinary +spectacle is exhibited of Democrats making up an issue of slavery at +Washington. The consequences of this movement cannot be fully +apprehended. It brings on the great question sooner and more directly +than we have even hoped. All questions of revenue, currency, and +economy sink before it. The hour for the discussion of emancipation is +nearer at hand, by many years, than has been supposed."<a name="vol2FNanchor_72_72" id="vol2FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.103" id="vol2Page_ii.103">ii. 103</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_IX" id="vol2CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /> +<br /> +THE FOURTH CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION<br /> +<br /> +1846</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> constitutional convention, called by the Legislature of 1845, +received popular sanction at the fall elections; and, in April, 1846, +one hundred and twenty-eight delegates were chosen. The convention +assembled on the first day of June, and terminated its labours on the +ninth day of October. It was an able body of men. It did not contain, +perhaps, so many distinguished citizens as its predecessor in 1821, +but, like the convention of a quarter of a century before, it included +many men who had acquired reputations for great ability at the bar and +in public affairs during the two decades immediately preceding it. +Among the more prominent were Michael Hoffman of Herkimer, famous for +his influence in the cause of canal economy; James Tallmadge of +Dutchess, whose inspiring eloquence had captivated conventions and +legislatures for thirty years; William C. Bouck of Schoharie, the +unconquered Hunker who had faced defeat as gracefully as he had +accepted gubernatorial honours; Samuel Nelson, recently appointed to +the United States Supreme Court after an experience of twenty-two +years upon the circuit and supreme bench of the State; Charles S. +Kirkland and Ezekiel Bacon of Oneida, the powerful leaders of a bar +famous in that day for its famous lawyers; Churchill C. Cambreling of +New York, a member of Congress for eighteen consecutive years, and, +more recently, minister to Russia; George W. Patterson of Livingston, +a constant, untiring and enthusiastic Whig champion, twice elected +speaker of the Assembly and soon to become lieutenant-governor.</p> + +<p>Of the younger delegates, three were just at the threshold<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.104" id="vol2Page_ii.104">ii. 104</a></span> of their +brilliant and distinguished careers. John K. Porter of Saratoga—then +only twenty-seven years old, afterward to become a member of the Court +of Appeals and the associate of William M. Evarts as counsel for Henry +Ward Beecher in the Tilton suit—discussed the judiciary in speeches +singularly adapted to reach the understanding of the delegates; Samuel +J. Tilden, who had served respectably but without distinction in the +Assembly of 1845 and 1846, evidenced his inflexible courage and high +intellectual qualities; and Charles O'Conor, already known to the +public, gave signal proof of the prodigious extent of those powers and +acquirements which finally entitled him to rank with the greatest +lawyers of any nation or any time.</p> + +<p>Of the more distinguished members of the convention of 1821, James +Tallmadge alone sat in the convention of 1846. Daniel D. Tompkins, +Rufus King, William W. Van Ness, Jonas Platt, and Abraham Van Vechten +were dead; James Kent, now in his eighty-third year, was delivering +law lectures in New York City; Ambrose Spencer, having served as +chairman of the Whig national convention at Baltimore, in 1844, had +returned, at the age of eighty-one, to the quiet of his agricultural +pursuits in the vicinity of Lyons; Martin Van Buren, still rebellious +against his party, was watching from his retreat at Lindenwald the +strife over the Wilmot Proviso, embodying the opposition to the +extension of slavery into new territories; Erastus Root, at the age of +seventy-four, was dying in New York City; and Samuel Young, famous by +his knightly service in the cause of the Radicals, had just finished +in the Assembly, with the acerbity of temper that characterised his +greatest oratorical efforts during nearly half a century of public +life, an eloquent indictment of the Hunkers, whom he charged with +being the friends of monopoly, the advocates of profuse and +unnecessary expenditures of the public funds, and the cause of much +corrupt legislation.</p> + +<p>But of all men in the State the absence of William H. Seward was the +most noticeable. For four years, as governor,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.105" id="vol2Page_ii.105">ii. 105</a></span> he had stood for +internal improvements, for the reorganisation of the judiciary along +lines of progress, for diminishing official patronage, for modifying, +and ultimately doing away with, feudal tenures, and for free schools +and universal suffrage. His experience and ability would have been +most helpful in the formation of the new constitution; but he would +not become a delegate except from Auburn, and a majority of the people +of his own assembly district did not want him. "The world are all mad +with me here," he wrote Weed, "because I defended Wyatt too +faithfully. God help them to a better morality. The prejudices against +me grows by reason of the Van Nest murder!"<a name="vol2FNanchor_73_73" id="vol2FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> Political friends +offered him a nomination and election from Chautauqua, but he +declined, urging as a further reason that the Whigs would be in the +minority, and his presence might stimulate fresh discords among them.</p> + +<p>Horace Greeley had expected a nomination from Chautauqua. He had +relations who promised him support, and with their failure to elect +him began that yearning for office which was destined to doom him to +many bitter disappointments. Until now, he had kept his desires to +himself. He wanted to be postmaster of New York in 1841; and, when +Seward failed to anticipate his ambition, he recalled the scriptural +injunction, "Ask, and it shall be given you." So, he conferred with +Weed about the constitutional convention. Washington County was +suggested, then Delaware, and later Albany; but, the nominees having +been selected, the project was abandoned, and Horace Greeley waited +until the convention of 1867. Weed expressed the belief that if +Greeley's wishes had been known two weeks earlier, his ambition might +have been gratified, although on only two occasions had non-resident +delegates ever been selected.</p> + +<p>Popular sovereignty attained its highest phase under the Constitution +of 1846; and the convention must always be notable as the great +dividing line between a government by the people, and a government +delegated by the people to cer<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.106" id="vol2Page_ii.106">ii. 106</a></span>tain officials—executive, legislative, +and judicial—who were invested with general and more or less +permanent powers. Under the Constitution of 1821, the power of +appointment was placed in the governor, the Senate, and the Assembly. +State officers were elected by the Legislature, judges nominated by +the governor and confirmed by the Senate, district attorneys appointed +by county courts, justices of the peace chosen by boards of +supervisors, and mayors of cities selected by the common council. +Later amendments made justices of the peace and mayors of cities +elective; but, with these exceptions, from 1821 to 1846 the +Constitution underwent no organic changes. Under the Constitution of +1846, however, all officers became elective; and, to bring them still +nearer the people, an elective judiciary was decentralised, terms of +senators were reduced from four to two years, and the selection of +legislators was confined to single districts. It was also provided +that amendments to the Constitution might be submitted to the people +at any time upon the approval of a bare legislative majority. Even the +office of governor, which had been jealously reserved to native +citizens, was thrown open to all comers, whether born in the United +States or elsewhere.</p> + +<p>As if to accentuate the great change which public sentiment had +undergone in the preceding twenty years these provisions were +generally concurred in by large majorities and without political bias. +The proposition that a governor need not be either a freeholder or a +native citizen was sustained by a vote of sixty-one to forty-nine; the +proposal to overcome the governor's veto by a majority instead of a +two-thirds vote was carried by sixty-one to thirty-six; the term of +senators was reduced from four to two years by a vote of eighty to +twenty-three; and their selection confined to single districts by a +majority of seventy-nine to thirty-one. An equally large majority +favoured the provision that no member of the Legislature should +receive from the governor or Legislature any civil appointment within +the State, or to the United States Senate. Charles O'Conor antagonised +the in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.107" id="vol2Page_ii.107">ii. 107</a></span>hibition of an election to the United States Senate with much +learning and eloquence. He thought the power of the State to qualify +or restrict the choice of senators was inconsistent with the Federal +Constitution; but the great majority of the convention held otherwise. +Indeed, so popular did this section become that, in 1874, members of +the Legislature were prohibited from taking office under a city +government.</p> + +<p>The period when property measured a man's capacity and influence also +seems to have passed away with the adoption of the Constitution of +1846. For the first time in the State's history, the great landholders +lost control, and provisions as to the land law became clear and +wholesome. Feudal tenures were abolished, lands declared allodial, +fines and quarter sales made void, and leases of agricultural lands +for longer than twelve years pronounced illegal. Although vested +rights could not be affected, the policy of the new constitutional +conditions, aided by the accessibility of better and cheaper lands +along lines of improved transportation, compelled landlords in the +older parts of the State to seek compromises and to offer greater +inducements. The only persons required to own property in order to +enjoy suffrage and the right to hold office were negroes, who +continued to rest under the ban until the adoption of the fifteenth +amendment to the Federal Constitution. The people of New York felt +profound interest in the great conflict between slavery and freedom, +but, for more than a quarter of a century after the Wilmot Proviso +became the shibboleth of the Barnburners, a majority of voters denied +the coloured man equality of suffrage. Among the thirty-two delegates +in the convention of 1846 who refused to allow the people to pass upon +the question of equality of suffrage, appear the names of Charles +O'Conor and Samuel J. Tilden.</p> + +<p>The great purpose of the convention was the reform of the laws +relating to debt and to the creation of a new judicial establishment. +Michael Hoffman headed the committee charged with the solution of +financial problems. He saw the importance of devoting the resources of +the State to the re<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.108" id="vol2Page_ii.108">ii. 108</a></span>duction of its debt. It was important to the +character of the people, he thought, that they should be restless and +impatient under the obligation of debt; and the strong ground taken by +him against an enlargement of the Erie and its lateral canals had +resulted in the passage of the famous act of 1842, the substance of +which he now desired incorporated into the Constitution. He would +neither tolerate compromises with debtors of the State, nor allow its +credit to be loaned. He favoured sinking funds, he advocated direct +taxation, he insisted upon the strictest observance of appropriation +laws, and he opposed the sale of the canals. In his speeches he +probably exaggerated the canal debt, just as he minimised the canal +income and brushed aside salt and auction duties as of little +importance; yet everybody recognised him as the schoolmaster of the +convention on financial subjects. His blackboard shone in the +sunlight. He was courteous, but without much deference. There was +neither yielding nor timidity. If his flint struck a spark by +collision with another, it made little difference to him. Yet years +afterward, Thurlow Weed, who backed Seward in his appeal for more +extensive internal improvements, admitted that to Hoffman's +enlightened statesmanship, New York was indebted for the financial +article in the Constitution of 1846, which had preserved the public +credit and the public faith through every financial crisis.<a name="vol2FNanchor_74_74" id="vol2FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a></p> + +<p>Hoffman placed the state debt, with interest which must be paid up to +the time of its extinguishment, at thirty-eight million dollars. Out +of the canal revenues he wanted $1,500,000 paid yearly upon the canal +debt; $672,000 set apart for the use of the State; and the balance +applied to the improvement of the Erie canal, whenever the surplus +amounted to $2,500,000. Further to conserve the interests of the +Commonwealth, he insisted that its credit should not be loaned; that +its borrowed money should not exceed one million dollars, except to +repel invasion or suppress insurrection; and that no debt should be +created without laying<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.109" id="vol2Page_ii.109">ii. 109</a></span> a direct annual tax sufficient to pay +principal and interest in eighteen years. The result showed that, in +spite of vigorous opposition, he got all he demanded. Some of the +amounts were reduced; others slightly diverted; and the remaining +surplus of the canal revenues, instead of accumulating until it +aggregated $2,500,000, was applied each year to the enlargement of the +Erie canal and the completion of the Genesee Valley and Black River +canals; but his plan was practically adopted and time has amply +justified the wisdom of his limitations. In concluding his last +speech, the distinguished Radical declared "that this legislation +would not only preserve the credit of New York by keeping its debts +paid, but it would cause every State in the Union, as soon as such +States were able to do so, to sponge out its debts by payment and thus +remove from representative government the reproaches cast upon us on +the other side of the water."<a name="vol2FNanchor_75_75" id="vol2FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></p> + +<p>But Hoffman, while exciting the admiration of all men for his +persistence, dexterity, and ability, did not lead the most important +contest. In 1846, the popular desire for radical changes in the +judiciary was not less peremptory than the expression in 1821. Up to +this time, the courts of the State, in part, antedated the War of +Independence. Now, in place of the ancient appointive system, the +people demanded an elective judiciary which should be responsible to +them and bring the courts to them. To make these changes, the +president of the convention appointed a committee of thirteen, headed +by Charles H. Ruggles of Dutchess, which embraced the lawyers of most +eminence among the delegates. After the chairman came Charles O'Conor +of New York, Charles P. Kirkland of Utica, Ambrose L. Jordan of +Columbia, Arphaxed Loomis of Herkimer, Alvah Worden of Saratoga, +George W. Patterson of Livingston, and several others of lesser note. +At the end of the committee appeared a merchant and a farmer, possibly +for the reason that condiments make a dish more savoury. Ruggles was a +simple-<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.110" id="vol2Page_ii.110">ii. 110</a></span>hearted and wise man. He had been on the Supreme bench for +fifteen years, becoming one of the distinguished jurists of the State. +In the fierce conflicts between Clintonians and Bucktails he acted +with the former, and then, in 1828, followed DeWitt Clinton to the +support of Andrew Jackson. But Ruggles never offended anybody. His +wise and moderate counsel had drawn the fire from many a wild and +dangerous scheme, but it left no scars. Prudence and modesty had +characterised his life, and his selection as chairman of the judiciary +committee disarmed envy and jealousy. He was understood to favour an +elective judiciary and moderation in all doubtful reforms. Arphaxed +Loomis possessed unusual abilities as a public speaker, and, during a +brief career in the Assembly, had become known as an advocate of legal +reform. He was afterward, in April, 1847, appointed a commissioner on +practice and pleadings for the purpose of providing a uniform course +of proceedings in all cases; and, to him, perhaps, more than to any +one else, is due the credit of establishing one form of action for the +protection of private rights and the redress of private wrongs. Worden +had been a merchant, who, losing his entire possessions by failure, +began the study of law at the age of thirty-four and quickly took a +prominent place among the lawyers of the State. Ambrose L. Jordan, +although somewhat younger than Benjamin F. Butler, Thomas Oakley, +Henry R. Storrs, and other former leaders of the bar, was their +successful opponent, and had gained the distinction of winning the +first breach of promise suit in which a woman figured as defendant. +Patterson had rare and exquisite gifts which made him many friends and +kept him for half a century prominent in political affairs. Though of +undoubted intellectual power, clear-sighted, and positive, he rarely +answered other men's arguments, and never with warmth or heat. But he +had, however, read and mastered the law, and his voice was helpful in +conferring upon the people a system which broke the yoke of the former +colonial subordination.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.111" id="vol2Page_ii.111">ii. 111</a></span></p> + +<p>The majority report of the judiciary committee provided for a new +court of last resort, to be called the Court of Appeals, which was to +consist of eight members, four of whom were to be elected from the +State at large for a term of eight years, and four to be chosen from +the justices of the Supreme Court. A new Supreme Court of thirty-two +members, having general and original jurisdiction in law and equity, +was established in place of the old Supreme Court and Court of +Chancery, the State being divided into eight districts, in each of +which four judges were to be elected. In addition to these great +courts, inferior local tribunals of civil and criminal jurisdiction +were provided for cities. The report thus favoured three radical +changes. Judges became elective, courts of law and equity were united, +and county courts were abolished. The inclusion of senators in the old +Court of Errors—which existed from the foundation of the State—had +made the elective system somewhat familiar to the people, to whom it +had proved more satisfactory than the method of appointment; but the +union of courts of law and equity was an untried experiment in New +York. It had the sanction of other States, and, in part, of the +judicial system of the United States, where procedure at law and in +equity had become assimilated, if not entirely blended, thus +abolishing the inconvenience of so many tribunals and affording +greater facility for the trial of equity causes involving questions of +fact.</p> + +<p>But delegates were slow to profit by the experience of other +Commonwealths. From the moment the report was submitted attacks upon +it became bitter and continuous. Charles O'Conor opposed the elective +system, the union of the two courts, and the abolition of the county +court. Charles P. Kirkland proposed that only three members of the +Court of Appeals be elected, the others to be appointed by the +governor, with the consent of the Senate. Alvah Worden wanted two +Courts of Appeals, one of law and one of chancery, neither of which +should be elective. Simmons desired a different organisation of the +Supreme<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.112" id="vol2Page_ii.112">ii. 112</a></span> Court, and Bascom objected to the insufficient number of +sessions of the court provided for the whole State. Others of the +minority submitted reports and opinions, until the subject seemed +hopelessly befogged and the work of the majority a failure. O'Conor +was especially impatient and restless in his opposition. In skill and +ability no one could vie with him in making the old ways seem better. +He was now forty-two years old. He had a powerful and vigorous frame, +and a powerful and vigorous understanding. It was the wonder of his +colleagues how, in addition to the faithful work performed in +committee, he could get time for the research that was needed to equip +him for the great speeches with which he adorned the debates. He never +held office, save, during a portion of President Pierce's +administration, that of United States attorney for the southern +district of New York; but his rapid, almost instinctive judgment, his +tact, his ability to crush sophistries with a single sentence, and his +vigorous rhetoric must have greatly distinguished his administration +of any office which he might have occupied. Yet the conservatism which +finally separated him from the cordial supporters of the government +during the Civil War usually kept him in the minority. His spirit was +not the spirit that governed; and, in spite of his brilliant and +determined opposition, the convention of 1846 accepted the elective +system, approved the union of equity and law courts, prohibited the +election of a member of the Legislature to the United States Senate, +and submitted to the decision of the people the right of coloured men +to equal suffrage. Only in the retention of the county court were +O'Conor's views sustained; and this came largely through the influence +of Arphaxed Loomis, the material part of whose amendment was +ultimately adopted. When, finally, the Constitution in its entirety +was submitted to the convention for its approval, O'Conor was one of +six to vote against it.</p> + +<p>The Constitution of 1846 was the people's Constitution. It reserved to +them the right to act more frequently upon a large class of questions, +introducing the referendum which<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.113" id="vol2Page_ii.113">ii. 113</a></span> characterises popular government, +and making it a more perfect expression of the popular will. That the +people appreciated the greater power reserved to them was shown on the +third of November, by a vote of 221,528 to 92,436. With few +modifications, the Constitution of 1846 still remains in force,—ample +proof that wisdom, unalloyed with partisan politics or blind +conservatism, guided the convention which framed it.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.114" id="vol2Page_ii.114">ii. 114</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_X" id="vol2CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /> +<br /> +DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SILAS WRIGHT<br /> +<br /> +1846-1847</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> Democratic campaign for governor in 1846 opened with extraordinary +interest. Before the Legislature adjourned, on May 13, the Hunkers +refused to attend a party caucus for the preparation of the usual +address. Subsequently, however, they issued one of their own, charging +the Radicals with hostility to the Polk administration and with +selfishness, born of a desire to control every office within the gift +of the canal board. The address did not, in terms, name Silas Wright, +but the Governor was not blind to its attacks. "They are not very +different from what I expected when I consented to take this office," +he wrote a friend in Canton. "I do not yet think it positively certain +that we shall lose the convention, but that its action and the +election are to produce a perfect separation of a portion of our party +from the main body I cannot any longer entertain a single doubt. You +must not permit appearances to deceive you. Although I am not +denounced here by name with others, the disposition to do that, if +policy would permit, is not even disguised, and every man known to be +strongly my friend and firmly in my confidence is more bitterly +denounced than any other."<a name="vol2FNanchor_76_76" id="vol2FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p> + +<p>It is doubtful if Silas Wright himself fully comprehended the real +reason for such bitterness. He was a natural gentleman, kindly and +true. He might sometimes err in judgment; but he was essentially a +statesman of large and comprehensive vision, incapable of any meanness +or conscious wrong-doing. The masses of the party regarded him as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.115" id="vol2Page_ii.115">ii. 115</a></span> +representative of the opportunity which a great State, in a republic, +holds out to the children of its humblest and poorest citizens. He was +as free from guile as a little child. To him principle and party stood +before all other things; and he could not be untrue to one any more +than to the other. But the leaders of the Hunker wing did not take +kindly to him. They could not forget that the Radical state officers, +with whom he coincided in principle, in conjuring with his name in +1844 had defeated the renomination of Governor Bouck; and, though they +might admit that his nomination practically elected Polk, by +extracting the party from the mire of Texas annexation, they +preferred, deep in their hearts, a Whig governor to his continuance in +office, since his influence with the people for high ends was not in +accord with their purposes. For more than a decade these men, as +Samuel Young charged in his closing speech in the Assembly of that +year, had been after the flesh-pots. They favoured the banking +monopoly, preferring special charters that could be sold to free +franchises under a general law; they influenced the creation of state +stocks in which they profited; they owned lands which would appreciate +by the construction of canals and railroads. To all these selfish +interests, the Governor's restrictive policy was opposed; and while +they did not dare denounce him by name, as the Governor suggested in +his letter, their tactics increased the hostility that was eventually +to destroy him.</p> + +<p>It must be confessed, however, that the representation of Hunkers at +the Democratic state convention, held at Syracuse on October 1, did +not indicate much popular strength. The Radicals outnumbered them two +to one. On the first ballot Silas Wright received one hundred and +twelve votes out of one hundred and twenty-five, and, upon motion of +Horatio Seymour, the nomination became unanimous. For +lieutenant-governor, Addison Gardiner was renominated by acclamation. +The convention then closed its labours with the adoption of a platform +approving the re-enactment of the independent treasury law, the +passage of the Walker tariff act,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.116" id="vol2Page_ii.116">ii. 116</a></span> and the work of the constitutional +convention, with an expression of hope that the Mexican War, which had +commenced on the 12th of the preceding May, might be speedily and +honourably terminated. The address concluded with a just eulogy of +Silas Wright. At the moment, the contest seemed at an end; but the +sequel showed it was only a surface settlement.</p> + +<p>If Democrats were involved in a quarrel, the Whigs were scarcely a +happy family. It is not easy to pierce the fog which shrouds the +division of the party; but it is clear that when Seward became +governor and Weed dictator, trouble began in respect to men and to +measures. Though less marked, possibly, than the differences between +Democratic factions, the discord seemed to increase with the +hopelessness of Whig ascendancy. Undoubtedly it began with Seward's +recommendation of separate schools for the children of foreigners, and +in his pronounced anti-slavery views; but it had also festered and +expanded from disappointments, and from Weed's opposition to Henry +Clay in 1836 and 1840. Even Horace Greeley, already consumed with a +desire for public preferment, began to chafe under the domineering +influence of Weed and the supposed neglect of Seward; while Millard +Fillmore, and those acting with him, although retaining personal +relations with Weed, were ready to break away at the first +opportunity. As the Whigs had been in the minority for several years, +the seriousness of these differences did not become public knowledge; +but the newspapers divided the party into Radicals and Conservatives, +the former being represented by the <i>Evening Journal</i> and the +<i>Tribune</i>, the latter by the New York <i>Courier and Enquirer</i> and the +Buffalo <i>Commercial Advertiser</i>.</p> + +<p>This division, naturally, led to some difference of opinion about a +candidate for governor; and, when the Whig state convention met at +Utica on September 23, an informal ballot developed fifty-five votes +for Millard Fillmore, thirty-six for John Young, and twenty-one for +Ira Harris, with eight or ten scattering. Fillmore had not sought the +nomination.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.117" id="vol2Page_ii.117">ii. 117</a></span> Indeed, there is evidence that he protested against the +presentation of his name; but his vote represented the conservative +Whigs who did not take kindly either to Young or to Harris. Ira +Harris, who was destined to bear a great part in a great history, had +just entered his forty-fourth year. He was graduated from Union +College with the highest honours, studied law with Ambrose Spencer, +and slowly pushed himself into the front rank of practitioners at the +Albany bar. In 1844, while absent in the West, the Anti-Renters +nominated him, without his knowledge, for the Assembly, and, with the +help of the Whigs, elected him. He had in no wise identified himself +with active politics or with anti-rent associations; but the people +honoured him for his integrity as well as for his fearless support of +the principle of individual rights. In the Assembly he demonstrated +the wisdom of their choice, evidencing distinguished ability and +political tact. In 1845 the same people returned him to the Assembly. +Then, in the following year, they sent him to the constitutional +convention; and, some months later, to the State Senate. Beneath his +plain courtesy was great firmness. He could not be otherwise than the +constant friend of everything which made for the emancipation and +elevation of the individual. His advocacy of an elective judiciary, +the union of law and equity, and the simplification of pleadings and +practice in the courts, showed that there were few stronger or clearer +intellects in the constitutional convention. With good reason, +therefore, the constituency that sent him there favoured him for +governor.</p> + +<p>But John Young shone as the popular man of the hour. Young was a +middle-of-the-road Whig, whose candidacy grew out of his recent +legislative record. He had forced the passage of the bill calling a +constitutional convention, and had secured the canal appropriation +which the Governor deemed it wise to veto. In the Assembly of 1845 and +1846, he became his party's choice for speaker; and, though not a man +of refinement or scholarly attainments, or one, perhaps, whose wisdom +and prudence could safely be relied upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.118" id="vol2Page_ii.118">ii. 118</a></span> under the stress of great +responsibilities, he was just then the chief figure of the State and +of great influence with the people—especially with the Anti-Renters +and their sympathisers, whose strife and turbulence in Columbia and +Delaware counties had been summarily suppressed by Governor Wright. +The older leaders of his party thought him somewhat of a demagogue; +Thurlow Weed left the convention in disgust when he discovered that a +pre-arranged transfer of the Harris votes would nominate him. But, +with the avowed friendship of Ira Harris, Young was stronger at this +time than Weed, and on the third ballot he received seventy-six votes +to forty-five for Fillmore. To balance the ticket, Hamilton Fish +became the candidate for lieutenant-governor. Fish represented the +eastern end of the State, the conservative wing of the party, and New +York City, where he was deservedly popular.</p> + +<p>There were other parties in the field. The Abolitionists made +nominations, and the Native Americans put up Ogden Edwards, a Whig of +some prominence, who had served in the Assembly, in the constitutional +convention of 1821, and upon the Supreme bench. But it was the action +of the Anti-Renters, or national reformers as they were called, that +most seriously embarrassed the Whigs and the Democrats. The +Anti-Renters could scarcely be called a party, although they had grown +into a political organisation which held the balance of power in +several counties. Unlike the Abolitionists, however, they wanted +immediate results rather than sacrifices for principle, and their +support was deemed important if not absolutely conclusive. When the +little convention of less than thirty delegates met at Albany in +October, therefore, their ears listened for bids. They sought a pardon +for the men convicted in 1845 for murderous outrages perpetrated in +Delaware and Schoharie; and, although unsupported by proof, it was +afterward charged and never denied, that, either at the time of their +convention or subsequently before the election, Ira Harris produced a +letter from John Young in which the latter promised executive clemency +in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.119" id="vol2Page_ii.119">ii. 119</a></span> the event of his election. However this may be, it is not unlikely +that Harris' relations with the Anti-Renters aided materially in +securing Young's indorsement, and it is a matter of record that soon +after Young's inauguration the murderers were pardoned, the Governor +justifying his action upon the ground that their offences were +political. The democratic Anti-Renters urged Silas Wright to give some +assurances that he, too, would issue a pardon; but the Cato of his +party, who never caressed or cajoled his political antagonists, +declined to give any intimation upon the subject. Thereupon, as if to +emphasise their dislike of Wright, the Anti-Rent delegates indorsed +John Young for governor and Addison Gardiner for lieutenant-governor.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the campaign William C. Bouck received the federal +appointment of sub-treasurer in New York, under the act +re-establishing the independent treasury system. This office was one +of the most important in the gift of the President, and, because the +appointee was the recognised head of the Hunkers, the impression +immediately obtained that the government at Washington disapproved the +re-election of Silas Wright. It became the sensation of the hour. Many +believed the success of the Governor would make him a formidable +candidate for President in 1848, and the impropriety of Polk's action +occasioned much adverse criticism. The President and several members +of his Cabinet privately assured the Governor of their warmest +friendship, but, as one member of the radical wing expressed it, +"Bouck's appointment became a significant indication of the guillotine +prepared for Governor Wright in November."</p> + +<p>Other causes than the Democratic feud also contributed to the +discomfiture of Silas Wright. John Young had made an admirable record +in the Assembly. He had also, at the outbreak of hostilities with +Mexico, although formerly opposed to the annexation of Texas, been +among the first to approve the war, declaring that "Texas was now bone +of our bone, flesh of our flesh, and that since the rights of our +citizens had been trampled upon, he would sustain the country,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.120" id="vol2Page_ii.120">ii. 120</a></span> right +or wrong."<a name="vol2FNanchor_77_77" id="vol2FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> It soon became evident, too, that the Anti-Renters were +warm and persistent friends. His promise to pardon their leaders +received the severe condemnation of the conservative Whig papers; but +such censure only added to his vote in Anti-Rent counties. In like +manner, Young's support of the canals and Wright's veto of the +appropriation, strengthened the one and weakened the other in all the +canal counties. Indeed, after the election it was easy to trace all +these influences. Oneida, a strong canal county, which had given +Wright eight hundred majority in 1844, now gave Young thirteen +hundred. Similar results appeared in Lewis, Alleghany, Herkimer, and +other canal counties. In Albany, an Anti-Rent county, the Whig +majority of twenty-five was increased to twenty-eight hundred, while +Delaware, another Anti-Rent stronghold, changed Wright's majority of +nine hundred in 1844, to eighteen hundred for Young. On the other +hand, in New York City, where the conservative Whig papers had +bitterly assailed their candidate, Wright's majority of thirty-three +hundred in 1844 was increased to nearly fifty-two hundred. In the +State Young's majority over Wright exceeded eleven thousand,<a name="vol2FNanchor_78_78" id="vol2FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> and +Gardiner's over Fish was more than thirteen thousand. The +Anti-Renters, who had also indorsed one Whig and one Democratic canal +commissioner, gave them majorities of seven and thirteen thousand +respectively. Of eight senators chosen, the Whigs elected five; and of +the one hundred and twenty-eight assemblymen, sixty-eight, the +minority being made up of fifty Democrats and ten Anti-Renters. The +Whig returns also included twenty-three out of thirty-four +congressmen.</p> + +<p>It was a sweeping victory—one of the sporadic kind that occur in +moments of political unrest when certain classes are in rebellion +against some phase of existing conditions. Seward, who happened to be +in Albany over Sunday, pictured<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.121" id="vol2Page_ii.121">ii. 121</a></span> the situation in one of his racy +letters. "To-day," he says, "I have been at St. Peter's and heard one +of those excellent discourses of Dr. Potter. There was such a jumble +of wrecks of party in the church that I forgot the sermon and fell to +moralising on the vanity of political life. You know my seat. Well, +half-way down the west aisle sat Silas Wright, wrapped in a coat +tightly buttoned to the chin, looking philosophy, which it is hard to +affect and harder to attain. On the east side sat Daniel D. Barnard, +upon whom 'Anti-Rent' has piled Ossa, while Pelion only has been +rolled upon Wright. In the middle of the church was Croswell, who +seemed to say to Wright, 'You are welcome to the gallows you erected +for me.' On the opposite side sat John Young, the <i>saved</i> among the +lost politicians. He seemed complacent and satisfied."<a name="vol2FNanchor_79_79" id="vol2FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p> + +<p>The defeat of Silas Wright caused no real surprise. It seemed to be in +the air. Everything was against him save his own personal influence, +based upon his sincerity, integrity, and lofty patriotism. Seward had +predicted the result at the time of Wright's nomination in 1844, and +Wright himself had anticipated it. "I told some friends when I +consented to take this office," he wrote John Fine, his Canton friend, +in March, 1846, "that it would terminate my public life."<a name="vol2FNanchor_80_80" id="vol2FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> But the +story of Silas Wright's administration as governor was not all a +record of success. He was opposed to a constitutional convention as +well as to a canal appropriation, and, by wisely preventing the +former, it is likely the latter would not have been forced upon him. +Without a convention bill and a canal veto, the party would not have +divided seriously, John Young would not have become a popular hero, +and the Anti-Renters could not have held the balance of power. To +prevent the calling of a constitutional convention, therefore, or at +least to have confined it within limits approved by the Hunkers, was +the Governor's great<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.122" id="vol2Page_ii.122">ii. 122</a></span> opportunity. It would not have been an easy +task. William C. Crain had a profound conviction on the subject, and +back of him stood Michael Hoffman, the distinguished and unrelenting +Radical, determined to put the act of 1842 into the organic law of the +State. But there was a time when a master of political diplomacy could +have controlled the situation. Even after permitting Crain's defeat +for speaker, the appointment of Michael Hoffman to the judgeship +vacated by Samuel Nelson's transfer to the federal bench would have +placed a powerful lever in the Governor's hand. Hoffman had not sought +the office, but the appointment would have softened him into a friend, +and with Michael Hoffman as an ally, Crain and his legislative +followers could have been controlled.</p> + +<p>It is interesting to study the views of Wright's contemporaries as to +the causes of his defeat.<a name="vol2FNanchor_81_81" id="vol2FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> One thought he should have forced the +convention and veto issues in the campaign of 1845, compelling people +and press to thresh them out a year in advance of his own candidacy; +another believed if he had vetoed the convention bill a canal +appropriation would not have passed; a third charged him with trusting +too much in old friends who misguided him, and too little in new +principles that had sprung up while he was absent in the United States +Senate. One writer, apparently the most careful observer, admitted the +influence of Anti-Renters and the unpopularity of the canal veto, but +insisted that the real cause of the Governor's defeat was the +opposition of the Hunkers, "bound together exclusively by selfish +interests and seeking only personal advancement and personal +gain."<a name="vol2FNanchor_82_82" id="vol2FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.123" id="vol2Page_ii.123">ii. 123</a></span> This writer named Edwin Croswell as the leader whose wide +influence rested like mildew upon the work of the campaign, sapping it +of enthusiasm, and encouraging Democrats among Anti-Renters and those +favourable to canals to put in the knife on election day. Such a +policy, of course, it was argued, meant the delivery of Polk from a +powerful opponent in 1848, and the uninterrupted leadership of William +L. Marcy, who now wielded a patronage, greatly increased by the +Mexican War, in the interest of the Hunkers and for the defeat of +Silas Wright. If this were not true, continued the writer, William C. +Bouck's appointment would have been delayed until after election, and +the work of postmasters and other government officials, who usually +contributed generously of their time and means in earnest support of +their party, would not have been deadened.</p> + +<p>There is abundant evidence that Governor Wright held similar views. "I +have neither time nor disposition to speak of the causes of our +overthrow," he wrote, a few days after his defeat was assured. "The +time will come when they must be spoken of, and that plainly, but it +will be a painful duty, and one which I do not want to perform. Our +principles are as sound as they ever were, and the hearts of the great +mass of our party will be found as true to them as ever. Hereafter I +think our enemies will be open enemies, and against such the democracy +has ever been able, and ever will be able to contend +successfully."<a name="vol2FNanchor_83_83" id="vol2FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a></p> + +<p>Silas Wright's defeat in no wise pained him personally. Like John Jay +he had the habits of seclusion. Manual labour on the farm, his +correspondence, and the preparation of an address to be delivered at +the State Agricultural Fair in Sep<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.124" id="vol2Page_ii.124">ii. 124</a></span>tember, occupied his leisure during +the spring and summer of 1847.<a name="vol2FNanchor_84_84" id="vol2FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> "If I were to attempt to tell you +how happy we make ourselves at our retired home," he wrote Governor +Fairfield of Maine, "I fear you would scarcely be able to credit me. I +even yet realise, every day and every hour, the relief from public +cares, and if any thought about temporal affairs could make me more +uneasy than another, it would be the serious one that I was again to +take upon myself, in any capacity, that ever pressing load."<a name="vol2FNanchor_85_85" id="vol2FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> This +was written on the 16th of August, 1847, and on the morning of the +27th his useful life came to an end. The day before he had spoken of +apoplexy in connection with the death of a friend, as if he, too, had +a premonition of this dread disease. When the end came, the sudden +rush of blood to the head left no doubt of its presence.</p> + +<p>The death of Silas Wright produced a profound sensation. Since the +decease of DeWitt Clinton the termination of no public career in the +State caused more real sorrow. Until then, the people scarcely +realised how much they loved and respected him, and all were quick to +admit that the history of the Commonwealth furnished few natures +better fitted than his, morally and intellectually, for great public +trusts. Perhaps he cannot be called a man of genius; but he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.125" id="vol2Page_ii.125">ii. 125</a></span> a man +of commanding ability, with that absolute probity and good sense which +are the safest gifts of a noble character.</p> + +<p>On the 12th of the following December, James Kent died in his +eighty-fifth year. He had outlived by eighteen years his contemporary, +John Jay; by nearly forty-five years his great contemporary, Alexander +Hamilton; and by more than thirty years his distinguished predecessor, +Chancellor Livingston. He was the last of the heroic figures that made +famous the closing quarter of the eighteenth and the opening quarter +of the nineteenth centuries. He could sit at the table of Philip Hone, +amidst eminent judges, distinguished statesmen, and men whose names +were already famous in literature, and talk of the past with personal +knowledge from the time the colony graciously welcomed John Murray, +Earl of Dunmore, as its governor, or threateningly frowned upon +William Howe, viscount and British general, for shutting up its civil +courts. When, finally, his body was transferred from the sofa in the +library where he had written himself into an immortal fame, to the +cemetery on Second Avenue, the obsequies became the funeral not merely +of a man but of an age.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.126" id="vol2Page_ii.126">ii. 126</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XI" id="vol2CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /> +<br /> +THE FREE-SOIL CAMPAIGN<br /> +<br /> +1847-1848</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> fearless stand of Preston King in supporting the Wilmot +Proviso<a name="vol2FNanchor_86_86" id="vol2FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> took root among the Radicals, as Seward prophesied, and +the exclusion of slavery from territory obtained from Mexico, became +the dominant Democratic issue in the State. Because of their approval +of this principle the Radicals were called "Barnburners." Originally, +these factional differences, as noted elsewhere, grew out of the canal +controversy in 1838 and in 1841, the Conservatives wishing to devote +the surplus canal revenues to the completion of the canals—the +Radicals insisting upon their use to pay the state debt. Under this +division, Edwin Croswell, William C. Bouck, Daniel S. Dickinson, Henry +A. Foster, and Horatio Seymour led the Conservatives; Michael Hoffman, +John A. Dix, and Azariah C. Flagg marshalled the Radicals. When the +Conservatives, "hankering" after the offices, accepted unconditionally +the annexation of Texas, they were called Hunkers. In like manner, the +Radicals who sustained the Wilmot Proviso now became Barnburners, +being likened to the farmer who burned his barn to get rid of rats. +William L. Marcy, Silas Wright, Benjamin F. Butler, and the Van<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.127" id="vol2Page_ii.127">ii. 127</a></span> +Burens took no part in the canal controversy; but after Martin Van +Buren's defeat in 1844 Marcy became a prominent Hunker and entered +Polk's Cabinet, while Wright, Butler, and the Van Burens joined the +Barnburners.</p> + +<p>Hostilities between the Hunkers and Barnburners, growing out of the +slavery question, began at the Democratic state convention, which +convened at Syracuse, September 7, 1847.<a name="vol2FNanchor_87_87" id="vol2FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> Preceding this meeting +both factions had been active, but the Hunkers, having succeeded in +seating a majority of the delegates, promptly voted down a resolution +embodying the principle of the Wilmot Proviso. Then the Barnburners +seceded. There was no parleying. The breach opened like a chasm and +the secessionists walked out in a body. This action was followed by an +address, charging that the anti-slavery resolution had been defeated +by a fraudulent organisation, and calling a mass convention for +October 26, "to avow their principles and consult as to future +action." This meeting became a gathering of Martin Van Buren's +friends. It did not nominate a ticket, which would have defeated the +purpose of the secession; but, by proclaiming the principles of +Free-soil, it struck the keynote of popular sentiment; divided the +Democratic party, and let the Whigs into power by thirty thousand +majority. It made Millard Fillmore comptroller, Christopher Morgan +secretary of state, Alvah<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.128" id="vol2Page_ii.128">ii. 128</a></span> Hunt treasurer, Ambrose L. Jordan +attorney-general, and Hamilton Fish lieutenant-governor to fill the +vacancy occasioned by Addison Gardiner's election to the new Court of +Appeals. The president of this seceders' mass-meeting was Churchill C. +Cambreling, an old associate of Martin Van Buren, but its leader and +inspiration was John Van Buren. He drafted the address to the people, +his eloquence made him its chief orator, and his enthusiasm seemed to +endow him with ubiquity.</p> + +<p>John Van Buren was unlike the ordinary son of a President of the +United States. He did not rely upon the influence or the prestige of +his father.<a name="vol2FNanchor_88_88" id="vol2FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> He was able to stand alone—a man of remarkable power, +who became attorney-general in 1845, and for ten years was a marked +figure in political circles, his bland and convulsing wit enlivening +every convention and adding interest to every campaign. But his chief +interest was in his profession. He was a lawyer of great distinction, +the peer and often the opponent of Charles O'Conor and William H. +Seward. "He possessed beyond any man I ever knew," said Daniel Lord, +"the power of eloquent, illustrative amplification, united with close, +flexible logic."<a name="vol2FNanchor_89_89" id="vol2FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p> + +<p>John Van Buren had, as well, a picturesque side to his life. In +college he was expert at billiards, the centre of wit, and the willing +target of beauty. Out of college, from the time he danced with the +Princess Victoria at a court ball in London at the age of twenty-two, +to the end of his interesting<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.129" id="vol2Page_ii.129">ii. 129</a></span> and eventful life, he was known as +"Prince John." His remarkable gifts opened the door to all that was +ultra as well as noble. He led in the ballroom, he presided at +dinners, he graced every forum, and he moved in the highest social +circles. Men marvelled at his knowledge, at his unfailing equanimity, +and at his political strength; but even to those who were spellbound +by his eloquence, or captivated by his adroit, skilful conduct of a +lawsuit, he was always "Prince John." There was not a drop of +austerity or intolerance or personal hatred in him. The Dutch blood of +his father, traced from the Princes of Orange to the days of the New +Netherland patroons, kept him within the limits of moderation if not +entirely unspotted, and his finished manners attracted the common +people as readily as they charmed the more exclusive.</p> + +<p>John Van Buren's acceptance of Free-soilism did not emanate from a +dislike of slavery; nor did Free-soil principles root themselves +deeply in his nature. His father had opposed the admission of Texas, +and the son, in resentment of his defeat, hoping to make an +anti-slavery party dominant in the State, if not in the nation, +proclaimed his opposition to the extension of slavery. But, after the +compromise measures of 1850 had temporarily checked the movement, he +fell back into the ranks of the Hunkers, aiding President Pierce's +election, and sustaining the pro-slavery administration of Buchanan. +In after years Van Buren frequently explained his connection with the +Free-soil revolt by telling a story of the boy who was vigorously +removing an overturned load of hay at the roadside. Noticing his wild +and rapid pitching, a passer-by inquired the cause of his haste. The +boy, wiping the perspiration from his brow as he pointed to the pile +of hay, replied, "Stranger, <i>dad's under there</i>!"</p> + +<p>But whatever reasons incited John Van Buren to unite with the +Free-soilers, so long as he advocated their principles, he was the +most brilliant crusader who sought to stay the aggressiveness of +slavery. From the moment he withdrew from the Syracuse convention, in +the autumn of 1847,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.130" id="vol2Page_ii.130">ii. 130</a></span> until he finally accepted the compromise measures +of 1850, he was looked upon as the hope of the Barnburners and the +most dangerous foe of the Hunkers. Even Horatio Seymour was afraid of +him. He did not advocate abolition; he did not treat slavery in the +abstract; he did not transcend the Free-soil doctrine. But he spoke +with such power and brilliancy that Henry Wilson, afterward Vice +President, declared him "the bright particular star of the +revolt."<a name="vol2FNanchor_90_90" id="vol2FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> He was not an impassioned orator. He spoke deliberately, +and rarely with animation or with gesture; and his voice, high pitched +and penetrating, was neither mellow nor melodious. But he was +marvellously pleasing. His perennial wit kept his audiences expectant, +and his compact, forceful utterances seemed to break the argument of +an opponent as a hammer shatters a pane of glass. So great was his +popularity at this time, that his return to the Democratic party +became a personal sorrow to every friend of the anti-slavery cause. +"Indeed, such was the brilliant record he then made," says Henry +Wilson, "that had he remained true to the principles he advocated, he +would unquestionably have become one of the foremost men of the +Republican party, if not its accepted leader."<a name="vol2FNanchor_91_91" id="vol2FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a></p> + +<p>Several historic conventions followed the secession of the +Barnburners. Each faction held a state convention to select delegates +to the Democratic national convention which met in Baltimore on May +22, 1848, and, on the appointed day, both Hunkers and Barnburners +presented full delegations, each claiming admission to the exclusion +of the other.<a name="vol2FNanchor_92_92" id="vol2FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> It was an anxious moment for Democracy. New York +held the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.131" id="vol2Page_ii.131">ii. 131</a></span> key to the election; without its vote the party could not +hope to win; and without harmony success was impossible. To exclude +either faction, therefore, was political suicide, and, in the end, the +vote was divided equally between them. To the politician, anxious for +party success and hungry for office, perhaps no other compromise +seemed possible. But the device failed to satisfy either side, and +Lewis Cass was nominated for President without the participation of +the State that must elect or defeat him.</p> + +<p>Returning home, the Barnburners issued an address, written by Samuel +J. Tilden, who fearlessly called upon Democrats to act independently. +This led to the famous convention held at Utica in June. Samuel Young +presided, Churchill C. Cambreling was conspicuous on the stage, David +Dudley Field read a letter from Martin Van Buren condemning the +platform and the candidate of the Baltimore convention, and Benjamin +F. Butler, Preston King, and John Van Buren illuminated the principles +of the Free-soil party in speeches that have seldom been surpassed in +political conventions. In the end Martin Van Buren was nominated for +President.</p> + +<p>This assembly, in the ability and character of its members, contained +the better portion of the party. Its attitude was strong, defiant, and +its only purpose apparently was to create a public sentiment hostile +to the extension of slavery. Nevertheless, it was divided into two +factions, one actuated more by a desire to avenge the alleged wrongs +of Van Buren, than to limit slavery. To this class belonged Churchill +C. Cambreling, Samuel J. Tilden, John A. Dix, Sanford E. Church, Dean +Richmond, John Cochrane, Benjamin F. Butler, and the Van Burens. On +the anti-slavery side, Preston King, David Dudley Field, James S. +Wadsworth, and William Cullen Bryant were conspicuous. Seven years +later, these men were quick to aid in the formation of the Republican +party; while the former, for the most part, continued with the +Democratic party. But, whatever the motives that prompted them, their +action strengthened the Buffalo con<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.132" id="vol2Page_ii.132">ii. 132</a></span>vention<a name="vol2FNanchor_93_93" id="vol2FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> which met on August 9, +1848, giving an impetus to the anti-slavery cause too strong for +resentment or revenge to guide it.</p> + +<p>There have been many important meetings in the history of American +politics, but it may well be doubted if any convention, during the +struggle with slavery, ever exalted the hearts of those who took part +in it more than did this assembly of fearless representatives of the +Free-soil party in Buffalo, the Queen City of the Lakes. The time was +ripe for action, and on that day in August, men eminent and to grow +eminent, sought the shade of a great tent on the eastern shore of Lake +Erie. Among them were Joshua R. Giddings, the well-known Abolitionist; +Salmon P. Chase, not yet famous, but soon to become a United States +senator with views of slavery in accord with William H. Seward; and +Charles Francis Adams who had already associated his name with that of +his illustrious father in the growth of anti-slavery opinions in New +England. Chase presided over the convention and Adams over the +mass-meeting. At the outset, it was boldly asserted that they had +assembled "to secure free soil for a free people;" and in closing they +thrilled the hearts of all hearers with the memorable declaration that +rang throughout the land like a blast from a trumpet, "We inscribe on +our banner Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labour, and Free Men." It was +a remarkable convention in that it made no mistakes. Lewis Cass +represented the South and its purposes, while Zachary Taylor lived in +the South and owned<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.133" id="vol2Page_ii.133">ii. 133</a></span> four hundred slaves. Neither of these men could +be supported; but, in the end, rather than put a fourth candidate into +the field, it was resolved unanimously to indorse Martin Van Buren for +President and Charles Francis Adams for Vice President. Daniel Webster +ridiculed the idea of "the leader of the Free-<i>spoil</i> party becoming +the leader of the Free-soil party;" but Charles Sumner, whose heart +was in the cause, declared that "it is not for the Van Buren of 1838 +that we are to vote, but for the Van Buren of to-day—the veteran +statesman, sagacious, determined, experienced, who, at an age when +most men are rejoicing to put off their armour, girds himself anew and +enters the list as a champion of freedom."<a name="vol2FNanchor_94_94" id="vol2FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> To give further dignity +and importance to the Free-soil movement, the nomination of John P. +Hale, made by the Abolitionists in the preceding November, was +withdrawn, and John A. Dix, then a Democratic senator, accepted the +Barnburners' nomination for governor.<a name="vol2FNanchor_95_95" id="vol2FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.134" id="vol2Page_ii.134">ii. 134</a></span></p><p>The Hunkers were aghast. The movement that let the Whigs into power in +1847 had suddenly become a national party, with the most famous and +distinguished Democrat at its head, while the old issues of internal +improvement, the tariff, and the independent treasury were obscured by +the intensity of the people's opposition to the extension of slavery. +The Hunkers controlled the party machinery—the Barnburners held the +balance of power. To add to the bitterness of the situation, Edwin +Croswell, after a quarter of a century of leadership, had retired from +editorial and political life, leaving no one who could fill his place. +When the Democratic state convention assembled at Syracuse, therefore, +it spent itself in rhetorical denunciation of the rebellious faction, +and wasted itself in the selection of Reuben H. Walworth for governor +and Charles O'Conor for lieutenant-governor. Neither was a popular +nomination. Walworth was the last of the chancellors. He came into +notice as an ardent Bucktail in the days of DeWitt Clinton, and, upon +the retirement of Chancellor Kent in 1828 succeeded to that important +and lucrative office. He was a hard worker and an upright judge; but +he did not rank as a great jurist. The lawyers thought him slow and +crabbed, and his exclusion from the office at the age of fifty-nine, +after the adoption of the new Constitution in 1846, was not regretted. +But Chancellor Walworth had two traits which made him a marked figure +in the Commonwealth—an enthusiasm for his profession that spared no +labour and left no record unsearched; and an enthusiastic love for the +Church.</p> + +<p>Of Charles O'Conor's remarkable abilities, mention occurs elsewhere. +His conservatism made him a Democrat of the extreme school. In the +Slave Jack case and the Lemmon slave case, very famous in their day, +he was counsel for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.135" id="vol2Page_ii.135">ii. 135</a></span> slave-holders; and at the close of the Civil +War he became the attorney for Jefferson Davis when indicted for +treason. O'Conor's great power as a speaker added much to the +entertainment of the campaign of 1848, but whether he would have +beaten his sincere, large-hearted, and affectionate Whig opponent had +no third party divided the vote, was a mooted question at the time, +and one usually settled in favour of the Chautauquan.</p> + +<p>The Whigs had reason to be hopeful. They had elected Young in 1846 by +eleven thousand, and, because of the Barnburner secession, had carried +the State in 1847 by thirty thousand. Everything indicated that their +success in 1848 would be no less sweeping. But they were far from +happy. Early in June, 1846, long before the capture of Monterey and +the victory of Buena Vista, the Albany <i>Evening Journal</i> had suggested +that Zachary Taylor was in the minds of many, and in the hearts of +more, for President in 1848. Thurlow Weed went further. He sent word +to the brilliant officer that he need not reply to the numerous +letters from men of all political stripes offering their support, +since the presidential question would take care of itself after his +triumphant return from Mexico. But, in the spring of 1848, the +question became embarrassing. Taylor was a slave-holder. Many northern +Whigs were deeply imbued with anti-slavery sentiments, and the action +of the Free-soilers was increasing their sensitiveness. "What plagues +me most of all," wrote Washington Hunt to Weed, "is to think how I, +after all I have said against slavery and its extension, am to look +the Wilmot Proviso people in the face and ask them to vote for a +Southern slave-holder."<a name="vol2FNanchor_96_96" id="vol2FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> Yet Taylor was a conquering hero; and, +although little was known of his political sentiments or sympathies, +it was generally believed the Democrats would nominate him for +President if the Whigs did not.</p> + +<p>As the year grew older it became apparent that Henry Clay was the +choice of a large portion of the Whigs of the country. Besides, Daniel +Webster had reappeared as a can<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.136" id="vol2Page_ii.136">ii. 136</a></span>didate; Winfield Scott had the support +of his former New York friends; and Horace Greeley, "waging a quixotic +war against heroes," as Seward expressed it, was sure of defeating +Taylor even if shaken in his confidence of nominating Clay. "I hope +you see your way through this difficulty," Hunt again wrote Weed. "You +are like a deacon I know. His wife said it always came natural to him +to see into the doctrine of election."<a name="vol2FNanchor_97_97" id="vol2FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> Weed believed that Zachary +Taylor, if not nominated by the Whigs, would be taken up by the +Democrats, and he favoured the Southerner because the election of +Jackson and Harrison convinced him that winning battles opened a sure +way to the White House. But Thurlow Weed was not a stranger to +Taylor's sympathies. He had satisfied himself that the bluff old +warrior, though a native of Virginia and a Louisiana slave-holder, +favoured domestic manufactures, opposed the admission of Texas, and +had been a lifelong admirer of Henry Clay; and, with this information, +he went to work, cautiously as was his custom, but with none the less +energy and persistence. Among other things, he visited Daniel Webster +at Marshfield to urge him to accept the nomination for Vice President. +The great statesman recalled Weed's similar errand in 1839, and the +memory of Harrison's sudden death now softened him into a receptive +mood; but the inopportune coming of Fletcher Webster, who reported +that his father's cause was making tremendous progress, changed +consent into disapproval, and for the second time in ten years Webster +lost the opportunity of becoming President.</p> + +<p>When the Whig national convention met in Philadelphia on June 8, +Thurlow Weed did not doubt the ability of Taylor's friends to nominate +him; but, in that event, several prominent delegates threatened to +bolt. It was an anxious moment. The success of the Whig party and the +ascendancy of Weed's leadership in New York were at stake. It was +urged by the anti-slavery men with great vehemence that Taylor was a +"no-party man," and that as a born Southerner<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.137" id="vol2Page_ii.137">ii. 137</a></span> and large slave-holder +he could not be trusted on the slavery question. But when the five +candidates were finally placed in nomination, and a single ballot +taken, it was found, as Weed had predicted, that the hero of Buena +Vista was the one upon whom the Whigs could best unite. With few +exceptions, the friends of Clay, Webster, Scott, and John M. Clayton +could go to Taylor better than to another, and on the fourth ballot, +amidst anger and disappointment, the latter was nominated by sixty +majority.</p> + +<p>For the moment, the office of Vice President seemed to go a-begging, +as it did in the convention of 1839 after the defeat of Henry Clay. +Early in the year Seward's friends urged his candidacy; but he gave it +no encouragement, preferring to continue the practice of his +profession, which was now large and lucrative. John Young, who thought +he would like the place, sent a secret agent to Mexico with letters to +Taylor. Young's record as governor, however, did not commend him for +other honours, and the scheme was soon abandoned. As the summer +advanced Abbott Lawrence of Massachusetts became the favourite; and +for a time it seemed as if his nomination would be made by +acclamation; but, after Taylor's nomination and Clay's defeat, many +delegates promptly declared they would not have "cotton at both ends +of the ticket"—referring to Taylor as a grower and Lawrence as a +manufacturer of cotton. In this crisis, and after a stormy recess, +John A. Collier, a leading lawyer of Binghamton, who had served in the +Twenty-second Congress and one year as state comptroller, suddenly +took the platform. In a stirring speech, in which he eloquently +pictured the sorrow and bitterness of Clay's friends, he hopefully +announced that he had a peace-offering to present, which, if accepted, +would, in a measure, reconcile the supporters of all the defeated +candidates and prevent a fatal breach in the party. Then, to the +astonishment of the convention, he named Millard Fillmore for Vice +President, and asked a unanimous response to his nomination. This +speech, though not pitched in a very exalted key, was so subtile and +telling, that it threw the con<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.138" id="vol2Page_ii.138">ii. 138</a></span>vention into applause. Collier recalled +Fillmore's fidelity to his party; his satisfactory record in Congress, +especially during the passage of the tariff act of 1842; his splendid, +if unsuccessful canvass, as a candidate for governor in 1844, and his +recent majority of thirty-eight thousand for comptroller, the largest +ever given any candidate in the State. At the time, it looked as if a +unanimous response might be made; but the friends of Lawrence rallied, +and at the close of the ballot Fillmore had won by only six votes. For +Collier, however, it was a great triumph, giving him a reputation as a +speaker that later efforts did not sustain.</p> + +<p>To anti-slavery delegates, the Philadelphia convention was a +disappointment. It seemed to lack courage and to be without +convictions or principles. Like its predecessor in 1839 it adopted no +resolutions and issued no address. The candidates became its platform. +In voting down a resolution in favour of the Wilmot Proviso, many +delegates believed the party would prove faithless on the great issue; +and fifteen of them, led by Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, proposed a +national convention of all persons opposed to the extension of +slavery, to be held at Buffalo early in August. "It is fortunate for +us," wrote Seward, "that the Democratic party is divided."<a name="vol2FNanchor_98_98" id="vol2FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> But the +New Yorkers, some of whom found encouragement in the nomination of +Fillmore, who had thus far been inflexible upon the slavery question, +patiently waited for the result of the Whig state convention, which +met at Utica on the 14th of September. By this time, as Seward and +Weed predicted, Taylor's nomination had grown popular. Greeley, soon +to be a candidate for Congress, advised the <i>Tribune's</i> readers to +vote the Whig ticket, while the action of the Buffalo convention, +though it united the anti-slavery vote, assured a division of the +Democratic party more than sufficient to compensate for any Whig +losses. Under these circumstances, the Utica convention assembled with +reasonable hopes of success. It lacked the spirit of the band of +resolute Free-soilers, who met in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.139" id="vol2Page_ii.139">ii. 139</a></span> the same place on the same day and +nominated John A. Dix for governor and Seth M. Gates of Wyoming for +lieutenant-governor; but it gave no evidence of the despair that had +settled upon the convention of the Hunkers in the preceding week.</p> + +<p>One feature of the Whig state convention is worthy of notice. The +great influence of the Anti-Renters who held the balance of power in +the convention of 1846 had disappeared. The Governor's anti-rent +friends urged his renomination with the earnest voice of a brave +people; but John Young was destined to be the comet of a season only. +His course in respect to appointments and to the Mexican War had +alienated Thurlow Weed, and his pardon of the anti-rent rioters +estranged the conservative Whigs. Although a shrewd politician, with +frank and affable manners, as an administrative officer he lacked the +tact displayed so abundantly as a legislator; and its absence +seriously handicapped him. Twenty delegates measured his strength in a +convention that took forty-nine votes to nominate. Under the Taylor +administration, Young received an appointment as assistant treasurer +in New York City—the office given to William C. Bouck in 1846—but +his career may be said to have closed the moment he promised to pardon +a lot of murderous rioters to secure an election as governor. With +that, he passed out of the real world of state-craft into the class of +politicians whose ambition and infirmities have destroyed their +usefulness. He died in April, 1852, at the age of fifty.</p> + +<p>Hamilton Fish was the favourite candidate for governor in the Utica +convention. His sympathies leaned toward the conservatives of his +party; but the moderation of his speech and his conciliatory manners +secured the good wishes of both factions, and he received seventy-six +votes on the first ballot. Fish was admittedly one of the most popular +young men in New York City. He had never sought or desired office. In +1842, the friends of reform sent him to Congress from a strong +Democratic district, and in 1846, after repeatedly and peremptorily +declining, the Whig convention, to save the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.140" id="vol2Page_ii.140">ii. 140</a></span> party from disruption, +compelled him to take the nomination for lieutenant-governor on the +ticket with John Young. In 1847, after Addison Gardiner, by his +appointment to the Court of Appeals, had vacated the +lieutenant-governorship, the convention, in resentment of Fish's +defeat by the Anti-Renters, again forced his nomination for the same +office, and his election followed by thirty thousand majority. Fish +was now thirty-nine years old, with more than two-score and five years +to live. He was to become a United States senator, and to serve, for +eight years, with distinguished ability, as secretary of state in the +Cabinet of President Grant; yet, in all that period, he never departed +from the simple, sincere life that he was living in September, 1848. +Writing of him in the <i>Tribune</i>, on the day after his nomination for +governor, Horace Greeley voiced the sentiment of men irrespective of +party. "Wealthy without pride, generous without ostentation, simple in +manners, blameless in life, and accepting office with no other +aspiration than that of making power subserve the common good of his +fellow citizens, Hamilton Fish justly and eminently enjoys the +confidence and esteem of all who know him."<a name="vol2FNanchor_99_99" id="vol2FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></p> + +<p>On the first ballot, George W. Patterson of Chautauqua received +eighty-four out of ninety-six votes for lieutenant-governor. In his +gentle manners, simple generosity, and moderation of speech, Patterson +was not unlike Hamilton Fish. He was a loyal friend of Seward, a +constant correspondent of Weed, and a member of the inner circle of +governing Whigs; he had been prominent as an Anti-Mason, satisfactory +as a legislator, and impartial as a speaker of the Assembly; he was +now recognised as a far-sighted, wise, and cautious politician. In +guiding the convention to the selection of Hamilton Fish and George W. +Patterson, it was admitted that Thurlow Weed's leadership vindicated +his sagacity.</p> + +<p>The political contest in New York, unlike that in the South and in +some Western States, presented the novel feature of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.141" id="vol2Page_ii.141">ii. 141</a></span> three powerful +parties in battle array. The Free-soil faction was a strange mixture. +Besides Barnburners, there were Conscience Whigs, Proviso Democrats, +Land Reformers, Workingmen, and Abolitionists—a formidable +combination of able and influential men who wielded the power of +absolute disinterestedness, and who kept step with John Van Buren's +trenchant and eloquent speeches which resounded through the State. Van +Buren was the accepted leader, and in this campaign he reached the +height of his reputation. His features were not striking, but in +person he was tall, symmetrical, and graceful; and no one in the State +could hold an audience with such delightful oratory and lofty +eloquence.</p> + +<p>The ablest Whig to oppose him was William H. Seward, who frequently +followed him in localities where Whigs were likely to act with the +Free-soil party. On the slavery question, Seward held views identical +with those expressed by Van Buren; but he insisted that every Whig +vote cast for the third party was only a negative protest against the +slavery party. Real friends of emancipation must not be content with +protests. They must act wisely and efficiently. "For myself," he +declared, "I shall cast my suffrage for General Taylor and Millard +Fillmore, freely and conscientiously, on precisely the same grounds on +which I have hitherto voted."<a name="vol2FNanchor_100_100" id="vol2FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a></p> + +<p>As in former presidential years, each party had its flags and banners, +its drums and cannon, its bewildering variety of inscriptions and +mottoes, and its multitude of speakers charging and countercharging +inconsistencies and maladministration. The Whigs accused Cass with +having printed two biographies, one for the South, in which he +appeared as a slavery extensionist, and one for the North, in which he +figured as a Wilmot Provisoist. To this accusation, Democrats retorted +that the Whigs opposed annexation in the North and favoured it in the +South; denounced the war and nominated its leading general; voted down +the Wilmot Proviso in June, and upheld it in July.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.142" id="vol2Page_ii.142">ii. 142</a></span></p> + +<p>In New York, New England, and in some parts of the West, the clear, +comprehensive, ringing platform of the anti-slavery party had fixed +the issue. Audiences became restless if asked to listen to arguments +upon other topics. Opposition to slavery was, at last, respectable in +politics. For the first time, none of his party deprecated Seward's +advanced utterances upon this question, and from August to November he +freely voiced his opinions. The series of professional achievements +which began with the Freeman case was still in progress; but he laid +them aside that he might pass through his own State into New England, +and from thence through New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, into Ohio, +where the result, as shown by the October election, was to be very +close.</p> + +<p>Seward was now in the fulness of his intellectual power. There was +nothing sensational, nothing unfit in his speeches. He believed that +the conscience of the people was a better guide than individual +ambitions, and he inspired them with lofty desires and filled them +with sound principles of action. "There are two antagonistic elements +of society in America," said he, in his speech at Cleveland, "freedom +and slavery. Freedom is in harmony with our system of government and +with the spirit of the age, and is, therefore, passive and quiescent. +Slavery is in conflict with that system, with justice, and with +humanity, and is, therefore, organised, defensive, active, and +perpetually aggressive. Freedom insists on the emancipation and +elevation of labour. Slavery demands a soil moistened with tears and +blood. These elements divide and classify the American people into two +parties. Each of these parties has its court and sceptre. The throne +of the one is amid the rocks of the Allegheny Mountains; the throne of +the other is reared on the sands of South Carolina. One of these +parties, the party of slavery, regards disunion as among the means of +defence and not always the last to be employed. The other maintains +the Union of the States, one and inseparable, now and forever, as the +highest duty of the American people to themselves, to posterity, to +mankind. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.143" id="vol2Page_ii.143">ii. 143</a></span> is written in the Constitution that five slaves shall +count equal to three freemen as a basis of representation, and it is +written also, in violation of the Divine Law, that we shall surrender +the fugitive slave who takes refuge at our fireside from his +relentless pursuers. 'What, then,' you say; 'can nothing be done for +freedom because the public conscience is inert?' Yes, much can be +done—everything can be done. Slavery can be limited to its present +bounds; it can be ameliorated; it can and must be abolished, and you +and I can and must do it."<a name="vol2FNanchor_101_101" id="vol2FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a></p> + +<p>This presented an epitome of Seward's views when spoken without +restraint. His friends thought them "bold" and his opponents denounced +them as "most perverse and dogmatic," but, whether bold or perverse, +he devoted the chief part of every speech to them. He was not without +humour, man's highest gift, but he had more of humanity; he spoke +seriously and solemnly, usually to grave, sober, reflecting men of all +professions and parties; and, at the end of two hours, dismissed them +as if from an evening church service. At Boston, a Whig member of +Congress from Illinois spoke with him, principally upon the +maladministration of the Democrats and the inconsistencies of Lewis +Cass. After the meeting, while sitting in their hotel, the +congressman, with a thoughtful air, said to Seward: "I have been +thinking about what you said in your speech to-night. I reckon you are +right. We have got to deal with this slavery question, and got to give +much more attention to it hereafter than we have been doing."<a name="vol2FNanchor_102_102" id="vol2FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> +This was Seward's first meeting with Abraham Lincoln. The former was +then forty-seven years old, the latter thirty-nine.</p> + +<p>In New York, the campaign could have but one outcome. The Free-soil +faction divided the Democratic vote nearly by two, giving Van Buren +120,000, Cass 114,000, and Taylor 218,000. The returns for governor +varied but slightly from<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.144" id="vol2Page_ii.144">ii. 144</a></span> these figures.<a name="vol2FNanchor_103_103" id="vol2FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> In the country at large +Taylor secured one hundred and sixty-three electoral votes and Cass +one hundred and twenty-seven. But, a Whig majority of one hundred and +four on joint ballot in the Legislature, and the election of +thirty-one out of thirty-four congressmen, showed the wreckage of a +divided Democracy in New York. The Hunkers elected only six +assemblymen; the Free-soilers secured fourteen. The Whigs had one +hundred and eight. Returns from all the counties and cities in no wise +differed. The Hunkers had been wiped out. If the Free-soilers did not +get office, they had demonstrated their strength, and exulted in +having routed their adversaries. Although Martin Van Buren was not to +leave his retirement at Lindenwald, the brilliant son had avenged his +father's wrongs by dashing Lewis Cass rudely and ruthlessly to the +ground.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.145" id="vol2Page_ii.145">ii. 145</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XII" id="vol2CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /> +<br /> +SEWARD SPLITS THE WHIG PARTY<br /> +<br /> +1849-1850</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> Legislature of 1849 became the scene of a contest that ended in a +rout. John A. Dix's term as United States senator expired on March 4, +and the fight for the succession began the moment the Whig members +knew they had a majority.</p> + +<p>William H. Seward's old enemies seemed ubiquitous. They had neither +forgotten his distribution of patronage, nor forgiven his interest in +slaves and immigrants. To make their opposition effective, John A. +Collier became a candidate. Collier wanted to be governor in 1838, +when Weed threw the nomination to Seward; and, although his election +as comptroller in 1841 had restored friendly relations with Weed, he +had never forgiven Seward. It added strength to the coalition, +moreover, that Fillmore and Collier were now bosom friends. The +latter's speech at Philadelphia had made the Buffalonian Vice +President, and his following naturally favoured Collier. It was a +noisy company, and, for a time, its opposition seemed formidable.</p> + +<p>"Fillmore and Collier came down the river in the boat with me," wrote +Seward from New York on November 16, 1848. "The versatile people were +full of demonstrations of affection to the Vice President, and Mr. +Collier divided the honours. The politicians of New York are engaged +in plans to take possession of General Taylor before he comes to +Washington. Weed is to be supplanted, and that not for his own sake +but for mine."<a name="vol2FNanchor_104_104" id="vol2FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> As the days passed intrigue<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.146" id="vol2Page_ii.146">ii. 146</a></span> became bolder. +Hamilton Fish, Washington Hunt, and other prominent members of the +party, were offered the senatorship. "I wish you could see the letters +I get," Hunt wrote to Weed. "If I wanted to excite your sympathy they +would be sufficient. Some say Seward will be elected. More say neither +Seward nor Collier will be chosen, but a majority are going for a +third man by way of compromise, and my consent is invoked to be number +three."<a name="vol2FNanchor_105_105" id="vol2FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> Then came the letter, purporting to be written by Seward, +declaring that "Collier must be defeated, or our influence with the +Administration will be curtailed. You must look to your members, and +see the members from Cattaraugus, if possible. I think Patterson will +take care of Chautauqua."<a name="vol2FNanchor_106_106" id="vol2FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> Out of this forgery grew an acrimonious +manifesto from Collier, who professed to believe that Seward was +giving personal attention to the work of making himself senator. In +the midst of this violent and bitter canvass, Horace Greeley wrote one +of his characteristic editorials. "We care not who may be the +nominee," said the <i>Tribune</i> of January 24, 1849. "We shall gladly +coincide in the fair expression of the will of the majority of the +party, but we kindly caution those who disturb and divide us, that +their conduct will result only in the merited retribution which an +indignant people will visit upon those who prostitute their temporary +power to personal pique or selfish purposes."</p> + +<p>Seward was continuously in Baltimore and Washington, studying briefs +that had accumulated in his long absence during the campaign; but +Weed, the faithful friend, like a sentinel on the watch-tower, kept +closely in touch with the political situation. "The day before the +legislative caucus," wrote an eye-witness, "the Whig members of the +Legislature gathered around the editor of the <i>Evening Journal</i> for +counsel and advice. It resembled a President's levee. He remained +standing in the centre of the room, conversing with those about him +and shaking hands with new-comers; but<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.147" id="vol2Page_ii.147">ii. 147</a></span> there was nothing in his +manner to indicate the slightest mystery or excitement so common with +politicians."<a name="vol2FNanchor_107_107" id="vol2FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a></p> + +<p>The Whig senators met in caucus on January 29, and by a vote of twelve +to eleven decided to join the Assembly. Then the fight began. William +S. Johnson, a Whig senator from New York City, declared that he would +neither vote for Seward in caucus nor support him in the Legislature. +"It would be equivalent," he continued, "to throwing a firebrand into +the South and aiding in the dissolution of the Whig party and of the +Union." Thereupon the eleven withdrew from further participation in +the proceedings. When the caucus of the two houses convened, fourteen +members declared it inexpedient to support either Seward or Collier; +but an informal ballot gave Seward eighty-eight votes and Collier +twelve, with twenty-two scattering. Three days later, on joint ballot, +Seward received one hundred and twenty-one out of one hundred and +thirty Whig votes. "We were always confident that the caucus could +have but one result," said the <i>Tribune</i>, "and the lofty anticipations +which the prospect of Seward's election has excited will not be +disappointed."</p> + +<p>Successful as Seward had been in his profession since leaving the +office of governor, he was not entirely happy. "I look upon my life, +busy as it is, as a waste," he wrote, in 1847. "I live in a world that +needs my sympathies, but I have not even time nor opportunity to do +good."<a name="vol2FNanchor_108_108" id="vol2FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> His warm and affectionate heart seemed to envy the strife +and obloquy that came to champions of freedom; yet his published +correspondence nowhere directly indicates a desire to return to public +life. "You are not to suppose me solicitous on the subject that drags +me so unpleasantly before the public," he wrote Weed on January 26, +1849, three days before the caucus. "I have looked at it in all its +relations, and cannot satisfy myself that it would be any better for +me to succeed than to be beaten."<a name="vol2FNanchor_109_109" id="vol2FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> This assumed indifference, +however,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.148" id="vol2Page_ii.148">ii. 148</a></span> was written with a feeling of absolute confidence that he +was to succeed, a confidence that brought with it great content, since +the United States Senate offered the "opportunity" for which he sighed +in his despondent letter of 1847. On the announcement of his election, +conveyed to him by wire at Washington, he betrayed no feeling except +one of humility. "I tremble," he wrote his wife, "when I think of the +difficulty of realising the expectations which this canvass has +awakened in regard to my abilities."<a name="vol2FNanchor_110_110" id="vol2FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> To Weed, he added: "I recall +with fresh gratitude your persevering and magnanimous +friendship."<a name="vol2FNanchor_111_111" id="vol2FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a></p> + +<p>From the outset, difficulties confronted the new senator. The question +of limiting slavery excited the whole country, and one holding his +views belonged in the centre of the struggle. But strife for office +gave him more immediate embarrassment. Apprehensive of party discord, +Thurlow Weed, at a dinner given the Vice President and Senator, had +arranged for conferences between them upon important appointments +within the State; but Seward's first knowledge of the New York +custom-house appointments came to him in an executive session for +their confirmation. Seward, as Lincoln afterward said, "was a man +without gall," and he did not openly resent the infraction of the +agreement; but when Weed, upon reaching Washington, discovered that +Fillmore had the ear of the simple and confiding President, he quickly +sought the Vice President. Fillmore received him coldly. From that +moment began an estrangement between Weed and the Buffalo statesman +which was to last until both were grown gray and civil war had +obliterated differences of political sentiment. For twenty years, +their intimacy had been uninterrupted and constantly strengthening. +Even upon the slavery question their views coincided, and, although +Fillmore chafed under his growing preference for Seward and the +latter's evident intellectual superiority, he had exhibited no +impatience toward Weed. But Fillmore was now Vice President, with +aspirations for the Presidency, and he saw in Seward a for<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.149" id="vol2Page_ii.149">ii. 149</a></span>midable +rival who would have the support of Weed whenever the Senator needed +it. He rashly made up his mind, therefore, to end their relationship.</p> + +<p>With Taylor, Weed was at his ease. The President remembered the +editor's letter written in 1846, and what Weed now asked he quickly +granted. When Weed complained, therefore, that the Vice President was +filling federal offices with his own friends, the President dropped +Fillmore and turned to the Senator for suggestions. Seward accepted +the burden of looking after patronage. "I detest and loathe this +running to the President every day to protest against this man or +that,"<a name="vol2FNanchor_112_112" id="vol2FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> he wrote; but the President cheerfully responded to his +requests. "If the country is to be benefited by our services," he said +to the Secretary of the Treasury, "it seems to me that you and I ought +to remember those to whose zeal, activity, and influence we are +indebted for our places."<a name="vol2FNanchor_113_113" id="vol2FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a></p> + +<p>While Weed employed his time in displacing Hunker office-holders with +Whigs, the Democratic party was trying to reunite. It called for a +bold hand. John Van Buren, with a courage born of genius, had struck +it a terrible blow in the face of tremendous odds, the effect of which +was as gratifying to the Barnburners as it was disastrous to the +Hunkers. But, in 1849, the party professed to believe that a union of +the factions would result in victory, since their aggregate vote in +1848 exceeded the Whig vote by sixteen thousand. It is difficult to +realise the arguments which persuaded the Barnburners to rejoin their +adversaries whom they had declared, in no measured terms, to be guilty +of the basest conduct; but, after infinite labour, Horatio Seymour +established constructive harmony and practical co-operation. "We are +asked to compromise our principles," said John Van Buren. "The day of +compromises is past; but, in regard to candidates for state offices, +we are still a commercial people. We will unite with our late +antagonists."<a name="vol2FNanchor_114_114" id="vol2FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.150" id="vol2Page_ii.150">ii. 150</a></span></p> +<p>Seymour and Van Buren did not unite easily. From the first they were +rivals. As an orator, Seymour was the more persuasive, logical, and +candid—Van Buren the more witty, sarcastic, and brilliant. Seymour +was conciliatory—Van Buren aggressive. Indeed, they had little in +common save their rare mental and social gifts, and that personal +magnetism which binds followers with hooks of steel. But they stood +now at the head of their respective factions. When Van Buren, +therefore, finally consented to join Seymour in a division of the +spoils, the two wings of the party quickly coalesced in the fall of +1849 for the election of seven state officers. The Free-soil faction +professed to retain its principles; and, by placing several +Abolitionists upon the ticket, nine-tenths of that party also joined +the combination. But the spirit of the Free-soiler was absent. The man +whose genius and whose eloquence had been the most potent factor in +discrediting the Hunkers now had no anti-slavery speeches to make and +no anti-slavery resolutions to present. John Van Buren's +identification with the great movement, which he prophesied would +stand so strong and work such wonders, was destined, after he had +avenged the insult to his father, to vanish like a breath. Nor did the +coalition of Hunkers, Barnburners, and Abolitionists prove so numerous +or so solid that it could sweep the State. It did, indeed, carry the +Assembly by two majority, and with the help of a portion of the +Anti-Renters, who refused to support their own ticket, it elected four +minor state officers; but the Whigs held the Senate, and, with +majorities ranging from fifteen hundred to five thousand, chose the +comptroller, the secretary of state, and the treasurer. Washington +Hunt, the popular Whig candidate for comptroller, led the ticket by +nearly six thousand, a triumph that was soon to bring him higher +honours.</p> + +<p>The Whigs, however, were to have their day of trouble. The election of +Taylor and Fillmore had fired the Southern heart with zeal to defend +slavery. More than eighty members of Congress issued an address, drawn +by John C.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.151" id="vol2Page_ii.151">ii. 151</a></span> Calhoun, rebuking the agitation of the slavery question, +insisting upon their right to take slaves into the territories, and +complaining of the difficulty of recovering fugitives. The Virginia +Legislature affirmed that the adoption and attempted enforcement of +the Wilmot Proviso would be resisted to the last extremity, and that +the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia would be a direct +attack upon the institution of the Southern States. These resolutions +were indorsed by Democratic conventions, approved at public meetings, +and amplified by state legislatures. In Missouri, Tennessee, and +Kentucky the feeling quickly reached fever heat; in the cotton States +sentiment boldly favoured "A Southern Confederacy." Sectional interest +melted party lines. "The Southern Whigs want the great question +settled in such a manner as shall not humble and exasperate the +South," said the New York <i>Tribune</i>; "the Southern Democrats want it +so settled as to conduce to the extension of the power and influence +of slavery."</p> + +<p>In the midst of this intense southern feeling Henry Clay, from his +place in the United States Senate, introduced the historic resolutions +which bear his name, proposing an amicable adjustment of all questions +growing out of the subject of slavery. This series of compromises was +to admit California, establish territorial governments in the regions +acquired from Mexico without provision for or against slavery, pay the +debt and fix the western boundary of Texas, declare it inexpedient to +abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, deny the right of +Congress to obstruct the slave trade between States, and to enact a +more stringent fugitive slave law. It was in January, 1850, that Clay +opened the memorable debate upon these resolutions, which continued +eight months and included Webster's great speech of the 7th of March. +When the debate ended in September Zachary Taylor was dead, Millard +Fillmore was President, a new Cabinet had been appointed, slavery +remained undisturbed in the District of Columbia, Mexico and Utah had +become territories open to slave-holders, and a new fugitive slave +law<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.152" id="vol2Page_ii.152">ii. 152</a></span> bore the approval of the new Chief Executive. During these months +the whole country had been absorbed in events at Washington. Private +letters, newspapers, public meetings, and state legislatures echoed +the speeches of the three distinguished Senators who had long been in +the public eye, and who, it was asserted at the time, were closing +their life work in saving the Union.</p> + +<p>In this discussion, Daniel S. Dickinson favoured compromise; William +H. Seward stood firmly for his anti-slavery convictions. The latter +spoke on the 11th of March. He opposed the fugitive slave law because +"we cannot be true Christians or real freemen if we impose on another +a chain that we defy all human power to lay on ourselves;"<a name="vol2FNanchor_115_115" id="vol2FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> he +declared for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, +"and if I shall be asked what I did to embellish the capital of my +country, I will point to her freemen and say—these are the monuments +of my munificence;" he antagonised the right to take slaves into new +territories, affirming that the Constitution devoted the domain to +union, to justice, and to liberty. "But there is a higher law than the +Constitution," he said, "which regulates our authority over the +domain, and devotes it to the same noble purposes." In treating of +threats of disunion he looked with a prophet's eye fourteen years into +the future. That vision revealed border warfare, kindred converted +into enemies, onerous taxes, death on the field and in the hospital, +and conscription to maintain opposing forces. "It will then appear +that the question of dissolving the Union is a complex question; that +it embraces the fearful issue whether the Union shall stand and +slavery be removed by gradual, voluntary effort, and with +compensation, or whether the Union shall be dissolved and civil war +ensue, bringing on violent but complete and immediate emancipation. We +are now arrived at that stage of our national progress when that +crisis can be foreseen—when we must foresee it."<a name="vol2FNanchor_116_116" id="vol2FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a></p> + +<p>A less fearless and determined nature must have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.153" id="vol2Page_ii.153">ii. 153</a></span> overwhelmed by +the criticism, the censure, and the insulting sneers which this speech +provoked. Southern feeling dominated the Senate chamber. Many northern +men, sincerely desirous of limiting slavery, preferred giving up the +Wilmot Proviso for the sake of peace. Thousands of Whigs regarded +dissent from Clay and Webster, their time-honoured leaders, as bold +and presumptuous. In reviewing Seward's speech, these people +pronounced it pernicious, unpatriotic, and wicked, especially since +"the higher law" theory, taken in connection with his criticism of the +fugitive slave law, implied that a humane and Christian people could +not or would not obey it. But the Auburn statesman resented nothing +and retracted nothing. "With the single exception of the argument in +poor Freeman's case," he wrote, "it is the only speech I ever made +that contains nothing I could afford to strike out or qualify."<a name="vol2FNanchor_117_117" id="vol2FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a></p> + +<p>But Seward's speech did not influence votes. Clay's compromises passed +amidst the wildest outbursts of popular enthusiasm. They appealed to a +majority of both the great parties as a final settlement of the +slavery question. In New York and other cities throughout the State, +flags were hoisted, salutes fired, joy bells rung, illuminations +flamed at night, and speakers at mass-meetings congratulated their +fellow citizens upon the wisdom of a President and a Congress that had +happily averted the great peril of disunion.</p> + +<p>These exhibitions of gratitude were engrossing the attention of the +people when the Whig state convention met at Utica on the 26th of +September, 1850. Immediately, the approval of Seward's course assumed +supreme importance. Unusual excitement had attended the selection of +delegates. The new administration became aggressive. No secret was +made of its purpose to crush Thurlow Weed; and when the convention +assembled, Hugh Maxwell, collector of the port of New York, and John +Young, sub-treasurer, were there to control it. A test vote for +temporary chairman disclosed sixty-eight Radicals and forty-one +Conservatives present, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.154" id="vol2Page_ii.154">ii. 154</a></span> in the interest of harmony Francis Granger +became the permanent president.</p> + +<p>Granger was a man of honour and a man of intellect, whose qualities of +fairness and fitness for public life have already been described. When +he entered Harrison's Cabinet in 1841, as postmaster-general, the +South classed him as an Abolitionist; when he left Congress in 1843, +in the fulness of his intellectual strength, his home at Canandaigua +became the centre of an admiring group of Whigs who preferred the lead +of Clay and the conservative policy of Webster. He now appeared as an +ally of President Fillmore. It was natural, perhaps, that in +appointing a committee on resolutions, Granger should give advantage +of numbers to his own faction, but the Radicals were amazed at the +questionable action of his committee. It delayed its report upon the +pretext of not being ready, and then, late in the evening, in the +absence of many delegates, presented what purported to be a unanimous +expression, in which Seward was left practically without mention. As +the delegates listened in profound silence the majority became +painfully aware that something was wanting, and, before action upon it +could be taken, they forced an adjournment by a vote of fifty-six to +fifty-one.</p> + +<p>The next morning the Radicals exhibited a desire for less harmony and +more justice. By a vote of seventy-three to forty-six the original +resolutions were recommitted to an enlarged committee, and after +nominating Washington Hunt for governor and George J. Cornwell for +lieutenant-governor, substitute resolutions were adopted by a vote of +seventy-four to forty-two. One difference between the original and the +substitute centred in the organisation of new territories. The +majority opposed any surrender or waiver of the exclusion of slavery +in any act establishing a regular civil organisation; the minority +thought that, since it was impossible to secure the Wilmot Proviso, an +insistence upon which would prevent any territorial organisation, it +would be better to organise them without it, relying upon nature and +the known disposition of the inhabitants to follow the lead of +Cali<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.155" id="vol2Page_ii.155">ii. 155</a></span>fornia. This difference, however, could probably have been healed +had the Radicals not insisted that "the thanks of the Whig party are +especially due to William H. Seward for the signal ability and +fidelity with which he sustained those beloved principles of public +policy so long cherished by the Whigs of the Empire State, expressed +in state and county conventions as well as in the votes and +instructions of the state legislature." Upon this resolution the +Conservatives demanded a roll call, and when its adoption, by the +surprising vote of seventy-five to forty, was announced, the minority, +amidst the wildest excitement, left the hall in a body, followed by +Francis Granger, whose silver gray hair gave a name to the seceders. +Their withdrawal was not a surprise. Like the secession of the +Barnburners three years before, loud threats preceded action. Indeed, +William A. Duer, the Oswego congressman, admitted travelling from +Washington to Syracuse with instructions from Fillmore to bolt the +approval of Seward. But the secession seemed to disturb only the +Silver-Grays themselves, who now drafted an address to the Whigs of +the State and called a new convention to assemble at Utica on October +17.</p> + +<p>The Democrats in their state convention, which met at Syracuse on +September 11, repeated the policy of conciliation so skilfully +engineered in 1849 by Horatio Seymour. They received Barnburner +delegates, they divided the offices, and they allowed John Van Buren +to rule. It mattered not what were the principles of the captivating +Prince and his followers so long as they accepted "the recent +settlement by Congress of questions which have unhappily divided the +people of these States." Thus the Free-soil Barnburners disappeared as +a political factor. Some of them continued to avow their anti-slavery +principles, but no one had the temerity to mention them in convention. +Men deemed it politic and prudent to affect to believe that the +slavery question, which had threatened to disturb the national peace, +was finally laid at rest. The country so accepted it, trade and +commerce demanded it, and old political leaders conceded<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.156" id="vol2Page_ii.156">ii. 156</a></span> it. In this +frame of mind, delegates found it easy to nominate Horatio Seymour for +governor and Sanford E. Church for lieutenant-governor. The next day +the Abolitionists, tired of their union with Hunkers and Barnburners, +nominated William L. Chaplin and Joseph Plumb.</p> + +<p>The convention of the Silver-Grays, held at Utica in October, did not +exalt its members. It was simply a protest. A lion-hearted man had +presumed to voice his convictions, and, although the convention +favoured exercising a liberal spirit of toleration toward the +compromise measures, it refused to exercise such a spirit toward +William H. Seward, or to tolerate him at all. It gave the President a +flattering indorsement for his approval of the fugitive slave law, it +accepted Washington Hunt as its nominee for governor, and it listened +to several addresses, among them one from James O. Putnam of Buffalo; +but the proceedings lacked the enthusiasm that springs from a clear +principle, backed by a strong and resolute band of followers. The +speech of Putnam, however, attracted wide attention. Putnam was a +young man then, less than thirty-three years old, passionately devoted +to Daniel Webster, and a personal friend of Millard Fillmore. As a +speaker he was polished, smooth, and refined, and even when +impassioned kept his passion well within conventional bounds. On this +occasion his mellow and far-reaching voice, keyed to the pitch of +sustained rhetoric, dropped his well-balanced and finely moulded +sentences into the convention amidst hearty applause. He did not then +see with the clearness of Seward's vision. He belonged rather to the +more enlightened and intelligent conservatives who had begun to feel +the ultimate disaster slavery must bring, and who desired that such +disaster should be put off as long as possible; but the day was soon +to dawn in which he would become a loyal supporter of the principles +that were to be forever settled in the civil strife which Seward so +vividly portrayed in the speech that created the Silver-Grays.</p> + +<p>The recently adopted compromise did not become an issue<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.157" id="vol2Page_ii.157">ii. 157</a></span> in the New +York campaign of 1850. If its opponents could not approve, they deemed +silence wise. The followers of Fillmore in the up-state counties +generally acted with the Seward men in support of Washington Hunt; but +a great meeting, held at Castle Garden, near the close of the +campaign, partially succeeded in uniting Democrats and Administration +Whigs in New York City. A letter was read from Daniel Webster, calling +upon all good citizens not to rekindle the flames of "useless and +dangerous controversy;" resolutions favouring a vigorous enforcement +of the fugitive slave law were adopted; and a coalition ticket with +Seymour at its head was agreed upon. This meeting, called a great +popular protest against demagoguery, opened an aggressive canvass to +defeat Hunt and destroy the Syracuse indorsement of Seward by raising +the cry that Seward Whigs preferred civil war to a peaceable +enforcement of the fugitive slave law. Seward took no part in this +campaign. After Congress adjourned on the last day of September, he +devoted the short time between the sessions to his law business. His +friends, however, were active. Weed attacked the Castle Garden meeting +with a bitterness and vigour rarely disclosed in the columns of the +<i>Evening Journal</i>, and Greeley poured one broadside after another into +what he regarded as the miserable mismanagement, blundering, and +confusion of the Administration.</p> + +<p>While waiting the result of the election, people were startled into +sadness by the sudden death of Samuel Young at the age of seventy-two. +He had retired in usual health, but died during the night. His +distinguished career, covering nearly two-score years, was +characterised by strong prejudices, violent temper, and implacable +resentments, which, kept him behind men of less aptitude for public +service; but he was always a central figure in any assemblage favoured +with his presence. He had a marvellous force of oratory. His, voice, +his gestures, his solemn pauses, followed by lofty and sustained +declamation, proved irresistible and sometimes overwhelming in their +effect. But it was his misfortune to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.158" id="vol2Page_ii.158">ii. 158</a></span> be an orator with jaundiced +vision, who seemed not always to see that principles controlled +oftener than rhetoric. Yet, he willingly walked on in his own wild, +stormy way, apparently enjoying the excitement with no fear of danger. +"In his heart there was no guile," said Horace Greeley; "in his face +no dough."</p> + +<p>It was several weeks after the election, before it was ascertained +whether Seymour or Hunt had been chosen. Both were popular, and of +about the same age. Washington Hunt seems to have devoted his life to +an earnest endeavour to win everybody's good will. At this time +Greeley thought him "capable without pretension," and "animated by an +anxious desire to win golden opinions by deserving them." He had been +six years in Congress, and, in 1849, ran far ahead of his ticket as +comptroller. Horatio Seymour was no less successful in winning +approbation. He had become involved in the canal controversy, but +carefully avoided the slavery question. Greeley found it in his heart +to speak of him as "an able and agreeable lawyer of good fortune and +competent speaking talent, who would make a highly respectable +governor." But 1850 was not Seymour's year. His associates upon the +ticket were elected by several thousand majority, and day after day +his own success seemed probable. The New York City combine gave him a +satisfactory majority; in two or three Hudson river counties he made +large gains; but the official count gave Hunt two hundred and +sixty-two plurality,<a name="vol2FNanchor_118_118" id="vol2FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> with a safe Whig majority in the +Legislature. The Whigs also elected a majority of the congressmen. +"These results," wrote Thurlow Weed, "will encourage the friends of +freedom to persevere by all constitutional means and through all +rightful channels in their efforts to restrain the extension of +slavery, and to wipe out that black spot wherever it can be done +without injury to the rights and interests of others."<a name="vol2FNanchor_119_119" id="vol2FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.159" id="vol2Page_ii.159">ii. 159</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XIII" id="vol2CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /> +<br /> +THE WHIGS’ WATERLOO<br /> +<br /> +1850-1852</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> Assembly of 1851 has a peculiar, almost romantic interest for New +Yorkers. A very young man, full of promise and full of performance, +the brilliant editor of a later day, the precocious politician of that +day, became its speaker. Henry Jarvis Raymond was then in his +thirty-first year. New York City had sent him to the Assembly in 1850, +and he leaped into prominence the week he took his seat. He was ready +in debate, temperate in language, quick in the apprehension of +parliamentary rules, and of phenomenal tact. The unexcelled courtesy +and grace of manner with which he dropped the measured and beautiful +sentences that made him an orator, undoubtedly aided in obtaining the +position to which his genius entitled him. But his political +instincts, also, were admirable, and his aptness as an unerring +counsellor in the conduct of complicated affairs always turned to the +advantage of his party. There came a time, after the assassination of +President Lincoln, when he made a mistake so grievous that he was +never able to regain his former standing; when he was dropped from the +list of party leaders; when his cordial affiliation with members of +the Republican organisation ceased; when his removal from the +chairmanship of the National Committee was ratified by the action of a +state convention; but the sagacity with which he now commented upon +what he saw and heard made the oldest members of the Assembly lean +upon him. And when he came back to the Legislature in January, 1851, +they put him in the speaker's chair.</p> + +<p>Raymond seems never to have wearied of study, or to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.160" id="vol2Page_ii.160">ii. 160</a></span> have found it +difficult easily to acquire knowledge. He could read at three years of +age; at five he was a speaker. In his sixteenth year he taught school +in Genesee County, where he was born, wrote a Fourth of July ode +creditable to one of double his years, and entered the University of +Vermont. As soon as he reached an age to appreciate his tastes and to +form a purpose, he began equipping himself for the career of a +political journalist. He was not yet twenty-one when he made Whig +speeches in the campaign of 1840 and gained employment with Horace +Greeley on the <i>New Yorker</i> and a little later on the <i>Tribune</i>. "I +never found another person, barely of age and just from his studies, +who evinced so much and so versatile ability in journalism as he did," +wrote Greeley. "Abler and stronger men I may have met; a cleverer, +readier, more generally efficient journalist I never saw. He is the +only assistant with whom I ever felt required to remonstrate for doing +more work than any human brain and frame could be expected long to +endure. His services were more valuable in proportion to their cost +than those of any one who ever worked on the <i>Tribune</i>."<a name="vol2FNanchor_120_120" id="vol2FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> In 1843, +when Raymond left the <i>Tribune</i>, James Watson Webb, already acquainted +with the ripe intelligence and eager genius of the young man of +twenty-three, thought him competent to manage the <i>Courier and +Enquirer</i>, and in his celebrated discussion with Greeley on the +subject of socialism he gave that paper something of the glory which +twelve years later crowned his labours upon the New York <i>Times</i>.</p> + +<p>It was inevitable that Raymond should hold office. The readiness with +which he formulated answers to arguments in the Polk campaign, his +sympathy with the Free-soil movement, the canal policy, and the common +school system, produced a marked impression upon the dawning wisdom of +his readers. But it was near the end of his connection with the +<i>Courier</i> before he yielded his own desires to the urgent solicitation +of the Whigs of the ninth ward and went to the Assembly. He had not +yet quarrelled with James Watson Webb.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.161" id="vol2Page_ii.161">ii. 161</a></span> That came in the spring of +1851 when he refused to use his political influence as speaker against +Hamilton Fish for United States senator and in favour of the owner of +the <i>Courier and Enquirer</i>. His anti-slavery convictions and strong +prejudices against the compromise measures of 1850 also rapidly +widened the gulf between him and his superior; and when the break +finally came he stepped from the speaker's chair into the editorial +management of the New York <i>Times</i>, his own paper, pure in tone and +reasonable in price, which was destined to weaken the <i>Courier</i> as a +political organ, to rival the <i>Tribune</i> as a family and party journal, +and to challenge the <i>Herald</i> as a collector of news.</p> + +<p>The stormy sessions of the Legislature of 1851 needed such a speaker +as Raymond. At the outset, the scenes and tactics witnessed at +Seward's election to the Senate in 1849 were repeated in the selection +of a successor to Daniel S. Dickinson, whose term expired on the 4th +of March. Webb's candidacy was prosecuted with characteristic zeal. +For a quarter of a century he had been a picturesque, aggressive +journalist, with a record adorned with libel suits and duels—the +result of pungent paragraphs and bitter personalities—making him an +object of terror to the timid and a pistol target for the fearless. On +one occasion, through the clemency of Governor Seward, he escaped a +two years' term in state's prison for fighting the brilliant "Tom" +Marshall of Kentucky, who wounded him in the leg, and it is not +impossible that Jonathan Cilley might have wounded him in the other +had not the distinguished Maine congressman refused his challenge +because he was "not a gentleman." This reply led to the foolish and +fatal fray between Cilley and William J. Graves, who took up Webb's +quarrel.</p> + +<p>Webb was known as the Apollo of the press, his huge form, erect and +massive, towering above the heads of other men, while his great +physical strength made him noted for feats of endurance and activity. +As a young man he held a minor commission in the army, but in 1827, at +the age of twenty-five, he resigned to become the editor of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.162" id="vol2Page_ii.162">ii. 162</a></span> +<i>Courier</i>, which, in 1829, he combined with the <i>Enquirer</i>. For twenty +years, under his management, this paper, first as a supporter of +Jackson and later as an advocate of Whig policies, ranked among the +influential journals of New York. After Raymond withdrew, however, it +became the organ of the Silver-Grays, and began to wane, until, in +1860, it lapsed into the <i>World</i>.</p> + +<p>Webb's chief title to distinction in political life was allegiance to +his own principles regardless of the party with which he happened to +be affiliated, and his fidelity to men who had shown him kindness. He +followed President Jackson until the latter turned against the United +States Bank, and he supported the radical Whigs until Clay, in 1849, +defeated his confirmation for minister to Austria; but, to the last, +he seems to have remained true to Seward, possibly because Seward kept +him out of state's prison, although, in the contest for United States +senator in 1851, Hamilton Fish was the candidate of the Seward Whigs. +Fish had grown rapidly as governor. People formerly recognised him as +an accomplished gentleman, modest in manners and moderate in speech, +but his conduct and messages as an executive revealed those higher +qualities of statesmanship that ranked him among the wisest public men +of the State. Thurlow Weed had accepted rather than selected him for +governor in 1848. "I came here without claims upon your kindness," +Fish wrote on December 31, 1850, the last day of his term. "I shall +leave here full of the most grateful recollections of your favours and +good will."<a name="vol2FNanchor_121_121" id="vol2FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> This admission was sufficient to dishonour him with +the Fillmore Whigs, and, although he became the caucus nominee for +senator on the 30th of January, his opponents, marshalled by Fillmore +office-holders in support of James Watson Webb, succeeded in +deadlocking his election for nearly two months.<a name="vol2FNanchor_122_122" id="vol2FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.163" id="vol2Page_ii.163">ii. 163</a></span></p><p>In the meantime, other serious troubles confronted the young speaker. +The Assembly, pursuant to the recommendation of Governor Hunt, passed +an act authorising a loan of nine million dollars for the immediate +enlargement of the Erie canal. Its constitutionality, seriously +doubted, was approved by Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate, and the +Whigs, needing an issue for the campaign, forced the bill ahead until +eleven Democratic senators broke a quorum by resigning their seats. +The Whigs were scarcely less excited than the Democrats. Such a +secession had never occurred before. Former legislators held the +opinion that they were elected to represent and maintain the interests +of their constituents—not to withdraw for the sake of indulging some +petulant or romantic impulse because they could not have their own +way. Two opposition senators had the good sense to take this view and +remain at their post. Governor Hunt immediately called an extra +session, and, in the campaign to fill the vacancies, six of the eleven +seceders were beaten. Thus reinforced in the Senate, the Whig policy +became the law; and, although, the Court of Appeals, in the following +May, held the act unconstitutional, both parties got the benefit of +the issue in the campaign of 1851.</p> + +<p>In this contest the Whigs followed the lead of the Democrats in +avoiding the slavery question. The fugitive slave law was absorbing +public attention. The "Jerry rescue" had not occurred in Syracuse; nor +had the killing of a slave-holder in a negro uprising on the border of +an adjoining State adver<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.164" id="vol2Page_ii.164">ii. 164</a></span>tised the danger of enforcing the law; yet +the Act had not worked as smoothly as Fillmore's friends wished. It +took ten days of litigation at a cost of more than the fugitive's +value to reclaim a slave in New York City. Trustworthy estimates fixed +the number of runaways in the free States at fifteen thousand, and a +southern United States senator bitterly complained that only four or +five had been recaptured since the law's enactment. Enough had been +done, however, to inflame the people into a passion. Ralph Waldo +Emerson declared the Act "a law which every one of you will break on +the earliest occasion—a law which no man can obey, or abet the +obeying, without loss of self-respect and forfeiture of the name of +gentleman."<a name="vol2FNanchor_123_123" id="vol2FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> Seward did not hesitate to publish similar +sentiments. "Christendom," he wrote, "might be searched in vain for a +parallel to the provisions which make escape from bondage a crime, and +which, under vigorous penalties, compel freemen to aid in the capture +of slaves."<a name="vol2FNanchor_124_124" id="vol2FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> The Albany <i>Evening Journal</i> declared that "the +execution of the fugitive slave law violently convulses the +foundations of society. Fugitives who have lived among us for many +years cannot be seized and driven off as if they belonged to the brute +creation. The attempt to recover such fugitives will prove +abortive."<a name="vol2FNanchor_125_125" id="vol2FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a></p> + +<p>It is impossible to read these expressions without believing that they +were written under the inspiration of genuine emotion, and that so +long as such conditions continued men of sentiment could think of +little else. Danger to the Union, at least assumed danger, could not +in any way soften their hearts or change their purposes. Yet the state +conventions which met in Syracuse on September 10 and 11, 1851, talked +of other things. The Democrats nominated a ticket divided between +Hunkers and Barnburners; and, after condemning the Whig management of +the canals as lavish, reckless, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.165" id="vol2Page_ii.165">ii. 165</a></span> corrupt, readopted the slavery +resolutions of the previous year. The Whigs likewise performed their +duty by making up a ticket of Fillmore and inoffensive Seward men, +pledging the party to the enlargement of the Erie canal. Thus it was +publicly announced that slavery should be eliminated from the thought +and action of parties.</p> + +<p>This policy of silence put the Whigs under painful restraint. The +rescue of a fugitive at Syracuse by a band of resolute men, led by +Gerrit Smith and Samuel J. May, and the killing of a slave-owner at +Christiana, Pennsylvania, while attempting to reclaim his property, +seriously disturbed the consciences of men who thought as did Emerson +and Seward; but not a word appeared in Whig papers about the great +underlying question which persistently forced itself on men's +thoughts. Greeley wrote of the tariff and the iron trade; Seward spent +the summer in Detroit on professional engagements; and Weed, whose +great skill had aided in successfully guiding the canal loan through a +legislative secession, continued to urge that policy as the key to the +campaign as well as to New York's commerce. But after the votes were +counted the Whigs discovered that they had played a losing game. Two +minor state officers out of eight, with a tie in the Senate and two +majority in the Assembly, summed up their possessions. The defeat of +George W. Patterson for comptroller greatly distressed his friends, +and the loss of the canal board, with all its officers, plunged the +whole Whig party into grief. Several reasons for this unexpected +result found advocates in the press. There were evidences of +infidelity in some of the up-state counties, especially in the Auburn +district, where Samuel Blatchford's law partnership with Seward had +defeated him for justice of the Supreme Court; but the wholesale +proscription in New York City by Administration or "Cotton Whigs," as +they were called, fully accounted for the overthrow. It was taken as a +declaration of war against Sewardism. "The majorities against +Patterson and his defeated associates," said the <i>Tribune</i>, in its +issue of November 20, "imply that no man who is recognised<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.166" id="vol2Page_ii.166">ii. 166</a></span> as a +friend of Governor Seward and a condemner of the fugitive slave law +must be run on our state ticket hereafter, or he will be beaten by the +Cotton influence in this city." Hamilton Fish took a similar view. "A +noble, glorious party has been defeated—destroyed—by its own +leaders," he wrote Weed. "Webster has succeeded better under Fillmore +than he did under Tyler in breaking up the Whig organisation and +forming a third party. I pity Fillmore. Timid, vacillating, credulous, +unjustly suspicious when approached by his prejudices, he has allowed +the sacrifice of that confiding party which has had no honours too +high to confer upon him. It cannot be long before he will realise the +tremendous mistake he has made."<a name="vol2FNanchor_126_126" id="vol2FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a></p> + +<p>What Hamilton Fish said the great majority of New York Whigs thought, +and in this frame of mind they entered the presidential campaign of +1852. Fillmore, Scott, and Webster were the candidates. Fillmore had +not spared the use of patronage to further his ambition. It mattered +not that the postmaster at Albany was the personal friend of Thurlow +Weed, or that the men appointed upon the recommendation of Seward were +the choice of a majority of their party, the proscription extended to +all who disapproved the Silver-Grays' bolt of 1850, or refused to +recognise their subsequent convention at Utica. Under these +circumstances thirst for revenge as well as a desire to nominate a +winning candidate controlled the selection of presidential delegates; +and in the round-up seven favoured Fillmore, two preferred Webster, +while twenty-four supported Scott. Naturally the result was a great +shock to Fillmore. The Silver-Grays had been growing heartily sick of +their secession, and if they needed further evidence of its rashness +the weakness of their leader in his home State furnished it.</p> + +<p>Fillmore's strength proved to be chiefly in the South. His vigorous +execution of the fugitive slave law had been more potent than his +unsparing use of patronage; and when the Whig convention assembled at +Baltimore on June 16 the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.167" id="vol2Page_ii.167">ii. 167</a></span> question whether that law should be declared +a finality became of supreme importance. Fillmore could not stand on +an anti-slavery platform, and a majority of the New Yorkers refused +their consent to any sacrifice of principle. But, in spite of their +protest, the influence of a solid southern delegation, backed by the +marvellous eloquence of Rufus Choate, forced the passage of a +resolution declaring that "the compromise acts, the act known as the +fugitive slave law included, are received and acquiesced in by the +Whig party of the United States as a settlement in principle and +substance of the dangerous and exciting questions which they embrace. +We insist upon their strict enforcement; and we deprecate all further +agitation of the question thus settled, as dangerous to our peace, and +will discountenance all efforts to continue or renew such agitation +whenever, wherever, or however the attempt may be made." A roll call +developed sixty-six votes in the negative, all from the North, and +one-third of them from New York.</p> + +<p>This was a Fillmore-Webster platform, and the first ballot gave them a +majority of the votes cast, Fillmore having 133, Webster 29, Scott +131. The number necessary to a choice was 147. The activity of the +Fillmore delegates, therefore, centred in an effort to concentrate the +votes of the President and his secretary of state. Both were in +Washington, their relations were cordial, and an adjournment of the +convention over Sunday gave abundant opportunity to negotiate. When it +became manifest that Webster's friends would not go to Fillmore, an +extraordinary effort was made to bring the President's votes to +Webster. This was agreeable to Fillmore, who placed a letter of +withdrawal in the hands of a Buffalo delegate to be used whenever he +deemed it proper. But twenty-two Southern men declined to be +transferred, while the most piteous appeals to the Scott men of New +York met with cold refusals. They professed any amount of duty to +their party, but as regards the Fillmore combine they were implacable. +They would listen to no terms of compromise while their great enemy +remained in the field. Mean<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.168" id="vol2Page_ii.168">ii. 168</a></span>time, the Scott managers had not been +asleep. In the contest over the platform, certain Southern delegates +had agreed to vote for Scott whenever Fillmore reached his finish, +provided Scott's friends supported the fugitive slave plank; and these +delegates, amidst the wildest excitement, now began changing their +votes to the hero of Lundy's Lane. On the fifty-third ballot, the +soldier had twenty-six majority, the vote standing: Scott, 159; +Fillmore, 112; Webster, 21.</p> + +<p>The prophecy of Hamilton Fish was fulfilled. Fillmore now realised, if +never before, "the tremendous mistakes he had made." Upon his election +as Vice President, and especially after dreams of the White House +began to dazzle him, he seemed to sacrifice old friends and cherished +principles without a scruple. Until then, the Buffalo statesman had +been as pronounced upon the slavery question as Seward; and after he +became President, with the tremendous influence of Daniel Webster +driving him on, it was not believed that he would violate the +principles of a lifetime by approving a fugitive slave law, revolting +to the rapidly growing sentiment of justice and humanity toward the +slave. But, unlike Webster, the President manifested no feeling of +chagrin or disappointment over the result at Baltimore. Throughout the +campaign and during the balance of his term of office he bore himself +with courage and with dignity. Indeed, his equanimity seemed almost +like the fortitude of fatalism. No doubt, he was sustained by the +conviction that the compromise measures had avoided civil war, and by +the feeling that if he had erred, Clay and Webster had likewise erred; +but he could have had no presentiment of the depth of the retirement +to which he was destined. He was to reappear, in 1856, as a +presidential candidate of the Americans; and, after civil war had rent +the country in twain, his sympathy for the Union was to reveal itself +early and with ardour. But the fugitive slave law, which, next to +treason itself, had become the most offensive act during the ante-war +crisis, filled the minds of men with a growing dislike of the one +whose pen gave it life, and, in spite of his high character, his long<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.169" id="vol2Page_ii.169">ii. 169</a></span> +public career, and his eminence as a citizen, he was associated with +Pierce and Buchanan, who, as Northern men, were believed to have +surrendered to Southern dictation.<a name="vol2FNanchor_127_127" id="vol2FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a></p> + +<p>In the national convention at Baltimore, which met June 1, 1852, the +New York Democrats were likewise destined to suffer by their +divisions. Lewis Cass, James Buchanan, and Stephen A. Douglas were the +leading candidates; though William L. Marcy and Daniel S. Dickinson +also had presidential ambitions. Marcy was a man of different mould +from Dickinson.<a name="vol2FNanchor_128_128" id="vol2FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> With great mental resources, rare administrative +ability, consummate capacity in undermining enemies, and an intuitive +sagacity in the selection of friends, Marcy was an opponent to be +dreaded. After the experiences of 1847 and 1848, he had bitterly +denounced the Barnburners, refusing even to join Seymour in 1849 in +his heroic efforts to reunite the party; but when the Barnburners, +influenced by the Utica statesman, began talking of him for President +in 1852 he quickly put himself in accord with that wing of his party. +Instantly, this became a call to battle. The Hunkers, provoked at his +apostacy and encouraged by the continued distrust of many Barnburners, +made a desperate ef<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.170" id="vol2Page_ii.170">ii. 170</a></span>fort, under the leadership of Dickinson, to secure +a majority of the delegates for Cass. The plastic hand of Horatio +Seymour, however, quickly kneaded the doubting Barnburners into Marcy +advocates; and when the contest ended the New York delegation stood +twenty-three for Marcy and thirteen for Cass.</p> + +<p>Dickinson, who had been a steadfast friend of the South, relied with +confidence upon Virginia and other Southern States whenever success +with Cass seemed impossible. On the other hand, Marcy expected a +transfer of support from Buchanan and Douglas if the break came. On +the first ballot Cass had 116, Buchanan 93, Douglas 20, and Marcy 27; +necessary to a choice, 188. As chairman of the New York delegation, +Horatio Seymour held Marcy's vote practically intact through +thirty-three ballots; but, on the thirty-fourth, he dropped to 23, and +Virginia cast its fifteen votes for Dickinson, who, up to that time, +had been honoured only with the vote of a solitary delegate. In the +midst of some applause, the New Yorker, who was himself a delegate, +thanked his Virginia friends for the compliment, but declared that his +adherence to Cass could not be shaken.<a name="vol2FNanchor_129_129" id="vol2FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> Dickinson had carefully +arranged for this vote. The day before, in the presence of the +Virginia delegation, he had asked Henry B. Stanton's opinion of his +ability to carry New York. "You or Marcy or any man nominated can +carry New York," was the laconic reply. Dickinson followed Stanton out +of the room to thank him for his courtesy, but regretted he did not +confine his answer to him alone. After Virginia's vote Dickinson again +sought Stanton's opinion as to its adherence. "It is simply a +compliment," was the reply, "and will leave you on the next ballot," +which it did, going to Franklin<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.171" id="vol2Page_ii.171">ii. 171</a></span> Pierce. "Dickinson's friends used to +assert," continued Stanton, "that he threw away the Presidency on this +occasion. I happened to know better. He never stood for a moment where +he could control the Virginia vote—the hinge whereon all was to +turn."<a name="vol2FNanchor_130_130" id="vol2FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a></p> + +<p>In the meantime Marcy moved up to 44. It had been evident for two days +that the favourite candidates could not win, and for the next thirteen +ballots, amidst the greatest noise and confusion, the convention +sought to discover the wisest course to pursue. Seymour endeavoured to +side-track the "dark horse" movement by turning the tide to Marcy, +whose vote kept steadily rising. When, on the forty-fifth ballot, he +reached 97, the New York delegation retired for consultation. Seymour +at once moved that the State vote solidly for Marcy; but protests fell +so thick, exploding like bombshells, that he soon withdrew the motion. +This ended Marcy's chances.<a name="vol2FNanchor_131_131" id="vol2FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> On the forty-ninth ballot, North +Carolina started the stampede to Pierce, who received 282 votes to 6 +for all others. Later in the day, the convention nominated William R. +King of Alabama for Vice President, and adopted a platform, declaring +that "the Democratic party of the Union will abide by, and adhere to, +a faithful execution of the acts known as the compromise measures +settled by the last Congress—the act for reclaiming fugitive slaves +from service of labour included; which act, being designed to carry +out an express provision of the Constitution, cannot with fidelity +thereto<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.172" id="vol2Page_ii.172">ii. 172</a></span> be repealed, nor so changed as to destroy or impair its +efficiency."</p> + +<p>Some time before the convention it was suggested, with Marcy's +approval, that the New York delegation should vote as a unit for +Dickinson if he proved the stronger candidate outside the State, and, +upon the same condition, a solid delegation should vote for Marcy. +This proposition did not reach Dickinson until his leading friends had +committed themselves by a second choice; but, in speaking of the +matter to Thurlow Weed ten years afterward, Dickinson said that had it +come in time he would cheerfully have accepted it, adding that +whatever may have been his opinion in 1852, he now knew it would have +resulted in Marcy's nomination.</p> + +<p>The disturbance among the New York delegates at Baltimore had its +influence at Syracuse when the Democratic state convention assembled +on September 1. Seymour was the leading candidate for governor, and +Dickinson opposed him with a bitterness born of a desire for revenge. +The night before the convention Seymour's chances were pronounced +desperate. Whatever disappointments had come at Baltimore were laid at +his door. Seymour made Cass' defeat possible; Seymour refused to help +Buchanan; Seymour was responsible for a dark horse; Seymour filled +Marcy's friends with hopes of ultimate victory, only to heighten their +disappointment in the end. All these allegations were merely founded +upon his steadfastness to Marcy, and he might have answered that +everything had been done with the approval of a majority of the New +York delegation. But Dickinson was no match for the Utica statesman. +Seymour's whole life had been a training for such a contest. As Roscoe +Conkling said of him many years later, he had sat at the feet of Edwin +Croswell and measured swords with Thurlow Weed. He was one of the men +who do not lose the character of good fighters because they are +excellent negotiators. Even the cool-headed and astute John Van Buren, +who joined Dickinson in his support of John P. Beekman of New York +City for governor,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.173" id="vol2Page_ii.173">ii. 173</a></span> found that Seymour could cut deeply when he chose +to wield a blade.<a name="vol2FNanchor_132_132" id="vol2FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> Seymour, moreover, gave his friends great +satisfaction by the energy with which he entered the gubernatorial +contest. When the first ballot was announced he had 59 votes to +Beekman's 7, with only 64 necessary to a choice. On the second ballot, +the Utican had 78 and Beekman 3. This concluded the convention's +contest. Sanford E. Church was then renominated for +lieutenant-governor, and the Baltimore platform approved.</p> + +<p>The Whig state convention met at Syracuse on September 22 and promptly +renominated Washington Hunt for governor by acclamation. Raymond +wanted it, and Greeley, in a letter to Weed, admitted an ambition, +while a strong sentiment existed for George W. Patterson. Hunt had +veered toward Fillmore's way of thinking. "The closing paragraphs of +his message are a beggarly petition to the South," wrote George +Dawson, the quaint, forceful associate of Weed upon the <i>Evening +Journal</i>.<a name="vol2FNanchor_133_133" id="vol2FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> But Hunt's administration had been quiet and +satisfactory, and there was little disposition to drop him. He did not +have the patience of Hamilton Fish, but he resembled him in moderation +of speech.</p> + +<p>William Kent, a son of the Chancellor, received the nomination for +lieutenant-governor. Kent was a scholarly, able lawyer. He had served +five years upon the circuit bench by appointment of Governor Seward. +He co-operated with Benjamin F. Butler in the organisation of the law +school of the New York University, becoming one of its original +lecturers, and was subsequently called to Harvard as a professor of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.174" id="vol2Page_ii.174">ii. 174</a></span> +law. Like his distinguished father he was a man of pure character, and +of singular simplicity and gentleness.</p> + +<p>The adoption of a platform gave the Whig delegates more trouble than +the nomination of candidates. A large majority opposed the slavery +plank of the Baltimore platform. But the Seward Whigs, having little +faith in the ultimate result, accepted a general declaration that "an +honest acquiescence in the action of the late national convention upon +all subjects legitimately before it is the duty of every Whig." Horace +Greeley suggested that "those who please can construe this concession +into an approval."</p> + +<p>In opening the canvass of 1852, the Whigs attempted to repeat the +campaign of 1840. Scott's record in the War of 1812 was not less +brilliant than Harrison's, and if his Mexican battles were not fought +against the overwhelming odds that Taylor met at Buena Vista, he was +none the less entitled to the distinction of a conqueror. It was +thought proper, therefore, to start his political campaign where his +military career began, and, as the anniversary of Lundy's Lane +occurred in July, extensive preparations were made for celebrating the +day at Niagara Falls, the nearest American point to the scene of his +desperate courage. The great meeting, made up of large delegations +from nearly every Northern State, rivalled in numbers and in +enthusiasm the memorable meetings of the Harrison campaign. To add to +the interest, two hundred and twenty officers and soldiers of the War +of 1812, some of whom had taken part in the battle, participated in +the festivities. Speakers declared that it inaugurated a new career of +triumph, which might be likened to the onslaught of Lundy's Lane, the +conflict of Chippewa, the siege of Vera Cruz, and the storm of Cerro +Gordo; and which, they prophesied, would end in triumphant possession, +not now of the Halls of the Montezumas, but of the White House of +American Presidents. The meeting lasted two days. Thomas Ewing, of +Ohio, acted as president, and among the speakers was Henry Winter +Davis.</p> + +<p>But this was the only demonstration that recalled the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.175" id="vol2Page_ii.175">ii. 175</a></span> Harrison +campaign. The drum and cannon did conspicuous work, flags floated, and +speakers found ready and patriotic listeners, but the hearts of many +people were not enlisted in the discussion of tariffs and public +improvements. They were thinking of the fugitive slave law and its +enforcement, and some believed that while speakers and editors were +charging Pierce with cowardice on the field of Churubusco they did not +themselves have the courage to voice their honest convictions on the +slavery question. As election drew near signs of victory disappeared. +Conservative Whigs did not like the candidate and anti-slavery Whigs +objected to the platform. "This wretched platform," Seward declared, +"was contrived to defeat Scott in the nomination, or to sink him in +the canvass."<a name="vol2FNanchor_134_134" id="vol2FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> Horace Greeley's spirited protest against the +fugitive slave plank gave rise to the phrase, "We accept the +candidate, but spit upon the platform." Among the business men of New +York City an impression obtained that if Scott became President, +Seward would control him; and their purpose to crush the soldier +seemed to centre not so much in hostility to Scott as in their desire +to destroy Seward. Greeley speaks of this "extraordinary feature" of +the campaign. "Seward has been the burden of our adversaries' song +from the outset," he writes; "and mercantile Whigs by thousands have +ever been ready not merely to defeat but to annihilate the Whig party +if they might thereby demolish Seward."<a name="vol2FNanchor_135_135" id="vol2FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> In answer to the charge +of influencing Scott's<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.176" id="vol2Page_ii.176">ii. 176</a></span> administration, the Senator promptly declared +that he would neither ask nor accept "any public station or preferment +whatever at the hands of the President."<a name="vol2FNanchor_136_136" id="vol2FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> But this in nowise +silenced their batteries. To the end of the canvass Scott continued to +be advertised as the "Seward candidate."</p> + +<p>After the September elections, it became manifest that something must +be done to strengthen Whig sentiment, and Scott made a trip through +the doubtful States of Ohio and New York. Although Harrison had made +several speeches in 1840, there was no precedent for a presidential +stumping tour; and, to veil the purpose of the journey, recourse was +had to a statute authorising the general of the army to visit Kentucky +with the object of locating an asylum for sick and disabled soldiers +at Blue Lick Springs. He went from Washington by way of Pittsburg and +returned through New York, stopping at Buffalo, Niagara Falls, +Lockport, Rochester, Auburn, Syracuse, Rome, Utica, and Albany. +Everywhere great crowds met him, but cheers for the hero mingled with +cheers for a Democratic victory in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, +indicating the certain election of Pierce in November. At Auburn, +Seward referred to him as "the greatest of American heroes since the +Revolutionary age." At Albany, John C. Spencer's presence recalled the +distinguished services of Governor Tompkins and Chief Justice Ambrose +Spencer in the War of 1812. "It was these men," said Scott, "who were +aware of the position on the frontier, that urged me on to achieve +something that would add to the future honour of our country." New +York City received him with one of the largest ovations ever witnessed +up to that time. He avoided politics in his speeches, insisting that +he did not come to solicit votes. But he did not thereby help his +cause or escape ridicule. Indeed, the ill-advised things said and +done, created the impression that obtained thirty-two years later +after the tour of James G. Blaine.</p> + +<p>Though the Democrats at first accepted Franklin Pierce as they had +received James K. Polk, coldness and distrust<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.177" id="vol2Page_ii.177">ii. 177</a></span> gradually disappeared. +At Tammany's Fourth of July celebration, the presence of the prominent +leaders who bolted in 1848 gave evidence of the party's reunion. The +chief speaker was John Van Buren. Upon the platform sat John A. Dix, +Preston King, and Churchill C. Cambreling. Of the letters read, one +came from Martin Van Buren, who expressed pleasure that "the +disturbing subject of slavery has, by the action of both the great +parties of the country, been withdrawn from the canvass." Among the +editors who contributed most powerfully to the Free-soil movement, +William Cullen Bryant now supported Pierce on the theory that he and +the platform were the more favourable to freedom.<a name="vol2FNanchor_137_137" id="vol2FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> John Van +Buren's spacious mind and his genius for giving fascination to +whatever he said convulsed his audience with wit and thrilled it with +forceful statements. The country, he declared, was tired of the +agitation of slavery, which had ceased to be a political question. It +only remained to enforce in good faith the great compromise. He +asserted that trade was good and the country prosperous, and that the +Democratic party had gained the confidence of the people because it +was a party of pacification, opposed to the agitation of slavery, +insistent upon sacredly observing the compromises of the Constitution, +and certain to bring settled political conditions.</p> + +<p>Prince John proved himself equal to the occasion. If no longer the +great apostle of the Free-soilers he was now the accepted champion of +the Democracy. He had said what everybody believed who voted for +Pierce and what many peo<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.178" id="vol2Page_ii.178">ii. 178</a></span>ple thought who voted for Scott. There is no +doubt his speech created an immense sensation. Greeley ridiculed it, +Weed belittled it, and the Free-soilers denounced it, but it became +the keynote of the campaign, and the Prince, with his rich, brilliant +copiousness that was never redundant, became the picturesque and +popular speaker of every platform. There were other Democratic +orators.<a name="vol2FNanchor_138_138" id="vol2FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> Charles O'Conor's speeches were masterpieces of +declamation, and James T. Brady, then thirty-seven years old, but +already famous as one of the foremost criminal lawyers of the time, +discovered the same magnetic eloquence that made him almost +irresistible before a jury. His sentences, rounded and polished, +rolled from his mouth in perfect balance. Van Buren was kaleidoscopic, +becoming by turn humourous, sarcastic, gravely logical, and famously +witty; Brady and O'Conor inclined to severity, easily dropping into +vituperation, and at times exhibiting bitterness. Van Buren's hardest +hits came in the form of sarcasm. It mattered not who heard him, all +went away good-natured and satisfied with the entertainment. There +were moments when laughter drowned his loudest utterances, when +silence made his whispers audible, and when an eloquent epigram +moistened the eye.</p> + +<p>The election proved a Waterloo to the Whigs. Twenty-seven States gave +majorities for Pierce, only four were for Scott. Seymour ran 22,000 +votes ahead of Hunt.<a name="vol2FNanchor_139_139" id="vol2FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> In the Assembly the Democrats numbered +eighty-five, the Whigs forty-three. Of the thirty-three congressmen, +the Democrats elected twenty-one, the Whigs ten, the Free-soilers and +Land Reformers one each. It was wittily said that the Whig party "died +of an attempt to swallow the fugitive slave law." The election of +Pierce and Seymour surprised none of the Whig leaders. Thurlow Weed, +convinced of the hopelessness of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.179" id="vol2Page_ii.179">ii. 179</a></span> Whig success, went off to Europe for +six months preceding the campaign. The <i>Tribune</i> talked of victory, +but in his private correspondence Greeley declared that "we shall lose +the Legislature and probably everything at home."</p> + +<p>Winfield Scott seems to have been the only man really surprised. "He +looked forward buoyantly to an easy and triumphant victory," says +Weed, who dined with him on a Sunday in October.<a name="vol2FNanchor_140_140" id="vol2FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> But, though +Pierce's election produced no surprise, his majority of 212 electoral +votes astounded everybody. It eclipsed the result of the romantic +campaign of 1840, and seemed to verify the assertions of John Van +Buren, in his Fourth of July speech at Tammany Hall. The people were +not only tired of slavery agitation, but trade was good, the country +prosperous, and a reunited Democracy, by unreservedly indorsing the +compromise measures of 1850, promised settled conditions.</p> + +<p>It is not without historical interest to notice that Gerrit Smith, one +of the most uncompromising opponents of slavery in any country, +received an election to Congress in a district that gave Pierce and +Seymour upward of one thousand majority. It showed that the +smouldering fire, which had suddenly blazed out in the Free-soil +campaign of 1848, was not extinguished by the coalition of Barnburners +and Hunkers, and the acceptance of the great compromise by the two +Baltimore conventions. Gerrit Smith was a noble example of the +champions of freedom. He had not the passion of Garrison, or the +genius of Henry Ward Beecher; but his deep voice of marvellous +richness, the grace and dignity of his person, and the calm, gentle, +dispassionate tone in which he declared his principles without fear, +was to command the earnest and respectful attention of the national +House of Representatives.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.180" id="vol2Page_ii.180">ii. 180</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XIV" id="vol2CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br /> +<br /> +THE HARDS AND THE SOFTS<br /> +<br /> +1853</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">In New York</span> a Democratic victory had come to mean a succession of +Democratic defeats. It was so after the victory of 1844; and it was +destined to be so after the victory of 1852. But defeat occurred +differently this time. In 1847 the Barnburners had seceded from the +Hunkers; in 1853 the Hunkers seceded from the Barnburners. For six +years the Barnburners had played bold politics. After defeating the +Democratic ticket in 1847 and the state and national tickets in 1848, +they returned to the party practically upon their own terms. Instead +of asking admittance they walked in without knocking. They did not +even apologise for their Free-soil principles. These they left behind +because they had put them off; but the sorrow that follows repentance +was absent. In the convention of 1849, John Van Buren was received +like a prodigal son and his followers invited to an equal division of +the spoils. Had the Hunkers declared they didn't know them as +Democrats in their unrepentant attitude, the Barnburner host must have +melted like frost work; but, in their desire to return to power, the +Hunkers asked no questions and fixed no conditions. In the process of +this reunion Horatio Seymour, the cleverest of the Hunkers, coalesced +with the shrewdest of the Barnburners, who set about to capture +William L. Marcy. Seymour knew of Marcy's ambition to become a +candidate for the Presidency and of the rivalry of Cass and Dickinson; +and so when he agreed to make him the Barnburners' candidate, Marcy +covenanted to defeat Cass at Baltimore and Dickinson in New York. +Though the Barn<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.181" id="vol2Page_ii.181">ii. 181</a></span>burners failed to make Marcy a nominee for President, +he did not fail to defeat Cass and slaughter Dickinson.<a name="vol2FNanchor_141_141" id="vol2FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a></p> + +<p>To add to the Hunkers' humiliation, President Pierce now sided with +the Barnburners. He invited John A. Dix to visit him at Concord, and +in the most cordial manner offered him the position of secretary of +state.<a name="vol2FNanchor_142_142" id="vol2FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> This was too much for the pro-slavery Hunkers, for Dix had +been a Free-soil candidate for governor in 1848; and the notes of +defiance compelled the Concord statesman to send for Dix again, who +graciously relieved him of his embarrassment.<a name="vol2FNanchor_143_143" id="vol2FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> Then the President +turned to William L. Marcy, whose return from Florida was coincident +with the intrigue against Dix. The former secretary of war had not +mustered with the Free-soilers, but his attitude at Baltimore made him +<i>persona non grata</i> to Dickinson. This kept Pierce in trouble. He +wanted a New Yorker, but he wanted peace, and so he delayed action +until the day after his inauguration.<a name="vol2FNanchor_144_144" id="vol2FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> When it proved to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.182" id="vol2Page_ii.182">ii. 182</a></span> +Marcy, with Dix promised the mission to France,<a name="vol2FNanchor_145_145" id="vol2FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> and Dickinson +offered nothing better than the collectorship of the port of New York, +the Hunkers waited for an opportunity to make their resentment felt.</p> + +<p>This was the situation when the Democratic state convention met at +Syracuse on September 13, 1853, with thirty-six contested seats. The +faction that won these would legally control the convention. When the +doors opened, therefore, an eager crowd, amidst the wildest confusion +and uproar, took possession of the hall, and, with mingled cheers and +hisses, two chairmen were quickly nominated, declared elected, and +forced upon the platform. Each chairman presided. Two conventions +occupied one room; and that one faction might have peaceable +possession it tried to put the other out. Finally, when out of breath +and out of patience, both factions agreed to submit the contest for +seats to a vote of the convention; and while the roll was being +prepared the riotous proceedings were adjourned until four o'clock. +But the Hunkers had seen and heard enough. It was evident the +Barnburners proposed organising the convention after the tactics of +the Hunkers in 1847; and, instead of returning to the hall, the +Hunkers went elsewhere, organising a convention with eighty-one +delegates, including the contestants. Here everything was done in +order and with dispatch. Com<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.183" id="vol2Page_ii.183">ii. 183</a></span>mittees on permanent officers, +resolutions, and nominations made unanimous reports to a unanimous +convention, speeches were vociferously applauded, and the conduct of +the Barnburners fiercely condemned. Governor Willard of Indiana, who +happened to be present, declared, in a thrilling speech, that a +"bully" stood ready to shoot down the Hunker chairman as he tried to +call the convention to order. One of the delegates said he thought his +life was in danger as he saw a man with an axe under his arm. But in +their hall of refuge no one appeared to molest them; and by six +o'clock the convention had completed its work and adjourned. Among +those nominated for office appeared the names of George W. Clinton of +Buffalo, the distinguished son of DeWitt Clinton, for secretary of +state, and James T. Brady, the brilliant lawyer of New York City, for +attorney-general. The resolutions indorsed the Baltimore platform, +approved the President's inaugural on slavery, commended the amendment +to the Constitution appropriating ten and a half million dollars for +the enlargement and completion of the canals, and complimented Daniel +S. Dickinson.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Barnburners, having reassembled at four o'clock with +eighty-seven delegates, sent word to the Hunkers that the convention +was in session and prepared to organise. To this the chairman replied: +"We do not consider ourselves in safety in an assemblage controlled +and overawed by bullies, imported for that purpose." The Barnburners +laughed, but in order to give the Hunkers time to sleep over it John +Van Buren opposed further proceedings until the next day. In the +evening, Horatio Seymour, now the Governor, met the convention leaders +and with them laid out the morrow's work.</p> + +<p>When Seymour began co-operating with the Barnburners, ambition +prompted him to modify his original canal views so far as to oppose +the Whig law authorising a loan of nine million dollars to enlarge the +Erie canal. But after his election as governor, he recognised that no +party could successfully appeal to the people in November, 1853, +weighted with<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.184" id="vol2Page_ii.184">ii. 184</a></span> such a policy; and with courage and genius for +diplomatic negotiations, he faced the prejudices which had +characterised the Barnburners during their entire history by favouring +a constitutional amendment appropriating ten and a half millions for +the enlargement of the Erie and the completion of the lateral canals. +He had displayed a bold hand. The help of the Barnburners was needed +to carry the amendment; and when the regular session expired without +the accomplishment of his purpose Seymour quickly called an extra +session. Even this dragged into the summer. Finally, in June, to the +amazement of the people, the amendment passed and was approved. It was +this work, which had so brilliantly inaugurated his administration, +that Seymour desired indorsed, and, although it was morning, and not +very early morning, before the labour of the night ended, it was +agreed to adopt a canal resolution similar to that of the Hunkers and +to indorse the Governor's administration, a compliment which the +Hunkers carefully avoided.</p> + +<p>After the settlement of the canal question, the work of the convention +was practically done. A majority of the candidates were taken from the +supporters of Cass in 1848, and included Charles H. Ruggles of +Poughkeepsie, and Hiram Denio of Utica, whom the Hunkers had nominated +for judges of the Court of Appeals. Ruggles was the wise chairman of +the judiciary committee in the constitutional convention of 1846, and +had been a member of the Court of Appeals since 1851. Denio was +destined to become one of the eminent judges of the State. He was not +always kind in his methods. Indeed, it may be said that he was one of +those upright judges who contrived to make neither honour nor +rectitude seem lovable qualities; yet his abilities finally earned him +an enviable reputation as a justice of New York's court of last +resort.</p> + +<p>The factions differed little in men or in principle, and not at all +upon the question of slavery. Two conventions were, therefore, +absolutely unnecessary except upon the theory that the Hunkers, having +little to gain and nothing<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.185" id="vol2Page_ii.185">ii. 185</a></span> to lose, desired to embarrass the +administrations of Governor Seymour and President Pierce. Their +secession was certainly not prompted by fear of bullies. Neither +faction was a stranger to blows. If fear possessed the Hunkers, it +grew out of distrust of their supporters and of their numerical +strength; and, rather than be beaten, they preferred to follow the +example of the Barnburners in 1847, and of the Silver-Grays in 1850, +two precedents that destroyed party loyalty to gratify the spirit of +revenge.</p> + +<p>It was at this time that the Hunkers were first called Hardshells or +"Hards," and the Barnburners Softshells or "Softs." These designations +meant that Dickinson and his followers never changed their principles, +and that the Marcy-Seymour coalition trimmed its sails to catch the +favouring breeze.</p> + +<p>The action of the Hards in September, 1853, left the prestige of +regularity with the Softs. The latter also had the patronage of the +state and national administrations, the possession of Tammany, and the +support of a large majority of the newspapers. But the Hards still +treated the Softs as the real secessionists. "We have gotten rid of +the mischievous traitors," said Daniel S. Dickinson, in his Buffalo +speech of September 23, "and let us keep clear of them. It is true +they say we are all on one platform, but when did we get there? No +longer ago than last winter, when such resolutions as the platform now +embodies were introduced into the Assembly, a cholera patient could +not have scattered these very men more effectually."<a name="vol2FNanchor_146_146" id="vol2FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> Dickinson +was not blessed with John Van Buren's humour. A flash of wit rarely +enlivened his speeches, yet he delighted in attacking an adversary +even if compelled to do it with gloomy, dogged rhetoric. Of all the +Softs, however, Horatio Seymour was the one whom Dickinson hated. "It +was the first time a governor was ever found in their convention," +continued the Binghamton statesman, "and I know it will be the last +time <i>that</i> Governor will be guilty of such an impropriety. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.186" id="vol2Page_ii.186">ii. 186</a></span> +tempted them on with spoils in front, while the short boys of New York +pricked them up with bowie knives in the rear."<a name="vol2FNanchor_147_147" id="vol2FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a></p> + +<p>Seymour appears to have taken Dickinson's animosity, as he took most +things, with composure. Nevertheless, if he looked for harmony on +election day, the letters of Charles O'Conor and Greene C. Bronson, +declining an invitation to ratify the Softs' ticket at a meeting in +Tammany Hall, must have extinguished the hope. O'Conor was United +States attorney and Bronson collector of the port of New York; but +these two office-holders under Pierce used no varnish in their +correspondence with the Pierce-Seymour faction. "As a lover of honesty +in politics and of good order in society," wrote Bronson, "I cannot +approve of nominations brought about by fraud and violence. Those who +introduce convicts and bullies into our conventions for the purpose of +controlling events must not expect their proceedings will be +sanctioned by me." Then he betrayed the old conservative's deep +dislike of the Radicals' canal policy, the memory of which still +rankled. "If all the nominees were otherwise unexceptionable," he +continued, "they come before the public under the leadership of men +who have been striving to defeat the early completion of the public +works, and after the shameless breach of past pledges in relation to +the canals, there can be no reasonable ground for hope that new +promises will be performed."<a name="vol2FNanchor_148_148" id="vol2FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a></p> + +<p>Charles O'Conor, with the envenomed skill of a practised prosecutor +coupled with a champion's coolness, aimed a heavier blow at the +offending Softs. "Judging the tickets by the names of the leading +members of the two conventions no reasonable doubt can be entertained +which of them is most devoted to preserving union and harmony between +the States of this confederacy. One of the conventions was +uncontaminated by the presence of a single member ever known as an +agitator of principles or practices tending in any de<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.187" id="vol2Page_ii.187">ii. 187</a></span>gree to disturb +that union and harmony; the leaders of the other were but recently +engaged in a course of political action directly tending to discord +between the States. It has, indeed, presented a platform of principles +unqualifiedly denouncing that political organisation as dangerous to +the permanency of the Union and inadmissible among Democrats; but when +it is considered that the leaders, with one unimpressive exception, +formerly withheld assent to that platform, or repudiated it, the +resolution adopting it is not, in my opinion, entitled to any +confidence whatever. I adopt that ticket which was made by a +convention whose platform was adopted with sincerity and corresponds +with the political life and actions of its framers."<a name="vol2FNanchor_149_149" id="vol2FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a></p> + +<p>Bronson's letter was dated September 22, 1853; and in less than a +month he was removed from his post as collector. In resentment, +several county conventions immediately announced him as their +candidate for governor in 1854. O'Conor continued in office a little +longer, but eventually he resigned. "This proscriptive policy for +opinion's sake will greatly accelerate and aggravate the decomposition +of the Democratic party in this State," said the <i>Tribune</i>. "That +process was begun long since, but certain soft-headed quacks had +thought it possible, by some hocus pocus, to restore the old unity and +health."<a name="vol2FNanchor_150_150" id="vol2FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p> + +<p>The Whigs delayed their state convention until the 5th of October. +Washington Hunt, its chairman, made a strong plea for harmony, and in +the presence of almost certain victory, occasioned by a divided +Democracy, the delegates turned their attention to the work of making +nominations. It took three ballots to select a candidate for +attorney-general. Among the aspirants were Ogden Hoffman of New York +and Roscoe Conkling of Utica, then a young man of twenty-five, who +bore a name that was already familiar from an honourable parentage. +The people of Oneida had elected him district attorney as soon as he +gained his majority, and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.188" id="vol2Page_ii.188">ii. 188</a></span> in the intervening years, the successful +lawyer had rapidly proved himself a successful orator and politician +who would have to be reckoned with.<a name="vol2FNanchor_151_151" id="vol2FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a></p> + +<p>But Conkling did not get the coveted attorney-generalship. The great +reputation of Ogden Hoffman, who has been styled "the Erskine of the +American bar," and who then stood in isolated splendour among the +orators of his party, gave him the right of way. Hoffman had served in +Congress during Van Buren's administration and as United States +attorney under Harrison and Tyler. He was now sixty years of age, a +fit opponent to the brilliant Brady, twenty-two years his junior. "But +for indolence," said Horace Greeley, "Hoffman might have been governor +or cabinet minister ere this. Everybody likes him and he always runs +ahead of his ticket."<a name="vol2FNanchor_152_152" id="vol2FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> There was also an earnest effort to secure +a place upon the ticket for Elbridge G. Spaulding of Buffalo. He had +been district attorney, city clerk, alderman, and mayor of his city. +In 1848 he went to the Assembly and in 1849 to Congress. He had +already disclosed the marked ability for finance that subsequently +characterised his public and business career, giving him the +distinguishing title of "father of the greenback." His friends now +wanted to make him comptroller, but when this place went to James M. +Cook of Saratoga, a thrifty banker and manufacturer, who had been +state treasurer, Spaulding accepted the latter office. In its +platform, the convention hailed with satisfaction the prospect of a +speedy completion of the canals under Whig management, and boasted +that the Democrats had at last been forced to accept the Whig policy, +"so necessary to the greatness and prosperity of the State."</p> + +<p>The success of the Whigs was inevitable. The secession of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.189" id="vol2Page_ii.189">ii. 189</a></span> the Hards +could not operate otherwise than in a division of the Democratic vote; +but no one dreamed it would split the party in the middle. The Hards +had fought against the prestige of party regularity, the power of +patronage, the influence of Tammany, and the majority of the press, +while the removal of Bronson served notice upon office-holders that +those who favoured the Hards voluntarily mounted a guillotine. "Heads +of this class," said Greeley, "rolled as recklessly as pumpkins from a +harvest wagon."<a name="vol2FNanchor_153_153" id="vol2FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> Yet the Softs led the Hards by an average +majority of only 312. It was a tremendous surprise at Washington. A +cartoon represented Pierce and Marcy as Louis XVI and his minister, on +the memorable 10th of August. "Why, this is revolt!" said the amazed +King. "No, sire," responded the minister, "it is Revolution."</p> + +<p>The Whigs polled 162,000 votes, electing their state officers by an +average plurality of 66,000 and carrying the Legislature by a majority +of forty-eight on joint ballot. Yet Ruggles and Denio, whose names +appeared upon the ticket of each Democratic faction, were elected to +the Court of Appeals by 13,000 majority, showing that a united +Democratic party would have swept the State as it did in 1852.</p> + +<p>The Whigs accepted their success as Sheridan said the English received +the peace of Amiens—as "one of which everybody was glad and nobody +was proud." Of the 240,000 Whigs who voted in 1852, less than 170,000 +supported the ticket in 1853. Some of this shrinkage was doubtless due +to the natural falling off in an "off year" and to an unusually stormy +election day; but there were evidences of open revolt and studied +apathy which emphasised the want of harmony and the necessity for +fixed principles.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.190" id="vol2Page_ii.190">ii. 190</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XV" id="vol2CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV<br /> +<br /> +A BREAKING-UP OF PARTY TIES<br /> +<br /> +1854</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">While</span> the Hards and Softs quarrelled, and the Whigs showed weakness +because of a want of harmony and the lack of principles, a great +contest was being waged at Washington. In December, 1853, Stephen A. +Douglas, from his place in the United States Senate, introduced the +famous Nebraska bill affirming that the Clay compromise of 1850 had +repealed the Missouri compromise of 1820. This sounded the trumpet of +battle. The struggle of slavery and freedom was now to be fought to a +finish. The discussion in Congress began in January, 1854, and ended +on May 30. When it commenced the slavery question seemed settled; when +it closed the country was in a ferment. Anti-slavery Whigs found +companionship with Free-soil Democrats; the titles of "Nebraska" and +"Anti-Nebraska" distinguished men's politics; conventions of +Democrats, Whigs, and Free-soilers met to resist "the iniquity;" and +on July 6 the Republican party, under whose banner the great fight was +to be finished, found a birthplace at Jackson, Michigan.</p> + +<p>Rufus King's part in the historic struggle of the Missouri Compromise +was played by William H. Seward in the great contest over its repeal. +He was the leader of the anti-slavery Whigs of the country, just as +his distinguished predecessor had been the leader of the anti-slavery +forces in 1820. He marshalled the opposition, and, when he finally +took the floor on the 17th of February, he made a legal argument as +close, logical, and carefully considered as if addressed to the +Supreme Court of the United States. He developed the history of +slavery and its successive compromises; he answered<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.191" id="vol2Page_ii.191">ii. 191</a></span> every argument in +favour of the bill; he appealed to its supporters to admit that they +never dreamed of its abrogating the compromise of 1820; he ridiculed +the idea that it was in the interest of peace; and he again referred +to the "higher law" that had characterised his speech in 1850. "The +slavery agitation you deprecate so much," he said in concluding, "is +an eternal struggle between conservatism and progress; between truth +and error; between right and wrong. You may sooner, by act of +Congress, compel the sea to suppress its upheavings, and the round +earth to extinguish its internal fires. You may legislate, and +abrogate, and abnegate, as you will, but there is a Superior Power +that overrules all; that overrules not only all your actions and all +your refusals to act, but all human events, to the distant but +inevitable result of the equal and universal liberty of all men."<a name="vol2FNanchor_154_154" id="vol2FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a></p> + +<p>Seward was not an orator. He could hardly be called an effective +speaker. He was neither impassioned nor always impressive; but when he +spoke he seemed to strike a blow that had in it the whole vigour and +strength of the public sentiment which he represented. So far as one +can judge from contemporary accounts he never spoke better than on +this occasion; or when it was more evident that he spoke with all the +sincere emotion of one whose mind and heart alike were filled with the +cause for which he pleaded. "Some happy spell," he wrote his wife, +"seemed to have come over me and to have enabled me to speak with more +freedom and ease than on any former occasion here."<a name="vol2FNanchor_155_155" id="vol2FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> Rhodes +suggests that Seward "could not conceal his exultation that the +Democrats had forsaken their high vantage ground and played into the +hands of their opponents."<a name="vol2FNanchor_156_156" id="vol2FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> He became almost dramatic when he +threw down his gauntlet at the feet of every member of the Senate in +1850 and challenged him to say that he knew, or thought, or dreamed, +that by enacting the compromise of 1850 he was directly or indirectly +abro<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.192" id="vol2Page_ii.192">ii. 192</a></span>gating, or in any degree impairing the Missouri Compromise. "If +it were not irreverent," he continued, "I would dare call up the +author of both the compromises in question, from his honoured, though +yet scarcely grass-covered grave, and challenge any advocate of this +measure to confront that imperious shade, and say that, in making the +compromise of 1850, Henry Clay intended or dreamed that he was +subverting or preparing the way for a subversion of his greater work +of 1820. Sir, if that spirit is yet lingering here over the scene of +its mortal labours, it is now moved with more than human indignation +against those who are perverting its last great public act."<a name="vol2FNanchor_157_157" id="vol2FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a></p> + +<p>Seward's speech created a profound impression throughout New York and +the North. "It probably affected the minds of more men," says Rhodes, +"than any speech delivered on that side of this question in +Congress."<a name="vol2FNanchor_158_158" id="vol2FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> Senator Houston had it translated into German and +extensively circulated among the Germans of western Texas. Even Edwin +Croswell congratulated him upon its excellence. It again directed the +attention of the country to his becoming a presidential candidate, +about which newspapers and politicians had already spoken. Montgomery +Blair's letter of May 17, 1873, to Gideon Welles, charges Seward with +boasting that he had "put Senator Dixon up to moving the repeal of the +Missouri Compromise as an amendment to Douglas' first Kansas bill, and +had himself forced the repeal by that movement, and had thus brought +life to the Republican party."<a name="vol2FNanchor_159_159" id="vol2FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> Undoubtedly Seward read the signs +of the times, and saw clearly and quickly that repeal would probably +result in a political revolution, bringing into life an anti-slavery +party that would sweep the country. But the charge that he claimed to +have suggested the repeal, smells too strongly of Welles' dislike of +Seward, and needs other evidence than Blair's telltale letter to +support it. It is on a par with Sen<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.193" id="vol2Page_ii.193">ii. 193</a></span>ator Atchinson's assertion, made +under the influence of wine, that he forced Douglas to bring in the +Nebraska bill—a statement that the Illinois Senator promptly stamped +as false.</p> + +<p>The temper of the people of the State began to change very soon after +the introduction of Douglas' proposal. Remonstrances, letters, and +resolutions poured in from Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and +other cities. Senator Fish presented a petition headed by the Bishop +of the Episcopal Church and signed by a majority of the clergymen of +New York City. Merchants, lawyers, and business men generally, who had +actively favoured the compromise of 1850, now spoke in earnest protest +against the repeal of the compromise of 1820. From the first, the +Germans opposed it. Of their newspapers only eight out of eighty-eight +were favourable. Public meetings, full of enthusiasm and noble +sentiment, resembled religious gatherings enlisted in a holy war +against a great social evil. The first assembled in New York City as +early as January 30, six days after the repeal was agreed upon. +Another larger meeting occurred on the 18th of February. It was here +that Henry Ward Beecher's great genius asserted the fulness of its +intellectual power. He had been in Brooklyn five years. The series of +forensic achievements which began at the Kossuth banquet in 1851 had +already made him the favourite speaker of the city, but, on the 18th +of February, he became the idol of the anti-slavery host. Wit, wisdom, +patriotism, and pathos, mingled with the loftiest strains of +eloquence, compelled the attention and the admiration of every +listener. When he concluded the whole assembly rose to do him honour; +tears rolled down the cheeks of men and women. Everything was +forgotten, save the great preacher and the cause for which he stood. +"The storm that is rising," wrote Seward, "is such an one as this +country has never yet seen. The struggle will go on, but it will be a +struggle for the whole American people."<a name="vol2FNanchor_160_160" id="vol2FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> In the <i>Tribune</i> of May +17, Greeley said that Pierce and Douglas had made<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.194" id="vol2Page_ii.194">ii. 194</a></span> more Abolitionists +in three months than Garrison and Phillips could have made in half a +century.</p> + +<p>The agitation resulted in an anti-Nebraska state convention, held at +Saratoga on the 16th of August. It was important in the men who +composed it. John A. King called it to order; Horace Greeley reported +the resolutions; Henry J. Raymond represented the district that had +twice sent him to the Assembly; and Moses H. Grinnell became chairman +of its executive committee. In the political struggles of two decades +most of its delegates had filled prominent and influential positions. +These men were now brought together by an absorbing sense of duty and +a common impulse of resistance to the encroachments of slavery. People +supposed a new party would be formed and a ticket nominated as in +Michigan; but after an animated and at times stormy discussion, the +delegates concluded that in principle too little difference existed to +warrant the present disturbance of existing organisations. So, after +declaring sentiments which were to become stronger than party ties or +party discipline, it agreed to reassemble at Auburn on September +26.<a name="vol2FNanchor_161_161" id="vol2FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.195" id="vol2Page_ii.195">ii. 195</a></span></p> +<p>The Nebraska Act also became a new source of division to Democrats. +Marcy's opposition, based upon apprehensions of its disastrous effect +in New York, was so pronounced that he contemplated resigning as +secretary of state—a step that his friends persuaded him to abandon. +John Van Buren was equally agitated. "Could anything but a desire to +buy the South at the presidential shambles dictate such an +outrage?"<a name="vol2FNanchor_162_162" id="vol2FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> he asked Senator Clemens of Alabama. But nothing could +stop the progress of the Illinois statesman; and, while the Whigs of +New York ably and uniformly opposed repeal, Democrats broke along the +lines dividing the Hards and the Softs. Of twenty-one Democratic +congressmen, nine favoured and twelve opposed it. Among the former was +William M. Tweed, the unsavoury boss of later years; among the latter, +Reuben E. Fenton, Rufus W. Peckham, and Russell Sage. The Democratic +press separated along similar lines. Thirty-seven Hards supported the +measure; thirty-eight Softs opposed it.</p> + +<p>The Hards held their state convention on the 12th of July. Their late +trial of strength with the Softs had resulted in a drawn battle, and +it was now their purpose to force the Pierce-Seymour Softs out of the +party. The proceedings<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.196" id="vol2Page_ii.196">ii. 196</a></span> began with a challenge. Lyman Tremaine spoke +of the convention as one in which the President had no minions; Samuel +Beardsley, the chairman, after charging Pierce with talking one way +and acting another, declared that the next Chief Executive would both +talk and act like a national Democrat. Further, to emphasise its +independence and dislike of the President, the convention nominated +Greene C. Bronson for governor as the representative of Pierce's +proscriptive policy for opinion's sake. But there was no disposition +to criticise Pierce's pro-slavery policy. It favoured the repeal of +the Missouri Compromise, proclaiming the doctrine of non-intervention +by Congress and the right of the territories to make their own local +laws, including regulations relating to domestic servitude. It also +approved the recently ratified canal amendment and strongly favoured +the prohibitive liquor law vetoed by Governor Seymour.</p> + +<p>Greene C. Bronson's career had been distinguished. He had served as +assemblyman, as attorney-general for seven years, as chief justice of +the Supreme Court, and as an original member of the Court of Appeals. +Although now well advanced in years, age had not cowed his spirit or +lessened the purity of a character which shone in the gentleness of +amiable manners; but his pro-slavery platform hit his consistency a +hard blow. In 1819, as secretary of a mass-meeting called to oppose +the Missouri Compromise, he had declared that Congress possessed the +clear and indisputable power to prohibit the admission of slavery in +any State or territory thereafter to be formed. If this was good law +in 1819 it was good law in 1854, and the acceptance of a contrary +theory put him at a serious disadvantage. His attitude on the liquor +question also proved a handicap. He showed that the position of judge +in interpreting the law was a very different thing from that of making +the law by steering a party into power in a crucial campaign.</p> + +<p>The convention of the Softs followed on September 6. Two preliminary +caucuses indicated a strong anti-Nebraska sentiment. But a bold and +resolute opposition, led by federal<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.197" id="vol2Page_ii.197">ii. 197</a></span> officials and John Cochrane, the +Barnburners' platform-maker, portended trouble. There was no +disagreement on state issues. The approval of Seymour's administration +settled the policy of canal improvement and anti-prohibition, but the +delegates balked on the cunningly worded resolution declaring the +repeal of the Missouri Compromise inexpedient and unnecessary, yet +rejoicing that it would benefit the territories and forbidding any +attempt to undo it. It put the stamp of Nebraska upon the proceedings, +and the deathlike stillness which greeted its reading shook the nerves +of the superstitious as an unfavourable omen. Immediately, a short +substitute was offered, unqualifiedly disapproving the repeal as a +violation of legislative good faith and of the spirit of Christian +civilisation; and when Preston King took the floor in its favour the +deafening applause disclosed the fact that the anti-Nebraskans had the +enthusiasm if not the numbers. As the champion of the Wilmot Proviso +concluded, the assembly resembled the Buffalo convention of 1848 at +the moment of its declaration for free soil, free speech, free labour, +and free men. But the roll call changed the scene. Of the 394 +delegates, 245 voted to lay the substitute on the table.</p> + +<p>This result was a profound surprise. The public expected different +action and the preliminary caucuses showed an anti-Nebraska majority; +but the Custom-House had done its work well. The promise of a +nomination for lieutenant-governor had changed the mind of William H. +Ludlow, chairman of the convention, who packed the committee on +resolutions. Similar methods won fifty other delegates. But despite +the shock, Preston King did not hesitate. He might be broken, but he +could not be bent. Rising with dignity he withdrew from the +convention, followed by a hundred others who ceased to act further +with it. Subsequent proceedings reflected the gloom of a body out of +which the spirit had departed. Delegates kept dropping out until only +one hundred and ninety-nine remained to cheer the nomination of +Horatio Seymour. On a roll call for lieutenant-governor, Philip +Dor<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.198" id="vol2Page_ii.198">ii. 198</a></span>sheimer declared it a disgrace to have his name called in a +convention that had adopted such a platform.</p> + +<p>The Whig convention followed on September 20. A divided Democracy +again made candidates confident, and eight or ten names were presented +for governor. Horace Greeley thought it time his turn should come. He +had been pronounced in his advocacy of the Maine liquor law and active +in his hostility to the Nebraska Act. As these were to be the issues +of the campaign, he applied with confidence to Weed for help. The +Albany editor frankly admitted that his friends had lost control of +the convention, and that Myron H. Clark would probably get the +nomination. Then Greeley asked to be made lieutenant-governor. Weed +reminded him of the outcry in the Whig national convention of 1848 +against having "cotton at both ends of the ticket." "I suppose you +mean," replied Greeley, laughing, "that it won't do to have +prohibition at both ends of our state ticket."<a name="vol2FNanchor_163_163" id="vol2FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> But, though he +laughed, the editor of the <i>Tribune</i> went away nettled and humiliated. +In the contest, which became exciting,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.199" id="vol2Page_ii.199">ii. 199</a></span> Greeley's friends urged his +selection for governor without formally presenting his name to the +convention; but on the third ballot Clark received the nomination, +obtaining 82 out of the 132 votes cast.</p> + +<p>Myron H. Clark, now in his forty-ninth year, belonged to the class of +men generally known as fanatics. He was a plain man of humble +pretensions and slender attainments. He was originally a cabinet-maker +and afterward a merchant. Then he became a reformer. He sympathised +with the Native Americans; he approved Seward's views upon slavery; +and he interested himself in the workingmen. But his hobby was +temperance. Its advocates made his home in Canandaigua their +headquarters, and during the temperance revival which swept over the +State in the early fifties, he aided in directing the movement. This +experience opened his way, in 1851, to the State Senate. Here he +displayed some of the legislative gifts that distinguished John Young. +He had patience and persistence; he could talk easily and well; and, +underneath his enthusiasm, lingered the shrewdness of a skilled +diplomat. When, at last, the Maine liquor bill, which he had +introduced and engineered, passed the Legislature, his name was a +household word throughout the State. Seymour's veto of the measure +strengthened Clark. People realised that a governor no less than a +legislature was needed to make laws, and, with the spirit of +reformers, the delegates demanded his nomination. To Weed it seemed +hazardous; but a majority of the convention, believing that Clark's +public career had been sagacious and upright, refused to take another.</p> + +<p>Clark's nomination made the selection of a candidate for +lieutenant-governor more difficult. The prohibitionists were +satisfied; Greeley was not. In their anxiety, the delegates canvassed +several names without result. Finally, with great suddenness and +amidst much enthusiasm, Henry J. Raymond was nominated. This deeply +wounded Greeley. "He had cheerfully withdrawn his own name," wrote +Weed, "but he could not submit patiently to the nomination of his +per<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.200" id="vol2Page_ii.200">ii. 200</a></span>sonal, professional, and political rival."<a name="vol2FNanchor_164_164" id="vol2FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> Greeley believed +it was not the convention, but Weed himself, who brought it about. On +the contrary, Weed declared that he had no thought of Raymond in that +connection until his name was suggested by others. Nevertheless, the +<i>Tribune's</i> editor held to his own opinion. "No other name could have +been put upon the ticket so bitterly humbling to me,"<a name="vol2FNanchor_165_165" id="vol2FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> he +afterward wrote Seward. To Greeley, Raymond was "The little Villain of +the <i>Times</i>;" to Raymond, Greeley was "The big Villain of the +<i>Tribune</i>."<a name="vol2FNanchor_166_166" id="vol2FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> In any aspect, Raymond was an unfortunate nomination +for Weed, since it began the quarrel that culminated in the defeat of +Seward at Chicago in 1860.</p> + +<p>Early in the campaign, Greeley favoured dropping the name of Whig and +organising an anti-Nebraska or Republican party, with a ticket of +Whigs and Democrats, as had been done in some of the Western States. +But Seward and Weed, with a majority of the Whig leaders, thought that +while fusion might be advisable wherever the party was essentially +weak, as in Ohio and Indiana, it was wiser, in States like New York +and Massachusetts where Whigs were in power, to retain the party name +and organisation.<a name="vol2FNanchor_167_167" id="vol2FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> In so deciding, however, they agreed with +Greeley that the platform should be thoroughly anti-Nebraska, and they +gave it a touch that kindled the old fire in the hearts of the +anti-slavery veterans. It condemned the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise, approved the course of the New York senators<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.201" id="vol2Page_ii.201">ii. 201</a></span> and +representatives who resisted it, declared that it discharged the party +from further obligation to support any compromise with slavery, and +denounced "popular sovereignty" as a false and deceptive cry, "too +flimsy to mislead any but those anxious to be deluded and eager to be +led astray." This declaration of principles was summarised as +"Justice, Temperance, and Freedom." One delegate, amidst great +applause, said he felt glorified that the party was disenthralled and +redeemed. Roscoe Conkling, a vice president, spoke of the convention +as belonging to "the Republican party." Greeley declared the platform +"as noble as any friend of freedom could have expected." Other state +organisations also approved it. The anti-Nebraska convention, upon +reassembling in Auburn on September 26, adopted the Whig ticket. The +state temperance convention indorsed the nomination of Clark and +Raymond, and the Free Democrats accepted Clark. This practically made +a fusion ticket.</p> + +<p>Early in October the Native Americans went into council. This +organisation, which had elected a mayor of New York in 1844, suddenly +revived in 1854; and, in spite of its intolerant and prescriptive +spirit, the movement spread rapidly. Mystery surrounded its methods. +It held meetings in unknown places; its influence could not be +measured; and its members professed to know nothing. Thus it became +known as the "Know-Nothing" party. Members recognised each other by +the casual inquiry, "Have you seen Sam?" and when one of the old +parties collapsed at a local election the reply came, "We have seen +Sam." Its secrecy fascinated young men, and its dominant principle, +"America for Americans," stirred them into unusual activity. The +skilful use of patriotic phrases also had its influence. The "Star +Spangled Banner" was its emblem, Washington its patron saint, and his +thrilling command, "Put none but Americans on guard to-night," its +favourite password. Henry Wilson of Massachusetts joined it as an +instrument for destroying the old parties, which he regarded an +obstacle to freedom; but Seward thought this was doing evil that good +might come. Every<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.202" id="vol2Page_ii.202">ii. 202</a></span>thing is un-American, he argued, which makes a +distinction between the native-born American and the one who renounces +his allegiance to a foreign land and swears fealty to the country that +adopts him. "Why," he asked, "should I exclude the foreigner to-day? +He is only what every American citizen or his ancestor was at some +time or other."<a name="vol2FNanchor_168_168" id="vol2FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a></p> + +<p>The voting strength of this party in New York was estimated at 65,000, +divided between Hards, Softs, and Whigs, with one-fifth each, and the +Silver-Grays with two-fifths. On the question of putting up a state +ticket, its council divided. The Silver-Grays, it was said, favoured +candidates in order to defeat Clark; while the Whigs and Softs +preferred making no nominations. In the end, Daniel Ullman, a +reputable New York lawyer of mediocre ability, received the nomination +for governor. The great overmastering passion of Ullman was a desire +for office. For many years he had been a persistent and unsuccessful +knocker at the door of city, county and state Whig conventions, and +when the Know-Nothings appeared he turned to them to back his +ambition. Possibly they knew that his parents were foreign-born, but +the mystery surrounding his own birthplace became a comical feature of +the canvass. It was claimed, upon what seemed proper evidence at the +time, that Ullman was born in India and had not become a naturalised +citizen of the United States. This made him ineligible as the +candidate of his party, and disqualified him from serving as governor +if elected.</p> + +<p>The campaign opened with two clearly defined issues—limitation of the +liquor traffic and condemnation of the Nebraska Act. Clark stood for +both, Ullman stood for neither; Bronson and Seymour opposed +prohibition and approved the Nebraska Act. Greeley declared that the +two Democratic candidates differed only "as to whether the contempt +universally felt for President Pierce should be openly expressed, or +more decorously cherished in silence." As the canvass advanced, the +real contest became prohibition, with Bronson<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.203" id="vol2Page_ii.203">ii. 203</a></span> and Seymour apparently +running a race for the liquor vote, while Ullman was silently securing +the votes of men who thought the proscription of foreign-born citizens +more important than either freedom or temperance. To the most adroit +political prognosticators the situation was confused. Greeley +estimated Clark's strength at 200,000, and that of the next highest, +either Seymour or Bronson, at 150,000; but so little was known of the +Know-Nothings that he omitted Ullman from the calculation. Another +prophet fixed Ullman's strength at 65,000. The surprise was great, +therefore, when the returns disclosed a Know-Nothing vote of 122,000, +with Clark and Seymour running close to 156,000 each, and Bronson with +less than 35,000. The people did not seem to have been thinking about +Bronson at all. Seymour's veto commended the Governor to the larger +cities, and it swept him on like a whirlwind. New York gave him +26,000. His election was conceded by the Whigs and claimed by the +Democrats; but, after several weeks of anxious waiting, the official +count made Clark the governor by a plurality of 309.<a name="vol2FNanchor_169_169" id="vol2FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> Including +defective votes plainly intended for Seymour, Clark's plurality was +only 153. Raymond ran 600 ahead of Clark, but his plurality over +Ludlow was 20,000, since the latter's vote was 20,000 less than +Seymour's. These twenty thousand preferred to vote for Elijah Ford of +Buffalo, who ran for lieutenant-governor on the ticket with Bronson, +possibly because of Ludlow's alleged perfidy at the Syracuse +convention. Of the congressmen elected, twenty-five were Whigs, three +Softs, two Anti-Nebraskans, and three Know-Nothings; in the Assembly +there were eighty-one Whigs, twenty-six Softs, and seventeen Hards.</p> + +<p>The result of the election could scarcely be called a Whig victory; +but it was a popular rebuke to the Nebraska bill. Clark's majority, +slender as it finally appeared by the official count, was due to the +Whigs occupying common ground with<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.204" id="vol2Page_ii.204">ii. 204</a></span> Free-soilers who discarded party +attachments in behalf of their cherished convictions. The Silver-Grays +found a home with the Hards and the Know-Nothings, and many Democrats, +unwilling to go to the Whigs, voted for Ullman.</p> + +<p>It was the breaking-up of old parties. The great political crisis +which had been threatening the country for many years was about to +burst, and, like the first big raindrops that precede a downpour, the +changes in 1854 announced its presence. It had been so long in coming +that John W. Taylor of Saratoga, the champion opponent of the Missouri +Compromise, was dying when Horace Greeley, at the anti-Nebraska +convention held in Taylor's home in August, 1854, was writing into the +platform of the new Republican party the principles that Taylor tried +to write into the old Republican party in 1820. "Whoever reads +Taylor's speeches in that troubled period," says Stanton, "will find +them as sound in doctrine, as strong in argument, as splendid in +diction, as any of the utterances of the following forty-five years, +when the thirteenth amendment closed the controversy for all +time."<a name="vol2FNanchor_170_170" id="vol2FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.205" id="vol2Page_ii.205">ii. 205</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XVI" id="vol2CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br /> +<br /> +THE FORMATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY<br /> +<br /> +1854-5</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> winter of 1855 became a turning-point in the career of William H. +Seward. The voice of the anti-slavery Whigs proclaimed him the only +man fitted by position, ability, and character to succeed himself in +the United States Senate. To them he possessed all the necessary +qualities for leadership. In his hands they believed the banner of +opposition to the extension of slavery would be kept at the front and +every other cause subordinated to it. This feeling was generously +shared by the press of New York. "The repeal of the Missouri +Compromise," said Henry J. Raymond in the <i>Times</i>, "has developed a +popular sentiment in the North which will probably elect Governor +Seward to the Presidency in 1856 by the largest vote from the free +States ever cast for any candidate."<a name="vol2FNanchor_171_171" id="vol2FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> Even the Democratic <i>Evening +Post</i> admitted that "Seward is in the ascendancy in this State."<a name="vol2FNanchor_172_172" id="vol2FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a></p> + +<p>The Legislature was overwhelmingly Whig. Nearly three-fourths of the +Assembly and two-thirds of the Senate had been elected as Whigs. +Although Seward did not make a speech or appear publicly in the +campaign of 1854, he had been active in seeing that members were +chosen who would vote for him. But, notwithstanding the Whigs +controlled the Legislature, many of them belonged to the +Know-Nothings, whose noisy opposition soon filled the air with rumours +of their intention to defeat Seward. The secrecy that veiled the +doings of the order now concealed the strength of their numbers; but, +as Seward's course had been sufficient to array<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.206" id="vol2Page_ii.206">ii. 206</a></span> its entire membership +against him, there was little doubt of the attitude of all its +representatives. Though he had not violently denounced them as Douglas +did at Philadelphia, men of otherwise liberal opinions were angry +because he seemed deliberately to support views opposed to their most +cherished principles. His recommendation, while governor, to divide +the public money with Catholic schools was recalled with bitter +comment. The more recent efforts of Bishop Hughes, an ardent friend of +the Senator, to exclude the Bible from the public schools, added to +the feeling; while the coming of a papal nuncio to adjust a +controversy in regard to church property between a bishop and a +Catholic congregation in Buffalo which had the law of the State on its +side, greatly increased the bitterness. Thus the old controversy was +torn open, hostility increasing so rapidly that Thurlow Weed declared +"there is very much peril about the senator question."</p> + +<p>The plan of the Know-Nothings was to prevent an election in the Senate +and then block a joint session of the two houses. This scheme had +succeeded in defeating Ambrose Spencer in 1825 and Nathaniel P. +Tallmadge in 1845, and there was no apparent reason why similar +methods might not be invoked in 1855, unless the manifest inability of +Seward's adversaries to unite upon some one opponent gave his +supporters the upper hand. Millard Fillmore, Ira Harris, and +Washington Hunt had their friends; but an anti-slavery Know-Nothing +could not support Fillmore or Hunt, and a Silver-Gray Whig did not +take kindly to Harris. This was the corner-stone of Greeley's +confidence. Besides, the more bitter the criticism of Seward's record, +the more inclined were certain senators of the Democratic party, who +did not sympathise with the Know-Nothing aversion to foreigners, to +support the Auburn statesman.<a name="vol2FNanchor_173_173" id="vol2FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> There was no hope for<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.207" id="vol2Page_ii.207">ii. 207</a></span> Seymour, or +Dix, or Preston King, and some of their friends in the Senate who +admired the anti-slavery views of Seward could stop the play of the +Know-Nothings.</p> + +<p>Thus the contest grew fiercer. It was the chief topic in Albany. All +debate ended in its discussion. When, at last, DeWitt C. Littlejohn, +vacating the speaker's chair, took the floor for the distinguished New +Yorker, the excitement reached its climax. The speaker's bold and +fearless defence met a storm of personal denunciation that broke from +the ranks of the Know-Nothings; but his speech minimised their +opposition and inspired Seward's forces to work out a magnificent +victory. "Our friends are in good spirits and reasonably confident," +wrote Seward. "Our adversaries are not confident, and are out of +temper."<a name="vol2FNanchor_174_174" id="vol2FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a> Finally, on February 1, the caucus met. Five Whig +senators and twenty assemblymen, representing the bulk of the +opposition, were absent; but of the eighty present, seventy-four voted +for Seward. This stifled the hope of the Silver-Gray Know-Nothings. +Indeed, several of Seward's opponents now fell into line, giving him +eighteen out of thirty-one votes in the Senate and sixty-nine out of +one hundred and twenty-six in the Assembly. The five dissenting Whig +senators voted for Fillmore, Ullman, Ogden Hoffman, Preston King, and +George R. Babcock of Buffalo. Of the nineteen opposing Whig votes in +the Assembly, Washington Hunt received nine and Fillmore four. When +the two houses compared the vote in joint session, Henry J. Raymond, +the lieutenant-governor, announced with evident emotion to a +sympathetic audience which densely packed the Assembly chamber, that +"William H. Seward was duly elected as a senator of the United States +for six years from the fourth of March, 1855."</p> + +<p>Seward did not visit Albany or Auburn during the contest. A patent +suit kept him busy in New York City until the middle of January, after +which he returned to his place in the Senate. He professed to "have +the least possible anxiety about it," writing Weed early in December +that "I would<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.208" id="vol2Page_ii.208">ii. 208</a></span> not have you suffer one moment's pain on the ground +that I am not likely to be content and satisfied with whatever may +happen;"<a name="vol2FNanchor_175_175" id="vol2FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> yet a letter written five months afterward, on his +fifty-fifth birthday, gives a glimpse of what defeat would have meant +to him. "How happy I am," he says, "that age and competence bring no +serious and permanent disappointment to sour and disgust me with +country or mankind."<a name="vol2FNanchor_176_176" id="vol2FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> To Weed he shows a heart laden with +gratitude. "I snatch a minute," he writes, "to express not so much my +deep and deepened gratitude to you, as my amazement at the magnitude +and complexity of the dangers through which you have conducted our +shattered bark, and the sagacity and skill with which you have saved +us from so imminent a wreck."<a name="vol2FNanchor_177_177" id="vol2FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> But Seward was not more amazed at +the dangers he had escaped than at the great number of congratulations +now pouring in from opponents. "Was ever anything more curious," he +writes his wife, "than the fact that this result is scarcely more +satisfactory to my truest friends, than, as it seems, to so many +lifelong opponents? We have nothing but salutations and +congratulations here. How strange the mutations of politics."<a name="vol2FNanchor_178_178" id="vol2FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a></p> + +<p>After Seward's re-election the Kansas troubles began attracting +attention. Governor Reeder fixed March 30, 1855, for the election of a +territorial legislature, and just before it occurred five thousand +Missourians, "with guns upon their shoulders, revolvers stuffing their +belts, bowie-knives protruding from their boot-tops, and generous +rations of whiskey in their wagons,"<a name="vol2FNanchor_179_179" id="vol2FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> marched into the territory +to superintend the voting. This army intimidated such of the election +judges as were not already pro-slavery men; and of six thousand votes, +three-fourths of them were cast by the Missourians in the interest of +slavery. The Northern press recorded the fraud. If further evidence +were needed, Governor Reeder's speech, published in the New York +<i>Times</i> of May 1, in which<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.209" id="vol2Page_ii.209">ii. 209</a></span> he declared that the fierce violence and +wild outrages reported by the newspapers were in no wise exaggerated, +set all controversy at rest. Instantly the North was in a ferment. The +predominant sentiment demanded that Kansas should be free, and the +excitement aroused by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was +quickly rekindled when the South approved the murderous methods +intended to make it a slave State. A journal published in the +pro-slavery interest threatened "to lynch and hang, tar and feather, +and drown every white-livered Abolitionist who dares to pollute our +soil," and secret societies, organised for the purpose of keeping out +Northern immigrants, resolved "that we recognise the institution of +slavery as already existing in this territory, and advise +slave-holders to introduce their property as early as possible."</p> + +<p>As the year went on matters got worse. The territorial legislature, +elected by admitted and wholesale fraud, unseated all free-state +members whose election was contested, and proceeded to pass laws +upholding and fortifying slavery. It declared it a felony, punishable +by two years' imprisonment, to write or maintain that persons have not +the right to hold slaves in the territory; it disqualified all +anti-slavery men from sitting as jurors; it made one's presence in the +territory sufficient qualification to vote; and it punished with death +any one who assisted in the escape of fugitive slaves. When Reeder +vetoed these acts the Legislature passed them over his head and +demanded the Governor's removal. To add to the popular feeling, +already deeply inflamed, President Pierce met this demand with +affirmative action.</p> + +<p>In the midst of this political excitement, the Hards met in convention +at Syracuse on August 23, 1855. That party had been sorely punished in +the preceding election; but it had in no way changed its attitude +toward opponents. It refused to invite the Softs to participate; it +denounced the national administration, and it condemned the +Know-Nothings. Daniel E. Sickles, then thirty-four years old, who was +destined to play a conspicuous part when the country was<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.210" id="vol2Page_ii.210">ii. 210</a></span> in +difficulty and the Government in danger, sought to broaden and +liberalise its work; but the convention sullenly outvoted him. It +approved the Nebraska Act, refused to listen to appeals in behalf of +freedom in Kansas, and rebuked all efforts to restore the Missouri +Compromise. Only upon the liquor question did it modify its former +declarations. The Hards had started off in 1854 in favour of +prohibition. But during the campaign, Bronson changed his position, +or, as Greeley put it, "he first inclined to water, then to rum and +water, and finally he came out all rum." To keep in accord with their +leader's latest change, the delegates now declared the prohibitory law +unconstitutional and demanded its repeal. This law, passed on April 9, +1855, and entitled "An Act for the prevention of intemperance, +pauperism, and crime," permitted the sale of liquors for mechanical, +chemical, and medicinal uses; but prohibited the traffic for other +purposes. Its regulations, providing for search, prosecutions, and the +destruction of forfeited liquors, were the very strongest, and its +enforcement gave rise to much litigation. Among other things it denied +trial by jury. In May, 1856, the Court of Appeals declared it +unconstitutional. But while it lasted it gave the politicians much +concern. The Democrats disapproved and other parties avoided it.</p> + +<p>On August 29, the Softs met in convention. The Barnburners, who had +vainly extended the olive branch to the Hards, now faced an array of +anti-slavery delegates that would not condone the Kansas outrages. +They would disapprove prohibition, commend Marcy's admirable foreign +policy, and praise the President's management of the exchequer; but +they would not countenance border ruffianism, encourage slavery +propagandists in Kansas, or submit to the extension of slavery in the +free territories. It was a stormy convention. For three days the +contest raged; but when final action was taken, although the platform +did not in terms censure Pierce's administration, it condemned the +Kansas outrages which the President had approved by the removal of +Governor Reeder, and disapproved the extension of slavery into<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.211" id="vol2Page_ii.211">ii. 211</a></span> free +territories. Among the candidates nominated were Samuel J. Tilden for +attorney-general, and Samuel L. Selden of Rochester for judge of the +Court of Appeals. Selden, who had been a district judge since 1847, +was also nominated by the Hards.</p> + +<p>The Kansas disclosures had the effect of drawing into closer communion +the various shades of anti-slavery opinion in New York. Early in the +summer, the question was earnestly considered of enlisting all men +opposed to the aggressions of slavery under the banner of the +Republican party, a political organisation formed, as has been stated, +at Jackson, Michigan, on July 6, 1854. Horace Greeley had suggested +the name "Republican" as an unobjectionable one for the new party; +and, within a week after its adoption at Jackson, it became the name +of the Free-soilers who marshalled in Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, +Vermont, and Massachusetts. The anti-Nebraska convention of New York, +which reassembled in Auburn on the 27th of September, 1854, also +adopted the name, calling its executive committee "the Republican +state committee." It was not a new name in the Empire State. Voters in +middle life had all been Republicans in their early years; and long +after the formation of the National Republicans in 1828, and of the +Whig party in 1834, the designation had been used with approval by the +Regency. In 1846, Silas Wright spoke of belonging to "the Republican +party;" and, in 1848, Horace Greeley suggested "Taylor Republicans" as +a substitute for Whigs. But for twenty years the name had practically +fallen into disuse, and old questions associated with it had died out +of popular memory.</p> + +<p>After full conferences between the Whig and Republican state +committees, calls were issued for two state conventions to meet at +Syracuse on September 26. This meant an opportunity for the formal +union of all anti-slavery voters. Of the two hundred and fifty-six +delegates allotted to the Republican convention, over two hundred +assembled, with Reuben E. Fenton as their presiding officer. Fenton, +then<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.212" id="vol2Page_ii.212">ii. 212</a></span> thirty-six years old, was serving his first term in Congress. He +was a man of marked intellectual vigour, unquestioned courage, and +quiet courtesy, whose ability to control men was to give him, within a +few years, something of the influence possessed by Thurlow Weed as a +managing politician, with this difference, perhaps, that Fenton +trusted more to the prevalence of ideas for which he stood. He kept +step with progress. His reason for being a Barnburner, unlike that of +John A. Dix,<a name="vol2FNanchor_180_180" id="vol2FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> grew out of an intense hatred of slavery, and after +the historic break in 1847, he never again, with full-heartedness, +co-operated with the Democratic party. Fenton studied law, and, for a +time, practised at the bar, but if the dream and highest ambition of +his youth were success in the profession, his natural love for trade +and politics quickly gained the ascendant. It is doubtful if he would +have become a leading lawyer even in his own vicinage, for he showed +little real capacity for public speaking. Indeed, he was rather a dull +talker. The <i>Globe</i>, during his ten years in Congress, rarely reveals +him as doing more than making or briefly sustaining a motion, and, +although these frequently occurred at the most exciting moments of +partisan discussion, showing that he was carefully watching, if not +fearlessly directing affairs, it is evident that for the hard blows in +debate he relied as much as Weed did upon the readiness of other +speakers.</p> + +<p>The Whigs, who had represented only a meagre minority of the voters of +the State since the Know-Nothing defection, now responded to the call +with a full quota of delegates, and elected John A. King president. +King was nearly double the age of Fenton. He had been a lieutenant of +cavalry in the War of 1812 and an opponent of DeWitt Clinton in the +early<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.213" id="vol2Page_ii.213">ii. 213</a></span> twenties. The two men presented a broad contrast, yet King +represented the traditions of the past along the same lines that +Fenton represented the hopes of the future. One looked his full age, +the other appeared younger than he was, but both were serious. +Whatever their aspirations, they existed without rivalry or +ill-feeling, the desire for the success of their principles alone +animating leaders and followers.</p> + +<p>Each convention organised separately, and, after adopting platforms +and dividing their tickets equally between men of Whig and Democratic +antecedents, conference committees of sixteen were appointed, which +reported that the two bodies should appoint committees of sixteen on +resolutions and of thirty-two on nominations. These committees having +quickly agreed to what had already been done, the Whigs marched in a +body to the hall of the Republican convention, the delegates rising +and greeting them with cheers and shouts of welcome as they took the +seats reserved for them in the centre of the room.</p> + +<p>The occasion was one of profound rejoicing. The great coalition which +was to stand so strong and to work such wonders during the next +half-century doubtless had a period of feebleness in the first months +of its existence; but never in its history has it had stronger or more +influential men in its ranks, or abler and more determined leaders to +direct its course. Horace Greeley reported its platform, demanding +that Congress expressly prohibit slavery in the territories, and +condemning the doctrines and methods of the Know-Nothings; John A. +King, Edwin D. Morgan, and Reuben E. Fenton, destined to lead it to +victory as its candidate for governor, sat upon the stage; Henry J. +Raymond occupied a delegate's seat; and, back of the scenes, stood the +great manager, Thurlow Weed, who had conferred with the Free-soil +leaders, and anticipated and arranged every detail. Present in spirit, +though absent in body, was William H. Seward, who, within a few weeks, +put himself squarely at the head of the new organisation in a speech +that was read by more than half a million voters.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.214" id="vol2Page_ii.214">ii. 214</a></span></p> + +<p>After the enthusiasm had subsided the two chairmen, John A. King and +Reuben E. Fenton, standing side by side, called the joint convention +to order. This was the signal for more cheering. One delegate declared +that not being quite sure which convention he ought to attend, he had +applied to Seward, who wrote him it didn't make any difference. "You +will go in by two doors, but you will all come out through one." Then +everything went by acclamation. Speaker Littlejohn of the Assembly +moved that the two conventions ratify the platforms passed by each +convention; Elbridge G. Spaulding moved that the presidents of the two +conventions appoint a state central committee; and John A. King moved +that the names of the candidates, at the head of whom was Preston King +for secretary of state, be given to the people of the State as the +"Republican Ticket." Only when an effort was made to procure the +indorsement of liquor prohibition did the convention show its teeth. +The invitation, it was argued, included all men who were disposed to +unite in resisting the aggressions and the diffusion of slavery, and a +majority, by a ringing vote, declared it bad faith to insist upon a +matter for which the convention was not called and upon which it was +not unanimous.</p> + +<p>The Know-Nothing state convention met at Auburn on September 26. It +was no longer a secret society. The terrors surrounding its mysterious +machinery had vanished with the exposure of its secrets and the +exploiting of its methods. It was now holding open political +conventions and adopting political platforms under the title of the +American party; and, as in other political organisations, the slavery +question provoked hot controversies and led to serious breaks in its +ranks. At its national council, held at Philadelphia in the preceding +June, the New York delegation, controlled by the Silver-Gray faction +which forced Daniel Ullman's nomination for governor in 1854, had +joined the Southern delegates in carrying a pro-slavery resolution +abandoning further efforts to restore the Missouri Compromise. In this +action the anti-slavery members of other Northern States, led with<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.215" id="vol2Page_ii.215">ii. 215</a></span> +great ability and courage by Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, refused to +acquiesce, preferring to abandon the Order rather than sacrifice their +principles. The contest in New York was renewed at the state council, +held at Binghamton on August 28; and, after a bitter session, a +majority resolved that slavery should derive no extension from the +repeal of the Missouri Compromise. The convention at Auburn now took +similar ground. It was not a great victory for the anti-slavery wing +of the party; but it disproved the assurances of their delegates that +the Americans of New York would uphold the pro-slavery action at +Philadelphia, while the fervent heat of the conflict melted the zeal +of thousands of anti-Nebraska Know-Nothings, who soon found their way +into the Republican party.</p> + +<p>But the main body of the Americans, crushed as were its hopes of +national unity, was still powerful. It put a ticket into the field, +headed by Joel T. Headley for secretary of state, and greatly +strengthened by George F. Comstock of Syracuse for judge of the Court +of Appeals. Headley was a popular and prolific writer. He had been +educated for the ministry at Union College and Auburn Theological +Seminary, but his pen paid better than the pulpit, and he soon settled +down into a writer of melodramatic biography, of which <i>Napoleon and +His Marshals</i> attained, perhaps, the greatest popularity. Possibly +little interest now clings to his books, which ordinarily rest on the +high shelf with Abbott's <i>History of Napoleon</i>; but, in their day, it +was far pleasanter to read the entertaining and dramatic pages of +Headley, with their impassioned, stirring pictures of war and heroism, +than the tame, tedious biographies that then filled the libraries. +Headley's <i>History of the War of 1812</i> immediately preceded his +entrance to the Assembly in 1854, where his cleverness attracted the +attention of his party and led to his selection for secretary of +state. George F. Comstock, now in his forty-first year, had already +won an enviable reputation at the Onondaga bar. Like Headley he was a +graduate of Union College. In 1847, Governor Young had appointed him +the first<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.216" id="vol2Page_ii.216">ii. 216</a></span> reporter for the Court of Appeals, and five years later +President Fillmore made him solicitor of the Treasury Department. He +belonged to the Hards, but he sympathised with the tenets of the young +American party.</p> + +<p>There were other parties in the field. The Free Democracy met in +convention on August 7, and the Liberty party, assembling at Utica on +September 12, nominated Frederick Douglass of Monroe, then a young +coloured man of thirty-eight, for secretary of state, and Lewis Tappan +of New York for comptroller. Douglass' life had been full of romance. +Neither his white father nor coloured mother appears to have had any +idea of the prodigy they brought into the world; but it is certain his +Maryland master discovered in the little slave boy the great talents +that a hard life in Baltimore could not suppress. Douglass secretly +began teaching himself to read and write before he was ten years of +age, and three years after his escape from slavery at the age of +twenty-one, he completely captured an audience at an anti-slavery +convention in Nantucket by his brilliant speaking. This gave him +employment as an agent of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, and +four years later brought him crowded audiences, in England, Scotland, +and Ireland.</p> + +<p>Frederick Douglass was a favourite everywhere. He had wit and humour, +and spoke with the refinement of a cultivated scholar. He did not +become a narrow and monotonous agitator. The variety of his +intellectual sympathies, controlled by the constancy of a high moral +impulse, wholly exempted him from the rashness of a conceited zealot; +and, though often brilliant and at times rhetorical, his style was +quiet and persuasive, reaching the reason as easily as the emotions. +Coming as he did, out of slavery, at a time when the anti-slavery +sentiment was beginning to be aggressive and popular in New England +and other free States, Douglass seemed to be the Moses of his race as +much as Booker T. Washington in these later years. Englishmen raised +one hundred and fifty pounds and bought his freedom in 1846. The next +year, as a Garrisonian disunionist, he began the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.217" id="vol2Page_ii.217">ii. 217</a></span> publication of a +weekly journal in Rochester; but he soon renounced disunionism, +maintaining that slavery was illegal and unconstitutional. In the year +the Liberty party nominated him for secretary of state, his publishers +sold eighteen thousand copies of his autobiography, entitled <i>My +Bondage and My Freedom</i>.</p> + +<p>Before the campaign was far advanced it became evident that the +Republican party was not drawing all the anti-slavery elements to +which it was thought to be entitled; and, on the 12th of October, +Seward made a speech in Albany, answering the question, "Shall we form +a new party?" The hall was little more than two-thirds filled, and an +absence of joyous enthusiasm characterised the meeting. Earnest men +sat with serious faces, thinking of party ties severed and the work of +a lifetime apparently snuffed out, with deep forebodings for the +future of the new organisation. This was a time to appeal to +reason—not to the emotions, and Seward met it squarely with a +storehouse of arguments. He sketched the history of slavery's growth +as a political power; he explained that slave-holders were a +privileged class, getting the better of the North in appropriations +and by the tariff. "Protection is denied to your wool," he said, +"while it is freely given to their sugar." Then he pointed out how +slavery had grasped the territories as each one presented itself for +admission into the Union—Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and +Alabama, almost at the very outset of the national career; then +Florida, when acquired from Spain; then as much of the Louisiana +Purchase as possible; then Texas and the territory acquired from +Mexico—all the while deluding the North with the specious pretence +that each successive seizure of free soil was a "compromise" and a +final settlement of the slavery question. This opened the way to the +matter in hand—how to meet slavery's aggressiveness. "Shall we take +the American party?" he asked. "It stifles its voice, and suppresses +your own free speech, lest it may be overheard beyond the Potomac. In +the slave-holding States it justifies all wrongs committed against +you. Shall we unite<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.218" id="vol2Page_ii.218">ii. 218</a></span> ourselves to the Democratic party? If so, to +which faction? The Hards who are so stern in defending the +aggressions, and in rebuking the Administration through whose agency +they are committed? or the Softs who protest against the aggressions, +while they sustain and invigorate the Administration? What is it but +the same party which has led in the commission of all those +aggressions, and claims exclusively the political benefits? Shall we +report ourselves to the Whig party? Where is it? It was a strong and +vigorous party, honourable for energy, noble achievement, and still +more noble enterprises. It was moved by panics and fears to emulate +the Democratic party in its practised subserviency; and it yielded in +spite of your remonstrances, and of mine, and now there is neither +Whig party nor Whig south of the Potomac. Let, then, the Whig party +pass. It committed a grievous fault, and grievously hath it answered +it. Let it march off the field, therefore, with all the honours.... +The Republican organisation has laid a new, sound, and liberal +platform. Its principles are equal and exact justice; its speech open, +decided, and frank. Its banner is untorn in former battles, and +unsullied by past errors. That is the party for us."<a name="vol2FNanchor_181_181" id="vol2FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a></p> + +<p>When the meeting ended the people went out satisfied. The smallness of +the audience had been forgotten in the clear, homely arguments, and in +the glow kindled in every heart; nor did they know that the speech +spoken in their hearing would be read and pondered by half a million +voters within a month. Richard H. Dana pronounced it "the keynote of +the new party."<a name="vol2FNanchor_182_182" id="vol2FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> But though sown in fruitful soil, insufficient +time was to elapse before election for such arguments to root and +blossom; and when the votes were counted in November, the +Know-Nothings had polled 146,001, the Republicans 135,962, the Softs +90,518, and the Hards 58,394. Samuel L. Selden, the candidate of the +Hards and Softs for judge of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.219" id="vol2Page_ii.219">ii. 219</a></span> the Court of Appeals, had 149,702. +George F. Comstock was also declared elected, having received 141,094, +or nearly 5000 less than Headley for secretary of state. In the +Assembly the Republicans numbered 44, the Know-Nothings 39, and the +Hards and Softs 45.</p> + +<p>"The events of the election," wrote Seward, "show that the +Silver-Grays have been successful in a new and attractive form, so as +to divide a majority of the people in the cities and towns from the +great question of the day. That is all. The rural districts still +remain substantially sound. A year is necessary to let the cheat wear +off."<a name="vol2FNanchor_183_183" id="vol2FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> To a friend who was greatly alarmed at the success of the +Know-Nothings, he wrote: "There is just so much gas in any ascending +balloon. Before the balloon is down, the gas must escape. But the +balloon is always sure not only to come down, but to come down <i>very +quick</i>. The heart of the country is fixed on higher and nobler things. +Do not distrust it."<a name="vol2FNanchor_184_184" id="vol2FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a></p> + +<p>After the election, some people held the opinion that the prospect of +a united anti-slavery party was not so favourable as it had been at +the close of 1854; and men were inclined then, as some historians are +now, to criticise Seward for not forcing the formation of the +Republican party in New York in 1854 and putting himself at its head +by making speeches in New England and the West as well as in New York. +"Had Seward sunk the politician in the statesman," says Rhodes; "had +he vigorously asserted that every cause must be subordinate to Union +under the banner of opposition to the extension of slavery—the close +of the year would have seen a triumphant Republican party in every +Northern State but California, and Seward its acknowledged leader. It +was the tide in Seward's affairs, but he did not take it at the +flood."<a name="vol2FNanchor_185_185" id="vol2FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.220" id="vol2Page_ii.220">ii. 220</a></span></p> +<p>Looking back into the fifties from the viewpoint of the present, this +suggestion of the distinguished historian seems plausible. Undoubtedly +Thurlow Weed's judgment controlled in 1854, and back of it was thirty +years of successful leadership, based upon the sagacity of a statesman +as well as the skill of a clever politician. It was inevitable that +Weed should be a Republican. He had opposed slavery before he was of +age. The annexation of Texas met his strenuous resistance, the Wilmot +Proviso had his active approval, and he assailed the fugitive slave +law and the Nebraska Act with unsparing bitterness. With a singleness +of purpose, not excelled by Seward or Sumner, his heart quickly +responded to every movement which should limit, and, if possible, +abolish slavery; but, in his wisdom, with Know-Nothings recruiting +members from the anti-slavery ranks, and the Whig party confident of +success because of a divided Democracy, he did not see his way safely +to organise the Republican party in New York in 1854. It is possible +his desire to re-elect Seward to the United States Senate may have +increased his caution. Seward's re-election was just then a very +important factor in the successful coalition of the anti-slavery +elements of the Empire State. Besides, Weed knew very well that defeat +would put the work of coalition into unfriendly hands, and it might be +disastrous if a hostile majority were allowed to deal with it +according to their own designs and their own<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.221" id="vol2Page_ii.221">ii. 221</a></span> class interests. +Nevertheless, his delay in organising and Seward's failure to lead the +new party in 1854, left an indelible impression to their injury in the +West, if not in New York and New England, "for unto whomsoever much is +given, of him shall much be required; and to whom men have committed +much, of him they will ask the more."</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.222" id="vol2Page_ii.222">ii. 222</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XVII" id="vol2CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br /> +<br /> +THE FIRST REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR<br /> +<br /> +1856</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Kansas</span> troubles did not subside after the election. The Pierce +administration found itself harassed by the most formidable opposition +it had yet encountered. Reeder was out of the way for the moment; but +the Northern settlers, by planning a flank movement which included the +organisation of a state government and an appeal to Congress for +admission to the Union, proved themselves an enemy much more +pertinacious and ingenious than the removed Governor. To aid them in +their endeavour, friends sent a supply of Sharpe's rifles, marked +"books." Accordingly, on the 9th of October, 1855, delegates were +elected to a convention which met at Topeka on the 23d of the same +month and framed a Constitution prohibiting slavery and providing for +its submission to the people.</p> + +<p>This practically established a second government. Governor Shannon, +the successor of Reeder, recognised the action of the fraudulently +chosen territorial Legislature, while the free-state settlers, with +headquarters at Lawrence, repudiated its laws and resisted their +enforcement. Things could not long remain in this unhappy condition, +and when, at last, a free-state man was killed it amounted to a +declaration of hostilities. Immediately, the people of Lawrence threw +up earthworks; the Governor called out the militia; and the +Missourians again crossed the border. By the 1st of December a couple +of regiments were encamped in the vicinity of Lawrence, behind whose +fortifications calmly rested six hundred men, half of them armed with +Sharpe's rifles. A howitzer added to their confidence. Finally, the +border ruffians,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.223" id="vol2Page_ii.223">ii. 223</a></span> who had heard of the breech-loading rifles and +learned of the character of the men behind them, after dallying for +several weeks, recrossed the river and permitted the settlers to +ratify the new Constitution. In January, 1856, a governor and +legislature were chosen, and, in February, the Legislature, meeting at +Topeka, memorialised Congress, asking that Kansas be admitted into the +Union. Thereupon, Senator Douglas reported a bill providing that +whenever the people of Kansas numbered 93,420 inhabitants they might +organise a State. Instantly, Senator Seward offered a substitute, +providing for its immediate admission with the Topeka Constitution.</p> + +<p>The events leading up to this parliamentary situation had been noisy +and murderous, rekindling a spirit of indignation in the South as well +as in the North, which brought out fiery appeals from the press. The +Georgia Legislature proposed to appropriate sixty thousand dollars to +aid emigration to Kansas. A chivalrous colonel of Alabama who issued +an appeal for three hundred men willing to fight for the cause of the +South, began his march from Montgomery with two hundred, having first +received a blessing from a Methodist minister and a Bible from a +divine of the Baptist church. One young lady of South Carolina set the +example of selling her jewelry to equip men with rifles. The same +spirit manifested itself in the North. Public meetings encouraged +armed emigration. "The duty of the people of the free States," said +the <i>Tribune</i>, "is to send more true men, more Sharpe's rifles, and +more howitzers to Kansas."<a name="vol2FNanchor_186_186" id="vol2FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> William Cullen Bryant wrote his +brother that "by the 1st of May there will be several thousand more +free-state settlers in Kansas. Of course they will go well +armed."<a name="vol2FNanchor_187_187" id="vol2FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> Henry Ward Beecher, happening to be present at a meeting +in which an orthodox deacon who had enlisted seventy-nine emigrants +asked for more rifles, declared that a Sharpe's rifle was a greater +moral agency than the Bible, and that if half the guns needed were +pledged on the spot Plymouth Church would furnish the rest.<a name="vol2FNanchor_188_188" id="vol2FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> +Thus,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.224" id="vol2Page_ii.224">ii. 224</a></span> the equipment of Northern emigrants to Kansas became known as +"Beecher's Bibles."<a name="vol2FNanchor_189_189" id="vol2FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> Henry J. Raymond said that "the question of +slavery domination must be fought out on the plains of Kansas."<a name="vol2FNanchor_190_190" id="vol2FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> +To add to Northern bitterness, President Pierce, in a special message +to the United State Senate, condemned the emigrant aid societies, +threatening to call out the army, and approving the acts of the +pro-slavery Legislature.</p> + +<p>In the midst of this excitement, Senator Douglas began the debate on +his Kansas bill which was destined to become more historic than the +outrages of the border ruffians themselves. Douglas upheld the acts of +the territorial Legislature as the work of law and order, denouncing +the Northern emigrants as daring and defiant revolutionists, and +charging that "the whole responsibility for all the disturbance rested +upon the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company and its affiliated +societies."<a name="vol2FNanchor_191_191" id="vol2FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> Horace Greeley admitted the force and power of +Douglas' argument, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, the gifted author of +<i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i>, was so profoundly impressed with the matchless +orator that she thought it "a merciful providence that with all his +alertness and adroitness, all his quick-sighted keenness, Douglas is +not witty—that might have made him too irresistible a demagogue for +the liberties of our laughter-loving people, to whose weakness he is +altogether too well adapted now."<a name="vol2FNanchor_192_192" id="vol2FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> The friends of a free Kansas +appreciated the superiority in debate of the Illinois statesman, whose +arguments now called out half a dozen replies from as many Republican +senators. It afforded a fine opportunity to define and shape the +principles of the new party, and each senator attracted wide +attention. But the speech of Seward, who took the floor on the 9th of +April in favour of the immediate admission of Kansas as a State, seems +to have impressed the country as far the ablest. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.225" id="vol2Page_ii.225">ii. 225</a></span> sketched the +history of the Kansas territory; reviewed the sacrifices of its +people; analysed and refuted each argument in support of the +President's policy; and defended the settlers in maintaining their +struggle for freedom. "Greeley expressed the opinion of the country +and the judgment of the historian," says Rhodes, "when he wrote to his +journal that Seward's speech was 'the great argument' and stood +'unsurpassed in its political philosophy.'"<a name="vol2FNanchor_193_193" id="vol2FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> The <i>Times</i> +pronounced it "the ablest of all his speeches."<a name="vol2FNanchor_194_194" id="vol2FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> On the day of its +publication the <i>Weekly Tribune</i> sent out 162,000 copies. Seward wrote +Weed that "the demand for it exceeds what I have ever known. I am +giving copies away by the thousand for distribution in Pennsylvania, +Ohio, and other States."<a name="vol2FNanchor_195_195" id="vol2FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a></p> + +<p>A month later, on the 19th and 20th of May, came the speech of Charles +Sumner, entitled "The Crime Against Kansas." Whittier called it "a +grand and terrible philippic." Sumner had read it to Senator and Mrs. +Seward, who advised the omission of certain personal allusions to +Senator Butler;<a name="vol2FNanchor_196_196" id="vol2FNanchor_196_196"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> but he delivered it as he wrote it, and two days +later the country was startled by Preston S. Brooks' assault. The +North received this outrage with horror as the work of the slave +power. In public meetings, the people condemned it as a violation of +the freedom of speech and a blow at the personal safety of public men +having the courage to express their convictions. "The blows that fell +on the head of the Senator from Massachusetts," said Seward, "have +done more for the cause of human freedom in Kansas and in the +territories of the United States than all the eloquence which has +resounded in these halls since the days of Rufus King and John Quincy +Adams."<a name="vol2FNanchor_197_197" id="vol2FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> The events surrounding the assault—Brooks' resignation, +his unanimous re-election, his challenge to Burlingame, and his +refusal to fight in Canada—all tended<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.226" id="vol2Page_ii.226">ii. 226</a></span> to intensify Northern feeling. +Close upon the heels of this excitement came news from Kansas of the +burning of Lawrence, the destruction of Osawatomie, the sacking of +free-state printing offices, and the murder of Northern immigrants. To +complete the list of crimes against free speech and freedom, the +commander of a force of United States troops dispersed the Topeka +Legislature at the point of the bayonet.</p> + +<p>This was the condition of affairs when the two great political parties +of the country assembled in national convention in June, 1856, to +select candidates for President and Vice President. At their state +convention, in January, to select delegates-at-large to Cincinnati, +the Softs had put themselves squarely in accord with the pro-slavery +wing of their party. They commended the administration of Pierce, +approved the Nebraska Act, and denounced as "treasonable" the Kansas +policy of the Republican party. This was a wide departure from their +position of August, 1855, which had practically reaffirmed the +principles of the Wilmot Proviso; but the trend of public events +compelled them either to renounce all anti-slavery leanings or abandon +their party. Their surrender, however, did not turn their reception at +Cincinnati into the welcome of prodigals. The committee on credentials +kept them waiting at the door for two days, and when they were finally +admitted they were compelled to enter on an equality with the Hards. +Horatio Seymour pleaded for representation in proportion to the votes +cast, which would have given the Softs three-fifths of the delegation, +but the convention thought them entitled to no advantages because of +their "abolition principles," and even refused a request for +additional seats from which their colleagues might witness the +proceedings. To complete their humiliation the convention required +them formally to deny the right of Congress or of the people of a +territory to prohibit slavery in any territory of the United States. +It was a bitter dose. The Democracy of the Empire State had been +accustomed to control conventions—not to serve them. For twenty years +they had<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.227" id="vol2Page_ii.227">ii. 227</a></span> come with candidates for the Presidency, and if none of +their statesmen had been nominated since 1836 they were recognised as +resolute men, bold in diplomacy, ready for any emergency, and as +formidable to their enemies as they were dear to their friends. For +nearly three decades a New Yorker had been in the Cabinet of every +administration. But the glory of former days had now departed. For +twelve years the party had been divided and weakened, until, at last, +it had neither presidential candidate to offer nor cabinet position to +expect.</p> + +<p>The leading candidates at Cincinnati were Franklin Pierce, Stephen A. +Douglas, and James Buchanan. Northern delegates had been inclined to +support Pierce or Douglas; but since the assault upon Sumner and the +destruction of Lawrence, the conciliation of the North by the +nomination of a candidate who had not participated in the events of +the past three years seemed the wisest and safest policy. Buchanan had +been minister to England since the birth of the Pierce administration; +and the fact that he hailed from Pennsylvania, a very important State +in the election, strengthened his availability. The Softs recognised +the wisdom of this philosophy, but, under the leadership of Marcy, who +had given them the federal patronage for three years, they voted for +the President, with the hope that his supporters might ultimately +unite with those of Douglas. The Hards, on the contrary, supported +Buchanan. They had little use for Pierce, who had persecuted them.</p> + +<p>On the first ballot Buchanan had 135 votes, Pierce 122, Douglas 33, +and Cass 5, with 197 necessary to a choice. This made Buchanan's +success probable if his forces stood firm; and as other ballots +brought him additional votes at the expense of Pierce, his nomination +seemed certain. The Softs, however, continued with Pierce until his +withdrawal on the fourteenth ballot; then, putting aside an +opportunity to support the winning candidate, they turned to Douglas. +But to their great surprise, Douglas withdrew at the end of the next +ballot, leaving the field to Buchanan. This placed the Softs,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.228" id="vol2Page_ii.228">ii. 228</a></span> who now +joined the Hards because there was no longer any way of keeping apart, +in an awkward position. Seymour, however, gracefully accepted the +situation, declaring that, although the Softs came into the convention +under many disadvantages, they desired to do all in their power to +harmonise the vote of the convention and to promote the discontinuance +of factional differences in the great State of New York. Greene C. +Bronson, who smiled derisively as he heard this deathbed repentance, +did not know how soon Horatio Seymour was destined again to command +the party.</p> + +<p>The Republican national convention convened at Philadelphia on the +17th of June. Recent events had encouraged Republicans with the hope +of ultimate victory. Nathaniel P. Banks' election as speaker of the +national House of Representatives on the one hundred and +thirty-seventh ballot, after a fierce contest of two months, was a +great triumph; interest in the Pittsburg convention on the 22d of +February had surpassed expectations; and the troubles of "bleeding +Kansas," which seemed to culminate in the assault upon Sumner and the +destruction of Lawrence, had kept the free States in a condition of +profound excitement. Such brutal outrages, it was thought, would +certainly discredit any party that approved the policy leading to +them. Sustained by this hope the convention, in its platform, +arraigned the Administration for the conduct of affairs; demanded the +immediate admission of Kansas into the Union under the Topeka +Constitution; and resolved, amidst the greatest enthusiasm, that "it +is both the right and duty of Congress to prohibit in the territories +those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery."</p> + +<p>The selection of a presidential candidate gave the delegates more +trouble. They wanted an available man who could carry Pennsylvania; +and between the supporters of John C. Fremont and the forces of John +McLean, for twenty-six years a member of the United States Supreme +Court, the canvass became earnest and exciting. Finally, on an +informal ballot, Fremont secured 359 of the 555 votes in the +con<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.229" id="vol2Page_ii.229">ii. 229</a></span>vention. William L. Dayton of New Jersey was then nominated for +Vice President over Abraham Lincoln, who received 110 votes.</p> + +<p>William H. Seward was the logical candidate for President. He +represented Republican principles and aims more fully than any man in +the country, but Thurlow Weed, looking into the future through the +eyes of a practical politician, disbelieved in Republican success. He +argued that, although Republicans were sure of 114 electoral votes, it +was essential to carry Pennsylvania to secure the additional 35, and +that Pennsylvania could not be carried. This belief was strengthened +after the nomination of Buchanan, who pledged himself to give fair +play to Kansas, which many understood to mean a free State. Under +these conditions Weed advised Seward not to become a candidate, on the +theory that defeat in 1856 would sacrifice his chances in 1860.</p> + +<p>Seward, as usual, acquiesced in Weed's judgment. "I once heard Seward +declare," wrote Gideon Welles, "that 'Seward is Weed and Weed is +Seward. What I do, Weed approves. What he says, I indorse. We are +one.'"<a name="vol2FNanchor_198_198" id="vol2FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> On this occasion, however, it is certain Seward accepted +Weed's judgment with much reluctance. His heart was set upon the +nomination, and his letters reveal disappointment and even disgust at +the arrangement. "It is a delicate thing," he wrote, on the 27th of +April, "to go through the present ordeal, but I am endeavouring to do +so without giving any one just cause to complain of indifference on my +part to the success of the cause. I have shut out the subject itself +from conversation and correspondence, and, so far as possible, from my +thoughts."<a name="vol2FNanchor_199_199" id="vol2FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> But he could not close his ears. "From all I hear +'availability' is to be indulged next week and my own friends are<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.230" id="vol2Page_ii.230">ii. 230</a></span> to +make the sacrifice," he wrote his wife, on June 11, six days before +the convention opened. "Be it so; I shall submit with better grace +than others would."<a name="vol2FNanchor_200_200" id="vol2FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> Two days later he said: "It tries my patience +to hear what is said and to act as if I assented, under expectation of +personal benefits, present and prospective."<a name="vol2FNanchor_201_201" id="vol2FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a></p> + +<p>What especially gravelled Seward was the action of his opponents. "The +understanding all around me is," he wrote his wife, on June 14, "that +Greeley has struck hands with enemies of mine and sacrificed me for +the good of the cause, to be obtained by the nomination of a more +available candidate, and that Weed has concurred in demanding my +acquiescence."<a name="vol2FNanchor_202_202" id="vol2FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> Seward suspected the truth of this "understanding" +as to Greeley, but it is doubtful if he then believed Weed had +betrayed him. Perhaps this thought came later after he heard of +Fremont's astonishing vote and learned that the newspapers were again +nominating the Path-finder for a standard-bearer in 1860. "Seward more +than hinted to confidential friends," wrote Henry B. Stanton, "that +Weed betrayed him for Fremont." Then Stanton tells the story of Weed +and Seward riding up Broadway, and how, when passing the bronze statue +of Lincoln in Union Square, Seward said, "Weed, if you had been +faithful to me, I should have been there instead of Lincoln." +"Seward," replied Weed, "is it not better to be alive in a carriage +with me than to be dead and set up in bronze?"<a name="vol2FNanchor_203_203" id="vol2FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a></p> + +<p>How much Weed's advice to Seward was influenced by the arguments of +opponents nowhere appears, but the disappointment of Democrats and +conservative Americans upon the announcement of Seward's withdrawal +proves that these objections were serious. His views were regarded as +too extreme for a popular candidate. It was deemed advisable not to +put in issue either the abolition of slavery in the District of +Columbia, or the repeal of the fugitive slave law, and Seward's<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.231" id="vol2Page_ii.231">ii. 231</a></span> +pronounced attitude on these questions, it was asserted, would involve +them in the campaign regardless of the silence of the platform. It was +argued, also, that although the Whigs were numerically the largest +portion of the Republican party, a candidate of Democratic antecedents +would be preferable, especially in Pennsylvania, a State, they +declared, which Seward could not carry. To all this Greeley +undoubtedly assented. The dissolution of the firm of Seward, Weed, and +Greeley, announced in Greeley's remarkable letter of November 11, +1854, but not yet made public, had, indeed, taken effect. The result +was not so patent, certainly not so vitriolic, as it appeared at +Chicago in 1860, but Greeley now began insinuating doubts of Seward's +popular strength, exaggerating local prejudices against him, and +yielding to objections raised by his avowed opponents. His hostility +found no place in the columns of the <i>Tribune</i>, but it coloured his +conversations and private correspondence. To Richard A. Dana he wrote +that Callamer's speech on the Kansas question "is better than +Seward's, in my humble judgment;"<a name="vol2FNanchor_204_204" id="vol2FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> yet the <i>Tribune</i> pronounced +Seward's "the great argument" and "unsurpassed in political +philosophy." The importance of Pennsylvania became as prominent a +factor in the convention of 1856 as it did in that of 1860, and +Greeley did not hesitate to affirm Seward's inability to carry it, +declaring that such weakness made his nomination fatal to party +success.</p> + +<p>The opponents of Seward, however, could not have prevented his +nomination had he decided to enter the race. He was the unanimous +choice of the New York delegation. The mere mention of his name at +Philadelphia met with the loudest applause. When Senator Wilson of +Massachusetts spoke of him as "the foremost American statesman," the +cheers made further speaking impossible for several minutes. He was +the idol of the convention as he was the chief figure of his party. +John A. King declared that could his name have been presented "it +would have received the universal ap<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.232" id="vol2Page_ii.232">ii. 232</a></span>probation of the convention." +Robert Emmet, the son of the distinguished Thomas Addis Emmet, and the +temporary chairman of the convention, made a similar statement. Even +Thurlow Weed found it difficult to prevail upon his friends to bide +their time until the next national convention. "Earnest friends +refused to forego my nomination," Seward wrote his wife on June 17, +the day the convention opened, "without my own authority."<a name="vol2FNanchor_205_205" id="vol2FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a></p> + +<p>When the several state conventions convened at Syracuse each party +sought its strongest man for governor. The Hards and the Softs were +first in the field, meeting in separate conventions on July 30. After +inviting each other to join in a union meeting they reassembled as one +body, pledged to support the Cincinnati platform. It was not an +occasion for cheers. Consolidation was the only alternative, with +chances that the ultra pro-slavery platform meant larger losses if not +certain defeat. In this crisis Horatio Seymour assumed the leadership +that had been his in 1852, and that was not to be laid down for more +than a decade. Seymour was now in his prime—still under fifty years +of age. He had become a leader of energy and courage; and, although +destined for many years to lead a divided and often a defeated +organisation, he was ever after recognised as the most gifted and +notable member of his party. He was a typical Northern Democrat. He +had the virtues and foibles that belonged to that character in his +generation, the last of whom have now passed from the stage of public +action.</p> + +<p>The effort to secure a Democratic nominee for governor required four +ballots. Addison Gardiner, David L. Seymour, Fernando Wood, and Amasa +J. Parker were the leading candidates. David Seymour had been a steady +supporter of the Hards. He belonged to the O'Conor type of +conservatives, rugged and stalwart, who seemed unmindful of the +changing conditions in the political growth of the country. At +Cincinnati, he opposed the admission of the Softs as an unjust and +utterly irrational disqualification of the Hards, who, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.233" id="vol2Page_ii.233">ii. 233</a></span> said, had +always stood firmly by party platforms and party nominations +regardless of personal convictions. Fernando Wood belonged to a +different type.<a name="vol2FNanchor_206_206" id="vol2FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> He had already developed those regrettable +qualities which gave him a most unsavoury reputation as mayor of New +York; but of the dangerous qualities that lay beneath the winning +surface of his gracious manner, men as yet knew nothing. Just now his +gubernatorial ambition, fed by dishonourable methods, found support in +a great host of noisy henchmen who demanded his nomination. Addison +Gardiner was the choice of the Softs. Gardiner had been elected +lieutenant-governor on the ticket with Silas Wright in 1844, and later +became an original member of the Court of Appeals, from which he +retired in 1855. He was a serious, simple-hearted, wise man, well +fitted for governor. But Horatio Seymour made up his mind that Parker, +although far below Gardiner and David L. Seymour in number of votes, +would better unite the convention, and upon Gardiner's withdrawal +Parker immediately received the nomination.</p> + +<p>Amasa J. Parker was then forty-nine years of age, an eminent, +successful lawyer. Before his thirty-second birthday he had served +Delaware County as surrogate, district attorney, assemblyman, and +congressman. Later, he became a judge of the Supreme Court and removed +to Albany, where<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.234" id="vol2Page_ii.234">ii. 234</a></span> he resided for forty-six years, until his death in +1890. Parker was a New England Puritan, who had been unusually well +raised. He passed from the study of his father, a Congregational +clergyman, to the senior class at Union College, graduating at +eighteen; and from his uncle's law library to the surrogate's office. +All his early years had been a training for public life. He had +associated with scholars and thinkers, and in the estimation of his +contemporaries there were few stronger or clearer intellects in the +State. But his later political career was a disappointment. His party +began nominating him for governor after it had fallen into the +unfortunate habit of being beaten, and, although he twice ran ahead of +his ticket, the anti-slavery sentiment that dominated New York after +1854 kept him out of the executive chair.</p> + +<p>The Republican state convention assembled at Syracuse on the 17th of +September. A feeling existed that the election this year would extract +the people from the mire of Know-Nothingism, giving the State its +first Republican governor; and confidence of success, mingled with an +unusual desire to make no mistake, characterised the selection of a +nominee for chief executive. Myron H. Clark, a man of the people, had +made a good governor, but he was too heavily weighted with prohibition +to suit the older public men, who did not take kindly to him. They +turned to Moses H. Grinnell, whose pre-eminence as a large-hearted, +public-spirited merchant always kept him in sight. Grinnell was now +fifty-three years of age. His broad, handsome face showed an absence +of bigotry and intolerance, while the motives that controlled his life +were public and patriotic, not personal. Probably no man in New York +City, since the time John Jay left it, had ever had more admirers. He +was a favourite of Daniel Webster, who appointed Washington Irving +minister to Spain upon his request. This interest in the famous +author, as well as his recent promotion of Dr. Kane's expedition to +the Arctic seas in search of Sir John Franklin, indicated the broad +philanthropy that governed his well-ordered life.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.235" id="vol2Page_ii.235">ii. 235</a></span> But he declined to +accept office. The distinguished house that had borne his name for +twenty-seven years, decided that its senior member could not be +spared, even temporarily, to become governor of the State, and so +Grinnell's official life was limited to a single term in Congress, +although his public life may be said to have spanned nearly two-thirds +of his more than three score years and ten.</p> + +<p>Grinnell's decision seemed to leave an open field, and upon the first +ballot John A. King received 91 votes, James S. Wadsworth 72, Simeon +Draper 23, Myron H. Clark 22, and Ira Harris 22. Thurlow Weed and the +wheel horses of Whig descent, however, preferring that the young party +have a governor of their own antecedents, familiar with political +difficulties and guided by firmness and wisdom, had secretly +determined upon King. But Wadsworth, although he quickly felt the +influence of their decision, declined to withdraw. Wadsworth was a +born fighter. In the Free-soil secession of 1847, he proclaimed +uncompromising hostility to the extension of slavery, and he never +changed his position until death ended his gallant and noble service +in the Civil War.</p> + +<p>Wadsworth descended from a notable family. His father, James +Wadsworth, a graduate of Yale, leaving his Connecticut home in young +manhood, bought of the Dutch and of the Six Nations twenty thousand +acres in the Genesee Valley, and became one of the earliest settlers +and wealthiest men in Western New York. He was, also, the most +public-spirited citizen. He believed in normal schools and in district +school libraries, and he may properly be called one of the founders of +the educational system of the State. But he never cared for political +office. It was said of him that his refusal to accept public place was +as inflexible as his determination to fight Oliver Kane, a well-known +merchant of New York City, after trouble had occurred at the card +table. The story, told at the time, was that the two, after separating +in anger, met before sunrise the next morning, without seconds or +surgeons, under a tall pine tree on a bluff, and after politely +measuring the distance and taking their places, continued<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.236" id="vol2Page_ii.236">ii. 236</a></span> shooting at +each other until Kane, slightly wounded, declared he had enough.<a name="vol2FNanchor_207_207" id="vol2FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a></p> + +<p>James S. Wadsworth discovered none of his father's aversion to holding +office. He, also, graduated at Yale and studied law in the office of +Daniel Webster, but he preferred politics and agriculture to the +troubles of clients, and, although never successful in getting office, +all admitted his fitness for it. He was brave, far-sighted, and formed +to please. He had a handsome face and stately presence. Many people +who never saw him were strongly attracted to him by sympathy of +political opinions and by gratitude for important services rendered +the country. There was to come a time, in 1862, when these radical +friends, looking upon him as the Lord's Anointed, and indifferent to +the wishes of Thurlow Weed and the more conservative leaders, forced +his nomination for governor by acclamation; but, in 1856, John A. King +had the weightiest influence, and, on the second ballot, he took the +strength of Draper, Clark, and Harris, receiving 158 votes to 73 for +Wadsworth. It was not soon forgotten, however, that in the memorable +stampede for King, Wadsworth more than held his own.</p> + +<p>John Alsop King was the eldest son of Rufus King. While the father was +minister to the court of St. James, the son attended the famous school +at Harrow, had as classmates Lord Byron and Sir Robert Peel, and went +the usual rounds of continental travel. For nearly four decades he had +been conspicuous in public life as assemblyman, senator, congressman, +and in the diplomatic service. Starting as a Federalist and an early +advocate of anti-slavery sentiments, he had been an Anti-Mason, a +National Republican, and a Whig. Only when he acted with Martin Van +Buren against DeWitt Clinton did he flicker in his political +consistency. Although now sixty-eight years old, he was still +rugged—a man of vigorous sense and great public spirit. His +congressional experience came when the hosts of slavery and freedom +were marshalling for the great contest for the territory between<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.237" id="vol2Page_ii.237">ii. 237</a></span> the +Mississippi and the Pacific, and at the side of Preston King he +resisted Clay's compromise measures, especially the fugitive slave +law, and warmly supported the admission of California as a free State. +"I have come to have a great liking for the Kings," wrote Seward, in +1850. "They have withstood the seduction of the seducers, and are like +a rock in the defence of the right. They have been tried as through +fire."<a name="vol2FNanchor_208_208" id="vol2FNanchor_208_208"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> John A. King was not ambitious for public place. He waited +to be called to an office, but he did not wait to be called to join a +movement which would be helpful to the public. His ear was to the sky +rather than to the ground. He believed Ralph Waldo Emerson's saying: +"That is the one base thing in the universe, to receive benefits and +render none." Like his distinguished father, he was tolerant in +dealing with men who differed from him, but he never shrank from the +expression of an opinion because it would bring sacrifice or +ostracism.</p> + +<p>The ticket was strengthened by the nomination of Henry R. Selden of +Monroe for lieutenant-governor. Selden belonged to a family that had +been prominent for two centuries in the Connecticut Valley. Like his +older brother, Samuel L. Selden, who lived at Rochester, he was an +able lawyer and a man of great industry. These brothers brought to the +service of the people a perfect integrity, coupled with a gracious +urbanity that kept them in public life longer than either desired to +remain. One was a Republican, the other a Democrat. Samuel became a +partner of Addison Gardiner in 1825, and Henry, after studying law +with them, opened an office at Clarkson in the western part of the +county. In 1851, Henry became reporter for the Court of Appeals, and +then, lieutenant-governor. Samuel's public service began earlier. He +became judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1831, of the Supreme +Court in 1847, and of the Court of Appeals in 1856. When he resigned +in 1862, Henry took his place by appointment, and afterward by +election. Finally, in 1865, he also resigned. The brothers were much +alike in the quality<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.238" id="vol2Page_ii.238">ii. 238</a></span> they brought to the public service; and their +work, as remarkable for its variety as for its dignity, made Samuel an +original promoter of the electric telegraph system and Henry a +defender of Susan B. Anthony when arrested on the charge of illegally +voting at a presidential election.</p> + +<p>The Americans nominated Erastus Brooks for governor. He was a younger +brother of James Brooks, who founded the New York <i>Express</i> in 1836. +The Brookses were born in Maine, and early exhibited the industry and +courage characteristic of the sons of the Pine Tree State. At eight +years of age, Erastus began work in a grocery store, fitting himself +for Brown University at a night school, and, at twenty, he became an +editor on his brother's paper. His insistence upon the taxation of +property of the Catholic Church, because, being held in the name of +the Bishops, it should be included under the laws governing personal +holdings in realty, brought him prominently before the Americans, who +sent him to the State Senate in 1854. But Brooks' political career, +like that of his brother, really began after the Civil War, although +his identification with the Know-Nothings marked him as a man of +force, capable of making strong friends and acquiring much influence.</p> + +<p>The activity of the Americans indicated firm faith in their success. +Six months before Brooks' nomination they had named Millard Fillmore +for President. At the time, the former President was in Europe. On his +return he accepted the compliment and later received the indorsement +of the old-line Whigs. Age had not left its impress. Of imposing +appearance, he looked like a man formed to rule. The peculiar tenets +of the Americans, except as exemplified in the career of their +candidate for governor, did not enter into Fillmore's campaign. He +rested his hopes upon the conservative elements of all parties who +condemned the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and opposed the +formation of a party which, he declared, had, for the first time in +the history of the Republic, selected candidates for President and +Vice President from the free States alone, with the avowed purpose of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.239" id="vol2Page_ii.239">ii. 239</a></span> +electing them by the suffrages of one part of the Union to rule over +the other part.</p> + +<p>This was also the argument of Buchanan. In his letter of acceptance he +sounded the keynote of his party, claiming that it was strictly +national, devoted to the Constitution and the Union, and that the +Republican party, ignoring the historic warning of Washington, was +formed on geographic lines.<a name="vol2FNanchor_209_209" id="vol2FNanchor_209_209"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> All this made little impression upon +the host of Northern men who exulted in the union of all the +anti-slavery elements. But their intense devotion to the positive +utterances of their platform took away the sense of humour which often +relieves the tension of political activity, and substituted an element +of profound seriousness that was plainly visible in speakers and +audiences. Seward did not hasten into the campaign. Richard H. Dana +wrote, confidentially, that "Seward was awful grouty." It was October +2 when he began speaking. Congress had detained him until August 30, +and then his health was so impaired, it was explained, that he needed +rest. But other lovers of freedom were deeply stirred. The pulpit +became a platform, and the great edi<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.240" id="vol2Page_ii.240">ii. 240</a></span>tors spoke as well as wrote. +Henry Ward Beecher seemed ubiquitous; Greeley and Raymond made +extended tours through the State; Bryant was encouraged to overcome +his great timidity before an audience; and Washington Irving declared +his intention of voting, if not of speaking, for Fremont.</p> + +<p>This campaign also welcomed into political life a young man whose +first speech made it plain that a new champion, with bright and +well-tempered sword, had taken up the cause of freedom with the +courage of the cavalier. George William Curtis was then thirty-two +years old. He had already written the Howadji books, which earned him +recognition among men of letters, and <i>Prue and I</i>, which had secured +his fame as an author. In the campaign of 1856, the people for the +first time saw and knew this man whose refined rhetoric, characterised +by tender and stirring appeal, and guided by principle and conviction, +was, thereafter, for nearly forty years, to be heard at its best on +one side of every important question that divided American political +life. Nathaniel P. Willis, who drove five miles in the evening to hear +him deliver a "stump speech," thought Curtis would be "too handsome +and too well dressed" for a political orator; but when he heard him +unfold his logical argument step by step, occasionally bursting into a +strain of inspiring eloquence that foreshadowed the more studied work +of his riper years, it taught him that the author was as caustic and +unconstrained on the platform as he appeared in <i>The Potiphar Papers</i>.</p> + +<p>Curtis' theme was resistance to the extension of slavery. His wife's +father, Francis G. Shaw, had stimulated his zeal in the cause of +freedom; and he treated the subject with a finish and strength that +came from larger experience and longer observation than a young man of +thirty-two could usually boast. To him, the struggle for freedom in +Kansas was not less glorious than the heroic resistance in 1776, and +he made it vivid by the use of historic associations. "Through these +very streets," he said, "they marched who<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.241" id="vol2Page_ii.241">ii. 241</a></span> never returned. They fell +and were buried, but they can never die. Not sweeter are the flowers +that make your valley fair, not greener are the pines that give your +valley its name, than the memory of the brave men who died for +freedom. And yet no victim of those days, sleeping under the green +sod, is more truly a martyr of Liberty than every murdered man whose +bones lie bleaching in this summer sun upon the silent plains of +Kansas. And so long as Liberty has one martyr, so long as one drop of +blood is poured out for her, so long from that single drop of bloody +sweat of the agony of humanity shall spring hosts as countless as the +forest leaves and mighty as the sea."<a name="vol2FNanchor_210_210" id="vol2FNanchor_210_210"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a></p> + +<p>Curtis thought the question of endangering the Union a mere pretence. +"Twenty millions of a moral people, politically dedicated to Liberty, +are asking themselves whether their government shall be administered +solely in the interest of three hundred and fifty thousand +slave-holders." He did not believe that these millions would dissolve +the Union in the interest of these thousands. "I see a rising +enthusiasm," he said, in closing; "but enthusiasm is not an election; +and I hear cheers from the heart, but cheers are not voters. Every man +must labour with his neighbour—in the street, at the plough, at the +bench, early and late, at home and abroad. Generally we are concerned +in elections with the measures of government. This time it is with the +essential principle of government itself."<a name="vol2FNanchor_211_211" id="vol2FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a></p> + +<p>The result of the election was not a surprise. Fremont's loss of +Pennsylvania and Indiana had been foreshadowed in October, making his +defeat inevitable, but the Republican victory in New York was more +sweeping than the leaders had anticipated, Fremont securing a majority +of 80,000 over Buchanan, and John A. King 65,000 over Amasa J. +Parker.<a name="vol2FNanchor_212_212" id="vol2FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.242" id="vol2Page_ii.242">ii. 242</a></span> The average vote was as follows: Republican, 266,328; +Democrat, 197,172; Know-Nothing, 129,750. West and north of Albany, +every congressman and nearly every assemblyman was a Republican. +Reuben E. Fenton, who had been beaten for Congress in 1854 by 1676 +votes, was now elected by 8000 over the same opponent. The Assembly +stood 82 Republicans, 37 Democrats, and 8 Know-Nothings. In the +country at large, Buchanan obtained 174 electoral votes out of 296, +but he failed to receive a majority of the popular vote, leaving the +vanquished more hopeful and not less cheerful than the victors. +Fillmore received the electoral vote of Maryland and a popular vote of +874,534, nearly one-half as many as Buchanan and two-thirds as many as +Fremont. In other words, he had divided the vote of the North, making +it possible for Buchanan to carry Pennsylvania and Indiana.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.243" id="vol2Page_ii.243">ii. 243</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XVIII" id="vol2CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> +<br /> +THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT<br /> +<br /> +1857-1858</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">It was</span> the duty of the Legislature of 1857 to elect a successor to +Hamilton Fish, whose term as United States senator expired on the 4th +of March. Fish had not been a conspicuous member of the Senate; but +his great wisdom brought him large influence at a time when slavery +strained the courtesy of that body. He was of a most gracious and +sweet nature, and, although he never flinched from uttering or +maintaining his opinions, he was a lover and maker of peace. In his +<i>Autobiography of Seventy Years</i>, Senator Hoar speaks of him as the +only man of high character and great ability among the leaders of the +Republican party, except President Grant, who retained the friendship +of Roscoe Conkling.</p> + +<p>The contest over the senatorship brought into notice a disposition +among Republicans of Democratic antecedents not to act in perfect +accord with Thurlow Weed, a danger that leading Whigs had anticipated +at the formation of the party. Weed's management had been disliked by +anti-slavery Democrats as much as it had been distrusted by a portion +of the Whig party, and, although political associations now brought +them under one roof, they did not accept him as a guiding or +controlling spirit. This disposition manifested itself at the state +convention in the preceding September; and to allay any bitterness of +feeling which the nomination of John A. King might occasion, it was +provided that, in the event of success, the senator should be of +Democratic antecedents. The finger of fate then pointed to Preston +King. He had resisted the aggressions of the slave power, and in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.244" id="vol2Page_ii.244">ii. 244</a></span> +formation of the Republican party his fearless fidelity to its +corner-stone principle made him doubly welcome in council; but when +the Legislature met, other aspirants appeared, prominent among whom +were Ward Hunt, James S. Wadsworth, and David Dudley Field.</p> + +<p>Hunt, who was destined to occupy a place on the Court of Appeals, and, +subsequently, on the Supreme Court of the United States, had taken +little interest in politics. He belonged to the Democratic party, and, +in 1839, had served one term in the Assembly; but his consistent +devotion to Free-soilism, and his just and almost prescient +appreciation of the true principles of the Republican party, gave him +great prominence in the ranks of the young organisation and created a +strong desire to send him to the United States Senate. Hunt was +anxious and Wadsworth active. The latter's supporters, standing for +him as their candidate for governor, had forced the agreement of the +year before, and they now demanded that he become senator; but in the +interest of harmony, both finally withdrew in favour of David Dudley +Field.</p> + +<p>The inspiration of an historic name did not yet belong to the Field +family. The projector of the Atlantic cable, the future justice of the +Supreme Court of the United States, and the eminent New York editor, +had not taken their places among the most gifted of the land, but +David Dudley's activity in the Free-soil contests had made him as +conspicuous a member of the new party as his celebrated Code of Civil +Procedure, passed by the Legislature of 1848, had distinguished him in +his profession. Promotion did not move his way, however. Thurlow Weed +insisted upon Preston King. It is likely the Albany editor had not +forgotten that Field, acting for George Opdyke, a millionaire client, +had sued him for libel, and that, although the jury disagreed, the +exciting trial had crowded the court-room for nineteen days and cost +seventeen thousand dollars; but Weed did not appeal to Field's record, +since he claimed the agreement at the state convention included John +A. King for governor and Preston<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.245" id="vol2Page_ii.245">ii. 245</a></span> King for senator, and to avoid +controversy he adroitly consented to leave the matter to Republican +legislators of Democratic antecedents, who decided in favour of King. +This ended the contest, the caucus giving King 65 votes and Hunt 17.</p> + +<p>In 1857, events gave the Republican party little encouragement in New +York. Public interest in Kansas had largely died out, and, although +the Dred Scott decision, holding inferentially that the Constitution +carried with it the right and power to hold slaves everywhere, had +startled the nation, leading press, pulpit, and public meetings to +denounce it as a blow at the rights of States and to the rights of +man, yet the Democrats carried the State in November, electing Gideon +J. Tucker secretary of state, Sanford E. Church comptroller, Lyman +Tremaine attorney-general, and Hiram Denio to the Court of Appeals. It +was not a decisive victory. The Know-Nothings, who held the balance of +power, involuntarily contributed a large portion of their strength to +the Democratic party, giving it an aggregate vote of 194,000 to +175,000 for the Republicans, and reducing the vote of James O. Putnam, +of Buffalo, the popular American candidate for secretary of state, to +less than 67,000, or one-half the number polled in the preceding year.</p> + +<p>Other causes contributed to the apparent decrease of Republican +strength. The financial disturbance of 1857 appeared with great +suddenness in August. There had been fluctuations in prices, with a +general downward tendency, but when the crisis came it was a surprise +to many of the most watchful financiers. Industry and commerce were +less affected than in 1837, but the failures, representing a larger +amount of capital than those of any other year in the history of the +country up to 1893, astonished the people, associating in the public +mind the Democratic charge of Republican extravagance with the general +cry of hard times.</p> + +<p>But whatever the cause of defeat, the outlook for the Republicans +again brightened when Stephen A. Douglas opposed President Buchanan's +Lecompton policy. The Kansas<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.246" id="vol2Page_ii.246">ii. 246</a></span> Lecompton Constitution was the work of a +rump convention controlled by pro-slavery delegates who declared that +"the right of property is before and higher than any constitutional +sanction, and the right of the owner of a slave to such slave and its +increase is as inviolable as the right of the owner of any property +whatever." To secure its approval by the people it was ingeniously +arranged that the vote taken in December, 1857, should be "for the +constitution with slavery" or "for the constitution without slavery," +so that in any event the constitution, with its objectionable section, +would become the organic law. This shallow scheme, hatched in the +South to fix slavery upon a territory that had already declared for +freedom by several thousand majority, obtained the support of the +President. Douglas immediately pronounced it "a trick" and "a fraud +upon the rights of the people."<a name="vol2FNanchor_213_213" id="vol2FNanchor_213_213"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> The breach between the Illinois +Senator and the Administration thus became complete.</p> + +<p>Meantime, the governor of Kansas convened the territorial legislature +in an extra session, which provided for a second election in January, +1858. The December election had stood: for the constitution with +slavery, 6226; for the constitution without slavery, 569. Of these +2720 were subsequently shown to be fraudulent. The January election +stood: for the constitution with slavery, 138; for the constitution +without slavery, 24; against the constitution, 10,226. The President, +accepting the "trick election," as Douglas called it, in which the +free-state men declined to participate, forwarded a copy of the +constitution to Congress, and, in spite of Douglas, it passed the +Senate. An amendment in the House returned it to the people with the +promise, if accepted, of a large grant of government land; but the +electors spurned the bribe—the free-state men, at a third election +held on August 2, 1858, rejecting the constitution by 11,000 out of +13,000 votes.</p> + +<p>This ended the Lecompton episode, but it was destined to leave a +breach in the ranks of the Democrats big with con<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.247" id="vol2Page_ii.247">ii. 247</a></span>sequences. Stephen +A. Douglas was now the best known and most popular man in the North, +and his popular sovereignty doctrine, as applied to the Lecompton +Constitution, seemed so certain of settling the slavery question in +the interest of freedom that leading Republicans of New York, notably +Henry J. Raymond and Horace Greeley, not only favoured the return of +Douglas to the Senate unopposed by their own party, but seriously +considered the union of Douglas Democrats and Republicans. It was even +suggested that Douglas become the Republican candidate for President. +This would head off Seward and please Greeley, whose predilection for +an "available" candidate was only equalled by his growing distrust of +the New York Senator. The unanimous nomination of Abraham Lincoln for +United States senator and his great debate with Douglas, disclosing +the incompatibility between Douglasism and Republicanism, abruptly +ended this plan; but the plausible assumption that the inhabitants of +a territory had a natural right to establish, as well as prohibit, +slavery had made such a profound impression upon Northern Democrats +that they did not hesitate to approve the Douglas doctrine regardless +of its unpopularity in the South.</p> + +<p>In the summer of 1858, candidates for governor were nominated in New +York. The Republican convention, convened at Syracuse on the 8th of +September, like its predecessor in 1856, was divided into Weed and +anti-Weed delegates. The latter, composed of Know-Nothings, Radicals +of Democratic antecedents, and remnants of the prohibition party, +wanted Timothy Jenkins for governor. Jenkins was a very skilful +political organiser. He had served Oneida County as district attorney +and for six years in Congress, and he now had the united support of +many men who, although without special influence, made a very +formidable showing. But Weed was not looking in that direction. His +earliest choice was Simeon Draper of New York City, whom he had thrust +aside two years before, and when sudden financial embarrassment +rendered Draper unavailable, he encouraged the candidacy of James H. +Cook of Saratoga until Jenkins'<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.248" id="vol2Page_ii.248">ii. 248</a></span> strength alarmed him. Then he took up +Edwin D. Morgan, and for the first time became a delegate to a state +convention.</p> + +<p>Weed found a noisy company at Syracuse. Horace Greeley as usual was in +a receptive mood. The friends of George Patterson thought it time for +his promotion. Alexander S. Diven of Elmira, a state senator and +forceful speaker, who subsequently served one term in Congress, had +several active, influential backers, while John A. King's friends +feebly resisted his retirement. The bulk of the Americans opposed +Edwin D. Morgan because of his broad sympathies with foreign-born +citizens; but Weed clung to him, and on the first ballot he received +116 of the 254 votes. Jenkins got 51 and Greeley 3. On the next ballot +one of Greeley's votes went to Jenkins, who received 52 to 165 for +Morgan. Robert Campbell of Steuben was then nominated for +lieutenant-governor by acclamation and Seward's senatorial course +unqualifiedly indorsed.</p> + +<p>Edwin D. Morgan was in his forty-eighth year. He had been alderman, +merchant, and railroad president; for four years in the early fifties +he served as a state senator; more recently, he had acted as chairman +of the Republican state committee and of the Republican national +convention. Weed did not have Morgan's wise, courageous course as war +governor, Union general, and United States senator to guide him, but +he knew that his personal character was of the highest, his public +life without stain, and that he had wielded the power of absolute +disinterestedness. Morgan was a fine specimen of manhood. He stood +perfectly erect, with well poised head, his large, lustrous eyes +inviting confidence; and the urbanity of his manner softening the +answers that showed he possessed a mind of his own. No man among his +contemporaries had a larger number of devoted friends. He was a New +Englander by birth. More than one person of his name and blood in +Connecticut was noted for public spirit, but none developed greater +courage, or evidenced equal sagacity and efficiency.</p> + +<p>For several weeks before the convention, the Americans<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.249" id="vol2Page_ii.249">ii. 249</a></span> talked of a +fusion ticket with the Republicans, and to encourage the plan both +state conventions met at the same time and place. In sentiment they +were in substantial accord, and men like Washington Hunt, the former +governor, and James O. Putnam, hoped for union. Hunt had declined to +join the Republican party at its formation, and, in 1856, had followed +Fillmore into the ranks of the Americans; but their division in 1857 +disgusted him, and, with Putnam and many others, he was now favourable +to a fusion of the two parties. After conferring for two days, +however, the Republicans made the mistake of nominating candidates for +governor and lieutenant-governor before agreeing upon a division of +the offices, at which the Americans took offence and put up a separate +ticket, with Lorenzo Burrows for governor. Burrows was a man of +considerable force of character, a native of Connecticut, and a +resident of Albion. He had served four years in Congress as a Whig, +and in 1855 was elected state comptroller as a Know-Nothing.</p> + +<p>The failure of the fusionists greatly pleased the Democrats, who, in +spite of the bitter contest for seats in the New York City delegation, +exhibited confidence and some enthusiasm at their state convention on +September 15. The Softs, led by Daniel E. Sickles, represented +Tammany; the Hards, marshalled by Fernando Wood, were known as the +custom-house delegation. In 1857, the city delegates had been evenly +divided between the two factions; but this year the Softs, confident +of their strength, insisted upon having their entire delegation +seated, and, on a motion to make Horatio Seymour temporary chairman, +they proved their control by a vote of 54 to 35. The admission of +Tammany drew a violent protest from Fernando Wood and his delegates, +who then left the convention in a body amidst a storm of hisses and +cheers.</p> + +<p>A strong disposition existed to nominate Seymour for governor. Having +been thrice a candidate and once elected, however, he peremptorily +declined to stand. This left the way open to Amasa J. Parker, an +exceptionally strong candidate, but one who had led the ticket to +defeat in 1856. John J.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.250" id="vol2Page_ii.250">ii. 250</a></span> Taylor of Oswego, whose congressional career +had been limited to a single term because of his vote for the +Kansas-Nebraska bill in 1854, became the nominee for +lieutenant-governor by acclamation. In its platform, the convention +very cunningly resolved that it was "content" to have the American +people judge President Buchanan's administration by its acts, and that +it "hailed with satisfaction" the fact that the people of Kansas had +settled the Lecompton question by practically making the territory a +free State.</p> + +<p>Thus Parker stood for Buchanan and popular sovereignty, while the +Republicans denounced the Lecompton trick as a wicked scheme to +subvert popular sovereignty. It was a sharp issue. The whole power of +the Administration had been invoked to carry out the Lecompton plan, +and New York congressmen were compelled to support it or be cast +aside. But in their speeches, Parker and his supporters sought to +minimise the President's part and to magnify the Douglas doctrine. It +was an easy and plausible way of settling the slavery question, and +one which commended itself to those who wished it settled by the +Democratic party. John Van Buren's use of it recalled something of the +influence and power that attended his speeches in the Free-soil +campaign of 1848. Since that day he had been on too many sides, +perhaps, to command the hearty respect of any, but he loved fair play, +which the Lecompton scheme had outraged, and the application of the +doctrine that seemed to have brought peace and a free State to the +people appealed to him as a correct principle of government that must +make for good. He presented it in the clear, impassioned style for +which he was so justly noted. His speeches contained much that did not +belong in the remarks of a statesman; but, upon the question of +popular sovereignty, as illustrated in Kansas, John Van Buren prepared +the way in New York for the candidacy and coming of Douglas in 1860.</p> + +<p>Roscoe Conkling, now for the first time a candidate for Congress, +exhibited something of the dexterity and ability that characterised +his subsequent career. The public, friends<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.251" id="vol2Page_ii.251">ii. 251</a></span> and foes, did not yet +judge him by a few striking and picturesque qualities, for his vanity, +imperiousness, and power to hate had not yet matured, but already he +was a close student of political history, and of great capacity as an +orator. The intense earnestness of purpose, the marvellous power of +rapidly absorbing knowledge, the quickness of wit, and the firmness +which Cato never surpassed, marked him then, as afterward upon the +floor of Congress, a mighty power amidst great antagonists. Perhaps +his anger was not so quickly excited, nor the shafts of his sarcasm so +barbed and cruel, but his speeches—dramatic, rhetorical, with the +ever-present, withering sneer—were rapidly advancing him to +leadership in central New York. A quick glance at his tall, graceful +form, capacious chest, and massive head, removed him from the class of +ordinary persons. Towering above his fellows, he looked the patrician. +It was known, too, that he had muscle as well as brains. Indeed, his +nomination to Congress had been influenced somewhat by the recent +assault on Charles Sumner. "Preston Brooks won't hurt him," said the +leader of the Fifth Ward, in Utica.<a name="vol2FNanchor_214_214" id="vol2FNanchor_214_214"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a></p> + +<p>The keynote of the campaign, however, was not spoken until Seward made +his historic speech at Rochester on October 25. The October success in +Pennsylvania had thrilled the Republicans; and the New York election +promised a victory like that of 1856. Whatever advantage could be +gained by past events and future expectations was now Seward's. +Lincoln's famous declaration, "I believe this government cannot endure +permanently half slave and half free," had been uttered in June, and +his joint debate with Douglas, concluded on October 15, had cleared +the political atmosphere, making it plain that popular sovereignty was +not the pathway for Republicans to follow. Seward's utterance, +therefore, was to be the last word in the campaign.</p> + +<p>It was not entirely clear just what this utterance would be. Seward +had shown much independence of late. In the preceding February his +course on the army bill caused se<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.252" id="vol2Page_ii.252">ii. 252</a></span>vere comment. Because of +difficulties with the Mormons in Utah it was proposed to increase the +army; but Republicans objected, believing the additional force would +be improperly used in Kansas. Seward, however, spoke and voted for the +bill. "He is perfectly bedevilled," wrote Senator Fessenden; "he +thinks himself wiser than all of us."<a name="vol2FNanchor_215_215" id="vol2FNanchor_215_215"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> Later, in March, he caught +something of the popular-sovereignty idea—enough, at least, to draw a +mild protest from Salmon P. Chase. "I regretted," he wrote, "the +apparent countenance you gave to the idea that the Douglas doctrine of +popular sovereignty will do for us to stand upon for the +present."<a name="vol2FNanchor_216_216" id="vol2FNanchor_216_216"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> Seward did not go so far as Greeley and Raymond, but +his expressions indicated that States were to be admitted with or +without slavery as the people themselves decided. Before, he had +insisted that Congress had the right to make conditions; now, his +willingness cheerfully to co-operate with Douglas and other "new +defenders of the sacred cause in Kansas" seemed to favour a new +combination, if not a new party. In other words, Seward had been +feeling his way until it aroused a faint suspicion that he was +trimming to catch the moderate element of his party. If he had had any +thought of harmony of feeling between Douglas and the Republicans, +however, the Lincoln debate compelled him to abandon it, and in his +speech of October 25 he confined himself to the discussion of the two +radically different political systems that divided the North and the +South.</p> + +<p>The increase in population and in better facilities for internal +communication, he declared, had rapidly brought these two systems into +close contact, and collision was the result. "Shall I tell you what +this collision means? They who think it is accidental, unnecessary, +the work of interested or fanatical agitators, and therefore +ephemeral, mistake the case altogether. It is an irrepressible +conflict between opposing and enduring forces, and it means that the +United States must and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a +slave-hold<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.253" id="vol2Page_ii.253">ii. 253</a></span>ing nation, or entirely a free labour nation. Either the +cotton and rice fields of South Carolina and the sugar plantations of +Louisiana will ultimately be tilled by free labour, and Charleston and +New Orleans become marts for legitimate merchandise alone, or else the +rye fields and wheat fields of Massachusetts and New York must again +be surrendered by their farmers to slave culture and to the production +of slaves, and Boston and New York become once more markets for trade +in the bodies and souls of men."<a name="vol2FNanchor_217_217" id="vol2FNanchor_217_217"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a></p> + +<p>It was one of the most impressive and commanding speeches that had +ever come from his eloquent lips, but there was nothing new in it. As +early as 1848 he had made the antagonism between freedom and slavery +the leading feature of a speech that attracted much attention at the +time, and in 1856 he spoke of "an ancient and eternal conflict between +two entirely antagonistic systems of human labour." Indeed, for ten +years, in company with other distinguished speakers, he had been +ringing the changes on this same idea. Only four months before, +Lincoln had proclaimed that "A house divided against itself cannot +stand."<a name="vol2FNanchor_218_218" id="vol2FNanchor_218_218"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> Yet no one had given special attention to it. But now the +two words, "irrepressible conflict," seemed to sum up the antipathy +between the two systems, and to alarm men into a realisation of the +real and perhaps the immediate danger that confronted them. +"Hitherto," says Frederick W. Seward in the biography of his father, +"while it was accepted and believed by those who followed his +political teachings, among his opponents it had fallen upon unheeding +ears and incredulous minds. But now, at last, the country was +beginning to wake up to the gravity of the crisis, and when he pointed +to the 'irrepressible conflict' he was formulating, in clear words, a +vague and unwilling belief that was creeping over every intelligent +Northern man."<a name="vol2FNanchor_219_219" id="vol2FNanchor_219_219"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a></p> + +<p>The effect was instantaneous. Democratic press and ora<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.254" id="vol2Page_ii.254">ii. 254</a></span>tors became +hysterical, denouncing him as "vile," "wicked," "malicious," and +"vicious." The <i>Herald</i> called him an "arch-agitator," more dangerous +than Beecher, Garrison, or Theodore Parker. It was denied that any +conflict existed except such as he was trying to foment. Even the New +York <i>Times</i>, his own organ, thought the idea of abolishing slavery in +the slave States rather fanciful, while the Springfield <i>Republican</i> +pronounced his declaration impolitic and likely to do him and his +party harm. On the other hand, the radical anti-slavery papers thought +it bold and commendable. "With the instinct of a statesman," the +<i>Tribune</i> said, "Seward discards all minor, temporary, and delusive +issues, and treats only of what is final and essential. Clear, calm, +sagacious, profound, and impregnable, showing a masterly comprehension +of the present aspect and future prospects of the great question which +now engrosses our politics, this speech will be pondered by every +thoughtful man in the land and confirm the eminence so long maintained +by its author."<a name="vol2FNanchor_220_220" id="vol2FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> James Watson Webb, in the <i>Courier and Enquirer</i>, +declared that it made Seward and Republicanism one and inseparable, +and settled the question in New York as to who should be the +standard-bearer in 1860.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.255" id="vol2Page_ii.255">ii. 255</a></span></p> +<p>The result of the election was favourable to the Republicans, Morgan's +majority over Parker being 17,440.<a name="vol2FNanchor_221_221" id="vol2FNanchor_221_221"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> Ninety-nine members of the +Legislature and twenty-nine congressmen were either Republicans or +anti-Lecompton men. But, compared with the victory of 1856, it was a +disappointment. John A. King had received a majority of 65,000 over +Parker. The <i>Tribune</i> was quick to charge some of this loss to Seward. +"The clamour against Sewardism lost us many votes," it declared the +morning after the election. Two or three days later, as the reduced +majority became more apparent, it explained that "A knavish clamour +was raised on the eve of election by a Swiss press against Governor +Seward's late speech at Rochester as revolutionary and disunionist. +Our loss from this source is considerable." The returns, however, +showed plainly that one-half of the Americans, following the precedent +set in 1857, had voted for Parker, while the other half, irritated by +the failure of the union movement at Syracuse, had supported Burrows. +Had the coalition succeeded, Morgan's majority must have been larger +than King's. But, small as it was, there was abundant cause for +Republican rejoicing, since it kept the Empire State in line with the +Republican States of New England, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, and Wisconsin, +which were now joined for the first time by Pennsylvania, New Jersey, +and Minnesota. Indeed, of the free States, only California and Oregon +had indorsed Buchanan's administration.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.256" id="vol2Page_ii.256">ii. 256</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XIX" id="vol2CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX<br /> +<br /> +SEWARD’S BID FOR THE PRESIDENCY<br /> +<br /> +1859-1860</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> elections in 1858 simplified the political situation. With the +exception of Pennsylvania, where the tariff question played a +conspicuous part, all the Northern States had disapproved President +Buchanan's Lecompton policy, and the people, save the old-line Whigs, +the Abolitionists, and the Americans, had placed themselves under the +leadership of Seward, Lincoln, and Douglas, who now clearly +represented the political sentiments of the North. If any hope still +lingered among the Democrats of New York, that the sectional division +of their party might be healed, it must have been quickly shattered by +the fierce debates over popular sovereignty and the African +slave-trade which occurred in the United States Senate in February, +1859, between Jefferson Davis, representing the slave power of the +South, and Stephen A. Douglas, the recognised champion of his party in +the free States.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances, the Democratic national convention, called +to meet in Charleston, South Carolina, on April 23, 1860, became the +centre of interest in the state convention, which met at Syracuse on +the 14th of September, 1859. Each faction desired to control the +national delegation. As usual, Daniel S. Dickinson was a candidate for +the Presidency. He believed his friends in the South would prefer him +to Douglas if he could command an unbroken New York delegation, and, +with the hope of having the delegates selected by districts as the +surer road to success, he flirted with Fernando Wood until the +latter's perfidy turned<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.257" id="vol2Page_ii.257">ii. 257</a></span> his ear to the siren song of the Softs, who +promised him a solid delegation whenever it could secure his +nomination. Dickinson listened with distrust. He was the last of the +old leaders of the Hards. Seymour and Marcy had left them; but +"Scripture Dick," as he was called, because of his many Bible +quotations, stood resolutely and arrogantly at his post, defying the +machinations of his opponents with merciless criticism. The Binghamton +Stalwart did not belong in the first rank of statesmen. He was neither +an orator nor a tactful party leader. It cannot be said of him that he +was a quickwitted, incisive, and successful debater;<a name="vol2FNanchor_222_222" id="vol2FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> but, on +critical days, when the fate of his faction hung in the balance, he +was a valiant fighter, absolutely without fear, who took blows as +bravely as he gave them, and was loyal to all the interests which he +espoused. He now dreaded the Softs bearing gifts. But their evident +frankness and his supreme need melted the estrangement that had long +existed between them.</p> + +<p>In the selection of delegates to the state convention Fernando Wood +and Tammany had a severe struggle. Tammany won, but Wood appeared at +Syracuse with a full delegation, and for half an hour before the +convention convened Wood endeavoured to do by force what he knew could +not be accomplished by votes. He had brought with him a company of +roughs, headed by John C. Heenan, "the Benicia Boy," and fifteen +minutes before the appointed hour, in the absence of a majority of the +delegates, he organised the convention, electing his own chairman and +appointing his own committees. When the bulk of the Softs arrived they +proceeded to elect their chairman. This was the signal for a riot, in +the course of which the chairman of the regulars was knocked down and +an intimidating display of pistols exhibited. Finally the regulars +adjourned, leaving the hall to the Wood contestants, who completed +their organisation, and, after re<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.258" id="vol2Page_ii.258">ii. 258</a></span>nominating the Democratic state +officers elected in 1857, adjourned without day.</p> + +<p>Immediately, the regulars reappeared; and as the Hards from the +up-state counties answered to the roll call, the Softs vociferously +applauded. Then Dickinson made a characteristic speech. He did not +fully decide to join the Softs until Fernando Wood had sacrificed the +only chance of overthrowing them; but when he did go over, he burned +the bridges behind him. The Softs were delighted with Dickinson's +bearing and Dickinson's speech. It united the party throughout the +State and put Tammany in easy control of New York City.</p> + +<p>With harmony restored there was little for the convention to do except +to renominate the state officers, appoint delegates to the Charleston +convention who were instructed to vote as a unit, and adopt the +platform. These resolutions indorsed the administration of President +Buchanan; approved popular sovereignty; condemned the "irrepressible +conflict" speech of Seward as a "revolutionary threat" aimed at +republican institutions; and opposed the enlargement of the Erie canal +to a depth of seven feet.</p> + +<p>The Republican state convention had previously assembled on September +7 and selected a ticket, equally divided between men of Democratic and +Whig antecedents, headed by Elias W. Leavenworth for secretary of +state. Great confidence was felt in its election until the Americans +met in convention on September 22 and indorsed five of its candidates +and four Democrats. This, however, did not abate Republican activity, +and, in the end, six of the nine Republican nominees were elected. The +weight of the combined opposition, directed against Leavenworth, +caused his defeat by less than fifteen hundred, showing that +Republicans were gradually absorbing all the anti-slavery elements.</p> + +<p>Upon what theory the American party nominated an eclectic ticket did +not appear, although the belief obtained that it hoped to cloud +Seward's presidential prospects by creating the impression that the +Senator was unable, without assist<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.259" id="vol2Page_ii.259">ii. 259</a></span>ance, to carry his own State on the +eve of a great national contest. But whatever the reason, the result +deeply humiliated the party, since its voting strength, reduced to +less than 21,000, proved insufficient to do more than expose the +weakness. This was the last appearance of the American party. It had +endeavoured to extend its life and increase its influence; but after +its refusal to interdict slavery in the territories it rapidly melted +away. Henry Wilson, senator and Vice President, declared that he would +give ten years of his life if he could blot out his membership in the +Know-Nothing party, since it associated him throughout his long and +attractive public career with proscriptive principles of which he was +ashamed.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the campaign the country was startled by John Brown's +raid at Harper's Ferry. For two years Brown had lived an uneventful +life in New York on land in the Adirondack region given him by Gerrit +Smith. In 1851, he moved to Ohio, and from thence to Kansas, where he +became known as John Brown of Osawatomie. He had been a consistent +enemy of slavery, working the underground railroad and sympathising +with every scheme for the rescue of slaves; but once in Kansas, he +readily learned the use of a Sharpe's rifle. In revenge for the +destruction of Lawrence, he deliberately massacred the pro-slavery +settlers living along Pottawatomie creek. "Without the shedding of +blood there is no remission of sins," was a favourite text. His +activity made him a national character. The President offered $250 for +his arrest and the governor of Missouri added $3000 more. In 1858, he +returned East, collected money to aid an insurrection among the slaves +of Virginia, and on October 17, 1859, with eighteen men, began his +quixotic campaign by cutting telegraph wires, stopping trains, and +seizing the national armory at Harper's Ferry. At one time he had +taken sixty prisoners.</p> + +<p>The affair was soon over, but not until the entire band was killed or +captured. Brown, severely hurt, stood between two of his sons, one +dead and the other mortally wounded, refus<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.260" id="vol2Page_ii.260">ii. 260</a></span>ing to surrender so long as +he could fight. After his capture, he said, coolly, in reply to a +question: "We are Abolitionists from the North, come to release and +take your slaves."</p> + +<p>The trial, conviction, and execution of Brown and his captured +companions ended the episode, but its influence was destined to be +far-reaching. John Brown became idealised. His bearing as he stood +between his dead and dying sons, his truth-telling answers, and the +evidence of his absolute unselfishness filled many people in the North +with a profound respect for the passion that had driven him on, while +his bold invasion of a slave State and his reckless disregard of life +and property alarmed the South into the sincere belief that his +methods differed only in degree from the teachings of those who talked +of an irrepressible conflict and a higher law. To aid him in regaining +his lost position in the South, Stephen A. Douglas proclaimed it as +his "firm and deliberate belief that the Harper Ferry crime was the +natural, logical, and inevitable result of the doctrine and teachings +of the Republican party."<a name="vol2FNanchor_223_223" id="vol2FNanchor_223_223"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a></p> + +<p>The sentimentalists of the North generally sympathised with Brown. +Emerson spoke of him as "that new saint awaiting his martyrdom, and +who, if he shall suffer, will make the gallows glorious like the +cross."<a name="vol2FNanchor_224_224" id="vol2FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> In the same spirit Thoreau called him "an angel of +light," and Longfellow wrote in his diary on the day of the execution: +"The date of a new revolution, quite as much needed as the old +one."<a name="vol2FNanchor_225_225" id="vol2FNanchor_225_225"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> But the Republican leaders deprecated the affair, +characterising it as "among the gravest of crimes," and denying that +it had any relation to their party except as it influenced the minds +of all men for or against slavery.</p> + +<p>William H. Seward was in Europe at the time of the raid. Early in May, +1859, his friends had celebrated his departure from New York, +escorting him to Sandy Hook, and leaving<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.261" id="vol2Page_ii.261">ii. 261</a></span> him finally amidst shouts +and music, bells and whistles, and the waving of hats and +handkerchiefs. Such a scene is common enough nowadays, but then it was +unique. His return at the close of December, after an absence of eight +months, was the occasion of great rejoicing. A salute of a hundred +guns was fired in City Hall Park, the mayor and common council +tendered him a public reception, and after hours of speech-making and +hand-shaking he proceeded slowly homeward amidst waiting crowds at +every station. At Auburn the streets were decorated, and the people, +regardless of creed or party, escorted him in procession to his home. +Few Republicans in New York had any doubt at that moment of his +nomination and election to the Presidency.</p> + +<p>On going to Washington Seward found the United States Senate +investigating the Harper's Ferry affair and the House of +Representatives deadlocked over the election of a speaker. Bitterness +and threats of disunion characterised the proceeding at both ends of +the Capitol. "This Union," said one congressman, "great and powerful +as it is, can be tumbled down by the act of any one Southern State. If +Florida withdraws, the federal government would not dare attack her. +If it did, the bands would dissolve as if melted by lightning."<a name="vol2FNanchor_226_226" id="vol2FNanchor_226_226"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> +Referring to the possibility of the election of a Republican +President, another declared that "We will never submit to the +inauguration of a Black Republican President. You may elect Seward to +be President of the North; but of the South, never! Whenever a +President is elected by a fanatical majority of the North, those whom +I represent are ready, let the consequences be what they may, to fall +back on their reserved rights, and say, 'As to this Union we have no +longer any lot or part in it.'"<a name="vol2FNanchor_227_227" id="vol2FNanchor_227_227"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_227_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a></p> + +<p>In the midst of these fiery, disunion utterances, on the 21st of +February, 1860, Seward introduced a bill for the admission of Kansas +into the Union. After the overwhelming defeat of the Lecompton +Constitution, the free-state men had<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.262" id="vol2Page_ii.262">ii. 262</a></span> controlled the territorial +legislature, repealed the slave code of 1855, and, in the summer of +1859, convened a constitutional convention at Wyandotte. A few weeks +later the people ratified the result of its work by a large majority. +It was this Wyandotte Constitution under which Seward proposed to +admit Kansas, and he fixed the consideration of his measure for the +29th of February. This would be two days after Abraham Lincoln had +spoken in New York City.</p> + +<p>Lincoln, whose fame had made rapid strides in the West since his +debate with Douglas in 1858, had been anxious to visit New York. It +was the home of Seward, the centre of Republican strength, and to him +practically an unknown land. Through the invitation of the Young Men's +Central Republican Union he was now to lecture at Cooper Institute on +the 27th of February. It was arranged at first that he speak in Henry +Ward Beecher's church, but the change, relieving him from too close +association with the great apostle of abolition, opened a wider door +for his reception. Personally he was known to very few people in the +city or State. In 1848, on his way to New England to take the stump, +he had called upon Thurlow Weed at Albany, and together they visited +Millard Fillmore, then candidate for Vice President; but the meeting +made such a slight impression upon the editor of the <i>Evening Journal</i> +that he had entirely forgotten it. Thirty years before, in one of his +journeys to Illinois, William Cullen Bryant had met him. Lincoln was +then a tall, awkward lad, the captain of a militia company in the +Black Hawk War, whose racy and original conversation attracted the +young poet; but Bryant, too, had forgotten him, and it was long after +the famous debate that he identified his prairie acquaintance as the +opponent of Douglas. Lincoln, however, did not come as a stranger. His +encounter with the great Illinoisan had marked him as a powerful and +logical reasoner whose speeches embraced every political issue of the +day and cleared up every doubtful point. Well-informed people +everywhere knew of him. He was not yet a national character, but he +had a national reputation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.263" id="vol2Page_ii.263">ii. 263</a></span></p> + +<p>Though Lincoln's lecture was one of a course, the admission fee did +not restrain an eager audience from filling the commodious hall. +"Since the day of Clay and Webster," said the <i>Tribune</i>, "no man has +spoken to a larger assemblage of the intellect and mental culture of +our city."<a name="vol2FNanchor_228_228" id="vol2FNanchor_228_228"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_228_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a> Bryant acted as chairman of the meeting, and other +well-known men of the city occupied the stage. In his <i>Life of +Lincoln</i>, Herndon suggests that the new suit of clothes which seemed +so fine in his Springfield home was in such awkward contrast with the +neatly fitting dress of the New Yorkers that it disconcerted him, and +the brilliant audience dazzled and embarrassed him; but his hearers +thought only of the pregnant matter of the discourse, so calmly and +logically discussed that Horace Greeley, years afterward, pronounced +it "the very best political address to which I ever listened, and I +have heard some of Webster's grandest."<a name="vol2FNanchor_229_229" id="vol2FNanchor_229_229"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_229_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a></p> + +<p>Lincoln had carefully prepared for the occasion. He came East to show +what manner of man he was, and while he evidenced deep moral feeling +which kept his audience in a glow, he combined with it rare political +sagacity, notably in omitting the "house divided against itself" +declaration. He argued that the Republican party was not +revolutionary, but conservative, since it maintained the doctrine of +the fathers who held and acted upon the opinion that Congress had the +power to prohibit slavery in the territories. "Some of you," he said, +addressing himself to the Southern people, "are for reviving the +foreign slave trade; some for Congress forbidding the territories to +prohibit slavery within their limits; some for maintaining slavery in +the territories through the judiciary; some for the 'great principle' +that if one man would enslave another, no third man should object, +fantastically called popular sovereignty; but never a man among you is +in favour of federal prohibition of slavery in federal territories, +according to the practice of our fathers who formed<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.264" id="vol2Page_ii.264">ii. 264</a></span> the government +under which we live. You say we have made the slavery question more +prominent than it formerly was. We deny it. We admit that it is more +prominent, but we deny that we made it so. It was not we, but you who +discarded the old policy of the fathers." Of Southern threats of +disunion, he said: "Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you +will destroy the government unless you be allowed to construe and +enforce the Constitution as you please on all points in dispute +between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events." Referring to +the Harper's Ferry episode, he said: "That affair in its philosophy +corresponds with the many attempts related in history at the +assassination of kings and emperors. An enthusiast broods over the +oppression of a people, until he fancies himself commissioned by +heaven to liberate them. He ventures the attempt which ends in little +else than his own execution."</p> + +<p>Lincoln's lecture did not disappoint. He had entertained and +interested the vast assemblage, which frequently rang with cheers and +shouts of applause as the gestures and the mirth-provoking look +emphasised the racy hits that punctuated the address. "No man," said +the <i>Tribune</i>, "ever before made such an impression on his first +appeal to a New York audience. He is one of Nature's orators."<a name="vol2FNanchor_230_230" id="vol2FNanchor_230_230"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_230_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a></p> + +<p>Two days later, Seward addressed the United States Senate. There is no +evidence that he fixed this date because of the Cooper Institute +lecture. The gravity of the political situation demanded some +expression from him; but the knowledge of the time of Lincoln's speech +gave him ample opportunity to arrange to follow it with one of his +own, if he wished to have the last word, or to institute a comparison +of their respective views on the eve of the national convention. +However this may be, Seward regarded his utterances on this occasion +of the utmost importance. He was the special object of Southern +vituperation. A "Fire-Eater" of the South publicly advertised that he +would be one of one hundred "gentlemen" to give twenty-five dollars +each for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.265" id="vol2Page_ii.265">ii. 265</a></span> heads of Horace Greeley, Henry Ward Beecher, and forty +other prominent Northern leaders in and out of Congress, but for the +head of Seward his proposed subscription was multiplied twenty fold. +It is noticeable that in this long list of "traitors" the name of +Abraham Lincoln does not appear. It was Seward whom the South expected +the Republican party would nominate for President, and in him it saw +the narrow-minded, selfish, obstinate Abolitionist who hated them as +intensely as they despised him. To dispossess the Southern mind of +this feeling the Auburn statesman now endeavoured to show that if +elected President he would not treat the South unfriendly.</p> + +<p>Seward's speech bears evidence of careful preparation. It was not only +read to friends for criticism, but Henry B. Stanton, in his <i>Random +Recollections</i>, says that Seward, before the day of its delivery, +assisted him in describing such a scene in the Senate as he desired +laid before the public. On his return to Washington, Seward had not +been received with a show of friendship by his associates from the +South. It was remarked that while Republican senators greeted him +warmly, "his Southern friends were afraid to be seen talking to him." +On the occasion of his speech, however, he wished the record to show +every senator in his place and deeply interested.</p> + +<p>Visitors to the Senate on the 29th of February crowded every available +spot in the galleries. "But it was on the floor itself," wrote Stanton +to the <i>Tribune</i>, "that the most interesting spectacle presented +itself. Every senator seemed to be in his seat. Hunter, Davis, Toombs, +Mason, Slidell, Hammond, Clingman, Brown, and Benjamin paid closest +attention to the speaker. Crittenden listened to every word. Douglas +affected to be self-possessed; but his nervousness of mien gave token +that the truths now uttered awakened memories of the Lecompton +contest, when he, Seward, and Crittenden, the famous triumvirate, led +the allies in their attack upon the Administration. The members of the +House streamed over to the north wing of the Capitol almost in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.266" id="vol2Page_ii.266">ii. 266</a></span> +body, leaving Reagan of Texas to discourse to empty benches, while +Seward held his levee in the Senate."<a name="vol2FNanchor_231_231" id="vol2FNanchor_231_231"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_231_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a></p> + +<p>Seward lacked the tones, the kindly eye, and the mirth-provoking look +of Lincoln. His voice was husky, his manner didactic, and his physique +unimposing, but he had the gift of expression, and the ability to +formulate his opinions and marshal his facts in lucid sentences that +harmonised with Northern sentiments and became at once the creed and +rallying cry of his party; and, on this occasion, he held the Senate +spellbound for two hours, the applause at one time becoming so long +continued that the presiding officer threatened to clear the +galleries. He was always calm and temperate. But it seemed now to be +his desire, in language more subdued, perhaps, than he had ever used +before, to allay the fears of what would happen should the Republican +party succeed in electing a President; and, without the sacrifice of +any principle, he endeavoured to outline the views of Republicans and +the spirit that animated himself. There was nothing new in his speech. +He avoided the higher law and irrepressible conflict doctrines, and +omitted his former declarations that slavery "can and must be +abolished, and you and I can and must do it." In like manner he failed +to demand, as formerly, that the Supreme Court "recede from its +spurious judgment" in the Dred Scott case. But he reviewed with the +same logic that had characterised his utterances for twenty years, the +relation of the Constitution to slavery; the influence of slavery upon +both parties; the history of the Kansas controversy; and the manifest +advantages of the Union, dwelling at length and with much originality +upon the firm hold it had upon the people, and the certainty that it +would survive the rudest shocks of faction. Of the Harper's Ferry +affair, Seward spoke with more sympathy than Lincoln. "While generous +and charitable natures will probably concede that John Brown acted on +earnest, though fatally erroneous convictions," he said, "yet all good +citizens will nevertheless agree that this attempt to execute an +un<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.267" id="vol2Page_ii.267">ii. 267</a></span>lawful purpose in Virginia by invasion, involving servile war, was +an act of sedition and treason, and criminal in just the extent that +it affected the public peace and was destructive of human happiness +and life."</p> + +<p>It has been noted with increasing admiration that Lincoln and Seward, +without consultation and in the presence of a great impending crisis, +paralleled one another's views so closely. Each embodied the +convictions and aspirations of his party. The spirit of an unsectarian +patriotism that characterised Seward's speech proved highly +satisfactory to the great mass of Republicans. The New York <i>Times</i> +rejoiced that its tone indicated "a desire to allay and remove +unfounded prejudice from the public mind," and pronounced "the whole +tenor of it in direct contradiction to the sentiments which have been +imputed to him on the strength of declarations which he has hitherto +made."<a name="vol2FNanchor_232_232" id="vol2FNanchor_232_232"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_232_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a> Samuel Bowles of the Springfield <i>Republican</i> wrote +Thurlow Weed that the state delegation—so "very marked" is the +reaction in Seward's favour—would "be so strong for him as to be +against anybody else," and that "I hear of ultra old Whigs in Boston +who say they are ready to take him up on his recent speech."<a name="vol2FNanchor_233_233" id="vol2FNanchor_233_233"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_233_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> +Charles A. Dana, then managing editor of the <i>Tribune</i>, declared that +"Seward stock is rising," and Salmon P. Chase admitted that "there +seems to be at present a considerable set toward Seward." Nathaniel P. +Banks, who was himself spoken of as a candidate, thought Seward's +prospects greatly enhanced.</p> + +<p>But a growing and influential body of men in the Republican party +severely criticised the speech because it lacked the moral earnestness +of the "higher law" spirit. To them it seemed as if Seward had made a +bid for the Presidency, and that the irrepressible conflict of 1858 +was suddenly transformed into the condition of a mild and patient +lover who is determined not to quarrel. "Differences of opinion, even +on the subject of slavery," he said, "are with us political, not<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.268" id="vol2Page_ii.268">ii. 268</a></span> +social or personal differences. There is not one disunionist or +disloyalist among us all. We are altogether unconscious of any process +of dissolution going on among us or around us. We have never been more +patient, and never loved the representatives of other sections more +than now. We bear the same testimony for the people around us here. We +bear the same testimony for all the districts and States we +represent."</p> + +<p>This did not sound like the terrible "irrepressible conflict" pictured +at Rochester. Wendell Phillips' famous epigram that "Seward makes a +speech in Washington on the tactics of the Republican party, but +phrases it to suit Wall street,"<a name="vol2FNanchor_234_234" id="vol2FNanchor_234_234"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_234_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> voiced the sentiment of his +critics. Garrison was not less severe. "The temptation which proved +too powerful for Webster," he wrote, "is seducing Seward to take the +same downward course."<a name="vol2FNanchor_235_235" id="vol2FNanchor_235_235"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_235_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a> Greeley did not vigorously combat this +idea. "Governor Seward," he said, "has so long been stigmatised as a +radical that those who now first study his inculcations carefully will +be astonished to find him so eminently pacific and conservative. +Future generations will be puzzled to comprehend how such sentiments +as his, couched in the language of courtesy and suavity which no +provocation can induce him to discard, should ever have been denounced +as incendiary."<a name="vol2FNanchor_236_236" id="vol2FNanchor_236_236"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_236_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a></p> + +<p>No doubt much of this criticism was due to personal jealousy, or to +the old prejudice against him as a Whig leader who had kept himself in +accord with the changing tendencies of a progressive people, +alternately exciting them with irrepressible conflicts and soothing +them with sentences of conservative wisdom; but Bowles, in approving +the speech because it had brought ultra old Whigs of Boston to +Seward's support, exposed the real reason for the adverse criticism, +since an address that would capture an old-line Whig, who indorsed +Fillmore in 1856, could scarcely satisfy the type of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.269" id="vol2Page_ii.269">ii. 269</a></span> Republicans who +believed, with John A. Andrew, that whether the Harper's Ferry +enterprise was wise or foolish, "John Brown himself is right." It is +little wonder, perhaps, that these people began to doubt whether +Seward had strong convictions.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.270" id="vol2Page_ii.270">ii. 270</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XX" id="vol2CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX<br /> +<br /> +DEAN RICHMOND’S LEADERSHIP AT CHARLESTON<br /> +<br /> +1860</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">When</span> the Democratic national convention opened at Charleston, South +Carolina, on April 23, 1860, Fernando Wood insisted upon the admission +of his delegation on equal terms with Tammany. The supreme question +was the nomination of Stephen A. Douglas, and the closeness of the +contest between the Douglas and anti-Douglas forces made New York's +thirty-five votes most important. Wood promised his support, if +admitted, to the anti-Douglas faction; the Softs, led by Dean +Richmond, encouraged Douglas and whispered kindly words to the +supporters of James Guthrie of Kentucky. It was apparent that Wood's +delegation had no standing. It had been appointed before the legal +hour for the convention's assembling in the absence of a majority of +the delegates, and upon no theory could its regularity be accepted; +but Wood, mild and bland in manner, made a favourable impression in +Charleston. No one would have pointed him out in a group of gentlemen +as the redoubtable mayor of New York City, who invented surprises, +and, with a retinue of roughs, precipitated trouble in conventions. +His adroit speeches, too, had won him advantage, and when he pledged +himself to the ultra men of the South his admission became a necessary +factor to their success. This, naturally, threw the Softs into the +camp of Douglas, whose support made their admission possible.<a name="vol2FNanchor_237_237" id="vol2FNanchor_237_237"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_237_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.271" id="vol2Page_ii.271">ii. 271</a></span></p> +<p>The New York delegation, composed of distinguished business men and +adroit politicians, was divided into two factions, each one fancying +itself the more truly patriotic, public-spirited, and +independent.<a name="vol2FNanchor_238_238" id="vol2FNanchor_238_238"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_238_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> The Softs had trapped the Hards into allegiance with +the promise of a solid support for Dickinson whenever the convention +manifested a disposition to rally around him—and then gagged them by +a rigid unit rule. This made Dickinson declamatory and bitter, while +the Softs themselves, professing devotion to Douglas, exhibited an +unrest which indicated that changed conditions would easily change +their devotion. Altogether, it was a disappointing delegation, +distrusted by the Douglas men, feared by the South, and at odds with +itself; yet, it is doubtful if the Empire State ever sent an abler +body of men to a national convention. Its chairman, Dean Richmond, now +at the height of his power, was a man of large and comprehensive +vision, and, although sometimes charged with insincerity, his rise in +politics had not been more rapid than his success in business. Before +his majority he had become the director of a bank, and at the age of +thirty-eight he had established himself in Buffalo as a prosperous +dealer and shipper. Then, he aided in consolidating seven corporations +into the New York Central Railroad—securing the necessary legislation +for the purpose—and in 1853 had become its vice president. Eleven +years later, and two years before his death, he became its president. +In 1860, Dean Richmond was in his forty-seventh year, incapable of any +meanness, yet adroit, shrewd, and skilful, stating very perfectly the +judgment of a clear-headed and sound business man. As chairman of the +Democratic state committee, he was a somewhat rugged but an intensely +interesting personality, who had won deservedly by his work a foremost +place among the most influential na<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.272" id="vol2Page_ii.272">ii. 272</a></span>tional leaders of the party. His +opinion carried great weight, and, though he spoke seldom, his mind +moved rapidly by a very simple and direct path to correct +conclusions.<a name="vol2FNanchor_239_239" id="vol2FNanchor_239_239"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_239_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a></p> + +<p>Around Richmond were clustered August Belmont and Augustus Schell of +New York City, Peter Cagger and Erastus Corning of Albany, David L. +Seymour of Troy, Sanford E. Church of Albion, and a dozen others quite +as well known. Perhaps none of them equalled the powerful Richardson +of Illinois, who led the Douglas forces, or his brilliant lieutenant, +Charles E. Stuart of Michigan, whose directions and suggestions on the +floor of the convention, guided by an unerring knowledge of +parliamentary law, were regarded with something of dread even by Caleb +Cushing, the gifted president of the convention; but John Cochrane of +New York City, who had attended Democratic state and national +conventions for a quarter of a century, was quite able to represent +the Empire State to its advantage on the floor or elsewhere. He was a +man of a high order of ability, and an accomplished and forceful +public speaker, whose sonorous voice, imposing manner, and skilful +tactics made him at home in a parliamentary fight. "Cochrane is a +large but not a big man," said a correspondent of the day, "full in +the region of the vest, and wears his beard, which is coarse and +sandy, trimmed short. His head is bald, and his countenance bold, and +there are assurances in his complexion that he is a generous liver. He +is a fair type of the fast man of intellect and culture, whose +ambition is to figure in politics. He is in Congress and can command +the ear of the House at any time. His great trouble is his Free-soil +record. He took Free-soilism like a distemper and mounted the Buffalo +platform. He is well over it now, however, with the exception of a +single heresy—the homestead law. He is for giving homesteads to the +actual settlers upon the public land."<a name="vol2FNanchor_240_240" id="vol2FNanchor_240_240"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_240_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.273" id="vol2Page_ii.273">ii. 273</a></span></p> +<p>Douglas had a majority of the delegates in the Charleston convention. +But, with the aid of California and Oregon, the South had seventeen of +the thirty-three States. This gave it a majority of the committee on +resolutions, and, after five anxious days of protracted and earnest +debate, that committee reported a platform declaring it the duty of +the federal government to protect slavery in the territories, and +denying the power of a territory either to abolish slavery or to +destroy the rights of property in slaves by any legislation whatever. +The minority reaffirmed the Cincinnati platform of 1856, with the +following preamble and resolution: "Inasmuch as differences of opinion +exist in the Democratic party as to the nature and extent of the +powers of a territorial legislature, and as to the powers and duties +of Congress over the institution of slavery within the territories; +Resolved, that the Democratic party will abide by the decisions of the +Supreme Court on the questions of constitutional law."</p> + +<p>It was quickly evident that the disagreement which had plunged the +committee into trouble extended to the convention. The debate became +hot and bitter. In a speech of remarkable power, William L. Yancey of +Alabama upbraided the Northern delegates for truckling to the +Free-soil spirit. "You acknowledged," he said, "that slavery did not +exist by the law of nature or by the law of God—that it only existed +by state law; that it was wrong, but that you were not to blame. That +was your position, and it was wrong. If you had taken the position +directly that slavery was right ... you would have triumphed. But you +have gone down before the enemy so that they have put their foot upon +your neck; you will go lower and lower still, unless you change front +and change your tactics. When I was a schoolboy in the Northern +States, abolitionists were pelted with rotten eggs. But now this band +of abolitionists has spread and grown into three bands—the black +Republican, the Free-soilers, and squatter sovereignty men—all +representing the common sentiment that slavery is wrong."<a name="vol2FNanchor_241_241" id="vol2FNanchor_241_241"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_241_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a> Against +this<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.274" id="vol2Page_ii.274">ii. 274</a></span> extreme Southern demand that Northern Democrats declare slavery +right and its extension legitimate, Senator Pugh of Ohio vigorously +protested. "Gentlemen of the South," he thundered, "you mistake +us—you mistake us! we will not do it."<a name="vol2FNanchor_242_242" id="vol2FNanchor_242_242"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_242_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a></p> + +<p>The admission of the Softs and the adoption of a rule allowing +individual delegates from uninstructed States to vote as they pleased +had given the Douglas men an assured majority, and on the seventh day, +when the substitution of the minority for the majority report by a +vote of 165 to 138 threatened to culminate in the South's withdrawal, +the Douglas leaders permitted a division of their report into its +substantive propositions. Under this arrangement, the Cincinnati +platform was reaffirmed by a vote of 237½ to 65. The danger point +had now been reached, and Edward Driggs of Brooklyn, scenting the +brewing mischief, moved to table the balance of the report. Driggs +favoured Douglas, but, in common with his delegation, he favoured a +united party more, and could his motion have been carried at that +moment with a show of unanimity, the subsequent secession might have +been checked if not wholly avoided. The Douglas leaders, however, not +yet sufficiently alarmed, thought the withdrawal of two or three +Southern States might aid rather than hinder the nomination of their +chief, and on this theory Driggs' motion was tabled. But, when +Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi withdrew their votes, and nearly +the entire South refused to express an opinion on the popular +sovereignty plank, the extent of the secession suddenly flashed upon +Richardson, who endeavoured to speak in the din of the wildest +excitement. Richardson had withdrawn Douglas' name at the Cincinnati +convention in 1856; and, thinking some way out of their present +trouble might now be suggested by him, John Cochrane, in a voice as +musical as it was far-reaching, urged the convention to hear one whom +he believed brought another "peace offering;" but objection was made, +and the roll call continued. Richardson's purpose, however, had not +escaped the vigilant New Yorkers, who now retired for consultation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.275" id="vol2Page_ii.275">ii. 275</a></span> +The question was, should they strike out the only resolution having +the slightest significance in the minority report? By the time they +had decided in the affirmative, and returned to the hall, the whole +Douglas army was in full retreat, willing, finally, to stand solely +upon the reaffirmation of the Cincinnati platform, where the Driggs +motion would have landed them two hours earlier.</p> + +<p>But the Douglas leaders were not yet satisfied. Writhing under their +forced surrender, Stuart of Michigan took the floor, and by an +inflammatory speech of the most offensive type started the stampede +which the surrender of the Douglas platform was intended to avoid. +Alabama led off, followed by Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, +Florida, Texas, and Arkansas. Glenn of Mississippi, pale with emotion, +spoke the sentiments of the seceders. "Our going," he said, "is not +conceived in passion or carried out from mere caprice or +disappointment. It is the firm resolve of the great body we represent. +The people of Mississippi ask, what is the construction of the +platform of 1856? You of the North say it means one thing; we of the +South another. They ask which is right and which is wrong? The North +have maintained their position, but, while doing so, they have not +acknowledged the rights of the South. We say, go your way and we will +go ours. But the South leaves not like Hagar, driven into the +wilderness, friendless and alone, for in sixty days you will find a +united South standing shoulder to shoulder."<a name="vol2FNanchor_243_243" id="vol2FNanchor_243_243"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_243_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a></p> + +<p>This declaration, spoken with piercing emphasis, was received with the +most enthusiastic applause that had thus far marked the proceedings of +the convention. "The South Carolinians cheered long and loud," says an +eye-witness, "and the tempest of shouts made the circuit of the +galleries and the floor several times before it subsided. A large +number of ladies favoured the secessionists with their sweetest smiles +and with an occasional clapping of hands."<a name="vol2FNanchor_244_244" id="vol2FNanchor_244_244"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_244_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.276" id="vol2Page_ii.276">ii. 276</a></span></p> +<p>All this was telling hard upon the New York delegation.<a name="vol2FNanchor_245_245" id="vol2FNanchor_245_245"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_245_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> It wanted +harmony more than Douglas. Dickinson aspired to bring Southern friends +to his support,<a name="vol2FNanchor_246_246" id="vol2FNanchor_246_246"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_246_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a> while Dean Richmond was believed secretly to +indulge the hope that ultimately Horatio Seymour might be nominated; +and, under the plausible and patriotic guise of harmonising the party, +the delegation had laboured hard to secure a compromise. It was shown +that Douglas need not be nominated; that with the South present he +could not receive a two-thirds majority; that with another candidate +the Southern States would continue in control. It was known that a +majority of the delegation stood ready even to vote for a conciliatory +resolution, a mild slave code plank, declaring that all citizens of +the United States have an equal right to settle, with their property, +in the territories, and that under the Supreme Court's decisions +neither rights of person nor property could be destroyed or impaired +by congressional or territorial legislation. This was Richmond's last +card. In playing it he took desperate chances, but he was tired of the +strain of maintaining the leadership of one faction, and of avoiding a +total disruption with the other.</p> + +<p>To the Southern extremists, marshalled by Mason and Slidell, the +platform was of secondary importance. They wanted to destroy Guthrie, +a personal enemy of Slidell, as well as to defeat Douglas, and, +although it was apparent that the latter could not secure a two-thirds +majority, it was no less evident that the Douglas vote could nominate +Guthrie. To break up this combination, therefore, the ultras saw no<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.277" id="vol2Page_ii.277">ii. 277</a></span> +way open except to break up the convention on the question of a +platform. This phase of the case left Richmond absolutely helpless. +The secession of the cotton States might weaken Douglas, but it could +in nowise aid the chances of a compromise candidate, since the latter, +if nominated, must rely upon a large portion of the Douglas vote.</p> + +<p>But Dean Richmond did not lose sight of his ultimate purpose. The +secession left the convention with 253 out of 304 votes; and a motion +requiring a candidate to obtain two-thirds of the original number +became a test of devotion to Douglas, who hoped to get two-thirds of +the remaining votes, but who could not, under any circumstances, +receive two-thirds of the original number. As New York's vote was now +decisive, it put the responsibility directly upon Richmond. It was his +opportunity to help or to break Douglas. The claim that precedent +required two-thirds of the electoral vote to nominate was rejected by +Stuart as not having the sanction of logic. "Two-thirds of the vote +given in this convention" was the language of the rule, he argued, and +it could not mean two-thirds of all the votes originally in the +convention. Cushing admitted that a rigid construction of the rule +seemed to refer to the votes cast on the ballot in this convention, +but "the chair is not of the opinion," he said, "that the words of the +rule apply to the votes cast for the candidate, but to two-thirds of +all the votes to be cast by the convention." This ruling in nowise +influenced the solid delegations of Douglas' devoted followers from +Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota; and +if Richmond had been as loyal in his support, it was reasoned, New +York would have followed the Northwestern States. But Cushing's ruling +afforded Richmond a technical peg upon which to hang a reason for not +deliberately and decisively cutting off the Empire State from the +possibilities of a presidential nomination, and, apparently without +any scruples whatever, he decided that the nominee must receive the +equivalent of two-thirds of the electoral college.<a name="vol2FNanchor_247_247" id="vol2FNanchor_247_247"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_247_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> After<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.278" id="vol2Page_ii.278">ii. 278</a></span> that +vote one can no more think of Richmond or the majority of his +delegation as inspired with devoted loyalty to Douglas. One delegate +declared that it sounded like clods falling upon the Little Giant's +coffin.<a name="vol2FNanchor_248_248" id="vol2FNanchor_248_248"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_248_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a></p> + +<p>Little enthusiasm developed over the naming of candidates. Six were +placed in nomination—Douglas of Illinois, Guthrie of Kentucky, Hunter +of Virginia, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, Lane of Oregon, and +Dickinson of New York. George W. Patrick of California named +Dickinson, and on the first ballot he received two votes from +Pennsylvania, one from Virginia, and four from California, while New +York cast its thirty-five votes for Douglas with as much éclat as if +it had not just made his nomination absolutely impossible.<a name="vol2FNanchor_249_249" id="vol2FNanchor_249_249"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_249_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> The +result gave Douglas 145½ to 107½ for all others, with 202 +necessary to a choice. On the thirty-third ballot, Douglas, amidst +some enthusiasm, reached 152½ votes, equivalent to a majority of +the electoral college; but, as the balloting proceeded, it became +manifest that this was his limit, and on the ninth day motions to +adjourn to New York or Baltimore in June became frequent. The +fifty-seventh ballot, the last of the session, gave Douglas 151½, +Guthrie 65½, Dickinson 4, and all others 31. Dickinson had +flickered between half a vote and sixteen, with an average of five. +Never perhaps in the history of political conventions did an ambitious +candidate keep so far from the goal of success.</p> + +<p>It was now apparent that the convention could not longer survive. The +listless delegates, the absence of enthusiasm, and the uncrowded +galleries, showed that all hope of a nomination was abandoned, +especially since the friends of Douglas, who could prevent the +selection of another, declared that the Illinoisan would not withdraw +under any contingency.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.279" id="vol2Page_ii.279">ii. 279</a></span> It is dreary reading, the record of the last +three days. If any further evidence were needed to show the utter +collapse of the dwindling, discouraged convention, the dejected, +despairing appearance of Richardson, until now supported by a bright +heroism and cheery good humour, would have furnished it. Accordingly, +on the tenth day of the session, it was agreed to reassemble at +Baltimore on Monday, June 18. Meantime the seceders had formed +themselves into a convention, adopted the platform recently reported +by the majority, and adjourned to meet at Richmond on the same day.</p> + +<p>Bitter thoughts filled the home-going delegates. Douglas' Northwestern +friends talked rancorously of the South; while, in their bitterness, +Yancey and his followers exulted in the defeat of the Illinois +Senator. "Men will be cutting one another's throats in a little +while," said Alexander H. Stephens. "In less than twelve months we +shall be in war, and that the bloodiest in history. Men seem to be +utterly blinded to the future."<a name="vol2FNanchor_250_250" id="vol2FNanchor_250_250"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_250_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a></p> + +<p>"Do you not think matters may be adjusted at Baltimore?" asked R.M. +Johnston. "Not the slightest chance of it," was the reply. "The party +is split forever. Douglas will not retire from the stand he has taken. +The only hope was at Charleston. If the party would be satisfied with +the Cincinnati platform and would cordially nominate Douglas, we +should carry the election; but I repeat to you that is +impossible."<a name="vol2FNanchor_251_251" id="vol2FNanchor_251_251"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_251_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a></p> + +<p>Between the conventions the controversy moved to the floor of the +United States Senate. "We claim protection for slavery in the +territories," said Jefferson Davis, "first, because it is our right; +secondly, because it is the duty of the general government."<a name="vol2FNanchor_252_252" id="vol2FNanchor_252_252"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_252_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a> In +replying to Davis several days later, Douglas said: "My name never +would have been presented at Charleston except for the attempt to +proscribe me as a heretic, too unsound to be the chairman of a +committee in this body, where I have held a seat for so many years +without a suspicion resting on my political fidelity. I was<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.280" id="vol2Page_ii.280">ii. 280</a></span> forced to +allow my name to go there in self-defence; and I will now say that had +any gentleman, friend or foe, received a majority of that convention +over me the lightning would have carried a message withdrawing my +name."<a name="vol2FNanchor_253_253" id="vol2FNanchor_253_253"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_253_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a></p> + +<p>A few days afterward Davis referred to the matter again. "I have a +declining respect for platforms," he said. "I would sooner have an +honest man on any sort of a rickety platform you could construct than +to have a man I did not trust on the best platform which could be +made." This stung Douglas. "If the platform is not a matter of much +consequence," he demanded, "why press that question to the disruption +of the party? Why did you not tell us in the beginning of this debate +that the whole fight was against the man and not upon the +platform?"<a name="vol2FNanchor_254_254" id="vol2FNanchor_254_254"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_254_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a></p> + +<p>These personalities served to deepen the exasperation of the sections. +The real strain was to come, and there was great need that cool heads +and impersonal argument should prevail over misrepresentation and +passion. But the coming event threw its shadow before it.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.281" id="vol2Page_ii.281">ii. 281</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XXI" id="vol2CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI<br /> +<br /> +SEWARD DEFEATED AT CHICAGO<br /> +<br /> +1860</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> Republican national convention met at Chicago on May 16. It was +the prototype of the modern convention. In 1856, an ordinary hall in +Philadelphia, with a seating capacity of two thousand, sufficed to +accommodate delegates and spectators, but in 1860 the large building, +called a "wigwam," specially erected for the occasion and capable of +holding ten thousand, could not receive one-half the people seeking +admission, while marching clubs, bands of music, and spacious +headquarters for state delegations, marked the new order of things. As +usual in later years, New York made an imposing demonstration. The +friends of Seward took an entire hotel, and an organised, well-drilled +body of men from New York City, under the lead of Tom Hyer, a noted +pugilist, headed by a gaily uniformed band, paraded the streets amidst +admiring crowds. For the first time, too, office-seekers were present +in force at a Republican convention; and, to show their devotion, they +packed hotel corridors and the convention hall itself with bodies of +men who vociferously cheered every mention of their candidate's name. +Such tactics are well understood and expected nowadays, but in 1860 +they were unique.</p> + +<p>The convention, consisting of 466 delegates, represented one southern, +five border, and eighteen free States. "As long as conventions shall +be held," wrote Horace Greeley, "I believe no abler, wiser, more +unselfish body of delegates will ever be assembled than that which met +at Chicago."<a name="vol2FNanchor_255_255" id="vol2FNanchor_255_255"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_255_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a> Gov<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.282" id="vol2Page_ii.282">ii. 282</a></span>ernor Morgan, as chairman of the Republican +national committee, called the convention to order, presenting David +Wilmot, author of the famous proviso, for temporary chairman. George +Ashmun of Massachusetts, the favourite friend of Webster, became +permanent president. The platform, adopted by a unanimous vote on the +second day, denounced the Harper's Ferry invasion "as among the +gravest of crimes;" declared the doctrine of popular sovereignty "a +deception and fraud;" condemned the attempt of President Buchanan to +force the Lecompton Constitution upon Kansas; denied "the authority of +Congress, of a territorial legislature, or of an individual to give +legal existence to slavery in any territory;" demanded a liberal +homestead law; and favoured a tariff "to encourage the development of +the industrial interests of the whole country." The significant +silence as to personal liberty bills, the Dred Scott decision, the +fugitive slave law, and the abolition of slavery in the District of +Columbia, evidenced the handiwork of practical men.</p> + +<p>Only one incident disclosed the enthusiasm of delegates for the +doctrine which affirms the equality and defines the rights of man. +Joshua E. Giddings sought to incorporate the sentiment that "all men +are created free and equal," but the convention declined to accept it +until the eloquence of George William Curtis carried it amidst +deafening applause. It was not an easy triumph. Party leaders had +preserved the platform from radical utterances; and, with one +disapproving yell, the convention tabled the Giddings amendment. +Instantly Curtis renewed the motion; and when it drowned his voice, he +stood with folded arms and waited. At last, the chairman's gavel gave +him another chance. In the calm, his musical voice, in tones that +penetrated and thrilled, begged the representatives of the party of +freedom "to think well before, upon the free prairies of the West, in +the summer of 1860, you dare to shrink from repeating the words of the +great men of 1776."<a name="vol2FNanchor_256_256" id="vol2FNanchor_256_256"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_256_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> The audience, stirred by an unwonted emotion, +applauded the sentiment, and then adopted the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.283" id="vol2Page_ii.283">ii. 283</a></span> amendment with a shout +more unanimous than had been the vote of disapproval.</p> + +<p>The selection of a candidate for President occupied the third day. +Friends of Seward who thronged the city exhibited absolute +confidence.<a name="vol2FNanchor_257_257" id="vol2FNanchor_257_257"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_257_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> They represented not only the discipline of the +machine, with its well-drilled cohorts, called the "irrepressibles," +and its impressive marching clubs, gay with banners and badges, but +the ablest leaders on the floor of the convention. And back of all, +stood Thurlow Weed, the matchless manager, whose adroitness and wisdom +had been crowned with success for a whole generation. "He is one of +the most remarkable men of our time," wrote Samuel Bowles, in the +preceding February. "He is cool, calculating, a man of expedients, who +boasts that for thirty years he had not in political affairs let his +heart outweigh his judgment." Governor Edwin D. Morgan and Henry J. +Raymond were his lieutenants, William M. Evarts, his floor manager, +and a score of men whose names were soon to become famous acted as his +assistants. The brilliant rhetoric of George William Curtis, when +insisting upon an indorsement of the Declaration of Independence, gave +the opposition a taste of their mettle.</p> + +<p>Seward, confident of the nomination, had sailed for Europe in May, +1859, in a happy frame of mind. The only serious opposition had come +from the <i>Tribune</i> and from the Keystone State; but on the eve of his +departure Simon Cameron assured him of Pennsylvania, and Greeley, +apparently reconciled, had dined with him at the Astor House. "The sky +is bright, and the waters are calm," was the farewell to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.284" id="vol2Page_ii.284">ii. 284</a></span> +wife.<a name="vol2FNanchor_258_258" id="vol2FNanchor_258_258"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_258_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a> After his return there came an occasional shadow. "I hear +of so many fickle and timid friends," he wrote;<a name="vol2FNanchor_259_259" id="vol2FNanchor_259_259"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_259_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a> yet he had +confidence in Greeley, who, while calling with Weed, exhibited such +friendly interest that Seward afterward resented the suggestion of his +disloyalty.<a name="vol2FNanchor_260_260" id="vol2FNanchor_260_260"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_260_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a> On reaching Auburn to await the action of the +convention, his confidence of success found expression in the belief +that he would not again return to Congress during that session. As the +work of the convention progressed his friends became more sanguine. +The solid delegations of New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, +California, and Kansas, supplemented by the expected votes of New +England and other States on a second roll call, made the nomination +certain. Edward Bates had Missouri, Delaware, and Oregon, but their +votes barely equalled one-half of New York's; Lincoln was positively +sure of only Illinois, and several of its delegates preferred Seward; +Chase had failed to secure the united support of Ohio, and Dayton in +New Jersey was without hope. Cameron held Pennsylvania in reversion +for the New York Senator. So<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.285" id="vol2Page_ii.285">ii. 285</a></span> hopeless did the success of the +opposition appear at midnight of the second day, that Greeley +telegraphed the <i>Tribune</i> predicting Seward's nomination, and the +"irrepressibles" anticipated victory in three hundred bottles of +champagne. As late as the morning of the third day, the confidence of +the Seward managers impelled them to ask whom the opposition preferred +for Vice President.</p> + +<p>But opponents had been industriously at work. They found that +Republicans of Know-Nothing antecedents, especially in Pennsylvania, +still disliked Seward's opposition to their Order, and that +conservative Republicans recoiled from his doctrine of the higher law +and the irrepressible conflict. Upon this broad foundation of unrest, +the opposition adroitly builded, poisoning the minds of unsettled +delegates with stories of his political methods and too close +association with Thurlow Weed. No one questioned Seward's personal +integrity; but the distrust of the political boss existed then as much +as now, and his methods were no less objectionable. "The +misconstruction put on his phrase 'the irrepressible conflict between +freedom and slavery' has, I think, damaged him a good deal," wrote +William Cullen Bryant, "and in this city there is one thing which has +damaged him still more. I mean the project of Thurlow Weed to give +charters for a set of city railways, for which those who receive them +are to furnish a fund of from four to six hundred thousand dollars, to +be expended for the Republican cause in the next presidential +election."<a name="vol2FNanchor_261_261" id="vol2FNanchor_261_261"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_261_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a> Such a scheme would be rebuked even in this day of +trust and corporation giving. People resented the transfer to +Washington of the peculiar state of things at Albany, and when James +S. Pike wrote of Seward's close connection with men who schemed for +public grants, it recalled his belief in the adage that "Money makes +the mare go." Allusion to Seward's "bad associates," as Bryant called +them, and to the connection between "Seward stock" and "New York +street railroads" had become frequent in the correspondence of leading +men, and now, when delegates could talk face to face<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.286" id="vol2Page_ii.286">ii. 286</a></span> in the +confidence of the party council chamber, these accusations made a +profound impression. The presence of Tom Hyer and his rough marchers +did not tend to eliminate these moral objections. "If you do not +nominate Seward, where will you get your money?" was their stock +argument.<a name="vol2FNanchor_262_262" id="vol2FNanchor_262_262"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_262_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a></p> + +<p>Horace Greeley, sitting as a delegate from Oregon, stayed with the +friends of Bates and Lincoln at the Tremont Hotel. The announcement +startled the New Yorkers. He had visited Weed at Albany on his way to +Chicago, leaving the impression that he would support Seward,<a name="vol2FNanchor_263_263" id="vol2FNanchor_263_263"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_263_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a> but +once in the convention city his disaffection became quickly known. Of +all the members of the convention none attracted more attention, or +had greater influence with the New England and Western delegates. His +peculiar head and dress quickly identified him as he passed through +the hotel corridors from delegation to delegation, and whenever he +stopped to speak, an eager crowd of listeners heard his reasons why +Seward could not carry the doubtful States. He marshalled all the +facts and forgot no accusing rumour. His remarkable letter of 1854, +dissolving the firm of Weed, Seward, and Greeley, had not then been +published, leaving him in the position of a patriot and prophet who +opposed the Senator because he sincerely believed him a weak +candidate. "If we have ever demurred<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.287" id="vol2Page_ii.287">ii. 287</a></span> to his nomination," he said in +the <i>Tribune</i> of April 23, in reply to the <i>Times'</i> charge of +hostility, "it has been on the ground of his too near approximation in +principle and sentiment to our standard to be a safe candidate just +yet. We joyfully believe that the country is acquiring a just and +adequate conception of the malign influence exerted by the slave power +upon its character, its reputation, its treatment of its neighbour, +and all its great moral and material interests. In a few years more we +believe it will be ready to elect as its President a man who not only +sees but proclaims the whole truth in this respect—in short, such a +man as Governor Seward. We have certainly doubted its being yet so far +advanced in its political education as to be ready to choose for +President one who looks the slave oligarchy square in the eye and +says, 'Know me as your enemy.'"</p> + +<p>Greeley favoured Bates of Missouri, but was ready to support anybody +to beat Seward. Bryant, disliking what he called the "pliant politics" +of the New York Senator, had been disposed to favour Chase until the +Cooper Institute speech. Lincoln left a similar trail of friends +through New England. The Illinoisan's title of "Honest Old Abe," +given, him by his neighbours, contrasted favourably with the whispered +reports of "bad associates" and the "New York City railroad scheme." +Gradually, even the radical element in the unpledged delegations began +questioning the advisability of the New Yorker's selection, and when, +on the night preceding the nomination, Andrew Curtin of Pennsylvania +and Henry S. Lane<a name="vol2FNanchor_264_264" id="vol2FNanchor_264_264"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_264_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> of Indiana, candidates for governor in their +respective States, whose defeat in October would probably bring<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.288" id="vol2Page_ii.288">ii. 288</a></span> +defeat in November, declared that Seward's selection would cost them +their election, the opposition occupied good vantage ground. David +Davis, the Illinois manager for Lincoln, against the positive +instructions of his principal, strengthened these declarations by +promising to locate Simon Cameron and Caleb B. Smith in the Cabinet. +The next morning, however, the anti-Seward forces entered the +convention without having concentrated upon a candidate. Lincoln had +won Indiana, but Pennsylvania and Ohio were divided; New Jersey stood +for Dayton; Bates still controlled Missouri, Delaware, and Oregon.</p> + +<p>William M. Evarts presented Seward's name amidst loud applause. But at +the mention of Lincoln's the vigour of the cheers surprised the +delegates. The Illinois managers had cunningly filled the desirable +seats with their shouters, excluding Tom Hyer and his marchers, who +arrived too late, so that, although the applause for Seward was +"frantic, shrill, and wild," says one correspondent, the cheers for +Lincoln were "louder and more terrible."<a name="vol2FNanchor_265_265" id="vol2FNanchor_265_265"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_265_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a> Whether this had the +influence ascribed to it at the time by Henry J. Raymond and others +has been seriously questioned, but it undoubtedly aided in fixing the +wavering delegates, and in encouraging the friends of other candidates +to rally about the Lincoln standard.</p> + +<p>The first roll call proved a disappointment to Seward. Though the +pledged States were in line, New England fell short, Pennsylvania +showed indifference, and Virginia created a profound surprise. +Nevertheless, the confidence of the Seward forces remained unshaken. +Of the 465 votes, Seward had 173½, Lincoln 102, Cameron 50½, +Chase 49, and Bates 48, with 42 for seven others; necessary to a +choice, 233. On the second ballot Seward gained four votes from New +Jersey, two each from Texas and Kentucky, and one each from +Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Nebraska—making a total of 184½. +Lincoln moved up to 133. The action of Ohio in giving fourteen votes +to Lincoln had been no less<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.289" id="vol2Page_ii.289">ii. 289</a></span> disappointing to the Seward managers than +the transfer of Vermont's vote to the same column; but, before they +could recover from this shock, Cameron was withdrawn and 48 votes from +Pennsylvania carried Lincoln's total to 181.</p> + +<p>The announcement of this change brought the convention to its feet +amid scenes of wild excitement. Seward's forces endeavoured to avert +the danger, but the arguments of a week were bearing fruit. As the +third roll call proceeded, the scattering votes turned to Lincoln. +Seward lost four from Rhode Island and half a vote from Pennsylvania, +giving him 180, Lincoln 231½, Chase 24½, Bates 22, and 7 for +three others. At this moment, an Ohio delegate authorised a change of +four votes from Chase to Lincoln, and instantly one hundred guns, +fired from the top of an adjoining building, announced the nomination +of "Honest Old Abe." In a short speech of rare felicity and great +strength, William M. Evarts moved to make the nomination unanimous.</p> + +<p>The New York delegation, stunned by the result, declined the honour of +naming a candidate for Vice President; and, on reassembling in the +afternoon, the convention nominated Hannibal Hamlin of Maine. As +Evarts was leaving the wigwam he remarked, with characteristic humour: +"Well, Curtis, at least we have saved the Declaration of +Independence!"</p> + +<p>Three days after the nomination Greeley wrote James S. Pike: +"Massachusetts was right in Weed's hands, contrary to all reasonable +expectation. It was all we could do to hold Vermont by the most +desperate exertions; and I at some times despaired of it. The rest of +New England was pretty sound, but part of New Jersey was somehow +inclined to sin against the light and knowledge. If you had seen the +Pennsylvania delegation, and known how much money Weed had in hand, +you would not have believed we could do so well as we did. Give Curtin +thanks for that. Ohio looked very bad, yet turned out well, and +Virginia had been regularly sold out; but the seller could not +deliver. We had to rain red-hot bolts on them, however, to keep the +majority from going for Seward, who got eight votes here as it was. +Indiana was our<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.290" id="vol2Page_ii.290">ii. 290</a></span> right bower, and Missouri above praise. It was a +fearful week, such as I hope and trust I shall never see +repeated."<a name="vol2FNanchor_266_266" id="vol2FNanchor_266_266"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_266_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a> That Greeley received credit for all he did is +evidenced by a letter from John D. Defrees, then a leading politician +of Indiana, addressed to Schuyler Colfax. "Greeley slaughtered Seward +and saved the party," he wrote. "He deserves the praises of all men +and gets them now. Wherever he goes he is greeted with cheers."<a name="vol2FNanchor_267_267" id="vol2FNanchor_267_267"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_267_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a></p> + +<p>The profound sorrow of Seward's friends resembled the distress of +Henry Clay's supporters in 1840. It was not chagrin; it was not the +selfish fear that considers the loss of office or spoils; it was not +discouragement or despair. Apprehensions for the future of the party +and the country there may have been, but their grief found its +fountain-head in the feeling that "his fidelity to the country, the +Constitution and the laws," as Evarts put it; "his fidelity to the +party, and the principle that the majority govern; his interest in the +advancement of our party to victory, that our country may rise to its +true glory,"<a name="vol2FNanchor_268_268" id="vol2FNanchor_268_268"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_268_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a> had led to his sacrifice solely for assumed +availability. The belief obtained that a large majority of the +delegates preferred him, and that had the convention met elsewhere he +would probably have been successful. In his <i>Life of Lincoln</i>, Alex. +K. McClure of Pennsylvania, an anti-Seward delegate, says that "of the +two hundred and thirty-one men who voted for Lincoln on the third and +last ballot, not less than one hundred of them voted reluctantly +against the candidate of their choice."<a name="vol2FNanchor_269_269" id="vol2FNanchor_269_269"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_269_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a></p> + +<p>At Auburn a funeral gloom settled upon the town.<a name="vol2FNanchor_270_270" id="vol2FNanchor_270_270"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_270_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a> Ad<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.291" id="vol2Page_ii.291">ii. 291</a></span>miration for +Seward's great ability, and a just pride in the exalted position he +occupied in his party and before the country, had long ago displaced +the local spirit that refused him a seat in the constitutional +convention of 1846; and after the defeat his fellow townsmen could not +be comforted. Sincere sorrow filled their hearts. But Seward's bearing +was heroic. When told that no Republican could be found to write a +paragraph for the evening paper announcing and approving the +nominations, he quickly penned a dozen lines eulogistic of the +convention and its work. To Weed, who shed bitter tears, he wrote +consolingly. "I wish I were sure that your sense of disappointment is +as light as my own," he said. "It ought to be equally so, if we have +been equally thoughtful and zealous for friends, party, and country. I +know not what has been left undone that could have been done, or done +that ought to be regretted."<a name="vol2FNanchor_271_271" id="vol2FNanchor_271_271"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_271_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a> During the week many friends from +distant parts of the State called upon him, "not to console," as they +expressed it, "but to be consoled." His cheerful demeanour under a +disappointment so overwhelming to everybody else excited the inquiry +how he could exhibit such control. His reply was characteristic. "For +twenty years," he said, "I have been breasting a daily<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.292" id="vol2Page_ii.292">ii. 292</a></span> storm of +censure. Now, all the world seems disposed to speak kindly of me. In +that pile of papers, Republican and Democratic, you will find hardly +one unkind word. When I went to market this morning I confess I was +unprepared for so much real grief as I heard expressed at every +corner."<a name="vol2FNanchor_272_272" id="vol2FNanchor_272_272"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_272_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a></p> + +<p>But deep in his heart despondency reigned supreme. "The reappearance +at Washington in the character of a leader deposed by his own party, +in the hour of organisation for decisive battle, thank God is +past—and so the last of the humiliations has been endured," he wrote +his wife. "Preston King met me at the depot and conveyed me to my +home. It seemed sad and mournful. Dr. Nott's benevolent face, Lord +Napier's complacent one, Jefferson's benignant one, and Lady Napier's +loving one, seemed all like pictures of the dead. Even 'Napoleon at +Fontainebleau' seemed more frightfully desolate than ever. At the +Capitol the scene was entirely changed from my entrance into the +chamber last winter. Cameron greeted me kindly; Wilkinson of +Minnesota, and Sumner cordially and manfully. Other Republican +senators came to me, but in a manner that showed a consciousness of +embarrassment, which made the courtesy a conventional one; only Wilson +came half a dozen times, and sat down by me. Mason, Gwin, Davis, and +most of the Democrats, came to me with frank, open, sympathising +words, thus showing that their past prejudices had been buried in the +victory they had achieved over me. Good men came through the day to +see me, and also this morning. Their eyes fill with tears, and they +become speechless as they speak of what they call 'ingratitude.' They +console themselves with the vain hope of a day of 'vindication,' and +my letters all talk of the same thing. But they awaken no response in +my heart. I have not shrunk from any fiery trial prepared for me by +the enemies of my cause. But I shall not hold myself bound to try, a +second time, the magnanimity of its friends."<a name="vol2FNanchor_273_273" id="vol2FNanchor_273_273"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_273_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> To Weed he wrote: +"Private life, as soon as I can reach it without grieving or<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.293" id="vol2Page_ii.293">ii. 293</a></span> +embarrassing my friends, will be welcome to me. It will come the 4th +of next March in my case, and I am not unprepared."<a name="vol2FNanchor_274_274" id="vol2FNanchor_274_274"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_274_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a></p> + +<p>Defeat was a severe blow to Seward. For the moment he seemed well-nigh +friendless. The letter to his wife after he reached Washington was a +threnody. He was firmly convinced that he was a much injured man, and +his attitude was that of the martyr supported by the serenity of the +saint. But to the world he bore himself with the courage and the +dignity that belong to one whose supremacy is due to superiority of +talents. The country could not know that he was to become a secretary +of state of whom the civilised world would take notice; but one of +Seward's prescience must have felt well satisfied in his own mind, +even when telling Weed how "welcome" private life would be, that, +although he was not to become President, he was at the opening of a +greater political career.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.294" id="vol2Page_ii.294">ii. 294</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XXII" id="vol2CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII<br /> +<br /> +NEW YORK’S CONTROL AT BALTIMORE<br /> +<br /> +1860</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> recess between the Charleston and Baltimore conventions did not +allay hostilities. Jefferson Davis' criticism and Douglas' tart +retorts transferred the quarrel to the floor of the United States +Senate, and by the time the delegates had reassembled at Baltimore on +June 18, 1860, the factions exhibited greater exasperation than had +been shown at Charleston. Yet the Douglas men seemed certain of +success. Dean Richmond, it was said, had been engaged in private +consultation with Douglas and his friends, pledging himself to stand +by them to the last. On the other hand, rumours of a negotiation in +which the Southerners and the Administration at Washington had offered +the New Yorkers their whole strength for any man the Empire State +might name other than Douglas and Guthrie, found ready belief among +the Northwestern delegates. It was surmised, too, that the defeat of +Seward at Chicago had strengthened the chances of Horatio Seymour, on +the ground that the disappointed and discontented Seward Republicans +would allow him to carry the State. Whatever truth there may have been +in these reports, all admitted that the New York delegation had in its +hands the destiny of the convention, if not that of the party +itself.<a name="vol2FNanchor_275_275" id="vol2FNanchor_275_275"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_275_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.295" id="vol2Page_ii.295">ii. 295</a></span></p> +<p>The apparent breaking point at Charleston was the adoption of a +platform; at Baltimore it was the readmission of seceding delegates. +Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas presented their original +delegations, who sought immediate admission; but a resolution, +introduced by Sanford E. Church of New York, referred them to the +committee on credentials, with the understanding that persons +accepting seats were bound in honour to abide the action of the +convention. The Douglas men, greeting this resolution with tremendous +applause, proposed driving it through without debate; but New York +hesitated to order the previous question. Then it asked permission to +withdraw for consultation, and when it finally voted in the negative, +deeming it unwise to stifle debate, it revealed the fact that its +action was decisive on all questions.</p> + +<p>An amendment to the Church resolution proposed sending only contested +seats to the credentials committee, without conditions as to loyalty, +and over this joinder of issues some very remarkable speeches +disclosed malignant bitterness rather than choice rhetoric. +Richardson, still the recognised spokesman of Douglas, received marked +attention as he argued boldly that the amendment admitted delegates +not sent there, and decided a controversy without a hearing. "I do not +propose," he said, "to sit side by side with delegates who do not +represent the people; who are not bound by anything, when I am bound +by everything. We are not so hard driven yet as to be compelled to +elect delegates from States that do not choose to send any here."<a name="vol2FNanchor_276_276" id="vol2FNanchor_276_276"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_276_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a></p> + +<p>Russell of Virginia responded, declaring that his State<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.296" id="vol2Page_ii.296">ii. 296</a></span> intended, in +the interest of fair play, to cling to the Democracy of the South. "If +we are to be constrained to silence," he vociferated, "I beg gentlemen +to consider the silence of Virginia ominous. If we are not +gentlemen—if we are such knaves that we cannot trust one another—we +had better scatter at once, and cease to make any effort to bind each +other."<a name="vol2FNanchor_277_277" id="vol2FNanchor_277_277"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_277_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> Speaking on similar lines, Ewing of Tennessee asked what +was meant. "Have you no enemy in front? Have you any States to spare? +We are pursued by a remorseless enemy, and yet from all quarters of +this convention come exclamations of bitterness and words that burn, +with a view to open the breach in our ranks wider and wider, until at +last, Curtius-like, we will be compelled to leap into it to close it +up."</p> + +<p>But it remained for Montgomery of Pennsylvania, in spite of Cochrane's +conciliatory words, to raise the political atmosphere to the +temperature at Charleston just before the secession. "For the first +time in the history of the Democratic party," he said, "a number of +delegations of sovereign States, by a solemn instrument in writing, +resigned their places upon the floor of the convention. They went out +with a protest, not against a candidate, but against the principles of +a party, declaring they did not hold and would not support them. And +not only that, but they called a hostile convention, and sat side by +side with us, deliberating upon a candidate and the adoption of a +platform. Principles hostile to ours were asserted and a nomination +hostile to ours was threatened. Our convention was compelled to +adjourn in order to have these sovereign States represented. What +became of the gentlemen who seceded? They adjourned to meet at +Richmond. Now they seek to come back and sit upon this floor with us, +and to-day they threaten us if we do not come to their terms. God +knows I love the star spangled banner of my country, and it is because +I love the Union that I am determined that any man who arrays himself +in hostility to it shall not, with my consent, take a seat in this +convention. I am opposed to secession either from this Union or from +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.297" id="vol2Page_ii.297">ii. 297</a></span> Democratic convention, and when men declare the principles of the +party are not their principles, and that they will neither support +them nor stay in a convention that promulgates them, then I say it is +high time, if they ask to come back, that they shall declare they have +changed their minds."<a name="vol2FNanchor_278_278" id="vol2FNanchor_278_278"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_278_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a></p> + +<p>This swung the door of vituperative debate wide open, and after an +adjournment had closed it in the hall, the crowds continued it in the +street. At midnight, while Yancey made one of his silver-toned +speeches, which appears, by all accounts, to have been a piece of +genuine eloquence, the friends of Douglas, on the opposite side of +Monument Square, kept the bands playing and crowds cheering.</p> + +<p>When the convention assembled on the second day, Church, in the +interest of harmony, withdrew the last clause of his resolution, and, +without a dissenting voice, all contested seats went to the committee +on credentials. Then the convention impatiently waited three days for +a report, while the night meetings, growing noisier and more arrogant, +served to increase the bitterness. The Douglasites denounced their +opponents as "disorganisers and disunionists;" the Southerners +retorted by calling them "a species of sneaking abolitionists." Yancey +spoke of them as small men, with selfish aims. "They are +ostrich-like—their head is in the sand of squatter sovereignty, and +they do not know their great, ugly, ragged abolition body is exposed."</p> + +<p>On the fourth day, the committee presented two reports, the majority, +without argument, admitting the contestants—the minority, in a +remarkably strong document of singular skill and great clearness, +seating the seceders on the ground that their withdrawal was not a +resignation and was not so considered by the convention. A +resignation, it argued, must be made to the appointing power. The +withdrawing delegates desired the instruction of their constituencies, +who authorised them in every case except South Carolina to repair to +Baltimore and endeavour once more to unite their party<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.298" id="vol2Page_ii.298">ii. 298</a></span> and promote +harmony and peace in the great cause of their country.</p> + +<p>This report made a profound impression upon the convention, and the +motion to substitute it for the majority report at once threw New York +into confusion. That delegation had already decided to sustain the +majority, but the views of the seceders, so ably and logically +presented, had reopened the door of debate, and a resolute minority, +combining more than a proportionate share of the talent and worth of +the delegation, insisted upon further time. After the convention had +grudgingly taken a recess to accommodate the New Yorkers, William H. +Ludlow reappeared and apologised for asking more time. This created +the impression that Richmond's delegation, at the last moment, +proposed to slaughter Douglas<a name="vol2FNanchor_279_279" id="vol2FNanchor_279_279"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_279_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a> as it did at Charleston, and the +latter's friends, maddened and disheartened over what they called "New +York's dishonest and cowardly procrastination," would gladly have +prevented an adjournment. But the Empire State held the key to the +situation. Without it Douglas could get nothing and in a hopeless sort +of way his backers granted Ludlow's request.<a name="vol2FNanchor_280_280" id="vol2FNanchor_280_280"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_280_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a></p> + +<p>The situation of the New York delegation was undoubtedly most +embarrassing. Their admission to the Charleston convention had +depended upon the Douglas vote, but their hope of success hinged upon +harmony with the cotton States. A formidable minority favoured the +readmission of the seceders and the abandonment of Douglas regardless +of their obligation. This was not the policy of Dean Richmond, who +was<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.299" id="vol2Page_ii.299">ii. 299</a></span> the pivotal personage. His plan included the union of the party +by admitting the seceders, and the nomination of Horatio Seymour with +the consent of the Northwest, after rendering the selection of Douglas +impossible. It was a brilliant programme, but the inexorable demand of +the Douglas men presented a fatal drawback. Richmond implored and +pleaded. He knew the hostility of the Douglasites could make Seymour's +nomination impossible, and he knew, also, that a refusal to admit the +seceders would lead to a second secession, a second ticket, and a +hopelessly divided party. Nevertheless, the Douglas men were +remorseless.<a name="vol2FNanchor_281_281" id="vol2FNanchor_281_281"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_281_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a> Even Douglas' letter, sent Richardson on the third +day, and his dispatch to Dean Richmond,<a name="vol2FNanchor_282_282" id="vol2FNanchor_282_282"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_282_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a> received on the fifth +day, authorising the withdrawal of his name if it could be done +without sacrificing the principle of non-intervention, did not relieve +the situation. Rule or ruin was now their motto, as much as it was the +South's, and between them Richmond's diplomatic resistance,<a name="vol2FNanchor_283_283" id="vol2FNanchor_283_283"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_283_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a> which +once seemed of iron, became as clay. Neverthe<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.300" id="vol2Page_ii.300">ii. 300</a></span>less, Richmond's control +of the New York delegation remained unbroken. The minority tried new +arguments, planned new combinations, and racked their brains for new +devices, but when Richmond finally gave up the hopeless and thankless +task of harmonising the Douglasites and seceders, a vote of 27 to 43 +forced the minority of the delegation into submission by the screw of +the Syracuse unit rule, and New York finally sustained the majority +report.</p> + +<p>After this, the convention became the theatre of a dramatic event +which made it, for the moment, the centre of interest to the political +world. The majority report seated the Douglas faction from Alabama and +Louisiana, and then excluded William L. Yancey, a representative +seceder, and let in Pierre Soulé, a representative Douglasite. It is +sufficient proof of the sensitiveness of the relations between the two +factions that an expressed preference for one of these men should +again disrupt the convention, but the moving cause was far deeper than +the majority's action. Yancey belonged to the daring, resolute, and +unscrupulous band of men who, under the unhappy conditions that +threatened their defeat, had already decided upon disunion; and, when +the convention repudiated him, the lesser lights played their part. +Virginia led a new secession, followed by most of the delegates from +North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Maryland, and +finally by Caleb Cushing himself, the astute presiding officer, whose +action anticipated the withdrawal of Massachusetts.</p> + +<p>When they were gone, Pierre Soulé took the floor and made the speech +of the convention, fascinating all who saw and heard. An eye-witness +speaks of his rolling, glittering, eagle eye, Napoleonic head and +face, sharp voice with a margin of French accent, and piercing, +intense earnestness of manner. "I have not been at all discouraged," +he said, "by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.301" id="vol2Page_ii.301">ii. 301</a></span> emotion which has been attempted to be created in +this body by those who have seceded from it. We from the furthest +South were prepared; we had heard the rumours which were to be +initiatory of the exit which you have witnessed on this day, and we +knew that conspiracy, which had been brooding for months past, would +break out on this occasion, and for the purposes which are obvious to +every member. Sirs, there are in political life men who were once +honoured by popular favour, who consider that the favour has become to +them an inalienable property, and who cling to it as to something that +can no longer be wrested from their hands—political fossils so much +incrusted in office that there is hardly any power that can extract +them. They saw that the popular voice was already manifesting to this +glorious nation who was to be her next ruler. Instead of bringing a +candidate to oppose him; instead of creating issues upon which the +choice of the nation could be enlightened; instead of principles +discussed, what have we seen? An unrelenting war against the +individual presumed to be the favourite of the nation! a war waged by +an army of unprincipled and unscrupulous politicians, leagued with a +power which could not be exerted on their side without disgracing +itself and disgracing the nation." Secession, he declared, meant +disunion, "but the people of the South will not respond to the call of +the secessionists."<a name="vol2FNanchor_284_284" id="vol2FNanchor_284_284"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_284_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a></p> + +<p>The effect of Soulé's speech greatly animated and reassured the +friends of Douglas, who now received 173½ of the 190½ votes +cast. Dickinson got half a vote from Virginia, and Horatio Seymour one +vote from Pennsylvania. At the mention of the latter's name, David P. +Bissell of Utica promptly withdrew it upon the authority of a letter, +in which Seymour briefly but positively declared that under no +circumstances could he be a candidate for President or Vice President. +On the second ballot, Douglas received all the votes but thirteen. +This was not two-thirds of the original vote, but, in spite of the +resolution which Dean Richmond<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.302" id="vol2Page_ii.302">ii. 302</a></span> passed at Charleston, Douglas was +declared, amidst great enthusiasm, the nominee of the convention, +since two-thirds of the delegates present had voted for him. Benjamin +Fitzpatrick, United States senator from Alabama, was then nominated +for Vice President. When he afterwards declined, the national +committee appointed Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia in his place.</p> + +<p>Meantime the Baltimore seceders, joined by their seceding colleagues +from Charleston, met elsewhere in the city, adopted the Richmond +platform, and nominated John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky for +President, and Joseph Lane of Oregon for Vice President. A few days +later the Richmond convention indorsed these nominations.</p> + +<p>After the return of the New York delegation, the gagged minority, +through the lips of Daniel S. Dickinson, told the story of the +majority's purpose at Charleston and Baltimore. Dickinson was not +depressed or abashed by his failure; neither was he a man to be rudely +snuffed out or bottled up; and, although his speech at the Cooper +Institute mass-meeting, called to ratify the Breckenridge and Lane +ticket, revealed a vision clouded with passion and prejudice, it +clearly disclosed the minority's estimate of the cardinal object of +Dean Richmond's majority. "Waiving all questions of the merits or +demerits of Mr. Douglas as a candidate," he said, his silken white +hair bringing into greater prominence the lines of a handsome face, +"his pretensions were pressed upon the convention in a tone and +temper, and with a dogged and obstinate persistence, which was well +calculated, if it was not intended, to break up the convention, or +force it into obedience to the behests of a combination. The authors +of this outrage, who are justly and directly chargeable with it, were +the ruling majority of the New York delegation. They held the balance +of power, and madly and selfishly and corruptly used it for the +disruption of the Democratic party in endeavouring to force it to +subserve their infamous schemes. They were charged with high +responsibilities in a crisis of unusual interest in our history, and +in an evil moment their leprous<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.303" id="vol2Page_ii.303">ii. 303</a></span> hands held the destinies of a noble +party. They proclaimed personally and through their accredited organs +that the Southern States were entitled to name a candidate, but from +the moment they entered the convention at Charleston until it was +finally broken up at Baltimore by their base conduct and worse faith, +their every act was to oppose any candidate who would be acceptable to +those States.</p> + +<p>"Those who controlled the New York delegation through the fraudulent +process of a unit vote—a rule forced upon a large minority to stifle +their sentiments—will hereafter be known as political gamblers. The +Democratic party of New York, founded in the spirit of Jefferson, has, +in the hands of these gamblers, been disgraced by practices which +would dishonour a Peter Funk cast-off clothing resort; cheating the +people of the State, cheating a great and confiding party, cheating +the convention which admitted them to seats, cheating delegations who +trusted them, cheating everybody with whom they came in contact, and +then lamenting from day to day, through their accredited organ, that +the convention had not remained together so that they might finally +have cheated Douglas. Political gamblers! You have perpetrated your +last cheat—consummated your last fraud upon the Democratic party. +Henceforth you will be held and treated as political outlaws. There is +no fox so crafty but his hide finally goes to the hatter."<a name="vol2FNanchor_285_285" id="vol2FNanchor_285_285"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_285_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a></p> + +<p>In his political controversies, Dickinson acted on the principle that +an opponent is necessarily a blockhead or a scoundrel. But there was +little or no truth in his severe arraignment. Richmond's purpose was +plainly to nominate Horatio Seymour if it could be done with the +consent of the Northwestern States, and his sudden affection for a +two-thirds rule came from a determination to prolong the convention +until it yielded consent. At no time did he intend leaving Douglas for +any one other than Seymour. On the other hand, Dickinson had always +favoured slavery.<a name="vol2FNanchor_286_286" id="vol2FNanchor_286_286"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_286_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a> Neither<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.304" id="vol2Page_ii.304">ii. 304</a></span> the Wilmot Proviso nor the repeal of +the Missouri Compromise disturbed him. What slavery demanded he +granted; what freedom sought he denounced. His belief that the South +would support him for a compromise candidate in return for his +fidelity became an hallucination. It showed itself at Cincinnati in +1852 when he antagonised Marcy; and his position in 1860 was even less +advantageous. Nevertheless, Dickinson nursed his delusion until the +guns at Fort Sumter disclosed the real design of Yancey and the men in +whom he had confided.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.305" id="vol2Page_ii.305">ii. 305</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XXIII" id="vol2CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> +<br /> +RAYMOND, GREELEY, AND WEED<br /> +<br /> +1860</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">It was</span> impossible that the defeat of Seward at Chicago, so unexpected, +and so far-reaching in its effect, should be encountered without some +attempt to fix the responsibility. To Thurlow Weed's sorrow<a name="vol2FNanchor_287_287" id="vol2FNanchor_287_287"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_287_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a> was +added the mortification of defeat. He had staked everything upon +success, and, although he doubtless wished to avoid any unseemly +demonstration of disappointment, the rankling wound goaded him into a +desire to relieve himself of any lack of precaution. Henry J. Raymond +scarcely divided the responsibility of management; but his newspaper, +which had spoken for Seward, shared in the loss of prestige, while the +<i>Tribune</i>, his great rival in metropolitan journalism, disclosed +between the lines of assumed modesty an exultant attitude.</p> + +<p>Greeley had played a very important part in the historic convention. +The press gave him full credit for his activity,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.306" id="vol2Page_ii.306">ii. 306</a></span> and he admitted it +in his jubilant letter to Pike; but after returning to New York he +seemed to think it wise to minimise his influence, claiming that the +result would have been the same had he remained at home. "The fact +that the four conspicuous doubtful States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, +Indiana, and Illinois," he wrote, "unanimously testified that they +could not be carried for Seward was decisive. Against this Malakoff +the most brilliant evolutions of political strategy could not +avail."<a name="vol2FNanchor_288_288" id="vol2FNanchor_288_288"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_288_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a> This two-column article, modestly concealing his own +work, might not have led to an editorial war between the three great +Republican editors of the State, had not Greeley, in the exordium of a +speech, published in the <i>Tribune</i> of May 23, exceeded the limits of +human endurance. "The past is dead," he said. "Let the dead past bury +it, and let the mourners, if they will, go about the streets."</p> + +<p>The exultant sentences exasperated Raymond, who held the opinion which +generally obtained among New York Republican leaders, that Greeley's +persistent hostility was not only responsible for Seward's defeat, but +that under the guise of loyalty to the party's highest interests he +had been insidious and revengeful, and Raymond believed it needed only +a bold and loud-spoken accusation against him to fill the mind of the +public with his guilt. In this spirit he wrote a stinging reply. "With +the generosity which belongs to his nature, and which a feeling not +unlike remorse may have stimulated into unwonted activity," said this +American Junius, "Mr. Greeley awards to others the credit which +belongs transcendently to himself. The main work of the Chicago +convention was the defeat of Governor Seward, and in that endeavour +Mr. Greeley laboured harder, and did tenfold more, than the whole +family of Blairs, together with all the gubernatorial candidates, to +whom he modestly hands over the honours of the effective campaign. Mr. +Greeley had special qualifications, as well as a special love, for +this task. For twenty years he had been sustaining the political +principles and vindicating the political conduct of Mr. Seward<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.307" id="vol2Page_ii.307">ii. 307</a></span> +through the columns of the most influential political newspaper in the +country. His voice was potential precisely where Governor Seward was +strongest, because it was supposed to be that of a friend, strong in +his personal attachment and devotion, and driven into opposition on +this occasion solely by the despairing conviction that the welfare of +the country and the triumph of the Republican cause demanded the +sacrifice. For more than six months Mr. Greeley had been preparing the +way for this consummation. He was in Chicago several days before the +meeting of the convention and he devoted every hour of the interval to +the most steady and relentless prosecution of the main business which +took him thither.</p> + +<p>"While it was known to some that nearly six years ago he had +privately, but distinctly, repudiated all further political friendship +for and alliance with Governor Seward, for the avowed reason that +Governor Seward had never aided or advised his elevation to office, no +use was made of this knowledge in quarters where it would have +disarmed the deadly effect of his pretended friendship for the man +upon whom he was thus deliberately wreaking the long hoarded revenge +of a disappointed office-seeker.... Being thus stimulated by a hatred +he had secretly cherished for years, protected by the forbearance of +those whom he assailed, and strong in the confidence of those upon +whom he sought to operate, it is not strange that Mr. Greeley's +efforts should have been crowned with success. But it is perfectly +safe to say that no other man—certainly no one occupying a position +less favourable for such an assault—could possibly have accomplished +that result."<a name="vol2FNanchor_289_289" id="vol2FNanchor_289_289"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_289_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a></p> + +<p>Raymond's letter produced a profound impression. It excited the +astonishment and incredulity of every one. He had made a distinct +charge that Greeley's opposition was the revenge of a disappointed +office-seeker, and the public, resenting the imputation, demanded the +evidence. Greeley himself echoed the prayer by a blast from his silver +trumpet which added to the interest as well as to the excitement. +"This<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.308" id="vol2Page_ii.308">ii. 308</a></span> carefully drawn indictment," he said, "contains a very artful +mixture of truth and misrepresentation. No intelligent reader of the +<i>Tribune</i> has for months been left in doubt of the fact that I deemed +the nomination of Governor Seward for President at this time unwise +and unsafe; and none can fail to understand that I did my best at +Chicago to prevent that nomination. My account of 'Last Week at +Chicago' is explicit on that point. True, I do not believe my +influence was so controlling as the defeated are disposed to represent +it, but this is not material to the issue. It is agreed that I did +what I could.</p> + +<p>"It is not true—it is grossly untrue—that at Chicago I commended +myself to the confidence of delegates 'by professions of regard and +the most zealous friendship for Governor Seward, but presented defeat, +<i>even in New York</i>, as the inevitable result of his nomination.' The +very reverse of this is the truth. I made no professions before the +nomination, as I have uttered no lamentations since. It was the simple +duty of each delegate to do just whatever was best for the Republican +cause, regardless of personal considerations. And this is exactly what +I did.... As to New York, I think I was at least a hundred times asked +whether Governor Seward could carry this State;<a name="vol2FNanchor_290_290" id="vol2FNanchor_290_290"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_290_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a> and I am sure I +uniformly responded affirmatively, urging delegates to consider the +New York delegation the highest authority on that point as I was +strenuously urging that the delegations from Pennsylvania,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.309" id="vol2Page_ii.309">ii. 309</a></span> New +Jersey, Indiana, and Illinois must be regarded as authority as to who +could and who could not carry their respective States.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Raymond proceeds to state that I had, 'in November, 1854, +privately but distinctly repudiated all further political friendship +for and alliance with Governor Seward, and menaced him with hostility +wherever it could be made most effective; for the avowed reason that +Governor Seward had never advised my elevation to office,' &c. This is +a very grave charge, and, being dated 'Auburn, Tuesday, May 22, 1860,' +and written by one who was there expressly and avowedly to console +with Governor Seward on his defeat and denounce me as its author, it +is impossible not to see that Governor Seward is its responsible +source. I, therefore, call on him for the private letter which I did +write him in November, 1854, that I may print it verbatim in the +<i>Tribune</i>, and let every reader judge how far it sustains the charges +which his mouthpiece bases thereon. I maintain that it does not +sustain them; but I have no copy of the letter, and I cannot discuss +its contents while it remains in the hands of my adversaries, to be +used at their discretion. I leave to others all judgment as to the +unauthorised use which has already been made of this private and +confidential letter, only remarking that this is by no means the first +time it has been employed to like purpose. I have heard of its +contents being dispensed to members of Congress from Governor Seward's +dinner-table; I have seen articles based on it paraded in the columns +of such devoted champions of Governor Seward's principles and aims as +the Boston <i>Courier</i>. It is fit that the New York <i>Times</i> should +follow in their footsteps; but I, who am thus fired on from an ambush, +demand that the letter shall no longer be thus employed. Let me have +the letter and it shall appear verbatim in every edition of the +<i>Tribune</i>. Meantime, I only say that, when I fully decided that I +would no longer be devoted to Governor Seward's personal fortunes, it +seemed due to candour and fair dealing that I should privately but in +all frankness apprise him of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.310" id="vol2Page_ii.310">ii. 310</a></span> the fact. It was not possible that I +could in any way be profited by writing that letter; I well understood +that it involved an abdication of all hopes of political advancement; +yet it seemed due to my own character that the letter should be +written. Of course I never dreamed that it could be published, or used +as it already has been; but no matter—let us have the letter in +print, and let the public judge between its writer and his open and +covert assailants. At all events I ask no favour and fear no open +hostility.</p> + +<p>"There are those who will at all events believe that my opposition to +Governor Seward's nomination was impelled by personal considerations; +and among these I should expect to find the Hon. Henry J. Raymond. +With these I have no time for controversy; in their eyes I desire no +vindication. But there is another and far larger class who will +realise that the obstacles to Governor Seward's election were in no +degree of my creation, and that their removal was utterly beyond my +powers. The whole course of the <i>Tribune</i> has tended to facilitate the +elevation to the Presidency of a statesman cherishing the pronounced +anti-slavery views of Governor Seward; it is only on questions of +finance and public economy that there has been any perceptible +divergence between us. Those anti-democratic voters of Pennsylvania, +New Jersey, Indiana, and Illinois, who could not be induced to vote +for Governor Seward, have derived their notions of him in some measure +from the <i>Times</i>, but in no measure from the <i>Tribune</i>. The +delegations from those States, with the candidates for governor in +Pennsylvania and Indiana, whose representations and remonstrances +rendered the nomination of Governor Seward, in the eyes of all +intelligent, impartial observers, a clear act of political suicide, +were nowise instructed or impelled by me. They acted on views +deliberately formed long before they came to Chicago. It is not my +part to vindicate them; but whoever says they were influenced by me, +other than I was by them, does them the grossest injustice.</p> + +<p>"I wished first of all to succeed; next, to strengthen and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.311" id="vol2Page_ii.311">ii. 311</a></span> establish +our struggling brethren in the border slave States. If it had seemed +to me possible to obtain one more vote in the doubtful States for +Governor Seward than for any one else, I should have struggled for him +as ardently as I did against him, even though I had known that the +Raymonds who hang about our party were to be his trusted counsellors +and I inflexibly shut out from his confidence and favour. If there be +any who do not believe this, I neither desire their friendship nor +deprecate their hostility."<a name="vol2FNanchor_291_291" id="vol2FNanchor_291_291"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_291_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a></p> + +<p>Greeley's demand for his letter did not meet with swift response. It +was made on June 2. When Seward passed through New York on his way to +Washington on the 8th, a friend of Greeley waited upon him, but he had +nothing for the <i>Tribune</i>. Days multiplied into a week, and still +nothing came. Finally, on June 13, Greeley received it through the +hands of Thurlow Weed and published it on the 14th. It bore date "New +York, Saturday evening, November 11, 1854," and was addressed simply +to "Governor Seward." Its great length consigned it to nonpareil in +strange contrast to the long primer type of the editorial page, but +its publication became the sensation of the hour. To this day its fine +thought-shading is regarded the best illustration of Greeley's +matchless prose.</p> + +<p>"The election is over," he says, "and its results sufficiently +ascertained. It seems to me a fitting time to announce to you the +dissolution of the political firm of Seward, Weed & Greeley, by the +withdrawal of the junior partner—said withdrawal to take effect on +the morning after the first Tuesday in February next. And, as it may +seem a great presumption in me to assume that any such firm exists, +especially since the public was advised, rather more than a year ago, +by an editorial rescript in the <i>Evening Journal</i>, formally reading me +out of the Whig party, that I was esteemed no longer either useful or +ornamental in the concern, you will, I am sure, indulge me in some +reminiscences which seem to befit the occasion.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.312" id="vol2Page_ii.312">ii. 312</a></span></p> + +<p>"I was a poor young printer and editor of a literary journal—a very +active and bitter Whig in a small way, but not seeking to be known out +of my own ward committee—when, after the great political revulsion of +1837, I was one day called to the City Hotel, where two strangers +introduced themselves as Thurlow Weed and Lewis Benedict, of Albany. +They told me that a cheap campaign paper of a peculiar stamp at Albany +had been resolved on, and that I had been selected to edit it. The +announcement might well be deemed flattering by one who had never even +sought the notice of the great, and who was not known as a partisan +writer, and I eagerly embraced their proposals. They asked me to fix +my salary for the year; I named $1,000, which they agreed to; and I +did the work required to the best of my ability. It was work that made +no figure and created no sensation; but I loved it and did it well. +When it was done you were Governor, dispensing offices worth $3000 to +$20,000 per year to your friends and compatriots, and I returned to my +garret and my crust, and my desperate battle with pecuniary +obligations heaped upon me by bad partners in business and the +disastrous events of 1837. I believe it did not then occur to me that +some of these abundant places might have been offered to me without +injustice; I now think it should have occurred to you. If it did occur +to me, I was not the man to ask you for it; I think that should not +have been necessary. I only remember that no friend at Albany inquired +as to my pecuniary circumstances; that your friend (but not mine), +Robert C. Wetmore, was one of the chief dispensers of your patronage +here; and that such devoted compatriots as A.H. Wells and John Hooks +were lifted by you out of pauperism into independence, as I am glad I +was not; and yet an inquiry from you as to my needs and means at that +time would have been timely, and held ever in grateful remembrance.</p> + +<p>"In the Harrison campaign of 1840 I was again designated to edit a +campaign paper. I published it as well, and ought to have made +something by it, in spite of its extremely<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.313" id="vol2Page_ii.313">ii. 313</a></span> low price; my extreme +poverty was the main reason why I did not. It compelled me to hire +presswork, mailing, etc., done by the job, and high charges for extra +work nearly ate me up. At the close I was still without property and +in debt, but this paper had rather improved my position.</p> + +<p>"Now came the great scramble of the swell mob of coon minstrels and +cider suckers at Washington—I not being counted in. Several regiments +of them went on from this city; but no one of the whole crowd—though +I say it who should not—had done so much toward General Harrison's +nomination and election as yours respectfully. I asked nothing, +expected nothing; <i>but you</i>, Governor Seward, <i>ought to have asked +that I be postmaster of New York</i>. Your asking would have been in +vain; but it would have been an act of grace neither wasted nor +undeserved.</p> + +<p>"I soon after started the <i>Tribune</i>, because I was urged to do so by +certain of your friends, and because such a paper was needed here. I +was promised certain pecuniary aid in so doing; it might have been +given me without cost or risk to any one. All I ever had was a loan by +piecemeal of $1000, from James Coggeshall. God bless his honoured +memory! I did not ask for this, and I think it is the one sole case in +which I ever received a pecuniary favour from a political associate. I +am very thankful that he did not die till it was fully repaid.</p> + +<p>"And let me here honour one grateful recollection. When the Whig party +under your rule had offices to give, my name was never thought of; but +when in '42-'43, we were hopelessly out of power, I was honoured with +the nomination for state printer. When we came again to have a state +printer to elect, as well as nominate, the place went to Weed, as it +ought. Yet it was worth something to know that there was once a time +when it was not deemed too great a sacrifice to recognise me as +belonging to your household. If a new office had not since been +created on purpose to give its valuable patronage to H.J. Raymond and +enable St. John to show<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.314" id="vol2Page_ii.314">ii. 314</a></span> forth his <i>Times</i> as the organ of the Whig +state administration, I should have been still more grateful.</p> + +<p>"In 1848 your star again rose, and my warmest hopes were realised in +your election to the Senate. I was no longer needy, and had no more +claim than desire to be recognised by General Taylor. I think I had +some claim to forbearance from you. What I received thereupon was a +most humiliating lecture in the shape of a decision in the libel case +of Redfield and Pringle, and an obligation to publish it in my own and +the other journal of our supposed firm. I thought and still think this +lecture needlessly cruel and mortifying. The plaintiffs, after using +my columns to the extent of their needs or desires, stopped writing +and called on me for the name of their assailant. I proffered it to +them—a thoroughly responsible man. They refused to accept it unless +it should prove to be one of the four or five first men in +Batavia!—when they had known from the first who it was, and that it +was neither of them. They would not accept that which they had +demanded; they sued me instead for money, and money you were at +liberty to give them to their heart's content. I do not think you +<i>were</i> at liberty to humiliate me in the eyes of my own and your +public as you did. I think you exalted your own judicial sternness and +fearlessness unduly at my expense. I think you had a better occasion +for the display of these qualities when Webb threw himself entirely +upon you for a pardon which he had done all a man could do to demerit. +His paper is paying you for it now.</p> + +<p>"I have publicly set forth my view of your and our duty with respect +to fusion, Nebraska, and party designations. I will not repeat any of +that. I have referred also to Weed's reading me out of the Whig +party—my crime being, in this as in some other things, that of doing +to-day what more politic persons will not be ready to do till +to-morrow.</p> + +<p>"Let me speak of the late canvass. I was once sent to Congress for +ninety days merely to enable Jim Brooks to secure a seat therein for +four years. <i>I think I never hinted to any human being that I would +have liked to be put forward for<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.315" id="vol2Page_ii.315">ii. 315</a></span> any place.</i> But James W. White (you +hardly know how good and true a man he is) started my name for +Congress, and Brooks' packed delegation thought I could help him +through; so I was put on behind him. But this last spring, after the +Nebraska question had created a new state of things at the North, one +or two personal friends, of no political consideration, suggested my +name as a candidate for governor, and I did not discourage them. Soon, +the persons who were afterward mainly instrumental in nominating Clark +came about me, and asked if I could secure the Know-Nothing vote. I +told them I neither could nor would touch it; on the contrary, I +loathed and repelled it. Thereupon they turned upon Clark.</p> + +<p>"I said nothing, did nothing. A hundred people asked me who should be +run for governor. I sometimes indicated Patterson; I never hinted at +my own name. But by and by Weed came down, and called me to him, to +tell me why he could not support me for governor. I had never asked +nor counted on his support.</p> + +<p>"I am sure Weed did not mean to humiliate me; but he did it. The +upshot of his discourse (very cautiously stated) was this: If I were a +candidate for governor, I should beat not myself only, but you. +Perhaps that was true. But as I had in no manner solicited his or your +support, I thought this might have been said to my friends rather than +to me. I suspect it is true that I could not have been elected +governor as a Whig. But had he and you been favourable, there would +have been a party in the State ere this which could and would have +elected me to <i>any</i> post, without injuring itself or endangering your +re-election.</p> + +<p>"It was in vain that I urged that I had in no manner asked a +nomination. At length I was nettled by his language—well intended, +but <i>very</i> cutting as addressed by him to me—to say, in substance, +'Well, then, make Patterson governor, and try my name for lieutenant. +To lose this place is a matter of no importance; and we can see +whether I am really so odious.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.316" id="vol2Page_ii.316">ii. 316</a></span></p> + +<p>"I should have hated to serve as lieutenant-governor, but I should +have gloried in running for the post. I want to have my enemies all +upon me at once; am tired of fighting them piecemeal. And, though I +should have been beaten in the canvass, I know that my running would +have helped the ticket, and helped my paper.</p> + +<p>"It was thought best to let the matter take another course. No other +name could have been put on the ticket so bitterly humbling to me as +that which was selected. The nomination was given to Raymond; the +fight left to me. And, Governor Seward, <i>I have made it</i>, though it be +conceited in me to say so. Even Weed has not been (I speak of his +paper) hearty in this contest, while the journal of the Whig +lieutenant-governor has taken care of its own interests and let the +canvass take care of itself, as it early declared it would do. That +journal has (because of its milk-and-water course) some twenty +thousand subscribers in this city and its suburbs, and of these twenty +thousand, I venture to say more voted for Ullman and Scroggs than for +Clark and Raymond; the <i>Tribune</i> (also because of its character) has +but eight thousand subscribers within the same radius, and I venture +to say that of its habitual readers, nine-tenths voted for Clark and +Raymond—very few for Ullman and Scroggs. I had to bear the brunt of +the contest....</p> + +<p>"Governor Seward, I know that some of your most cherished friends +think me a great obstacle to your advancement; that John Schoolcraft, +for one, insists that you and Weed should not be identified with me. I +trust, after a time, you will not be. I trust I shall never be found +in opposition to you; I have no further wish than to glide out of the +newspaper world as quietly and as speedily as possible, join my family +in Europe, and, if possible, stay there quite a time—long enough to +cool my fevered brain and renovate my over-tasked energies. All I ask +is that we shall be counted even on the morning after the first +Tuesday in February, as aforesaid, and that I may thereafter take such +course as seems best without reference to the past.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.317" id="vol2Page_ii.317">ii. 317</a></span></p> + +<p>"You have done me acts of valued kindness in the line of your +profession; let me close with the assurance that these will ever be +gratefully remembered by Yours, Horace Greeley."<a name="vol2FNanchor_292_292" id="vol2FNanchor_292_292"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_292_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a></p> + +<p>At the time Seward received this letter he regarded it as only a +passing cloud-shadow. "To-day I have a long letter from Greeley, full +of sharp, pricking thorns," he wrote Weed. "I judge, as we might +indeed well know from his nobleness of disposition, that he has no +idea of saying or doing anything wrong or unkind; but it is sad to see +him so unhappy. Will there be a vacancy in the Board of Regents this +winter? Could one be made at the close of the session? Could he have +it? Raymond's nomination and election is hard for him to bear."<a name="vol2FNanchor_293_293" id="vol2FNanchor_293_293"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_293_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a> +Two or three weeks later, after a call at the <i>Tribune</i> office, Seward +again wrote Weed, suggesting that "Greeley's despondency is +overwhelming, and seems to be aggravated by the loss of subscribers. +But below this is chagrin at the failure to obtain official +position."<a name="vol2FNanchor_294_294" id="vol2FNanchor_294_294"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_294_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a> With such inquiries and comments Seward put the famous +letter away.<a name="vol2FNanchor_295_295" id="vol2FNanchor_295_295"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_295_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a></p> + +<p>Its publication did not accomplish all that Raymond expected. People +were amazed, and deep in their hearts many persons felt that Greeley +had been treated unfairly. The inquiry as to a vacancy in the Board of +Regents showed that Seward himself shared this opinion at the time. +But the question that most interested the public in 1860 was, why, if<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.318" id="vol2Page_ii.318">ii. 318</a></span> +Greeley had declared war upon Seward in 1854, did not Weed make it +known in time to destroy the influence of the man who had +"deliberately wreaked the long-hoarded revenge of a disappointed +office-seeker?" This question reflected upon Weed's management of +Seward's campaign, and to avoid the criticism he claimed to have been +"in blissful ignorance of its contents." This seems almost impossible. +But in explaining the groundlessness of Greeley's complaints, Weed +wrote an editorial, the dignity and patriotism of which contrasted +favourably with Greeley's self-seeking.</p> + +<p>"There are some things in this letter," wrote the editor of the +<i>Evening Journal</i>, "requiring explanation—all things in it, indeed, +are susceptible of explanations consistent with Governor Seward's full +appreciation of Mr. Greeley's friendship and services. The letter was +evidently written under a morbid state of feeling, and it is less a +matter of surprise that such a letter was thus written, than that its +writer should not only cherish the ill-will that prompted it for six +years, but allow it to influence his action upon a question which +concerns his party and his country.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Greeley's first complaint is that this journal, in an 'editorial +rescript formally read him out of the Whig party.' Now, here is the +'editorial rescript formally reading' Mr. Greeley out of the Whig +party, taken from the <i>Evening Journal</i> of September 6, 1853:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"'The <i>Tribune</i> defines its position in reference to the +approaching election. Regarding the "Maine law" as a +question of paramount importance, it will support members of +the legislature friendly to its passage, irrespective of +party. For state officers it will support such men as it +deems competent and trustworthy, irrespective also of party, +and without regard to the "Maine law." In a word, it avows +itself, for the present, if not forever, an independent +journal (it was pretty much so always), discarding party +usages, mandates, and platforms.</p> + +<p>"'We regret to lose, in the <i>Tribune</i>, an old, able, and +effi<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.319" id="vol2Page_ii.319">ii. 319</a></span>cient co-labourer in the Whig vineyard. But when +carried away by its convictions of duty to other, and, in +its judgment, higher and more beneficent objects, we have as +little right as inclination to complain. The <i>Tribune</i> takes +with it, wherever it goes, an indomitable and powerful pen, +a devoted, a noble, and an unselfish zeal. Its senior editor +evidently supposes himself permanently divorced from the +Whig party, but we shall be disappointed if, after a year or +two's sturdy pulling at the oar of reform, he does not +return to his long-cherished belief that great and +beneficent aims must continue, as they commenced, to be +wrought out through Whig instrumentalities.</p> + +<p>"'But we only intended to say that the <i>Tribune</i> openly and +frankly avows its intention and policy; and that in things +about which we cannot agree, we can and will disagree as +friends.'</p></div> + +<p>"Pray read this article again, if its purpose and import be not +clearly understood! At the time it appeared, the <i>Tribune</i> was under +high pressure 'Maine law' speed. That question, in Mr. Greeley's view, +was paramount to all others. It was the <i>Tribune's</i> 'higher law.' Mr. +Greeley had given warning in his paper that he should support 'Maine +law' candidates for the legislature, and for state offices, regardless +of their political or party principles and character. And this, too, +when senators to be elected had to choose a senator in Congress. But +instead of 'reading' Mr. Greeley 'out of the Whig party,' it will be +seen that after Mr. Greeley had read himself out of the party by +discarding 'party usages, mandates, and platforms,' the <i>Evening +Journal</i>, in the language and spirit of friendship, predicted just +what happened, namely, that, in due time, Mr. Greeley would 'return to +his long-cherished belief that great and beneficent aims must +continue, as they commenced, to be wrought out through Whig +instrumentalities.'</p> + +<p>"We submit, even to Mr. Greeley himself, whether there is one word or +thought in the article to which he referred<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.320" id="vol2Page_ii.320">ii. 320</a></span> justifying his accusation +that he had been 'read out of the Whig party' by the <i>Evening +Journal</i>.</p> + +<p>"In December, 1837, when we sought the acquaintance and co-operation +of Mr. Greeley, we were, like him, a 'poor printer,' working as hard +as he worked. We had then been sole editor, reporter, news collector, +'remarkable accident,' 'horrid murder,' 'items' man, etc., etc., for +seven years, at a salary of $750, $1000, $1250, and $1500. We had also +been working hard, for poor pay, as an editor and politician, for the +twelve years preceding 1830. We stood, therefore, on the same footing +with Mr. Greeley when the partnership was formed. We knew that Mr. +Greeley was much abler, more indomitably industrious, and, as we +believed, a better man in all respects. We foresaw for him a brilliant +future; and, if we had not started with utterly erroneous views of his +objects, we do not believe that our relations would have jarred. We +believed him indifferent alike to the temptations of money and office, +desiring only to become both 'useful' and 'ornamental,' as the editor +of a patriotic, enlightened, leading, and influential public journal. +For years, therefore, we placed Horace Greeley far above the 'swell +mob' of office-seekers, for whom, in his letter, he expresses so much +contempt. Had Governor Seward known, in 1838, that Mr. Greeley coveted +an inspectorship, he certainly would have received it. Indeed, if our +memory be not at fault, Mr. Greeley was offered the clerkship of the +Assembly in 1838. It was certainly pressed upon us, and, though at +that time, like Mr. Greeley, desperately poor, it was declined.</p> + +<p>"We cannot think that Mr. Greeley's political friends, after the +<i>Tribune</i> was under way, knew that he needed the 'pecuniary aid' which +had been promised. When, about that period, we suggested to him (after +consulting some of the board) that the printing of the common council, +might be obtained, he refused to have anything to do with it.</p> + +<p>"In relation to the state printing, Mr. Greeley knows that there never +was a day when, if he had chosen to come to Albany, he might not have +taken whatever interest he pleased<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.321" id="vol2Page_ii.321">ii. 321</a></span> in the <i>Journal</i> and its state +printing. But he wisely regarded his position in New York, and the +future of the <i>Tribune</i>, as far more desirable.</p> + +<p>"For the 'creation of the new office for the <i>Times</i>,' Mr. Greeley +knows perfectly well that Governor Seward was in no manner +responsible.</p> + +<p>"That Mr. Greeley should make the adjustment of the libel suit of +Messrs. Redfield and Pringle against the <i>Tribune</i> a ground of +accusation against Governor Seward is a matter of astonishment. +Governor Seward undertook the settlement of that suit as the friend of +Mr. Greeley, at a time when a systematic effort was being made to +destroy both the <i>Tribune</i> and <i>Journal</i> by prosecutions for libel. We +were literally plastered over with writs, declarations, etc. There +were at least two judges of the Supreme Court in the State, on whom +plaintiffs were at liberty to count for verdicts. Governor Seward +tendered his professional services to Mr. Greeley, and in the case +referred to, as in others, foiled the adversary. For such service this +seems a strange requital. Less fortunate than the <i>Tribune</i>, it cost +the <i>Journal</i> over $8000 to reach a point in legal proceedings that +enabled a defendant in a libel suit to give the truth in evidence.</p> + +<p>"It was by no fault or neglect or wish of Governor Seward that Mr. +Greeley served but 'ninety days in Congress.' Nor will we say what +others have said, that his congressional <i>début</i> was a failure. There +were no other reasons, and this seems a fitting occasion to state +them. Mr. Greeley's 'isms' were in his way at conventions. The sharp +points and rough edges of the <i>Tribune</i> rendered him unacceptable to +those who nominate candidates. This was more so formerly than at +present, for most of the rampant reforms to which the <i>Tribune</i> was +devoted have subsided. We had no sympathy with, and little respect +for, a constituency that preferred 'Jim' Brooks to Horace Greeley.</p> + +<p>"Nearly forty years of experience leaves us in some doubt whether, +with political friends, an open, frank, and truthful, or a cautious, +calculating, non-committal course is not the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.322" id="vol2Page_ii.322">ii. 322</a></span> right, but the easiest +and most politic. The former, which we have chosen, has made us much +trouble and many enemies. Few candidates are able to bear the truth, +or to believe that the friend who utters it is truly one.</p> + +<p>"In 1854, the <i>Tribune</i>, through years of earnest effort, had educated +the people up to the point of demanding a 'Maine law' candidate for +governor. But its followers would not accept their chief reformer! It +was evident that the state convention was to be largely influenced by +'Maine law' and 'Choctaw' Know-Nothing delegates. It was equally +evident that Mr. Greeley could neither be nominated nor elected. Hence +the conference to which he refers. We found, as on two other occasions +during thirty years, our state convention impracticable. We submitted +the names of Lieutenant-Governor Patterson and Judge Harris (both +temperance men in faith and practice) as candidates for governor, +coupled with that of Mr. Greeley for lieutenant-governor. But the +'Maine law' men would have none of these, preferring Myron H. Clark +(who used up the raw material of temperance), qualified by H.J. +Raymond for lieutenant-governor.</p> + +<p>"What Mr. Greeley says of the relative zeal and efficiency of the +<i>Tribune</i> and <i>Times</i>, and of our own feelings in that contest, is +true. We did our duty, but with less of enthusiasm than when we were +supporting either Granger, Seward, Bradish, Hunt, Fish, King, or +Morgan for governor.</p> + +<p>"One word in relation to the supposed 'political firm.' Mr. Greeley +brought into it his full quota of capital. But were there no +beneficial results, no accruing advantages, to himself? Did he not +attain, in the sixteen years, a high position, world-wide reputation, +and an ample fortune? Admit, as we do, that he is not as wealthy as we +wish he was, it is not because the <i>Tribune</i> has not made his fortune, +but because he did not keep it—because it went, as other people's +money goes, to friends, to pay indorsements, and in bad investments.</p> + +<p>"We had both been liberally, nay, generously, sustained by our party. +Mr. Greeley differs with us in regarding pat<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.323" id="vol2Page_ii.323">ii. 323</a></span>rons of newspapers as +conferring favours. In giving them the worth of their money, he holds +that the account is balanced. We, on the other hand, have ever held +the relation of newspaper editor and subscriber as one of fraternity. +Viewed in this aspect, the editors of the <i>Tribune</i> and <i>Evening +Journal</i> have manifold reasons for cherishing grateful recollections +of the liberal and abiding confidence and patronage of their party and +friends.</p> + +<p>"In conclusion, we cannot withhold an expression of sincere regret +that this letter has been called out. After remaining six years in +'blissful ignorance' of its contents, we should have preferred to have +ever remained so. It jars harshly upon cherished memories. It destroys +ideals of disinterestedness and generosity which relieved political +life from so much that is selfish, sordid, and rapacious."</p> + +<p>Henry B. Stanton once asked Seward, directly, if he did not think it +would have been better to let Greeley have office. "Mr. Seward looked +at me intently, rolled out a cloud of tobacco smoke, and then slowly +responded: 'I don't know but it would.'"<a name="vol2FNanchor_296_296" id="vol2FNanchor_296_296"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_296_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a> It is doubtful, however, +if Seward ever forgave a New Yorker who contributed to his defeat. +Lincoln spoke of him as "without gall," but Stanton declared him a +good hater who lay in wait to punish his foes. Greeley, James S. +Wadsworth, William Cullen Bryant, and David Dudley Field, +conspicuously led the opposition, and if he failed to annihilate them +all it is because some of them did not give him a chance to strike +back. Greeley caught the first knockout blow in February, 1861; and in +1862, says Stanton, "he doubtless defeated James S. Wadsworth for +governor of New York. Wadsworth, who was then military commander of +Washington, told me that Seward was 'dead against him' all through the +campaign."<a name="vol2FNanchor_297_297" id="vol2FNanchor_297_297"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_297_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.324" id="vol2Page_ii.324">ii. 324</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XXIV" id="vol2CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV<br /> +<br /> +THE FIGHT OF THE FUSIONISTS<br /> +<br /> +1860</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">After</span> the return of the Softs from Baltimore the condition of the +Democratic party became a subject of much anxiety. Dean Richmond's +persistent use of the unit rule had driven the Hards into open +rebellion, and at a great mass-meeting, held at Cooper Institute and +addressed by Daniel S. Dickinson, it was agreed to hold a Breckenridge +and Lane state convention at Syracuse on August 8. At the appointed +time three hundred delegates appeared, representing every county, but +with the notable exception of the chairman, Henry S. Randall, the +biographer of Thomas Jefferson, who had advocated the Wilmot Proviso +in 1847, written the Buffalo platform in 1848, and opposed the +fugitive slave law in 1850, practically all of them had steadily +opposed the Free-soil influences of their party. To many it seemed +strange, if not absolutely ludicrous, to hoist a pro-slavery flag in +the Empire State. But Republicans welcomed the division of their +opponents, and the Hards were terribly in earnest. They organised with +due formality; spent two days in conference; adopted the pro-slavery +platform of the seceders' convention amidst loud cheering; selected +candidates for a state and electoral ticket with the care that +precedes certain election; angrily denounced the leadership of Dean +Richmond at Charleston and Baltimore; appointed a new state committee, +and, with the usual assurance of determined men, claimed a large +following.</p> + +<p>The indomitable Dickinson, in a speech not unlike his Cooper Institute +address, declared that Breckenridge, the regularly nominated candidate +of seventeen States and por<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.325" id="vol2Page_ii.325">ii. 325</a></span>tions of other States, would secure one +hundred and twenty-seven electoral votes in the South and on the +Pacific coast. This made the election, he argued, depend upon New +York, and since Douglas would start without the hope of getting a +single vote, it became the duty of every national Democrat to insist +that the Illinoisan be withdrawn. People might scoff at this movement +as "a cloud no bigger than a man's hand," he said, but it would grow +in size and send forth a deluge that would refresh and purify the arid +soil of politics. The applause that greeted this prophecy indicated +faith in a principle that most people knew had outlived its day in the +State; and, although Dickinson was always altogether on one side, it +is scarcely credible that he could sincerely believe that New York +would support Breckenridge, even if Douglas withdrew.</p> + +<p>The Hards conjured with a few distinguished names which still gave +them prestige. Charles O'Conor, Greene C. Bronson, and John A. Dix, as +conservative, moderate leaders, undoubtedly had the confidence of many +people, and their ticket, headed by James T. Brady, the brilliant +lawyer, looked formidable. Personally, Brady was perhaps the most +popular man in New York City; and had he stood upon other than a +pro-slavery platform his support must have been generous. But the fact +that he advocated the protection of slave property in the territories, +although opposed to Buchanan's Lecompton policy, was destined to +subject him to humiliating defeat.</p> + +<p>The Softs met in convention on August 15. In numbers and noisy +enthusiasm they did not seem to represent a larger following than the +Hards, but their principles expressed the real sentiment of whatever +was left of the rank and file of the Democratic party of the State. +Horatio Seymour was the pivotal personage. Around him they rallied. +The resolution indorsing Stephen A. Douglas and his doctrine of +non-intervention very adroitly avoided quarrels. It accepted Fernando +Wood's delegation on equal terms with Tammany; refused to notice the +Hards' attack upon Dean Richmond and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.326" id="vol2Page_ii.326">ii. 326</a></span> the majority of the Charleston +delegation; and nominated William Kelley of Hudson for governor by +acclamation. Kelley was a large farmer of respectable character and +talents, who had served with credit in the State Senate and supported +Van Buren in 1848 with the warmth of a sincere Free-soiler. He was +evidently a man without guile, and, although modest and plain-spoken, +he knew what the farmer and workingman most wanted, and addressed +himself to their best thought. It was generally conceded that he would +poll the full strength of his party.</p> + +<p>But the cleverest act of the convention was its fusion with the +Constitutional Union party. In the preceding May, the old-line Whigs +and Know-Nothings had met at Baltimore and nominated John Bell of +Tennessee for President and Edward Everett of Massachusetts for Vice +President, on the simple platform: "The Constitution of the country, +the union of the States, and the enforcement of the laws." Washington +Hunt, the former governor of New York, had become the convention's +president, and, in company with James Brooks and William Duer, he had +arranged with the Softs to place on the Douglas electoral ticket ten +representatives of the Union party, with William Kent, the popular son +of the distinguished Chancellor, at their head.</p> + +<p>Hunt had become a thorn in the side of his old friends, now the +leading Republican managers. He had joined them as a Whig in the +thirties. After sending him to Congress for three terms and making him +comptroller of state in 1848, they had elected him governor in 1850; +but, in the division of the party, he joined the Silver-Grays, failed +of re-election in 1852, dropped into the American party in 1854, and +supported Fillmore in 1856. Thurlow Weed thought he ought to have +aided them in the formation of the Republican party, and Horace +Greeley occasionally reminded him that a decent regard for consistency +should impel him to act in accordance with his anti-slavery record; +but when, in 1860, Hunt began the crusade that successfully fused the +Douglas and Bell tickets in New York, thus seriously endangering the +election<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.327" id="vol2Page_ii.327">ii. 327</a></span> of Abraham Lincoln, the Republican editors opened their +batteries upon him with well-directed aim. In his one attempt to face +these attacks, Hunt taunted Greeley with being "more dangerous to +friend than to foe." To this the editor of the <i>Tribune</i> retorted: +"When I was your friend, you were six times before the people as a +candidate for most desirable offices, and in five of those six were +successful, while you were repeatedly a candidate before and have been +since, and always defeated. Possibly some have found me a dangerous +friend, but you never did."<a name="vol2FNanchor_298_298" id="vol2FNanchor_298_298"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_298_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a></p> + +<p>Hunt's coalition movement, called the "Syracuse juggle" and the +"confusion ticket," did not work as smoothly as he expected. It gave +rise to a bitter controversy which at once impaired its value. The +Bell negotiators declared that the ten electors, if chosen, would be +free to vote for their own candidate, while the Douglas mediators +stated with emphasis that each elector was not only pledged by the +resolution of the convention to support Douglas, but was required to +give his consent to do so or allow another to fill his place. "We +cannot tell which answer is right," said the New York <i>Sun</i>, "but it +looks as if there were deception practised." The <i>Tribune</i> presented +the ridiculous phase of it when it declared that the Bell electors +were put up to catch the Know-Nothings, while the others would trap +the Irish and Germans. "Is this the way," it asked, referring to +William Kent and his associates, "in which honourable men who have +characters to support, conduct political contests?"<a name="vol2FNanchor_299_299" id="vol2FNanchor_299_299"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_299_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> To dissipate +the confusion, Hunt explained that the defeat of Lincoln would +probably throw the election into Congress, in which event Bell would +become President. "But we declare, with the same frankness, that if +Douglas, and not Bell, shall become President, we will welcome that +result as greatly preferable to the success of sectional +candidates."<a name="vol2FNanchor_300_300" id="vol2FNanchor_300_300"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_300_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a></p> + +<p>The Republican state convention which met at Syracuse on August 22, +did not muffle its enthusiasm over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.328" id="vol2Page_ii.328">ii. 328</a></span> schism in the Democratic +party. Seward and his friends had regained their composure. A +midsummer trip to New England, chiefly for recreation, had brought +great crowds about the Auburn statesmen wherever he appeared, and, +encouraged by their enthusiastic devotion, he returned satisfied with +the place he held in the hearts of Republicans. His followers, too, +indicated their disappointment by no public word or sign. To the end +of the convention its proceedings were marked by harmony and +unanimity. Edwin D. Morgan was renominated for governor by +acclamation; the platform of Chicago principles was adopted amidst +prolonged cheers, and the selection of electors approved without +dissent. The happy combination of the two electors-at-large, William +Cullen Bryant and James O. Putnam, evidenced the spirit of loyalty to +Abraham Lincoln that inspired all participants. Bryant had been an +oracle of the radical democracy for more than twenty years, and had +stubbornly opposed Seward; Putnam, a Whig of the school of Clay and +Webster, had, until recently, zealously supported Millard Fillmore and +the American party. In its eagerness to unite every phase of +anti-slavery sentiment the convention buried the past in its desire to +know, in the words of Seward, "whether this is a constitutional +government under which we live."</p> + +<p>During the campaign, Republican demonstrations glorified Lincoln's +early occupation of rail-splitting, while the Wide-awakes, composed +largely of young men who had studied the slavery question since 1852 +solely as a moral issue, illuminated the night and aroused enthusiasm +with their torches and expert marching. As early as in September, the +New York <i>Herald</i> estimated that over four hundred thousand were +already uniformed and drilled. In every town and village these +organisations, unique then, although common enough nowadays, were +conscious appeals for sympathy and favour, and undoubtedly contributed +much to the result by enlisting the hearty support of first voters. +Indeed, on the Republican side, it was largely a campaign of young +men. "The Republican party," said Seward at Cleveland, "is a<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.329" id="vol2Page_ii.329">ii. 329</a></span> party +chiefly of young men. Each successive year brings into its ranks an +increasing proportion of the young men of this country."<a name="vol2FNanchor_301_301" id="vol2FNanchor_301_301"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_301_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a></p> + +<p>Aside from the torch-light processions of the Wide-awakes, the almost +numberless speeches were the feature of the canvass of 1860. There +had, perhaps, been more exciting and enthusiastic campaigns, but the +number of meetings was without precedent. The <i>Tribune</i> estimated that +ten thousand set addresses were made in New York alone, and that the +number in the country equalled all that had been made in previous +presidential canvasses since 1789. It is likewise true that at no time +in the history of the State did so many distinguished men take part in +a campaign. Though the clergy were not so obtrusive as in 1856, Henry +Ward Beecher and Edwin H. Chapin, the eminent Universalist, did not +hesitate to deliver political sermons from their pulpits, closing +their campaign on the Sunday evening before election.</p> + +<p>But the New Yorker whom the Republican masses most desired to hear and +see was William H. Seward. Accordingly, in the latter part of August +he started on a five weeks' tour through the Western States, beginning +at Detroit and closing at Cleveland. At every point where train or +steamboat stopped, if only for fifteen minutes, thousands of people +awaited his coming. The day he spoke in Chicago, it was estimated that +two hundred thousand visitors came to that city. Rhodes suggests that +"it was then he reached the climax of his career."<a name="vol2FNanchor_302_302" id="vol2FNanchor_302_302"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_302_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a></p> + +<p>Seward's speeches contained nothing new, and in substance they +resembled one another. But in freshness of thought and kaleidoscopic +phraseology, they were attractive, full of eloquence, and of +statesmanlike comment, lifting the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.330" id="vol2Page_ii.330">ii. 330</a></span> campaign, then just opening, upon +a high plane of political and moral patriotism. He avoided all +personalities; he indicated no disappointment;<a name="vol2FNanchor_303_303" id="vol2FNanchor_303_303"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_303_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> his praise of +Lincoln was in excellent taste; and without evasion or concealment, +but with a ripeness of experience that had mellowed and enlightened +him, he talked of "higher law" and the "irrepressible conflict" in +terms that made men welcome rather than fear their discussion. "Let +this battle be decided in favour of freedom in the territories," he +declared, "and not one slave will ever be carried into the territories +of the United States, and that will end the irrepressible +conflict."<a name="vol2FNanchor_304_304" id="vol2FNanchor_304_304"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_304_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a></p> + +<p>The growth and resources of the great Northwest, whose development he +attributed to the exclusion of slave labour, seemed to inspire him +with the hope and faith of youth, and he spoke of its reservation for +freedom and its settlement and upbuilding in the critical moment of +the country's history as providential, since it must rally the free +States of the Atlantic coast to call back the ancient principles which +had been abandoned by the government to slavery. "We resign to you," +he said, "the banner of human rights and human liberty on this +continent, and we bid you be firm, bold, and onward, and then you may +hope that we will be able to follow you." It was in one of these +moments of exaltation when he seemed to be lifted into the higher +domain of prophecy that he made the prediction afterward realised by +the Alaska treaty. "Standing here and looking far off into the +Northwest," he said, "I see the Russian as he busily occupies himself +in establishing seaports and towns and fortifications on<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.331" id="vol2Page_ii.331">ii. 331</a></span> the verge of +this continent as the outposts of St. Petersburg, and I can say, 'Go +on, and build up your outposts all along the coast, up even to the +Arctic Ocean, for they will yet become the outposts of my own +country—monuments of the civilisation of the United States in the +Northwest."<a name="vol2FNanchor_305_305" id="vol2FNanchor_305_305"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_305_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a></p> + +<p>At the beginning of the canvass, Republican confidence and enthusiasm +contrasted strangely with the apathy of the Democratic party, caused +by its two tickets, two organisations, and two incompatible platforms. +It was recognised early in the campaign that Douglas could carry no +slave State unless it be Missouri; and, although the Douglas and Bell +fusion awaked some hope, it was not until the fusion electoral ticket +included supporters of Breckenridge that the struggle became vehement +and energetic. New York's thirty-five votes were essential to the +election of Lincoln, and early in September a determined effort began +to unite the three parties against him. The Hards resisted the +movement, but many merchants and capitalists of New York City, +apprehensive of the dissolution of the Union if Lincoln were elected, +and promising large sums of money to the campaign, forced the +substitution of seven Breckenridge electors in place of as many +Douglas supporters, giving Bell ten, Breckenridge seven, and Douglas +eighteen. "It is understood," said the <i>Tribune</i>, "that four nabobs +have already subscribed twenty-five thousand dollars each, and that +one million is to be raised."<a name="vol2FNanchor_306_306" id="vol2FNanchor_306_306"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_306_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a></p> + +<p>All this disturbed Lincoln. "I think there will be the most +extraordinary effort ever made to carry New York for Douglas," he +wrote Weed on August 17. "You and all others who write me from your +State think the effort cannot succeed, and I hope you are right. +Still, it will require close watching and great efforts on the other +side."<a name="vol2FNanchor_307_307" id="vol2FNanchor_307_307"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_307_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a> After fusion did succeed, the Republican managers found +encouragement in the fact that a majority of the Americans in the +western part<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.332" id="vol2Page_ii.332">ii. 332</a></span> of the State,<a name="vol2FNanchor_308_308" id="vol2FNanchor_308_308"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_308_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a> following the lead of Putnam, +belonged to the party of Lincoln, while the Germans gave comforting +evidence of their support. On his return from the West Seward assured +Lincoln "that this State will redeem all the pledges we have +made."<a name="vol2FNanchor_309_309" id="vol2FNanchor_309_309"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_309_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a> Then came the October verdict from Pennsylvania and +Indiana. "Emancipation or revolution is now upon us," said the +Charleston <i>Mercury</i>.<a name="vol2FNanchor_310_310" id="vol2FNanchor_310_310"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_310_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a> Yet the hope of the New York fusionists, +encouraged by a stock panic in Wall Street and by the unconcealed +statement of Howell Cobb of Georgia, then secretary of the treasury, +that Lincoln's election would be followed by disunion and a serious +derangement of the financial interests of the country, kept the Empire +State violently excited. It was reported in Southern newspapers that +William B. Astor had contributed one million of dollars in aid of the +fusion ticket.<a name="vol2FNanchor_311_311" id="vol2FNanchor_311_311"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_311_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a> It was a formidable combination of elements. +Heretofore the Republican party had defeated them separately—now it +met them as a united whole, when antagonisms, ceasing to be those of +rational debate, had become those of fierce and furious passion. +Greeley pronounced it "a struggle as intense, as vehement, and as +energetic, as had ever been known," in New York.<a name="vol2FNanchor_312_312" id="vol2FNanchor_312_312"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_312_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a> Yet Thurlow +Weed's confidence never wavered. "The fusion leaders have largely +increased their fund," he wrote Lincoln, three days before the +election, "and they are now using money lavishly. This stimulates and +to some extent inspires confidence, and all the confederates are at +work. Some of our friends are nervous. But I have no fear of the +result in this State."<a name="vol2FNanchor_313_313" id="vol2FNanchor_313_313"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_313_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a></p> + +<p>After the election, returns came in rapidly. Before mid<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.333" id="vol2Page_ii.333">ii. 333</a></span>night they +foreshadowed Lincoln's success, and the next morning's <i>Tribune</i> +estimated that the Republicans had carried the electoral and state +tickets by 30,000 to 50,000, with both branches of the Legislature and +twenty-three out of thirty-three congressmen. The official figures did +not change this prophecy, except to fix Lincoln's majority at 50,136 +and Morgan's plurality at 63,460. Lincoln received 4374 votes more +than Morgan, but Kelley ran 27,698 behind the fusion electoral ticket, +showing that the Bell and Everett men declined to vote for the Softs' +candidate for governor. Brady's total vote, 19,841, marked the +pro-slavery candidate's small support, leaving Morgan a clear majority +of 43,619.<a name="vol2FNanchor_314_314" id="vol2FNanchor_314_314"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_314_314" class="fnanchor">[314]</a> "Mr. Dickinson and myself," said James T. Brady, six +years later, in his tribute to the former's memory, "belonged to the +small, despairing band in this State who carried into the political +contest of the North, for the last time, the flag of the South, +contending that the South should enjoy to the utmost, and with liberal +recognition, all the rights she could fairly claim under the +Constitution of the United States. How small that band was all +familiar with the political history of this State can tell."<a name="vol2FNanchor_315_315" id="vol2FNanchor_315_315"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_315_315" class="fnanchor">[315]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.334" id="vol2Page_ii.334">ii. 334</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XXV" id="vol2CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV<br /> +<br /> +GREELEY, WEED, AND SECESSION<br /> +<br /> +1860-1861</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Upon</span> the election of Lincoln in November, 1860, South Carolina almost +immediately gave evidence of its purpose to secede from the Union. +Democrats generally, and many supporters of Bell and Everett, had +deemed secession probable in the event of Republican success—a belief +so fully shared by the authorities at Washington, who understood the +Southern people, that General Scott, then at the head of the army, +wrote to President Buchanan before the end of October, advising that +forts in all important Southern seaports be strengthened to avoid +capture by surprise. On the other hand, the Republicans had regarded +Southern threats as largely buncombe. They had been heard in 1820, in +1850, and so frequently in debate leading up to the contest in 1860, +that William H. Seward, the most powerful leader of opinion in his +party, had declared: "These hasty threats of disunion are so unnatural +that they will find no hand to execute them."<a name="vol2FNanchor_316_316" id="vol2FNanchor_316_316"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_316_316" class="fnanchor">[316]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, when, on November 16, the South Carolina Legislature +passed an act calling a convention to meet on December 17, the +Republicans, still enthusiastic over their success, began seriously to +consider the question of disunion. "Do you think the South will +secede?" became as common a salutation as "Good-morning;" and, +although a few New Yorkers, perhaps, gave the indifferent reply of +Henry Ward Beecher—"I don't believe they will; and I don't care if +they do"<a name="vol2FNanchor_317_317" id="vol2FNanchor_317_317"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_317_317" class="fnanchor">[317]</a>—the gloom and uncertainty which hung over business<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.335" id="vol2Page_ii.335">ii. 335</a></span> +circles made all anxious to hear from the leaders of their party. +Heretofore, Horace Greeley, Thurlow Weed, and William H. Seward, +backed by Henry J. Raymond of the New York <i>Times</i> and James Watson +Webb of the <i>Courier</i>, had been quick to meet any emergency, and their +followers now looked to them for direction.</p> + +<p>Horace Greeley was admittedly the most influential Republican +journalist. He had not always agreed with the leaders, and just now an +open break existed in the relations of himself and the powerful +triumvirate headed by Thurlow Weed; but Greeley had voiced the +sentiment of the rank and file of his party more often than he had +misstated it, and the <i>Tribune</i> readers naturally turned to their +prophet for a solution of the pending trouble. As usual, he had an +opinion. The election occurred on November 6, and on the 9th he +declared that "if the cotton States shall decide that they can do +better out of the Union than in it, we insist on letting them go in +peace. The right to secede may be a revolutionary one, but it exists +nevertheless.... Whenever a considerable section of our Union shall +deliberately resolve to go out, we shall resist all coercive measures +designed to keep it in. We hope never to live in a republic, whereof +one section is pinned to the residue by bayonets."<a name="vol2FNanchor_318_318" id="vol2FNanchor_318_318"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_318_318" class="fnanchor">[318]</a> Two weeks +later, on November 26, he practically repeated these views. "If the +cotton States unitedly and earnestly wish to withdraw peacefully from +the Union, we think they should and would be allowed to go. Any +attempt to compel them by force to remain would be contrary to the +principles enunciated in the immortal Declaration of Independence, +contrary to the fundamental ideas on which human liberty is +based."<a name="vol2FNanchor_319_319" id="vol2FNanchor_319_319"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_319_319" class="fnanchor">[319]</a> As late as December 17, when South Carolina and other +Southern States were on the threshold of secession, Greeley declared +that "if the Declaration of Independence justified the secession from +the British Empire of three millions of colonists in 1776, we do not +see why it should not justify the secession of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.336" id="vol2Page_ii.336">ii. 336</a></span> five millions of +Southrons from the Union in 1861."<a name="vol2FNanchor_320_320" id="vol2FNanchor_320_320"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_320_320" class="fnanchor">[320]</a> In January, he recanted in a +measure. Yet, on February 23, he announced that "Whenever it shall be +clear that the great body of the Southern people have become +conclusively alienated from the Union, and anxious to escape from it, +we will do our best to forward their views."<a name="vol2FNanchor_321_321" id="vol2FNanchor_321_321"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_321_321" class="fnanchor">[321]</a></p> + +<p>Henry Ward Beecher<a name="vol2FNanchor_322_322" id="vol2FNanchor_322_322"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_322_322" class="fnanchor">[322]</a> and the Garrison Abolitionists<a name="vol2FNanchor_323_323" id="vol2FNanchor_323_323"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_323_323" class="fnanchor">[323]</a> also +inclined to this view; and, in November and December, a few +Republicans, because of a general repugnance to the coercion of a +State, did not despise it. Naturally, however, the Greeley policy did +not please the great bulk of Lincoln's intelligent supporters. The +belief obtained that, the election having been fair and +constitutional, the South ought to submit to the decision as readily +as Northern Democrats acquiesced in it. Besides, a spontaneous feeling +existed that the United States was a nation, that secession was +treason, and seceders were traitors. Such people sighed for "an hour +of Andrew Jackson;" and, to supply the popular demand, Jackson's +proclamation against the nullifiers, written by Edward Livingston, a +native of New York, then secretary of state, was published in a cheap +and convenient edition. To the readers of such literature Greeley's +peaceable secession seemed like the erratic policy of an eccentric +thinker, and its promulgation, especially when it began giving comfort +and encouragement to the South, contributed not a little to the defeat +of its author for the United States Senate in the following February.</p> + +<p>Thurlow Weed also had a plan, which quickly attracted the attention of +people in the South as well as in the North. He held that suggestions +of compromise which the South could accept might be proposed without +dishonour to the victors in the last election, and, in several +carefully written<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.337" id="vol2Page_ii.337">ii. 337</a></span> editorials in the <i>Evening Journal</i>, he argued in +favour of restoring the old line of the Missouri Compromise, and of +substituting for the fugitive slave act, payment for rescued slaves by +the counties in which the violation of law occurred. "When we refer, +as we often do, triumphantly to the example of England," he said, "we +are prone to forget that emancipation and compensation were provisions +of the same act of Parliament."<a name="vol2FNanchor_324_324" id="vol2FNanchor_324_324"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_324_324" class="fnanchor">[324]</a></p> + +<p>Weed was now sixty-three years of age—not an old man, and of little +less energy than in 1824, when he drove about the State in his first +encounter with Martin Van Buren. The success of the views he had +fearlessly maintained, in defiance of menacing opponents, had been +achieved in full measure, and he had reason to be proud of his +conspicuous part in the result; but now, in the presence of secession +which threatened the country because of that success, he seemed +suddenly to revolt against the policy he himself had fostered. As his +biographer expressed it, "he cast aside the weapons which none could +wield so well,"<a name="vol2FNanchor_325_325" id="vol2FNanchor_325_325"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_325_325" class="fnanchor">[325]</a> and, betraying the influences of his early +training under the great Whig leaders, began to show his love for the +Union after the manner of Clay and Webster.</p> + +<p>Weed outlined his policy with rare skill, hoping that the discussion +provoked by it might result in working out some plan to avoid +disunion.<a name="vol2FNanchor_326_326" id="vol2FNanchor_326_326"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_326_326" class="fnanchor">[326]</a> Raymond, in the <i>Times</i>, and Webb in the <i>Courier</i>, +gave it cordial support; the leading New York business men of all +parties expressed themselves favourable to conciliation and +compromise. "I can assure you," wrote August Belmont to Governor +Sprague of Rhode Island, on December 13, "that all the leaders of the +Republican party in our State and city, with a few exceptions of the +ultra radicals, are in favour of concessions, and that the popular +mind of the North is ripe for them." On December 19 he wrote again: +"Last evening I was present at an informal<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.338" id="vol2Page_ii.338">ii. 338</a></span> meeting of about thirty +gentlemen, comprising our leading men, Republicans, Union men, and +Democrats, composed of such names as Astor, Aspinwall, Moses H. +Grinnell, Hamilton Fish, R.M. Blatchford, &c. They were unanimous in +their voice for reconciliation, and that the first steps have to be +taken by the North."<a name="vol2FNanchor_327_327" id="vol2FNanchor_327_327"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_327_327" class="fnanchor">[327]</a></p> + +<p>Belmont undoubtedly voiced the New York supporters of Douglas, +Breckenridge, and Bell, and many conservative Republicans, +representing the business interests of the great metropolis; but the +bulk of the Republicans did not like a plan that overthrew the +corner-stone of their party, which had won on its opposition to the +extension of slavery into free territory. To go back to the line of +36° 30´, permitting slavery to the south of it, meant the loss of all +that had been gained, and a renewal of old issues and hostilities in +the near future. Republican congressmen from the State, almost without +exception, yielded to this view, voicing the sentiment that it was +vain to temporise longer with compromises. With fluent invective, +James B. McKean of Saratoga assailed the South in a speech that +recalled the eloquence of John W. Taylor, his distinguished +predecessor, who, in 1820, led the forces of freedom against the +Missouri Compromise. "The slave-holders," he said, "have been fairly +defeated in a presidential election. They now demand that the victors +shall concede to the vanquished all that the latter have ever claimed, +and vastly more than they could secure when they themselves were +victors. They take their principles in one hand, and the sword in the +other, and reaching out the former they say to us, 'Take these for +your own, or we will strike.'"<a name="vol2FNanchor_328_328" id="vol2FNanchor_328_328"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_328_328" class="fnanchor">[328]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.339" id="vol2Page_ii.339">ii. 339</a></span></p> +<p>Nevertheless, Weed kept at work. In an elaborate article, he suggested +a "Convention of the people consisting of delegates appointed by the +States, to which North and South might bring their respective griefs, +claims, and reforms to a common arbitrament, to meet, discuss, and +determine upon a future. It will be said that we have done nothing +wrong, and have nothing to offer. This is precisely why we should both +purpose and offer whatever may, by possibility, avert the evils of +civil war and prevent the destruction of our hitherto unexampled +blessings of Union."<a name="vol2FNanchor_329_329" id="vol2FNanchor_329_329"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_329_329" class="fnanchor">[329]</a></p> + +<p>Preston King, the junior United States senator from New York, clearly +voicing the sentiment of the majority of his party in Congress and out +of it, bitterly opposed such a policy. "It cannot be done," he wrote +Weed, on December 7. "You must abandon your position. It will prove +distasteful to the majority of those whom you have hitherto led. You +and Seward should be among the foremost to brandish the lance and +shout for joy."<a name="vol2FNanchor_330_330" id="vol2FNanchor_330_330"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_330_330" class="fnanchor">[330]</a> To this the famous editor, giving a succinct view +of his policy, replied with his usual directness. "I have not dreamed +of anything inconsistent with Republican duty. We owe our existence as +a party to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.340" id="vol2Page_ii.340">ii. 340</a></span> repeal of the Missouri Compromise. But for the ever +blind spirit of slavery, Buchanan would have taken away our ammunition +and spiked our guns. The continued blindness of Democracy and the +continued madness of slavery enabled us to elect Lincoln. That success +ends our mission so far as Kansas and the encroachments of slavery +into free territory are concerned. We have no territory that invites +slavery for any other than political objects, and with the power of +territorial organisation in the hands of Lincoln, there is no +political temptation in all the territory belonging to us. The fight +is over. Practically, the issues of the late campaign are obsolete. If +the Republican members of Congress stand still, we shall have a +divided North and a united South. If they move promptly, there will be +a divided South and a united North."<a name="vol2FNanchor_331_331" id="vol2FNanchor_331_331"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_331_331" class="fnanchor">[331]</a></p> + +<p>It is not, perhaps, surprising that Weed found so much to say in +favour of his proposition, since the same compromise and the same +arguments were made use of a few weeks later by no less a person than +the venerable John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, the Nestor of the United +States Senate. Crittenden was ten years older than Weed, and, like +him, was actuated by sincere patriotism. Although his compromise +contained six proposed amendments to the Constitution, it was believed +that all differences between the sections could easily be adjusted +after the acceptance of the first article, which recognised slavery as +existing south of latitude 36° 30´, and pledged it protection "as +property by all the departments of the territorial government during +its continuance." The article also provided that States should be +admitted from territory either north or south of that line, with or +without slavery, as their constitutions might declare.<a name="vol2FNanchor_332_332" id="vol2FNanchor_332_332"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_332_332" class="fnanchor">[332]</a> This part +of the compromise was not new to Congress or to the country. It had +been made, on behalf of the South, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.341" id="vol2Page_ii.341">ii. 341</a></span> 1847, and defeated by a vote of +114 to 82, only four Northern Democrats sustaining it. It was again +defeated more decisively in 1848, when proposed by Douglas. "Thus the +North," wrote Greeley, "under the lead of the Republicans, was +required, in 1860, to make, on pain of civil war, concessions to +slavery which it had utterly refused when divided only between the +conservative parties of a few years before."<a name="vol2FNanchor_333_333" id="vol2FNanchor_333_333"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_333_333" class="fnanchor">[333]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the Crittenden proposition invoked the same influences +that supported the Weed plan. "I would most cheerfully accept it," +wrote John A. Dix. "I feel a strong confidence that we could carry +three-fourths of the States in favour of it as an amendment to the +Constitution."<a name="vol2FNanchor_334_334" id="vol2FNanchor_334_334"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_334_334" class="fnanchor">[334]</a> August Belmont said he had "yet to meet the first +conservative Union-loving man, in or out of politics, who does not +approve of your compromise propositions.... In our own city and State +some of the most prominent men are ready to follow the lead of Weed. +Restoration of the Missouri line finds favour with most of the +conservative Republicans, and their number is increasing daily."<a name="vol2FNanchor_335_335" id="vol2FNanchor_335_335"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_335_335" class="fnanchor">[335]</a> +Belmont, now more than earlier in the month, undoubtedly expressed a +ripening sentiment that was fostered by the gloomy state of trade, +creating feverish conditions in the stock market, forcing New York +banks to issue clearing-house certificates, and causing a marked +decline in the Republican vote at the municipal election in +Hudson.<a name="vol2FNanchor_336_336" id="vol2FNanchor_336_336"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_336_336" class="fnanchor">[336]</a> Indeed, there is abundant evidence that the Crittenden +proposition, if promptly carried out in December, might have resulted +in peace. The Senate committee of thirteen to whom it was +referred—consisting of two senators from the cotton States, three +from the border States, three Northern Democrats, and five +Republicans—decided that no report should be adopted unless it had +the assent of a majority of the Republicans, and also a majority of +the eight other members. Six of the eight voted for it. All the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.342" id="vol2Page_ii.342">ii. 342</a></span> +Republicans, and Jefferson Davis and Robert Toombs, representing the +cotton States, voted against it. The evidence however, is almost +convincing that Davis and Toombs would have supported it in December +if the Republicans had voted for it. In speeches in the open Senate, +Douglas declared it,<a name="vol2FNanchor_337_337" id="vol2FNanchor_337_337"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_337_337" class="fnanchor">[337]</a> Toombs admitted it,<a name="vol2FNanchor_338_338" id="vol2FNanchor_338_338"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_338_338" class="fnanchor">[338]</a> and Davis implied +it.<a name="vol2FNanchor_339_339" id="vol2FNanchor_339_339"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_339_339" class="fnanchor">[339]</a> Seward sounds the only note of their insincerity. "I think," +he said, in a letter to the President-elect, "that Georgia, Alabama, +Mississippi, and Louisiana could not be arrested, even if we should +offer all you suggest, and with it the restoration of the Missouri +Compromise line. But persons acting for those States intimate that +they might be so arrested, because they think that the Republicans are +not going to concede the restoration of that line."<a name="vol2FNanchor_340_340" id="vol2FNanchor_340_340"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_340_340" class="fnanchor">[340]</a> It is likely +Seward hesitated to believe that his vote against the compromise, for +whatever reason it was given, helped to inaugurate hostilities; and +yet nothing is clearer, in spite of his letter to Lincoln, than that +in December the Republicans defeated the Crittenden compromise, the +adoption of which would have prevented civil war.<a name="vol2FNanchor_341_341" id="vol2FNanchor_341_341"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_341_341" class="fnanchor">[341]</a></p> + +<p>In deference to the wishes of Lincoln and of his friends, who were +grooming him for United States senator, Greeley,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.343" id="vol2Page_ii.343">ii. 343</a></span> before the end of +December, had, in a measure, given up his damaging doctrine of +peaceable secession, and accepted the "no compromise" policy, laid +down by Benjamin F. Wade, as "the only true, the only honest, the only +safe doctrine."<a name="vol2FNanchor_342_342" id="vol2FNanchor_342_342"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_342_342" class="fnanchor">[342]</a> It was necessary to Greeley's position just then, +and to the stage of development which his candidacy had reached, that +he should oppose Weed's compromise. On the 22d of December, therefore, +he wrote the President-elect: "I fear nothing, care for nothing, but +another disgraceful backdown of the free States. That is the only real +danger. Let the Union slide—it may be reconstructed; let Presidents +be assassinated—we can elect more; let the Republicans be defeated +and crushed—we shall rise again. But another nasty compromise, +whereby everything is conceded and nothing secured, will so thoroughly +disgrace and humiliate us that we can never raise our heads, and this +country becomes a second edition of the Barbary States, as they were +sixty years ago. 'Take any form but that.'"<a name="vol2FNanchor_343_343" id="vol2FNanchor_343_343"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_343_343" class="fnanchor">[343]</a> On the same day the +<i>Tribune</i> announced that "Mr. Lincoln is utterly opposed to any +concession or compromise that shall yield one iota of the position +occupied by the Republican party on the subject of slavery in the +territories, and that he stands now, as he stood in May last, when he +accepted the nomination for the Presidency, square upon the Chicago +platform."<a name="vol2FNanchor_344_344" id="vol2FNanchor_344_344"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_344_344" class="fnanchor">[344]</a> Thus Lincoln had reassured Greeley's shrinking faith, +and thenceforward his powerful journal took a more healthy and hopeful +tone.<a name="vol2FNanchor_345_345" id="vol2FNanchor_345_345"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_345_345" class="fnanchor">[345]</a></p> + +<p>Meantime, Weed laboured for the Crittenden compromise. He went to +Washington, interviewed Republican members of Congress, and finally +visited Lincoln at Springfield. Tickling the ear with a pleasing +sentiment and alliteration, he wanted Republicans, he said, "to meet +secession as patriots and not as partisans."<a name="vol2FNanchor_346_346" id="vol2FNanchor_346_346"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_346_346" class="fnanchor">[346]</a> He especially urged +forbearance<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.344" id="vol2Page_ii.344">ii. 344</a></span> and concession out of consideration for Union men in +Southern States. "Apprehending that we should be called upon to test +the strength of the Government," he wrote, on January 9, 1861, "we +saw, what is even more apparent now, that the effort would tax all its +faculties and strain all its energies. Hence our desire before the +trial came to make up a record that would challenge the approval of +the world. This was due not less to ourselves than to the Union men of +Southern States, who, with equal patriotism and more of sacrifice, +amidst the pitiless peltings of the disunion storm, sought, like the +dove sent out from the ark, a dry spot on which to set their +feet."<a name="vol2FNanchor_347_347" id="vol2FNanchor_347_347"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_347_347" class="fnanchor">[347]</a></p> + +<p>Weed's sincerity remained unquestioned, and his opinion, so ardently +supported outside his party, would probably have had weight within his +party under other conditions; but the President-elect, with his mind +inflexibly made up on the question of extending slavery into the +territories, refused to yield the cardinal principle of the Chicago +platform. "Entertain no proposition for a compromise in regard to the +extension of slavery," he wrote, December 11, to William Kellogg, a +member of Congress from Illinois. "The instant you do, they have us +under again; all our labour is lost, and sooner or later must be done +over.... The tug has to come, and better now than later. You know I +think the fugitive slave clause of the Constitution ought to be +enforced—to put it in its mildest form, ought not to be +resisted."<a name="vol2FNanchor_348_348" id="vol2FNanchor_348_348"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_348_348" class="fnanchor">[348]</a> Two days later, in a letter to E.B. Washburne, also an +Illinois member of Congress, he objected to the scheme for restoring +the Missouri Compromise line. "Let that be done and immediately +filibustering and extending slavery recommences. On that point hold +firm as a chain of steel."<a name="vol2FNanchor_349_349" id="vol2FNanchor_349_349"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_349_349" class="fnanchor">[349]</a> To Weed himself, on December 17, he +repeated the same idea in almost the identical language.<a name="vol2FNanchor_350_350" id="vol2FNanchor_350_350"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_350_350" class="fnanchor">[350]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.345" id="vol2Page_ii.345">ii. 345</a></span></p><p>Thurlow Weed was a journalist of pre-eminent ability, and, although a +strenuous, hard hitter, who gave everybody as much sport as he wanted, +he was a fair fighter, whom the bitterest critics of the radical +Republican press united in praising for his consistency; but his +epigrams and incisive arguments, sending a vibrating note of +earnestness across the Alleghanies, could not move the modest and, as +yet, unknown man of the West, who, unswayed by the fears of Wall +Street, and the teachings of the great Whig compromisers, saw with a +statesman's clearness the principle that explained the reason for his +party's existence.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.346" id="vol2Page_ii.346">ii. 346</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XXVI" id="vol2CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI<br /> +<br /> +SEYMOUR AND THE PEACE DEMOCRATS<br /> +<br /> +1860-1861</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">While</span> the contest over secession was raising its crop of disturbance +and disorder at Washington, newspapers and politicians in the North +continued to discuss public questions from their party standpoints. +Republicans inveighed against the madness of pro-slavery leaders, +Democrats berated Republicans as the responsible authors of the perils +darkening the national skies, and Bell men sought for a compromise. +Four days after the election of Lincoln, the Albany <i>Argus</i> clearly +and temperately expressed the view generally taken of the secession +movement by Democratic journals of New York. "We are not at all +surprised at the manifestations of feeling at the South," it said. "We +expected and predicted it; and for so doing were charged by the +Republican press with favouring disunion; while, in fact, we simply +correctly appreciated the feeling of that section of the Union. We +sympathise with and justify the South, as far as this—their rights +have been invaded to the extreme limit possible within the forms of +the Constitution; and, if we deemed it certain that the real animus of +the Republican party could become the permanent policy of the nation, +we should think that all the instincts of self-preservation and of +manhood rightfully impelled them to resort to revolution and a +separation from the Union, and we would applaud them and wish them +God-speed in the adoption of such a remedy."<a name="vol2FNanchor_351_351" id="vol2FNanchor_351_351"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_351_351" class="fnanchor">[351]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.347" id="vol2Page_ii.347">ii. 347</a></span></p> +<p>This was published in the heat of party conflict and Democratic +defeat, when writers assumed that a compromise, if any adjustment was +needed, would, of course, be forthcoming as in 1850. A little later, +as conditions became more threatening, the talk of peaceable secession +growing out of a disinclination to accept civil war, commended itself +to persons who thought a peaceful dissolution of the Union, if the +slave-holding South should seek it, preferable to such an +alternative.<a name="vol2FNanchor_352_352" id="vol2FNanchor_352_352"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_352_352" class="fnanchor">[352]</a> But as the spectre of dismemberment of the nation +came nearer, concessions to the South as expressed in the Weed plan, +and, later, in the Crittenden compromise, commended itself to a large +part of the people. A majority of the voters at the preceding election +undoubtedly favoured such an adjustment. The votes cast for Douglas, +Bell, and Breckenridge in the free States, with one-fourth of those +cast for Lincoln, and one-fourth for Breckenridge in the slave States, +making 2,848,792 out of a total of 4,662,170, said a writer in +<i>Appleton's Cyclopædia</i>, "were overwhelmingly in favour of +conciliation, forbearance, and compromise."<a name="vol2FNanchor_353_353" id="vol2FNanchor_353_353"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_353_353" class="fnanchor">[353]</a> Rhodes, the +historian, approving this estimate, expresses the belief that the +Crittenden compromise, if submitted to the people, would have +commanded such a vote.<a name="vol2FNanchor_354_354" id="vol2FNanchor_354_354"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_354_354" class="fnanchor">[354]</a></p> + +<p>In the closing months of 1860, and the opening months of 1861, this +belief dominated the Democratic party as well as a large number of +conservative Republicans; but, as the winter passed without +substantial progress toward an effective compromise, the cloud of +trouble assumed larger proportions and an alarmist spirit spread +abroad. After Major Anderson, on the night of December 27, had +transferred his command from its exposed position at Fort Moultrie to +the stronger one at Fort Sumter, it was not uncommon to hear upon the +streets disloyal sentiments blended with those of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.348" id="vol2Page_ii.348">ii. 348</a></span> willing sacrifice +to maintain the Union. This condition was accentuated by the action of +the Legislature, which convened on January 2, 1861, with twenty-three +Republicans and nine Democrats in the Senate, and ninety-three +Republicans and thirty-five Democrats in the House. In his message, +Governor Morgan urged moderation and conciliation. "Let New York," he +said, "set an example; let her oppose no barrier, but let her +representatives in Congress give ready support to any just and +honourable sentiment; let her stand in hostility to none, but extend +the hand of friendship to all, cordially uniting with other members of +the Confederacy in proclaiming and enforcing a determination that the +Constitution shall be honoured and the Union of the States be +preserved."</p> + +<p>On January 7, five days after this dignified and conservative appeal, +Fernando Wood, imitating the example of South Carolina, advocated the +secession of the city from the State. "Why should not New York City," +said the Mayor, as if playing the part of a satirist, "instead of +supporting by her contributions in revenue two-thirds of the expenses +of the United States, become, also, equally independent? As a free +city, with a nominal duty on imports, her local government could be +supported without taxation upon her people.... Thus we could live free +from taxes, and have cheap goods nearly duty free.... When disunion +has become a fixed and certain fact, why may not New York disrupt the +bands which bind her to a venal and corrupt master—to a people and a +party that have plundered her revenues, attempted to ruin her +commerce, taken away the power of self-government, and destroyed the +confederacy of which she was the proud empire city."<a name="vol2FNanchor_355_355" id="vol2FNanchor_355_355"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_355_355" class="fnanchor">[355]</a></p> + +<p>By order of a sympathising common council, this absurd message, +printed in pamphlet form, was distributed among the people. Few, +however, took it seriously. "Fernando Wood," said the <i>Tribune</i>, +"evidently wants to be a traitor;<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.349" id="vol2Page_ii.349">ii. 349</a></span> it is lack of courage only that +makes him content with being a blackguard."<a name="vol2FNanchor_356_356" id="vol2FNanchor_356_356"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_356_356" class="fnanchor">[356]</a> The next day +Confederate forts fired upon the <i>Star of the West</i> while endeavouring +to convey troops and supplies to Fort Sumter.</p> + +<p>The jar of the Mayor's message and the roar of hostile guns were +quickly followed by the passage, through the Legislature, of a +concurrent resolution, tendering the President "whatever aid in men +and money may be required to enable him to enforce the laws and uphold +the authority of the Federal Government; and that, in the defence of +the Union, which has conferred prosperity and happiness upon the +American people, renewing the pledge given and redeemed by our +fathers, we are ready to devote our fortunes, our lives, and our +sacred honour."<a name="vol2FNanchor_357_357" id="vol2FNanchor_357_357"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_357_357" class="fnanchor">[357]</a> This resolution undoubtedly expressed the +overwhelming preponderance of sentiment in the State,<a name="vol2FNanchor_358_358" id="vol2FNanchor_358_358"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_358_358" class="fnanchor">[358]</a> but its +defiant tone, blended with the foolish words of Wood and the menacing +act of South Carolina, called forth greater efforts for compromise, to +the accomplishment of which a mammoth petition, signed by the leading +business men of the State, was sent to Congress, praying that +"measures, either of direct legislation or of amendment of the +Constitution, may be speedily adopted, which, we are assured, will +restore peace to our agitated country."<a name="vol2FNanchor_359_359" id="vol2FNanchor_359_359"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_359_359" class="fnanchor">[359]</a></p> + +<p>On January 18, a meeting of the merchants of New York City, held in +the Chamber of Commerce, unanimously adopted a memorial, addressed to +Congress, urging the ac<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.350" id="vol2Page_ii.350">ii. 350</a></span>ceptance of the Crittenden compromise. Similar +action to maintain peace in an honourable way was taken in other +cities of the State, while congressmen were daily loaded with appeals +favouring any compromise that would keep the peace. Among other +petitions of this character, Elbridge G. Spaulding presented one from +Buffalo, signed by Millard Fillmore, Henry W. Rogers, and three +thousand others. On January 24, Governor Morgan received resolutions, +passed by the General Assembly of Virginia, inviting the State, +through its Legislature, to send commissioners to a peace conference +to be held at Washington on February 4. Nothing had occurred in the +intervening weeks to change the sentiment of the Legislature, +expressed earlier in the session; but, after much discussion and many +delays, it was resolved, in acceding to the request of Virginia, that +"it is not to be understood that this Legislature approves of the +propositions submitted, or concedes the propriety of their adoption by +the proposed convention. But while adhering to the position she has +heretofore occupied, New York will not reject an invitation to a +conference, which, by bringing together the men of both sections, +holds out the possibility of an honourable settlement of our national +difficulties, and the restoration of peace and harmony to the +country."</p> + +<p>The balloting for commissioners resulted in the election of David +Dudley Field, William Curtis Noyes, James S. Wadsworth, James C. +Smith, Amaziah B. James, Erastus Corning, Francis Granger, Greene C. +Bronson, William E. Dodge, John A. King, and John E. Wool, with the +proviso, however, that they were to take no part in the proceedings +unless a majority of the non-slave-holding States were represented. +The appearance of Francis Granger upon the commission was the act of +Thurlow Weed. Granger, happy in his retirement at Canandaigua, had +been out of office and out of politics so many years that, as he said +in a letter to the editor of the <i>Evening Journal</i>, "it is with the +greatest repugnance that I think of again appearing before the +public."<a name="vol2FNanchor_360_360" id="vol2FNanchor_360_360"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_360_360" class="fnanchor">[360]</a> But<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.351" id="vol2Page_ii.351">ii. 351</a></span> Weed urged him, and Granger accepted "the +flattering honour."<a name="vol2FNanchor_361_361" id="vol2FNanchor_361_361"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_361_361" class="fnanchor">[361]</a> Thus, after many years of estrangement, the +leader of the Woolies clasped hands again with the chief of the +Silver-Grays.</p> + +<p>Though a trifling event in itself, the detention of thirty-eight boxes +of muskets by the New York police kept the people conscious of the +strained relations between the States. The ownership of the guns, left +for shipment to Savannah, would ordinarily have been promptly settled +in a local court; but the detention now became an affair of national +importance, involving the governors of two States and leading to the +seizure of half a dozen merchant vessels lying peacefully at anchor in +Savannah harbour. Instead of entering the courts, the consignor +telegraphed the consignees of the "seizure," the consignees notified +Governor Brown of Georgia, and the Governor wired Governor Morgan of +New York, demanding their immediate release. Receiving no reply to his +message, Brown, in retaliation, ordered the seizure of all vessels at +Savannah belonging to citizens of New York. Although Governor Morgan +gave the affair no attention beyond advising the vessel owners that +their rights must be prosecuted in the United States courts, the +shipment of the muskets and the release of the vessels soon closed the +incident; but Brown's indecent zeal to give the episode an +international character by forcing into notice the offensive +assumption of an independent sovereignty, had much influence in +hardening the "no compromise" attitude of many Northern people.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the men of New York who desired peace on any honourable +terms, seemed to grow more earnest as the alarm in the public mind +became more intense. South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, +Louisiana, and Mississippi had now seceded, and, as a last appeal to +them, a monster and notable Union meeting, held at Cooper Institute on +January 28 and addressed by eminent men of all parties, designated +James T. Brady, Cornelius K. Garrison, and Appleton Oaksmith, as +commissioners to confer with delegates to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.352" id="vol2Page_ii.352">ii. 352</a></span> conventions of these +seceding States "in regard to measures best calculated to restore the +peace and integrity of this Union."<a name="vol2FNanchor_362_362" id="vol2FNanchor_362_362"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_362_362" class="fnanchor">[362]</a> Scarcely had the meeting +adjourned, however, before John A. Dix, as secretary of the treasury, +thrilled the country by his fearless and historic dispatch, "If any +one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot."</p> + +<p>Dix had brought to the Cabinet the training of a soldier and of a +wise, prudent, sagacious statesman of undaunted courage and integrity. +With the exception of his connection with the Barnburners in 1848, he +had been an exponent of the old Democratic traditions, and, next to +Horatio Seymour, did more, probably, than any other man to bring about +a reunion of his party in 1852. Nevertheless, the Southern politicians +never forgave him. President Pierce offered him the position of +secretary of state, and then withdrew it with the promise of sending +him as minister to France; but the South again defeated him. From that +time until his appointment as postmaster of New York, following the +discovery, in May, 1860, of Isaac V. Fowler's colossal +defalcation,<a name="vol2FNanchor_363_363" id="vol2FNanchor_363_363"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_363_363" class="fnanchor">[363]</a> Dix had taken little part in politics. If the +President, however, needed a man of his ability and honesty in the +crisis precipitated by Fowler's embezzlement, such characteristics +were more in demand, in January, 1861, at the treasury, when the +government was compelled to pay twelve per cent. for a loan of five +millions, while New York State sevens were taken at an average of +101¼.<a name="vol2FNanchor_364_364" id="vol2FNanchor_364_364"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_364_364" class="fnanchor">[364]</a> Bankers refused longer to furnish money until the +Cabinet contained men upon whom the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.353" id="vol2Page_ii.353">ii. 353</a></span> friends of the government and the +Union could rely, and Buchanan, yielding to the inevitable, appointed +the man clearly indicated by the financiers.<a name="vol2FNanchor_365_365" id="vol2FNanchor_365_365"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_365_365" class="fnanchor">[365]</a></p> + +<p>Although now sixty-three years old, with the energy and pluck of his +soldier days, Dix had no ambition to be in advance of his party. He +favoured the Crittenden compromise, advocated Southern rights under +the limits of the Constitution, and wrote to leaders in the South with +the familiarity of an old friend. "I recall occasions," wrote his son, +"when my father spoke to me on the questions of the day, disclosing +the grave trouble that possessed his thoughts. On one such occasion he +referred to the possibility that New York might become a free city, +entirely independent, in case of a general breakup;<a name="vol2FNanchor_366_366" id="vol2FNanchor_366_366"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_366_366" class="fnanchor">[366]</a> not that he +advocated the idea, but he placed it in the category of possibilities. +It was his opinion that a separation, if sought by the South through +peaceful means alone, must be conceded by the North, as an evil less +than that of war.... Above all else, however, next to God, he loved +the country and the flag. He did everything in his power to avert the +final catastrophe. But when the question was reduced to that simple, +lucid proposition presented by the leaders of secession, he had but +one answer, and gave it with an emphasis and in words which were as +lightning coming out of the east and shining even unto the west."<a name="vol2FNanchor_367_367" id="vol2FNanchor_367_367"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_367_367" class="fnanchor">[367]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.354" id="vol2Page_ii.354">ii. 354</a></span></p><p>From the day of his appointment to the Treasury to the end of the +Administration, Dix resided at the White House as the guest of the +President, and under his influence, coupled with that of Black, Holt, +and Stanton, Buchanan assumed a more positive tone in dealing with +secession. Heretofore, with the exception of Major Anderson's +movements at Fort Sumter, and Lieutenant Slemmer's daring act at Fort +Pickens, the seizure of federal property had gone on without +opposition or much noise; but now, at last, a prominent New Yorker, +well known to every public man in the State, had flashed a patriotic +order into the heart of the Southern Confederacy, startling the +country into a realising sense of the likelihood of civil war.</p> + +<p>In the midst of this excitement, a state convention, called by the +Democratic state committee and composed of four delegates from each +assembly district, representing the party of Douglas, of Breckenridge, +and of Bell and Everett, assembled at Albany on January 31. Tweddle +Hall was scarcely large enough to contain those who longed to be +present at this peace conference. Of the prominent public men of the +Commonwealth belonging to the three parties, the major part seemed to +make up the assemblage, which Greeley pronounced "the strongest and +most imposing ever convened within the State."<a name="vol2FNanchor_368_368" id="vol2FNanchor_368_368"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_368_368" class="fnanchor">[368]</a> On the platform +sat Horatio Seymour, Amasa J. Parker, and William Kelley, the Softs' +recent candidate for governor, while half a hundred men flanked them +on either side, who had been chosen to seats in Congress, in the +Legislature, and to other places of honour. "No convention which had +nominations to make, or patronage to dispose of, was ever so +influentially constituted."<a name="vol2FNanchor_369_369" id="vol2FNanchor_369_369"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_369_369" class="fnanchor">[369]</a></p> + +<p>Sanford E. Church of Albion became temporary chairman, and Amasa J. +Parker, president. Parker had passed his day of running for office, +but, still in the prime of life, only fifty-four years old, his +abilities ran with swiftness along many channels of industry. In +stating the object of the conven<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.355" id="vol2Page_ii.355">ii. 355</a></span>tion, the vociferous applause which +greeted his declaration that the people of the State, demanding a +peaceful settlement of the questions leading to disunion, have a right +to insist upon conciliation and compromise, disclosed the almost +unanimous sentiment of the meeting; but the after-discussion developed +differences that anticipated the disruption that was to come to the +Democratic party three months later. One speaker justified Southern +secession by urgent considerations of necessity and safety; another +scouted the idea of coercing a seceding State; to a third, peaceful +separation, though painful and humiliating, seemed the only safe and +honourable way. Reuben H. Walworth, the venerable ex-chancellor, +declared that civil war, instead of restoring the Union, would forever +defeat its reconstruction. "It would be as brutal," he said, "to send +men to butcher our own brethren of the Southern States, as it would be +to massacre them in the Northern States."</p> + +<p>Horatio Seymour received the heartiest greeting. Whether for good or +evil, according to the standards by which his critics may judge him, +he swayed the minds of his party to a degree that was unequalled among +his contemporaries. For ten years his name had been the most +intimately associated with party policies, and his influence the most +potent. The exciting events of the past three months, with six States +out of the Union and revolution already begun, had profoundly stirred +him. He had followed the proceedings of Congress, he had studied the +disposition of the South, he understood the sentiment in the North, +and his appeal for a compromise, without committing himself to some of +the extravagances which were poured forth in absolute good faith by +Walworth, earned him enthusiastic commendation from friends and +admirers. "The question is simply this," he said; "Shall we have +compromise <i>after</i> war, or compromise <i>without</i> war?" He eulogised the +valour of the South, he declared a blockade of its extended sea coast +nearly impossible, he hinted that successful coercion by the North +might not be less revolutionary than successful secession by the +South, he predicted<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.356" id="vol2Page_ii.356">ii. 356</a></span> the ruin of Northern industries, and he scolded +Congress, urging upon it a compromise—not to pacify seceding States, +but to save border States. "The cry of 'No compromise' is false in +morals," he declared; "it is treason to the spirit of the +Constitution; it is infidelity in religion; the cross itself is a +compromise, and is pleaded by many who refuse all charity to their +fellow-citizens. It is the vital principle of social existence; it +unites the family circle; it sustains the church, and upholds +nationalities.... But the Republicans complain that, having won a +victory, we ask them to surrender its fruits. We do not wish them to +give up any political advantage. We urge measures which are demanded +by the hour and the safety of our Union. Are they making sacrifices, +when they do that which is required by the common welfare?"<a name="vol2FNanchor_370_370" id="vol2FNanchor_370_370"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_370_370" class="fnanchor">[370]</a></p> + +<p>It remained for George W. Clinton of Buffalo, the son of the +illustrious DeWitt Clinton, to lift the meeting to the higher plane of +genuine loyalty to the Union. Clinton was a Hard in politics. He had +stood with John A. Dix and Daniel S. Dickinson, had been defeated for +lieutenant-governor on their ticket, and had supported Breckenridge; +but when the fateful moment arrived at which a decision had to be made +for or against the country, his genius, like the prescience of Dix, +guided him rightly. "Let us conciliate our erring brethren," he said, +"who, under a strange delusion, have, as they say, seceded from us; +but, for God's sake, do not let us humble the glorious government +under which we have been so happy and which will yet do so much for +the happiness of mankind. Gentlemen, I hate to use a word that will +offend my Southern brother, but we have reached a time when, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.357" id="vol2Page_ii.357">ii. 357</a></span> a +man—if you please, as a Democrat—I must use plain terms. There is no +such thing as legal secession. The Constitution of these United States +was intended to form a firm and perpetual Union. If secession be not +lawful, then, what is it? I use the term reluctantly but truly—it is +rebellion! rebellion against the noblest government man ever framed +for his own benefit and for the benefit of the world. What is it—this +secession? I am not speaking of the men. I love the men, but I hate +treason. What is it but nullification by the wholesale? I have +venerated Andrew Jackson, and my blood boiled, in old time, when that +brave patriot and soldier of Democracy said—'the Union, it must and +shall be preserved.' (Loud applause.) Preserve it? Why should we +preserve it, if it would be the thing these gentlemen would make it? +Why should we love a government that has no dignity and no power? Look +at it for a moment. Congress, for just cause, declares war, but one +State says, 'War is not for me—I secede.' And so another and another, +and the government is rendered powerless. I am not prepared to humble +the general government at the feet of the seceding States. I am +unwilling to say to the government, 'You must abandon your property, +you must cease to collect the revenues, because you are threatened.' +In other words, gentlemen, it seems to me—and I know I speak the +wishes of my constituents—that, while I abhor coercion, in one sense, +as war, I wish to preserve the dignity of the government of these +United States as well."<a name="vol2FNanchor_371_371" id="vol2FNanchor_371_371"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_371_371" class="fnanchor">[371]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.358" id="vol2Page_ii.358">ii. 358</a></span></p> +<p>The applause that greeted these loyal sentences disclosed a patriotic +sentiment, which, until then, had found no opportunity for expression; +yet the convention, in adopting a series of resolutions, was of one +mind on the question of submitting the Crittenden compromise to a +direct vote of the people. "Their voice," said the chairman, "will be +omnipresent here, and if it be raised in time it may be effectual +elsewhere."</p> + +<p>There is something almost pathetic in the history of these efforts +which were made during the progress of secession, to avert, if +possible, the coming shock. The great peace conference, assembled by +the action of Virginia, belongs to these painful and wasted +endeavours. On February 4, the day that delegates from six cotton +States assembled at Montgomery to form a Southern confederacy, one +hundred and thirty-three commissioners, representing twenty-one +States, of which fourteen were non-slave-holding, met at Washington +and continued in session, sitting with closed doors, until the 27th. +It was a body of great dignity—a "fossil convention," the <i>Tribune</i> +called it—whose proceedings, because of the desire in the public mind +to avoid civil war, attracted wide attention. David Dudley Field +represented New York on the committee on resolutions, which proposed +an amendment of seven sections to the Constitution. On February 26, +these were taken up in their order for passage. The first section +provided for the restoration of the Missouri Compromise line under the +then existing conditions, provided that whenever a new State was +formed north or south of that line it should be admitted with or +without slavery, as its constitution might declare. This was the +important concession; but, though it was less favourable to the South +than the Crittenden compromise, it failed to satisfy the radical +Republicans, who had from the first opposed the convention. +Accordingly, the vote, taken by States, stood eight to eleven against +it, New York being included among the noes. The next morning,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.359" id="vol2Page_ii.359">ii. 359</a></span> +however, after agreeing to a reconsideration of the question, the +convention passed the section by a vote of nine to eight, New York, +divided by the absence of David Dudley Field, being without a voice in +its determination. Field never fully recovered from this apparent +breach of trust.<a name="vol2FNanchor_372_372" id="vol2FNanchor_372_372"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_372_372" class="fnanchor">[372]</a> In committee, he had earnestly opposed the +proposed amendment, talking almost incessantly for three weeks, but, +at the supreme moment, when the report came up for passage, he +withdrew from the convention, without explanation, thus depriving his +State of a vote upon all the sections save one, because of an evenly +divided delegation.</p> + +<p>The convention, however, was doomed to failure before Field left it. +Very early in its life the eloquent New Yorker, assisting to rob it of +any power for good, declared his opposition to any amendment to the +Constitution. "The Union," he said, "is indissoluble, and no State can +secede. I will lay down my life for it.... We must have the +arbitration of reason, or the arbitrament of the sword." Amaziah B. +James, another New Yorker, possessed the same plainness of speech. +"The North will not enter upon war until the South forces it to do +so," he said, mildly. "But when you begin it, the government will +carry it on until the Union is restored and its enemies put +down."<a name="vol2FNanchor_373_373" id="vol2FNanchor_373_373"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_373_373" class="fnanchor">[373]</a> If any stronger Union sentiment were needed, the remarks +of Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, in disclosing the attitude of his party, +supplied it. "The election of Lincoln," he said, "must be regarded as +the triumph of principles cherished in the hearts of the people of the +free States. Chief among these principles is the restriction of +slavery within State limits; not war upon slavery within those limits, +but fixed opposition to its extension beyond them. By a fair and +unquestionable majority we have secured that triumph. Do you<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.360" id="vol2Page_ii.360">ii. 360</a></span> think +we, who represent this majority, will throw it away? Do you think the +people would sustain us if we undertook to throw it away?"<a name="vol2FNanchor_374_374" id="vol2FNanchor_374_374"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_374_374" class="fnanchor">[374]</a></p> + +<p>After three weeks of such talk, even Virginia, whose share in forming +the Union exceeded that of any other State, manifested its +discouragement by repudiating the proposed amendment as an +insufficient guarantee for bringing back the cotton States or holding +the border States. When, finally, on March 4, the result of the +conference was offered in the United States Senate, only seven votes +were cast in its favour. So faded and died the last great effort for +compromise and peace. For months it must have been apparent to every +one that the party of Lincoln would not yield the corner-stone of its +principles. It desired peace, was quick to co-operate, and ready to +conciliate, but its purpose to preserve free territory for free labour +remained fixed and unalterable.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.361" id="vol2Page_ii.361">ii. 361</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XXVII" id="vol2CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII<br /> +<br /> +WEED’S REVENGE UPON GREELEY<br /> +<br /> +1861</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">In the</span> winter of 1860-61, while the country was drifting into civil +war, a desperate struggle was going on at Albany to elect a United +States senator in place of William H. Seward, whose term expired on +the fourth of March. After the defeat of the Senator at Chicago, +sentiment settled upon his return to Washington; but when Lincoln +offered him the position of secretary of state, Thurlow Weed announced +William M. Evarts as his candidate for the United States Senate. +Evarts was now forty-three years of age. Born in Boston, a graduate of +Yale, and of the Harvard law school, he had been a successful lawyer +at the New York bar for twenty years. Union College had conferred upon +him, in 1857, the degree of Doctor of Laws, and the rare ability and +marvellous persistence manifested in the Lemmon slave case, in which +he was opposed by Charles O'Conor, had given abundant evidence of the +great intellectual powers that subsequently distinguished him. He had, +also, other claims to recognition. The wit and great learning that +made him the most charming of conversationalists increased his +popularity, while his love of books, his excellent taste, and good +manners made him welcome in the club and the social circle. Indeed, he +seems to have possessed almost every gift and grace that nature and +fortune could bestow, giving him high place among his contemporaries.</p> + +<p>Evarts had not then held office. The places that O'Conor and Brady had +accepted presented no attractions for him; nor did he seem to desire +the varied political careers that had distinguished other brilliant +young members of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.362" id="vol2Page_ii.362">ii. 362</a></span> New York bar. But he had taken pleasure in +bringing to his party a wisdom in council which was only equalled by +his power in debate. If this service were insufficient to establish +his right to the exalted preferment he now sought, his recent valuable +work at the Chicago convention was enough to satisfy Thurlow Weed, at +least, that generous assistance of such surpassing value should be +richly rewarded.</p> + +<p>Up to this time, Weed's authority in his party in the State had been +supreme. He failed to have his way in 1846 when John Young seized the +nomination for governor, and some confusion existed as to his +influence in the convention that selected Myron Clark in 1854; but for +all practical purposes Weed had controlled the Whig and Republican +parties since their formation, almost without dissent. Circumstances +sometimes favoured him. The hard times of 1837 made possible Seward's +election as governor; the split in the Democratic party over the +canal, and later over the Wilmot Proviso, secured Seward a seat in the +United States Senate; and the sudden and wholly unexpected repeal of +the Missouri Compromise defeated the Silver-Grays and aided in rapidly +reducing the strength of the Know-Nothings; but these changes in the +political situation, although letting Weed's party into power, +burdened his leadership with serious problems. It required a master +hand safely to guide a party between the Radical and Abolition +factions on one side and the Conservatives on the other, and his +signal success commended him to President Lincoln, who frequently +counselled with him, often inviting him to Washington by telegram +during the darkest days of civil war.</p> + +<p>But the defection of Greeley, supplemented by William Cullen Bryant +and the union of radical leaders who came from the Democratic party, +finally blossomed into successful rebellion at Chicago. This +encouraged Greeley to lead one at Albany. The Legislature had one +hundred and sixteen Republican members, requiring fifty-nine to +nominate in caucus. Evarts could count on forty-two and Greeley upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.363" id="vol2Page_ii.363">ii. 363</a></span> +about as many. In his effort to secure the remaining seventeen, Weed +discovered that Ira Harris had a considerable following, who were +indisposed to affiliate with Evarts, while several assemblymen +indicated a preference for other candidates. This precipitated a +battle royal. Greeley did not personally appear in Albany, but he +scorned none of the ordinary crafts of party management. Charles A. +Dana, then of the <i>Tribune</i>, represented him, and local leaders from +various parts of the State rallied to his standard and industriously +prosecuted his canvass. Their slogan was "down with the Dictator." It +mattered not that they had approved Weed's management in the past, +their fight now proposed to end the one-man power, and every +place-hunter who could not secure patronage under Lincoln's +administration if Evarts went to the Senate, ranged himself against +Weed. On the side of the <i>Tribune's</i> editor, also, stood the +independent, whose dislike of a party boss always encourages him to +strike whenever the way is open to deal an effective blow. This was +Greeley's great strength. It marshalled itself.</p> + +<p>Weed summoned all his hosts. Moses H. Grinnell, Simeon Draper, and A. +Oakey Hall led the charge, flanked by a cloud of state and county +officials, and an army of politicians who filled the hotels and +crowded the lobbies of the capitol. The <i>Tribune</i> estimated Evarts' +backers at not less than one thousand.<a name="vol2FNanchor_375_375" id="vol2FNanchor_375_375"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_375_375" class="fnanchor">[375]</a> For two weeks the battle +raged with all the characteristics of an intense personal conflict. +Greeley declared it "a conflict which was to determine whether a +dynasty was to stand and give law to its subjects, or be overthrown +and annihilated. Fully appreciating this, not Richmond at Bosworth +Field, Charles at Naseby, nor Napoleon at Waterloo made a more +desperate fight for empire than did the one-man power at Albany to +retain the sceptre it has wielded for so many years over the politics +and placemen of this State."<a name="vol2FNanchor_376_376" id="vol2FNanchor_376_376"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_376_376" class="fnanchor">[376]</a> In their desperation both sides +appealed to the President-elect, who refused to be drawn into the +struggle. "Justice<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.364" id="vol2Page_ii.364">ii. 364</a></span> to all" was his answer to Weed. "I have said +nothing more particular to any one."<a name="vol2FNanchor_377_377" id="vol2FNanchor_377_377"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_377_377" class="fnanchor">[377]</a></p> + +<p>As the canvass grew older, it became known that several of Harris' +supporters would go to Greeley whenever their assistance would +nominate him. This sacrifice, however, was not to be made so long as +Harris held the balance of power; and since Weed's desire to defeat +Greeley was well understood, Harris counted with some degree of +certainty upon Evarts' supporters whenever a serious break threatened. +Weed's relations with Harris were not cordial. For years they had +lived in Albany, and as early as 1846 their ways began to diverge; but +Harris' character for wisdom, learning, and integrity compelled +respect. He had been an assemblyman in 1844 and 1845, a state senator +in 1846, a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1846, and a +justice of the Supreme Court from 1847 to 1859. His name was familiar +throughout the State. From the time he took up the cause of the +Anti-Renters in 1846 he had possessed the confidence of the common +people, and his great fairness and courtesy upon the bench had added +largely to his reputation. He was without any pretence to oratory. The +gifts that made Evarts a leader of the New York bar for three decades +did not belong to him; but everybody knew that in the United States +Senate he would do as much as Evarts to uphold President Lincoln.</p> + +<p>The caucus convened on the evening of February 4. Only one member was +absent. Weed and Evarts sat with Governor Morgan in the executive +chamber—Harris in the rooms of Lieutenant-Governor Campbell at +Congress Hall. The first ballot gave Evarts 42, Greeley 40, Harris 20, +with 13 scattering. Bets had been made that Evarts would get 50, and +some over-sanguine ones fixed it at 60. What Weed expected does not +appear; but the second ballot, which reduced Evarts to 39 and raised +Greeley to 42, did not please Speaker Littlejohn, who carried orders +between the executive and assembly chambers. It seemed to doom Evarts +to ultimate defeat. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.365" id="vol2Page_ii.365">ii. 365</a></span> chamber grew dark with the gloomy frowns of +men who had failed to move their stubborn representatives. The next +four ballots, quickly taken, showed little progress, but the seventh +raised Greeley to 47 and dropped Harris to 19, while Evarts held on at +39. An assurance that the object of their labours would be reached +with the assistance of some of Harris' votes on the next ballot, made +the friends of Greeley jubilant. It was equally apparent to the +astonished followers of the grim manager who was smoking vehemently in +the executive chamber, that Evarts would be unable to weather another +ballot. A crisis, therefore, was inevitable, but it was the crisis for +which Weed had been waiting and watching, and without hesitation he +sent word to elect Harris.<a name="vol2FNanchor_378_378" id="vol2FNanchor_378_378"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_378_378" class="fnanchor">[378]</a> This settled it. Greeley received 49, +Harris 60, with 6 scattering. Weed did not get all he wanted, but he +got revenge.</p> + +<p>There were reasons other than revenge, however, that induced men +vigorously opposed to secession to resent the candidacy of Horace +Greeley.<a name="vol2FNanchor_379_379" id="vol2FNanchor_379_379"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_379_379" class="fnanchor">[379]</a> The editor of the <i>Tribune</i> certainly did not want the +Southern States to secede, nor did he favour secession, as has often +been charged, but his peculiar treatment of the question immediately +after the November election gave the would-be secessionists comfort, +if it did not absolutely invite and encourage the South to believe in +the possibility of peaceable secession.</p> + +<p>Greeley seems to have taken failure with apparent serenity. He +professed to regard it as the downfall of Weed<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.366" id="vol2Page_ii.366">ii. 366</a></span> rather than the defeat +of himself. His friends who knew of the antagonistic relations long +existing between Harris and Weed, said the <i>Tribune</i>, exultingly, were +willing to see Harris nominated, since "he would become an agent for +the accomplishment of their main purpose—the overthrow of the +dictatorship, and the establishment upon its ruins of the principle of +political independence in thought and action."<a name="vol2FNanchor_380_380" id="vol2FNanchor_380_380"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_380_380" class="fnanchor">[380]</a> But whatever its +influence upon Weed, the nomination of Harris was a bitter +disappointment to Greeley. He was extraordinarily ambitious for public +preferment. The character or duties of the office seemed to make +little difference to him. Congressman, senator, governor, +lieutenant-governor, comptroller of state, and President of the United +States, at one time or another greatly attracted him, and to gain any +one of them he willingly lent his name or gave up his time; but never +did he come so near reaching the goal of his ambition as in February, +1861. The promise of Harris' supporters to transfer their votes +encouraged a confidence that was not misplaced. The Greeley men were +elated, the more ardent entertaining no doubt that the eighth ballot +would bring victory; and, had Weed delayed a moment longer, Greeley +must have been a United States senator. But Weed did not delay, and +Greeley closed his life with an office-holding record of ninety days +in Congress. Like George Borrow, he seemed never to realise that his +simple, clear, vigorous English was to be the crown of an undying +fame.<a name="vol2FNanchor_381_381" id="vol2FNanchor_381_381"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_381_381" class="fnanchor">[381]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.367" id="vol2Page_ii.367">ii. 367</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="vol2CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII<br /> +<br /> +LINCOLN, SEWARD, AND THE UNION<br /> +<br /> +1860-1861</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">As the</span> day approached for the opening of Congress on Monday, December +3, 1860, William H. Seward left Auburn for Washington. At this time he +possessed the most powerful influence of any one in the Republican +party. While other leaders, his rivals in eloquence and his peers in +ability, exercised great authority, the wisdom of no one was more +widely appreciated, or more frequently drawn upon. "Sumner, Trumbull, +and Wade," says McClure, speaking from personal acquaintance, "had +intellectual force, but Trumbull was a judge rather than a politician, +Wade was oppressively blunt, and Sumner cultivated an ideal +statesmanship that placed him outside the line of practical politics. +Fessenden was more nearly a copy of Seward in temperament and +discretion, but readily conceded the masterly ability of his +colleague. Seward was not magnetic like Clay or Blaine, but he knew +how to make all welcome who came within range of his presence."<a name="vol2FNanchor_382_382" id="vol2FNanchor_382_382"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_382_382" class="fnanchor">[382]</a></p> + +<p>Thus far, since the election, Seward had remained silent upon the +issues that now began to disturb the nation. Writing to Thurlow Weed +on November 18, 1860, he declared he was "without schemes or plans, +hopes, desires, or fears for the future, that need trouble anybody so +far as I am concerned."<a name="vol2FNanchor_383_383" id="vol2FNanchor_383_383"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_383_383" class="fnanchor">[383]</a> Nevertheless, he had scarcely reached the +capital before he discovered that he was charged with being the author +of Weed's compromise policy. "Here's a muss," he<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.368" id="vol2Page_ii.368">ii. 368</a></span> wrote, on December +3. "Republican members stopped at the <i>Tribune</i> office on their way, +and when they all lamented your articles, Dana told them they were not +yours but mine; that I 'wanted to make a great compromise like Clay +and Webster.'"<a name="vol2FNanchor_384_384" id="vol2FNanchor_384_384"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_384_384" class="fnanchor">[384]</a></p> + +<p>To Republicans it did not seem possible that Weed's plan of +conciliation, so carefully and ably presented, could be published +without the assistance, or, at least, the approval of his warm +personal and political friend,—an impression that gained readier +credence because of the prompt acquiescence of the New York <i>Times</i> +and the <i>Courier</i>. Seward, however, quickly punctured Charles A. +Dana's misinformation, and continued to keep his own counsels. "I talk +very little, and nothing in detail," he wrote his wife, on December 2; +"but I am engaged busily in studying and gathering my thoughts for the +Union."<a name="vol2FNanchor_385_385" id="vol2FNanchor_385_385"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_385_385" class="fnanchor">[385]</a> To Weed, on the same day, he gave the political +situation. "South Carolina is committed. Georgia will debate, but she +probably follows South Carolina. Mississippi and Alabama likely to +follow.... Members are coming in, all in confusion. Nothing can be +agreed on in advance, but silence for the present, which I have +insisted must not be <i>sullen</i>, as last year, but respectful and +fraternal."<a name="vol2FNanchor_386_386" id="vol2FNanchor_386_386"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_386_386" class="fnanchor">[386]</a></p> + +<p>Seward, who had now been in Washington several days, had not broken +silence even to his Republican colleagues in the Senate, and "to smoke +him out," as one of them expressed it, a caucus was called. But it +failed of its purpose. "Its real object," he wrote Weed, "was to find +out whether I authorised the <i>Evening Journal</i>, <i>Times</i>, and <i>Courier</i> +articles. I told them they would know what I think and what I propose +when I do myself. The Republican party to-day is as uncompromising as +the secessionists in South Carolina. A month hence each may come to +think that moderation is wiser."<a name="vol2FNanchor_387_387" id="vol2FNanchor_387_387"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_387_387" class="fnanchor">[387]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.369" id="vol2Page_ii.369">ii. 369</a></span></p> +<p>It is not easy to determine from his correspondence just what was in +Seward's mind from the first to the thirteenth of December, but it is +plain that he was greatly disturbed. Nothing seemed to please him. +Weed's articles perplexed<a name="vol2FNanchor_388_388" id="vol2FNanchor_388_388"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_388_388" class="fnanchor">[388]</a> him; his colleagues distrusted<a name="vol2FNanchor_389_389" id="vol2FNanchor_389_389"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_389_389" class="fnanchor">[389]</a> +him; the debates in the Senate were hasty and feeble;<a name="vol2FNanchor_390_390" id="vol2FNanchor_390_390"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_390_390" class="fnanchor">[390]</a> few had any +courage or confidence in the Union;<a name="vol2FNanchor_391_391" id="vol2FNanchor_391_391"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_391_391" class="fnanchor">[391]</a> and the action of the Sumner +radicals annoyed him.<a name="vol2FNanchor_392_392" id="vol2FNanchor_392_392"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_392_392" class="fnanchor">[392]</a> Rhodes, the historian, says he was +wavering.<a name="vol2FNanchor_393_393" id="vol2FNanchor_393_393"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_393_393" class="fnanchor">[393]</a> He was certainly waiting,—probably to hear from +Lincoln; but while he waited his epigrammatic criticism of Buchanan's +message, which he wrote his wife on December 5, got into the +newspapers and struck a popular note. "The message shows +conclusively," he said, "that it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.370" id="vol2Page_ii.370">ii. 370</a></span> the duty of the President to +execute the laws—unless somebody opposes him; and that no State has a +right to go out of the Union—unless it wants to."<a name="vol2FNanchor_394_394" id="vol2FNanchor_394_394"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_394_394" class="fnanchor">[394]</a></p> + +<p>On December 13 Seward received the desired letter from the +President-elect, formally tendering him the office of secretary of +state. The proffer was not unexpected. Press and politicians had +predicted it and conceded its propriety. "From the day of my +nomination at Chicago," Lincoln said, in an informal and confidential +letter of the same day, "it has been my purpose to assign you, by your +leave, this place in the Administration. I have delayed so long to +communicate that purpose, in deference to what appeared to me a proper +caution in the case. Nothing has been developed to change my view in +the premises; and I now offer you the place in the hope that you will +accept it, and with the belief that your position in the public eye, +your integrity, ability, learning, and great experience all combine to +render it an appointment pre-eminently fit to be made."<a name="vol2FNanchor_395_395" id="vol2FNanchor_395_395"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_395_395" class="fnanchor">[395]</a></p> + +<p>In the recent campaign Seward had attracted such attention and aroused +such enthusiasm, that James Russell Lowell thought his magnanimity, +since the result of the convention was known, "a greater ornament to +him and a greater honour to his party than his election to the +Presidency would have been."<a name="vol2FNanchor_396_396" id="vol2FNanchor_396_396"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_396_396" class="fnanchor">[396]</a> Seward's friends had followed his +example. "We all feel that New York and the friends of Seward have +acted nobly," wrote Leonard Swett to Weed.<a name="vol2FNanchor_397_397" id="vol2FNanchor_397_397"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_397_397" class="fnanchor">[397]</a> A month after the +offer of the portfolio had been made, Lincoln wrote Seward that "your +selection for the state department having become public, I am happy to +find scarcely any objection to it. I shall have trouble with every +other cabinet appointment—so much so, that I shall have to defer them +as long as possible, to avoid being teased into insanity, to make +changes."<a name="vol2FNanchor_398_398" id="vol2FNanchor_398_398"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_398_398" class="fnanchor">[398]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.371" id="vol2Page_ii.371">ii. 371</a></span></p><p>In 1849, Seward had thought the post of minister, or even secretary of +state, without temptations for him, but, in 1860, amidst the gathering +clouds of a grave crisis, the championship of the Union in a great +political arena seemed to appeal, in an exceptional degree, to his +desire to help guide the destinies of his country; and, after +counselling with Weed at Albany, and with his wife at Auburn, he wrote +the President-elect that he thought it his duty to accept the +appointment.<a name="vol2FNanchor_399_399" id="vol2FNanchor_399_399"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_399_399" class="fnanchor">[399]</a> Between the time of its tender and of its acceptance +Seward had gained a clear understanding of Lincoln's views; for, after +his conference with Weed, the latter visited Springfield and obtained +a written statement from the President-elect. This statement has never +appeared in print, but it practically embodied the sentiment written +Kellogg and Washburn, and which was received by them after Seward left +Washington for Auburn.</p> + +<p>With this information the Senator returned to the capital, stopping +over night at the Astor House in New York, where he unexpectedly found +the New England Society celebrating Forefathers' Day. The knowledge of +his arrival quickly reached the banqueters. They knew that Weed had +seen Lincoln, and that, to hear the tidings from Springfield, Seward +had travelled with his friend from Syracuse to Albany. Eagerly, +therefore, they pressed him for a speech, for words spoken by the man +who would occupy the first place in Lincoln's Cabinet, meant to the +business men of the great metropolis, distracted by the disturbed +conditions growing out of the disunion movement, words of national +salvation. Seward never spoke from impulse. He understood the value of +silence and the necessity of thought before utterance. All of his many +great speeches were prepared in a most painstaking manner. But, as +many members of the society were personal or political friends, he +consented to address them, talking briefly and with characteristic +optimism, though without disclosing Lincoln's position or his own on +the question of compromise. "I know that the necessities which created +this<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.372" id="vol2Page_ii.372">ii. 372</a></span> Union," he said, in closing, "are stronger to-day than they were +when the Union was cemented; and that these necessities are as +enduring as the passions of men are short-lived and effervescent. I +believe that the cause of secession was as strong, on the night of +November 6, when the President and Vice President were elected, as it +has been at any time. Some fifty days have now passed; and I believe +that every day the sun has set since that time, it has set upon +mollified passions and prejudices; and if you will only await the +time, sixty more suns will shed a light and illuminate a more cheerful +atmosphere."<a name="vol2FNanchor_400_400" id="vol2FNanchor_400_400"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_400_400" class="fnanchor">[400]</a></p> + +<p>This speech has been severely criticised for its unseemly jest, its +exuberant optimism, and its lack of directness. It probably discloses, +in the copy published the next morning, more levity than it seemed to +possess when spoken, with its inflections and intonations, while its +optimism, made up of hopeful generalities which were not true, and of +rhetorical phrases that could easily be misapprehended, appeared to +sustain the suggestion that he did not realise the critical juncture +of affairs. But the assertion that he predicted the "war will be over +in sixty days" was a ridiculous perversion of his words. No war +existed at that time, and his "sixty suns" plainly referred to the +sixty days that must elapse before Lincoln's inauguration. +Nevertheless, the "sixty days prediction," as it was called, was +repeated and believed for many years.</p> + +<p>The feature of the speech that makes it peculiarly interesting, +however, is its strength in the advocacy of the Union. Seward believed +that he had a difficult role to play. Had he so desired he could not +support the restoration of the Missouri Compromise line, for the +President-elect had ruled inflexibly against it; neither could he +openly oppose it, lest it hurry the South into some overt act of +treason before Lincoln's inauguration. So he began exalting the Union, +skilfully creating the impression, at least by inference, that he +would not support the compromise, although his hearers and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.373" id="vol2Page_ii.373">ii. 373</a></span> readers +held to the belief that he would have favoured it had he not submitted +to Lincoln's leadership by accepting the state department.</p> + +<p>During Seward's absence from Washington he was placed upon the Senate +committee of thirteen to consider the Crittenden compromise. It was +admitted that the restoration of the Missouri line was the nub of the +controversy; that, unless it could be accepted, compromise would fail; +and that failure meant certain secession. "War of a most bitter and +sanguinary character will be sure to follow," wrote Senator Grimes of +Iowa.<a name="vol2FNanchor_401_401" id="vol2FNanchor_401_401"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_401_401" class="fnanchor">[401]</a> "The heavens are, indeed, black," said Dawes of +Massachusetts, "and an awful storm is gathering. I am well-nigh +appalled at its awful and inevitable consequences."<a name="vol2FNanchor_402_402" id="vol2FNanchor_402_402"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_402_402" class="fnanchor">[402]</a> Seward did +not use words of such alarming significance, but he appreciated the +likelihood of secession. On December 26 he wrote Lincoln that +"sedition will be growing weaker and loyalty stronger every day from +the acts of secession as they occur;" but, in the same letter, he +added: "South Carolina has already taken the attitude of defiance. +Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana have pushed on to the +same attitude. I think that they could not be arrested, even if we +should offer all you suggest, and with it the restoration of the +Missouri Compromise line."<a name="vol2FNanchor_403_403" id="vol2FNanchor_403_403"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_403_403" class="fnanchor">[403]</a> To his wife, also, to whom alone he +confided his secret thoughts, he wrote, on the same day: "The South +will force on the country the issue that the free States shall admit +that slaves are property, and treat them as such, or else there will +be a secession."<a name="vol2FNanchor_404_404" id="vol2FNanchor_404_404"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_404_404" class="fnanchor">[404]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the Republican senators of the committee of thirteen, +inspired by the firm attitude of Lincoln, voted against the first +resolution of the Crittenden compromise. They consented that Congress +should have no power either to abolish slavery in the District of +Columbia without compen<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.374" id="vol2Page_ii.374">ii. 374</a></span>sation and the consent of its inhabitants, or +to prohibit the transportation of slaves between slave-holding States +and territories; but they refused to protect slavery south of the +Missouri line, especially since such an amendment, by including future +acquisitions of territory, would, as Lincoln declared, popularise +filibustering for all south of us. "A year will not pass till we shall +have to take Cuba as a condition upon which they will stay in the +Union."<a name="vol2FNanchor_405_405" id="vol2FNanchor_405_405"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_405_405" class="fnanchor">[405]</a></p> + +<p>Upon the failure of the Crittenden compromise, Seward, on the part of +the Republicans, offered five propositions, declaring (1) that the +Constitution should never be altered so as to authorise Congress to +abolish or interfere with slavery in the States; (2) that the fugitive +slave law should be amended by granting a jury trial to the fugitive; +(3) that Congress recommend the repeal by the States of personal +liberty acts which contravene the Constitution or the laws; (4) that +Congress pass an efficient law for the punishment of all persons +engaged in the armed invasion of any State from another; and (5) to +admit into the Union the remaining territory belonging to the United +States as two States, one north and one south of the parallel of 36° +30´, with the provision that these States might be subdivided and new +ones erected therefrom whenever there should be sufficient population +for one representative in Congress upon sixty thousand square +miles.<a name="vol2FNanchor_406_406" id="vol2FNanchor_406_406"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_406_406" class="fnanchor">[406]</a> Only the first of these articles was adopted. Southern +Democrats objected to the second on principle, and to the third on the +ground that it would affect their laws imprisoning coloured seamen, +while they defeated the fourth by amending it into Douglas' suggestion +for the revival of the sedition law of John Adams' +administration.<a name="vol2FNanchor_407_407" id="vol2FNanchor_407_407"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_407_407" class="fnanchor">[407]</a> This made it unacceptable to the Republicans. The +fifth failed because it gave the South no opportunity of acquiring +additional slave lands. On December 28, therefore, the committee, +after adopting a resolution that it could not agree, closed its +labours.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.375" id="vol2Page_ii.375">ii. 375</a></span></p><p>This seemed to Jefferson Davis, who, in 1860, had assumed the +leadership laid down by John C. Calhoun in 1850, to end all effort at +compromise, and, on January 10, 1861, in a carefully prepared speech, +he argued the right of secession. Finally, turning to the Republicans, +he said: "Your platform on which you elected your candidate denies us +equality. Your votes refuse to recognise our domestic institutions +which pre-existed the formation of the Union, our property which was +guarded by the Constitution. You refuse us that equality without which +we should be degraded if we remained in the Union. You elect a +candidate upon the basis of sectional hostility; one who, in his +speeches, now thrown broadcast over the country, made a distinct +declaration of war upon our institutions.... What boots it to tell me +that no direct act of aggression will be made? I prefer direct to +indirect hostile measures which will produce the same result. I prefer +it, as I prefer an open to a secret foe. Is there a senator upon the +other side who to-day will agree that we shall have equal enjoyment of +the territories of the United States? Is there one who will deny that +we have equally paid in their purchases, and equally bled in their +acquisition in war? Then, is this the observance of your contract? +Whose is the fault if the Union be dissolved?"<a name="vol2FNanchor_408_408" id="vol2FNanchor_408_408"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_408_408" class="fnanchor">[408]</a></p> + +<p>The country looked to Seward to make answer to these direct questions. +Southern States were hurrying out of the Union. South Carolina had +seceded on December 20, Mississippi on January 9, Florida on the 10th, +and Alabama on the 11th. Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas were preparing +to follow. The people felt that if a settlement was to come it must be +made quickly. "Your propositions would have been most welcome if they +had been made before any question of coercion, and before any vain +boastings of powers," Davis had said. "But you did not make them when +they would have been effective. I presume you will not make them +now."<a name="vol2FNanchor_409_409" id="vol2FNanchor_409_409"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_409_409" class="fnanchor">[409]</a></p> + +<p>If the position of the New York senator had been an embar<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.376" id="vol2Page_ii.376">ii. 376</a></span>rassing one +at the Astor House on December 22, it was much more difficult on +January 12. He had refused to vote for the Crittenden compromise. +Moreover, the only proposition he had to make stood rejected by the +South. What could he say, therefore, that would settle anything? Yet +the desire to hear him was intense. An eye-witness described the scene +as almost unparalleled in the Senate. "By ten o'clock," wrote this +observer, "every seat in the gallery was filled, and by eleven the +cloak-rooms and all the passages were choked up, and a thousand men +and women stood outside the doors, although the speech was not to +begin until one o'clock. Several hundred visitors came on from +Baltimore. It was the fullest house of the session, and by far the +most respectful one."<a name="vol2FNanchor_410_410" id="vol2FNanchor_410_410"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_410_410" class="fnanchor">[410]</a> Such was the faith of the South in Seward's +unbounded influence with Northern senators and Northern people that +the Richmond <i>Whig</i> asserted that his vote for the Crittenden +compromise "would give peace at once to the country."<a name="vol2FNanchor_411_411" id="vol2FNanchor_411_411"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_411_411" class="fnanchor">[411]</a></p> + +<p>Seward was not unmindful of this influence. "My own party trusts me," +he wrote, "but not without reservation. All the other parties, North +and South, cast themselves upon me."<a name="vol2FNanchor_412_412" id="vol2FNanchor_412_412"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_412_412" class="fnanchor">[412]</a> Judged by his letters at +this period, it is suggested that he had an overweening sense of his +own importance; he thought that he held in his hands the destinies of +his country.<a name="vol2FNanchor_413_413" id="vol2FNanchor_413_413"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_413_413" class="fnanchor">[413]</a> However this may be, it is certain that he wanted to +embarrass Lincoln by no obstacles of his making. "I must<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.377" id="vol2Page_ii.377">ii. 377</a></span> gain time," +he said, "for the new Administration to organise and for the frenzy of +passion to subside. I am doing this, without making any compromise +whatever, by forbearance, conciliation, magnanimity. What I say and do +is said and done, not in view of personal objects, and I am leaving to +posterity to decide upon my action and conduct."<a name="vol2FNanchor_414_414" id="vol2FNanchor_414_414"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_414_414" class="fnanchor">[414]</a></p> + +<p>In this spirit Seward made his speech of January 12. He discussed the +fallacies of secession, showing that it had no grounds, or even +excuse, and declaring that disunion must lead to civil war. Then he +avowed his adherence to the Union in its integrity and in every event, +"whether of peace or of war, with every consequence of honour or +dishonour, of life or death." Referring to the disorder, he said: "I +know not to what extent it may go. Still my faith in the Constitution +and in the Union abides. Whatever dangers there shall be, there will +be the determination to meet them. Whatever sacrifices, private or +public, shall be needful for the Union, they will be made. I feel sure +that the hour has not come for this great nation to fall."</p> + +<p>In blazing the new line of thought which characterised his speech at +the Astor House, Seward rose to the plane of higher patriotism, and he +now broadened and enlarged the idea. During the presidential campaign, +he said, the struggle had been for and against slavery. That contest +having ended by the success of the Republicans in the election, the +struggle was now for and against the Union. "Union is not more the +body than liberty is the soul of the nation. Freedom can be saved with +the Union, and cannot be saved without it." He deprecated mutual +criminations and recriminations, a continuance of the debate over +slavery in the territories, the effort to prove secession illegal, and +the right of the federal government to coerce seceding States. He +wanted the Union glorified, its blessings exploited, the necessity of +its existence made manifest, and the love of country substituted for +the prejudice of faction and the pride of party. When this millennial +day had come, when secession movements had ended<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.378" id="vol2Page_ii.378">ii. 378</a></span> and the public mind +had resumed its wonted calm, then a national convention might be +called—say, in one, two, or three years hence, to consider the matter +of amending the Constitution.<a name="vol2FNanchor_415_415" id="vol2FNanchor_415_415"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_415_415" class="fnanchor">[415]</a></p> + +<p>This speech was listened to with deep attention. "During the delivery +of portions of it," said one correspondent, "senators were in tears. +When the sad picture of the country, divided into confederacies, was +given, Mr. Crittenden, who sat immediately before the orator, was +completely overcome by his emotions, and bowed his white head to +weep."<a name="vol2FNanchor_416_416" id="vol2FNanchor_416_416"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_416_416" class="fnanchor">[416]</a> The <i>Tribune</i> considered it "rhetorically and as a +literary performance unsurpassed by any words of Seward's earlier +productions,"<a name="vol2FNanchor_417_417" id="vol2FNanchor_417_417"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_417_417" class="fnanchor">[417]</a> and Whittier, charmed with its conciliatory tone, +paid its author a noble tribute in one of his choicest poems.<a name="vol2FNanchor_418_418" id="vol2FNanchor_418_418"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_418_418" class="fnanchor">[418]</a> +But<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.379" id="vol2Page_ii.379">ii. 379</a></span> the country was disappointed. The Richmond <i>Enquirer</i>, +representing the Virginia secessionists, maintained that it destroyed +the last hope of compromise, because he gave up nothing, not even +prejudices, to save peace in the Union. For the same reason, Union men +of Kentucky and other border States turned from it with profound +grief. On the other hand, the radical Republicans, disappointed that +it did not contain more powder and shot, charged him with surrendering +his principles and those of his party, to avert civil war and +dissolution of the Union. But the later-day historian, however, +readily admits that the rhetorical words of this admirable speech had +an effectual influence in making fidelity to the Union, irrespective +of previous party affiliations, a rallying point for Northern men.</p> + +<p>As the recognised representative of the President-elect, Seward now +came into frequent conference with loyal men of both sections and of +all parties, including General Scott and the new members of Buchanan's +Cabinet. John A. Dix had become secretary of the treasury, Edwin +Stanton attorney-general, and Jeremiah S. Black secretary of state. +Seward knew them intimately, and with Black he conferred publicly. +With Stanton, however, it seemed advisable to select midnight as the +hour and a basement as the place of conference. "At length," he wrote +Lincoln, "I have gotten a position in which I can see what is going on +in the councils of the President."<a name="vol2FNanchor_419_419" id="vol2FNanchor_419_419"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_419_419" class="fnanchor">[419]</a> To his wife, he adds: "The +revolution gathers apace. It has its abettors in the White House, the +treasury, the interior. I have assumed a sort of dictatorship for +defence."<a name="vol2FNanchor_420_420" id="vol2FNanchor_420_420"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_420_420" class="fnanchor">[420]</a> He advised the President-elect to reach Washington +somewhat earlier than usual, and suggested having his secretaries of +war and navy designated that they might co-operate in measures for the +public safety. Under his advice, on the theory that the national +emblem would strengthen wavering minds and develop Union sentiment, +flags began to appear on stores and private residences. Sew<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.380" id="vol2Page_ii.380">ii. 380</a></span>ard was +ablaze with zeal. "Before I spoke," he wrote Weed, "not one utterance +made for the Union elicited a response. Since I spoke, every word for +the Union brings forth a cheering response."<a name="vol2FNanchor_421_421" id="vol2FNanchor_421_421"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_421_421" class="fnanchor">[421]</a></p> + +<p>But, amidst it all, Seward's enemies persistently charged him with +inclining to the support of the Crittenden compromise. "We have +positive information from Washington," declared the <i>Tribune</i>, "that a +compromise on the basis of Mr. Crittenden's is sure to be carried +through Congress either this week or the next, provided a very few +more Republicans can be got to enlist in the enterprise.... Weed goes +with the Breckenridge Democrats.... The same is true, though less +decidedly, of Seward."<a name="vol2FNanchor_422_422" id="vol2FNanchor_422_422"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_422_422" class="fnanchor">[422]</a> It is probable that in the good-fellowship +of after-dinner conversations Seward's optimistic words and +"mysterious allusions,"<a name="vol2FNanchor_423_423" id="vol2FNanchor_423_423"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_423_423" class="fnanchor">[423]</a> implied more than he intended them to +convey, but there is not a private letter or public utterance on which +to base the <i>Tribune's</i> statements. Greeley's attacks, however, became +frequent now. Having at last swung round to the "no compromise"<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.381" id="vol2Page_ii.381">ii. 381</a></span> +policy of the radical wing of his party, he found it easy to condemn +the attitude of Weed and the Unionism of Seward, against whom his +lieutenants at Albany were waging a fierce battle for his election as +United States senator.</p> + +<p>On January 31, Seward had occasion to present a petition, with +thirty-eight thousand signatures, which William E. Dodge and other +business men of New York had brought to Washington, praying for "the +exercise of the best wisdom of Congress in finding some plan for the +adjustment of the troubles which endanger the safety of the nation," +and in laying it before the Senate he took occasion to make another +plea for the Union. "I have asked them," he said, "that at home they +act in the same spirit, and manifest their devotion to the Union, +above all other interests, by speaking for the Union, by voting for +the Union, by lending and giving their money for the Union, and, in +the last resort, fighting for the Union—taking care, always, that +speaking goes before voting, voting goes before giving money, and all +go before a battle. This is the spirit in which I have determined for +myself to come up to this great question, and to pass through it."</p> + +<p>Senator Mason of Virginia, declaring that "a maze of generalities +masked the speech," pressed Seward as to what he meant by +"contributing money for the Union." Seward replied: "I have +recommended to them in this crisis, that they sustain the government +of this country with the credit to which it is entitled at their +hands." To this Mason said: "I took it for granted that the money was +to sustain the army which was to conduct the fight that he recommends +to his people." Seward responded: "If, then, this Union is to stand or +fall by the force of arms, I have advised my people to do, as I shall +be ready to do myself—stand with it or perish with it." To which the +Virginia Senator retorted: "The honourable senator proposes but one +remedy to restore this Union, and that is the <i>ultima ratio regna</i>." +Seward answered quickly, "Not to restore—preserve!"</p> + +<p>Mason then referred to Seward's position as one of battle<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.382" id="vol2Page_ii.382">ii. 382</a></span> and +bloodshed, to be fought on Southern soil, for the purpose of reducing +the South to colonies. To Seward, who was still cultivating the +attitude of "forbearance, conciliation, and magnanimity," this sounded +like a harsh conclusion of the position he had sought to sugar-coat +with much rhetoric, and, in reply, he pushed bloodshed into the +far-off future by restating what he had already declared in fine +phrases, closing as follows: "Does not the honourable senator know +that when all these [suggestions for compromise] have failed, then the +States of this Union, according to the forms of the Constitution, +shall take up this controversy about twenty-four negro slaves +scattered over a territory of one million and fifty thousand square +miles, and say whether they are willing to sacrifice all this liberty, +all this greatness, and all this hope, because they have not +intelligence, wisdom, and virtue enough to adjust a controversy so +frivolous and contemptible."<a name="vol2FNanchor_424_424" id="vol2FNanchor_424_424"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_424_424" class="fnanchor">[424]</a></p> + +<p>Seward's speech plainly indicated a purpose to fight for the +preservation of the Union, and his talk of first exhausting +conciliatory methods was accepted in the South simply as a "resort to +the gentle powers of seduction,"<a name="vol2FNanchor_425_425" id="vol2FNanchor_425_425"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_425_425" class="fnanchor">[425]</a> but his argument of the few +slaves in the great expanse of territory sounded so much like Weed, +who was advocating with renewed strength the Crittenden plan along +similar lines of devotion to the Union, that it kept alive in the +North the impression that the Senator would yet favour compromise, and +gave Greeley further opportunity to assail him. "Seward, in his speech +on Thursday last," says the <i>Tribune</i>, "declares his readiness to +renounce Republican principles for the sake of the Union."<a name="vol2FNanchor_426_426" id="vol2FNanchor_426_426"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_426_426" class="fnanchor">[426]</a> The +next day his strictures were more pronounced. "The Republican party +... is to be divided and sacrificed if the thing can be done. We are +boldly<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.383" id="vol2Page_ii.383">ii. 383</a></span> told it must be suppressed, and a Union party rise upon its +ruins."<a name="vol2FNanchor_427_427" id="vol2FNanchor_427_427"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_427_427" class="fnanchor">[427]</a> Yet, in spite of such criticism, Seward bore himself with +indomitable courage and with unfailing skill. Never during his whole +career did he prove more brilliant and resourceful as a leader in what +might be called an utterly hopeless parliamentary struggle for the +preservation of the Union, and the highest tributes<a name="vol2FNanchor_428_428" id="vol2FNanchor_428_428"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_428_428" class="fnanchor">[428]</a> paid to his +never-failing tact and temper during some of the most vivid and +fascinating passages of congressional history, attest his success. It +was easy to say, with Senator Chandler of Michigan, that "without a +little blood-letting this Union will not be worth a rush,"<a name="vol2FNanchor_429_429" id="vol2FNanchor_429_429"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_429_429" class="fnanchor">[429]</a> but it +required great skill to speak for the preservation of the Union and +the retention of the corner-stone of the Republican party, without +grieving the Unionists of the border States, or painfully affecting +the radical Republicans of the Northern States. Seward knew that the +latter censured him, and in a letter to the <i>Independent</i> he explains +the cause of it. "Twelve years ago," he wrote, "freedom was in danger +and the Union was not. I spoke then so singly for freedom that +short-sighted men inferred that I was disloyal to the Union. To-day, +practically, freedom is not in danger, and Union is. With the attempt +to maintain Union by civil war, <i>wantonly</i> brought on, there would be +danger of reaction against the Administration charged with the +preservation of both freedom and Union. Now, therefore, I speak singly +for Union, striving, if possible, to save it peaceably; if not +possible, then to cast the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.384" id="vol2Page_ii.384">ii. 384</a></span> responsibility upon the party of slavery. +For this singleness of speech I am now suspected of infidelity to +freedom."<a name="vol2FNanchor_430_430" id="vol2FNanchor_430_430"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_430_430" class="fnanchor">[430]</a></p> + +<p>Lincoln, after his arrival in Washington, asked Seward to suggest such +changes in his inaugural address as he thought advisable, and in the +performance of this delicate duty the New York Senator continued his +policy of conciliation. "I have suggested," he wrote, in returning the +manuscript, "many changes of little importance, severally, but in +their general effect, tending to soothe the public mind. Of course the +concessions are, as they ought to be, if they are to be of avail, at +the cost of the winning, the triumphant party. I do not fear their +displeasure. They will be loyal whatever is said. Not so the defeated, +irritated, angered, frenzied party.... Your case is quite like that of +Jefferson. He brought the first Republican party into power against +and over a party ready to resist and dismember the government. +Partisan as he was, he sank the partisan in the patriot, in his +inaugural address; and propitiated his adversaries by declaring, 'We +are all Federalists; all Republicans.' I could wish that you would +think it wise to follow this example, in this crisis. Be sure that +while all your administrative conduct will be in harmony with +Republican principles and policy, you cannot lose the Republican party +by practising, in your advent to office, the magnanimity of a +victor."<a name="vol2FNanchor_431_431" id="vol2FNanchor_431_431"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_431_431" class="fnanchor">[431]</a></p> + +<p>Of thirty-four changes suggested by Seward, the President-elect +adopted twenty-three outright, and based modifications on eight +others. Three were ignored. Upon only one change did the Senator +really insist. He thought the two paragraphs relating to the +Republican platform adopted at Chicago should be omitted, and, in +obedience to his judgment, Lincoln left them out. Seward declared the +argument of the address strong and conclusive, and ought not in any +way be changed or modified, "but something besides, or in addition<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.385" id="vol2Page_ii.385">ii. 385</a></span> to +argument, is needful," he wrote in a postscript, "to meet and remove +<i>prejudice</i> and <i>passion</i> in the South, and <i>despondency</i> and <i>fear</i> +in the East. Some words of affection. Some of calm and cheerful +confidence."<a name="vol2FNanchor_432_432" id="vol2FNanchor_432_432"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_432_432" class="fnanchor">[432]</a> In line with this suggestion, he submitted the draft +of two concluding paragraphs. The first, "made up of phrases which had +become extremely commonplace by iteration in the six years' slavery +discussion," was clearly inadmissible.<a name="vol2FNanchor_433_433" id="vol2FNanchor_433_433"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_433_433" class="fnanchor">[433]</a> The second was as follows: +"I close. We are not, we must not be, aliens or enemies, but fellow +countrymen and brethren. Although passion has strained our bonds of +affection too hardly, they must not, I am sure they will not, be +broken. The mystic chords which, proceeding from so many battle-fields +and so many patriot graves, pass through all the hearts and all the +hearths in this broad continent of ours, will yet again harmonise in +their ancient music when breathed upon by the guardian angel of the +nation."</p> + +<p>This was the germ of a fine poetic thought, says John Hay, that "Mr. +Lincoln took, and, in a new development and perfect form, gave to it +the life and spirit and beauty which have made it celebrated." As it +appears in the President-elect's clear, firm handwriting, it reads as +follows: "I am loth to close. We are not enemies but friends. We must +not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break +our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from +every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and +hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of +the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better +angels of our nature."<a name="vol2FNanchor_434_434" id="vol2FNanchor_434_434"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_434_434" class="fnanchor">[434]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.386" id="vol2Page_ii.386">ii. 386</a></span></p> +<p>The spirit that softened Lincoln's inaugural into an appeal that +touched every heart, had breathed into the debates of Congress the +conciliation and forbearance that marked the divide between the +conservative and radical Republican. This difference, at the last +moment, occasioned Lincoln much solicitude. He had come to Washington +with his Cabinet completed except as to a secretary of the treasury +and a secretary of war. For the latter place Seward preferred Simon +Cameron, and, in forcing the appointment by his powerful advocacy, he +dealt a retributive blow to Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania, who had +vigorously opposed him at Chicago and was now the most conspicuous of +Cameron's foes.<a name="vol2FNanchor_435_435" id="vol2FNanchor_435_435"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_435_435" class="fnanchor">[435]</a> But Senator Chase of Ohio, to whom Seward +strenuously objected because of his uncompromising attitude, was given +the treasury. The shock of this defeat led the New York Senator to +decline entering the Cabinet. "Circumstances which have occurred since +I expressed my willingness to accept the office of secretary of +state," he wrote, on March 2,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.387" id="vol2Page_ii.387">ii. 387</a></span> "seem to me to render it my duty to ask +leave to withdraw that consent."<a name="vol2FNanchor_436_436" id="vol2FNanchor_436_436"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_436_436" class="fnanchor">[436]</a></p> + +<p>The reception of the unexpected note sent a shiver through Lincoln's +stalwart form. This was the man of men with whom for weeks he had +confidentially conferred, and upon whose judgment and information he +had absolutely relied and acted, "I cannot afford to let Seward take +the first trick," he said to his secretary,<a name="vol2FNanchor_437_437" id="vol2FNanchor_437_437"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_437_437" class="fnanchor">[437]</a> after pondering the +matter during Sunday, and on Monday morning, while the inauguration +procession was forming, he penned a reply. "Your note," he said, "is +the subject of the most painful solicitude with me; and I feel +constrained to beg that you will countermand the withdrawal. The +public interest, I think, demands that you should; and my personal +feelings are deeply enlisted in the same direction. Please consider +and answer by nine o'clock a.m. to-morrow." That night, after the +day's pageant and the evening's reception had ended, the President and +Seward talked long and confidentially, resulting in the latter's +withdrawal of his letter and his nomination and confirmation as +secretary of state. "The President is determined that he will have a +compound Cabinet," Seward wrote his wife, a few days after the unhappy +incident; "and that it shall be peaceful, and even permanent. I was at +one time on the point of refusing—nay, I did refuse, for a time, to +hazard myself in the experiment. But a distracted country appeared +before me, and I withdrew from that position. I believe I can endure +as much as any one; and may be that I can endure enough to make the +experiment successful."<a name="vol2FNanchor_438_438" id="vol2FNanchor_438_438"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_438_438" class="fnanchor">[438]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.388" id="vol2Page_ii.388">ii. 388</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol2CHAPTER_XXIX" id="vol2CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX<br /> +<br /> +THE WEED MACHINE CRIPPLED<br /> +<br /> +1861</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> story of the first forty days of Lincoln's administration is one +of indecent zeal to obtain office. A new party had come into power, +and, in the absence of any suggestion of civil service, patronage was +conceded to the political victors. Office-seekers in large numbers had +visited Washington in 1841 after the election of President Harrison, +and, in the change that followed the triumph of Taylor in 1848, +Seward, then a new senator, complained of their pernicious activity. +Marcy as secretary of state found them no less numerous and insistent +in 1853 when the Whigs again gave way to the Democrats. But never in +the history of the country had such a cloud of applicants settled down +upon the capital of the nation as appeared in 1861. McClure, an +eye-witness of the scene, speaks of the "mobs of office-seekers,"<a name="vol2FNanchor_439_439" id="vol2FNanchor_439_439"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_439_439" class="fnanchor">[439]</a> +and Edwin M. Stanton, who still remained in Washington, wrote Buchanan +that "the scramble for office is terrific. Every department is +overrun, and by the time all the patronage is distributed the +Republican party will be dissolved."<a name="vol2FNanchor_440_440" id="vol2FNanchor_440_440"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_440_440" class="fnanchor">[440]</a> Schuyler Colfax declared to +his mother that "it makes me heart-sick. All over the country our +party is by the ears, fighting for offices."<a name="vol2FNanchor_441_441" id="vol2FNanchor_441_441"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_441_441" class="fnanchor">[441]</a> Seward, writing to +his wife on March 16, speaks of the affliction. "My duties call me to +the White House one, two, or three times a day. The grounds, halls, +stairways, closets, are filled with applicants, who render ingress +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.389" id="vol2Page_ii.389">ii. 389</a></span> egress difficult."<a name="vol2FNanchor_442_442" id="vol2FNanchor_442_442"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_442_442" class="fnanchor">[442]</a> Lincoln himself said: "I seem like one +sitting in a palace, assigning apartments to importunate applicants, +while the structure is on fire and likely soon to perish in +ashes."<a name="vol2FNanchor_443_443" id="vol2FNanchor_443_443"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_443_443" class="fnanchor">[443]</a> Stanton is authority for the statement "that Lincoln +takes the precaution of seeing no stranger alone."<a name="vol2FNanchor_444_444" id="vol2FNanchor_444_444"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_444_444" class="fnanchor">[444]</a></p> + +<p>In this bewildering mass of humanity New York had its share. Seward +sought protection behind his son, Frederick W. Seward, whom the +President had appointed assistant secretary of state. "I have placed +him where he must meet the whole army of friends seeking office," he +wrote his wife on March 8—"an hundred taking tickets when only one +can draw a prize."<a name="vol2FNanchor_445_445" id="vol2FNanchor_445_445"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_445_445" class="fnanchor">[445]</a> Roscoe Conkling, then beginning his second +term in Congress, needed no barrier of this kind. "Early in the year +1861," says his biographer, "a triumvirate of Republicans assumed to +designate candidates for the offices which President Lincoln was about +to fill in the Oneida district. To accomplish this end they went to +Washington and called upon their representative, handing him a list of +candidates to endorse for appointment. Mr. Conkling read it carefully, +and, seeing that it contained undesirable names, he replied: +'Gentlemen, when I need your assistance in making the appointments in +our district, I shall let you know.' This retort, regarded by some of +his friends as indiscreet, was the seed that years afterward ripened +into an unfortunate division of the Republican party."<a name="vol2FNanchor_446_446" id="vol2FNanchor_446_446"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_446_446" class="fnanchor">[446]</a></p> + +<p>If Seward was more tactful than Conkling in the dispensa<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.390" id="vol2Page_ii.390">ii. 390</a></span>tion of +patronage, he was not less vigilant and tenacious. Almost immediately +after inauguration it became apparent that differences relative to +local appointments existed between him and Ira Harris, the newly +elected New York senator. Harris' tall and powerful form, +distinguished by a broad and benevolent face, was not more marked than +the reputation that preceded him as a profound and fearless judge. At +the Albany bar he had been the associate of Marcus T. Reynolds, Samuel +Stevens, Nicholas Hill, and the venerable Daniel Cady, and if he did +not possess the wit of Reynolds or the eloquence of Cady, the +indomitable energy of Stevens and the mental vigour of Nicholas Hill +were his, making conspicuous his achievements in the pursuit of truth +and justice. His transfer to the Senate at the age of fifty-eight and +his appointment upon the judiciary and foreign relations committees, +presented a new opportunity to exhibit his deep and fruitful interest +in public affairs, and, as the friend of Senators Collamer of Vermont +and Sumner of Massachusetts, he was destined to have an influential +share in the vital legislation of the war period.</p> + +<p>Harris took little interest in the distribution of patronage, or in +questions of party politics that quicken local strife, but he insisted +upon a fair recognition of his friends, and to adjust their +differences Seward arranged an evening conference to which the +President was invited. At this meeting the discussion took a broad +range. The secretary of state had prepared a list covering the +important offices in New York, but before he could present it, +Lincoln, with the ready intuitions of a shrewd politician, remarked +that he reserved to himself the privilege of appointing Hiram Barney +collector of the port of New York. This announcement did not surprise +Seward, for, at the conclusion of Weed's visit to Springfield in the +preceding December, Lincoln reminded the journalist that he had said +nothing about appointments. "Some gentlemen who have been quite +nervous about the object of your visit here," said the +President-elect, "would be surprised, if not incredulous, were I to +tell them that<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.391" id="vol2Page_ii.391">ii. 391</a></span> during the two days we have passed together you have +made no application, suggestion, or allusion to political +appointments."</p> + +<p>To this the shrewd manager, willing to wait until Seward's appointment +and confirmation as secretary of state had placed him in a position to +direct rather than to beg patronage, replied that nothing of that +nature had been upon his mind, since he was much more concerned about +the welfare of the country. "This," said Lincoln, "is undoubtedly a +proper view of the question, and yet so much were you misunderstood +that I have received telegrams from prominent Republicans warning me +against your efforts to forestall important appointments in your +State. Other gentlemen who have visited me since the election have +expressed similar apprehensions." The President, thus cunningly +leading up to what was on his mind, said further that it was +particularly pleasant to him to reflect that he was coming into office +unembarrassed by promises. "I have not," said he, "promised an office +to any man, nor have I, but in a single instance, mentally committed +myself to an appointment; and as that relates to an important office +in your State, I have concluded to mention it to you—under strict +injunctions of secrecy, however. If I am not induced by public +considerations to change my purpose, Hiram Barney will be collector of +the port of New York."<a name="vol2FNanchor_447_447" id="vol2FNanchor_447_447"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_447_447" class="fnanchor">[447]</a></p> + +<p>To Weed, Barney's name aroused no agreeable memories. At the formation +of the Republican party he had found it easier to affiliate with +Lucius Robinson and David Dudley Field than to act in accord with the +Whig leader, and the result at Chicago had emphasised this +independence. Too politic, however, to antagonise the appointment, and +too wary to indorse it, Weed replied that prior to the Chicago +convention he had known Barney very slightly, but that, if what he had +learned of him since was true, Barney was entitled to any office he +asked for. "He has not asked for this<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.392" id="vol2Page_ii.392">ii. 392</a></span> or any other office," said +Lincoln, quickly; "nor does he know of my intention."<a name="vol2FNanchor_448_448" id="vol2FNanchor_448_448"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_448_448" class="fnanchor">[448]</a></p> + +<p>If the President-elect failed to draw out the adroit New Yorker, he +had tactfully given notice of his intention not to be controlled by +him. A political boss, outside his own State, usually bears the +reputation that home opponents give him, and, although Weed was never +so bad as painted by his adversaries, he had long been a chief with an +odious notoriety. Apparently disinterested, and always refusing to +seek or to accept office himself, he loved power, and for years, +whenever Whig or Republican party was ascendant in New York, his +ambition to prescribe its policy, direct its movements, and dictate +the men who might hold office, had been discreetly but imperiously +exercised, until his influence was viewed with abhorrence by many and +with distrust by the country.<a name="vol2FNanchor_449_449" id="vol2FNanchor_449_449"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_449_449" class="fnanchor">[449]</a> It is doubtful if Lincoln's opinion +corresponded with the accepted one,<a name="vol2FNanchor_450_450" id="vol2FNanchor_450_450"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_450_450" class="fnanchor">[450]</a> but his desire to have some +avenue of informa<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.393" id="vol2Page_ii.393">ii. 393</a></span>tion respecting New York affairs opened to him other +than through the Weed machine, made the President bold to declare his +independence at the outset.</p> + +<p>The immediate influence that led to the announcement of Barney's +selection, however, is not entirely clear. At the Cooper Institute +meeting in February, 1860, at which Lincoln spoke, Barney occupied a +seat on the stage, and was among the few gentlemen having opportunity +to pay the distinguished Illinoisan those courtesies which especially +please one who felt, as Lincoln did "by reason of his own modest +estimate of himself,"<a name="vol2FNanchor_451_451" id="vol2FNanchor_451_451"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_451_451" class="fnanchor">[451]</a> that he was under obligation to any person +showing him marked attention. But neither this fact nor Barney's +subsequent support at Chicago sufficiently accounts for the strong +preference indicated by such an important and far-reaching +appointment. Among the few indorsements on file in the treasury +department at Washington, one letter, dated March 8, 1861, and +addressed to Salmon P. Chase, speaks of Barney as "a personal friend +of yours." Six days later a New York newspaper announced that "the +appointment of Barney has been a fixed fact ever since Chase went into +the Cabinet. It was this influence that persuaded Chase to accept the +position."<a name="vol2FNanchor_452_452" id="vol2FNanchor_452_452"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_452_452" class="fnanchor">[452]</a> The biographer of Thurlow Weed, probably basing the +statement upon the belief of Weed himself, states, without +qualification, that "Barney was appointed through the influence of +Secretary Chase."<a name="vol2FNanchor_453_453" id="vol2FNanchor_453_453"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_453_453" class="fnanchor">[453]</a> This may, in part, account for Weed's and +Seward's bitter hostility to the Ohioan's becoming a member of the +Cabinet; for, if Chase, before his appointment as secretary of the +treasury, had sufficient influence to control the principal federal +office in New York, what, might they not have asked, would be the +measure of this influence after the development of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.394" id="vol2Page_ii.394">ii. 394</a></span> great ability +as a financier has made him necessary to the President as well as to +the country?</p> + +<p>Inquiry, however, as to the one first suggesting Barney's name to +Lincoln does not lead to the open. Chase's entrance into the Cabinet +being settled, his influence firmly sustained Barney, but, before +that, very early after the election, between November 7 and Weed's +visit to Springfield on December 17, some one spoke the word in +Barney's behalf which left such a deep and lasting impression upon the +President's mind that he determined to advise Weed, before Seward +could accept the state portfolio, of his intention to appoint Barney +collector of the port of New York. The name of the person exerting +such an influence, however, is now unknown. During this period Chase +neither saw the President-elect, nor, so far as the records show, +wrote him more than a formal note of congratulations. Another possible +avenue of communication may have been Bryant or Greeley, but the +latter distinctly denied that he asked, or wanted, or manipulated the +appointment of any one.<a name="vol2FNanchor_454_454" id="vol2FNanchor_454_454"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_454_454" class="fnanchor">[454]</a> Bryant, who had great influence with +Lincoln,<a name="vol2FNanchor_455_455" id="vol2FNanchor_455_455"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_455_455" class="fnanchor">[455]</a> and who strongly opposed Seward's going into the +Cabinet,<a name="vol2FNanchor_456_456" id="vol2FNanchor_456_456"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_456_456" class="fnanchor">[456]</a> had presided at the Cooper Institute meeting and sat +beside Hiram Barney. He knew that such a man, placed at the head of +the custom-house and wielding its vast patronage, could be a potent +factor in breaking Weed's control, but the editor's only published +letter to Lincoln during this period was confined to reasons for +making Chase secretary of state. In it he did not deprecate the +strengthening of the Weed machine which would probably ignore the +original New York supporters of Lincoln, or in any wise refer to local +matters. Bryant had been partial to Chase for President until after +Lincoln's Cooper Institute speech, and now, after election, he thought +Chase, as secre<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.395" id="vol2Page_ii.395">ii. 395</a></span>tary of state, would be best for the country. +Lincoln's reply of "a few lines," convincing his correspondent "that +whatever selection you make it will be made conscientiously," +contained no word about Barney. Other letters, or parties personally +interested in Barney, may have passed between the President-elect and +Bryant, or Chase. Indeed, Lincoln confessed to Weed that he had +received telegrams and visits from prominent Republicans, warning him +against the Albany editor's efforts to forestall important state +appointments, but no clue is left to identify them. The mystery +deepens, too, since, whatever was done, came without Barney's +suggestion or knowledge.<a name="vol2FNanchor_457_457" id="vol2FNanchor_457_457"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_457_457" class="fnanchor">[457]</a></p> + +<p>Hiram Barney, a native of Jefferson County, a graduate of Union +College in 1834, and the head of a well-known law firm, was a lawyer +of high character and a Republican of Democratic antecedents, who had +stood with Greeley and Bryant in opposing Seward at Chicago, and whose +appointment to the most important federal office in the State meant +mischief for Weed.<a name="vol2FNanchor_458_458" id="vol2FNanchor_458_458"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_458_458" class="fnanchor">[458]</a> In its effect it was not unlike President +Garfield's selection of William H. Robertson for the same place; and, +although it did not at once result so disastrously to Weed as +Robertson's appointment did to Conkling twenty years later, it gave +the editor's adversaries vantage ground,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.396" id="vol2Page_ii.396">ii. 396</a></span> which so seriously crippled +the Weed machine, that, in the succeeding November, George Opdyke, a +personal enemy of Thurlow Weed,<a name="vol2FNanchor_459_459" id="vol2FNanchor_459_459"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_459_459" class="fnanchor">[459]</a> was nominated and elected mayor +of New York City.</p> + +<p>At the conference of the President and New York senators, Seward, +accepting the inevitable, received Lincoln's announcement of Barney's +appointment in chilling silence. Without openly disclosing itself, the +proposed step had been the cause of much friction, and was yet to be +opposed with coolness and candour,<a name="vol2FNanchor_460_460" id="vol2FNanchor_460_460"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_460_460" class="fnanchor">[460]</a> but Lincoln's firmness in +declaring that Barney was a man of integrity who had his confidence, +and that he had made the appointment on his own responsibility and +from personal knowledge,<a name="vol2FNanchor_461_461" id="vol2FNanchor_461_461"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_461_461" class="fnanchor">[461]</a> impressed his hearers with the belief +that, with whatever disfavour Seward listened, he had practically +surrendered to the will of his superior. Another scene occurred, as +the interview proceeded, which also indicated the master spirit. After +reviewing the extended list of names presented for collectors and +other officers, Seward expressed the wish that the nominations might +be sent forthwith to the Senate. The embarrassed senators, unprepared +for such haste, found in the secretary of the navy, who had +accompanied the President on the latter's invitation, a ready opponent +to such a plan because other members of the Cabinet had been wholly +ignored. Welles inquired if the secretary of the treasury and +attorney-general had been consulted, insisting that a proper +administration of the departments made their concurrence in the +selection of competent subordinates upon whom they must rely, not only +proper but absolutely necessary. Seward objected to this as +unnecessary, for these were New York appointments, he said, and he +knew better than Chase and Bates what was best in that State for the +party and the Administration. The President,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.397" id="vol2Page_ii.397">ii. 397</a></span> however, agreed with the +secretary of the navy, declaring that nothing conclusive would be done +until he had advised with interested heads of departments. "With +this," says Welles, "the meeting soon and somewhat abruptly +terminated."<a name="vol2FNanchor_462_462" id="vol2FNanchor_462_462"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_462_462" class="fnanchor">[462]</a> So far as it related to the distribution of +patronage, this conference, held early in March, settled nothing +beyond Barney's appointment; as to the question whether Seward was +President or Premier, however, the New Yorker soon learned that he was +to have influence with his chief only by reason of his assiduous +attention to the public business and his dexterity and tact in +promoting the views of the President.<a name="vol2FNanchor_463_463" id="vol2FNanchor_463_463"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_463_463" class="fnanchor">[463]</a></p> + +<p>To the outsider, the appointment of Barney looked, for the moment, +like a substantial defeat for Seward. "The mighty struggle," said the +<i>Herald</i>, "is for the possession of the New York appointments, and the +strife is deadly and bitter."<a name="vol2FNanchor_464_464" id="vol2FNanchor_464_464"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_464_464" class="fnanchor">[464]</a> The anti-Weed forces, reinforced by +the arrival of Greeley,<a name="vol2FNanchor_465_465" id="vol2FNanchor_465_465"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_465_465" class="fnanchor">[465]</a> the coming of Barney,<a name="vol2FNanchor_466_466" id="vol2FNanchor_466_466"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_466_466" class="fnanchor">[466]</a> and the +persistence of Harris,<a name="vol2FNanchor_467_467" id="vol2FNanchor_467_467"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_467_467" class="fnanchor">[467]</a> were elated over reported changes in the +Weed slate, believing the fruit of their long labours was about to +come at last, but from the sum-total of the nominations, made day by +day, it appeared that while several attachés of the <i>Tribune's</i> staff +had been recognised,<a name="vol2FNanchor_468_468" id="vol2FNanchor_468_468"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_468_468" class="fnanchor">[468]</a> Seward had secured all<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.398" id="vol2Page_ii.398">ii. 398</a></span> the important +offices save collector of the port.<a name="vol2FNanchor_469_469" id="vol2FNanchor_469_469"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_469_469" class="fnanchor">[469]</a> During this turmoil the +Secretary's unfailing calmness was not disturbed, nor his uniform +courtesy ruffled.</p> + +<p>Seward never forgot a real friend. Out of thirty-five diplomatic posts +carrying a salary of five thousand dollars and upward, the Empire +State was credited with nine; and, of these, one, a minister +plenipotentiary, received twelve thousand dollars, and seven ministers +resident, seventy-five hundred each. Seward, with the advice of +Thurlow Weed, filled them all with tried and true supporters. Greeley, +who, for some time, had been murmuring about the Secretary's +appointments, let fly, at last, a sarcastic paragraph or two about the +appointment of Andrew B. Dickinson, the farmer statesman of Steuben, +which betrayed something of the bitterness existing between the +Secretary of State and the editor of the <i>Tribune</i>. For more than a +year no such thing had existed as personal relations. Before the +spring of 1860 they met frequently with a show of cordiality, and, +although the former understood that the latter boasted an independence +of control whenever they differed in opinion, the <i>Tribune</i> +co-operated and its editor freely conferred with the New York senator +during the long struggle in Congress for Kansas and free labour; but +after Seward's defeat at Chicago they never met,<a name="vol2FNanchor_470_470" id="vol2FNanchor_470_470"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_470_470" class="fnanchor">[470]</a> dislike +displaced regard, and the <i>Tribune</i>, with eye and ear open to catch +whatever would make its adversary wince, indulged in bitter sarcasm. +William B. Taylor's reappointment as postmaster at New York City gave +it opportunity to praise Taylor and criticise Seward, claiming that +the former, who had held office under<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.399" id="vol2Page_ii.399">ii. 399</a></span> Buchanan, though an excellent +official, was not a Republican. This proved so deep a thrust, arraying +office-seekers and their friends against the Secretary and Thurlow +Weed, that Greeley kept it up, finding some appointees inefficient, +and the Republicanism of others insufficient.</p> + +<p>To the former class belonged the minister resident to Nicaragua. +Dickinson had wearied of a farmer's life,<a name="vol2FNanchor_471_471" id="vol2FNanchor_471_471"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_471_471" class="fnanchor">[471]</a> and Seward, who often +benefited by his ardent and influential friendship, bade him make his +own selection from the good things he had to offer. More than ordinary +reasons existed why the Secretary desired to assist the Steuben +farmer. Dickinson served in the State Senate throughout Seward's two +terms as governor, and during these four years he had fearlessly and +faithfully explained and defended Seward's recommendation of a +division of the school fund, which proved so offensive to many +thousand voters in New York. Indeed, it may be said with truth, that +Seward's record on that one question did more to defeat him at Chicago +than all his "irrepressible conflict" and "higher-law" declarations. +It became the fulcrum of Curtin's and Lane's aggressive resistance, +who claimed that, in the event of his nomination, the American or +Know-Nothing element in Pennsylvania and Indiana would not only +maintain its organisation, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.400" id="vol2Page_ii.400">ii. 400</a></span> largely increase its strength, because +of its strong prejudices against a division of the school fund.</p> + +<p>Dickinson met this issue squarely. He followed the powerful +Pennsylvanian and Indianian from delegation to delegation, explaining +that Seward had sought simply to turn the children of poor foreigners +into the path of moral and intellectual cultivation pursued by the +American born,—a policy, he declared, in which all Republicans and +Christian citizens should concur. He pictured school conditions in New +York City in 1840, the date of Seward's historic message; he showed +how prejudices arising from differences of language and religion kept +schoolhouses empty and slum children ignorant, while reform schools +and prisons were full. Under these circumstances, thundered the +Steuben farmer, Seward did right in recommending the establishment of +schools in which such children might be instructed by teachers +speaking the same language with themselves, and professing the same +faith.</p> + +<p>This was the sort of defence Seward appreciated. His recommendation +had not been the result of carelessness or inadvertence, and, although +well-meaning friends sought to excuse it as such, he resented the +insinuation. "I am only determined the more," he wrote, "to do what +may be in my power to render our system of education as comprehensive +as the interests involved, and to provide for the support of the +glorious superstructure of universal suffrage,—the basis of universal +education."<a name="vol2FNanchor_472_472" id="vol2FNanchor_472_472"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_472_472" class="fnanchor">[472]</a> In his defence, Dickinson maintained the excellence +of Seward's suggestion, and it deeply angered the Steuben farmer that +the <i>Tribune's</i> editor, who knew the facts as well as he, did not also +attempt to silence the arguments of the two most influential Lincoln +delegates, who boldly based their opposition, not upon personal +hostility or his advanced position in Republican faith, but upon what +Greeley had known for twenty years to be a perversion of Seward's +language and Seward's motives.</p> + +<p>In the Secretary's opinion Dickinson's bold defiance of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.401" id="vol2Page_ii.401">ii. 401</a></span> the rules of +grammar and spelling did not weaken his natural intellectual strength; +but Greeley, whom the would-be diplomat, with profane vituperation, +had charged at Chicago with the basest ingratitude,<a name="vol2FNanchor_473_473" id="vol2FNanchor_473_473"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_473_473" class="fnanchor">[473]</a> protested +against such an appointment to such an important post. "We have long +known him," said the <i>Tribune</i>, "as a skilful farmer, a cunning +politician, and a hearty admirer of Mr. Seward, but never suspected +him of that intimate knowledge of the Spanish language which is almost +indispensable to that country, which, just at this moment, from the +peculiar designs of the Southern rebels, is one of the most important +that the secretary of state has to fill."<a name="vol2FNanchor_474_474" id="vol2FNanchor_474_474"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_474_474" class="fnanchor">[474]</a> Dickinson recognised +the odium that would attach to Seward because of the appointment, and +in a characteristic letter he assured the Secretary of State that, +whatever Greeley might say, he need have no fear of his ability to +represent the government efficiently at the court of Nicaragua.<a name="vol2FNanchor_475_475" id="vol2FNanchor_475_475"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_475_475" class="fnanchor">[475]</a></p> + +<p>James S. Pike's selection for minister resident to The Hague seemed to +contradict Greeley's declaration that he neither asked nor desired the +appointment of any one. For years Pike, "a skilful maligner of Mr. +Seward,"<a name="vol2FNanchor_476_476" id="vol2FNanchor_476_476"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_476_476" class="fnanchor">[476]</a> had been the Washington representative of the <i>Tribune</i>, +and the belief generally obtained that, although Pike belonged to +Maine and was supported by its delegation in Congress, the real power +behind the throne lived in New York. Nevertheless, the <i>Tribune's</i> +editor, drifting in thought and speech in the inevitable direction of +his genius, soon indicated that he had had no personal favours to ask.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.402" id="vol2Page_ii.402">ii. 402</a></span></p> +<p>Seward's appointment as secretary of state chilled Greeley's love for +the new Administration.<a name="vol2FNanchor_477_477" id="vol2FNanchor_477_477"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_477_477" class="fnanchor">[477]</a> The <i>Tribune's</i> editor seems never to +have shown an exalted appreciation of Abraham Lincoln. Although they +served together in Congress, and, for twenty years, had held to the +same political faith, Greeley, apparently indifferent to his +colleague's success, advocated, in 1858, the return of Stephen A. +Douglas to the United States Senate, because of his hostility to the +Lecompton policy of the Buchanan administration, and it was intimated +that this support, backed by his powerful journal, may have resulted +in Douglas' carrying the Legislature against Lincoln. In 1860, Greeley +favoured Bates for President. He was not displeased to have Lincoln +nominated, but his battle had been to defeat Seward, and when Lincoln +turned to Seward for secretary of state, which meant, as Greeley +believed, the domination of the Weed machine to punish his revolt +against Seward, Greeley became irretrievably embittered against the +President.</p> + +<p>It is doubtful if Lincoln and Greeley, under any circumstances, could +have had close personal relations. Lack of sympathy because they did +not see things alike must have kept them apart; but Seward's presence +in the Cabinet undoubtedly limited Greeley's intercourse with the +President at a time when frequent conferences might have avoided grave +embarrassments. His virile and brilliant talents, which turned him +into an independent and acute thinker on a wide range of subjects, +always interested his readers, giving expression to the thoughts of +many earnest men who aided in forming public opinion in their +neighbourhoods, so that it may be said with truth, that, in 1860 and +1861, everything he wrote was eagerly read and discussed in the North. +"Notwithstanding the loyal support given Lincoln throughout the +country,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol2Page_ii.403" id="vol2Page_ii.403">ii. 403</a></span> says McClure, "Greeley was in closer touch with the active, +loyal sentiment of the people than even the President himself."<a name="vol2FNanchor_478_478" id="vol2FNanchor_478_478"></a><a href="#vol2Footnote_478_478" class="fnanchor">[478]</a> +His art of saying things on paper seemed to thrill people as much as +the nervous, spirited rhetoric of an intense talker. With the air of +lofty detachment from sordid interests, his sentences, clear and +rapid, read like the clarion notes of a peroration, and impressed his +great audiences with an earnestness that often carried conviction even +to unwilling listeners.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the <i>Tribune's</i> columns did not manifest toward the +Administration a fine exhibition of the love of fair play. In the +hottest moment of excitement growing out of hostilities, it +patriotically supported the most vigorous prosecution of the war, and +mercilessly criticised its opponents; but Greeley would neither +conform to nor silently endure Lincoln's judgment, and, as every step +in the war created new issues, his constant criticism, made through +the columns of a great newspaper, kept the party more or less +seriously divided, until, by untimely forcing emancipation, he +inspired, despite the patient and conciliatory methods of Lincoln, a +factious hostility to the President which embarrassed his efforts to +marshal a solid North in support of his war policy. Greeley was a man +of clean hands and pure heart, and, at the outset, it is probable that +his attempted direction of Lincoln's policy existed without +ill-feeling; yet he was a good hater, and, as the contest went on, he +drifted into an opposition which gradually increased in bitterness, +and, finally, led to a temporary and foolish rebellion against the +President's renomination. Meantime, the great-hearted Lincoln, conning +the lesson taught by the voice of history, continued to practise the +precept,</p> + +<p class="cpoem"> +"Saying, What is excellent,<br /> +As God lives, is permanent."<br /> +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2>FOOTNOTES TO VOLUME II</h2> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_1_1" id="vol2Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_2_2" id="vol2Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_3_3" id="vol2Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> "Many years ago I was riding with Gerrit Smith in +northern New York. He suddenly stopped the carriage, and, looking +around for a few minutes, said: 'We are now on some of my poor land, +familiarly known as the John Brown tract;' and he then added, 'I own +eight hundred thousand acres, of which this is a part, and all in one +piece.' Everybody knows that his father purchased the most of it at +sales by the comptrollers of state for unpaid taxes. He said he owned +land in fifty-six of the sixty counties in New York. He was also a +landlord in other States."—H.B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. +189.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_4_4" id="vol2Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Horace Greeley, <i>The American Conflict</i>, Vol. 1, p. 122, +<i>note</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_5_5" id="vol2Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 319.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_6_6" id="vol2Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Governors' Messages</i>, January 5, 1836.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_7_7" id="vol2Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> "When the bill came to a vote in the Senate, although +there was really a substantial majority against it, a tie was +skilfully arranged to compel Van Buren, as Vice President, to give the +casting vote. White, the Southern Democratic candidate so seriously +menacing him, was in the Senate, and voted for the bill. Van Buren +must, it was supposed, offend the pro-slavery men by voting against +the bill, or offend the North and perhaps bruise his conscience by +voting for it. When the roll was being called, Van Buren, so Benton +tells us, was out of the chair, walking behind the colonnade at the +rear of the Vice President's seat. Calhoun, fearful lest he might +escape the ordeal, eagerly asked where he was, and told the +sergeant-at-arms to look for him. But Van Buren was ready, and at once +stepped to his chair and voted for the bill. His close friend, Silas +Wright of New York, also voted for it. Benton says he deemed both the +votes to be political and given from policy. So they probably were.... +Van Buren never deserved to be called a 'Northern man with Southern +principles.' But this vote came nearer to an excuse for the epithet +than did any other act of his career."—Edward M. Shepard, <i>Life of +Martin Van Buren</i>, p. 277.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_8_8" id="vol2Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> William L. Marcy, 166,122; Jesse Buel, 136,648—<i>Civil +List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_9_9" id="vol2Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 366.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_10_10" id="vol2Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 373.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_11_11" id="vol2Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 374.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_12_12" id="vol2Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> "Apart from politics, I liked Seward, though not blind +to his faults. His natural instincts were humane and progressive. He +hated slavery and all its belongings, though a seeming necessity +constrained him to write, in 1838, to this intensely pro-slavery city, +a pro-slavery letter, which was at war with his real, or at least with +his subsequent convictions. Though of Democratic parentage, he had +been an Adams man, an anti-Mason, and was now thoroughly a Whig. The +policy of more extensive and vigorous internal improvement had no more +zealous champion. By nature, genial and averse to pomp, ceremony, and +formality, few public men of his early prime were better calculated to +attract and fascinate young men of his own party, and holding views +accordant on most points with his.... Weed was of coarser mould and +fibre than Seward—tall, robust, dark-featured, shrewd, resolute, and +not over-scrupulous—keen-sighted, though not far-seeing."—Horace +Greeley, <i>Recollections of a Busy Life</i>, pp. 311, 312.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_13_13" id="vol2Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_14_14" id="vol2Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_15_15" id="vol2Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_16_16" id="vol2Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 466.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_17_17" id="vol2Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_18_18" id="vol2Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> William H. Seward, 192,882; William L. Marcy, +182,461.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_19_19" id="vol2Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 379.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_20_20" id="vol2Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_21_21" id="vol2Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +63. F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 381.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_22_22" id="vol2Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_23_23" id="vol2Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 1, p. +423.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_24_24" id="vol2Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 2, p. 97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_25_25" id="vol2Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 642.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_26_26" id="vol2Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +100.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_27_27" id="vol2Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 395.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_28_28" id="vol2Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 459.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_29_29" id="vol2Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +73.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_30_30" id="vol2Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 1, p. +461.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_31_31" id="vol2Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 2, p. 86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_32_32" id="vol2Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 483.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_33_33" id="vol2Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_34_34" id="vol2Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> William H. Seward, 222,011; William C. Bouck, +216,808.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_35_35" id="vol2Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> "Seward had faults, which his accession to power soon +displayed in bold relief. His natural tendencies were toward a +government not merely paternal, but prodigal—one which, in its +multiform endeavours to make every one prosperous, if not rich, was +very likely to whelm all in general embarrassment, if not in general +bankruptcy. Few governors have favoured, few senators voted for more +unwisely lavish expenditures than he. Above the suspicion of voting +money into his own pocket, he has a rooted dislike to opposing a +project or bill whereby any of his attached friends are to profit. +And, conceited as we all are, I think most men exceed him in the art +of concealing from others their overweening faith in their own +sagacity and discernment."—Horace Greeley, <i>Recollections of a Busy +Life</i>, p. 312.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_36_36" id="vol2Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 547.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_37_37" id="vol2Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> "For four days the debate on a bill for the enlargement +of the canals shed darkness rather than light over the subject, and +the chamber grew murky. One morning a tallish man, past middle age, +with iron-gray locks drooping on his shoulders, and wearing a mixed +suit of plain clothes, took the floor. I noticed that pens, +newspapers, and all else were laid down, and every eye fixed on the +speaker. I supposed he was some quaint old joker from the backwoods, +who was going to afford the House a little fun. The first sentences +arrested my attention. A beam of light shot through the darkness, and +I began to get glimpses of the question at issue. Soon a broad belt of +sunshine spread over the chamber. 'Who is he?' I asked a member. +'Michael Hoffman,' was the reply. He spoke for an hour, and though his +manner was quiet and his diction simple, he was so methodical and +lucid in his argument that, where all had appeared confused before, +everything now seemed clear."—H.B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, +p. 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_38_38" id="vol2Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 1, p. +34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_39_39" id="vol2Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> William C. Bouck, 208,072; Luther Bradish, +186,091.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_40_40" id="vol2Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +96.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_41_41" id="vol2Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 627.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_42_42" id="vol2Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +3, p. 412.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_43_43" id="vol2Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +3, p. 412.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_44_44" id="vol2Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> "One morning Hoffman rose to reply to Seymour, but on +learning that he was ill he refused to deliver his speech for two or +three days, till Seymour was able to be in his seat."—H.B. Stanton, +<i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 175.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_45_45" id="vol2Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +3, p. 441.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_46_46" id="vol2Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Edward M. Shepard, <i>Life of Martin Van Buren</i>, p. 407.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_47_47" id="vol2Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> "Judge Fine, Mr. Butler, and other members of the New +York delegation, reposed great confidence in the opinions and +statements of Mr. Cave Johnson, of Tennessee. He frequently met with +the delegation, and expressed himself in the strongest terms of +personal and political friendship towards Mr. Van Buren and Mr. +Wright. He said he regretted that the Democratic convention in +Tennessee had not named Mr. Van Buren as the candidate. So strong was +the confidence in Mr. Johnson as a friend of Mr. Van Buren, that he +was apprised of all our plans in regard to the organisation of the +convention, and was requested to nominate Gov. Hubbard of New +Hampshire, as temporary chairman. But when the convention assembled +Gen. Saunders of North Carolina called the convention to order and +nominated Hendrick B. Wright, of Pennsylvania, a friend of Mr. +Buchanan, as temporary president. Messrs. Walker, Saunders, and Cave +Johnson were the principal managers for the delegates from the +southern section of the Union."—Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History +of New York</i>, Vol. 3, p. 447.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_48_48" id="vol2Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> "The danger of Van Buren's difference with Jackson it +was sought to avert. Butler visited Jackson at the Hermitage, and +doubtless showed him for what sinister end he had been used. Jackson +did not withdraw his approval of annexation; but publicly declared his +regard for Van Buren to be so great, his confidence in Van Buren's +love of country to be so strengthened by long intimacy, that no +difference about Texas could change his opinion. But the work of +Calhoun and Robert J. Walker had been too well done."—Edward M. +Shepard, <i>Life of Martin Van Buren</i>, p. 407.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_49_49" id="vol2Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +3, p. 444.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_50_50" id="vol2Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +3, p. 450. +</p><p> +"The real contest took place over the adoption of the rule requiring a +two-thirds vote for the nomination. For it was through this rule that +enough Southern members, chosen before Van Buren's letter, were to +escape obedience to their instructions to vote for him. Robert J. +Walker, then a senator from Mississippi, a man of interesting history +and large ability, led the Southerners. He quoted the precedent of +1832 when Van Buren had been nominated for the Vice Presidency under +the two-thirds rule, and that of 1835, when he had been nominated for +the Presidency. These nominations had led to victory. In 1840 the rule +had not been adopted. Without this rule, he said amid angry +excitement, the party would yield to those whose motto seemed to be +'rule or ruin.' Butler, Daniel S. Dickinson, and Marcus Morton led the +Northern ranks.... Morton said that under the majority rule Jefferson +had been nominated; that rule had governed state, county, and township +conventions. Butler admitted that under the rule Van Buren would not +be nominated, although a majority of the convention was known to be +for him. In 1832 and 1835 the two-thirds rule had prevailed because it +was certainly known who would be nominated; and the rule operated to +aid not to defeat the majority. If the rule were adopted, it would be +by the votes of States which were not Democratic, and would bring +'dismemberment and final breaking up of the party.' Walker laughed at +Butler's 'tall vaulting' from the floor; and, refusing to shrink from +the Van Buren issue, he protested against New York dictation, and +warningly said that, if Van Buren were nominated, Clay would be +elected."—Edward M. Shepard, <i>Life of Martin Van Buren</i>, p. 408.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_51_51" id="vol2Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> "Next to the Presidency no place was so much desired, in +the times we are now reviewing, as that of senator of the United +States. The body was illustrious through the fame of its members, who +generally exhibited the very flower and highest outcome of American +political life; dignified, powerful, respected, it was the pride of +the nation, and one of its main bulwarks. The height of ordinary +ambition was satisfied by attainment to that place; and men once +securely seated there would have been content to hold it on and on, +asking no more. One cannot doubt the sincerity of the expressions in +which Mr. Wright announced his distress at being thrown from that +delightful eminence into the whirlpools and quicksands at +Albany."—Morgan Dix, <i>Memoirs of John Dix</i>, Vol. 1, pp. 194, 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_52_52" id="vol2Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 723. +</p><p> +"Wright was a strong man the day before his nomination for governor. +He fell far, and if left alone will be not, what he might have been, +George I. to William of Orange, lineal heir to Jackson, through Van +Buren. The wiseacres in New York speak of him with compliment, 'this +distinguished statesman;' yet they bring all their small artillery to +bear upon him, and give notice that he is demolished. The praise they +bestow is very ill concealed, but less injurious to us than their +warfare, conducted in their mode."—Letter of W.H. Seward to Thurlow +Weed, <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 1, p. 725.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_53_53" id="vol2Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +121.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_54_54" id="vol2Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> H.B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 135.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_55_55" id="vol2Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 699.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_56_56" id="vol2Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +3, p. 441, <i>note</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_57_57" id="vol2Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 723.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_58_58" id="vol2Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 719. +</p><p> +"I think you cannot leave the <i>Journal</i> without giving up the whole +army to dissension and overthrow. I agree that if, by remaining, you +save it, you only draw down double denunciation upon yourself and me. +Nor do I see the way through and beyond that. But there will be some +way through. I grant, then, that, for yourself and me, it is wise and +profitable that you leave. I must be left without the possibility of +restoration, without a defender, without an organ. Nothing else will +satisfy those who think they are shaded. Then, and not until then, +shall I have passed through the not unreasonable punishment for too +much success. But the party—the country? They cannot bear your +withdrawal. I think I am not mistaken in this. Let us adhere, then. +Stand fast. It is neither wise nor reasonable that we should bear the +censure of defeat, when we have been deprived of not merely command, +but of a voice in council."—W.H. Seward to Thurlow Weed, <i>Ibid.</i>, +Vol. 1, p. 720.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_59_59" id="vol2Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 718.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_60_60" id="vol2Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 723.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_61_61" id="vol2Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 727.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_62_62" id="vol2Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Private letter, Henry Clay to Stephen Miller, +Tuscaloosa, Ala., July 1, 1844.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_63_63" id="vol2Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_64_64" id="vol2Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 724.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_65_65" id="vol2Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> Silas Wright, 241,090; Millard Fillmore, 231,057; Alvan +Stewart, 15,136.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_66_66" id="vol2Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> In 1840 Gerrit Smith received 2662; in 1842 Alvan +Stewart polled 7263.—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_67_67" id="vol2Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 1, p. +572.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_68_68" id="vol2Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> "On that occasion the feud between the two sections of +the party was disclosed in all its intensity. The conflict, which was +sharp and ended in the election of Daniel S. Dickinson for the +six-years term, in spite of the strong opposition of the Radical +members of the caucus, was a triumph for the Conservatives, and a +defeat for the friends of Governor Wright. The closing years of the +great statesman's life were overcast by shadows; adverse influences +were evidently in the ascendant, not only at Washington, but close +about him and at home."—Morgan Dix, <i>Memoirs of John A. Dix</i>, Vol. 1, +p. 194.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_69_69" id="vol2Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> "On the great question that loomed threateningly on the +horizon, Wright and Marcy took opposite sides. Wright moved calmly +along with the advancing liberal sentiment of the period, and died a +firm advocate of the policy of the Wilmot Proviso. On this test +measure Marcy took no step forward."—H.B. Stanton, <i>Random +Recollections</i>, p. 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_70_70" id="vol2Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +3, p. 537.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_71_71" id="vol2Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +3, p. 544.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_72_72" id="vol2Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_73_73" id="vol2Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 791.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_74_74" id="vol2Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_75_75" id="vol2Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +3, p. 655.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_76_76" id="vol2Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +3, p. 756. <i>Appendix.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_77_77" id="vol2Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +3, p. 762.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_78_78" id="vol2Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> John Young, 198,878; Silas Wright, 187,306; Henry +Bradley, 12,844; Ogden Edwards, 6306.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> +(1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_79_79" id="vol2Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_80_80" id="vol2Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +3, p. 756. <i>Appendix.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_81_81" id="vol2Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +3, p. 691.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_82_82" id="vol2Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 3, p. 693. +</p><p> +"More serious than either of these [Anti-Rent disturbance and veto of +canal appropriation] was the harm done by the quiet yet persistent +opposition of the Hunkers. Nor can it be doubted that the influence of +the Government at Washington was thrown against him in that critical +hour. Governor Marcy was secretary of war; Samuel Nelson had just been +appointed a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; +Governor Bouck held one of the most influential offices in the city of +New York—all these were members of that section of the party with +which Governor Wright was not in sympathy. It was evident that he +would not be able to maintain himself against an opposition of which +the elements were so numerous, so varied, and so dangerous."—Morgan +Dix, <i>Memoirs of John A. Dix</i>, Vol. 1, p. 227.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_83_83" id="vol2Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +3, p. 757. <i>Appendix.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_84_84" id="vol2Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> "Nothing can be imagined more admirable than the conduct +of that great man under these trying circumstances. He returned at +once to his beloved farm at Canton, and resumed, with apparent +delight, the occupations of a rustic life. Visitors have related how +they found him at work in his fields, in the midst of his farmhands, +setting an example of industry and zeal. His house was the shrine of +many a pilgrimage; and, as profound regret at the loss of such a man +from the councils of the State took the place of a less honourable +sentiment, his popularity began to return. Already, as the time for +the nomination of a President drew near, men were looking to him, as +an illustrious representative of the principles and hereditary faith +of the Democratic-Republican party, in whose hands the country would +be safe, no matter from what quarter the tempest might come."—Morgan +Dix, <i>Memoirs of John A. Dix</i>, Vol. 1, p. 228.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_85_85" id="vol2Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Jabez D. Hammond, <i>Political History of New York</i>, Vol. +3, p. 729.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_86_86" id="vol2Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> "To understand the issue presented by the Wilmot Proviso +it must be observed that its advocates sustained it on the distinct +ground that, as slavery had been abolished throughout the Mexican +Republic, the acquisition of territory without prohibiting slavery +would, on the theory asserted by the Southern States, lead to its +restoration where it had ceased to exist, and make the United States +responsible for its extension to districts in which universal freedom +had been established by the fundamental law."—Morgan Dix, <i>Memoirs of +John A. Dix</i>, Vol. 1, p. 205.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_87_87" id="vol2Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> "In the fall of 1847 I was a spectator at the Democratic +state convention, held in Syracuse. The great chiefs of both factions +were on the ground, and never was there a fiercer, more bitter and +relentless conflict between the Narragansetts and Pequods than this +memorable contest between the Barnburners and Hunkers. Silas Wright +was the idol of the Barnburners. He had died on the 27th of the +preceding August—less than two weeks before. James S. Wadsworth +voiced the sentiments of his followers. In the convention some one +spoke of doing justice to Mr. Wright. A Hunker sneeringly responded, +'It is too late; he is dead.' Springing upon a table Wadsworth made +the hall ring as he uttered the defiant reply: 'Though it may be too +late to do justice to Silas Wright, it is not too late to do justice +to his assassins.' The Hunkers laid the Wilmot Proviso upon the table, +but the Barnburners punished them at the election."—H.B. Stanton, +<i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 159.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_88_88" id="vol2Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> "There could hardly be a wider contrast between two men +than the space that divided the Sage of Lindenwald from Prince John. +In one particular, however, they were alike. Each had that personal +magnetism that binds followers to leaders with hooks of steel. The +father was grave, urbane, wary, a safe counsellor, and accustomed to +an argumentative and deliberate method of address that befitted the +bar and the Senate. Few knew how able a lawyer the elder Van Buren +was. The son was enthusiastic, frank, bold, and given to wit, +repartee, and a style of oratory admirably adapted to swaying popular +assemblies. The younger Van Buren, too, was a sound lawyer."—H.B. +Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 175.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_89_89" id="vol2Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> <i>History of the Bench and Bar of New York</i>, Vol. 1, p. +505.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_90_90" id="vol2Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Henry Wilson, <i>Rise and Fall of the Slave Power of the +United States</i>, Vol. 2, p. 142.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_91_91" id="vol2Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 142.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_92_92" id="vol2Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> "The Barnburners made the Monumental City lurid with +their wrath, frightening the delegates from the back States almost out +of their wits."—H.B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 162. "Or, as +one man said in a speech, 'the regular delegates might occupy half a +seat apiece, provided each of them would let a Hunker sit on his +lap.'"—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 161.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_93_93" id="vol2Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> "The nomination of Cass for the Presidency by the +Democrats and Taylor by the Whigs led to the Buffalo convention of +1848. Pro-slavery Democrats were there to avenge the wrongs of Martin +Van Buren. Free-soil Democrats were there to punish the assassins of +Silas Wright. Pro-slavery Whigs were there to strike down Taylor +because he had dethroned their idol, Henry Clay, in the Philadelphia +convention. Anti-slavery Whigs were there, breathing the spirit of the +departed John Quincy Adams. Abolitionists of all shades of opinion +were present, from the darkest type to those of a milder hue, who +shared the views of Salmon P. Chase."—H.B. Stanton, <i>Random +Recollections</i>, pp. 162-63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_94_94" id="vol2Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> Charles Sumner, <i>Works</i>, Vol. 2, p. 144. +</p><p> +"It will be remembered that Van Buren, in his inaugural as President, +pledged himself to veto any bill for the abolition of slavery in the +District of Columbia, unless sanctioned by Maryland and Virginia. +Anti-slavery men took great umbrage to this pledge, and while Butler +at the Buffalo convention was graphically describing how the +ex-President, now absorbed in bucolic pursuits at his Kinderhook farm, +had recently leaped a fence to show his visitor a field of sprouting +turnips, one of these disgusted Abolitionists abruptly exclaimed, +'Damn his turnips! What are his present opinions about the abolition +of slavery in the District of Columbia?' 'I was just coming to that +subject,' responded the oily Barnburner, with a suave bow towards the +ruffled Whig. 'Well, you can't be a moment too quick in coming to it,' +replied the captious interlocutor."—H.B. Stanton, <i>Random +Recollections</i>, p. 164.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_95_95" id="vol2Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> "General Dix disapproved of the design to make separate +nominations, thinking it unwise, and foreseeing that it would increase +the difficulty of bringing about a reconciliation. But that he, a +Democrat of the old school, should find himself associated with +gentlemen of the Whig party, from whom he differed on almost every +point, was a painful and distressing surprise. He was willing, if it +must be so, to go with his own section of the Democratic party, though +deeming their course not the wisest. But when it came to an alliance +with Whigs and Abolitionists he lost all heart in the movement. This +accounts for his strong expressions in after years to justify himself +from the charge of being an Abolitionist and false to his old +faith."—Morgan Dix, <i>Memoirs of John A. Dix</i>, Vol. 1, p. 239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_96_96" id="vol2Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_97_97" id="vol2Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_98_98" id="vol2Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 71.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_99_99" id="vol2Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 15, 1848.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_100_100" id="vol2Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_101_101" id="vol2Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_102_102" id="vol2Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 80.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_103_103" id="vol2Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Hamilton Fish, 218,776; John A. Dix, 122,811; Reuben H. +Walworth, 116,811; William Goodell, 1593.—<i>Civil List, State of New +York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_104_104" id="vol2Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 87.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_105_105" id="vol2Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_106_106" id="vol2Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, December 1, 1848.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_107_107" id="vol2Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_108_108" id="vol2Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_109_109" id="vol2Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_110_110" id="vol2Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 98.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_111_111" id="vol2Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_112_112" id="vol2Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 113.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_113_113" id="vol2Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +175.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_114_114" id="vol2Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> H.B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_115_115" id="vol2Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 126.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_116_116" id="vol2Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 127.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_117_117" id="vol2Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 129.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_118_118" id="vol2Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> Washington Hunt, 214,614; Horatio Seymour, +214,352.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_119_119" id="vol2Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 189.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_120_120" id="vol2Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> Horace Greeley, <i>Recollections of a Busy Life</i>, pp. +138, 139.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_121_121" id="vol2Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +190.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_122_122" id="vol2Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> "The Whigs held the Senate by only two majority, and +when the day for electing a United States senator arrived, sixteen +Whigs voted for Fish, and fifteen Democrats voted for as many +different candidates, so that the Fish Whigs could not double over +upon them. James W. Beekman, a Whig senator of New York City, who +claimed that Fish had fallen too much under the control of Weed, voted +for Francis Granger. Upon a motion to adjourn, Beekman voted 'yes' +with the Democrats, creating a tie, which the lieutenant-governor +broke by also voting in the affirmative. The Whigs then waited for a +few weeks, but one morning, when two Democrats were in New York City, +they sprung a resolution to go into an election, and, after an +unbroken struggle of fourteen hours, Fish was elected. The exultant +cannon of the victors startled the city from its slumbers, and +convinced the Silver-Grays that the Woolly Heads still held the +capitol."—H.B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 172.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_123_123" id="vol2Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> J.E. Cabot, <i>Life of Emerson</i>, p. 578. Emerson's +address at Concord, May 3, 1851.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_124_124" id="vol2Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 163.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_125_125" id="vol2Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +185.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_126_126" id="vol2Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +196.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_127_127" id="vol2Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> "When Fillmore withdrew from the presidential office, +the general sentiment proclaimed that he had filled the place with +ability and honour. He was strictly temperate, industrious, orderly, +and of an integrity above suspicion. If Northern people did not +approve the fugitive slave law, they at least looked upon it with +toleration. It is quite true, however, that after-opinion has been +unkind to Fillmore. The judgment on him was made up at a time when the +fugitive slave law had become detestable, and he was remembered only +for his signature and vigorous execution of it."—James F. Rhodes, +<i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 1, pp. 297, 301.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_128_128" id="vol2Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> "It was certain that Mr. Dickinson could not carry New +York.... Governor Marcy was strongly urged in many quarters, and it +was thought the State might be carried by him; but many were of the +opinion that his friends kept his name prominently before the public +with the hope of obtaining a cabinet appointment for him and thus +securing the influence of that section of the New York Democracy to +which he belonged. This was precisely the result that +followed."—Morgan Dix, <i>Memoirs of John A. Dix</i>, Vol. 1, p. 266.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_129_129" id="vol2Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> "I could not consent to a nomination here without +incurring the imputation of unfaithfully executing the trust committed +to me by my constituents—without turning my back on an old and valued +friend. Nothing that could be offered me—not even the highest +position in the Government, the office of President of the United +States—could compensate me for such a desertion of my trust."—Daniel +S. Dickinson, <i>Letters and Speeches</i>, Vol. 1, p. 370.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_130_130" id="vol2Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> H.B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 181.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_131_131" id="vol2Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> "Marcy held the war portfolio under Polk, but his +conduct of the office had not added to his reputation, for it had +galled the Administration to have the signal victories of the Mexican +War won by Whig generals, and it was currently believed that the War +Minister had shared in the endeavour to thwart some of the plans of +Scott and Taylor."—James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, +Vol. 1, pp. 246-7. +</p><p> +"The conflict became terrific, until, when the ballots had run up to +within one of fifty, the Virginia nominee was announced as the choice +of the convention."—Morgan Dix, <i>Memoirs of John A. Dix</i>, Vol. 1, p. +268.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_132_132" id="vol2Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> "Seymour was among the most effective and eloquent +platform orators in New York. Less electrical than John Van Buren, he +was more persuasive; less witty, he was more logical; less sarcastic, +he was more candid; less denunciatory of antagonists, he was more +convincing to opponents. These two remarkable men had little in common +except lofty ambition and rare mental and social gifts. Their salient +characteristics were widely dissimilar. Seymour was conciliatory, and +cultivated peace. Van Buren was aggressive, and coveted war."—H.B. +Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 178.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_133_133" id="vol2Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +218.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_134_134" id="vol2Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 188. +</p><p> +"Many thought: the voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands +of Esau. Seward was the political juggler, or Mephistopheles, as some +called him, and the result was regarded as his triumph."—James F. +Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 1, p. 262. "Some of the +prominent Whig newspapers of Georgia declined to sustain Scott, +because his election would mean Free-soilism and Sewardism. An address +was issued on July 3 by Alexander H. Stephens, Robert Toombs, and five +other Whig representatives, in which they flatly refused to support +Scott because he was 'the favourite candidate of the Free Soil wing of +the Whig party.'"—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 262.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_135_135" id="vol2Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October, 1852.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_136_136" id="vol2Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> <i>Seward's Works</i>, Vol. 3, p. 416. Date of letter, June +26, 1852.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_137_137" id="vol2Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> "The argument of the <i>Post</i>, that the Democratic +candidate and platform were really more favourable to liberty than the +Whig, was somewhat strained; the editor failed to look the situation +squarely in the face. He was, however, acting in perfect harmony with +the prominent New York Democrats who had, four years previously, +bolted the regular nomination. Salmon P. Chase, although still a +Democrat, would not support Pierce, but gave his adherence to the +Free-soil nominations, and tried hard, though in vain, to bring to +their support his former New York associates."—James F. Rhodes, +<i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 1, pp. 264-65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_138_138" id="vol2Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> John A. Dix spoke in the New England and the Middle +States. From October 11 to 29 he made thirteen speeches "in the great +canvass which is upon us."—Morgan Dix, <i>Memoirs of John A. Dix</i>, Vol. +1, pp. 269, 271.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_139_139" id="vol2Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> Horatio Seymour, 264,121; Washington Hunt, +241,525.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_140_140" id="vol2Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +219.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_141_141" id="vol2Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> "Seymour resisted the Barnburner revolt of 1847, and +supported Cass for President in 1848. But he warmly espoused the +movement to reunite the party the next year. He was in advance of +Marcy in that direction. Seymour pushed forward, while Marcy hung +back. Seymour rather liked the Barnburners, except John Van Buren, of +whom he was quite jealous and somewhat afraid. But Marcy, after the +experiences of 1847 and 1848, denounced them in hard terms, until +Seymour and the Free-soil Democrats began talking of him for President +in 1852, when the wily old Regency tactician mellowed toward them. +Nothing was wanted to carry Marcy clear over except the hostility of +Dickinson, who stood in his way to the White House. This he soon +encountered, which reconciled him to the Barnburners."—H.B. Stanton, +<i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 177.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_142_142" id="vol2Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> Morgan Dix, <i>Memoirs of John A. Dix</i>, Vol. 1, p. 271.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_143_143" id="vol2Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 1, p. 272.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_144_144" id="vol2Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> "To satisfy the greatest number was the aim of the +President, to whom this problem became the subject of serious thoughts +and many councils; and although the whole Cabinet, as finally +announced, was published in the newspapers one week before the +inauguration, Pierce did not really decide who should be secretary of +state until he had actually been one day in office, for up to the +morning of March 5, that portfolio had not been offered to +Marcy."—James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 1, p. +389.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_145_145" id="vol2Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> "The President offered Dix the mission to France. The +time fixed was early in the summer of that year. Meanwhile passage was +taken for Havre, preparations for a four years' residence abroad were +made, and every arrangement was completed which an anticipated absence +from home renders necessary. But political intrigue was instantly +resumed, and again with complete success. The opposition now came, or +appears to have come, mainly from certain Southern politicians. +Charges were made—such, for example, as this: that General Dix was an +Abolitionist, and that the Administration would be untrue to the South +by allowing a man of that extreme and fanatical party to represent it +abroad.... But though these insinuations were repelled, the influence +was too strong to be resisted. In fact, the place was wanted for an +eminent gentleman from Virginia."—Morgan Dix, <i>Memoirs of John A. +Dix</i>, Vol. 1, pp. 273, 274, 275.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_146_146" id="vol2Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 27, 1853.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_147_147" id="vol2Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 27, 1853.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_148_148" id="vol2Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, September 26, 1853.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_149_149" id="vol2Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 26, 1853.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_150_150" id="vol2Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, October 24, 1853.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_151_151" id="vol2Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> "With advancing years Mr. Conkling's temperament +changed slightly. The exactions of legal life, and, to some extent, +the needs of his political experience, apparently estranged him from +the masses, although he was naturally one of the most approachable of +men."—Alfred R. Conkling, <i>The Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling</i>, +pp. 203, 204.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_152_152" id="vol2Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 6, 1853.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_153_153" id="vol2Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 8, 1853.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_154_154" id="vol2Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 221.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_155_155" id="vol2Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_156_156" id="vol2Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. +1, p. 453.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_157_157" id="vol2Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 220.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_158_158" id="vol2Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. +1, p. 453.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_159_159" id="vol2Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> Gideon Welles, <i>Lincoln and Seward</i>, p. 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_160_160" id="vol2Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_161_161" id="vol2Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> "After the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act, it would +seem as if the course of the opposition were plain. That the different +elements of opposition should be fused into one complete whole seemed +political wisdom. That course involved the formation of a new party +and was urged warmly and persistently by many newspapers, but by none +with such telling influence as by the New York <i>Tribune</i>. It had +likewise the countenance of Chase, Sumner, and Wade. There were three +elements that must be united—the Whigs, the Free-soilers, and the +Anti-Nebraska Democrats. The Whigs were the most numerous body and as +those at the North, to a man, had opposed the repeal of the Missouri +Compromise they thought, with some quality of reason, that the fight +might well be made under their banner and with their name. For the +organisation of a party was not the work of a day. Why, then, go to +all this trouble, when a complete organisation is at hand ready for +use? This view of the situation was ably argued by the New York +<i>Times</i>, and was supported by Senator Seward. As the New York Senator +had a position of influence superior to any one who had opposed the +Kansas-Nebraska bill, strenuous efforts were made to get his adhesion +to a new party movement, but they were without avail. 'Seward hangs +fire,' wrote Dr. Bailey. 'He agrees with Thurlow Weed.'—(Bailey to +J.S. Pike, May 30, 1854, <i>First Blows of the Civil War</i>, p. 237.) 'We +are not yet ready for a great national convention at Buffalo or +elsewhere,' wrote Seward to Theodore Parker; 'it would bring together +only the old veterans. The States are the places for activity just +now.'—(<i>Life of Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 232.) Yet many Whigs who were not +devoted to machine politics saw clearly that a new party must be +formed under a new name. They differed, however, in regard to their +bond of union. Some wished to go to the country with simply <i>Repeal of +the Kansas-Nebraska act</i> inscribed on their banner. Others wished to +plant themselves squarely on prohibition of slavery in all the +territories. Still others preferred the resolve that not another slave +State should be admitted into the Union. Yet after all, the time +seemed ripe for the formation of a party whose cardinal principle +might be summed up as opposition to the extension of slavery."—James +F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 2, p. 45-7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_162_162" id="vol2Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> New York <i>Evening Post</i>, February 11, 1854.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_163_163" id="vol2Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +226. +</p><p> +"Mr. Greeley called upon me at the Astor House and asked if I did not +think that the time and circumstances were favourable to his +nomination. I replied that I did not think the time and circumstances +favourable to his election, if nominated, but that my friends had lost +control of the state convention. This answer perplexed him, but a few +words of explanation made it quite clear. Admitting that he had +brought the people up to the point of accepting a temperance candidate +for governor, I remarked that another aspirant had 'stolen his +thunder.' In other words, while he had shaken the temperance bush, +Myron H. Clark would catch the bird. I informed Mr. Greeley that +Know-Nothing or 'Choctaw' lodges had been secretly organised +throughout the State, by means of which many delegates for Mr. Clark +had been secured. Mr. Greeley saw that the 'slate' had been broken, +and cheerfully relinquished the idea of being nominated. But a few +days afterwards Mr. Greeley came to Albany, and said in an abrupt but +not unfriendly way, 'Is there any objection to my running for +lieutenant-governor?'... After a little more conversation, Mr. Greeley +became entirely satisfied that a nomination for lieutenant-governor +was not desirable, and left me in good spirits."—<i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 2, p. +226.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_164_164" id="vol2Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +227.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_165_165" id="vol2Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 280.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_166_166" id="vol2Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> In a letter to Charles A. Dana, dated March 2, 1856, +Greeley indicates his feeling toward Raymond. "Have we got to +surrender a page of the next <i>Weekly</i> to Raymond's bore of an +address?" he says, referring to the Pittsburgh convention's appeal. +"The man who could inflict six columns on a long-suffering public, on +such an occasion, cannot possibly know enough to write an address."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_167_167" id="vol2Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> "I was a member of the first anti-Nebraska or +Republican State Convention, which met at Saratoga Springs in +September; but Messrs. Weed and Seward for a while stood aloof from +the movement, preferring to be still regarded as Whigs."—Horace +Greeley, <i>Recollections of a Busy Life</i>, p. 314.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_168_168" id="vol2Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 234.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_169_169" id="vol2Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> Myron H. Clark, 156,804; Horatio Seymour, 156,495; +Daniel Ullman, 122,282; Green C. Bronson, 33,850.—<i>Civil List, State +of New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_170_170" id="vol2Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> H.B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 164. John W. +Taylor served twenty consecutive years in Congress—a longer +continuous service than any New York successor. Taylor also bears the +proud distinction of being the only speaker from New York. Twice he +was honoured as the successor of Henry Clay. He died at the home of +his daughter in Cleveland, Ohio, in September, 1854, at the age of +seventy, leaving a place in history strongly marked.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_171_171" id="vol2Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, June 1, 1854.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_172_172" id="vol2Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> New York <i>Evening Post</i>, May 23, 1854.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_173_173" id="vol2Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> "There is about as much infidelity among Whigs at +Albany as was expected; perhaps a little more. But there is also a +counteracting agency in the other party, it is said, which promises to +be an equilibrium."—F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. +243.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_174_174" id="vol2Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 243.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_175_175" id="vol2Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 243.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_176_176" id="vol2Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 251.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_177_177" id="vol2Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 245.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_178_178" id="vol2Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 246.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_179_179" id="vol2Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> Spring's <i>Kansas</i>, p. 44; see also, Sara Robinson, +<i>Kansas</i>, p. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_180_180" id="vol2Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> "He never became unduly excited about slavery. He had +no sympathy for the religious or sentimental side of abolitionism, nor +was he moved by the words of the philanthropists, preachers, or poets +by whom the agitation was set ablaze and persistently fanned. He +probably regarded it as an evil of less magnitude than several others +that threatened the country."—Morgan Dix, <i>Memoirs of John A. Dix</i>, +Vol. 1, p. 338.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_181_181" id="vol2Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 256. For +full speech, see <i>Seward's Works</i>, Vol. 4, p. 225.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_182_182" id="vol2Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> <i>Diary of R.H. Dana</i>, C.F. Adams, <i>Life of Dana</i>, Vol. +1, p. 348.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_183_183" id="vol2Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_184_184" id="vol2Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 259.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_185_185" id="vol2Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. +2, p. 69. See also p. 68. "Seward," says the historian, "had the +position, the ability and the character necessary for the leadership +of a new party. He was the idol of the anti-slavery Whigs.... Perhaps +his sympathies were heartily enlisted in the movement for a new party +and he was held back by Thurlow Weed. Perhaps he would have felt less +trammelled had not his senatorship been at stake in the fall election. +The fact is, however, that the Republican movement in the West and New +England received no word of encouragement from him. He did not make a +speech, even in the State of New York, during the campaign. His care +and attention were engrossed in seeing that members of the Legislature +were elected who would vote for him for senator." On July 27, 1854, +the New York <i>Independent</i> asked: "Shall we have a new party? The +leaders for such a party do not appear. Seward adheres to the Whig +party." In the New York <i>Tribune</i> of November 9, Greeley asserted that +"the man who should have impelled and guided the general uprising of +the free States is W.H. Seward."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_186_186" id="vol2Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> New York <i>Weekly Tribune</i>, February 2, 1856.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_187_187" id="vol2Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> Parke Godwin, <i>Life of Bryant</i>, Vol. 2, p. 88.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_188_188" id="vol2Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> New York <i>Independent</i>, March 26, 1856.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_189_189" id="vol2Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> New York <i>Independent</i>, February 7, 1856.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_190_190" id="vol2Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, February 1, 1856.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_191_191" id="vol2Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> Report of Committee on Territories, U.S. Senate, March +12, 1856.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_192_192" id="vol2Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> New York <i>Independent</i>, May 1, 1856, Letters from +Washington.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_193_193" id="vol2Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. +2, p. 130.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_194_194" id="vol2Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, April 9, 1856.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_195_195" id="vol2Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 270.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_196_196" id="vol2Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> Statement of William H. Seward, Jr., to the Author.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_197_197" id="vol2Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> This speech was made on June 24, 1856.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_198_198" id="vol2Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> Gideon Welles, <i>Lincoln and Seward</i>, p. 23. "I am sorry +to hear the remark," said the late Chief Justice Chase, "for while I +would strain a point to oblige Mr. Seward, I feel under no obligations +to do anything for the special benefit of Mr. Weed. The two are not +and never can be one to me."—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_199_199" id="vol2Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 270.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_200_200" id="vol2Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 277.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_201_201" id="vol2Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 277.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_202_202" id="vol2Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 277.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_203_203" id="vol2Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> H.B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 194.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_204_204" id="vol2Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> Letters of April 7, 1856.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_205_205" id="vol2Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 278.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_206_206" id="vol2Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> Fernando Wood was a Quaker and a Philadelphian by +birth. In early youth he became a cigarmaker, then a tobacco dealer, +and later a grocer. At Harrisburg, his first introduction to politics +resulted in a fist-fight with a state senator who was still on the +floor when Wood left the bar-room. Then he went to New York, and, in +1840, was elected to Congress at the age of twenty-eight. Wood had a +fascinating personality. He was tall and shapely, his handsome +features and keen blue eyes were made the more attractive by an +abundance of light hair which fell carelessly over a high, broad +forehead. But, as a politician, he was as false as his capacity would +allow him to be, having no hesitation, either from principle or fear, +to say or do anything that served his purpose. He has been called the +successor of Aaron Burr and the predecessor of William M. Tweed. In +1858, he organised Mozart Hall, a Democratic society opposed to +Tammany.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_207_207" id="vol2Footnote_207_207"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 1, p. +153.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_208_208" id="vol2Footnote_208_208"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 140.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_209_209" id="vol2Footnote_209_209"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> Horatio Seymour used the same argument with great +effect. "Another tie which has heretofore held our country together +has been disbanded, and from its ruins has sprung a political +organisation trusting for its success to sectional prejudices. It +excludes from its councils the people of nearly one-half of the Union; +it seeks a triumph over one-half our country. The battle-fields of +Yorktown, of Camden, of New Orleans, are unrepresented in their +conventions; and no delegates speak for the States where rest the +remains of Washington, Jefferson, Marion, Sumter, or Morgan, or of the +later hero, Jackson. They cherish more bitter hatred of their own +countrymen than they have ever shown towards the enemies of our land. +If the language they hold this day had been used eighty years since, +we should not have thrown off the British yoke; our national +constitution would not have been formed; and if their spirit of hatred +continues, our Constitution and Government will cease to +exist."—Seymour at Springfield, Mass., July 4, 1856. Cook and Knox, +<i>Public Record of Horatio Seymour</i>, p. 2. +</p><p> +"John A. Dix supported the Democratic candidates in the canvass of +1856; he did not, however, take an active part in the +contest."—Morgan Dix, <i>Memoirs of John A. Dix</i>, Vol. 1, p. 319.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_210_210" id="vol2Footnote_210_210"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> Edward Cary, <i>Life of George William Curtis</i>, p. 113; +New York <i>Weekly Tribune</i>, August 16, 1856.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_211_211" id="vol2Footnote_211_211"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, August 16, 1856.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_212_212" id="vol2Footnote_212_212"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> John A. King, 264,400; Amasa J. Parker, 198,616; +Erastus Brooks, 130,870.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. +166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_213_213" id="vol2Footnote_213_213"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> This debate occurred December 22, 1857.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_214_214" id="vol2Footnote_214_214"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> Alfred R. Conkling, <i>Life and Letters of Roscoe +Conkling</i>, p. 77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_215_215" id="vol2Footnote_215_215"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> James S. Pike, <i>First Blows of the Civil War</i>, p. 379.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_216_216" id="vol2Footnote_216_216"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> Warden, <i>Life of Chase</i>, p. 343.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_217_217" id="vol2Footnote_217_217"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 351.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_218_218" id="vol2Footnote_218_218"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> <i>Lincoln-Douglas Debates</i>, p. 48.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_219_219" id="vol2Footnote_219_219"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 352.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_220_220" id="vol2Footnote_220_220"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> New York <i>Daily Tribune</i>, October 27, 1858. +</p><p> +"Few speeches from the stump have attracted so great attention or +exerted so great an influence. The eminence of the man combined with +the startling character of the doctrine to make it engross the public +mind. Republicans looked upon the doctrine announced as the +well-weighed conclusion of a profound thinker and of a man of wide +experience, who united the political philosopher with the practical +politician. It is not probable that Lincoln's 'house divided against +itself' speech had any influence in bringing Seward to this position. +He would at this time have scorned the notion of borrowing ideas from +Lincoln; and had he studied the progress of the Illinois canvass, he +must have seen that the declaration did not meet with general favour. +In February of this year there had been bodied forth in Seward the +politician. Now, a far-seeing statesman spoke. One was compared to +Webster's 7th-of-March speech,—the other was commended by the +Abolitionists."—James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. +2, pp. 344-5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_221_221" id="vol2Footnote_221_221"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> Edwin D. Morgan, 247,953; Amasa J. Parker, 230,513; +Lorenzo Burrows, 60,880; Gerrit Smith, 5470.—<i>Civil List, State of +New York</i> (1887), p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_222_222" id="vol2Footnote_222_222"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> "'Scripture Dick,' whom we used to consider the +sorriest of slow jokers, has really brightened up."—New York +<i>Tribune</i>, March 17, 1859.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_223_223" id="vol2Footnote_223_223"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> <i>Congressional Globe</i>, 36th Cong., 1st Sess., pp. 553-4 +(January 23, 1860).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_224_224" id="vol2Footnote_224_224"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> James E. Cabot, <i>Life of Emerson</i>, p. 597.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_225_225" id="vol2Footnote_225_225"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> Samuel Longfellow, <i>Life of Longfellow</i>, Vol. 2, p. +347.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_226_226" id="vol2Footnote_226_226"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 441.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_227_227" id="vol2Footnote_227_227"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_227_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 442.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_228_228" id="vol2Footnote_228_228"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_228_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, February 28, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_229_229" id="vol2Footnote_229_229"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_229_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> <i>Century Magazine</i>, July, 1891, p. 373. An address of +Greeley written in 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_230_230" id="vol2Footnote_230_230"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_230_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, March 1, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_231_231" id="vol2Footnote_231_231"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_231_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, March 1, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_232_232" id="vol2Footnote_232_232"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_232_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, March 2, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_233_233" id="vol2Footnote_233_233"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_233_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +260.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_234_234" id="vol2Footnote_234_234"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_234_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, March 22, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_235_235" id="vol2Footnote_235_235"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_235_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> <i>The Liberator</i>, March 9, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_236_236" id="vol2Footnote_236_236"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_236_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, March 2, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_237_237" id="vol2Footnote_237_237"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_237_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> "The Fernando Wood movement was utterly overthrown in +the preliminary stages. Several scenes in the fight were highly +entertaining. Mr. Fisher of Virginia was picked out to make the +onslaught, when John Cochrane of New York, who is the brains of the +Cagger-Cassidy delegation, shut him off with a point of order."—M. +Halstead, <i>National Political Conventions of 1860</i>, p. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_238_238" id="vol2Footnote_238_238"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_238_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> "Many of New York's delegates were eminent men of +business, anxious for peace; others were adroit politicians, adept at +a trade and eager to hold the party together by any means."—James F. +Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 2, p. 474.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_239_239" id="vol2Footnote_239_239"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_239_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> "Though destitute of all literary furnishment, Richmond +carried on his broad shoulders one of the clearest heads in the ranks +of the Barnburners."—H.B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 183.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_240_240" id="vol2Footnote_240_240"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_240_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> M. Halstead, <i>National Political Conventions of 1860</i>, +p. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_241_241" id="vol2Footnote_241_241"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_241_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> M. Halstead, <i>National Political Conventions of 1860</i>, +p. 48.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_242_242" id="vol2Footnote_242_242"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_242_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> M. Halstead, <i>National Political Conventions of 1860</i>, +p. 50.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_243_243" id="vol2Footnote_243_243"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_243_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> M. Halstead, <i>National Political Conventions of 1860</i>, +p. 66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_244_244" id="vol2Footnote_244_244"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_244_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_245_245" id="vol2Footnote_245_245"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_245_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> "There was a Fourth of July feeling in Charleston that +night—a jubilee. The public sentiment was overwhelmingly and +enthusiastically in favour of the seceders. The Douglas men looked +badly, as though they had been troubled with bad dreams. The +disruption is too serious for them. They find themselves in the +position of a semi-Free Soil sectional party, and the poor fellows +take it hard. The ultra South sectionalists accuse them of cleaving +unto heresies as bad as Sewardism."—M. Halstead, <i>National Political +Conventions of 1860</i>, p. 76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_246_246" id="vol2Footnote_246_246"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_246_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> "Dickinson has ten votes in the New York delegation and +no more."—New York <i>Tribune's</i> report from Charleston, April 24, +1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_247_247" id="vol2Footnote_247_247"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_247_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> "The drill of the New York delegation and its united +vote created a murmur of applause at its steady and commanding +front."—New York <i>Tribune</i>, June 19, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_248_248" id="vol2Footnote_248_248"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_248_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> M. Halstead, <i>National Political Conventions of 1860</i>, +p. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_249_249" id="vol2Footnote_249_249"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_249_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> "After the vote of New York had decided that it was +impossible to nominate Douglas, it proceeded, the roll of States being +called, to vote for him as demurely as if it meant it."—M. Halstead, +<i>National Political Conventions of 1860</i>, p. 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_250_250" id="vol2Footnote_250_250"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_250_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. +2, p. 453.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_251_251" id="vol2Footnote_251_251"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_251_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 455.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_252_252" id="vol2Footnote_252_252"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_252_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 453.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_253_253" id="vol2Footnote_253_253"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_253_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. +2, p. 455.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_254_254" id="vol2Footnote_254_254"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_254_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 456.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_255_255" id="vol2Footnote_255_255"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_255_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, June 2, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_256_256" id="vol2Footnote_256_256"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_256_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> M. Halstead, <i>National Political Conventions of 1860</i>, +p. 137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_257_257" id="vol2Footnote_257_257"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_257_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> "Mr. Seward seemed to be certain of receiving the +nomination at Chicago. He felt that it belonged to him. His flatterers +had encouraged him in the error that he was the sole creator of the +Republican party."—H.B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 214. "I +hear of so many fickle and timid friends as almost to make me sorry +that I have ever attempted to organise a party to save my country." +Letter of W.H. Seward to his wife, May 2, 1860.—F.W. Seward, <i>Life of +W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 448.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_258_258" id="vol2Footnote_258_258"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_258_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 360.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_259_259" id="vol2Footnote_259_259"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_259_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 448.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_260_260" id="vol2Footnote_260_260"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_260_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> "Mr. Julius Wood of Columbus, O., an old and true +friend of Mr. Weed, met Mr. Seward in Washington, and reiterated his +fears in connection with the accumulation of candidates. 'Mr. Lincoln +was brought to New York to divide your strength,' he said. But Mr. +Seward was not disconcerted by these warnings. Less than a fortnight +afterwards Mr. Wood was at the Astor House, where he again met Mr. +Weed and Mr. Seward. Sunday afternoon Mr. Greeley visited the hotel +and passing through one of the corridors met Mr. Wood, with whom he +began conversation. 'We shan't nominate Seward,' said Mr. Greeley, +'we'll take some more conservative man, like Pitt Fessenden or Bates.' +Immediately afterwards Mr. Wood went to Mr. Seward's room. 'Greeley +has just been here with Weed,' said Mr. Seward. 'Weed brought him up +here. You were wrong in what you said to me at Washington about +Greeley; he is all right.' 'No, I was not wrong,' insisted Mr. Wood. +'Greeley is cheating you. He will go to Chicago and work against you.' +At this Mr. Seward smiled. 'My dear Wood,' said he, 'your zeal +sometimes gets a little the better of your judgment.'"—Thurlow Weed +Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. 269.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_261_261" id="vol2Footnote_261_261"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_261_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> Parke Godwin, <i>Life of William Cullen Bryant</i>, Vol. 2, +p. 127.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_262_262" id="vol2Footnote_262_262"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_262_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> Horace Greeley, New York <i>Tribune</i>, May 22, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_263_263" id="vol2Footnote_263_263"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_263_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> "At this time there was friendly intercourse between +Mr. Greeley and Mr. Weed, nor did anybody suppose that Mr. Greeley was +not on good terms with Governor Seward. He had, indeed, in 1854, +written to Mr. Seward a remarkable letter, 'dissolving the firm of +Seward, Weed & Greeley,' but Mr. Weed had never seen such a letter, +nor did Mr. Greeley appear to remember its existence. Mr. Weed and Mr. +Greeley met frequently in New York, not with all of the old +cordiality, perhaps, but still they had by no means quarrelled. Mr. +Greeley wrote often to Mr. Weed, in the old way, and he and his family +were visitors at Mr. Weed's house. Indeed—though that seems +impossible—Mr. Greeley stopped at Mr. Weed's house, in Albany, on his +way West, before the Chicago convention, and made a friendly visit of +a day or so, leaving the impression that he was going to support Mr. +Seward when he reached Chicago."—Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of +Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. 268.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_264_264" id="vol2Footnote_264_264"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_264_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> "I was with my husband in Chicago, and may tell you +now, as most of the actors have joined the 'silent majority,' what no +living person knows, that Thurlow Weed, in his anxiety for the success +of Seward, took Mr. Lane out one evening and pleaded with him to lead +the Indiana delegation over to Seward, saying they would send enough +money from New York to insure his election for governor, and carry the +State later for the New York candidate." Letter of Mrs. Henry S. Lane, +September 16, 1891.—Alex. K. McClure, <i>Lincoln and Men of War Times</i>, +p. 25, <i>note</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_265_265" id="vol2Footnote_265_265"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_265_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> M. Halstead, <i>National Political Conventions of 1860</i>, +p. 145.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_266_266" id="vol2Footnote_266_266"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_266_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> James S. Pike, <i>First Blows of the Civil War</i>, p. 519.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_267_267" id="vol2Footnote_267_267"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_267_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> Hollister, <i>Life of Colfax</i>, p. 148.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_268_268" id="vol2Footnote_268_268"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_268_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> William M. Evarts' speech making Lincoln's nomination +unanimous. F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 451.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_269_269" id="vol2Footnote_269_269"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_269_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> Alex. K. McClure, <i>Life of Lincoln</i>, p. 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_270_270" id="vol2Footnote_270_270"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_270_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> "On the day the convention was to ballot for a +candidate, Cayuga County poured itself into Auburn. The streets were +full, and Mr. Seward's house and grounds overflowed with his admirers. +Flags were ready to be raised and a loaded cannon was placed at the +gate whose pillars bore up two guardian lions. Arrangements had been +perfected for the receipt of intelligence. At Mr. Seward's right hand, +just within the porch, stood his trusty henchman, Christopher Morgan. +The rider of a galloping steed dashed through the crowd with a +telegram and handed it to Seward, who passed it to Morgan. For Seward, +it read, 173½; for Lincoln, 102. Morgan repeated it to the +multitude, who cheered vehemently. Then came the tidings of the second +ballot: For Seward, 184½—for Lincoln, 181. 'I shall be nominated +on the next ballot,' said Seward, and the throng in the house +applauded, and those on the lawn and in the street echoed the cheers. +The next messenger lashed his horse into a run. The telegram read, +'Lincoln nominated. T.W.' Seward turned as pale as ashes. The sad +tidings crept through the vast concourse. The flags were furled, the +cannon was rolled away, and Cayuga County went home with a clouded +brow. Mr. Seward retired to rest at a late hour, and the night breeze +in the tall trees sighed a requiem over the blighted hopes of New +York's eminent son."—H.B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, pp. +215-16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_271_271" id="vol2Footnote_271_271"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_271_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 453.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_272_272" id="vol2Footnote_272_272"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_272_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 453.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_273_273" id="vol2Footnote_273_273"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_273_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 454.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_274_274" id="vol2Footnote_274_274"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_274_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +270.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_275_275" id="vol2Footnote_275_275"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_275_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> "There was no question that the New York delegation had +the fate of the convention in its keeping; and while it was understood +that the strength of Douglas in the delegation had been increased +during the recess by the Fowler defalcation (Fowler's substitute being +reported a Douglas man) and by the appearance of regular delegates +whose alternates had been against Douglas at Charleston, it was +obvious that the action of the politicians of New York could not be +counted upon in any direction with confidence. Rumours circulated that +a negotiation had been carried on in Washington by the New Yorkers +with the South, to sell out Douglas, the Southerners and the +Administration offering their whole strength to any man New York might +name, provided that State would slaughter Douglas. On the other hand, +it appeared that Dean Richmond, the principal manager of the New +Yorkers, had pledged himself, as solemnly as a politician could do, to +stand by the cause of Douglas to the last."—M. Halstead, <i>National +Political Conventions of 1860</i>, p. 159.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_276_276" id="vol2Footnote_276_276"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_276_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> M. Halstead, <i>National Political Conventions of 1860</i>, +p. 167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_277_277" id="vol2Footnote_277_277"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_277_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> M. Halstead, <i>National Political Conventions of 1860</i>, +p. 168.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_278_278" id="vol2Footnote_278_278"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_278_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> M. Halstead, <i>National Political Conventions of 1860</i>, +pp. 168-171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_279_279" id="vol2Footnote_279_279"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_279_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> M. Halstead, <i>National Political Conventions of 1860</i>, +p. 185.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_280_280" id="vol2Footnote_280_280"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_280_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> "The <i>real</i> business transacting behind the scenes has +been the squelching of Douglas, which is understood to be as good as +bargained for. The South is in due time to concentrate on a +candidate—probably Horatio Seymour of our own State—and then New +York is to desert Douglas for her own favourite son. Such is the +programme as it stood up to last evening."—New York <i>Tribune</i> +(editorial), June 20, 1860. "There are plenty of rumours, but nothing +has really form and body unless it be a plan to have Virginia bring +forward Horatio Seymour, whom New York will then diffidently accept in +place of Douglas."—<i>Ibid.</i> (telegraphic report).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_281_281" id="vol2Footnote_281_281"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_281_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> "The Soft leaders still shiver on the brink of a +decision. But a new light broke on them yesterday, when they +discovered that, if they killed Douglas, his friends were able and +resolved to kill Seymour in turn."—New York <i>Tribune</i> (editorial), +June 21. "The action of New York is still a subject of great doubt and +anxiety. As it goes so goes the party and the Union of +course."—<i>Ibid.</i> (telegraphic report).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_282_282" id="vol2Footnote_282_282"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_282_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> "A dispatch from Douglas to Richmond was sent because a +letter containing similar suggestions to Richardson had been kept in +the latter's pocket. But Richmond suppressed the dispatch as +Richardson had suppressed the letter."—M. Halstead, <i>National +Political Conventions of 1860</i>, p. 195. "Richardson afterward +explained that the action of the Southerners had put it out of his +power to use Douglas' letter."—James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the +United States</i>, Vol. 2, p. 415.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_283_283" id="vol2Footnote_283_283"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_283_283"><span class="label">[283]</span></a> "It was asserted in Baltimore and believed in political +circles that New York offered to reconsider her vote on the Louisiana +case, and make up the convention out of the original materials, with +the exception of the Alabama delegation. It could not agree to admit +Yancey & Co. But the seceders and their friends would not hear to any +such proposition. They scorned all compromise."—M. Halstead, +<i>National Political Conventions of 1860</i>, p. 195. "Many were the +expedients devised to bring about harmony; but it was to attempt the +impossible. The Southerners were exacting, the delegates from the +Northwest bold and defiant."—James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United +States</i>, Vol. 2, p. 474.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_284_284" id="vol2Footnote_284_284"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_284_284"><span class="label">[284]</span></a> M. Halstead, <i>National Political Conventions of 1860</i>, +p. 207.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_285_285" id="vol2Footnote_285_285"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_285_285"><span class="label">[285]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 19, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_286_286" id="vol2Footnote_286_286"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_286_286"><span class="label">[286]</span></a> "The obduracy, the consistency of Mr. Dickinson's +Democracy are of the most marked type. Ever since he changed his vote +from Van Buren to Polk, with such hearty alacrity in the Baltimore +convention of 1844, he has promptly yielded to every requisition which +the Southern Democracy has made upon their Northern allies. All along +through the stormy years when the star of the Wilmot Proviso was in +the ascendant, and when Wright and Dix bowed to the gale, and even +Marcy and Bronson bent before it, Dickinson, on the floor of the +Senate, stood erect and immovable."—New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 4, +1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_287_287" id="vol2Footnote_287_287"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_287_287"><span class="label">[287]</span></a> "Mr. Weed was for a time completely unnerved by the +result. He even shed tears over the defeat of his old +friend."—Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. 271. +</p><p> +"After the joy of Lincoln's nomination had subsided," wrote Leonard +Swett of Chicago, "Judge Davis and I called upon Mr. Weed. This was +the first time either of us had met him. He did not talk angrily as to +the result, nor did he complain of any one. Confessing with much +feeling to the great disappointment of his life, he said, 'I hoped to +make my friend, Mr. Seward, President, and I thought I could serve my +country in so doing.' He was a larger man intellectually than I +anticipated, and of finer fibre. There was in him an element of +gentleness and a large humanity which won me, and I was pleased no +less than surprised."—<i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 2, p. 292.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_288_288" id="vol2Footnote_288_288"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_288_288"><span class="label">[288]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, May 22, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_289_289" id="vol2Footnote_289_289"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_289_289"><span class="label">[289]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, May 25, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_290_290" id="vol2Footnote_290_290"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_290_290"><span class="label">[290]</span></a> "At Chicago, Seward encountered the opposition from his +own State of such powerful leaders as Greeley, Dudley Field, Bryant, +and Wadsworth. The first two were on the ground and very busy. The two +latter sent pungent letters that were circulated among the delegates +from the various States. The main point of the attack was that Seward +could not carry New York. Soon after the adjournment of the +convention, William Curtis Noyes, a delegate, told me that a careful +canvass of the New York delegation showed that nearly one-fourth of +its members believed it was extremely doubtful if Seward could obtain +a majority at the polls in that State."—H.B. Stanton, <i>Random +Recollections</i>, pp. 214-15. "Perhaps the main stumbling block over +which he fell in the convention was Thurlow Weed."—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 215.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_291_291" id="vol2Footnote_291_291"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_291_291"><span class="label">[291]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, June 2, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_292_292" id="vol2Footnote_292_292"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_292_292"><span class="label">[292]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, June 14, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_293_293" id="vol2Footnote_293_293"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_293_293"><span class="label">[293]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_294_294" id="vol2Footnote_294_294"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_294_294"><span class="label">[294]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 240.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_295_295" id="vol2Footnote_295_295"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_295_295"><span class="label">[295]</span></a> "My personal relations with Governor Seward were wholly +unchanged by this letter. We met frequently and cordially after it was +written, and we very freely conferred and co-operated during the long +struggle in Congress for Kansas and Free Labour. He understood as well +as I did that my position with regard to him, though more independent +than it had been, was nowise hostile, and that I was as ready to +support his advancement as that of any other statesman, whenever my +judgment should tell me that the public good required it. I was not +his adversary, but my own and my country's freeman."—Horace Greeley, +<i>Recollections of a Busy Life</i>, p. 321.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_296_296" id="vol2Footnote_296_296"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_296_296"><span class="label">[296]</span></a> H.B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, pp. 199, 200.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_297_297" id="vol2Footnote_297_297"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_297_297"><span class="label">[297]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 216.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_298_298" id="vol2Footnote_298_298"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_298_298"><span class="label">[298]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 23, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_299_299" id="vol2Footnote_299_299"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_299_299"><span class="label">[299]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, July 14, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_300_300" id="vol2Footnote_300_300"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_300_300"><span class="label">[300]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, July 24, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_301_301" id="vol2Footnote_301_301"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_301_301"><span class="label">[301]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 462. +<i>Seward's Works</i>, Vol. 4, p. 384.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_302_302" id="vol2Footnote_302_302"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_302_302"><span class="label">[302]</span></a> "Seward filled the minds of Republicans, attracting +such attention and honour, and arousing such enthusiasm, that the +closing months of the campaign were the most brilliant epoch of his +life. It was then he reached the climax of his career."—James F. +Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 2, p. 493.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_303_303" id="vol2Footnote_303_303"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_303_303"><span class="label">[303]</span></a> "Seward charged his defeat chiefly to Greeley. He felt +toward that influential editor as much vindictiveness as was possible +in a man of so amiable a nature. But he did not retire to his +tent."—James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 2, p. +494. +</p><p> +"The magnanimity of Mr. Seward, since the result of the convention was +known," wrote James Russell Lowell, "has been a greater ornament to +him and a greater honour to his party than his election to the +Presidency would have been."—<i>Atlantic Monthly</i>, October, 1860; +<i>Lowell's Political Essays</i>, p. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_304_304" id="vol2Footnote_304_304"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_304_304"><span class="label">[304]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, pp. +462-66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_305_305" id="vol2Footnote_305_305"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_305_305"><span class="label">[305]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 464.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_306_306" id="vol2Footnote_306_306"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_306_306"><span class="label">[306]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 19, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_307_307" id="vol2Footnote_307_307"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_307_307"><span class="label">[307]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +297.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_308_308" id="vol2Footnote_308_308"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_308_308"><span class="label">[308]</span></a> "The names of eighty-one thousand New York men who +voted for Fillmore in 1856 are inscribed on Republican +poll-lists."—New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 11, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_309_309" id="vol2Footnote_309_309"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_309_309"><span class="label">[309]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 471.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_310_310" id="vol2Footnote_310_310"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_310_310"><span class="label">[310]</span></a> October 18, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_311_311" id="vol2Footnote_311_311"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_311_311"><span class="label">[311]</span></a> Charleston <i>Mercury</i>, cited by <i>National +Intelligencer</i>, November 1, 1860; Richmond <i>Enquirer</i>, November 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_312_312" id="vol2Footnote_312_312"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_312_312"><span class="label">[312]</span></a> Horace Greeley, <i>American Conflict</i>, Vol. 1, p. 300.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_313_313" id="vol2Footnote_313_313"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_313_313"><span class="label">[313]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +300.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_314_314" id="vol2Footnote_314_314"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_314_314"><span class="label">[314]</span></a> Edwin D. Morgan, 358,272; William Kelley, 294,812; +James T. Brady, 19,841.—<i>Civil List, State of New York</i> (1887), p. +166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_315_315" id="vol2Footnote_315_315"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_315_315"><span class="label">[315]</span></a> Address at Bar meeting in New York City upon death of +Daniel S. Dickinson.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_316_316" id="vol2Footnote_316_316"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_316_316"><span class="label">[316]</span></a> Speech of February 29, 1860: <i>Seward's Works</i>, Vol. 4, +p. 619.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_317_317" id="vol2Footnote_317_317"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_317_317"><span class="label">[317]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 30, 1860. The quotation is +from an address delivered in Boston.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_318_318" id="vol2Footnote_318_318"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_318_318"><span class="label">[318]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 9, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_319_319" id="vol2Footnote_319_319"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_319_319"><span class="label">[319]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, November 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_320_320" id="vol2Footnote_320_320"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_320_320"><span class="label">[320]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, December 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_321_321" id="vol2Footnote_321_321"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_321_321"><span class="label">[321]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, February 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_322_322" id="vol2Footnote_322_322"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_322_322"><span class="label">[322]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, November 30. "In so far as the Free States are +concerned," he said, "I hold that it will be an advantage for the +South to go off."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_323_323" id="vol2Footnote_323_323"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_323_323"><span class="label">[323]</span></a> <i>The Liberator</i>, November and December.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_324_324" id="vol2Footnote_324_324"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_324_324"><span class="label">[324]</span></a> Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, November 26, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_325_325" id="vol2Footnote_325_325"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_325_325"><span class="label">[325]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +306.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_326_326" id="vol2Footnote_326_326"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_326_326"><span class="label">[326]</span></a> Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, December 1, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_327_327" id="vol2Footnote_327_327"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_327_327"><span class="label">[327]</span></a> <i>Letters of August Belmont</i>, privately printed, pp. 15, +16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_328_328" id="vol2Footnote_328_328"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_328_328"><span class="label">[328]</span></a> <i>Congressional Globe</i>, 1860-61, <i>Appendix</i>, p. 221. +"Never, with my consent, shall the Constitution ordain or protect +human slavery in any territory. Where it exists by law I will +recognise it, but never shall it be extended over one acre of free +territory." Speech of James Humphrey of Brooklyn.—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 158. +"Why should we now make any concessions to them? With our experience +of the little importance attached to former compromises by the South, +it is ridiculous to talk about entering into another. The restoration +of the Missouri line, with the protection of slavery south of it, will +not save the Union." Speech of John B. Haskin of Fordham.—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. +264. "The people of the North regard the election of Mr. Lincoln as +the assurance that the day of compromise has ended; that henceforth +slavery shall have all the consideration which is constitutionally due +it and no more; that freedom shall have all its rights recognised and +respected." Speech of Charles L. Beale of Kinderhook.—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. +974. "We of the North are called upon to save the Union by making +concessions and giving new guarantees to the South.... But I am +opposed to tinkering with the Constitution, especially in these +exciting times. I am satisfied with it as it is." Speech of Alfred Ely +of Rochester.—<i>Ibid.</i>, <i>Appendix</i>, p. 243. "I should be opposed to +any alteration of the Constitution which would extend the area of +slavery." Speech of Luther C. Carter of Flushing.—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 278. "I +am opposed to all changes in the Constitution whatever." Edwin R. +Reynolds of Albion.—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 1008.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_329_329" id="vol2Footnote_329_329"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_329_329"><span class="label">[329]</span></a> Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, November 30, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_330_330" id="vol2Footnote_330_330"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_330_330"><span class="label">[330]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +309.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_331_331" id="vol2Footnote_331_331"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_331_331"><span class="label">[331]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +309.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_332_332" id="vol2Footnote_332_332"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_332_332"><span class="label">[332]</span></a> The full text of the Crittenden compromise is given in +the <i>Congressional Globe</i>, 1861, p. 114; also in Horace Greeley's +<i>American Conflict</i>, Vol. 1, p. 376.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_333_333" id="vol2Footnote_333_333"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_333_333"><span class="label">[333]</span></a> Horace Greeley, <i>The American Conflict</i>, Vol. 1, pp. +378, 379.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_334_334" id="vol2Footnote_334_334"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_334_334"><span class="label">[334]</span></a> Coleman, <i>Life of John J. Crittenden</i>, Vol. 2, p. 237.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_335_335" id="vol2Footnote_335_335"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_335_335"><span class="label">[335]</span></a> <i>Letters of August Belmont</i>, privately printed, p. 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_336_336" id="vol2Footnote_336_336"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_336_336"><span class="label">[336]</span></a> Horace Greeley, <i>The American Conflict</i>, Vol. 1, p. +362.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_337_337" id="vol2Footnote_337_337"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_337_337"><span class="label">[337]</span></a> "In the committee of thirteen, a few days ago, every +member from the South, including those from the cotton States, +expressed their readiness to accept the proposition of my venerable +friend from Kentucky as a final settlement of the controversy, if +tendered and sustained by the Republican members." Douglas in the +Senate, January 3, 1861.—<i>Congressional Globe</i>, Appendix, p. 41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_338_338" id="vol2Footnote_338_338"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_338_338"><span class="label">[338]</span></a> "I said to the committee of thirteen, and I say here, +that, with other satisfactory provisions, I would accept it." Toombs +in the Senate, January 7, 1861.—<i>Globe</i>, p. 270. "I can confirm the +Senator's declaration that Senator Davis himself, when on the +committee of thirteen, was ready, at all times, to compromise on the +Crittenden proposition. I will go further and say that Mr. Toombs was +also." Douglas in the Senate, March 2, 1861.—<i>Globe</i>, p. 1391.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_339_339" id="vol2Footnote_339_339"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_339_339"><span class="label">[339]</span></a> See Davis's speech of January 10, 1861. <i>Congressional +Globe</i>, p. 310.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_340_340" id="vol2Footnote_340_340"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_340_340"><span class="label">[340]</span></a> Nicolay and Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 3, p. 263. +Letter to Lincoln, December 26, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_341_341" id="vol2Footnote_341_341"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_341_341"><span class="label">[341]</span></a> James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. +3, p. 155.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_342_342" id="vol2Footnote_342_342"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_342_342"><span class="label">[342]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, December 19, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_343_343" id="vol2Footnote_343_343"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_343_343"><span class="label">[343]</span></a> Nicolay and Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 3, p. 258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_344_344" id="vol2Footnote_344_344"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_344_344"><span class="label">[344]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, December 22, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_345_345" id="vol2Footnote_345_345"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_345_345"><span class="label">[345]</span></a> Nicolay and Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 3, p. 258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_346_346" id="vol2Footnote_346_346"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_346_346"><span class="label">[346]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 261.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_347_347" id="vol2Footnote_347_347"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_347_347"><span class="label">[347]</span></a> Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, January 9, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_348_348" id="vol2Footnote_348_348"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_348_348"><span class="label">[348]</span></a> Nicolay and Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 3, p. 259.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_349_349" id="vol2Footnote_349_349"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_349_349"><span class="label">[349]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 3, p. 259.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_350_350" id="vol2Footnote_350_350"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_350_350"><span class="label">[350]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, +pp. 310, 311.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_351_351" id="vol2Footnote_351_351"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_351_351"><span class="label">[351]</span></a> Albany <i>Argus</i>, November 10, 1860. On November 12 the +Rochester <i>Union</i> argued that the threatened secession of the slave +States was but a counterpoise of the personal liberty bills and other +measures of antagonism to slave-holding at the North. See, also, the +New York <i>Herald</i>, November 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_352_352" id="vol2Footnote_352_352"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_352_352"><span class="label">[352]</span></a> Morgan Dix, <i>Memoirs of John A. Dix</i>, Vol. 1, p. 338.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_353_353" id="vol2Footnote_353_353"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_353_353"><span class="label">[353]</span></a> <i>Appleton's Cyclopædia</i>, 1861, p. 700.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_354_354" id="vol2Footnote_354_354"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_354_354"><span class="label">[354]</span></a> James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. +3, p. 261, <i>note</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_355_355" id="vol2Footnote_355_355"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_355_355"><span class="label">[355]</span></a> Proceedings of the Board of Aldermen, LXXXI: p. 25, 26. +New York <i>Herald</i>, January 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_356_356" id="vol2Footnote_356_356"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_356_356"><span class="label">[356]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, January 8, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_357_357" id="vol2Footnote_357_357"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_357_357"><span class="label">[357]</span></a> <i>Appleton's Cyclopædia</i>, 1861, p. 700.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_358_358" id="vol2Footnote_358_358"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_358_358"><span class="label">[358]</span></a> "The whole people in this part of the country are +waiting with impatience for your assumption of the great office to +which the suffrage of a free people has called you, and will hail you +as a deliverer from treason and anarchy. In New York City all classes +and parties are rapidly uniting in this sentiment, and here in Albany, +where I am spending a few days in attendance upon Court, the general +tone of feeling and thinking about public affairs shows little +difference between Republicans and Democrats."—W.M. Evarts to Abraham +Lincoln, January 15, 1861. Unpublished letter on file in Department of +State at Washington.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_359_359" id="vol2Footnote_359_359"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_359_359"><span class="label">[359]</span></a> <i>Appleton's Cyclopædia</i>, 1861, p. 520.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_360_360" id="vol2Footnote_360_360"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_360_360"><span class="label">[360]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +317.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_361_361" id="vol2Footnote_361_361"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_361_361"><span class="label">[361]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +318.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_362_362" id="vol2Footnote_362_362"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_362_362"><span class="label">[362]</span></a> <i>Appleton's Cyclopædia</i>, 1861, p. 520.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_363_363" id="vol2Footnote_363_363"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_363_363"><span class="label">[363]</span></a> Fowler, who was appointed postmaster of New York by +President Pierce, began a system of embezzlements in 1855, which +amounted, at the time of his removal, to $155,000.—Report of +Postmaster-General Holt, <i>Senate Document</i>, 36th Congress, 1st +Session, XI., 48. "In one year Fowler's bill at the New York Hotel, +which he made the Democratic headquarters, amounted to $25,000. His +brother, John Walker Fowler, clerk to Surrogate Tucker, subsequently +absconded with $31,079, belonging to orphans and others."—Gustavus +Myers, <i>History of Tammany Hall</i>, pp. 232, 233.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_364_364" id="vol2Footnote_364_364"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_364_364"><span class="label">[364]</span></a> John Jay Knox, <i>United States Notes</i>, p. 76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_365_365" id="vol2Footnote_365_365"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_365_365"><span class="label">[365]</span></a> New York <i>Evening Post</i>, December 26, 1860. +</p><p> +"On Tuesday, January 8, my father received a dispatch from the +President to come at once to the White House. He went immediately and +was offered the War Department. This he declined, informing Mr. +Buchanan, as had been agreed upon, that at that moment he could be of +no service to him in any position except that of the Treasury +Department, and that he would accept no other post. The President +asked for time. The following day he had Mr. Philip Thomas's +resignation in his hand, and sent General Dix's name to the Senate. It +was instantly confirmed."—Morgan Dix, <i>Memoirs of John A. Dix</i>, Vol. +1, p. 362.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_366_366" id="vol2Footnote_366_366"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_366_366"><span class="label">[366]</span></a> The plan advocated by Fernando Wood in his annual +message to the Common Council, referred to on <a href="#vol2Page_ii.348">p. 348</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_367_367" id="vol2Footnote_367_367"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_367_367"><span class="label">[367]</span></a> Morgan Dix, <i>Memoirs of John A. Dix</i>, Vol. 1, pp. 336, +343.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_368_368" id="vol2Footnote_368_368"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_368_368"><span class="label">[368]</span></a> Horace Greeley, <i>The American Conflict</i>, Vol. 1, p. +388.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_369_369" id="vol2Footnote_369_369"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_369_369"><span class="label">[369]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 388.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_370_370" id="vol2Footnote_370_370"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_370_370"><span class="label">[370]</span></a> Albany <i>Argus</i>, February 1, 1861. +</p><p> +William H. Russell, correspondent of the London <i>Times</i>, who dined +with Horatio Seymour, Samuel J. Tilden and George Bancroft, wrote that +"the result left on my mind by their conversation and arguments was +that, according to the Constitution, the government could not employ +force to prevent secession, or to compel States which had seceded by +the will of the people to acknowledge the federal power."—Entry March +17, <i>Diary</i>, p. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_371_371" id="vol2Footnote_371_371"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_371_371"><span class="label">[371]</span></a> Horace Greeley, <i>The American Conflict</i>, Vol. 1, p. +394. +</p><p> +"When rebellion actually began many loyal Democrats came nobly out and +planted themselves by the side of the country. But those who clung to +the party organisation, what did they do? A month before Mr. Lincoln +was inaugurated they held a state convention for the Democratic party +of the State of New York. It was said it was to save the country,—it +was whispered it was to save the party. The state committee called it +and representative men gathered to attend it.... They applauded to the +echo the very blasphemy of treason, but they attempted by points of +order to silence DeWitt Clinton's son because he dared to raise his +voice for the Constitution of his country and to call rebellion by its +proper name."—Speech of Roscoe Conkling, September 26, 1862, A.R. +Conkling, <i>Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling</i>, p. 180.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_372_372" id="vol2Footnote_372_372"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_372_372"><span class="label">[372]</span></a> See New York <i>Tribune</i>, March 23, 1861, for Field's +statement in defence of his action. Also <i>Tribune</i>, March 7, for John +A. King's charges.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_373_373" id="vol2Footnote_373_373"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_373_373"><span class="label">[373]</span></a> Lucius E. Chittenden, <i>Report of Proceedings of Peace +Conference</i>, pp. 157, 170, 303, 428.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_374_374" id="vol2Footnote_374_374"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_374_374"><span class="label">[374]</span></a> Lucius E. Chittenden, <i>Report of Proceedings of Peace +Conference</i>, p. 304.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_375_375" id="vol2Footnote_375_375"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_375_375"><span class="label">[375]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, February 5, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_376_376" id="vol2Footnote_376_376"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_376_376"><span class="label">[376]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, February 5, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_377_377" id="vol2Footnote_377_377"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_377_377"><span class="label">[377]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +324.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_378_378" id="vol2Footnote_378_378"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_378_378"><span class="label">[378]</span></a> "Pale as ashes, Weed sat smoking a cigar within earshot +of the bustle in the crowded assembly room where the caucus sat. +Littlejohn stalked over the heads of the spectators and reported to +Weed. Unmindful of the fact that he had a cigar in his mouth, Weed +lighted another and put it in, then rose in great excitement and said +to Littlejohn, 'Tell the Evarts men to go right over to Harris—to +<i>Harris</i>—to <span class="smcap">Harris</span>!' The order was given in the caucus. They wheeled +into line like Napoleon's Old Guard, and Harris was nominated."—H.B. +Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 218.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_379_379" id="vol2Footnote_379_379"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_379_379"><span class="label">[379]</span></a> "It is quite possible that the <i>Tribune's</i> articles of +November, 1860, cost Greeley the senatorship."—James F. Rhodes, +<i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 3, p. 142.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_380_380" id="vol2Footnote_380_380"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_380_380"><span class="label">[380]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, February 5, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_381_381" id="vol2Footnote_381_381"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_381_381"><span class="label">[381]</span></a> "It is one of the curiosities of human nature that +Greeley, who exceeded in influence many of our Presidents, should have +hankered so constantly for office. It is strange enough that the man +who wrote as a dictator of public opinion in the <i>Tribune</i> on the 9th +of November could write two days later the letter to Seward, +dissolving the political firm of Seward, Weed, and Greeley. In that +letter the petulance of the office-seeker is shown, and the grievous +disappointment that he did not get the nomination for +lieutenant-governor, which went to Raymond, stands out +plainly."—James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 2, p. +72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_382_382" id="vol2Footnote_382_382"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_382_382"><span class="label">[382]</span></a> Alex. K. McClure, <i>Recollections of Half a Century</i>, +pp. 213, 214.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_383_383" id="vol2Footnote_383_383"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_383_383"><span class="label">[383]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 478.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_384_384" id="vol2Footnote_384_384"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_384_384"><span class="label">[384]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +308.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_385_385" id="vol2Footnote_385_385"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_385_385"><span class="label">[385]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 479.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_386_386" id="vol2Footnote_386_386"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_386_386"><span class="label">[386]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, +pp. 307, 308.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_387_387" id="vol2Footnote_387_387"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_387_387"><span class="label">[387]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 2, p. 308.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_388_388" id="vol2Footnote_388_388"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_388_388"><span class="label">[388]</span></a> "Weed's articles have brought perplexities about me +which he, with all his astuteness, did not foresee."—F.W. Seward, +<i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 480.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_389_389" id="vol2Footnote_389_389"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_389_389"><span class="label">[389]</span></a> "Our senators agree with me to practise reticence and +kindness. But others fear that I will figure, and so interfere and +derange all."—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 480.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_390_390" id="vol2Footnote_390_390"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_390_390"><span class="label">[390]</span></a> "The debates in the Senate are hasty, feeble, +inconclusive and unsatisfactory; presumptuous on the part of the +ill-tempered South; feeble and frivolous on the part of the +North."—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 481.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_391_391" id="vol2Footnote_391_391"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_391_391"><span class="label">[391]</span></a> "All is apprehension about the Southern demonstrations. +No one has any system, few any courage, or confidence in the Union, in +this emergency."—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 478.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_392_392" id="vol2Footnote_392_392"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_392_392"><span class="label">[392]</span></a> "Charles Sumner's lecture in New York brought a +'Barnburner' or Buffalo party around him. They gave nine cheers for +the passage in which he describes Lafayette as rejecting all and every +compromise, and the knowing ones told him those cheers laid out +Thurlow Weed, and then he came and told me, of course."—Thurlow Weed +Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. 308.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_393_393" id="vol2Footnote_393_393"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_393_393"><span class="label">[393]</span></a> "While the evidence is not positive that Seward +contemplated heading a movement of Republicans that would have +resulted in the acceptance by them of a plan similar in essence to the +Crittenden compromise, yet his private correspondence shows that he +was wavering, and gives rise to the belief that the pressure of Weed, +Raymond, and Webb would have outweighed that of his radical Republican +colleagues if he had not been restrained by the unequivocal +declarations of Lincoln."—James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United +States</i>, Vol. 3, p. 157.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_394_394" id="vol2Footnote_394_394"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_394_394"><span class="label">[394]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 480.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_395_395" id="vol2Footnote_395_395"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_395_395"><span class="label">[395]</span></a> Nicolay and Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 3, p. 349.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_396_396" id="vol2Footnote_396_396"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_396_396"><span class="label">[396]</span></a> <i>Atlantic Monthly</i>, October, 1860; <i>Lowell's Political +Essays</i>, p. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_397_397" id="vol2Footnote_397_397"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_397_397"><span class="label">[397]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +301.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_398_398" id="vol2Footnote_398_398"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_398_398"><span class="label">[398]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 493.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_399_399" id="vol2Footnote_399_399"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_399_399"><span class="label">[399]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, pp. 481, +487.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_400_400" id="vol2Footnote_400_400"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_400_400"><span class="label">[400]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, December 24, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_401_401" id="vol2Footnote_401_401"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_401_401"><span class="label">[401]</span></a> William Salter, <i>Life of James W. Grimes</i>, p. 132. +Letter of December 16, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_402_402" id="vol2Footnote_402_402"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_402_402"><span class="label">[402]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, December 24, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_403_403" id="vol2Footnote_403_403"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_403_403"><span class="label">[403]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 485.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_404_404" id="vol2Footnote_404_404"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_404_404"><span class="label">[404]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 486.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_405_405" id="vol2Footnote_405_405"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_405_405"><span class="label">[405]</span></a> Nicolay and Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 3, p. 288.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_406_406" id="vol2Footnote_406_406"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_406_406"><span class="label">[406]</span></a> Journal of the Committee of Thirteen, pp. 10, 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_407_407" id="vol2Footnote_407_407"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_407_407"><span class="label">[407]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 484.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_408_408" id="vol2Footnote_408_408"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_408_408"><span class="label">[408]</span></a> <i>Congressional Globe</i>, pp. 308, 309.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_409_409" id="vol2Footnote_409_409"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_409_409"><span class="label">[409]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 307.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_410_410" id="vol2Footnote_410_410"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_410_410"><span class="label">[410]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 493.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_411_411" id="vol2Footnote_411_411"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_411_411"><span class="label">[411]</span></a> The Richmond <i>Whig</i>, January 17, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_412_412" id="vol2Footnote_412_412"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_412_412"><span class="label">[412]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 494.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_413_413" id="vol2Footnote_413_413"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_413_413"><span class="label">[413]</span></a> "I will try to save freedom and my country," Seward +wrote his wife.—F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 487. +"I have assumed a sort of dictatorship for defence, and am labouring +night and day with the cities and States."—<i>Ibid.</i>, 491. "I am the +only hopeful, calm, conciliatory person."—<i>Ibid.</i>, 497. "It seems to +me that if I am absent only three days, this Administration, the +Congress, and the district would fall into consternation and +despair."—<i>Ibid.</i>, 497. "The present Administration and the incoming +one unite in devolving upon me the responsibility of averting civil +war."—<i>Ibid.</i>, 497.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_414_414" id="vol2Footnote_414_414"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_414_414"><span class="label">[414]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 497.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_415_415" id="vol2Footnote_415_415"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_415_415"><span class="label">[415]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, January 14, 1861. <i>Seward's Works</i>, +Vol. 4, p. 651.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_416_416" id="vol2Footnote_416_416"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_416_416"><span class="label">[416]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 494.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_417_417" id="vol2Footnote_417_417"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_417_417"><span class="label">[417]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i> (editorial), January 14, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_418_418" id="vol2Footnote_418_418"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_418_418"><span class="label">[418]</span></a></p> +<p class="blockquot">TO WILLIAM H. SEWARD.</p> +<p class="blockquot"> +"Statesman, I thank thee!—and if yet dissent<br /> +Mingles, reluctant, with my large content,<br /> +I can not censure what was nobly meant.<br /> +But while constrained to hold even Union less<br /> +Than Liberty, and Truth, and Righteousness,<br /> +I thank thee, in the sweet and holy name<br /> +Of Peace, for wise, calm words, that put to shame<br /> +Passion and party. Courage may be shown<br /> +Not in defiance of the wrong alone;<br /> +He may be bravest, who, unweaponed, bears<br /> +The olive branch, and strong in justice spares<br /> +The rash wrong-doer, giving widest scope<br /> +To Christian charity, and generous hope.<br /> +If without damage to the sacred cause<br /> +Of Freedom, and the safeguard of its laws—<br /> +If, without yielding that for which alone<br /> +We prize the Union, thou canst save it now,<br /> +From a baptism of blood, upon thy brow<br /> +A wreath whose flowers no earthly soil has known<br /> +Woven of the beatitudes, shall rest;<br /> +And the peace-maker be forever blest!"<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_419_419" id="vol2Footnote_419_419"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_419_419"><span class="label">[419]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 488.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_420_420" id="vol2Footnote_420_420"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_420_420"><span class="label">[420]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 490.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_421_421" id="vol2Footnote_421_421"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_421_421"><span class="label">[421]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 497. +</p><p> +"In regard to February, 1861, I need only say that I desired to avoid +giving the secession leaders the excuse and opportunity to open the +civil war before the new Administration and new Congress could be in +authority to subdue it. I conferred throughout with General Scott, and +Mr. Stanton, then in Mr. Buchanan's Cabinet. I presume I conversed +with others in a way that seemed to me best calculated to leave the +inauguration of a war to the secessionists, and to delay it, in any +case, until the new Administration should be in possession of the +Government. On the 22d of February, in concert with Mr. Stanton, I +caused the United States flag to be displayed throughout all the +northern and western portions of the United States." Letters of W.H. +Seward, June 13, 1867.—William Schouler, <i>Massachusetts in the Civil +War</i>, Vol. 1, pp. 41, 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_422_422" id="vol2Footnote_422_422"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_422_422"><span class="label">[422]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, January 29 and February 6, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_423_423" id="vol2Footnote_423_423"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_423_423"><span class="label">[423]</span></a> A writer in the <i>North American Review</i> (August, 1879, +p. 135) speaks of the singular confidence of Siddon of Virginia +(afterwards secretary of war of the Southern Confederacy) in Mr. +Seward, and the mysterious allusions to the skilful plans maturing for +an adjustment of sectional difficulties.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_424_424" id="vol2Footnote_424_424"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_424_424"><span class="label">[424]</span></a> W.H. Seward, <i>Works of</i>, Vol. 4, p. 670. <i>Congressional +Globe</i>, 1861, p. 657.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_425_425" id="vol2Footnote_425_425"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_425_425"><span class="label">[425]</span></a> "Oily Gammon Seward, aware that intimidation will not +do, is going to resort to the gentle powers of seduction."—Washington +correspondent of Charleston <i>Mercury</i>, February 19, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_426_426" id="vol2Footnote_426_426"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_426_426"><span class="label">[426]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, February 4, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_427_427" id="vol2Footnote_427_427"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_427_427"><span class="label">[427]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, February 5, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_428_428" id="vol2Footnote_428_428"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_428_428"><span class="label">[428]</span></a> "I have rejoiced, as you of New York must certainly +have done, in the spirit of conciliation which has repeatedly been +manifested, during the present session of Congress, by your +distinguished senator, Governor Seward." Robert C. Winthrop to the +Constitutional Union Committee of Troy, February 17.—<i>Winthrop's +Addresses and Speeches</i>, Vol. 2, p. 701. "If Mr. Seward moves in +favour of compromise, the whole Republican party sways like a field of +grain before his breath." Letter of Oliver Wendell Holmes, February +16, 1861.—<i>Motley's Correspondence</i>, Vol. 1, p. 360.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_429_429" id="vol2Footnote_429_429"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_429_429"><span class="label">[429]</span></a> Detroit <i>Post and Tribune</i>; <i>Life of Zachariah +Chandler</i>, p. 189.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_430_430" id="vol2Footnote_430_430"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_430_430"><span class="label">[430]</span></a> Letter to Dr. Thompson of the New York <i>Independent</i>. +F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 507.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_431_431" id="vol2Footnote_431_431"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_431_431"><span class="label">[431]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 512.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_432_432" id="vol2Footnote_432_432"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_432_432"><span class="label">[432]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 3, p. 513.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_433_433" id="vol2Footnote_433_433"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_433_433"><span class="label">[433]</span></a> Nicolay and Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 3, p. 343, +<i>note</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_434_434" id="vol2Footnote_434_434"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_434_434"><span class="label">[434]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 343, 344, and <i>note</i>. +</p> +<p> +For facsimile of the paragraph as written by Seward and rewritten by +Lincoln, see <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 3, p. 336. For the entire address, with all +suggested and adopted changes, see <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 3, pp. 327 to 344. +</p> +<p> +At Seward's dinner table on the evening of March 4, the peroration of +the inaugural address was especially commended by A. Oakey Hall, +afterward mayor of New York, who quickly put it into rhyme: +</p> +<p class="blockquot"> +"The mystic chords of Memory<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That stretch from patriot graves;</span><br /> +From battle-fields to living hearts,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or hearth-stones freed from slaves,</span><br /> +An Union chorus shall prolong,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And grandly, proudly swell,</span><br /> +When by those better angels touched<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who in all natures dwell."</span><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_435_435" id="vol2Footnote_435_435"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_435_435"><span class="label">[435]</span></a> "Seward and his friends were greatly offended at the +action of Curtin at Chicago. I was chairman of the Lincoln state +committee and fighting the pivotal struggle of the national battle, +but not one dollar of assistance came from New York, and my letters to +Thurlow Weed and to Governor Morgan, chairman of the national +committee, were unanswered. Seward largely aided the appointment of a +Cabinet officer in Pennsylvania, who was the most conspicuous of +Curtin's foes, and on Curtin's visit to Seward as secretary of state, +he gave him such a frigid reception that he never thereafter called at +that department."—Alex. K. McClure, <i>Recollections of Half a +Century</i>, p. 220.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_436_436" id="vol2Footnote_436_436"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_436_436"><span class="label">[436]</span></a> Nicolay and Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 3, p. 370.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_437_437" id="vol2Footnote_437_437"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_437_437"><span class="label">[437]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 3, p. 371.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_438_438" id="vol2Footnote_438_438"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_438_438"><span class="label">[438]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 518.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_439_439" id="vol2Footnote_439_439"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_439_439"><span class="label">[439]</span></a> Alex. K. McClure, <i>Recollections of Half a Century</i>, p. +204.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_440_440" id="vol2Footnote_440_440"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_440_440"><span class="label">[440]</span></a> George T. Curtis, <i>Life of James Buchanan</i>, Vol. 2, p. +530.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_441_441" id="vol2Footnote_441_441"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_441_441"><span class="label">[441]</span></a> O.B. Hallister, <i>Life of Colfax</i>, p. 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_442_442" id="vol2Footnote_442_442"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_442_442"><span class="label">[442]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 530.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_443_443" id="vol2Footnote_443_443"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_443_443"><span class="label">[443]</span></a> Alex. K. McClure, <i>Life of Lincoln</i>, p. 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_444_444" id="vol2Footnote_444_444"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_444_444"><span class="label">[444]</span></a> George T. Curtis, <i>Life of James Buchanan</i>, Vol. 2, p. +530. +</p><p> +A writer in the <i>North American Review</i> says, "the clamour for offices +is already quite extraordinary, and these poor people undoubtedly +belong to the horde which has pressed in here seeking places under the +new Administration, which neither has nor can hope to have places +enough to satisfy one-twentieth the number." November, 1879, p. 488.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_445_445" id="vol2Footnote_445_445"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_445_445"><span class="label">[445]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 518.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_446_446" id="vol2Footnote_446_446"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_446_446"><span class="label">[446]</span></a> A.R. Conkling, <i>Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling</i>, +pp. 119, 120.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_447_447" id="vol2Footnote_447_447"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_447_447"><span class="label">[447]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +612.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_448_448" id="vol2Footnote_448_448"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_448_448"><span class="label">[448]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, +pp. 612, 613.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_449_449" id="vol2Footnote_449_449"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_449_449"><span class="label">[449]</span></a> Gideon Welles, <i>Lincoln and Seward</i>, p. 22. +</p><p> +"In pecuniary matters Weed was generous to a fault while poor; he is +said to be less so since he became rich.... I cannot doubt, however, +that if he had never seen Wall Street or Washington, had never heard +of the Stock Board, and had lived in some yet undiscovered country, +where legislation is never bought nor sold, his life would have been +more blameless, useful, and happy. I was sitting beside him in his +editorial room soon after Governor Seward's election, when he opened a +letter from a brother Whig, which ran substantially thus: 'Dear Weed: +I want to be a bank examiner. You know how to fix it. Do so, and draw +on me for whatever sum you may see fit. Yours truly.' In an instant +his face became prematurely black with mingled rage and mortification. +'My God,' said he, 'I knew that my political adversaries thought me a +scoundrel, but I never till now supposed that my friends +did.'"—Horace Greeley, <i>Recollections of a Busy Life</i>, pp. 312, 313.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_450_450" id="vol2Footnote_450_450"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_450_450"><span class="label">[450]</span></a> "President Lincoln looked to Mr. Weed for counsel, when, +as often during the war, he met with difficulties hard to surmount. It +was Mr. Lincoln's habit at such times to telegraph Mr. Weed to come to +Washington from Albany or New York, perhaps at an hour's notice. He +often spent the day with the President, coming and returning by night, +regardless of his age and infirmities. His services in these +exigencies were often invaluable."—Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of +Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. 288.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_451_451" id="vol2Footnote_451_451"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_451_451"><span class="label">[451]</span></a> Nicolay and Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 2, p. 217.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_452_452" id="vol2Footnote_452_452"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_452_452"><span class="label">[452]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, March 14, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_453_453" id="vol2Footnote_453_453"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_453_453"><span class="label">[453]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +613.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_454_454" id="vol2Footnote_454_454"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_454_454"><span class="label">[454]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, editorial, April 2, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_455_455" id="vol2Footnote_455_455"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_455_455"><span class="label">[455]</span></a> "'It was worth the journey to the East,' said Mr. +Lincoln, 'to see such a man as Bryant.'"—John Bigelow, <i>Life of +William Cullen Bryant</i>, p. 218.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_456_456" id="vol2Footnote_456_456"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_456_456"><span class="label">[456]</span></a> Nicolay and Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 3, p. 257.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_457_457" id="vol2Footnote_457_457"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_457_457"><span class="label">[457]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +613.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_458_458" id="vol2Footnote_458_458"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_458_458"><span class="label">[458]</span></a> "Hiram Barney belongs to the Van Buren Democratic +Buffalo Free-soil wing of the Republican party. He studied law with +C.C. Cambreling and practised it with Benjamin F. Butler. For +President he voted for Jackson, for Van Buren in 1840 and 1848, for +Hale in 1852, and for Fremont and Lincoln. He was also a delegate to +the Buffalo convention of 1848; so that as an out-and-out Van Buren +Democratic Free-soil Republican, Barney is a better specimen than Van +Buren himself."—New York <i>Herald</i>, March 28, 1861. +</p><p> +"Mr. Barney's quiet, unostentatious bearing has deprived him of the +notoriety which attaches to most of our politicians of equal +experience and influence. Nevertheless, he is well known to the +Republican party and universally respected as one of its foremost and +most intelligent supporters."—New York <i>Evening Post</i>, March 27, +1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_459_459" id="vol2Footnote_459_459"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_459_459"><span class="label">[459]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 1, p. +528; <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 2, p. 322.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_460_460" id="vol2Footnote_460_460"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_460_460"><span class="label">[460]</span></a> "Strong protests against Barney have been received +within the last twenty-four hours."—New York <i>Herald</i>, March 14, +1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_461_461" id="vol2Footnote_461_461"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_461_461"><span class="label">[461]</span></a> Gideon Welles, <i>Lincoln and Seward</i>, p. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_462_462" id="vol2Footnote_462_462"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_462_462"><span class="label">[462]</span></a> Gideon Welles, <i>Lincoln and Seward</i>, p. 73.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_463_463" id="vol2Footnote_463_463"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_463_463"><span class="label">[463]</span></a> "Executive skill and vigour are rare qualities. The +President is the best of us." Seward's letter to his wife.—F.W. +Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 590.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_464_464" id="vol2Footnote_464_464"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_464_464"><span class="label">[464]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, March 30, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_465_465" id="vol2Footnote_465_465"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_465_465"><span class="label">[465]</span></a> "Thurlow Weed patched up the New York appointments and +left this morning. Greeley arrived about the same time and has been +sponging Weed's slate at an awful rate."—<i>Ibid.</i>, March 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_466_466" id="vol2Footnote_466_466"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_466_466"><span class="label">[466]</span></a> "Barney arrived this morning in response to a summons +from the President and the secretary of the treasury."—<i>Ibid.</i>, April +1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_467_467" id="vol2Footnote_467_467"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_467_467"><span class="label">[467]</span></a> "Senator Harris has proved himself more than a match +for Weed."—<i>Ibid.</i>, April 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_468_468" id="vol2Footnote_468_468"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_468_468"><span class="label">[468]</span></a> "Thus far four attachés of the <i>Tribune</i> have been +appointed.... These appointments except the last were Mr. Lincoln's +regardless of Mr. Seward, who bears the <i>Tribune</i> no love."—<i>Ibid.</i>, +March 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_469_469" id="vol2Footnote_469_469"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_469_469"><span class="label">[469]</span></a> "Seward secures all the important offices save the +collectorship, which was given to Greeley."—New York <i>Herald</i>, March +30, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_470_470" id="vol2Footnote_470_470"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_470_470"><span class="label">[470]</span></a> "In the spring of 1859, Governor Seward crossed the +Atlantic, visiting Egypt, traversing Syria, and other portions of Asia +Minor as well as much of Europe. Soon after his return he came one +evening to my seat in Dr. Chapin's church,—as he had repeatedly done +during former visits to our city,—and I now recall this as the last +occasion on which we ever met."—Horace Greeley, <i>Recollections of a +Busy Life</i>, p. 321.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_471_471" id="vol2Footnote_471_471"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_471_471"><span class="label">[471]</span></a> "'Bray Dickinson,' as he was generally and familiarly +called, whose early education was entirely neglected but whose +perceptions and intuitions were clear and ready, was an enterprising +farmer,—too enterprising, indeed, for he undertook more than he could +accomplish. His ambition was to be the largest cattle and produce +grower in his county (Steuben). If his whole time and thoughts had +been given to farming, his anticipations might have been realised, +but, as it was, he experienced the fate of those who keep too many +irons in the fire. In 1839 he was elected to the State Senate, where +for four years he was able, fearless, and inflexibly honest. On one +occasion a senator from Westchester County criticised and ridiculed +Dickinson's language. Dickinson immediately rejoined, saying that +while his difficulty consisted in a want of suitable language with +which to express his ideas, his colleague was troubled with a flood of +words without any ideas to express."—Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of +Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 1, pp. 441, 442.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_472_472" id="vol2Footnote_472_472"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_472_472"><span class="label">[472]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 1, p. 503.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_473_473" id="vol2Footnote_473_473"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_473_473"><span class="label">[473]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +273.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_474_474" id="vol2Footnote_474_474"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_474_474"><span class="label">[474]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, March 29, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_475_475" id="vol2Footnote_475_475"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_475_475"><span class="label">[475]</span></a> "Hornby, April 3, 1861. Dear Seward: I shall have to +take a Gentleman with me that can speak the Spanish language and +correct bad English. That being well done I can take care of the +<span class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: so in original">ballance</span> Greeley to the contrary +notwithstanding.... You have much at stake in my appointment as it is +charged (and I know how justly) to your account."—Unpublished letter +in files of State Department.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_476_476" id="vol2Footnote_476_476"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_476_476"><span class="label">[476]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +326.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_477_477" id="vol2Footnote_477_477"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_477_477"><span class="label">[477]</span></a> "I am charged with having opposed the selection of +Governor Seward for a place in President Lincoln's Cabinet. That is +utterly, absolutely false, the President himself being my witness. I +might call many others, but one such is sufficient."—New York +<i>Tribune</i>, signed editorial, July 25, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol2Footnote_478_478" id="vol2Footnote_478_478"></a><a href="#vol2FNanchor_478_478"><span class="label">[478]</span></a> Alex. K. McClure, <i>Lincoln and Men of War Times</i>, p. +295.</p></div> + + + +<div class="bbox"> +<h1>A POLITICAL HISTORY<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small">OF THE</span><br /> +<br /> +STATE OF NEW YORK</h1> + + +<h2><br /><span class="small">BY</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">DeALVA</span> STANWOOD ALEXANDER, A.M., LL.D.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small"><i>Member of Congress, Formerly United States Attorney<br /> +for the Northern District of New York</i></span></h2> + + +<h3><br /><span class="smcap">Vol. III</span><br /> +<br /> +1861-1882</h3> + +<p class="center"><br /><b><a href="#vol3CONTENTS">Volume III Contents</a></b><br /> +</p> + +<p class="center"><br /> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="81" height="100" alt="" /></p> + + +<p class="center"><br />NEW YORK<br /> +HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY<br /> +1909<br /> +</p> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="small"><span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1909,<br /> +<span class="smcap">by</span><br /> +HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY</span></p> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="small">Published, September, 1909</span></p> + +<hr class="short" /> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="small">THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS<br /> +RAHWAY, N.J.</span><br /><br /> +</p> +</div> + + + +<p><br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.iii" id="vol3Page_iii.iii">iii. iii</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CONTENTS" id="vol3CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<h3>VOL. III</h3> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="contents"> +<tbody> +<tr><td><span class="small">CHAPTER</span></td><td class="right"><span class="small">PAGE</span></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_I">I. <span class="smcap">The Uprising of the North.</span> 1861</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_II">II. <span class="smcap">New Party Alignments.</span> 1861</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.13">13</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_III">III. "<span class="smcap">The Mad Desperation of Reaction.</span>" 1862</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.31">31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_IV">IV. <span class="smcap">Thurlow Weed Trims His Sails.</span> 1863</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.53">53</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_V">V. <span class="smcap">Governor Seymour and President Lincoln.</span> 1863</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_VI">VI. <span class="smcap">Seymour Rebuked.</span> 1863</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.73">73</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_VII">VII. <span class="smcap">Strife of Radical and Conservative.</span> 1864</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.84">84</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_VIII">VIII. <span class="smcap">Seymour's Presidential Fever.</span> 1864</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.98">98</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_IX">IX. <span class="smcap">Fenton Defeats Seymour.</span> 1864</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.115">115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_X">X. <span class="smcap">A Complete Change of Policy.</span> 1865</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.127">127</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XI">XI. <span class="smcap">Raymond Champions the President.</span> 1866</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.136">136</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XII">XII. <span class="smcap">Hoffman Defeated, Conkling Promoted.</span> 1866</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.150">150</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XIII">XIII. <span class="smcap">The Rise of Tweedism.</span> 1867</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.172">172</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XIV">XIV. <span class="smcap">Seymour and Hoffman.</span> 1868</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.189">189</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XV">XV. <span class="smcap">The State Carried by Fraud.</span> 1868</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.208">208</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XVI">XVI. <span class="smcap">Influence of Money in Senatorial Elections.</span> 1869</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.219">219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XVII">XVII. <span class="smcap">Tweed Controls the State.</span> 1869-70</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.223">223</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII. <span class="smcap">Conkling Defeats Fenton.</span> 1870</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.232">232</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XIX">XIX. <span class="smcap">Tweed Wins and Falls.</span> 1870</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.240">240</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XX">XX. <span class="smcap">Conkling Punishes Greeley.</span> 1871</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.250">250</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXI">XXI. <span class="smcap">Tilden Crushes Tammany.</span> 1871</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.265">265</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXII">XXII. <span class="smcap">Greeley Nominated for President.</span> 1872</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.276">276</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXIII">XXIII. <span class="smcap">Defeat and Death of Greeley.</span> 1872</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.291">291</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXIV">XXIV. <span class="smcap">Tilden Destroys His Opponents.</span> 1873-4</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.305">305</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXV">XXV. <span class="smcap">Rivalry of Tilden and Conkling.</span> 1875</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.321">321</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXVI">XXVI. <span class="smcap">Defeat of the Republican Machine.</span> 1876</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.332">332</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXVII">XXVII. <span class="smcap">Tilden One Vote Short.</span> 1876</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.340">340</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.iv" id="vol3Page_iii.iv">iii. iv</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXVIII">XXVIII. <span class="smcap">Conkling and Curtis at Rochester.</span> 1877</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.358">358</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXIX">XXIX. <span class="smcap">The Tilden Régime Routed.</span> 1877</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.378">378</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXX">XXX. <span class="smcap">Greenbackers Serve Republicans.</span> 1878</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.389">389</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXXI">XXXI. <span class="smcap">Removal of Arthur and Cornell.</span> 1878-9</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.399">399</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXXII">XXXII. <span class="smcap">John Kelly Elects Cornell.</span> 1879</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.411">411</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXXIII">XXXIII. <span class="smcap">Stalwart and Half-breed.</span> 1880</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.428">428</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXXIV">XXXIV. <span class="smcap">Tilden, Kelly, and Defeat.</span> 1880</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.447">447</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXXV">XXXV. <span class="smcap">Conkling Down and Out.</span> 1881</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.464">464</a></td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXXVI">XXXVI. <span class="smcap">Cleveland's Enormous Majority.</span> 1881-2</a></td><td class="right"><a href="#vol3Page_iii.483">483</a></td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p class="center"><b><a href="#politicalindex">INDEX</a></b></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.1" id="vol3Page_iii.1">iii. 1</a></span></p> +<h2>A POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE<br /> +STATE OF NEW YORK</h2> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_I" id="vol3CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /> +<br /> +THE UPRISING OF THE NORTH<br /> +<br /> +1861</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">While</span> politicians indecently clamoured for office, as indicated in the +concluding chapter of the preceding volume, President Lincoln, +whenever escape from the patronage hunters permitted, was considering +the wisdom of provisioning Fort Sumter. Grave doubt obtained as to the +government's physical ability to succour the fort, but, assuming it +possible, was it wise as a political measure? The majority of the +Cabinet, including Seward, voted in the negative, giving rise to the +report that Sumter would be abandoned. Union people generally, wishing +to support the brave and loyal action of Major Anderson and his little +band, vigorously protested against such an exhibition of weakness, and +the longer the Government hesitated the more vigorously the popular +will resented such a policy. Finally, on March 29, in spite of General +Scott's advice and Secretary Seward's opinion, the President, guided +by public sentiment, directed a relief expedition to be ready to sail +as early as April 6.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile a Confederate constitution had been adopted, a Confederate +flag raised over the capitol at Montgomery, and a Confederate Congress +assembled, which had authorised the enlistment of 100,000 volunteers, +the issue of <span class="keep_together">$1,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.2" id="vol3Page_iii.2">iii. 2</a></span>000,000</span> +in treasury notes, and the organisation of a +navy. To take charge of military operations at Charleston, the +Confederate government commissioned Pierre T. Beauregard a +brigadier-general and placed him in command of South Carolina.</p> + +<p>Beauregard quickly learned of Lincoln's decision to relieve Sumter, +and upon the Confederate authorities devolved the grave responsibility +of reducing the fort before the relief expedition arrived. In +discussing this serious question Robert Toombs, the Confederate +secretary of state, did not hesitate to declare that "the firing upon +it at this time is suicide, murder, and will lose us every friend at +the North. You will wantonly strike a hornet's nest which extends from +mountain to ocean, and legions now quiet will swarm out and sting us +to death. It is unnecessary; it puts us in the wrong; it is fatal."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1_1" id="vol3FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Jefferson Davis, already overborne by pressure from +South Carolina, ordered Beauregard to demand its evacuation, and, if +refused, "to reduce it."<a name="vol3FNanchor_2_2" id="vol3FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Answering Beauregard's aides, who +submitted the demand on the afternoon of April 11, Anderson refused to +withdraw, adding, "if you do not batter the fort to pieces about us, +we shall be starved out in a few days."'<a name="vol3FNanchor_3_3" id="vol3FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> To this message the +Confederate Secretary of War replied: "Do not desire needlessly to +bombard Fort Sumter. If Major Anderson will state the time at which, +as indicated by him, he will evacuate, and agree in the meantime he +will not use his guns against us unless ours should be employed +against Sumter, you are authorised thus to avoid the effusion of +blood. If this or its equivalent be refused, reduce the fort as your +judgment decides to be the most practicable."<a name="vol3FNanchor_4_4" id="vol3FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Four aides submitted +this proposition at a quarter before one o'clock on the morning of +April 12, to which Anderson, after confer<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.3" id="vol3Page_iii.3">iii. 3</a></span>ring two hours and a half +with his officers, replied, "I will evacuate by noon on the 15th +instant, and I will not in the meantime open fire upon your forces +unless compelled to do so by some hostile act against this fort or the +flag of my Government, should I not receive, prior to that time, +controlling instructions from my Government or additional +supplies."<a name="vol3FNanchor_5_5" id="vol3FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>The aides refused these terms, and without further consultation with +Beauregard notified Anderson that in one hour their batteries would +open fire on the fort. Prompt to the minute, at 4.30 o'clock in the +morning, a shell from Fort Johnson, signalling the bombardment to +begin, burst directly over Sumter. At seven o'clock Anderson's force, +numbering one hundred and twenty-eight officers, men, and +non-combatant labourers, who had breakfasted upon half rations of pork +and damaged rice, began returning the fire, which continued briskly at +first and afterwards intermittently until the evacuation on Sunday +afternoon, the 14th inst.<a name="vol3FNanchor_6_6" id="vol3FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>Within twenty-four hours the prophecy of Robert Toombs was practically +fulfilled, for when, on Monday, April 15, President Lincoln called for +75,000 State militia to execute the laws, the people of the North rose +almost as one man to support the government. "At the darkest moment in +the history of the Republic," Emerson wrote, "when it looked as if the +nation would be dismembered, pulverised into its original elements, +the attack on Fort Sumter crystalised the North into a unit, and the +hope of mankind was saved."<a name="vol3FNanchor_7_7" id="vol3FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>Much speculation had been indulged respecting the attitude of New York +City. It was the heart of the Union and the home of Southern sympathy. +Men had argued coolly and philosophically about the right of +secession, and journals of wide influence daily exhibited strong +Southern leanings. Owing to business connections and social +intercourse with the South, merchants had petitioned for concessions +so offen<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.4" id="vol3Page_iii.4">iii. 4</a></span>sive to Lincoln that Southern statesmen confidently relied +upon their friendship as an important factor in dividing the North. On +many platforms Daniel S. Dickinson, James T. Brady, John Cochrane, and +others equally well known and influential, had held the North +responsible for conditions that, it was claimed, were driving the +South into secession. So recently as December 20, in a meeting of more +than ordinary importance, held on Pine Street, at which Charles +O'Conor presided, and John A. Dix, John J. Cisco, William B. Astor, +and others of similar character were present, Dickinson declared that +"our Southern brothers will reason with us when we will reason with +them.... The South have not offended us.... But their slaves have been +run off in numbers by an underground railroad, and insult and injury +returned for a constitutional duty.... If we would remain a united +people we must treat the Southern States as we treated them on the +inauguration of the government—as political equals."<a name="vol3FNanchor_8_8" id="vol3FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>In a speech at Richmond on March 14 Cochrane promised that New York +would sustain Virginia in any policy it adopted,<a name="vol3FNanchor_9_9" id="vol3FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> and on April 4 a +Confederate commissioner, writing from Manhattan, reported to +Jefferson Davis that two hundred of the most influential and wealthy +citizens were then arranging the details to declare New York a free +city. Several army officers as well as leading ship-builders, said the +letter, had been found responsive, through whose assistance recruits +from the ranks of the conspirators were to seize the navy yard, forts, +and vessels of war, and to hold the harbor and city.<a name="vol3FNanchor_10_10" id="vol3FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> While nothing +was known to the friends of the Union of the existence of such a +conspiracy, deep anxiety prevailed as to how far the spirit of +rebellion which had manifested itself in high places, extended among +the population of the great metropolis.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.5" id="vol3Page_iii.5">iii. 5</a></span></p><p>The guns aimed at Sumter, however, quickly removed the impression that +the greed of commerce was stronger than the love of country. The Stock +Exchange resounded with enthusiastic cheers for Major Anderson, and +generous loans showed that the weight of the financial and trade +centre of the country was on the side of the national government. But +more convincing proof of a solid North found expression in the spirit +of the great meeting held at Union Square on Saturday, April 20. +Nothing like it had ever been seen in America. Men of all ranks, +professions, and creeds united in the demonstration. Around six +platforms, each occupied with a corps of patriotic orators, an +illustrious audience, numbering some of the most famous Democrats of +the State, who had quickly discarded political prejudices, stood for +hours listening to loyal utterances that were nobly illustrated by the +valour of Major Anderson, whose presence increased the enthusiasm into +a deafening roar of repeated cheers. If any doubt heretofore existed +as to the right of coercing a State, or upon whom rested the +responsibility for beginning the war, or who were the real enemies of +the Union, or where prominent members of the Democratic party would +stand, it had now disappeared. The partisan was lost in the patriot.</p> + +<p>Daniel S. Dickinson travelled two hundred miles to be present at this +meeting, and his attitude, assumed without qualification or +reservation, especially pleased the lovers of the Union. Of all men he +had retained and proclaimed his predilections for the South with the +zeal and stubbornness of an unconverted Saul. Throughout the long +discussion of twenty years his sympathy remained with the South, his +ambitions centred in the South, and his words, whether so intended or +not, encouraged the South to believe in a divided North. But the guns +at Sumter changed him as quickly as a voice converted St. Paul. "It +were profitless," he said, his eyes resting upon the torn flag that +had waved over Sumter—"it were profitless to inquire for original or +remote causes; it is no time for indecision or inaction.... I would +assert<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.6" id="vol3Page_iii.6">iii. 6</a></span> the power of the government over those who owe it allegiance +and attempt its overthrow, as Brutus put his signet to the +death-warrant of his son, that I might exclaim with him, 'Justice is +satisfied, and Rome is free.' For myself, in our federal relations, I +know but one section, one Union, one flag, one government. That +section embraces every State; that Union is the Union sealed with the +blood and consecrated by the tears of the revolutionary struggle; that +flag is the flag known and honoured in every sea under heaven; that +government is the government of Washington, and Adams, and Jefferson, +and Jackson; a government which has shielded and protected not only +us, but God's oppressed children, who have gathered under its wings +from every portion of the globe."<a name="vol3FNanchor_11_11" id="vol3FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>Fernando Wood, until recently planning to make New York an independent +city, now declared the past buried, with its political associations +and sympathies, and pledged the municipality, its money and its men, +to the support of the Union. "I am with you in this contest. We know +no party, now."<a name="vol3FNanchor_12_12" id="vol3FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Of the fifty or more speeches delivered from the +several platforms, perhaps the address of John Cochrane, whose +ridiculous Richmond oration was scarcely a month old, proved the most +impressive. Cochrane had a good presence, a clear, penetrating voice, +and spoke in round, rhetorical periods. If he sometimes illustrated +the passionate and often the extravagant declaimer, his style was +finished, and his fervid appeals deeply stirred the emotions if they +did not always guide the reason. It was evident that he now spoke with +the sincere emotion of one whose mind and heart were filled with the +cause for which he pleaded. In his peroration, pointing to the torn +flag of Sumter, he raised the vast audience to such a pitch of +excitement that when he dramatically proclaimed his motto to be, "Our +country, our whole country—in any event,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.7" id="vol3Page_iii.7">iii. 7</a></span> a united country," the +continued cheering was with great difficulty sufficiently suppressed +to allow the introduction of another speaker.<a name="vol3FNanchor_13_13" id="vol3FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>Of the regiments called for New York's quota was seventeen. Governor +Morgan immediately communicated it to the Legislature, which +authorised in a few hours the enlistment of 30,000 volunteers for two +years. Instantly every drill room and armory in the State became a +scene of great activity, and by April 19, four days after the call, +the Seventh New York, each man carrying forty-eight rounds of ball +cartridge, received an enthusiastic ovation as it marched down +Broadway on its way to Washington. Thereafter, each day presented, +somewhere in the State, a similar pageant. Men offered their services +so much faster than the Government could take them that bitterness +followed the fierce competition.<a name="vol3FNanchor_14_14" id="vol3FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> By July 1 New York had despatched +to the seat of war 46,700 men—an aggregate that was swelled by +December 30 to 120,361. Loans to the government, offered with an +equally lavish hand, approximated $33,000,000 in three months.</p> + +<p>To aid in the purchase and arming of steamships and in the movement of +troops and forwarding of supplies, President Lincoln, during the +excitement incident to the isolation of Washington, conferred +extraordinary powers upon Governor Morgan, William M. Evarts, and +Moses H. Grinnell, to whom army officers were instructed to report for +orders. Similar powers to act for the Treasury Department in the +disbursement of public money were conferred upon John A. Dix, George +Opdyke, and Richard M. Blatchford. These gentlemen gave no security +and received no compensation, but "I am not aware," wrote Lincoln, at +a later day, "that a dollar of the public funds, thus confided, +without authority of law, to unofficial persons, was either lost or +wasted."<a name="vol3FNanchor_15_15" id="vol3FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<p>The Union Square meeting appointed a Union Defence<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.8" id="vol3Page_iii.8">iii. 8</a></span> Committee to raise +money, provide supplies, and equip regiments. For the time this +committee became the executive arm of the national government in New +York, giving method to effort and concentrating the people's energies +for the highest efficiency. John A. Dix, who had seen sixteen years of +peace service in the regular army, equipped regiments and despatched +them to Washington, while James S. Wadsworth, a man without military +experience but of great public spirit, whose courage and energy +especially fitted him for the work, loaded steamboats with provisions +and accompanied them to Annapolis. Soon afterwards Dix became a +major-general of volunteers, while Wadsworth, eager for active +service, accepted an appointment on General McDowell's staff with the +rank of major. This took him to Manassas, and within a month gave him +a "baptism of fire" which distinguished him for coolness, high +courage, and great capacity. On August 9 he was made a +brigadier-general of volunteers, thus preceding in date of commission +all other New Yorkers of similar rank not graduates of West Point.</p> + +<p>A few weeks later Daniel E. Sickles, no less famous in the political +arena, who was to win the highest renown as a fighter, received +similar rank. Sickles, at the age of twenty-two, began public life as +a member of the Assembly, and in the succeeding fourteen years served +as corporation attorney, secretary of legation at London, State +senator, and congressman. A Hunker in politics, an adept with the +revolver, and fearless in defence, he had the habit of doing his own +thinking. Tammany never had a stronger personality. He was not always +a successful leader and he cared little for party discipline, but as +an antagonist bent on having his own way his name had become a +household word in the metropolis and in conventions. In the +anti-slavery crusade his sympathies were Southern. He opposed Lincoln, +he favoured compromise, and he encouraged the cotton States to believe +in a divided North. Nevertheless, when the Union was assaulted, the +soldier spirit that made him<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.9" id="vol3Page_iii.9">iii. 9</a></span> major of the Twelfth National Guards in +1852 took him to Washington at the head of the Excelsior Brigade, +consisting of five regiments, fully armed and equipped, and ready to +serve during the war. He reached the capital at the time when more +regiments were offered than General Scott would accept, but with the +energy that afterward characterised his action at Gettysburg he sought +the President, who promptly gave him the order that mustered his men +and put him in command.<a name="vol3FNanchor_16_16" id="vol3FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Other leaders who had voiced Southern +sentiments, notably John Cochrane, soon found places at the front. +Indeed, those who had professed the warmest friendship for the South +were among the first to speak or take up arms against it.</p> + +<p>The Confederates, entering upon the path of revolution with the hope +of a divided North, exhibited much feeling over this unanimity of +sentiment. "Will the city of New York 'kiss the rod that smites her,'" +asked the leading paper in Virginia, "and at the bidding of her Black +Republican tyrants war upon her Southern friends and best customers? +Will she sacrifice her commerce, her wealth, her population, her +character, in order to strengthen the arm of her oppressors?"<a name="vol3FNanchor_17_17" id="vol3FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Ten +days later another influential representative of Southern sentiment, +watching the proceedings of the great Union Square meeting, answered +the inquiry. "The statesmen of the North," said the Richmond +<i>Enquirer</i>, "heretofore most honoured and confided in by the South,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.10" id="vol3Page_iii.10">iii. 10</a></span> +have come out unequivocally in favor of the Lincoln policy of coercing +and subjugating the South."<a name="vol3FNanchor_18_18" id="vol3FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> The Charleston <i>Mercury</i> called the +roll of these statesmen in the several States. "Where," it asked, "are +Fillmore, Van Buren, Cochrane, McKeon, Weed, Dix, Dickinson, and +Barnard, of New York, in the bloody crusade proposed by President +Lincoln against the South? Unheard of in their dignified retirement, +or hounding on the fanatic warfare, or themselves joining 'the noble +army of martyrs for liberty' marching on the South."<a name="vol3FNanchor_19_19" id="vol3FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> Other papers +were no less indignant. "We are told," said the Richmond <i>Examiner</i>, +"that the whole North is rallying as one man—Douglas, veering as ever +with the popular breeze; Buchanan lifting a treacherous and +time-serving voice of encouragement from the icy atmosphere of +Wheatland; and well-fed and well-paid Fillmore, eating up all his past +words of indignation for Southern injuries, and joining in the popular +hue-and-cry against his special benefactors."<a name="vol3FNanchor_20_20" id="vol3FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> The <i>Enquirer</i>, +speaking of Daniel S. Dickinson as "the former crack champion of +Southern Rights," sneered at his having given his "adhesion to Lincoln +and all his abolition works."<a name="vol3FNanchor_21_21" id="vol3FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> To the South which believed in the +constitutional right of secession, the contest for the Union was a war +of subjugation, and whoever took part in it was stigmatised. "The +proposition to <i>subjugate</i>," said the <i>Examiner</i>, "comes from the +metropolis of the North's boasted conservatism, even from the largest +beneficiary of Southern wealth—New York City."<a name="vol3FNanchor_22_22" id="vol3FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></p> + +<p>In the midst of the patriotic uprising of the North, so disappointing +and surprising to the South, an event occurred that cast a deep shadow +over New York in common with the rest of the country. The press, +presumably voicing public opinion, demanded that the army begin the +work for which it was organised. Many reasons were given—some +quixotic, some born of suspicion, and others wholly unworthy their +source. The New York <i>Tribune</i>, in daily articles, became<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.11" id="vol3Page_iii.11">iii. 11</a></span> alarmingly +impatient, expressing the fear that influences were keeping the armies +apart until peace could be obtained on humiliating terms to the +North.<a name="vol3FNanchor_23_23" id="vol3FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> Finally, on June 27, appeared a four-line, triple-leaded +leader, printed in small capitals, entitled "The Nation's War-Cry." It +was as mandatory as it was conspicuous. "Forward to Richmond! Forward +to Richmond! The Rebel Congress must not be allowed to meet there on +the 20th of July! By that date the place must be held by the National +Army!"<a name="vol3FNanchor_24_24" id="vol3FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> This war-cry appeared from day to day with editorials +indicating a fear of Democratic intrigue, and hinting at General +Scott's insincerity.<a name="vol3FNanchor_25_25" id="vol3FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>General Scott did not approve a battle at that time. He thought the +troops insufficiently drilled and disciplined. On the other hand, the +President argued that a successful battle would encourage the country, +maintain the unanimity of the war sentiment, and gain the respect of +foreign governments. General McDowell had 30,000 men in the vicinity +of Bull Run, Virginia, of whom 1,600 were regulars—the rest, for the +most part, three months' volunteers whose term of enlistment soon +expired. At Martinsburg, General Patterson, a veteran of two wars, +commanded 20,000 Federal troops. Opposed to the Union forces, General +Beauregard had an effective army of 22,000, with 9,000 in the +Shenandoah Valley under command of Joseph E. Johnston. In obedience to +the popular demand McDowell moved his troops slowly toward +Beauregard's lines, and on Sunday, July 21, attacked with<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.12" id="vol3Page_iii.12">iii. 12</a></span> his whole +force, gaining a complete victory by three o'clock in the afternoon. +Meantime, however, Johnston, having eluded Patterson, brought to the +field at the supreme moment two or three thousand fresh troops and +turned a Confederate defeat into a Union rout and panic.<a name="vol3FNanchor_26_26" id="vol3FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<p>After coolness and confidence had displaced the confusion of this wild +stampede, it became clear that the battle of Bull Run had been well +planned, and that for inexperienced and undisciplined troops +McDowell's army had fought bravely. It appeared plain that had +Patterson arrived with 2,300 fresh troops instead of Johnston, the +Confederates must have been the routed and panic-stricken party. To +the North, however, defeat was the source of much shame. It seemed a +verification of the Southern boast that one Confederate could whip two +Yankees, and deepened the conviction that the war was to be long and +severe. Moreover, fear was expressed that it would minimise the much +desired sympathy of England and other foreign governments. But it +brought no abatement of energy. With one voice the press of the North +demanded renewed activity, and before a week had elapsed every +department of government girded itself anew for the conflict.<a name="vol3FNanchor_27_27" id="vol3FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> The +vigour and enthusiasm of this period have been called a second +uprising of the North, and the work of a few weeks exhibited the +wonderful resources of a patriotic people.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.13" id="vol3Page_iii.13">iii. 13</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_II" id="vol3CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h2>NEW PARTY ALIGNMENTS</h2> + +<h2>1861</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> battle of Bull Run fomented mutterings, freighted with antagonism +to the war. Certain journals violently resented the suspension of the +writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>, while the Act of Congress, approved August 3, +providing for the freedom of slaves employed in any military or naval +service, called forth such extreme denunciations that the United +States grand jury for the Southern District of New York asked the +Court if the authors were subject to indictment. "These +newspapers,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_28_28" id="vol3FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> said the foreman, "are in the frequent practice of +encouraging the rebels now in arms against the Federal Government by +expressing sympathy and agreement with them, the duty of acceding to +their demands, and dissatisfaction with the employment of force to +overcome them. Their conduct is, of course, condemned and abhorred by +all loyal men, but the grand jury will be glad to learn from the Court +that they are also subject to indictment and condign punishment." The +Postmaster-General's order excluding such journals from the mails +intensified the bitterness. The arrests of persons charged with giving +aid and comfort to the enemy also furnished partisans an opportunity +to make people distrustful of such summary methods by magnifying the +danger to personal liberty. In a word, the Bull Run disaster had +become a peg upon which to hang sympathy for the South.<a name="vol3FNanchor_29_29" id="vol3FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.14" id="vol3Page_iii.14">iii. 14</a></span></p><p>Differences likewise appeared among Republicans. The Weed and +anti-Weed factions still existed, but these divisions now grew out of +differences far deeper than patronage. After the bombardment of Fort +Sumter, Thurlow Weed desired the conflict conducted on lines that +would unite the North into one party responding to the cry of "Union, +now and forever." He believed this might be done and that rebellion +could thus be confined to the extreme cotton region, if the loyal +element in the Border States was cherished and representatives of all +parties were permitted to participate in civil as well as military +affairs. To this end he sought to avoid the question of emancipation, +cordially approving the President's course in modifying Fremont's +proclamation of the preceding August, which liberated the slaves of +traitorous owners in Missouri. Weed pushed his contention to the +extreme. Following the spirit of his rejected compromise he insisted +that every act of the Government should strengthen and encourage the +Union men of the Border States, among which he included North Carolina +and Tennessee, and he bitterly resented the policy of urging the army, +hastily and without due preparation, to fight "political battles" like +that of Bull Run. On the other hand, the radical anti-slavery element +of the country, led by Secretary Chase in the Cabinet, by Senator +Sumner in Congress, and backed by Horace Greeley in the <i>Tribune</i>, +disliked the President's policy of trying to conciliate Kentucky and +other Border States by listening to the demands of slavery. This +factional difference became doubly pronounced after Lincoln's +modification of the Fremont proclamation.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding Democratic criticisms and Republican differences, +however, the supporters of Lincoln, anxious to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.15" id="vol3Page_iii.15">iii. 15</a></span> teach the seceding +States an object lesson in patriotism, desired to unite both parties +into one Union organisation, pledged to the vigorous prosecution of +the war and the execution of the laws in all parts of the country. To +Republicans this plan looked easy. Most people professed to favour the +preservation of the Union, and thousands of young men irrespective of +party had enlisted for the suppression of armed rebellion. Moreover, a +union of parties at such a critical moment, it was argued, would be +more helpful in discouraging the South than victory on the +battlefield. Accordingly the Republican State Committee proposed to +the Democrats early in August that in the election to occur on +November 4 a single ticket be nominated, fairly representative of all +parties upon a simple war platform.</p> + +<p>About Dean Richmond, chairman of the Democratic State Committee, still +clustered Peter Cagger, William B. Ludlow, Sanford E. Church, and +other Soft leaders, with Horatio Seymour substantially in control. +These men had not participated in the Union Square meeting on April +20, nor had their sentiments been voiced since the fall of Fort +Sumter; but it was well known that their views did not coincide with +those of Daniel S. Dickinson, John A. Dix, James T. Brady, Greene C. +Bronson, and other leaders of the Hards. Richmond's reply, therefore, +was not disappointing. He admitted the wisdom of filling public +offices with pure and able men who commanded the confidence of the +people, and suggested, with a play of sarcasm, that if such an example +were set in filling Federal offices, it would probably be followed in +the selection of State officers. But the politics of men in office, he +continued, was of little importance compared to sound principles. +Democrats would unite with all citizens opposed to any war and equally +to any peace which is based upon the idea of the separation of these +States, and who regard it the duty of the Federal government at all +times to hold out terms of peace and accommodation to the dissevered +States.</p> + +<p>"Our political system," he continued, "was founded in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.16" id="vol3Page_iii.16">iii. 16</a></span> compromise, and +it can never be dishonourable in any Administration to seek to restore +it by the same means. Above all, they repel the idea that there exists +between the two sections of the Union such an incompatibility of +institutions as to give rise to an irrepressible conflict between +them, which can only terminate in the subjugation of one or the other. +Repelling the doctrine that any State can rightfully secede from the +Union, they hold next in abhorrence that aggressive and fanatical +sectional policy which has so largely contributed to the present +danger of the country. They propose, therefore, to invite to union +with them all citizens of whatever party, who, believing in these +views, will act with them to secure honest administration in Federal +and State affairs, a rigid maintenance of the Constitution, economy in +public expenditures, honesty in the award of contracts, justice to the +soldier in the field and the taxpayer at home, and the expulsion of +corrupt men from office."<a name="vol3FNanchor_30_30" id="vol3FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>It was hardly to be expected, perhaps, that Dean Richmond and other +representatives of a great party would be willing, even if moved by no +other motive than a love of country, to abandon a political +organisation that had existed for years, and that had already shown +its patriotism by the generous enlistment of its members; but it is +doubtful if they would have proclaimed, without the guidance of a +State convention, such an elaborate and positive platform of +principles, had not the serious defeat at Bull Run and the action of +the President in suspending the writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>, subjected the +national Administration to severe criticism. This, at least, was the +view taken by the radical Republican press, which viciously attacked +the patriotism of Richmond and his associates, charging them with +using the livery of Democracy to serve the cause of treason.<a name="vol3FNanchor_31_31" id="vol3FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p>In the midst of these developments the Democratic State convention, +made up of a larger number of old men than usual, assembled at +Syracuse on September 4. It was not an enthusiastic body. The division +upon national affairs<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.17" id="vol3Page_iii.17">iii. 17</a></span> plainly had a depressing influence. Francis +Kernan became temporary chairman. At the Oneida bar, Kernan, then +forty-five years old, had been for nearly two decades the peer of +Hiram Denio, Samuel Beardsley, Ward Hunt, and Joshua Spencer. He was a +forceful speaker, cool and self-possessed, with a pleasing voice and +good manner. He could not be called an orator, but he was a master of +the art of making a perfectly clear statement, and in defending his +position, point by point, with never failing readiness and skill, he +had few if any superiors. He belonged, also, to that class of able +lawyers who are never too busy to take an active interest in public +affairs.</p> + +<p>In his brief address Kernan clearly outlined the position which the +Democracy of the whole country was to occupy. "It is our duty," he +said, "to oppose abolitionism at the North and secession at the South, +which are equally making war upon our Government. Let us consign them +both to a common grave. Never will our country see peace unless we +do.... We care not what men are in charge of the Government, it is our +duty as patriots and as Democrats to protect and preserve that +Government, and resist with arms, and, if need be, with our lives, the +men who seek to overthrow it; but this must be no war for the +emancipation of slaves."<a name="vol3FNanchor_32_32" id="vol3FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<p>The vigor of Kernan as a speaker and presiding officer exaggerated by +contrast the feebleness of Herman J. Redfield, the permanent president +of the convention. Redfield was an old man, a mere reminiscence of the +days of DeWitt Clinton, whose speech, read in a low, weak voice, was +directed mainly to a defence of the sub-treasury plan of 1840 and the +tariff act of 1846.<a name="vol3FNanchor_33_33" id="vol3FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> He professed to favour a vigorous prosecution +of the war, but there were no words of repro<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.18" id="vol3Page_iii.18">iii. 18</a></span>bation for its authors, +while he expressed the belief that "civil war will never preserve, but +forever destroy the union of States." This was the prophecy of Reuben +H. Walworth, the ex-chancellor, made at the Albany peace convention in +the preceding January, and the applause that greeted the statement +then, as it did at Syracuse, indicated a disposition on the part of +many to favour concessions that would excuse if it did not absolutely +justify secession.</p> + +<p>The party platform, however, took little notice of the Redfield speech +and the Redfield cheers. It declared that the right of secession did +not anywhere or at any time exist; that the seizure of United States +property and the sending out of privateers to prey on American +commerce had precipitated the war; and that it was the duty of the +government to put down rebellion with all the means in its power, and +the duty of the people to rally about the government; but it also +demanded that Congress call a convention of all the States to revise +the Constitution, and that the Administration abandon the narrow +platform of the Chicago convention, expel corrupt men from office, and +exclude advocates of abolition from the Cabinet, declaring that it +would "regard any attempt to pervert the conflict into a war for the +emancipation of slaves as fatal to the hope of restoring the Union."</p> + +<p>The debate upon the platform was destined to bring into prominence a +broader loyalty than even Francis Kernan had exhibited. Arphaxed +Loomis moved to restore the resolution, expunged in the committee's +report, protesting against the passport system, the State police +system, the suppression<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.19" id="vol3Page_iii.19">iii. 19</a></span> of free discussion in the press, and the +suspension of the writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>. It is doubtful if the +freedom of the press had been materially abridged, since restrictions +upon a few newspapers, charged with giving aid and comfort to the +enemy, scarcely exceeded the proscription of anti-slavery papers +before the war. The suspension of the writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>, +however, furnished better grounds for complaint. Men were apprehended, +often on the telegram of Secretary Seward, and committed to prison, +without any offence being charged or an examination being made. Among +others arrested were two men at Malone, besides an editor of the New +York <i>News</i>, and a crippled newsboy who sold the <i>News</i>. Public +sentiment generally sustained the Administration in such action, but +many persons, including conservative Republicans, frequently +questioned the right or justice of such procedure. "What are we coming +to," asked Senator Trumbull of Illinois, "if arrests may be made at +the whim or the caprice of a cabinet minister?"<a name="vol3FNanchor_34_34" id="vol3FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> Loomis, in +insisting upon his resolution, had these arbitrary arrests in mind, +maintaining that it embodied the true principles of Democracy, which +he was unwilling to see violated without recording a protest.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.20" id="vol3Page_iii.20">iii. 20</a></span></p> +<p>This brought to his feet Albert P. Laning of Buffalo. He was younger +by a score of years than Loomis, and although never as prominent, +perhaps, as the great advocate of legal reformative measures, his +remarkable memory and thorough grasp of legal principles had listed +him among the strong lawyers of Western New York. To the convention he +was well known as a clear, forceful speaker, who had been a student of +political history as well as of law, and who, in spite of his ardent +devotion to his profession, had revealed, when shaping the policy of +his party, the personal gifts and remarkable power of sustained +argument that win admiration.</p> + +<p>At Syracuse, in 1861, Laning, just then in his early forties, was in +the fulness of his intellectual power. He had followed Douglas and +favored the Crittenden Compromise, but the fall of Sumter crippled his +sympathy for the South and stiffened his support of the Federal +administration. Moreover, he understood the difficulty, during a +period of war, of conducting an impartial, constitutional opposition +to the policy of the Administration, without its degeneration into a +faction, which at any moment might be shaken by interest, prejudice, +or passion. The motion of Loomis, therefore, seemed to him too narrow, +and he opposed it with eloquence, maintaining that it was the duty of +all good men not to embarrass the Government in such a crisis. Rather +than that bold rebellion should destroy the government, he said, he +preferred to allow the President to take his own course. The +responsibility was upon him, and the people, irrespective of party, +should strengthen his hands until danger had disappeared and the +government was re-established in all its strength.</p> + +<p>Kernan did not take kindly to these sentiments. Like Loomis he +resented arbitrary arrests in States removed from actual hostilities, +where the courts were open for the regular administration of justice, +and with a few ringing sentences he threw the delegates into wild +cheering. Though brief, this speech resulted in restoring the Loomis +resolution<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.21" id="vol3Page_iii.21">iii. 21</a></span> to its place in the platform, and in increasing the +clamour that Kernan lead the party as a candidate for +attorney-general. Kernan was not averse to taking office. For three +years, from 1856 to 1859, he had been official reporter for the Court +of Appeals, and in 1860 served in the Assembly. Later, he entered +Congress, finally reaching the United States Senate. But in 1861 +prudence prompted him to decline the tempting offer of a nomination +for attorney-general, and although entreated to reconsider his +determination, he stubbornly resisted, and at last forced the +nomination of Lyman Tremaine of Albany, who had previously held the +office.<a name="vol3FNanchor_35_35" id="vol3FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> + +<p>The work of the convention did not please all members of the party. To +some the drift of the speeches and resolutions seemed an encouragement +to armed rebellion; to others, although jealous of individual rights, +it appeared to confuse the liberty of the press with license. One +paper, an able representative of the party, disclaiming any desire "to +rekindle animosities by discussing its various objectionable points," +felt "bound to express its heartfelt repugnance of the malignant and +traitorous spirit which animates the Loomis resolution."<a name="vol3FNanchor_36_36" id="vol3FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> These +were severe words, showing that others than Laning opposed such +criticism of the President.</p> + +<p>Dean Richmond's refusal to unite in a Union convention did not stifle +the hope that many Democrats might participate in such a meeting, and +to afford them an opportunity a People's convention met at Wieting +Hall in Syracuse, on September 11, contemporaneously with the +Republican State convention. It became evident that the purpose was +attained<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.22" id="vol3Page_iii.22">iii. 22</a></span> when the Democrats present declared that the banner of their +former party no longer marked a place for them to muster. In character +the members resembled determined Abolitionists in the forties. Its +president, Thomas G. Alvord of Onondaga, had been speaker of the +Assembly, a competitor of Gordon Granger for Congress, and a +pronounced Hard Shell until the repeal of the Missouri Compromise +drove him into the camp of the Softs. One of the delegates, James B. +McKean, was soon to lead the Sixty-seventh Regiment to the field; +another, Alexander S. Diven of Chemung was to enter Congress, and +subsequently to distinguish himself at Antietam and Chancellorsville +at the head of the One Hundred and Seventh; other participants, +conspicuous in their respective localities, were to suffer bitterly +and struggle bravely to maintain the Union. One delegate sung the +"Star Spangled Banner," while the others, with radiant faces, broke +into cheers. This was followed by several brief and vigorous speeches +approving the war and the methods by which it was conducted. "There is +no medium, no half way now," said one delegate, "between patriots and +traitors."<a name="vol3FNanchor_37_37" id="vol3FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> This was the sentiment of the platform, which waived +all political divisions and party traditions, declaring that the +convention sought only, in this hour of national peril, to proclaim +devotion to the Constitution and Union, and to defend and sustain the +chosen authorities of the government at whatever cost of blood and +treasure.</p> + +<p>Rumours of Daniel S. Dickinson's nomination had been in the air from +the outset. He had been much in the public eye since the 20th of +April. In his zeal for the Union, said the <i>Tribune</i>, "his pointed +utterances have everywhere fired the hearts of patriots." Freedom from +the blighting influence of slavery seemed to give him easier flight, +and his criticism of the Democratic convention was so felicitous, so +full of story and wit and ridicule and the fire of genuine patriotism, +that his name was quickly upon every lip, and his happy, homely hits +the common property of half the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.23" id="vol3Page_iii.23">iii. 23</a></span> people of the State.<a name="vol3FNanchor_38_38" id="vol3FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> The mention +of his name for attorney-general, therefore, evoked the most +enthusiastic applause. Since the constitutional convention of 1846 it +had been the custom, in the absence of a candidate for governor, to +write the name of the nominee for secretary of state at the head of +the ticket; but in this instance the committee deemed it wise to +nominate for attorney-general first and give it to the man of first +importance. The nomination proved a popular hit. Instantly Syracuse +and the State were ablaze, and Republican as well as many Democratic +papers prophesied that it settled the result in November. The +convention professed to discard party lines and traditions, and its +sincerity, thus put early to the test, did much to magnify its work, +since with marked impartiality it placed upon its ticket two Hards, +two Softs, one American, and four Republicans.<a name="vol3FNanchor_39_39" id="vol3FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> + +<p>Whenever the People's convention recessed delegates to the Republican +convention immediately took control. Indeed, so closely related were +the two assemblies that spectators at one became delegates to the +other. Weed did not attend the convention, but it adopted his +conciliatory policy. "The popular fiat has gone forth in opposition, +on the one hand, to secession and disunion, whether in the shape of +active rebellion, or its more insidious ally, advocacy of an +inglorious and dishonourable peace; and, on the other, to everything +that savors of abolition, or tends towards a violation of the +guarantees of slave property provided by the Constitution."<a name="vol3FNanchor_40_40" id="vol3FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.24" id="vol3Page_iii.24">iii. 24</a></span></p> +<p>It cannot be said that the Democratic campaign opened under flattering +conditions. Loomis' resolution, known as the ninth or "secession" +plank, had led to serious difficulty. Men recognised that in time of +war more reserve was necessary in dealing with an Administration than +during a period of peace, for if the government's arm was paralysed it +could not stay the arm of the public enemy. This had been the position +of Laning, and it appealed strongly to Lyman Tremaine, who believed +the machinations of treason had forced the Government to suspend the +writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>, and to organise systems of passports and +State police. He boldly declined, therefore, to accept a nomination as +attorney-general on a platform that emphatically condemned such +measures, when deemed essential to the government's safety.</p> + +<p>Tremaine, tall, portly, and commanding, belonged to the more +independent members of the party. He was not a stranger to public +life. Although but forty-two years old he had been an active party +worker for a quarter of a century and an office-holder since his +majority. Greene County made him supervisor, district attorney, and +county judge, and soon after his removal to Albany in 1854 he became +attorney-general. But these honours did not break his independence. He +inherited a genius for the forum, and although his gifts did not put +him into the first class, his name was familiar throughout the State.</p> + +<p>Francis C. Brouck's withdrawal soon followed Tremaine's.<a name="vol3FNanchor_41_41" id="vol3FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> Then +Tammany repudiated the Loomis resolutions,<a name="vol3FNanchor_42_42" id="vol3FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> and the Albany <i>Argus</i> +shouted lustily for war.<a name="vol3FNanchor_43_43" id="vol3FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> But the blow that staggered Richmond came +from the candidates who caught the drift of public sentiment, and in a +proclamation of few words declared "in favour of vigorously sustaining +the Government in its present struggle to maintain the Constitution +and the Union, at all hazards, and at any<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.25" id="vol3Page_iii.25">iii. 25</a></span> cost of blood and +treasure."<a name="vol3FNanchor_44_44" id="vol3FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> This was the act of despair. For days they had waited, +and now, alarmed by the evident change, they jumped from the plank +that was sinking under them. "It is the first instance on record," +said the <i>Herald</i>, "where the nominees of a convention openly and +defiantly spit upon the platform, and repudiated party leaders and +their secession heresies."<a name="vol3FNanchor_45_45" id="vol3FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the difference between the great mass of Democrats and +the supporters of the People's party was more apparent than real.<a name="vol3FNanchor_46_46" id="vol3FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> +Each professed undying devotion to the Union. Each, also, favoured a +vigorous prosecution of the war. As the campaign advanced the activity +of the army strengthened this loyalty and minimised the criticism of +harsh methods. Moreover, the impression obtained that the war would +soon be over.<a name="vol3FNanchor_47_47" id="vol3FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> McClellan was in command, and the people had not yet +learned that "our chicken was no eagle, after all," as Lowell +expressed it.<a name="vol3FNanchor_48_48" id="vol3FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> Controversy over the interference with slavery also +became less acute. John Cochrane, now commanding a regiment at the +front, declared, in a speech to his soldiers, that slaves of the +enemy, being elements of strength, ought to be captured as much as +muskets or cannon, and that whenever he could seize a slave, and even +arm him to fight for the government, he would do so.</p> + +<p>In conducting the campaign the People's leaders discoun<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.26" id="vol3Page_iii.26">iii. 26</a></span>tenanced any +criticism of the Government's efforts to restore the Union. "It is not +Lincoln and the Republicans we are sustaining," wrote Daniel S. +Dickinson. "They have nothing to do with it. It is the government of +our fathers, worth just as much as if it was administered by Andrew +Jackson. There is but one side to it."<a name="vol3FNanchor_49_49" id="vol3FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> As a rule the Hards +accepted this view, and at the ratification of the ticket in New York, +on September 20, Lyman Tremaine swelled the long list of speakers. A +letter was also read from Greene C. Bronson. To those who heard James +T. Brady at Cooper Institute on the evening of October 28 he seemed +inspired. His piercing eyes burned in their sockets, and his animated +face, now pale with emotion, expressed more than his emphatic words +the loathing felt for men who had plunged their country into bloody +strife.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, it remained for Daniel S. Dickinson to stigmatise the +Democratic party. At the Union Square meeting he had burned his +bridges. It was said he had nowhere else to go; that the Hards went +out of business when the South went out of the Union; and that to the +Softs he was <i>non persona grata</i>. There was much truth in this +statement. But having once become a Radical his past affiliations gave +him some advantages. For more than twenty years he had been known +throughout the State as a Southern sympathiser. In the United States +Senate he stood with the South for slavery, and in the election of +1860 he voted for Breckinridge. He was the most conspicuous doughface +in New York. Now, he was an advocate of vigorous war and a pronounced +supporter of President Lincoln. This gave him the importance of a new +convert at a camp meeting. The people believed he knew what he was +talking about, and while his stories and apt illustrations, enriched +by a quick change in voice and manner, convulsed his audiences, +imbedded in his wit and rollicking fun were most convincing arguments<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.27" id="vol3Page_iii.27">iii. 27</a></span> +which appealed to the best sentiments of his hearers.<a name="vol3FNanchor_50_50" id="vol3FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> Indeed, it +is not too much to say that Daniel S. Dickinson, as an entertaining +and forceful platform speaker, filled the place in 1861 which John Van +Buren occupied in the Free-soil campaign in 1848.</p> + +<p>A single address by Horatio Seymour, delivered at Utica on October 28, +proved his right to speak for the Democratic party. He had a difficult +task to perform. Men had changed front in a day, and to one of his +views, holding rebellion as a thing to be crushed without impairing +existing conditions, it seemed imperative to divorce "revolutionary +emancipators" from the conservative patriots who loved their country +as it was. He manifested a desire to appear scrupulously loyal to the +Government, counseling obedience to constituted authorities, respect +for constitutional obligations, and a just and liberal support of the +President, in whose favour every presumption should be given. The +suspension of the writ of <i>habeas corpus</i> and the long list of +arbitrary arrests had provoked Seymour as it did many conservative +Republicans, but however much individual rights may be violated, he +said, so long as the country is engaged in a struggle for its +existence, confidence, based upon the assumption that imperative +reasons exist for these unusual measures, must be reposed in the +Administration. This was the incarnation of loyalty.</p> + +<p>But Seymour closed his address with an ugly crack of the whip. +Dropping his well-selected words with the skill of a practised +debater, he blended the history of past wrongs with those of the +present, thus harrowing his auditors into a<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.28" id="vol3Page_iii.28">iii. 28</a></span> frame of mind as +resentful and passionate as his own. When the public safety permits, +he said threateningly, there will be abundant time to condemn and +punish the authors of injustice and wrong, whether they occupy the +presidential chair or seats in the cabinet. "Let them remember the +teachings of history. Despotic governments do not love the agitators +that call them into existence. When Cromwell drove from Parliament the +latter-day saints and higher-law men of his day, and 'bade them cease +their babblings;' and when Napoleon scattered at the point of the +bayonet the Council of Five Hundred and crushed revolution beneath his +iron heel, they taught a lesson which should be heeded this day by men +who are animated by a vindictive piety or a malignant philanthropy.... +It is the boast of the Briton that his house is his castle. However +humble it may be, the King cannot enter. Let it not be said that the +liberties of American citizens are less perfectly protected, or held +less sacred than are those of the subjects of a Crown."</p> + +<p>The slavery question was less easily and logically handled. He denied +that it caused the war, but admitted that the agitators did, putting +into the same class "the ambitious man at the South, who desired a +separate confederacy," and "the ambitious men of the North, who reaped +a political profit from agitation." In deprecating emancipation he +carefully avoided the argument of military necessity, so forcibly put +by John Cochrane, and strangely overlooked the fact that the South, by +the act of rebellion, put itself outside the protection guaranteed +under the Constitution to loyal and law-abiding citizens. "If it be +true," he said, "that slavery must be abolished to save this Union, +then the people of the South should be allowed to withdraw themselves +from the Government which cannot give them the protection guaranteed +by its terms." Immediate emancipation, he continued, would not end the +contest. "It would be only the commencement of a lasting, destructive, +terrible domestic conflict. The North would not consent that four +millions of free negroes should live in their midst.... With what +jus<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.29" id="vol3Page_iii.29">iii. 29</a></span>tice do we demand that the South should be subjected to the evils, +the insecurity, and the loss of constitutional rights, involved in +immediate abolition?" Then, dropping into prophecy, the broad, +optimistic statesmanship of the forties passed into eclipse as he +declared that "we are either to be restored to our former position, +with the Constitution unweakened, the powers of the State unimpaired, +and the fireside rights of our citizens duly protected, or our whole +system of government is to fall!"</p> + +<p>Seymour, in closing, very clearly outlined his future platform. "We +are willing to support this war as a means of restoring our Union, but +we will not carry it on in a spirit of hatred, malice, or revenge. We +cannot, therefore, make it a war for the abolition of slavery. We will +not permit it to be made a war upon the rights of the States. We shall +see that it does not crush out the liberties of the citizen, or the +reserved powers of the States. We shall hold that man to be as much a +traitor who urges our government to overstep its constitutional +powers, as he who resists the exercise of its rightful authority. We +shall contend that the rights of the States and the General Government +are equally sacred."<a name="vol3FNanchor_51_51" id="vol3FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p> + +<p>If the campaign contributed to the South a certain degree of comfort, +reviving the hope that it would yet have a divided North to contend +against, the election, giving Dickinson over 100,000 majority, +furnished little encouragement. The People's party also carried both +branches of the Legislature, securing twenty out of thirty-two +senators, and seventy out of the one hundred and twenty-eight +assemblymen. Among the latter, Henry J. Raymond and Thomas G. Alvord, +former speakers, represented the undaunted mettle needed at Albany.</p> + +<p>To add to the result so gratifying to the fusionists, George Opdyke +defeated Fernando Wood by a small plurality for mayor of New York. +Wood had long been known as a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He talked +reform and grew degen<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.30" id="vol3Page_iii.30">iii. 30</a></span>erate; he proclaimed patriotic views and held +disloyal sentiments; he listened respectfully to public opinion, and +defied it openly in his acts. He did not become a boss. It was ten +years later before William M. Tweed centralised Tammany's power in one +man. But Wood developed the system that made a boss possible. He +dominated the police, he organised the lawless, he allied himself with +the saloon, and he used the judiciary. In 1858, being forced out of +Tammany, he retreated like a wounded tiger to Mozart Hall, organised +an opposition society that took its name from the assembly room in +which it met, and declared with emphasis and expletives that he would +fight Tammany as long as he lived. From that moment his shadow had +kept sachems alarmed, and his presence had thrown conventions into +turmoil.</p> + +<p>The arts of the card-sharper and thimble-rigger had been prodigally +employed to save the candidate of Mozart Hall. Even the sachems of +Tammany, to avert disaster, nominated James T. Brady, whose great +popularity it was believed would draw strength from both Opdyke and +Wood; but Brady refused to be used. Opdyke had been a liberal, +progressive Democrat of the Free-Soil type and a pioneer Republican. +He associated with Chase in the Buffalo convention of 1848 and +coöperated with Greeley in defeating Seward in 1860. He had also +enjoyed the career of a busy and successful merchant, and, although +fifty years old, was destined to take a prominent part in municipal +politics for the next two decades. One term in the Assembly summed up +his office-holding experience; yet in that brief and uneventful period +jobbers learned to shun him and rogues to fear him. This was one +reason why the brilliant and audacious leader of Mozart Hall, in his +death struggle with an honest man, suddenly assumed to be the champion +of public purity.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.31" id="vol3Page_iii.31">iii. 31</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_III" id="vol3CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h2>“THE MAD DESPERATION OF REACTION”</h2> + +<h2>1862</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Notwithstanding</span> its confidence in General McClellan, whose success in +West Virginia had made him the successor of General Scott, giving him +command of all the United States forces, the North, by midsummer, +became profoundly discouraged. Many events contributed to it. The +defeat at Ball's Bluff on the Potomac, which Roscoe Conkling likened +to the battle of Cannæ, because "the very pride and flower of our +young men were among its victims,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_52_52" id="vol3FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> had been followed by +conspicuous incompetence at Manassas and humiliating failure on the +Peninsula. Moreover, financial difficulties increased the despondency. +At the outbreak of hostilities practical repudiation of Southern debts +had brought widespread disaster. "The fabric of New York's mercantile +prosperity," said the <i>Tribune</i>, "lies in ruins, beneath which ten +thousand fortunes are buried. Last fall the merchant was a capitalist; +to-day he is a bankrupt."<a name="vol3FNanchor_53_53" id="vol3FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> In September, 1861, these losses +aggregated $200,000,000.<a name="vol3FNanchor_54_54" id="vol3FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> Besides, the strain of raising sufficient +funds to meet government expenses had forced a suspension of specie +payment and driven people to refuse United States notes payable on +demand without interest. Meantime, the nation's expenses aggregated +$2,000,000 a day and the Treasury was empty. "I have been obliged," +wrote the Secretary of the Treasury, "to draw for the last installment +of the November loan."<a name="vol3FNanchor_55_55" id="vol3FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.32" id="vol3Page_iii.32">iii. 32</a></span></p><p>To meet this serious financial condition, Elbridge G. Spaulding of +Buffalo, then a member of Congress, had been designated to prepare an +emergency measure to avoid national bankruptcy. "We must have at least +$100,000,000 during the next three months," he wrote, on January 8, +1862, "or the government must stop payment."<a name="vol3FNanchor_56_56" id="vol3FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> Spaulding, then +fifty-two years of age, was president of a bank, a trained financier, +and already the possessor of a large fortune. Having served in the +Thirty-first Congress, he had returned in 1859, after an absence of +eight years, to remain four years longer. Strong, alert, and +sufficiently positive to be stubborn, he possessed the confidence of +Thaddeus Stevens, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, who +approved his plan of issuing $100,000,000 legal-tender, non-interest +bearing treasury notes, exchangeable at par for six-twenty bonds. +Spaulding fully appreciated the objections to his policy, but the only +other course, he argued, was to sell bonds as in the war of 1812, +which, if placed at six percent interest, would not, in his opinion, +bring more than sixty cents—a ruinous method of conducting +hostilities. However, his plea of necessity found a divided committee +and in Roscoe Conkling a most formidable opponent, who attacked the +measure as unnecessary, extravagant, unsound, without precedent, of +doubtful constitutionality, and morally imperfect.<a name="vol3FNanchor_57_57" id="vol3FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p> + +<p>It was in this debate that Conkling, adroitly choosing the right time +and the proper subject, impressed the country with his power as an +orator and his ability as a brilliant, resourceful debater, although, +perhaps, a destructive rather than constructive legislator. Nature had +lavished upon him superb gifts of mind and person. He was of +commanding, even magnificent presence, six feet three inches tall, +with regular features, lofty forehead, and piercing eyes,—blond and +gigantic as a viking. It was difficult, indeed, for a man so +superlatively handsome not to be vain, and the endeavour upon his part +to conceal the defect was not in evi<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.33" id="vol3Page_iii.33">iii. 33</a></span>dence. Although an unpopular and +unruly schoolboy, who refused to go to college, he had received a good +education, learning much from a scholarly father, a college-bred man, +and an ornament to the United States District Court for more than a +quarter of a century. Moreover, from early youth Conkling had studied +elocution, training a strong, slightly musical voice, and learning the +use of secondary accents, the choice of words, the value of deliberate +speech, and the assumption of an impressive earnestness. In this +debate, too, he discovered the talent for ridicule and sarcasm that +distinguished him in later life, when he had grown less considerate of +the feelings of opponents, and indicated something of the +imperiousness and vanity which clouded an otherwise attractive manner.</p> + +<p>As he stubbornly and eloquently contested the progress of the +legal-tender measure with forceful argument and a wealth of +information, Conkling seemed likely to deprive Spaulding of the title +of "father of the greenback" until the Secretary of the Treasury, +driven to desperation for want of money, reluctantly came to the +Congressman's rescue and forced the bill through Congress.<a name="vol3FNanchor_58_58" id="vol3FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> By +midsummer, however, gold had jumped to seventeen per cent., while the +cost of the war, augmented by a call for 300,000 three years' men and +by a draft of 300,000 nine months' militia, rested more heavily than +ever upon the country. Moreover, by September 1 McClellan had been +deprived of his command, the Army of the Potomac had suffered defeat +at the second battle of Bull Run, and Lee and Longstreet, with a +victorious army, were on their way to Maryland. The North stood +aghast!</p> + +<p>Much more ominous than military disaster and financial embarrassment, +however, was the divisive sentiment over emancipation. Northern +armies, moving about in slave communities, necessarily acted as a +constant disintegrating force. Slaves gave soldiers aid and +information, and soldiers, stimu<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.34" id="vol3Page_iii.34">iii. 34</a></span>lated by their natural hostility to +slave-owners, gave slaves protection and sympathy. Thus, very early in +the war, many men believed that rebellion and slavery were so +intertwined that both must be simultaneously overthrown. This +sentiment found expression in the Fremont proclamation, issued on +August 30, 1861, setting free all slaves owned by persons who aided +secession in the military department of Missouri. On the other hand, +the Government, seeking to avoid the slavery question, encouraged +military commanders to refuse refuge to the negroes within their +lines, and in modifying Fremont's order to conform to the Confiscation +Act of August 6, the President aroused a discussion characterised by +increasing acerbity, which divided the Republican party into Radicals +and Conservatives. The former, led by the <i>Tribune</i>, resented the +attitude of army officers, who, it charged, being notoriously in more +or less thorough sympathy with the inciting cause of rebellion, failed +to seize opportunities to strike at slavery. Among Radicals the belief +obtained that one half of the commanding generals desired to prosecute +the war so delicately that slavery should receive the least possible +harm, and in their comments in Congress and in the press they made no +concealment of their opinion, that such officers were much more +anxious to restore fugitive slaves to rebel owners than to make their +owners prisoners of war.<a name="vol3FNanchor_59_59" id="vol3FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> They were correspondingly flattering to +those generals who proclaimed abolition as an adjunct of the war. +Greeley's taunts had barbed points. "He is no extemporised soldier, +looking for a presidential nomination or seat in Congress," he said of +General Hunter, whose order had freed the slaves in South Carolina, +Georgia, and Florida. "He is neither a political or civil engineer, +but simply a patriot whose profession is war, and who does not +understand making war so as not to hurt your enemy."<a name="vol3FNanchor_60_60" id="vol3FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>When the <i>Times</i>, an exponent of the Conservatives, defended the +Administration's policy with the declaration that<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.35" id="vol3Page_iii.35">iii. 35</a></span> slaves were used as +fast as obtained,<a name="vol3FNanchor_61_61" id="vol3FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> the <i>Tribune</i> minimized the intelligence of its +editor. "Consider," it said, "the still unmodified order of McDowell, +issued a full year ago, forbidding the harbouring of negroes within +our lines. Consider Halleck's order, now nine months old and still +operative, forbidding negroes to come within our lines at all. +McClellan has issued a goodly number of orders and proclamations, but +not one of them offers protection and freedom to such slaves of rebels +as might see fit to claim them at his hands. His only order bearing +upon their condition and prospects is that which expelled the +Hutchinsons from his camp for the crime of singing anti-slavery +songs."<a name="vol3FNanchor_62_62" id="vol3FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p> + +<p>The dominant sentiment in Congress reflected the feeling of the +Radicals, and under the pressure of McClellan's reverses before +Richmond, the House, on July 11, and the Senate on the following day, +passed the Confiscation Act, freeing forever the slaves of rebel +owners whenever within control of the Government. The Administration's +failure to enforce this act in the spirit and to the extent that +Congress intended, finally brought out the now historic "Prayer of +Twenty Millions"—an editorial signed by Horace Greeley and addressed +to Abraham Lincoln. It charged the President with being disastrously +remiss in the discharge of his official duty and unduly influenced by +the menaces of border slave State politicians. It declared that the +Union was suffering from timid counsels and mistaken deference to +rebel slavery; that all attempts to put down rebellion and save +slavery are preposterous and futile; and that every hour of obeisance +to slavery is an added hour of deepened peril to the Union. In +conclusion, he entreated the Chief Executive to render hearty and +unequivocal obedience to the law of the land.<a name="vol3FNanchor_63_63" id="vol3FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.36" id="vol3Page_iii.36">iii. 36</a></span></p> +<p>Thus did Greeley devote his great powers to force Lincoln into +emancipation. It is impossible, even at this distance of time, to turn +the pages of his ponderous volumes without feeling the matchless force +of his energy, the strength of his masterly array of facts, his biting +sarcasm, his bold assumptions, and his clear, unadorned style. There +is about it all an impassioned conviction, as if he spoke because he +could not keep silent, making it impossible to avoid the belief that +the whole soul and conscience of the writer were in his work. Day +after day, with kaleidoscopic change, he marshalled arguments, facts, +and historical parallels, bearing down the reader's judgment as he +swept away like a great torrent the criticisms of himself and the +arguments of his opponents. Nothing apparently could withstand his +onslaught on slavery. With one dash of his pen he forged sentences +that, lance-like, found their way into every joint of the monster's +armour.</p> + +<p>Greeley's criticism of the President and the army, however, gave his +enemies vantage ground for renewed attacks. Ever since he suggested, +at the beginning of hostilities, that the <i>Herald</i> did not care which +flag floated over its office, James Gordon Bennett, possessing the +genuine newspaper genius, had daily evinced a deep, personal dislike +of the <i>Tribune's</i> editor, and throughout the discussion of +emancipation, the <i>Herald</i>, in bitter editorials, kept its columns in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.37" id="vol3Page_iii.37">iii. 37</a></span> +a glow, tantalising the <i>Tribune</i> with a persistency that recalls +Cheetham's attacks upon Aaron Burr. The strategical advantage lay with +the <i>Herald</i>, since the initiative belonged to the <i>Tribune</i>, but the +latter had with it the preponderating sentiment of its party and the +growing influence of a war necessity. Greeley fought with a +broad-sword, swinging it with a vigorous and well-aimed effect, while +Bennett, with lighter weapon, pricked, stabbed, and cut. Never +inactive, the latter sought to aggravate and embitter. Greeley, on the +contrary, intent upon forcing the Administration to change its policy, +ignored his tormentor, until exasperation, like the gathering steam in +a geyser, drove him into further action. In this prolonged controversy +the <i>Tribune</i> invariably referred to its adversary as "the <i>Herald</i>," +but in the <i>Herald</i>, "Greeley," "old Greeley," "poor Greeley," "Mars +Greeley," "poor crazy Greeley," became synonyms for the editor of the +<i>Tribune</i>.</p> + +<p>The fight of these able and conspicuous journals represented the +fierceness with which emancipation was pushed and opposed throughout +the State. Conservative men, therefore, realising the danger to which +a bitter campaign along strict party lines would subject the Union +cause, demanded that all parties rally to the support of the +Government with a candidate for governor devoted to conservative +principles and a vigorous prosecution of the war. Sentiment seemed to +point to John A. Dix as such a man. Though not distinguished as a +strategist or effective field officer, he possessed courage, caution, +and a desire to crush the rebellion. The policy of this movement, +embracing conservative Republicans and war Democrats, was urged by +Thurlow Weed, sanctioned by Seward, and heartily approved by John Van +Buren, who, since the beginning of hostilities, had avoided party +councils. The Constitutional Union party, composed of old line Whigs +who opposed emancipation,<a name="vol3FNanchor_64_64" id="vol3FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> proposed to lead this movement at its +convention, to be held at Troy on September 9, but at the appointed +time James Brooks, by prearrangement,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.38" id="vol3Page_iii.38">iii. 38</a></span> appeared with a file of +instructed followers, captured the meeting, and gave Horatio Seymour +32 votes to 20 for Dix and 6 for Millard Fillmore. This unexpected +result made Seymour the candidate of the Democratic State convention +which met at Albany on the following day.</p> + +<p>Seymour sincerely preferred another. Early in August he travelled from +Utica to Buffalo to resist the friendship and the arguments of Dean +Richmond. It cannot be said that he had outlived ambition. He +possessed wealth, he was advancing in his political career, and he +aspired to higher honours, but he did not desire to become governor +again, even though the party indicated a willingness to follow his +leadership and give him free rein to inaugurate such a policy as his +wisdom and conservatism might dictate. He clearly recognised the +difficulties in the way. He had taken ultra ground against the Federal +Administration, opposing emancipation, denouncing arbitrary arrests, +and expressing the belief that the North could not subjugate the +South; yet he would be powerless to give life to his own views, or to +modify Lincoln's proposed conduct of the war. The President, having +been elected to serve until March, 1865, would not tolerate +interference with his plans and purposes, so that an opposition +Governor, regardless of grievances or their cause, would be compelled +to furnish troops and to keep the peace. Hatred of conscription would +be no excuse for non-action in case of a draft riot, and indignation +over summary arrests could in nowise limit the exercise of such +arbitrary methods. To be governor under such conditions, therefore, +meant constant embarrassment, if not unceasing humiliation. These +reasons were carefully presented to Richmond. Moreover, Seymour was +conscious of inherent defects of temperament. He did not belong to the +class of politicians, described by Victor Hugo, who mistake a +weather-cock for a flag. He was a gentleman of culture, of public +experience, and of moral purpose, representing the best quality of his +party; but possessed of a sensitive and eager temper, he was too often +influenced by the men immediately about him, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.39" id="vol3Page_iii.39">iii. 39</a></span> too often inclined +to have about him men whose influence did not strengthen his own +better judgment.</p> + +<p>Richmond knew of this weakness and regretted it, but the man of iron, +grasping the political situation with the shrewdness of a phenomenally +successful business man, wanted a candidate who could win. It was +plain to him that the Republican party, divided on the question of +emancipation and weakened by arbitrary arrests, a policy that many +people bitterly resented, could be beaten by a candidate who added +exceptional popularity to a promised support of the war and a vigorous +protest against government methods. Dix, he knew, would stand with the +President; Seymour would criticise, and with sureness of aim arouse +opposition. While Richmond, therefore, listened respectfully to +Seymour's reasons for declining the nomination, he was deaf to all +entreaty, insisting that as the party had honoured him when he wanted +office, he must now honour the party when it needed him. Besides, he +declared that Sanford E. Church, whom Seymour favoured, could not be +elected.<a name="vol3FNanchor_65_65" id="vol3FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> Having gained the Oneidan's consent, Richmond exercised +his adroit methods of packing conventions, and thus opened the way for +Seymour's unanimous nomination by making the Constitutional Union +convention the voice of one crying in the wilderness.</p> + +<p>To a majority of the Democratic party Seymour's selection appealed +with something of historic pride. It recalled other days in the +beginning of his career, and inspired the hope that the peace which +reigned in the fifties, and the power that the Democracy then wielded, +might, under his leadership, again return to bless their party by +checking a policy that was rapidly introducing a new order of things. +After his nomination, therefore, voices became hoarse with long +continued cheering. For a few minutes the assembly surrendered to the +noise and confusion which characterise a more modern convention, and +only the presence of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.40" id="vol3Page_iii.40">iii. 40</a></span> nominee and the announcement that he would +speak brought men to order.</p> + +<p>Seymour, as was his custom, came carefully prepared. In his party he +now had no rival. Not since DeWitt Clinton crushed the Livingstons in +1807, and Martin Van Buren swept the State in 1828, did one man so +completely dominate a political organisation, and in his arraignment +of the Radicals he emulated the partisan rather than the patriot. He +spoke respectfully of the President, insisting that he should "be +treated with the respect due to his position as the representative of +the dignity and honor of the American people," and declaring that +"with all our powers of mind and person, we mean to support the +Constitution and uphold the Union;" but in his bitter denunciation of +the Administration he confused the general policy of conducting a war +with mistakes in awarding government contracts. To him an honest +difference of opinion upon constitutional questions was as corrupt and +reprehensible as dishonest practices in the departments at Washington. +He condemned emancipation as "a proposal for the butchery of women and +children, for scenes of lust and rapine, and of arson and murder, +which would invoke the interference of civilised Europe."<a name="vol3FNanchor_66_66" id="vol3FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> + +<p>The convention thought seriously of making this speech the party +platform. But A.P. Laning, declining to surrender the prerogative of +the resolutions committee, presented a brief statement of principles, +"pledging the Democracy to continue united in its support of the +Government, and to use all legitimate means to suppress rebellion, +restore the Union as it was, and maintain the Constitution as it is." +It also denounced "the illegal, unconstitutional, and arbitrary +arrests of citizens of the State as unjustifiable," declaring such +arrests a usurpation and a crime, and insisting upon the liberty of +speech and the freedom of the press.<a name="vol3FNanchor_67_67" id="vol3FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.41" id="vol3Page_iii.41">iii. 41</a></span></p> +<p>The speech of Seymour, as displeasing to many War Democrats as it was +satisfactory to the Peace faction, at once aroused conservative +Republicans, and Weed and Raymond, backed by Seward, favored the +policy of nominating John A. Dix. Seward had distinguished himself as +one of the more conservative members of the Cabinet. After settling +into the belief that Lincoln "is the best of us"<a name="vol3FNanchor_68_68" id="vol3FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> his ambition +centered in the support of the President, and whatever aid he could +render in helping the country to a better understanding of the +Administration's aims and wishes was generously if not always adroitly +performed. He did not oppose the abolition of slavery. On the +contrary, his clear discernment exhibited its certain destruction if +the rebellion continued; but he opposed blending emancipation with a +prosecution of the war, preferring to meet the former as the necessity +for it arose rather than precipitate an academic discussion which +would divide Republicans and give the Democrats an issue.</p> + +<p>When Lincoln, on July 22, 1862, announced to his Cabinet a +determination to issue an emancipation proclamation, the Secretary +questioned its expediency only as to the time of its publication. "The +depression of the public mind consequent upon our repeated reverses," +he said, "is so great that I fear the effect of so important a +step.... I suggest, sir, that you postpone its issue until you can +give it to the country supported by military success, instead of +issuing it, as would be the case now, upon the greatest disasters of +the war."<a name="vol3FNanchor_69_69" id="vol3FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> Seward's view was adopted, and in place of the +proclamation appeared the Executive Order of July 22, the +unenforcement of which Greeley had so fiercely criticised in his +"Prayer of Twenty Millions." Thurlow Weed, who, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.42" id="vol3Page_iii.42">iii. 42</a></span> June, had returned +from London heavily freighted with good results for the Union +accomplished by his influence with leading Englishmen, held the +opinion of Seward. Raymond had also made the <i>Times</i> an able defender +of the President's policy, and although not violent in its opposition +to the attitude of the Radicals, it never ceased its efforts to +suppress agitation of the slavery question.</p> + +<p>In its purpose to nominate Dix the New York <i>Herald</i> likewise bore a +conspicuous part. It had urged his selection upon the Democrats, +declaring him stronger than Seymour. It now urged him upon the +Republicans, insisting that he was stronger than Wadsworth.<a name="vol3FNanchor_70_70" id="vol3FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> This +was also the belief of Weed, whose sagacity as to the strength of +political leaders was rarely at fault.<a name="vol3FNanchor_71_71" id="vol3FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> On the contrary, Governor +Morgan expressed the opinion that "Wadsworth will be far more +available than any one yet mentioned as my successor."<a name="vol3FNanchor_72_72" id="vol3FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> Wadsworth's +service at the battle of Bull Run had been distinguished. "Gen. +McDowell told us on Monday," wrote Thurlow Weed, "that Major Wadsworth +rendered him the most important service before, during, and after +battle. From others we have learned that after resisting the stampede, +earnestly but ineffectually, he remained to the last moment aiding the +wounded and encouraging surgeons to remain on the field as many of +them did."<a name="vol3FNanchor_73_73" id="vol3FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> Wadsworth's subsequent insistence that the Army of the +Potomac, then commanded by McClellan, could easily crush the +Confederates, who, in his opinion, did not number over 50,000<a name="vol3FNanchor_74_74" id="vol3FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a>, had +again brought his name conspicuously before the country. Moreover, +since the 8th of March he had commanded the forces in and about +Washington, and had acted as Stanton's adviser in the conduct of the +war.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.43" id="vol3Page_iii.43">iii. 43</a></span></p><p>For twenty years Wadsworth had not been a stranger to the people of +New York. His vigorous defence of Silas Wright gave him a warm place +in the hearts of Barnburners, and his name, after the formation of the +Republican party, became a household word among members of that young +organisation. Besides, his neighbours had exploited his character for +generosity. The story of the tenant who got a receipt for rent and one +hundred dollars in money because the accidental killing of his oxen in +the midst of harvest had diminished his earning capacity, seemed to be +only one of many similar acts. In 1847 his farm had furnished a +thousand bushels of corn to starving Ireland. Moreover, he had endowed +institutions of learning, founded school libraries, and turned the +houses of tenants into homes of college students. But the Radicals' +real reason for making him their candidate was his "recognition of the +truth that slavery is the implacable enemy of our National life, and +that the Union can only be saved by grappling directly and boldly with +its deadly foe."<a name="vol3FNanchor_75_75" id="vol3FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></p> + +<p>Prompted by this motive his supporters used all the methods known to +managing politicians to secure a majority of the delegates. Lincoln's +emancipation proclamation, published on September 23, five days after +the battle of Antietam, greatly strengthened them. They hailed the +event as their victory. It gave substance, too, to the Wadsworth +platform that "the Union must crush out slavery, or slavery will +destroy the Union." Reinforced by such an unexpected ally, it was well +understood before the day of the convention that in spite of the +appeals of Weed and Raymond, and of the wishes of Seward and the +President, the choice of the Radicals would be nominated. Wadsworth +was not averse. He had an itching for public life. In 1856 his +stubborn play for governor and his later contest for a seat in the +United States Senate had characterised him as an office-seeker. But +whether running for office himself,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.44" id="vol3Page_iii.44">iii. 44</a></span> or helping some one else, he was +a fighter whom an opponent had reason to fear.</p> + +<p>The Republican Union convention, as it was called, assembled at +Syracuse on September 25. Henry J. Raymond became its president, and +with characteristic directness made a vigorous reply to Seymour, +declaring that "Jefferson Davis himself could not have planned a +speech better calculated, under all the circumstances of the case, to +promote his end to embarrass the Government of the United States and +strengthen the hands of those who are striving for its overthrow."<a name="vol3FNanchor_76_76" id="vol3FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> +Then William Curtis Noyes read a letter from Governor Morgan declining +renomination.<a name="vol3FNanchor_77_77" id="vol3FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> The Governor had made a creditable executive, +winning the respect of conservatives in both parties, and although the +rule against a third term had become firmly established in a State +that had tolerated it but once since the days of Tompkins and DeWitt +Clinton, the propriety of making a further exception appealed to the +public with manifest approval. "But this," Weed said, "did not suit +the <i>Tribune</i> and a class of politicians with whom it sympathised. +They demanded a candidate with whom abolition is the paramount +consideration."<a name="vol3FNanchor_78_78" id="vol3FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> Morgan's letter created a ripple of applause, +after which the presentation of Wadsworth's name aroused an enthusiasm +of longer duration than had existed at Albany. Nevertheless, Charles +G. Myers of St. Lawrence did not hesitate to speak for "a more +available candidate at the present time." Then, raising his voice +above the whisperings of dissent, he named John A. Dix, "who, while +Seymour was howling for peace and compromise," said the speaker, +"ordered the first man shot that hauled down the American flag." +Raymond, in his speech earlier in the afternoon, had quoted the +historic despatch in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.45" id="vol3Page_iii.45">iii. 45</a></span> a well-balanced sentence, with the accent and +inflection of a trained orator; but in giving it an idiomatic, +thrilling ring in contrast with Seymour's record, Myers suddenly threw +the convention into wild, continued cheering, until it seemed as if +the noise of a moment before would be exceeded by the genuine and +involuntary outburst of patriotic emotion. A single ballot, however, +giving Wadsworth an overwhelming majority, showed that the Radicals +owned the convention.<a name="vol3FNanchor_79_79" id="vol3FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p> + +<p>Parke Godwin of Queens, from the committee on resolutions, presented +the platform. Among other issues it urged the most vigorous +prosecution of the war; hailed, with the profoundest satisfaction, the +emancipation proclamation; and expressed pride in the knowledge that +the Republic's only enemies "are the savages of the West, the rebels +of the South, their sympathisers and supporters of the North, and the +despots of Europe."</p> + +<p>The campaign opened with unexampled bitterness. Seymour's convention +speech inflamed the Republican party, and its press, recalling his +address at the Peace convention in January, 1861, seemed to uncork its +pent-up indignation. The <i>Tribune</i> pronounced him a "consummate +demagogue," "radically dishonest," and the author of sentiments that +"will be read throughout the rebel States with unalloyed delight," +since "their whole drift tends to encourage treason and paralyse the +arm of those who strike for the Union."<a name="vol3FNanchor_80_80" id="vol3FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> It disclosed Seymour's +intimate relations with "Vallandigham and the school of Democrats who +do not disguise their sympathy with traitors nor their hostility to +war," and predicted "that, if elected, Jeff Davis will re<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.46" id="vol3Page_iii.46">iii. 46</a></span>gard his +success as a triumph."<a name="vol3FNanchor_81_81" id="vol3FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> Odious comparisons also became frequent. +Wadsworth at Bull Run was contrasted with Seymour's prediction that +the Union's foes could not be subdued.<a name="vol3FNanchor_82_82" id="vol3FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> Seymour's supporters, it +was said, believed in recognising the independence of the South, or in +a restored Union with slavery conserved, while Wadsworth's champions +thought rebellion a wicked and wanton conspiracy against human +liberty, to be crushed by the most effective measures.<a name="vol3FNanchor_83_83" id="vol3FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> Raymond +declared that "every vote given for Wadsworth is a vote for loyalty, +and every vote given for Seymour is a vote for treason."<a name="vol3FNanchor_84_84" id="vol3FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p> + +<p>To these thrusts the Democratic press replied with no less acrimony, +speaking of Wadsworth as "a malignant, abolition disorganiser," whose +service in the field was "very brief," whose command in Washington was +"behind fortifications," and whose capacity was "limited to attacks +upon his superior officers."<a name="vol3FNanchor_85_85" id="vol3FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> The <i>Herald</i> declared him "as arrant +an aristocrat as any Southern rebel. The slaveholder," it said, "lives +upon his plantation, which his ancestors begged, cheated, or stole +from the Indians. Wadsworth lives upon his immense Genesee farms, +which his ancestors obtained from the Indians in precisely the same +way. The slaveholder has a number of negroes who raise crops for him, +and whom he clothes, feeds, and lodges. Wadsworth has a number of +labourers on his farms, who support him by raising his crops or paying +him rent. The slaveholder, having an independent fortune and nothing +to do, joins the army, or runs for office. Wadsworth, in exactly the +same circumstances, does exactly the same thing. Wadsworth, therefore, +is quite as much an aristocrat as the slaveholder, and cares quite as +much for himself and quite as little for the people."<a name="vol3FNanchor_86_86" id="vol3FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> Democrats +everywhere endeavoured to limit the issue to the two opposing +candidates, claiming that Seymour, in conjunction with all +conservative men, stood for a vigorous prosecution of the war to save +the Union, while<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.47" id="vol3Page_iii.47">iii. 47</a></span> Wadsworth, desiring its prosecution for the +destruction of slavery, believed the Union of secondary consideration.</p> + +<p>Campaign oratory, no longer softened by the absence of strict party +lines, throbbed feverishly with passion and ugly epithet. The +strategical advantage lay with Seymour, who made two speeches. Dean +Richmond, alarmed at the growing strength of the war spirit, urged him +to put more "powder" into his Brooklyn address than he used at the +ratification meeting, held in New York City on October 13; but he +declined to cater "to war Democrats," contenting himself with an +amplification of his convention speech. "God knows I love my country," +he said; "I would count my life as nothing, if I could but save the +nation's life." He resented with much feeling Raymond's electioneering +statement that a vote for him was one for treason.<a name="vol3FNanchor_87_87" id="vol3FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> "Recognising at +this moment as we do," he continued, "that the destinies, the honour, +and the glory of our country hang poised upon the conflict in the +battlefield, we tender to the Government no conditional support" to +put down "this wicked and mighty rebellion." Once, briefly, and +without bitterness, he referred to the emancipation proclamation, but +he again bitterly arraigned the Administration for its infractions of +the Constitution, its deception as to the strength of the South, and +the corruption in its departments.</p> + +<p>Seymour's admirers manifested his tendencies more emphatically than he +did himself, until denunciation of treason and insistence upon a +vigorous prosecution of the war yielded to an indictment of the +Radicals. The shibboleth of these declaimers was arbitrary arrests. +Two days after the edict of emancipation (September 24) the President +issued a proclamation ordering the arrest, without benefit of <i>habeas +corpus</i>, of all who "discouraged enlistments," or were guilty of "any +disloyal practice" which afforded "aid and comfort to the rebels."<a name="vol3FNanchor_88_88" id="vol3FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> +This gave rise to an opinion that he intended to "suppress free +discussion of political<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.48" id="vol3Page_iii.48">iii. 48</a></span> subjects,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_89_89" id="vol3FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> and every orator warned the +people that Wadsworth's election meant the arrest and imprisonment of +his political opponents. "If chosen governor," said the <i>Herald</i>, "he +will have his adversaries consigned to dungeons and their property +seized and confiscated under the act of Congress."<a name="vol3FNanchor_90_90" id="vol3FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> In accepting an +invitation to speak at Rome, John Van Buren, quick to see the humour +of the situation as well as the vulnerable point of the Radicals, +telegraphed that he would "arrive at two o'clock—if not in Fort +Lafayette."<a name="vol3FNanchor_91_91" id="vol3FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a></p> + +<p>To the delight of audiences John Van Buren, after two years of +political inactivity, broke his silence. He had earnestly and perhaps +sincerely advocated the nomination of John A. Dix, but after Seymour's +selection he again joined the ranks of the Softs and took the stump. +Among other appointments he spoke with Seymour at the New York +ratification meeting, and again at the Brooklyn rally on October 22. +Something remained of the old-time vigour of the professional +gladiator, but compared with his Barnburner work he seemed what Byron +called "an extinct volcano." He ran too heedlessly into a bitter +criticism of Wadsworth, based upon an alleged conversation he could +not substantiate, and into an acrimonious attack upon Lincoln's +conduct of the war, predicated upon a private letter of General Scott, +the possession of which he did not satisfactorily account for. The +<i>Tribune</i>, referring to his campaign as "a rhetorical spree," called +him a "buffoon," a "political harlequin," a "repeater of mouldy +jokes,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_92_92" id="vol3FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> and in bitter terms denounced his "low comedy performance +at Tammany," his "double-shuffle dancing at Mozart Hall," his +possession of a letter "by dishonourable means for a dishonourable +purpose," and his wide-sweeping statements "which gentlemen over their +own signatures pronounced lies."<a name="vol3FNanchor_93_93" id="vol3FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> It was not a performance to be +proud of, and al<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.49" id="vol3Page_iii.49">iii. 49</a></span>though Van Buren succeeded in stirring up the +advertising sensations which he craved, he did not escape without +wounds that left deep scars. "Prince John makes a statement," says the +<i>Herald</i>, "accusing Charles King of slandering the wife of Andrew +Jackson; King retorts by calling the Prince a liar; the poets of the +<i>Post</i> take up the case and broadly hint that the Prince's private +history shows that he has not lived the life of a saint; the Prince +replies that he has half a mind to walk into the private antecedents +of Wadsworth, which, it is said, would disclose some scenes +exceedingly rich; while certain other Democrats, indignant at +Raymond's accusations of treason against Seymour, threaten to reveal +his individual history, hinting, by the way, that it would show him to +have been heretofore a follower of that fussy philosopher of the +twelfth century, Abelard—not in philosophy, however, but in +sentiment, romance, and some other things."<a name="vol3FNanchor_94_94" id="vol3FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a></p> + +<p>Wherever Van Buren spoke Daniel S. Dickinson followed. His admirers, +the most extreme Radicals, cheered his speeches wildly, their fun +relieving the prosaic rigour of an issue that to one side seemed +forced by Northern treachery, to the other to threaten the gravest +peril to the country. It is difficult to exaggerate the tension. Party +violence ran high and the result seemed in doubt. Finally, +conservatives appealed to both candidates to retire in favour of John +A. Dix,<a name="vol3FNanchor_95_95" id="vol3FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> and on October 20 an organisation, styling itself the +Federal Union, notified the General that its central committee had +nominated him for governor, and that a State Convention, called to +meet at Cooper Institute on the 28th, would ratify the nomination. To +this summons, Dix, without declining a nomination, replied from +Maryland that he could not leave his duties "to be drawn into any +party strife."<a name="vol3FNanchor_96_96" id="vol3FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> This settled the question of a compromise +candidate.</p> + +<p>Elections in the October States did not encourage the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.50" id="vol3Page_iii.50">iii. 50</a></span> Radicals. +Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana voiced the sentiments of the +opposition, defeating Galusha A. Grow, speaker of the House, and +seriously threatening the Radical majority in Congress. This +retrogression, accounted for by the absence of soldiers who could not +vote,<a name="vol3FNanchor_97_97" id="vol3FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> suggested trouble in New York, and to offset the influence +of the Seymour rally in Brooklyn a great audience at Cooper Institute +listened to a brief letter from the Secretary of State, and to a +speech from Wadsworth. Seward did not encourage the soldier candidate. +The rankling recollection of Wadsworth's opposition at Chicago in 1860 +stifled party pride as well as patriotism, and although the <i>Herald</i> +thought it "brilliant and sarcastic," it emphasised Wadsworth's +subsequent statement that "Seward was dead against me throughout the +campaign."<a name="vol3FNanchor_98_98" id="vol3FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p> + +<p>Wadsworth's canvass was confined to a single speech. He had been +absent from the State fifteen months, and although not continuously at +the front there was something inexcusably ungenerous in the taunts of +his opponents that he had served "behind fortifications." His superb +conduct at Bull Run entitled him to better treatment. But his party +was wholly devoted to him, and "amid a hurricane of approbation"<a name="vol3FNanchor_99_99" id="vol3FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> +he mingled censure of Seymour with praise of Lincoln, and the +experience of a brave soldier with bitter criticism of an unpatriotic +press. It was not the work of a trained public speaker. It lacked +poise, phrase, and deliberation. But what it wanted in manner it made +up in fire and directness, giving an emotional and loyal audience +abundant opportunity to explode into long-continued cheering. +Thoughtful men who were not in any sense political partisans gave +careful heed to his words. He stood for achievement. He brought the +great struggle nearer home, and men listened as to one with a message +from the field<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.51" id="vol3Page_iii.51">iii. 51</a></span> of patriotic sacrifices. The radical newspapers broke +into a chorus of applause. The Radicals themselves were delighted. The +air rung with praises of the courage and spirit of their candidate, +and if here and there the faint voice of a Conservative suggested that +emancipation was premature and arbitrary arrests were unnecessary, a +shout of offended patriotism drowned the ignoble utterance.</p> + +<p>Wadsworth and his party were too much absorbed in the zeal of their +cause not to run counter to the prejudices of men less earnest and +less self-forgetting. In a contest of such bitterness they were +certain to make enemies, whose hostilities would be subtle and +enduring, and the October elections showed that the inevitable +reaction was setting in. Military failure and increasing debt made the +avowed policy of emancipation more offensive. People were getting +tired of bold action without achievement in the field, and every +opponent of the Administration became a threnodist. However, +independent papers which strongly favoured Seymour believed in +Wadsworth's success. "Seymour's antecedents are against him," said the +<i>Herald</i>. "Wadsworth, radical as he is, will be preferred by the +people to a Democrat who is believed to be in favour of stopping the +war; because, whatever Wadsworth's ideas about the negro may be, they +are only as dust in the balance compared with his hearty and earnest +support of the war and the Administration."<a name="vol3FNanchor_100_100" id="vol3FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> This was the belief +of the Radicals,<a name="vol3FNanchor_101_101" id="vol3FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> and upon them the news of Seymour's election by +over 10,000 majority fell with a sickening thud.<a name="vol3FNanchor_102_102" id="vol3FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> Raymond declared +it "a vote of want of confidence in the President;"<a name="vol3FNanchor_103_103" id="vol3FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> Wadsworth +thought Seward did it;<a name="vol3FNanchor_104_104" id="vol3FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> Weed suggested that Wadsworth held "too +extreme party views;"<a name="vol3FNanchor_105_105" id="vol3FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> and Greeley insisted that it was "a gang of +corrupt Republican politicians, who,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.52" id="vol3Page_iii.52">iii. 52</a></span> failing to rule the nominating +convention, took revenge on its patriotic candidate by secretly +supporting the Democratic nominee."<a name="vol3FNanchor_106_106" id="vol3FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> But the dominant reason was +what George William Curtis called "the mad desperation of +reaction,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_107_107" id="vol3FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> which showed its influence in other States as well as +in New York. That Wadsworth's personality had little, if anything, to +do with his overthrow was further evidenced by results in +congressional districts, the Democrats carrying seventeen out of +thirty-one. Even Francis Kernan carried the Oneida district against +Conkling. The latter was undoubtedly embarrassed by personal enemies +who controlled the Welsh vote, but the real cause of his defeat was +military disasters, financial embarrassments, and the emancipation +proclamation. "All our reverses, our despondence, our despairs," said +Curtis, "bring us to the inevitable issue, shall not the blacks strike +for their freedom?"<a name="vol3FNanchor_108_108" id="vol3FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.53" id="vol3Page_iii.53">iii. 53</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_IV" id="vol3CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h2>THURLOW WEED TRIMS HIS SAILS</h2> + +<h2>1863</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> political reaction in 1862 tied the two parties in the +Legislature. In the Senate, elected in 1861, the Republicans had +twelve majority, but in the Assembly each party controlled sixty-four +members. This deadlocked the election of a speaker, and seriously +jeopardized the selection of a United States senator in place of +Preston King, since a joint-convention of the two houses, under the +law as it then existed, could not convene until some candidate +controlled a majority in each branch.<a name="vol3FNanchor_109_109" id="vol3FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> It increased the +embarrassment that either a Republican or Democrat must betray his +party to break the deadlock.</p> + +<p>Chauncey M. Depew was the choice of the Republicans for speaker. But +the caucus, upon the threat of a single Republican to bolt,<a name="vol3FNanchor_110_110" id="vol3FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> +selected Henry Sherwood of Steuben. After seventy-seven ballots Depew +was substituted for Sherwood. By this time Timothy C. Callicot, a +Brooklyn Democrat, refused longer to vote for Gilbert Dean, the +Democratic nominee. Deeply angered by such apostasy John D. Van Buren +and Saxton Smith, the Democratic leaders, offered Depew eight votes. +Later in the evening Depew was visited by Callicot, who promised, if +the Republicans would support him for speaker, to vote for John A. Dix +for senator and thus break the senatorial deadlock. It was a trying +position for Depew. The speakership was regarded as even a greater +honor then than it is now, and to a gifted young man of twenty-nine +its power and prestige appealed with tremen<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.54" id="vol3Page_iii.54">iii. 54</a></span>dous force. Van Buren's +proposition would elect him; Callicot's would put him in eclipse. +Nevertheless, Depew unselfishly submitted the two proposals to his +Republican associates, who decided to lose the speakership and elect a +United States senator.<a name="vol3FNanchor_111_111" id="vol3FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a></p> + +<p>The Democrats, alarmed at this sudden and successful flank movement, +determined to defeat by disorderly proceedings what their leaders +could not prevent by strategy, and with the help of thugs who filled +the floor and galleries of the Assembly Chamber, they instigated a +riot scarcely equalled in the legislative history of modern times. +Boisterous threats, display of pistols, savage abuse of Callicot, and +refusals to allow the balloting to proceed continued for six days, +subsiding at last after the Governor, called upon to protect a +law-making body, promised to use force. Finally, on January 26, +nineteen days after the session opened, Callicot, on the ninety-third +ballot, received two majority. This opened the way for the election of +a Republican United States senator.</p> + +<p>Horace Greeley had hoped, in the event of Wadsworth's success, to ride +into the Senate upon "an abolition whirlwind."<a name="vol3FNanchor_112_112" id="vol3FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> He now wished to +elect Preston King or Daniel S. Dickinson. King had made a creditable +record in the Senate. Although taking little part in debate, his +judgment upon questions of governmental policy, indicating an accurate +knowledge of men and remarkable familiarity with details, commended +him as a safe adviser, especially in political emergencies. But Weed, +abandoning his old St. Lawrence friend, joined Seward in the support +of Edwin D. Morgan.</p> + +<p>Morgan had a decided taste for political life. When a grocer, living +in Connecticut, he had served in the city council of Hartford, and +soon after gaining a residence in New York, he entered its Board of +Aldermen. Then he be<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.55" id="vol3Page_iii.55">iii. 55</a></span>came State senator, commissioner of immigration, +chairman of the National Republican Committee, and finally governor. +Besides wielding an influence acquired in two gubernatorial terms, he +combined the qualities of a shrewd politician with those of a merchant +prince willing to spend money.</p> + +<p>The stoutest opposition to Morgan came from extreme Radicals who +distrusted him, and in trying to compass his defeat half a dozen +candidates played prominent parts. Charles B. Sedgwick of Syracuse, an +all-around lawyer of rare ability, whose prominence as a persuasive +speaker began in the Free-Soil campaign of 1848, and who had served +with distinction for four years in Congress, proved acceptable to a +few Radicals and several Conservatives.<a name="vol3FNanchor_113_113" id="vol3FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> Henry J. Raymond, also +pressed by the opponents of Morgan, attracted a substantial following, +while David Dudley Field, Ward Hunt, and Henry R. Selden controlled +two or three votes each. Nevertheless, a successful combination could +not be established, and on the second formal ballot Morgan received a +large majority. The remark of Assemblyman Truman, on a motion to make +the nomination unanimous, evidenced the bitterness of the contest. "I +believe we are rewarding a man," he said, "who placed the knife at the +throat of the Union ticket last fall and slaughtered it."<a name="vol3FNanchor_114_114" id="vol3FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a></p> + +<p>The Democrats presented Erastus Corning of Albany,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.56" id="vol3Page_iii.56">iii. 56</a></span> then a member of +Congress. Like Morgan, Corning was wealthy. Like Morgan, too, he had a +predilection for politics, having served as alderman, state senator, +mayor, and congressman. He belonged to a class of business men whose +experience and ability, when turned to public affairs, prove of +decided value to their State and country. "We should be glad," said +the <i>Tribune</i>, "to see more men of Mr. Corning's social and business +position brought forward for Congress and the Legislature."<a name="vol3FNanchor_115_115" id="vol3FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> The +first ballot, in joint convention, gave Morgan 86 to 70 for Corning, +Speaker Callicot voting for John A. Dix, and one fiery Radical for +Daniel S. Dickinson. Thus did Thurlow Weed score another victory. +Greeley was willing to make any combination. Raymond, Sedgwick, Ward +Hunt, and even David Dudley Field would quickly have appealed to him. +The deft hand of Weed, however, if not the money of Morgan, prevented +combinations until the Governor, as a second choice, controlled the +election.<a name="vol3FNanchor_116_116" id="vol3FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> This success resulted in a combination of Democrats and +conservative Republicans, giving Weed the vast patronage of the New +York canals.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it was only coincidental that Weed's withdrawal from the +<i>Evening Journal</i> concurred with Morgan's election, but his farewell +editorial, written while gloom and despond<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.57" id="vol3Page_iii.57">iii. 57</a></span>ency filled the land, +indicated that he unerringly read the signs of the times. "I differ +widely with my party about the best means of crushing the rebellion," +he said. "I can neither impress others with my views nor surrender my +own solemn convictions. The alternative of living in strife with those +whom I have esteemed, or withdrawing, is presented. I have not +hesitated in choosing the path of peace as the path of duty. If those +who differ with me are right, and the country is carried safely +through its present struggle, all will be well and 'nobody +hurt.'"<a name="vol3FNanchor_117_117" id="vol3FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> This did not mean that Weed "has ceased to be a +Republican," as Greeley put it,<a name="vol3FNanchor_118_118" id="vol3FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> but that, while refusing to +become an Abolitionist of the Chase and Sumner and Greeley type, he +declined longer to urge his conservative views upon readers who +possessed the spirit of Radicals. Years afterward he wrote that "from +the outbreak of the rebellion, I knew no party, nor did I care for any +except the party of the Union."<a name="vol3FNanchor_119_119" id="vol3FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p> + +<p>At the time of his retirement from the <i>Journal</i>, Weed was sixty-six +years of age, able-bodied, rich, independent, and satisfied if not +surfeited. "So far as all things personal are concerned," he said, "my +work is done."<a name="vol3FNanchor_120_120" id="vol3FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> Yet a trace of unhappiness revealed itself. +Perfect peace did not come with the possession of wealth.<a name="vol3FNanchor_121_121" id="vol3FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> +Moreover, his political course had grieved and separated friends. For +thirty years he looked forward with pleasurable emotions to the time +when, released from the cares of journalism, he might return to +Rochester, spending his remaining days on a farm, in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.58" id="vol3Page_iii.58">iii. 58</a></span> suburbs of +that city, near the banks of the Genesee River; but in 1863 he found +his old friends so hostile, charging him with the defeat of Wadsworth, +that he abandoned the project and sought a home in New York.<a name="vol3FNanchor_122_122" id="vol3FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a></p> + +<p>For several years Weed had made his political headquarters in that +city. Indeed, No. 12 Astor House was as famous in its day as 49 +Broadway became during the subsequent leadership of Thomas C. Platt. +It was the cradle of the "Amens" forty years before the Fifth Avenue +Hotel became the abode of that remarkable organization. From 1861 to +1865, owing to the enormous political patronage growing out of the +war, the lobbies of the Astor House were crowded with politicians from +all parts of New York, making ingress and egress almost impossible. In +the midst of this throng sat Thurlow Weed, cool and patient, +possessing the keen judgment of men so essential to leadership. "When +I was organizing the Internal Revenue Office in 1862-3," wrote George +S. Boutwell, "Mr. Weed gave me information in regard to candidates for +office in the State of New York, including their relations to the +factions that existed, with as much fairness as he could have +commanded if he had had no relation to either one."<a name="vol3FNanchor_123_123" id="vol3FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a></p> + +<p>Although opposed to the course of the Radicals, Weed sternly rebuked +those, now called Copperheads,<a name="vol3FNanchor_124_124" id="vol3FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> who endeavored to force peace by +paralysing the arm of the government. Their denunciation of arrests +and of the suspension of <i>habeas corpus</i> gradually included the +discouragement of enlistments, the encouragement of desertion, and +resistance to the draft, until, at last, the spirit of opposition +invaded halls of legislation as well as public meetings and the press.</p> + +<p>To check this display of disloyalty the Union people, re<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.59" id="vol3Page_iii.59">iii. 59</a></span>gardless of +party, formed loyal or Union League clubs in the larger cities, whose +densely packed meetings commanded the ablest speakers of the country. +John Van Buren, fully aroused to the seditious trend of peace +advocates, evidenced again the power that made him famous in 1848. In +his inimitable style, with admirable temper and freshness, he poured +his scathing sarcasm upon the authors of disloyal sentiments, until +listeners shouted with delight. The <i>Tribune</i>, forgetful of his +flippant work in the preceding year, accorded him the highest praise, +while strong men, with faces wet with tears, thanked God that this +Achilles of the Democrats spoke for the Republic with the trumpet +tones and torrent-like fluency that had formerly made the name of +Barnburner a terror to the South. Van Buren was not inconsistent. +While favouring a vigorous prosecution of the war he had severely +criticised arbitrary arrests and other undemocratic methods, but when +"little men of little souls," as he called them, attempted to control +the great party for illegal purposes, his patriotism flashed out in +the darkness like a revolving light on a rocky coast.</p> + +<p>The call of the Loyal League also brought James T. Brady from his law +office. Unlike Dickinson, Brady did not approve the teachings or the +methods of the Radicals, neither had he like Van Buren supported +Seymour. Moreover, he had refused to take office from Tammany, or to +accept nomination from a Democratic State convention. However, when +the enemies of the Government seemed likely to carry all before them, +he spoke for the Union like one divinely inspired. Indeed, it may be +said with truth that the only ray of hope piercing the gloom and +suspense in the early months of 1863 came from the brilliant outbursts +of patriotism heard at the meetings of the Union League clubs.<a name="vol3FNanchor_125_125" id="vol3FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> "I +pray that my name may be enrolled in that league," wrote Seward. "I +would prefer that distinction to any honour my fellow-citizens could +bestow upon me. If the country lives, as I trust<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.60" id="vol3Page_iii.60">iii. 60</a></span> it will, let me be +remembered among those who laboured to save it. The diploma will grow +in value as years roll away."<a name="vol3FNanchor_126_126" id="vol3FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.61" id="vol3Page_iii.61">iii. 61</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_V" id="vol3CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h2>GOVERNOR SEYMOUR AND PRESIDENT LINCOLN</h2> + +<h2>1863</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Horatio Seymour</span> did not become a member of the Union League, and his +inaugural message of January 7 gave no indication of a change of +heart. He spoke of his predecessor as having "shown high capacity" in +the performance of his duties; he insisted that "we must emulate the +conduct of our fathers, and show obedience to constituted authorities, +and respect for legal and constitutional obligations;" he demanded +economy and integrity; and he affirmed that "under no circumstances +can the division of the Union be conceded. We will put forth every +exertion of power; we will use every policy of conciliation; we will +hold out every inducement to the people of the South, consistent with +honour, to return to their allegiance; we will guarantee them every +right, every consideration demanded by the Constitution, and by that +fraternal regard which must prevail in a common country; but we can +never voluntarily consent to the breaking up of the Union of these +States, or the destruction of the Constitution." With his usual +severity he opposed arbitrary arrests, deemed martial law destructive +of the rights of States, and declared that the abolition of slavery +for the purpose of restoring the Union would convert the government +into a military despotism.</p> + +<p>"It has been assumed," he said, "that this war will end in the +ascendency of the views of one or the other of the extremes in our +country. Neither will prevail. This is the significance of the late +elections. The determination of the great Central and Western States +is to defend the rights of the States, the rights of individuals, and +to restore our Union<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.62" id="vol3Page_iii.62">iii. 62</a></span> as it was. We must not wear out the lives of our +soldiers by a war to carry out vague theories. The policy of +subjugation and extermination means not only the destruction of the +lives and property of the South, but also the waste of the blood and +treasure of the North. There is but one way to save us from +demoralisation, discord, and repudiation. No section must be +disorganised. All must be made to feel that the mighty efforts we are +making to save our Union are stimulated by a purpose to restore peace +and prosperity in every section. If it is true that slavery must be +abolished by force; that the South must be held in military +subjection; that four millions of negroes must be under the management +of authorities at Washington at the public expense; then, indeed, we +must endure the waste of our armies, further drains upon our +population, and still greater burdens of debt. We must convert our +government into a military despotism. The mischievous opinion that in +this contest the North must subjugate and destroy the South to save +our Union has weakened the hopes of our citizens at home, and +destroyed confidence in our success abroad."<a name="vol3FNanchor_127_127" id="vol3FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a></p> + +<p>Although this message failed to recognise the difference between a +peaceable South in the Union and a rebellious South attempting to +destroy the Union, it is not easy, perhaps, to comprehend how the +acknowledged leader of the opposition, holding such views and relying +for support upon the peace sentiment of the country, could have said +much less. Yet the feeling must possess the student of history that a +consummate politician, possessing Seymour's ability and popularity, +might easily have divided with Lincoln the honor of crushing the +rebellion and thus have become his successor. The President recognized +this opportunity, saying to Weed that the "Governor has greater power +just now for good than any other man in the country. He can wheel the +Democratic party into line, put down rebellion, and preserve the +government. Tell him for me that if he will render this service for +his country, I shall cheerfully make<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.63" id="vol3Page_iii.63">iii. 63</a></span> way for him as my +successor."<a name="vol3FNanchor_128_128" id="vol3FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> Seymour's reply, if he made one, is not of record, +but Lincoln's message would scarcely appeal to one who disbelieved in +the North's ability to subjugate the South. Later in the spring the +President, unwilling to give the Governor up, wrote him a +characteristic note. "You and I," said he, "are, substantially, +strangers, and I write this chiefly that we may become better +acquainted. As to maintaining the nation's life and integrity, I +assume and believe there cannot be a difference of purpose between you +and me. If we should differ as to the means it is important that such +difference should be as small as possible; that it should not be +enhanced by unjust suspicions on one side or the other. In the +performance of my duty the coöperation of your State, as that of +others, is needed,—in fact, is indispensable. This alone is a +sufficient reason why I should wish to be at a good understanding with +you. Please write me at least as long a letter as this, of course +saying in it just what you think fit."<a name="vol3FNanchor_129_129" id="vol3FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a></p> + +<p>It is difficult to fathom the impression made upon Seymour by this +letter. The more cultivated Democrats about him entertained the belief +that Lincoln, somewhat uncouth and grotesque, was a weak though +well-meaning man, and the Governor doubtless held a similar opinion. +Moreover, he believed that the President, alarmed by the existence of +a conspiracy of prominent Republicans to force him from the White +House, sought to establish friendly relations that he might have an +anchor to windward.<a name="vol3FNanchor_130_130" id="vol3FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> One can imagine the Governor, as the letter +lingered in his hand, smiling superciliously and wondering what manner +of man this Illinoisan is, who could say to a stranger what a little +boy frequently puts in his missive, "Please write me at least as long +a letter as this." At all events, he treated the President very +cavalierly.<a name="vol3FNanchor_131_131" id="vol3FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> On April 14, after delaying three weeks, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.64" id="vol3Page_iii.64">iii. 64</a></span> wrote a +cold and guarded reply, promising to address him again after the +Legislature adjourned. "In the meanwhile," he concluded, "I assure you +that no political resentments, or no personal objects, will turn me +aside from the pathway I have marked out for myself. I intend to show +to those charged with the administration of public affairs a due +deference and respect, and to yield to them a just and generous +support in all measures they may adopt within the scope of their +constitutional powers. For the preservation of this Union I am ready +to make any sacrifice of interest, passion, or prejudice."<a name="vol3FNanchor_132_132" id="vol3FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a></p> + +<p>Seymour never wrote the promised letter. His inaugural expressed his +honest convictions. He wanted no relations with a President who seemed +to prefer the abolition of slavery and the use of arbitrary methods. A +few days later, in vetoing a measure authorising soldiers to vote +while absent in the army, he again showed his personal antipathy, +charging the President with rewarding officers of high rank for +improperly interfering in State elections, while subordinate officers +were degraded "for the fair exercise of their political rights at +their own homes."<a name="vol3FNanchor_133_133" id="vol3FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> John Hay did not err in saying "there could be +no intimate understanding between two such men."<a name="vol3FNanchor_134_134" id="vol3FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a></p> + +<p>General Burnside's arrest of Clement L. Vallandigham of Ohio (May, +1863) increased Seymour's aversion to the President. Burnside's act +lacked authority of law as well as the excuse of good judgment, and +although the President's change of sentence from imprisonment in Fort +Warren to banishment to the Southern Confederacy gave the proceeding a +humorous turn, the ugly fact remained that a citizen,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.65" id="vol3Page_iii.65">iii. 65</a></span> in the dead of +night, with haste, and upon the evidence of disguised and partisan +informers, had been rudely deprived of liberty without due process of +law. Thoughtful men who reverenced the safeguard known to civil +judicial proceedings were appalled. The Republican press of New York +thought it indefensible, while the opposition, with unprecedented +bitterness, again assailed the Administration. In a moment the whole +North was in a turmoil. Everywhere mass meetings, intemperate +speeches, and threats of violence inflamed the people. The basest +elements in New York City, controlling a public meeting called to +condemn the "outrage," indicated how easily a reign of riot and +bloodshed might be provoked. To an assembly held in Albany on May 16, +at which Erastus Corning presided, Seymour addressed a letter +deploring the unfortunate event as a dishonour brought upon the +country by an utter disregard of the principles of civil liberty. "It +is a fearful thing," he said, "to increase the danger which now +overhangs us, by treating the law, the judiciary, and the authorities +of States with contempt. If this proceeding is approved by the +government and sanctioned by the people, it is not merely a step +toward revolution, it is revolution; it will not only lead to military +despotism, it establishes military despotism. In this respect it must +be accepted, or in this respect it must be rejected. If it is upheld +our liberties are overthrown." Then he grew bolder. "The people of +this country now wait with the deepest anxiety the decision of the +Administration upon these acts. Having given it a generous support in +the conduct of the war, we now pause to see what kind of government it +is for which we are asked to pour out our blood and our treasure. The +action of the Administration will determine, in the minds of more than +one-half the people of the loyal States, whether this war is waged to +put down rebellion in the South or to destroy free institutions at the +North."<a name="vol3FNanchor_135_135" id="vol3FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a></p> + +<p>At great length Lincoln replied to the resolutions forwarded by +Corning. "In my own discretion," wrote the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.66" id="vol3Page_iii.66">iii. 66</a></span> President, "I do not know +whether I would have ordered the arrest of Mr. Vallandigham.... I was +slow to adopt the strong measures which by degrees I have been forced +to regard as being within the exceptions of the Constitution and as +indispensable to the public safety.... I think the time not unlikely +to come when I shall be blamed for having made too few arrests rather +than too many.... Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who +deserts, while I must not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces +him to desert? This is none the less injurious when effected by +getting a father, a brother, or friend into a public meeting and then +working upon his feelings till he is persuaded to write the soldier +boy that he is fighting in a bad cause for a wicked administration and +contemptible government, too weak to arrest and punish him if he shall +desert."<a name="vol3FNanchor_136_136" id="vol3FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> This argument, undoubtedly the strongest that could be +made in justification, found great favour with his party, but the +danger Seymour apprehended lay in the precedent. "Wicked men ambitious +of power, with hatred of liberty and contempt of law," said Justice +Davis of the United States Supreme Court, in deciding a case of +similar character, "may fill the place once occupied by Washington and +Lincoln, and if this right [of military arrest] is conceded, and the +calamities of war again befall us, the dangers to human liberty are +frightful to contemplate."<a name="vol3FNanchor_137_137" id="vol3FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a></p> + +<p>Much as Seymour resented the arrest of Vallandigham, he did not allow +the incident to interfere with his official action, and to the +Secretary of War's call for aid when General Lee began his midsummer +invasion of Pennsylvania, he responded promptly: "I will spare no +effort to send you troops at once," and true to his message he +forwarded nineteen regiments, armed and equipped for field service, +whose arrival brought confidence.<a name="vol3FNanchor_138_138" id="vol3FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> But governed by the sinister +reason that influenced him earlier in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.67" id="vol3Page_iii.67">iii. 67</a></span> year, he refused to +acknowledge the President's letter of thanks, preferring to express +his opinion of Administration methods unhindered by the exchange of +courtesies. This he did in a Fourth of July address, delivered at the +Academy of Music in New York City, in which he pleaded, not +passionately, not with the acrimony that ordinarily characterised his +speeches, but humbly, as if asking a despotic conqueror to return the +rights and liberty of which the people had been robbed. "We only ask +freedom of speech,—the right to exercise all the franchises conferred +by the Constitution upon an American. Can you safely deny us these +things?" Mingled also with pathetic appeals were joyless pictures of +the ravages of war, and cheerless glimpses into the future of a +Republic with its bulwarks of liberty torn away. "We stand to-day," he +continued, "amid new made graves; we stand to-day in a land filled +with mourning, and our soil is saturated with the blood of the +fiercest conflict of which history gives us an account. We can, if we +will, avert all these disasters and evoke a blessing. If we will do +what? Hold that Constitution, and liberties, and laws are suspended? +Will that restore them? Or shall we do as our fathers did under +circumstances of like trial, when they battled against the powers of a +crown? Did they say that liberty was suspended? Did they say that men +might be deprived of the right of trial by jury? Did they say that men +might be torn from their homes by midnight intruders?... If you would +save your country and your liberties, begin at the hearth-stone; begin +in your family circle; declare that their rights shall be held sacred; +and having once proclaimed your own rights, claim for your own State +that jurisdiction and that government which we, better than all +others, can exercise for ourselves, for we best know our own +interests."<a name="vol3FNanchor_139_139" id="vol3FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a></p> + +<p>One week later, on Saturday, July 11, the draft began in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.68" id="vol3Page_iii.68">iii. 68</a></span> the Ninth +Congressional District of New York, a portion of the city settled by +labourers, largely of foreign birth. These people, repeating the +information gained in neighbourhood discussions, violently denounced +the Conscription Act as illegal, claiming that the privilege of buying +an exemption on payment of $300 put "the rich man's money against the +poor man's blood." City authorities apprehended trouble and State +officials were notified of the threatened danger, but only the police +held themselves in readiness. The Federal Government, in the absence +of a request from the Governor, very properly declined to make an +exception in the application of the law in New York on the mere +assumption that violence would occur. Besides, all available troops, +including most of the militia regiments, had been sent to +Pennsylvania, and to withdraw them would weaken the Federal lines +about Gettysburg.</p> + +<p>The disturbance began at the corner of Forty-sixth Street and Third +Avenue, the rioters destroying the building in which the +provost-marshal was conducting the draft. By this time the mob, having +grown into an army, began to sack and murder. Prejudice against +negroes sent the rioters into hotels and restaurants after the +waiters, some of whom were beaten to death, while others, hanged on +trees and lamp-posts, were burned while dying. The coloured orphan +asylum, fortunately after its inmates had escaped, likewise became +fuel for the flames. The police were practically powerless. Street +cars and omnibuses ceased to run, shopkeepers barred their doors, +workmen dropped their tools, teamsters put up their horses, and for +three days all business was stopped. In the meantime Federal and State +authorities coöperated to restore order. Governor Seymour, having +hastened from Long Branch, addressed a throng of men and boys from the +steps of the City Hall, calling them "friends," and pleading<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.69" id="vol3Page_iii.69">iii. 69</a></span> with +them to desist. He also issued two proclamations, declaring the city +in a state of insurrection, and commanding all people to obey the laws +and the legal authorities. Finally, the militia regiments from +Pennsylvania began to arrive, and cannon and howitzers raked the +streets. These quieting influences, coupled with the publication of an +official notice that the draft had been suspended, put an end to the +most exciting experience of any Northern community during the war.</p> + +<p>After the excitement the <i>Tribune</i> asserted that the riot resulted +from a widespread treasonable conspiracy,<a name="vol3FNanchor_140_140" id="vol3FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> and a letter, addressed +to the President, related the alleged confession of a well-known +politician, who, overcome with remorse, had revealed to the editors of +the <i>Tribune</i> the complicity of Seymour. Lincoln placed no reliance in +the story, "for which," says Hay, "there was no foundation in +fact;"<a name="vol3FNanchor_141_141" id="vol3FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> but Seymour's speech "intimated," says the Lincoln +historian, "that the draft justified the riot, and that if the rioters +would cease their violence the draft should be stopped."<a name="vol3FNanchor_142_142" id="vol3FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> James B. +Fry, provost-marshal general, substantially endorsed this view. "While +the riot was going on," he says, "Governor Seymour insisted on Colonel +Nugent announcing a suspension of the draft. The draft had already +been stopped by violence. The announcement was urged by the Governor, +no doubt, because he thought it would allay the excitement; but it +was, under the circumstances, making a concession to the mob, and +endangering the successful enforcement of the law of the land."<a name="vol3FNanchor_143_143" id="vol3FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a></p> + +<p>Of the four reports of Seymour's speech, published the morning after +its delivery, no two are alike.<a name="vol3FNanchor_144_144" id="vol3FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> Three, however, concur in his use +of the word "friends,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_145_145" id="vol3FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> and all<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.70" id="vol3Page_iii.70">iii. 70</a></span> agree that he spoke of trying to +secure a postponement of the draft that justice might be done. It was +a delicate position in which he placed himself, and one that ever +after gave him and his supporters much embarrassment and cause for +many apologies. Nevertheless, his action in nowise impugned his +patriotism. Assuming the riot had its inception in the belief which he +himself entertained, that the draft was illegal and unjust, he sought +by personal appeal to stay the destruction of life and property, and +if anyone in authority at that time had influence with the rioters and +their sympathisers it was Horatio Seymour, who probably accomplished +less than he hoped to.</p> + +<p>Seymour's views in relation to the draft first appeared in August. +While the Federal authorities prepared the enrolment in June, the +Governor, although his coöperation was sought, "gave no assistance," +says Fry. "In fact, so far as the government officers engaged in the +enrolment could learn, he gave the subject no attention."<a name="vol3FNanchor_146_146" id="vol3FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> On the +day the drawing began, however, he became apprehensive of trouble and +sent his adjutant to Washington to secure a suspension of the draft, +but the records do not reveal the reasons presented by that officer. +Certainly no complaint was made as to the correctness of the enrolment +or the assignment of quotas.<a name="vol3FNanchor_147_147" id="vol3FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> Nevertheless, his delay taught him a +lesson, and when the Federal authorities notified him later that the +drawing would be resumed in August, he lost no time in beginning the +now historic correspondence with the President. His letter of August 3 +asked that the suspension of the draft be continued to enable the +State officials to correct the enrolment, and to give the United +States Supreme Court opportunity to pass upon the constitutionality of +the Con<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.71" id="vol3Page_iii.71">iii. 71</a></span>scription Act, suggesting the hope that in the meantime New +York's quota might be filled by volunteers. "It is believed by at +least one-half of the people of the loyal States," he wrote, "that the +Conscription Act, which they are called upon to obey, is in itself a +violation of the supreme constitutional law.... In the minds of the +American people the duty of obedience and the rights to protection are +inseparable. If it is, therefore, proposed on the one hand to exact +obedience at the point of the bayonet, and, upon the other hand, to +shut off, by military power, all approach to our judicial tribunals, +we have reason to fear the most ruinous results."<a name="vol3FNanchor_148_148" id="vol3FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a></p> + +<p>This letter was neither gracious nor candid. While dealing in columns +of figures to prove the inaccuracy of the enrolment, it concealed the +fact that, although urged to coöperate with the enrolling officers, he +had ignored their invitation to verify the enrolment. In menacing +tones, too, he intimated "the consequences of a violent, harsh policy, +before the constitutionality of the Act is tested." It was evident he +had given much thought to the question, but his prolixity betrayed the +feeling of an official who, conscious of having erred in doing nothing +in anticipation of riot and bloodshed, wished now to make a big +showing of duty performed.</p> + +<p>Lincoln's reply not only emphasised the difference between the +political aptitude of himself and Seymour, but marked him as the more +magnanimous and far the greater man. The President raised no issue as +to enrolments, wasted no arguments over columns of figures, and +referred in nowise to the past. He briefly outlined a method of +verification which quickly established,—what might have been shown in +June had the Governor given the matter attention,—an excess of 13,000 +men enrolled in the Brooklyn and New York districts. Although he would +be glad, said Lin<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.72" id="vol3Page_iii.72">iii. 72</a></span>coln, to facilitate a decision of the Court and +abide by it,<a name="vol3FNanchor_149_149" id="vol3FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> he declined longer to delay the draft "because time +is too important.... We are contending with an enemy who, as I +understand, drives every able-bodied man he can reach into his ranks, +very much as a butcher drives bullocks into a slaughter-pen. No time +is wasted, no argument is used. This produces an army which will soon +turn upon our now victorious soldiers already in the field, if they +are not sustained by recruits as they should be."<a name="vol3FNanchor_150_150" id="vol3FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p> + +<p>When the drawing was resumed on August 19, 10,000 infantry and three +batteries of artillery, picked troops from the Army of the Potomac, +beside a division of the State National Guard, backed the Governor's +proclamation counselling submission to the execution of the law. In +this presence the draft proceeded peacefully.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the loyal millions of the North, longing for victory in the +field, found their prayers answered. Gettysburg and Vicksburg had +pierced the spirit of the South, Cumberland Gap had liberated East +Tennessee, Fort Smith and Little Rock supplied a firm footing for the +army beyond the Mississippi, and the surrender of Port Hudson +permitted Federal gunboats to pass unvexed to the sea. The rift in the +war cloud had, indeed, let in a flood of sunlight, and, while it +lasted, gave fresh courage and larger faith.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.73" id="vol3Page_iii.73">iii. 73</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_VI" id="vol3CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h2>SEYMOUR REBUKED</h2> + +<h2>1863</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> victories of Vicksburg and Gettysburg turned the Republican Union +convention, held at Syracuse on September 2, into a meeting of +rejoicing. Weed did not attend, but the Conservatives, led by Henry J. +Raymond and Edwin D. Morgan, boldly talked of its control. Ward Hunt +became temporary chairman. Hunt was a lawyer whom politics did not +attract. Since his unsuccessful effort to become a United States +senator in 1857 he had turned aside from his profession only when +necessary to strengthen the cause of the Union. At such times he shone +as the representative of a wise patriotism. He did not belong in the +class of attractive platform speakers, nor possess the weaknesses of +blind followers of party chieftains. His power rested upon the +strength of his character as a well-poised student of affairs. What he +believed came forcefully from a mind that formed its own judgments, +and whether his words gave discomfort to the little souls that +governed caucuses, or to the great journalists that sought to force +their own policies, he was in no wise disturbed.</p> + +<p>Upon taking the chair Hunt began his remarks in the tone of one who +felt more than he desired to express, but as the mention of Gettysburg +and Vicksburg revealed the unbounded enthusiasm of the men before him, +the optimism that characterised the people's belief in the summer of +1863 quickly took possession of him, and he coupled with the +declaration that the rebel armies were nearly destroyed, the opinion +that peace was near at hand. For the moment the party seemed solidly +united. But when the echoes of long<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.74" id="vol3Page_iii.74">iii. 74</a></span> continued cheering had subsided +the bitterness of faction flashed out with increased intensity. To the +Radicals, Raymond's suggestion of Edwin D. Morgan for permanent +chairman was as gall and wormwood, and his talk of an entire new +ticket most alarming. However, George Opdyke and Horace Greeley, the +Radical leaders, chastened by the defeat of Wadsworth and the election +of Morgan to the Senate, did not now forget the value of discretion. +Hunt's selection as temporary chairman had been a concession, and in +the choice of a permanent presiding officer, although absolutely +unyielding in their hostility to Morgan, they graciously accepted +Abraham Wakeman, an apostle of the conservative school.<a name="vol3FNanchor_151_151" id="vol3FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> Their +attitude toward Morgan, however, cost Opdyke a place on the State +Committee, and for a time threatened to exclude the Radicals from +recognition upon the ticket.</p> + +<p>The refusal of men to accept nominations greatly embarrassed +Conservatives in harvesting their victory. Thomas W. Olcott of Albany +was nominated for comptroller in place of Lucius Robinson. Of all the +distinguished men who had filled that office none exhibited a more +inflexible firmness than Robinson in holding the public purse strings. +He was honest by nature and by practice. Neither threats nor ingenious +devices disturbed him, but with a fidelity as remarkable as it was +rare he pushed aside the emissaries of extravagance and corruption as +readily as a plow turns under the sod. After two years of such +methods, however, the representatives of a wide-open treasury noisily +demanded a change. But Olcott, a financier of wide repute, wisely +declined to be used for such a purpose, and Robinson was accepted.</p> + +<p>Daniel S. Dickinson, after the inconsequential treatment accorded him +in the recent contest for United States senator, suddenly discovered +that domestic reasons disabled him from serving longer as +attorney-general. Then James T. Brady declined, although tendered the +nomination without a<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.75" id="vol3Page_iii.75">iii. 75</a></span> dissenting voice. This reduced the convention, +in its search for a conspicuous War Democrat, to the choice of John +Cochrane, the well-known orator who had left the army in the preceding +February. In choosing a Secretary of State the embarrassment +continued. Greeley encouraged the candidacy of Chauncey M. Depew, but +concluded, at the last moment, that Peter A. Porter, the colonel of a +regiment and a son of the gallant general of the war of 1812, must +head the ticket.<a name="vol3FNanchor_152_152" id="vol3FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> Porter, however, refused to exchange a military +for a civil office, and Depew was substituted.</p> + +<p>Depew, then a young man of twenty-nine, gave promise of his subsequent +brilliant career. He lived a neighbour to Horace Greeley, whom he +greatly admired, and to whom he tactfully spoke the honeyed words, +always so agreeable to the <i>Tribune's</i> editor.<a name="vol3FNanchor_153_153" id="vol3FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> Perhaps no one in +the State possessed a more pleasing personality. He made other people +as happy as he was himself. To this charm of manner were added a +singularly attractive presence, a pleasing voice, and the oratorical +gifts that won him recognition even before he left Yale College. From +the first he exhibited a marked capacity for public life. He had an +unfailing readiness, a wide knowl<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.76" id="vol3Page_iii.76">iii. 76</a></span>edge of affairs, a keen sense of the +ridiculous, and a flow of clear and easy language which never failed +to give full and precise expression to all that was in his mind. He +rarely provoked enmities, preferring light banter to severe invective +or unsparing ridicule. Among his associates he was the prince of +raconteurs. In conventions few men were heard with keener interest, +and every Republican recognised the fact that a new force had come +into the councils of the party. There never was a time when people +regarded him as "a coming man," for he took a leading place at once. +In 1861, three years after his admission to the bar, the Peekskill +voters sent him to the Assembly, and the next year his colleagues +selected him for speaker, an honour which he generously relinquished +that his party might elect a United States senator. Now, within the +same year, he found a place at the head of the ticket, which he led +during the campaign with marked ability.<a name="vol3FNanchor_154_154" id="vol3FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a></p> + +<p>The platform endorsed the Administration, praised the soldiers, +opposed a peace that changed the Constitution except in the form +prescribed by it, deplored the creation of a spirit of partisan +hostility against the Government, and promised that New York would do +its full share in maintaining the Union; but it skilfully avoided +mentioning the conscription act and the emancipation proclamation, +which Seymour charged had changed the war for the Union into a war for +abolition. When a delegate, resenting the omission, moved a resolution +commending emancipation, Raymond reminded him that he was in a Union, +not a Republican convention, and that many loyal men doubted the +propriety of such an endorsement. This position proved too +conservative for the ordinary up-State delegate, and a motion to table +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.77" id="vol3Page_iii.77">iii. 77</a></span> resolution quickly failed. Thereupon Charles A. Folger of Geneva +moved to amend by adding the words, "and as a war measure is +thoroughly legal and justifiable." Probably no man in the convention, +by reason of his learning and solidity of character, had greater +influence. In 1854 he left the Democratic party with Ward Hunt, whom +he resembled as a lawyer, and whom he was to follow to the Court of +Appeals and like him attain the highest eminence. Just then he was +forty-five years old, a State senator of gentle bearing and stout +heart, who dared to express his positive convictions, and whose +suggested amendment, offered with the firmness of a man conscious of +being in the right, encountered slight opposition.</p> + +<p>The President's letter, addressed to the Union convention of New York, +gave the Radicals great comfort. With direct and forceful language +Lincoln took the people into his confidence. There are but three ways, +he said, to stop the war; first, by suppressing rebellion, which he +was trying to do; second, by giving up the Union, which he was trying +to prevent; and third, by some imaginable compromise, which was +impossible if it embraced the maintenance of the Union. The strength +of the rebellion is in its army, which dominates all the country and +all the people within its range. Any offer of terms made by men within +that range, in opposition to that army, is simply nothing for the +present, because such men have no power whatever to enforce their side +of a compromise if one were made with them. Suppose refugees from the +South and peace men from the North hold a convention of the States, +how can their action keep Lee out of Pennsylvania? To be effective a +compromise must come from those in control of the rebel army, or from +the people after our army has suppressed that army. As no suggestion +of peace has yet come from that source, all thought of peace for the +present was out of the question. If any proposition shall hereafter +come, it shall not be rejected and kept a secret from you.</p> + +<p>To be plain, he continued, you are dissatisfied about the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.78" id="vol3Page_iii.78">iii. 78</a></span> negro. You +opposed compensated emancipation and you dislike proclaimed +emancipation. If slaves are property, is there any question that by +the law of war such property, both of enemies and friends, may be +taken when needed? And is it not needed when its taking helps us and +hurts our enemy? But you say the proclamation is unconstitutional. If +it is not valid, it needs no retraction. If it is valid, it cannot be +retracted any more than the dead can be brought to life. You profess +to think its retraction would help the Union. Why better <i>after</i> the +retraction than <i>before</i> the issue? Those in revolt had one hundred +days to consider it, and the war, since its issuance, has progressed +as favourably for us as before. Some of the commanders who have won +our most important victories believe the emancipation policy the +heaviest blow yet dealt to the rebels, and that in one instance, at +least, victory came with the aid of black soldiers. You say you will +not fight to free negroes. Whenever you are urged, after resistance to +the Union is conquered, to continue to fight, it will be time enough +to refuse. Do you not think, in the struggle for the Union, that the +withdrawal of negro help from the enemy weakens his resistance to you? +That what negroes can do as soldiers leaves so much less for white +soldiers to do? But why should negroes do anything for us, if we will +do nothing for them? and if they, on the promise of freedom, stake +their lives to save the Union, shall the promise not be kept?</p> + +<p>The signs look better, he concluded. Peace does not appear so distant +as it did. When it comes, it will prove that no appeal lies from the +ballot to the bullet, and that those who take it are sure to lose +their case and pay the costs. "And then there will be some black men +who can remember that, with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and +steady eye, and well poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to +this great consummation; while I fear there will be some white ones +unable to forget that with malignant heart and deceitful speech they +have striven to hinder it."<a name="vol3FNanchor_155_155" id="vol3FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.79" id="vol3Page_iii.79">iii. 79</a></span></p> +<p>The influence of this letter, increased by the dignity and power of +the President's office, proved a sharp thorn to the Democrats. Recent +military successes had made it appear for the time, at least, that +rebellion was about to collapse, and the Democratic State Union +convention, which convened at Albany on September 9, shifted its +policy from a protest against war measures to an appeal for +conciliation. In other words, it was against subjugation, which would +not leave "the Union as it was, and the Constitution as it is." In its +effort to emphasise this plea it refused to recognise or affiliate +with the Constitutional Union party, controlled by James Brooks and +other extreme peace advocates,<a name="vol3FNanchor_156_156" id="vol3FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> and although its platform still +condemned emancipation, conscription, and arbitrary arrests, the +pivotal declaration, based on "manifestations of a returning +allegiance on the part of North Carolina and other seceded States," +favoured a wise statesmanship "which shall encourage the Union +sentiment of the South and unite more thoroughly the people of the +North." Amasa J. Parker, chairman of the convention, who still talked +of a "yawning gulf of ruin," admitted that such a policy brought a +gleam of hope to the country, and Governor Seymour, at the end of a +dreary speech explanatory of his part in the draft-riot,<a name="vol3FNanchor_157_157" id="vol3FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> +expressed<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.80" id="vol3Page_iii.80">iii. 80</a></span> a willingness to "bury violations of law and the rights of +States and individuals if such a magnanimous course shall be +pursued."<a name="vol3FNanchor_158_158" id="vol3FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> Lincoln's letter, however, unexpectedly spoiled such an +appeal, compelling the convention to "regret" that the President +contemplates no measure for the restoration of the Union, "but looking +to an indefinite protraction of the war for abolition purposes points +to no future save national bankruptcy and the subversion of our +institutions."<a name="vol3FNanchor_159_159" id="vol3FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a></p> + +<p>The Republicans, backed by success in the field, started with an +advantage which the cheering news from Maine strengthened. It soon +become manifest, too, that the Gibraltar of Democracy resented the +destructive work of mobs and rioters. Criticism of Seymour also became +drastic. "He hobnobbed with the copperhead party in Connecticut," said +the <i>Herald</i>, "and lost that election; he endorsed Vallandigham, and +did nothing during the riot but talk. He has let every opportunity +pass and rejected all offers that would prove him the man for the +place. The sooner he is dropped as incompetent, the better it will be +for the ticket."<a name="vol3FNanchor_160_160" id="vol3FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> The <i>Tribune</i> imputed nepotism. "His brother," +it said, "gets $200 per month as agent, a nephew $150 as an officer, +and two nephews and a cousin $1,000 a year each as clerks in the +executive departments."<a name="vol3FNanchor_161_161" id="vol3FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> But Martin I. Townsend, at a great mass +meeting in New York City, presented the crushing indictment against +him. Although the clock had tolled the midnight hour, the large +audience remained to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.81" id="vol3Page_iii.81">iii. 81</a></span> hear Townsend for the same reason, suggested +Edwin D. Morgan, the chairman, that the disciples sat up all night +whenever the great apostle was with them. Townsend was then +fifty-three years old. For more than a decade his rare ability as a +speaker had kept him a favorite, and for a quarter of a century longer +he was destined to delight the people. On this occasion, however, his +arraignment left a deeper and more lasting impression than his words +ordinarily did. "Seymour," he said, "undertook to increase enlistments +by refusing the soldier his political franchise. On the supposition +that Meade would be defeated, he delivered a Fourth of July address +that indicted the free people of the North and placed him in the front +rank of men whom rebels delight to honour. If there was a traitor in +New York City on that day he was in the company of Horatio Seymour. +Finally, he pronounced as 'friends' the men, who, stirred to action by +his incendiary words, applied the torch and the bludgeon in the draft +riot of July 13, 14, and 15."<a name="vol3FNanchor_162_162" id="vol3FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a></p> + +<p>In the four speeches delivered in the campaign, Seymour was never +cleverer or more defiant.<a name="vol3FNanchor_163_163" id="vol3FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> He exhibited great skill in criticising +the Administration, charging that disasters had brought bankruptcy, +that ill-advised acts of subordinates had sapped the liberties of the +people, and that base motives inspired the policy of the Government. +He denounced the Radicals as craven Americans, devoid of patriotic +feeling, who were trying to make the humiliation and degradation of +their country a stepping-stone to continued power. "They say we must +fight until slavery is extinguished. We are to upturn the foundations +of our Constitution. At this very moment, when the fate of the nation +and of individuals trembles in the balance, these madmen ask us to +plunge into a bottomless pit of controversy upon indefinite purposes. +Does not every man know that we<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.82" id="vol3Page_iii.82">iii. 82</a></span> must have a united North to triumph? +Can we get a united North upon a theory that the Constitution can be +set aside at the will of one man, because, forsooth, he judges it to +be a military necessity? I never yet heard that Abraham Lincoln was a +military necessity.... The Vice-President says, 'There are men in your +midst who want the Union as it was and the Constitution as it is,' and +he adds, sneeringly, 'They can't have it.' We will tell him there are +many such men, and we say to him we will have it. There has never been +a sentiment in the North or South put forth more treasonable, +cowardly, and base than this." Referring to the President's call, on +October 17, for 300,000 volunteers, to be followed by a draft if not +promptly filled, he exclaimed: "Again, 600,000 men are called +for—600,000 homes to be entered. The young man will be compelled to +give up the cornerstone of his fortune, which he has laid away with +toil and care, to begin the race of life. The old man will pay that +which he has saved, as the support of his declining years, to rescue +his son. In God's name, let these operations be fair if they must be +cruel." In conclusion he professed undying loyalty. "We love that flag +[pointing to the Stars and Stripes] with the whole love of our life, +and every star that glitters on its blue field is sacred. And we will +preserve the Constitution, we will preserve the Union, we will +preserve our flag with every star upon it, and we will see to it that +there is a State for every star."<a name="vol3FNanchor_164_164" id="vol3FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a></p> + +<p>In their extremity Dean Richmond and Peter Cagger, taking advantage of +the President's call for more troops, issued a circular on the eve of +election, alleging that the State would receive no credit for drafted +men commuted; that towns which had furnished their quotas would be +subject to a new conscription; and that men having commuted were +liable to be immediately drafted again.<a name="vol3FNanchor_165_165" id="vol3FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> This was the prototype of +Burchard's "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion"<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.83" id="vol3Page_iii.83">iii. 83</a></span> in 1884, and might have +become no less disastrous had not the Provost-marshal General quickly +contradicted it. As a parting shot, Seward, speaking at Auburn on the +night before election, declared that if the ballot box could be passed +through the camps of the Confederate soldiers, every man would vote +for the administration of our government by Horatio Seymour and +against the administration of Abraham Lincoln.<a name="vol3FNanchor_166_166" id="vol3FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a></p> + +<p>The October elections foreshadowed the result in November. Although +the Democrats had derived great advantage in 1862 because of their +bold stand for civil liberty and freedom of speech, a year later such +arguments proved of little avail. Gettysburg and Vicksburg had turned +the tide, and Seymour and the draft riot carried it to the flood. +Depew's majority, mounting higher and higher as the returns came +slowly from the interior, turned the Governor's surprise into shame. +In his career of a quarter of a century Seymour had learned to accept +disappointment as well as success, but his failure in 1863 to forecast +the trend of changing public sentiment cost him the opportunity of +ever again leading his party to victory.<a name="vol3FNanchor_167_167" id="vol3FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.84" id="vol3Page_iii.84">iii. 84</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_VII" id="vol3CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h2>STRIFE OF RADICAL AND CONSERVATIVE</h2> + +<h2>1864</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">In</span> his Auburn speech Seward had declared for Lincoln's +renomination.<a name="vol3FNanchor_168_168" id="vol3FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> Proof of the intimate personal relations existing +between the President and his Secretary came into national notice in +1862 when a committee of nine Radical senators, charging to Seward's +conservatism the failure of a vigorous and successful prosecution of +the war, formally demanded his dismissal from the Cabinet. On learning +of their action the Secretary had immediately resigned. "Do you still +think Seward ought to be excused?" asked Lincoln at the end of a long +and stormy interview. Four answered "Yes," three declined to vote, and +Harris of New York said "No."<a name="vol3FNanchor_169_169" id="vol3FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> The result of this conference led +Secretary Chase, the chief of the Radicals, to tender his resignation +also. But the President, "after most anxious consideration," requested +each to resume the duties of his department. Speaking of the matter +afterward to Senator Harris, Lincoln declared with his usual +mirth-provoking illustration: "If I had yielded to that storm and +dismissed Seward, the thing would all have slumped one way. Now I can +ride; I have got a pumpkin in each end of my bag."<a name="vol3FNanchor_170_170" id="vol3FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a></p> + +<p>Other causes than loyalty contributed to the President's regard for +Seward. In their daily companionship the latter<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.85" id="vol3Page_iii.85">iii. 85</a></span> took a genial, +philosophical view of the national struggle, not shared by all his +Cabinet associates, while Lincoln dissipated the gloom with quaint +illustrations of Western life.<a name="vol3FNanchor_171_171" id="vol3FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> At one of these familiar fireside +talks the President expressed the hope that Seward might be his +successor, adding that the friends so grievously disappointed at +Chicago would thus find all made right at last. To this Seward, in his +clear-headed and kind-hearted way, replied: "No, that is all past and +ended. The logic of events requires you to be your own successor. You +were elected in 1860, but the Southern States refused to submit. They +thought the decision made at the polls could be reversed in the field. +They are still in arms, and their hope now is that you and your party +will be voted down at the next election. When that election is held +and they find the people reaffirming their decision to have you +President, I think the rebellion will collapse."<a name="vol3FNanchor_172_172" id="vol3FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a></p> + +<p>Unlike Seward, Thurlow Weed wabbled in his loyalty to the President. +Chafing under the retention of Hiram C. Barney as collector of +customs, Weed thought Lincoln too tolerant of Radicals whose +opposition was ill concealed. "They will all be against him in '64," +he wrote David Davis, then an associate justice of the United States +Supreme Court. "Why does he persist in giving them weapons with which +they may defeat his renomination?"<a name="vol3FNanchor_173_173" id="vol3FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> Barney had become a burden to +Lincoln, who really desired to be rid of him. Many complaints of +irregularity disclosed corrupt practices which warranted a change for +the public good. Besides, said the President, "the establishment was +being run almost exclusively in the interest of the Radicals. I felt +great delicacy in doing anything that might be offensive to my friend. +And yet something had to be done. I told Seward he must find him a +diplomatic position. Just then Chase became aware of my little +conspiracy. He was very angry and told me the day Barney left the +custom<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.86" id="vol3Page_iii.86">iii. 86</a></span> house, with or without his own consent, he would withdraw from +the Treasury. So I backed down."<a name="vol3FNanchor_174_174" id="vol3FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a></p> + +<p>Lincoln's tolerance did not please Weed, whose infrequent calls at the +White House had not escaped notice. "I have been brought to fear +recently," the President wrote with characteristic tenderness, "that +somehow, by commission or omission, I have caused you some degree of +pain. I have never entertained an unkind feeling or a disparaging +thought towards you; and if I have said or done anything which has +been construed into such unkindness or disparagement it has been +misconstrued. I am sure if we could meet we would not part with any +unpleasant impression on either side."<a name="vol3FNanchor_175_175" id="vol3FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> Such a letter from such a +man stirred the heart of the iron-willed boss, who hastened to +Washington. He had much to say. Among other things he unfolded a plan +for peace. It proposed full amnesty to all persons engaged in the war +and an armistice for ninety days, during which time such citizens of +the Confederate States as embrace the offered pardon "shall, as a +State or States, or as citizens thereof, be restored in all respects +to the rights, privileges, and prerogatives which they enjoyed before +their secession from the Union." If, however, such offer is rejected, +the authority of the United States denied, and the war against the +Union continued, the President should partition all territory, whether +farms, villages, or cities, among the officers and soldiers conquering +the same.<a name="vol3FNanchor_176_176" id="vol3FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a></p> + +<p>In presenting this plan Weed argued that if the offer was rejected it +would secure "a united North in favour of war to the knife." Besides, +the armistice, occurring when the season interrupts active army +movements, would cause little delay and give ample time for widespread +circulation of the proclamation. Respecting the division of lands +among soldiers, he said it would stop desertion, avoid the payment of +bounties, and quickly fill the army with enterprising yeomen who would +want homes after the termination of hostili<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.87" id="vol3Page_iii.87">iii. 87</a></span>ties. It had long been +practised in maritime wars by all civilized nations, he said, and +being a part of international law it could not in reason be objected +to, especially as the sufferers would have rejected most liberal +offers of peace and prosperity. Weed frankly admitted that Seward did +not like the scheme, and that Senator Wilson of Massachusetts eyed it +askance; but Stanton approved it, he said, and Dean Richmond +authorised him to say that if fairly carried out the North would be a +unit in support of the war and the rebellion would be crushed within +six months after the expiration of the armistice.<a name="vol3FNanchor_177_177" id="vol3FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a></p> + +<p>In conversation Weed was the most persuasive of men. To a quiet, +gentle, deferential manner, he added a giant's grasp of the subject, +presenting its strong points and marshalling with extraordinary skill +all the details. Nevertheless, the proposition now laid before the +President, leaving slavery as it was, could not be accepted. "The +emancipation proclamation could not be retracted," he had said in his +famous letter to the New York convention, "any more than the dead +could be brought to life." However, Lincoln did not let the famous +editor depart empty-handed. Barney should be removed, and Weed, +satisfied with such a scalp, returned home to enter the campaign for +the President's renomination.<a name="vol3FNanchor_178_178" id="vol3FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a></p> + +<p>Something seemed to be wrong in New York. Other States through +conventions and legislatures had early favored the President's +renomination, while the Empire State moved slowly. Party machinery +worked well. The Union Central Committee, holding a special meeting on +January 4, 1864 at the residence of Edwin D. Morgan, recommended +Lincoln's nomination. "It is going to be difficult to restrain the +boys," said Morgan in a letter to the President, "and there is not +much use in trying to do so."<a name="vol3FNanchor_179_179" id="vol3FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> On February 23 the Republican State +Committee also endorsed him, and several Union League clubs spoke +earnestly of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.88" id="vol3Page_iii.88">iii. 88</a></span> "prudence, sagacity, comprehension, and +perseverance." But the absence of an early State convention, the tardy +selection of delegates to Baltimore, and the failure of the +Legislature to act, did not reveal the enthusiasm evinced in other +Commonwealths. Following the rule adopted elsewhere, resolutions +favourable to the President's renomination were duly presented to the +Assembly, where they remained unacted upon. Suddenly on January 25 a +circular, signed by Simeon Draper and issued by the Conference +Committee of the Union Lincoln Association of New York, proposed that +all citizens of every town and county who favoured Lincoln's +nomination meet in some appropriate place on February 22 and make +public expression to that fact. Among the twenty-five names attached +appeared those of Moses Taylor and Moses H. Grinnell. This was a new +system of tactics. But the legislative resolutions did not advance +because of it.</p> + +<p>A month later a letter addressed by several New Yorkers to the +National Republican Executive Committee requested the postponement of +the Baltimore convention.<a name="vol3FNanchor_180_180" id="vol3FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> "The country is not now in a position +to enter into a presidential contest," it said. "All parties friendly +to the Government should be united in support of a single candidate. +Such unanimity cannot at present be obtained. Upon the result of +measures adopted to finish the war during the present spring and +summer will depend the wish of the people to continue their present +leaders, or to exchange them for others. Besides, whatever will tend +to lessen the duration of an acrimonious Presidential campaign will be +an advantage to the country."<a name="vol3FNanchor_181_181" id="vol3FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> If the sentiment of this letter was +not new, the number and character of its signers produced a profound +sensation. William Cullen Bryant headed the list, and of the +twenty-three names, seventeen were leading State senators, among them +Charles J. Folger and James M. Cook. "This list," said the <i>Tribune</i>, +"contains the names of two-<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.89" id="vol3Page_iii.89">iii. 89</a></span>thirds of the Unionists chosen to our +present State Senate, the absence of others preventing their signing. +We understand that but two senators declined to affix their +name."<a name="vol3FNanchor_182_182" id="vol3FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> Greeley did not sign this letter, but in an earlier +communication to the <i>Independent</i> he had urged a postponement of the +convention.<a name="vol3FNanchor_183_183" id="vol3FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> Moreover, he had indicated in the <i>Tribune</i> that +Chase, Fremont, Butler, or Grant would make as good a President as +Lincoln, while the nomination of either would preserve "the salutary +one-term principle."<a name="vol3FNanchor_184_184" id="vol3FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a></p> + +<p>It is not easy to determine the cause or the full extent of the +dissatisfaction with Lincoln among New York Republicans. Seward's +influence and Weed's relations seriously weakened him. After the +election of 1862 Radicals openly charged them with Wadsworth's defeat. +For the same reason the feeling against Edwin D. Morgan had become +intensely bitter. Seeing a newspaper paragraph that these men had been +in consultation with the President about his message, Senator Chandler +of Michigan, the prince of Radicals, wrote a vehement letter to +Lincoln, telling him of a "patriotic organisation in all the free and +border States, containing to-day over one million of voters, every man +of whom is your friend upon radical measures of your administration; +but there is not a Seward or a Weed man among them all. These men are +a millstone about your neck. You drop them and they are politically +ended forever.... Conservatives and traitors are buried together. For +God's sake don't exhume their remains in your message. They will smell +worse than Lazarus did after he had been buried three days."<a name="vol3FNanchor_185_185" id="vol3FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a></p> + +<p>Although Weed had left the President with the promise of aiding him, +he could accomplish nothing. The Legislature refused to act, demands +for the postponement of the national convention continued to appear, +and men every<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.90" id="vol3Page_iii.90">iii. 90</a></span>where resented conservative leadership. This was +especially true of Greeley and the <i>Tribune</i>, Bryant and the <i>Evening +Post</i>, and Beecher and the <i>Independent</i>, not to mention other +Radicals and radical papers throughout the State, whose opposition +represented a formidable combination. Except for this discontent the +Cleveland convention would scarcely have been summoned into existence. +Of the three calls issued for its assembling two had their birth in +New York, one headed by George B. Cheever, the eminent divine, who had +recently toured England in behalf of the Union,—the other by Lucius +Robinson, State comptroller, and John Cochrane, attorney-general. +Cheever's call denounced "the imbecile and vacillating policy of the +present Administration in the conduct of the war,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_186_186" id="vol3FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> while Robinson +and Cochrane emphasised the need of a President who "can suppress +rebellion without infringing the rights of individual or State."<a name="vol3FNanchor_187_187" id="vol3FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a></p> + +<p>That Weed no longer possessed the wand of a Warwick was clearly +demonstrated at the Republican State convention, held at Syracuse on +May 26, to select delegates to Baltimore. Each faction, led in person +by Greeley and Weed, professed to favour the President's renomination, +but the fierce and bitter contest over the admission of delegates from +New York City widened the breach. The Weed machine, following the +custom of previous years, selected an equal number of delegates from +each ward. The Radicals, who denounced this system as an arbitrary +expression of bossism, chose a delegation representing each ward in +proportion to the number of its Republican voters. The delegation +accepted would control the convention, and although the Radicals +consented to the admission of both on equal terms, the Weed forces, +confident of their strength, refused the compromise. This set the +Radicals to work, and at the morning session, amidst the wildest +confusion and disorder, they elected Lyman Tremaine temporary chairman +by a majority<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.91" id="vol3Page_iii.91">iii. 91</a></span> of six over Chauncey M. Depew, the young secretary of +state, whose popularity had given the Conservatives an abnormal +strength.</p> + +<p>In his speech the Chairman commented upon the death of James S. +Wadsworth, killed in the battle of the Wilderness on May 6, from whose +obsequies, held at Geneseo on the 21st, many delegates had just +returned. Tremaine believed that the soldier's blood would "lie heavy +on the souls of those pretended supporters of the government in its +hour of trial, whose cowardice and treachery contributed to his defeat +for governor."<a name="vol3FNanchor_188_188" id="vol3FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> In such a spirit he eulogised Wadsworth's +character and patriotism, declaring that if justice had been done him +by the Conservatives, he would now, instead of sleeping in his grave, +be governor of New York. Although spoken gently and with emotions of +sadness, these intolerably aggressive sentences, loudly applauded by +the Radicals, stirred the Weed delegates into whispered threats.<a name="vol3FNanchor_189_189" id="vol3FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> +But Tremaine did not rely upon words alone. He packed the committee on +contested seats, whose report, admitting both city delegations on +equal terms, was accepted by the enormous majority of 192 to 98, +revealing the fact that the great body of up-State Republicans +distrusted Thurlow Weed, whose proposition for peace did not include +the abolition of slavery. Other reasons, however, accounted for the +large majority. Tremaine, no longer trusting to the leadership of +Greeley,<a name="vol3FNanchor_190_190" id="vol3FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> marshalled the Radical forces with a skill learned in +the school of Seymour and Dean Richmond, and when his drilled cohorts +went into action the tumultuous<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.92" id="vol3Page_iii.92">iii. 92</a></span> and belligerent character of the +scene resembled the uproar familiar to one who had trained with +Tammany and fought with Mozart Hall. In concluding its work the +convention endorsed the President and selected sixty-six delegates, +headed by Raymond, Dickinson, Tremaine, and Preston King as +delegates-at-large.</p> + +<p>The echo of the Syracuse contest reached the Cleveland convention, +which assembled on May 31. Of all the distinguished New Yorkers whose +names had advertised and given character to this movement John +Cochrane alone attended. Indeed, the picturesque speech of Cochrane, +as chairman, and the vehement letter of Lucius Robinson, advocating +the nomination of Grant, constituted the only attractive feature of +the proceedings. Cochrane and Robinson wanted a party in which they +could feel at home. To Cochrane the Republican party was "a medley of +trading, scurvy politicians, which never represented War +Democrats,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_191_191" id="vol3FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> while Robinson thought the country "had survived, +through three years of war, many bad mistakes of a weak Executive and +Cabinet, simply because the popular mind had been intensely fixed upon +the single purpose of suppressing rebellion."<a name="vol3FNanchor_192_192" id="vol3FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> Both resented the +Administration's infringement of individual rights. "Whoever attacks +them," said Cochrane, "wounds the vital parts of the Republic. Not +even the plea of necessity allows any one to trample upon them."<a name="vol3FNanchor_193_193" id="vol3FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> +The Cleveland convention, however, did not help these statesmen any +more than the nomination of John C. Fremont and John Cochrane, "the +two Johns from New York" as they were called, injured the +President.<a name="vol3FNanchor_194_194" id="vol3FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> When Lincoln heard that instead of the many thousands +expected only three or four hundred attended, he opened his Bible and +read: "And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.93" id="vol3Page_iii.93">iii. 93</a></span> +debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto +him; and he became a captain over them; and there were with him about +four hundred."<a name="vol3FNanchor_195_195" id="vol3FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a></p> + +<p>Lucius Robinson's suggestion that Grant be nominated for President +represented the thought of many New Yorkers prominent in political +circles. "All eyes and hopes now centre on Grant," wrote Thurlow Weed +on April 17. "If he wins in Virginia it will brighten the horizon and +make him President."<a name="vol3FNanchor_196_196" id="vol3FNanchor_196_196"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> The <i>Herald</i> sounded the praises of the +Lieutenant-General in nearly every issue. The <i>Tribune</i> and <i>Times</i> +were equally flattering. Even the <i>World</i> admitted that a skilful +general handled the army.<a name="vol3FNanchor_197_197" id="vol3FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> Other papers throughout the State +expressed similar confidence in his victorious leadership, and with +the hope of changing the sentiment from Lincoln to Grant a great mass +meeting, called ostensibly to express the country's gratitude to the +latter, was held in New York City two days before the meeting of the +National Republican convention. Neither at this time, however, nor at +any other did the movement receive the slightest encouragement from +the hero of Vicksburg, or shake the loyalty of the delegates who +assembled at Baltimore on June 7.</p> + +<p>Henry J. Raymond, evidencing the same wise spirit of compromise +exhibited at Syracuse in 1863, reported the platform. It declared the +maintenance of the Union and the suppression of rebellion by force of +arms to be the highest duty of every citizen; it approved the +determination of the government to enter into no compromise with +rebels; favoured the abolition of slavery by constitutional amendment; +applauded the wisdom, patriotism, and fidelity of the President; +thanked the soldiers, and claimed the full protection<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.94" id="vol3Page_iii.94">iii. 94</a></span> of the laws of +war for coloured troops; encouraged immigration and the early +construction of a railroad to the Pacific coast; pledged the national +faith to keep inviolate the redemption of the public debt; and opposed +the establishment, by foreign military forces, of monarchical +governments in the near vicinity of the United States.<a name="vol3FNanchor_198_198" id="vol3FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> On the +second day every State voted for Lincoln for President.<a name="vol3FNanchor_199_199" id="vol3FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a></p> + +<p>The contest for Vice-President renewed the fight of the New York +factions. An impression had early taken root in the country that a War +Democrat should be selected, and the Radicals of New York, under the +leadership of Lyman Tremaine, quickly designated Daniel S. Dickinson +as the man. Dickinson's acceptability in New England and New Jersey +strengthened his candidacy, while its approval by three or four border +and western States seriously weakened Hamlin. Nevertheless, the New +York Conservatives vigorously opposed him. Their antagonism did not at +first concentrate upon any one candidate. Weed talked of Hamlin and +later of Joseph Holt of Kentucky; Raymond thought Andrew Johnson of +Tennessee the stronger; and Preston King, to the great surprise of the +Radicals, agreed with him. This brought from George William Curtis the +sarcastic remark that a Vice-President from the Empire State would +prevent its having a Cabinet officer. Tremaine declared that a change +in the Cabinet would not be a serious calamity to the country, and +Preston King, who attributed his displacement from the United States +Senate to the Seward influence, did not object to the Secretary's +removal. Thus Raymond's influence gave the doughty War Governor 32 of +New York's 66 votes to 28 for Dickinson and 6 for Hamlin. This +materially aided Johnson's nomination on the first ballot.<a name="vol3FNanchor_200_200" id="vol3FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.95" id="vol3Page_iii.95">iii. 95</a></span></p> +<p>Raymond's power and influence may be said to have climaxed in 1864 at +the Baltimore convention. He became chairman of the New York +delegation, chairman of the committee on resolutions, chairman of the +National Executive Committee, and the principal debater upon the +floor, manifesting a tact in the performance of his manifold duties +that surprised as much as it charmed. But the reason for his ardent +support of Johnson will probably never be certainly known. McClure +declared that he acted in accord with the wishes of Lincoln, who +discreetly favoured and earnestly desired Johnson's nomination. This +view was approved by George Jones, the proprietor of the <i>Times</i> and +Raymond's most intimate friend.<a name="vol3FNanchor_201_201" id="vol3FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> On the other hand, Nicolay +declared that "it was with minds absolutely untrammelled by even any +knowledge of the President's wishes that the convention went about its +work of selecting his associate on the ticket."<a name="vol3FNanchor_202_202" id="vol3FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> In his long and +bitter controversy with Nicolay, however, McClure furnished testimony +indicating that Lincoln whispered his choice and that Raymond +understood it.<a name="vol3FNanchor_203_203" id="vol3FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a></p> + +<p>While Raymond antagonised the radical supporters of Dickinson, +patronage questions were again threatening trouble for the President. +Serious friction had followed the appointment of a General Appraiser +at New York, and when John J. Cisco, the assistant United States +treasurer, tendered his resignation to take effect June 30 (1864), the +President desired to appoint one unobjectionable to Senator Morgan; +but Secretary Chase, regardless of the preferences of others, insisted +upon Maunsell B. Field, then an assistant secretary of the treasury. +Morgan vigorously protested, regarding him incompetent to fill such a +place. Besides, the designation of Field, who had no political backing +in New York, would, he said, offend the conservative wing of the +party, which had been entirely ignored in the past.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.96" id="vol3Page_iii.96">iii. 96</a></span> As a compromise +the Senator begged the President to select Richard M. Blatchford, +Dudley S. Gregory, or Thomas Hillhouse, whom he regarded as three of +the most eminent citizens of New York.</p> + +<p>Lincoln, in a note to the Secretary, submitted these names. "It will +really oblige me," he wrote, "if you will make choice among these +three, or any other men that Senators Morgan and Harris will be +satisfied with."<a name="vol3FNanchor_204_204" id="vol3FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> This brief letter was followed on the same day +by one presenting the annoyance to which patronage subjects a +President. Happily civil service reform has removed much of this evil, +but enough remains to keep an Executive, if not members of Congress, +in hot water. "As the proverb goes," wrote Lincoln, "no man knows so +well where the shoe pinches as he who wears it. I do not think Mr. +Field a very proper man for the place, but I would trust your judgment +and forego this were the greater difficulty out of the way. Much as I +personally like Mr. Barney it has been a great burden to me to retain +him in his place when nearly all our friends in New York were directly +or indirectly urging his removal. Then the appointment of Judge +Hogeboom to be general appraiser brought me to the verge of open +revolt. Now the appointment of Mr. Field would precipitate me in it, +unless Senator Morgan and those feeling as he does could be brought to +concur in it. Strained as I already am at this point, I do not think I +can make this appointment in the direction of still greater +strain."<a name="vol3FNanchor_205_205" id="vol3FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a></p> + +<p>Chase had relieved the tension temporarily by inducing Cisco to +withdraw his resignation, but after getting the President's second +letter, cleverly intimating that Field's appointment might necessitate +the removal of Barney, the Secretary promptly tendered his +resignation. If the President was surprised, the Secretary, after +reading Lincoln's reply, was not less so. "Your resignation of the +office of secretary of the treasury, sent me yesterday, is accepted," +said the brief note. "Of all I have said in commendation<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.97" id="vol3Page_iii.97">iii. 97</a></span> of your +ability and fidelity I have nothing to unsay, and yet you and I have +reached a point of mutual embarrassment in our official relation which +it seems cannot be overcome or longer sustained consistently with the +public service."<a name="vol3FNanchor_206_206" id="vol3FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> Secretary Blaine's hasty resignation in 1892, +and President Harrison's quick acceptance of it, were not more +dramatic, except that Blaine's was tendered on the eve of a national +nominating convention. It is more than doubtful if Chase intended to +resign. He meant it to be as in previous years the beginning of a +correspondence, expecting to receive from the President a soothing +letter with concessions. But Lincoln's stock of patience, if not of +sedatives, was exhausted.</p> + +<p>A few weeks later, after William Pitt Fessenden's appointment to +succeed Chase, Simeon Draper became collector of customs. He was one +of Weed's oldest friends and in 1858 had been his first choice for +governor.<a name="vol3FNanchor_207_207" id="vol3FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> But just now Abraham Wakeman was his first choice for +collector. Possibly in selecting Draper instead of Wakeman, Lincoln +remembered Weed's failure to secure a legislative endorsement of his +renomination, a work specially assigned to him. At all events the +anti-Weed faction accepted Draper as a decided triumph.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.98" id="vol3Page_iii.98">iii. 98</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_VIII" id="vol3CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h2>SEYMOUR’S PRESIDENTIAL FEVER</h2> + +<h2>1864</h2> + + +<p><br />"<span class="smcap">I shall</span> not attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation +Proclamation," said the President at the opening of Congress in +December, 1863; "nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free +by the terms of that proclamation, or by any of the acts of Congress." +But in submitting a plan for the restoration of the Confederate States +he offered amnesty, with rights of property except as to slaves, to +all persons<a name="vol3FNanchor_208_208" id="vol3FNanchor_208_208"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> who agreed to obey the Constitution, the laws, and +the Executive proclamations, and proposed that whenever such persons +numbered one-tenth of the qualified voters of a State they "shall be +recognized as the true government of such State."<a name="vol3FNanchor_209_209" id="vol3FNanchor_209_209"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> A week later +the Thirteenth Amendment, forever abolishing slavery, was introduced +into Congress. Thus the purpose of the radical Republicans became +plain.</p> + +<p>In January, 1864, Governor Seymour, then the acknowledged head of his +party, made his message to the Legislature a manifesto to the +Democrats of the country. With measured rhetoric he traced the +usurpations of the President and the acknowledged policy that was in +future to guide the Administration. He courageously admitted that a +majority of the people and both branches of Congress sustained the +policy of the President, but such a policy, he declared, subordinating +the laws, the courts, and the people themselves to military power, +destroyed the rights of States and abrogated cherished principles of +government. The past, how<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.99" id="vol3Page_iii.99">iii. 99</a></span>ever, with its enormous debt, its +depreciated currency, its suspension of the writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>, +and its abolition of free speech and a free press, did not mean such +irretrievable ruin as the national bankruptcy which now threatened to +overwhelm the nation. "The problem with which we have to grapple is," +he said, "how can we bring this war to a conclusion before such +disasters overwhelm us." Two antagonistic theories, he continued, are +now before us—one, consecrating the energies of war and the policy of +government to the restoration of the Union as it was and the +Constitution as it is; the other, preventing by the creation of a new +political system the return of the revolted States, though willing to +lay down their arms. This alternative will enable an administration to +perpetuate its power. It is a doctrine of national bankruptcy and +national ruin; it is a measure for continued military despotism over +one-third of our country, which will be the basis for military +despotism over the whole land.</p> + +<p>Every measure to convert the war against armed rebellion into one +against private property and personal rights at the South, he +continued, has been accompanied by claims to exercise military power +in the North. The proclamation of emancipation at the South, and the +suspension of the writ of <i>habeas corpus</i> at the North; the +confiscation of private property in the seceding States, and the +arbitrary arrests, imprisonment, and banishment of the citizens of +loyal States; the claim to destroy political organization at the +South, and the armed interference by Government in local elections at +the North, have been contemporaneous events. We now find that as the +strength of rebellion is broken, new claims to arbitrary power are put +forth. More prerogatives are asserted in the hour of triumph than were +claimed in days of disaster. The war is not to be brought to an end by +the submission of States to the Constitution and their return to the +Union, but to be prolonged until the South is subjugated and accepts +such terms as may be dictated. This theory designs a sweeping +revolution and the creation of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.100" id="vol3Page_iii.100">iii. 100</a></span> new political system. There is but +one course, he concluded, which will now save us from such national +ruin—we must use every influence of wise statesmanship to bring back +the States which now reject their constitutional obligations. The +triumphs won by the soldiers in the field should be followed up by the +peacemaking policy of the statesmen in the Cabinet. In no other way +can we save our Union.<a name="vol3FNanchor_210_210" id="vol3FNanchor_210_210"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a></p> + +<p>Seymour's claims and portents were in amazing contrast to his proposed +measures of safety. Nevertheless he did his work well. It was his +intention clearly to develop the ultimate tendencies of the war, and, +in a paper of great power and interest, without invective or acerbity, +he did not hesitate to alarm the people respecting the jeopardy of +their own liberties. Indeed, his message had the twofold purpose of +drawing the line distinctly between Administration and +anti-Administration forces, and of concentrating public attention upon +himself as a suitable candidate for President.<a name="vol3FNanchor_211_211" id="vol3FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> Seymour was never +without ambition, for he loved politics and public affairs, and the +Presidency captivated him. With deepest interest he watched the play +at Charleston and at Baltimore in 1860, and had the nomination come to +him, Lincoln's election, depending as it did upon New York, must have +given Republicans increased solicitude. Developments during the war +had stimulated this ambition. The cost of blood and treasure, blended +with arbitrary measures deemed necessary by the Government, pained and +finally exasperated him until he longed to possess the power of an +Executive to make peace. He believed that a compromise, presented in a +spirit of patriotic clemency, with slavery undisturbed, would quickly +terminate hostilities, and although he made the mistake of surrounding +himself with men whose influence sometimes betrayed him into weak and +extreme positions, his ability to present his views in a scholarly and +patriotic manner, backed by a graceful and gracious bearing, kept him +in close touch with a party<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.101" id="vol3Page_iii.101">iii. 101</a></span> that resented methods which made peace +dependent upon the abolition of slavery. He never provoked the +criticism of those whom he led, nor indulged in levity and flippancy. +But he was unsparing in his lectures to the Administration, +admonishing it to adopt the principles of government which prevailed +when happiness and peace characterised the country's condition, and +prophesying the ruin of the Union unless it took his advice. While, +therefore, his eulogy of the flag, the soldiers, the Union, and the +sacrifices of the people won him reputation for patriotic +conservatism, his condemnation of the Government brought him credit +for supporting and promoting all manner of disturbing factions and +revolutionary movements.</p> + +<p>The Regency understood the Governor's ambition, and the Democratic +State convention, assembling at Albany on February 24 to designate +delegates to Chicago, opened the way for him as widely as possible. It +promulgated no issues; it mentioned no candidate; it refused to accept +Fernando Wood and his brother as delegates because of their pronounced +advocacy of a dishonourable peace; and it placed Seymour at the head +of a strong delegation, backed by Dean Richmond and August Belmont, +and controlled by the unit rule. It was a remarkable coincidence, too, +that the New York <i>Herald</i>, which had pursued the Governor for more +than a year with bitter criticism, suddenly lapsed into silence. +Indeed, the only shadow falling upon his pathway in the Empire State +reflected the temporary anger of Tammany, which seceded from the +convention because the McKeon delegation, an insignificant coterie of +advocates of peace-on-any-conditions, had been admitted on terms of +equality.</p> + +<p>As the summer advanced political conditions seemed to favour Seymour. +During the gloomy days of July and August the people prayed for a +cessation of hostilities. "The mercantile classes are longing for +peace," wrote James Russell Lowell,<a name="vol3FNanchor_212_212" id="vol3FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> and Horace Greeley, in a +letter of perfervid<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.102" id="vol3Page_iii.102">iii. 102</a></span> vehemence, pictured to the President the unhappy +condition. "Our bleeding, bankrupt, almost dying country," he said, +"longs for peace, shudders at the prospect of fresh conscriptions, or +further wholesale devastations, and of new rivers of human +blood."<a name="vol3FNanchor_213_213" id="vol3FNanchor_213_213"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> The President, also yearning for peace and willing to +accept almost any proposition if it included the abolition of slavery, +waited for a communication from some agent of the Confederacy +authorised to treat with him; but such an one had not appeared, +although several persons, safely sheltered in Canada, claimed +authority. One of these, calling himself William C. Jewett of +Colorado, finally convinced Horace Greeley that Clement C. Clay of +Alabama and Jacob Thompson of Mississippi, two ambassadors of +Jefferson Davis, were ready at Niagara Falls to meet the President +whenever protection was afforded them. Upon being informed by Greeley +of their presence, Lincoln replied (July 9): "If you can find any +person, anywhere, professing to have any proposition of Jefferson +Davis in writing for peace, embracing the restoration of the Union and +abandonment of slavery, whatever else it embraces, say to him he may +come to me with you."<a name="vol3FNanchor_214_214" id="vol3FNanchor_214_214"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a></p> + +<p>While Greeley, hesitating to undertake the mission himself, indulged +in further correspondence with the President, James P. Jaquess, a +Methodist clergyman and colonel of an Illinois regiment, with the +knowledge of Lincoln, but without official authority except to pass +the Union lines, obtained (July 17) an audience with Jefferson Davis, +to whom he made overtures of peace. In the interview Davis declared +that "we are not fighting for slavery. We are fighting for +independence, and that or extermination we will have. We will be free. +We will govern ourselves. We will do it if we have to see every +Southern plantation sacked and every Southern city in flames.... Say +to Mr. Lincoln from me that I shall at any time be pleased to receive +proposals for peace on the basis of our independence. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.103" id="vol3Page_iii.103">iii. 103</a></span> will be +useless to approach me with any other."<a name="vol3FNanchor_215_215" id="vol3FNanchor_215_215"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> It is known now that +Jaquess' report was substantially correct, but at the time the peace +advocate defiantly challenged its truth and the conservative was +incredulous.</p> + +<p>Meantime Greeley (July 16) proceeded to Niagara Falls. Thompson was +not there and Clay had no authority to act. When the famous editor +asked fresh instructions Lincoln sent John Hay, his private secretary, +with the historic paper of July 18, which stopped further +negotiations.<a name="vol3FNanchor_216_216" id="vol3FNanchor_216_216"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> In this well-meant effort the President desired to +convince his own party of the hopelessness of any satisfactory peace +until the surrender of Lee's and Johnston's armies; but to the people, +grieved by the death of loved ones, or oppressed by constant anxiety, +his brief ultimatum seemed maladroit, while the men who favoured peace +simply on condition of the restoration of the Union, without the +abolition of slavery, resented his course as arbitrary and needlessly +cruel.</p> + +<p>Lincoln's unpopularity touched bottom at this moment. The +dissatisfaction found expression in a secret call for a second +national convention, to be held at Cincinnati on September 28, to +nominate, if necessary, a new candidate for President.<a name="vol3FNanchor_217_217" id="vol3FNanchor_217_217"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a> This +movement, vigorously promoted in Ohio<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.104" id="vol3Page_iii.104">iii. 104</a></span> by Salmon P. Chase, received +cordial support in New York City. George Opdyke directed it, Horace +Greeley heartily endorsed it, Daniel S. Dickinson favoured it, and +Lucius Robinson and David Dudley Field sympathised with it.<a name="vol3FNanchor_218_218" id="vol3FNanchor_218_218"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> Parke +Godwin and William Curtis Noyes, if unwilling to go as far as Opdyke +and Greeley, would have welcomed Lincoln's withdrawal.<a name="vol3FNanchor_219_219" id="vol3FNanchor_219_219"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> Roscoe +Conkling, being advised of the scheme, promptly rejected it. "I do not +approve of the call or of the movement," he wrote, "and cannot sign +it. For that reason it would not be proper or agreeable that I should +be present at the conference you speak of."<a name="vol3FNanchor_220_220" id="vol3FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a></p> + +<p>It is doubtful if Lincoln knew of this conspiracy, but his friends +informed him of the critical condition of affairs. "When, ten days +ago, I told Mr. Lincoln that his re-election was an impossibility," +Weed wrote Seward on August<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.105" id="vol3Page_iii.105">iii. 105</a></span> 22, "I told him the information would +also come through other channels. It has doubtless reached him ere +this. At any rate nobody here doubts it, nor do I see anybody from +other States who authorises the slightest hope of success. The people +are wild for peace. They are told the President will only listen to +terms of peace on condition that slavery be abandoned."<a name="vol3FNanchor_221_221" id="vol3FNanchor_221_221"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> Weed's +"other channels" meant a report from the Republican National Executive +Committee, which Raymond, then its chairman, submitted to Lincoln on +August 22. "The tide is setting strongly against us," he wrote. "Hon. +E.B. Washburn writes that 'were an election to be held now in Illinois +we should be beaten.' Mr. Cameron says that Pennsylvania is against +us. Governor Morton writes that nothing but the most strenuous efforts +can carry Indiana. This State, according to the best information I can +get, would go 50,000 against us to-morrow. And so of the rest. Two +special causes are assigned for this great reaction in public +sentiment—the want of military successes, and the impression in some +minds, the fear and suspicion in others, that we are not to have peace +in any event under this Administration until slavery is abandoned. In +some way or other the suspicion is widely diffused that we can have +peace with Union if we would. It is idle to reason with this +belief—still more idle to denounce it. It can only be expelled by +some authoritative act at once bold enough to fix attention, and +distinct enough to defy incredulity and challenge respect."<a name="vol3FNanchor_222_222" id="vol3FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a></p> + +<p>In December, 1860, in the presence of threatened war Lincoln refused +to yield to a compromise that would extend slavery into free +territory; now, in the presence of failure at the polls, he insisted +upon a peace that would abolish slavery. In 1860 he was flushed with +victory; in 1864 he was depressed by the absence of military +achievement. But he did not weaken. He telegraphed Grant to "hold on +with a bulldog grip, <i>and chew and choke as much as possible</i>,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_223_223" id="vol3FNanchor_223_223"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.106" id="vol3Page_iii.106">iii. 106</a></span> then, in the silence of early morning, with Raymond's starless +letter on the table before him, he showed how coolly and magnanimously +a determined patriot could face political overthrow. "This morning, as +for some days past," he wrote, "it seems exceedingly probable that +this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to +so coöperate with the President-elect as to save the Union between the +election and the inauguration, as he will have secured his election on +such ground that he cannot possibly save it afterwards."<a name="vol3FNanchor_224_224" id="vol3FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a></p> + +<p>The influence of this popular discouragement exhibited itself in a +mass peace convention, called by Fernando Wood and held at Syracuse on +August 18. Its great attraction was Clement L. Vallandigham of Ohio, +its platform favoured an armistice and a convention of States, and its +purpose was the selection of a delegation to Chicago, which should +adequately represent the peace faction of the State. The absence of +military achievement and the loud cries for peace, it was claimed, had +changed the conditions since the adjournment of the Democratic State +convention in February, and the necessity for a third party was +conceded should the existing peace sentiment be ignored in the +formulation of a platform and the selection of candidates at Chicago. +Although the assembly indicated no preference for President, its known +partiality for Seymour added to its strength. Through the manipulation +of Richmond and the Regency, Wood failed to secure the appointment of +delegates, but he claimed, with much show of truth, that the meeting +represented the sentiment of a great majority of the party. Wood had +become intolerable to Dean Richmond and the conservative Democracy, +whose withering opposition to his candidacy for the United States +Senate in the preceding February had made him ridiculous; but he could +not be muzzled, and although his influence rarely disturbed the party +in the up-State counties, he was destined<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.107" id="vol3Page_iii.107">iii. 107</a></span> to continue in Congress the +rest of his life, which ended in 1881.</p> + +<p>The Democratic national convention had been called for July 4, but the +popular depression, promising greater advantage later in the summer, +led to its postponement until August 29. Thus it convened when gloom +and despondency filled the land, making Horatio Seymour's journey to +Chicago an ovation. At every stop, especially at Detroit, crowds, +cheers, speeches, and salvos of firearms greeted him. The convention +city recognised him as its most distinguished visitor, and the +opponents of a war policy, voicing the party's sentiment for peace, +publicly proclaimed him their favourite.</p> + +<p>Before Seymour left Albany the <i>Argus</i> announced that he would not be +a candidate;<a name="vol3FNanchor_225_225" id="vol3FNanchor_225_225"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> but now, flattered by attention, and encouraged by +the peace-faction's strategic movement, he declined to indicate his +position. Political conditions had made a profound impression upon +him. Moreover, deep in his heart Seymour did not fancy McClellan. His +public life had been brief, and his accomplishment little either as a +soldier or civilian. Besides, his arrest of the Maryland Legislature, +and his indifference to the sacredness of the writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>, +classing him among those whom the Governor had bitterly denounced, +tended to destroy the latter's strongest argument against the Lincoln +administration.</p> + +<p>Dean Richmond, now a vigorous supporter of McClellan, could not be +confused as to the General's strength or the Governor's weakness, and +he attempted at an early hour to silence the appeal for Seymour by +solidifying the New York delegation for McClellan; but in these +efforts he found<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.108" id="vol3Page_iii.108">iii. 108</a></span> it difficult to subdue the personal independence and +outspoken ways of the Governor, whose opposition to McClellan was more +than a passing cloud-shadow.<a name="vol3FNanchor_226_226" id="vol3FNanchor_226_226"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> This delayed matters. So long as a +ray of hope existed for the favourite son, the New York delegation +declined to be forced into an attitude of opposition. Indeed, the day +before the convention opened, it refused, by a vote of 38 to 23, to +ascertain its choice for President. When, at last, it became +definitely known that McClellan had a majority of each State +delegation, practically assuring his nomination under the two-thirds +rule on the first ballot, Seymour put an end to the talk of his +candidacy. Nevertheless, his vote, dividing the New York delegation, +was cast for Samuel Nelson, the distinguished jurist who had succeeded +Smith Thompson as an associate justice of the United States Supreme +Court. Other anti-McClellan New York delegates preferred Charles +O'Conor and James Guthrie of Kentucky. Subsequently, in explaining his +action, Seymour disclaimed any doubt of the ability or patriotism of +the late commander of the Army of the Potomac.<a name="vol3FNanchor_227_227" id="vol3FNanchor_227_227"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_227_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a></p> + +<p>The New York delegation had as usual a strong if not a controlling +influence in the convention. Dean Richmond who led it at Charleston +and Baltimore again guided its counsels, while the presence of John +Ganson and Albert P. Laning of Buffalo, and Francis Kernan of Utica, +added to its forcefulness upon the floor. Next to Seymour, however, +its most potent member for intellectual combat was Samuel J. Tilden, +who served upon the committee on resolutions. Tilden, then fifty years +old, was without any special charm of person or grace of manner. He +looked like an invalid. His voice was feeble, his speech neither +fluent nor eloquent, and sometimes he gave the impression of +indecision. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.109" id="vol3Page_iii.109">iii. 109</a></span> his logic was irresistible, his statements +exhaustive, and his ability as a negotiator marvellous and unequalled. +He was the strong man of the committee, and his presence came very +near making New York the dominant factor in the convention.</p> + +<p>Tilden's sympathies leaned toward the South. He resented the formation +of the Republican party,<a name="vol3FNanchor_228_228" id="vol3FNanchor_228_228"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_228_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a> maintained that a State could repel +coercion as a nation might repel invasion,<a name="vol3FNanchor_229_229" id="vol3FNanchor_229_229"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_229_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a> declared at the +Tweddle Hall meeting in January, 1861, that he "would resist the use +of force to coerce the South into the Union,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_230_230" id="vol3FNanchor_230_230"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_230_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> and declined to +sign the call for the patriotic uprising of the people in Union Square +on April 20.<a name="vol3FNanchor_231_231" id="vol3FNanchor_231_231"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_231_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a> On the other hand, he addressed departing regiments, +gave money, and in 1862 wrote: "Within the Union we will give you [the +South] the Constitution you profess to revere, renewed with fresh +guarantees of equal rights and equal safety. We will give you +everything that local self-government demands; everything that a +common ancestory of glory—everything that national fraternity or +Christian fellowship requires; but to dissolve the federal bond +between these States, to dismember our country, whoever else consents, +we will not. No; never, never never!"<a name="vol3FNanchor_232_232" id="vol3FNanchor_232_232"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_232_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a> Yet in February, 1863, in +opposition to the Loyal Publication Society, he assisted in organising +a local society which published and distributed "Copperhead" +literature.<a name="vol3FNanchor_233_233" id="vol3FNanchor_233_233"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_233_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> He had not, however, been active in politics since +his defeat for attorney-general in 1855. It was during these years +that he began the accumulation of his large fortune. He acquired +easily. He seemed to know intuitively when to buy and when to sell, +and he profited by the rare opportunities offered during<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.110" id="vol3Page_iii.110">iii. 110</a></span> the great +depreciation in government bonds. Later, he dealt in railroads, his +private gains being so enormous that men thought his ambition for +wealth unscrupulously selfish.</p> + +<p>But whatever may have been his sentiments respecting the war, Tilden +had little liking for Vallandigham in 1864, and after a bitter contest +finally defeated him for chairman of the committee on resolutions by a +vote of thirteen to eleven in favour of James Guthrie of Kentucky. He +also defeated a measure introduced by Washington Hunt suggesting an +armistice and a convention of States, and supported a positive +declaration that he thought sufficient to hold the war vote. However, +the dread of a split, such as had occurred at Charleston and Baltimore +in 1860, possessed the committee, and in the confusion of the last +moment, by a slight majority, the pivotal declaration pronouncing the +war a failure was accepted.<a name="vol3FNanchor_234_234" id="vol3FNanchor_234_234"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_234_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a></p> + +<p>Seymour's election as permanent chairman of the convention gave him +abundant opportunity to proclaim his abhorrence of the Administration. +His speech, prepared with unusual care, showed the measured dignity +and restraint of a trained orator, who knew how to please a popular +audience with a glowing denunciation of principles it detested. Every +appeal was vivid and dramatic; every allusion told. Throughout the +whole ran the thread of one distinct proposition,—that the Republican +party had sinned away its day<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.111" id="vol3Page_iii.111">iii. 111</a></span> of grace, and that the patriotic work +of the Democratic party must begin at once if the Union was to be +saved. To Seymour it was not a new proposition. He had stated it in +the last campaign and reiterated it in his latest message; but never +before did he impress it by such striking sentences as now fell upon +the ears of a delighted convention. "Even now, when war has desolated +our land," he said, "has laid its heavy burdens upon labor, when +bankruptcy and ruin overhang us, this Administration will not have +Union except upon conditions unknown to our Constitution; it will not +allow the shedding of blood to cease, even for a little time, to see +if Christian charity or the wisdom of statesmanship may not work out a +method to save our country. Nay, more than this, it will not listen to +a proposal for peace which does not offer that which this government +has no right to ask. This Administration cannot now save this Union, +if it would. It has, by its proclamations, by vindictive legislation, +by displays of hate and passion, placed obstacles in its own pathway +which it cannot overcome, and has hampered its own freedom of action +by unconstitutional acts. The bigotry of fanatics and the intrigues of +placemen have made the bloody pages of the history of the past three +years."</p> + +<p>It was impossible not to be impressed by such an impassioned lament. +There was also much in Seymour himself as well as in his words to +attract the attention of the convention.<a name="vol3FNanchor_235_235" id="vol3FNanchor_235_235"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_235_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a> Added years gave him a +more stately, almost a picturesque bearing, while a strikingly +intelligent face changed its expression with the ease and swiftness of +an actor's. This was never more apparent than now, when he turned, +abruptly, from the alleged sins of Republicans to the alleged virtues +of Democrats. Relaxing its severity, his counte<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.112" id="vol3Page_iii.112">iii. 112</a></span>nance wore a +triumphant smile as he declared in a higher and more resonant key, +that "if this Administration cannot save the Union, <i>we can</i>! Mr. +Lincoln values many things above the Union; we put it first of all. He +thinks a proclamation worth more than peace; we think the blood of our +people more precious than the edicts of the President. There are no +hindrances in our pathway to Union and to peace. We demand no +conditions for the restoration of our Union; we are shackled with no +hates, no prejudices, no passions. We wish for fraternal relationships +with the people of the South. We demand for them what we demand for +ourselves—the full recognition of the rights of States. We mean that +every star on our Nation's banner shall shine with an equal +lustre."<a name="vol3FNanchor_236_236" id="vol3FNanchor_236_236"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_236_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a> As the speaker concluded, the audience, with deafening +applause, testified its approval of these sentiments. Yet one wonders +that he could end without saying a word, at least, in condemnation of +the Secessionists, whose appeal from the ballot to the bullet had +inaugurated "the bloody pages of the history of the past three years."</p> + +<p>The platform, adopted without debate, reaffirmed devotion to the +Union, expressed sympathy with soldiers and prisoners of war, +denounced interference in military elections, and stigmatised alleged +illegal and arbitrary acts of the government. The second resolution, +prepared by Vallandigham, declared that "this convention does +explicitly resolve as the sense of the American people, that after +four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war, +justice, humanity, liberty, and the public welfare demand that +immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities, with a view +to an ultimate convention of the States, or other peaceable means, to +the end that the earliest practicable moment peace may be restored on +the basis of the Federal Union of the States."<a name="vol3FNanchor_237_237" id="vol3FNanchor_237_237"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_237_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.113" id="vol3Page_iii.113">iii. 113</a></span></p> +<p>It is difficult to excuse Tilden's silence when this fatal resolution +was adopted. In the final haste to report the platform, the deep +significance of Vallandigham's words may not have been fully +appreciated by the Committee;<a name="vol3FNanchor_238_238" id="vol3FNanchor_238_238"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_238_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> but Tilden understood their +meaning, and vigorous opposition might have avoided them.<a name="vol3FNanchor_239_239" id="vol3FNanchor_239_239"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_239_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> He +seems, however, to have shared the fear of McClellan's friends that +the defeat of the resolution would endanger the integrity of the +convention, and to have indulged the hope that McClellan's letter of +acceptance would prove an antidote to the Ohioan's peace-poison. But +his inaction did little credit either to his discernment or judgment, +for the first ballot for President disclosed the groundlessness of his +timidity,<a name="vol3FNanchor_240_240" id="vol3FNanchor_240_240"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_240_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a> and the first work of the campaign revealed the +inefficiency of the candidate's statements.<a name="vol3FNanchor_241_241" id="vol3FNanchor_241_241"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_241_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a> Indeed, so grievous +was Tilden's mistake that his distinguished biographer (Bigelow) +avoided<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.114" id="vol3Page_iii.114">iii. 114</a></span> his responsibility for declaring the war a failure by +ignoring his presence at Chicago.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the cheers for McClellan that greeted the returning +delegates were mingled with those of the country over Sherman's +capture of Atlanta and Farragut's destruction of the Mobile forts.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.115" id="vol3Page_iii.115">iii. 115</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_IX" id="vol3CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h2>FENTON DEFEATS SEYMOUR</h2> + +<h2>1864</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> brilliant victories of Sherman and Farragut had an appreciable +effect upon Republicans. It brought strong hope of political success, +and made delegates to the Syracuse convention (September 7) very +plucky. Weed sought to control, but the Radicals, in the words of +Burke's famous sentence, were lords of the ascendant. They proposed to +nominate Reuben E. Fenton, and although the Chautauquan's popularity +and freedom from the prejudices of Albany politics commended him to +the better judgment of all Republicans, the followers of Greeley +refused to consult the Conservatives respecting him or any part of the +ticket. Resenting such treatment Weed indicated an inclination to +secede, and except that his regard for Fenton steadied him the +historic bolt of the Silver Grays might have been repeated.<a name="vol3FNanchor_242_242" id="vol3FNanchor_242_242"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_242_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a></p> + +<p>Fenton was a well-to-do business man, without oratorical gifts or +statesmanlike qualities, but with a surpassing genius for public life. +He quickly discerned the drift of public sentiment and had seldom made +a glaring mistake. He knew, also, how to enlist other men in his +service and attach them to his fortunes. During his ten years in +Congress he developed a faculty for organisation, being able to +coördinate all his resources and to bring them into their place in the +accomplishment of his purposes. This was conspicuously illustrated in +the Thirty-seventh Congress when he formed a combination that made +Galusha A. Grow speaker of the House. Besides, by careful attention to +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.116" id="vol3Page_iii.116">iii. 116</a></span> wants of constituents and to the work of the House, backed by the +shrewdness of a typical politician who rarely makes an enemy, he was +recognised as a sagacious counsellor and safe leader. He had +previously been mentioned for governor, and in the preceding winter +Theodore M. Pomeroy, then representing the Auburn district in +Congress, presented him for speaker.<a name="vol3FNanchor_243_243" id="vol3FNanchor_243_243"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_243_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a> Schuyler Colfax controlled +the caucus, but the compliment expressed the esteem of Fenton's +colleagues.</p> + +<p>He was singularly striking and attractive in person, tall, erect, and +graceful in figure, with regular features and wavy hair slightly +tinged with gray. His sloping forehead, full at the eyebrows, +indicated keen perceptive powers. He was suave in address, so suave, +indeed, that his enemies often charged him with insincerity and even +duplicity, but his gracious manner, exhibited to the plainest woman +and most trifling man, won the hearts of the people as quickly as his +political favours recruited the large and devoted following that +remained steadfast to the end. Perhaps no one in his party presented a +stronger running record. He belonged to the Barnburners, he presided +at the birth of the Republican party, he stood for a vigorous +prosecution of the war regardless of the fate of slavery, and he had +avoided the Weed-Greeley quarrels. If he was not a statesman, he at +least possessed the needed qualities to head the State ticket.</p> + +<p>As usual John A. Dix's name came before the convention. It was well +known that party nomenclature did not represent his views, but his +admirers, profoundly impressed with his sterling integrity and weight +of character, insisted, amidst the loudest cheering of the day, that +his name be presented. Nevertheless, an informal ballot quickly +disclosed that Fenton was the choice, and on motion of Elbridge G. +Lapham the nomination became unanimous.<a name="vol3FNanchor_244_244" id="vol3FNanchor_244_244"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_244_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.117" id="vol3Page_iii.117">iii. 117</a></span> Other nominations fell +to the Radicals.<a name="vol3FNanchor_245_245" id="vol3FNanchor_245_245"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_245_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> Not until Greeley was about to capture first +place as a presidential elector-at-large, however, did the +Conservatives fully realise how badly they were being punished. Then +every expedient known to diplomacy was exhausted. Afternoon shaded +into evening and evening into night. Still the contest continued. It +seems never to have occurred to the Weed faction that Horace Greeley, +whom it had so often defeated, could be given an office, even though +its duties covered but a single day, and in its desperation it +discovered a willingness to compromise on any other name. But +Greeley's friends forced the fight, and to their great joy won a most +decisive victory.<a name="vol3FNanchor_246_246" id="vol3FNanchor_246_246"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_246_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a></p> + +<p>While the Weed men were nursing their resentment because of the honour +thus suddenly thrust upon the most famous American editor,<a name="vol3FNanchor_247_247" id="vol3FNanchor_247_247"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_247_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> a +great surprise convulsed the Democratic State convention.<a name="vol3FNanchor_248_248" id="vol3FNanchor_248_248"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_248_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a> The +report that Horatio Seymour sought release from official labours +because of ill health and the demands of private business, created the +belief that he would decline a renomination even if tendered by +acclamation. Indeed, the Governor himself, in conversation with Dean +Richmond, reiterated his oft-expressed determination not to accept. +The Regency, believing him sincere, agreed upon William F. Allen of +Oswego, although other candidates, notably William Kelly of Dutchess, +the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.118" id="vol3Page_iii.118">iii. 118</a></span> nominee of the Softs in 1860, and Amasa J. Parker of Albany, were +mentioned. Lucius Robinson, declining to be considered for second +place, urged the nomination of Dix for governor. Of these candidates +Seymour was quoted as favourable to Parker. Still a feeling of unrest +disturbed the hotel lobbies. "There is some talk," said the <i>Herald</i>, +"of giving Seymour a complimentary vote, with the understanding that +he will then decline, but this is opposed as a trick to place him in +the field again, although those who pretend to speak for him +positively declare that he will not accept the nomination upon any +contingency."<a name="vol3FNanchor_249_249" id="vol3FNanchor_249_249"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_249_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> When told on convention morning that Seymour would +accept if nominated by acclamation, Richmond ridiculed the idea. His +incredulity was strengthened by the statement of two Oneida delegates, +whom the Governor, only a few moments before, had instructed to +withdraw his name if presented. Thus matters stood until the +convention, having enthusiastically applauded an indorsement of +Seymour's administration, quickly and by acclamation carried a motion +for his renomination, the delegates jumping to their feet and giving +cheer after cheer. Immediately a delegate, rising to a question of +privilege, stated that the Governor, in the hearing of gentlemen from +his own county, had positively declined to accept a nomination because +his health and the state of his private affairs forbade it. As this +did not satisfy the delegates, a committee, appointed to notify +Seymour of his selection, reported that the Governor whose temporary +illness prevented his attendance upon the convention, had had much to +say about private affairs, ill health, and excessive labour, but that +since the delegates insisted upon his renomination, he acquiesced in +their choice.<a name="vol3FNanchor_250_250" id="vol3FNanchor_250_250"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_250_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a></p> + +<p>Seymour's action was variously interpreted. Some pronounced it tricky; +others, that he declined because he feared defeat.<a name="vol3FNanchor_251_251" id="vol3FNanchor_251_251"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_251_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a> But there was +no evidence of insincerity. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.119" id="vol3Page_iii.119">iii. 119</a></span> wanted the office less in 1864 than he +did in 1862. It had brought labour and anxiety, and no relief from +increasing solicitude was in sight if re-elected. But his friends, +resenting the New York delegation's action in withholding from him its +support for President, determined to be avenged by renominating him +for governor. They knew that Dean Richmond, whose admiration for the +Governor had not been increased by the latter's performance at +Chicago, wanted a candidate of more pronounced views respecting a +vigorous prosecution of the war, and that in his support of Allen he +had the convention well in hand. Wisely distrusting the Regency, +therefore, they worked in secret, talking of the honour and prestige +of a complimentary vote, but always declaring, what Seymour himself +emphasised, that the Governor would not again accept the office. Not a +misstep left its print in the proceedings. Before the chairman put the +motion for his renomination, a delegate from Oneida, rising to +withdraw the name, was quieted by the assurance that it was only +complimentary. An Albany lieutenant of Dean Richmond, obtaining the +floor with the help of a stentorian voice, began to block the +movement, but quickly subsided after hearing the explanation from a +delegate at his side that it was only complimentary. When the motion +had carried, however, and the Oneida gentleman began fulfilling the +Governor's directions, came the cry, "Too late, too late. We have +nominated the candidate!" So perfectly was the <i>coup d'état</i> arranged +that the prime mover of the scheme was appointed chairman of the +committee to wait upon the Governor. Afterwards people recalled, with +a disposition to connect Seymour with this master-stroke in politics, +that he had never declined by letter, and that the rea<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.120" id="vol3Page_iii.120">iii. 120</a></span>sons given, +like the illness that kept him from facing the convention, were +largely imaginary. "That crowd saw how beautifully they were done," +said Depew, then secretary of state at Albany, "while Dean Richmond's +language was never printed."<a name="vol3FNanchor_252_252" id="vol3FNanchor_252_252"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_252_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a></p> + +<p>Scarcely had the convention adjourned before the brilliant +achievements in the Shenandoah valley thrilled the North from Maine to +California. On September 19, at the battle of Winchester, General +Sheridan defeated General Early, and on the 22d, at Fisher's Hill, put +him to flight. "Only darkness," Sheridan telegraphed Grant, "has saved +the whole of Early's army from total destruction. I do not think there +ever was an army so badly routed."<a name="vol3FNanchor_253_253" id="vol3FNanchor_253_253"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_253_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a> These victories, recalling +those of Stonewall Jackson in 1862, appealed to the popular +imagination and quickly reassured the country. Besides, on September +21, the withdrawal of Fremont and Cochrane, the Cleveland candidates, +united Radical and Conservative in a vigorous campaign for Lincoln. A +private letter from Grant, who participated in the glory accorded +Sherman and Sheridan, told the true condition of the Confederacy. "The +rebels," he said, "have now in their ranks their last man. They have +robbed the cradle and the grave equally to get their present force. +Besides what they lose in frequent skirmishes and battles, they are +now losing, from desertions and other causes, at least one regiment +per day. With this drain upon them the end is not far distant, if we +only be true to ourselves."<a name="vol3FNanchor_254_254" id="vol3FNanchor_254_254"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_254_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.121" id="vol3Page_iii.121">iii. 121</a></span></p><p>This story, coupled with recent victories, turned the Democratic +platform into a lie. Instead of being a failure, the war was now +recognised as a grand success, and radical speakers, replying to the +clamour for a cessation of hostilities, maintained that the abolition +of slavery was the only condition that promised a permanent peace. +Brilliant descriptions of Grant's work, aided by his distinguished +lieutenants, were supplemented later in the campaign by the recital of +"Sheridan's Ride," which produced the wildest enthusiasm. Indeed, the +influence of the army's achievements, dissipating the despondency of +the summer months, lifted the campaign into an atmosphere of +patriotism not before experienced since the spring of 1861, and +established the belief that Lincoln's re-election meant the end of +secession and slavery. "There will be peace," said John Cochrane, "but +it will be the peace which the musket gives to a conquered host."<a name="vol3FNanchor_255_255" id="vol3FNanchor_255_255"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_255_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a></p> + +<p>Referring to the farewell speech of Alexander H. Stephens upon his +retirement from public life in 1859, George William Curtis, with the +eloquence that adorned his addresses at that period, thrilled his +audience with an exciting war picture: "Listen to Mr. Stephens in the +summer sunshine six years ago. 'There is not now a spot of the public +territory of the United States over which the national flag floats +where slavery is excluded by the law of Congress, and the highest +tribunal of the land has decided that Congress has no power to make +such a law. At this time there is not a ripple upon the surface. The +country was never in a profounder quiet.' Do you comprehend the +terrible significance of those words? He stops; he sits down. The +summer sun sets over the fields of Georgia. Good-night, Mr. +Stephens—a long good-night. Look out from your window—how calm it +is! Upon Missionary Ridge, upon Lookout Mountain, upon the heights of +Dalton, upon the spires of Atlanta, silence and solitude; the peace of +the Southern policy of slavery and death. But look! Hark! Through the +great<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.122" id="vol3Page_iii.122">iii. 122</a></span> five years before you a light is shining—a sound is ringing. +It is the gleam of Sherman's bayonets, it is the roar of Grant's guns, +it is the red daybreak and wild morning music of peace indeed, the +peace of national life and liberty."<a name="vol3FNanchor_256_256" id="vol3FNanchor_256_256"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_256_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a></p> + +<p>The sulkers now came out of their tents. Daniel S. Dickinson, no +longer peddling his griefs in private ears, declared "there was no +doubt of the President's triumphant election;"<a name="vol3FNanchor_257_257" id="vol3FNanchor_257_257"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_257_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> the tone of Bryant +and the <i>Evening Post</i> changed; Beecher renewed hope through the +<i>Independent</i> and preached a political sermon every Sunday evening; +Weed and Raymond discontinued their starless letters to Lincoln; +George Opdyke cancelled the call for a second national convention and +another candidate for President; and Horace Greeley, silent as to his +part in the recent conspiracy, joined the army of Union orators. +Catching again the spirit of the great moral impulse and that lofty +enthusiasm which had aroused the people of the North to the decisive +struggle against slavery, these leaders sprang to the work of +advancing the cause of liberty and human rights.</p> + +<p>The Democrats sought to evade Vallandigham's words of despair, written +into the Chicago platform, by eulogising McClellan, but as the glory +of Antietam paled in the presence of Sherman's and Sheridan's +victories, they declared that success in the field did not mean peace. +"Armed opposition is driven from the fields of Kentucky, Missouri, +Maryland, and parts of Louisiana," said Horatio Seymour, "and yet this +portion of country, already conquered, requires more troops to hold it +under military rule than are demanded for our armies to fight the +embattled forces of the Confederacy. You will find that more men will +be needed to keep the South in subjection to the arbitrary projects of +the Administration than are required to drive the armies of rebellion +from the field. The peace you are promised is<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.123" id="vol3Page_iii.123">iii. 123</a></span> no peace, but is a +condition which will perpetuate and make enduring all the worst +features of this war."<a name="vol3FNanchor_258_258" id="vol3FNanchor_258_258"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_258_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a></p> + +<p>In their eagerness Democratic speakers, encouraged by the New York +<i>World</i>, then the ablest and most influential journal of its party, +turned with bitterness, first upon Lincoln's administration, and +finally upon Lincoln himself. "Is Mr. Lincoln honest?" asked the +<i>World</i>. "That he has succumbed to the opportunities and temptations +of his present place is capable of the easiest proof."<a name="vol3FNanchor_259_259" id="vol3FNanchor_259_259"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_259_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a> This was +sufficient for the stump orator and less influential journal to base +angry and extravagant charges of wrong-doing, which became frequent +and noisy.<a name="vol3FNanchor_260_260" id="vol3FNanchor_260_260"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_260_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a> John Van Buren called Lincoln a "twenty-second-rate +man," and declared the country "irretrievably gone" if McClellan was +defeated.<a name="vol3FNanchor_261_261" id="vol3FNanchor_261_261"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_261_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a> Seymour did not charge Lincoln with personal +dishonesty, but he thought his administration had rendered itself a +partner in fraud and corruption. "I do not mean to say," he declared, +"that the Administration is to be condemned because, under +circumstances so unusual as those which have existed during this war, +bad men have taken advantage of the confusion in affairs to do wrong. +But I do complain that when these wrongs are done, the Government +deliberately passes laws that protect the doer, and thus make +wrong-doing its own act. Moreover, in an election like this, when the +Government is spending such an enormous amount of money, and the +liability to peculation is so great, the Administration that will say +to contractors, as has been openly said in circulars, 'You have had a +good contract, out of which you have made money, and we expect you to +use a part of that money to assist to replace us in power,' renders +itself a partner in fraud and corruption."<a name="vol3FNanchor_262_262" id="vol3FNanchor_262_262"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_262_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.124" id="vol3Page_iii.124">iii. 124</a></span></p><p>After Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana swung into line on October 10 no +doubt remained as to the general result. But Republican confidence in +New York was greatly shaken by the disclosure of a conspiracy to use +the soldier vote for fraudulent purposes. Under an amendment to the +Constitution, ratified in March, 1864, soldiers in the field were +allowed to vote, provided properly executed proxies were delivered to +election inspectors in their home districts within sixty days next +previous to the election, and to facilitate the transmission of such +proxies agents for the State were appointed at Baltimore, Washington, +and other points. Several of these agents, charged with forgery, were +arrested by the military authorities, one of whom confessed that +enough forged proxies had been forwarded from Washington "to fill a +dry-goods box." Of these spurious ballots several hundred were seized, +and two of the forgers committed to the penitentiary.<a name="vol3FNanchor_263_263" id="vol3FNanchor_263_263"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_263_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a> "We are +informed," said the <i>Tribune</i>, "that Oswego county is flooded with +spurious McClellan votes of every description. There are forged votes +from living as well as from dead soldiers; fictitious votes from +soldiers whose genuine votes and powers of attorney are in the hands +of their friends. These packages correspond with the work described in +the recent Baltimore investigation."<a name="vol3FNanchor_264_264" id="vol3FNanchor_264_264"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_264_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> Meantime Governor Seymour, +uneasy lest the liberties of his agents be limited, directed Amasa J. +Parker, William F. Allen, and William Kelly to proceed to Washington +and "vindicate the laws of the State" and "expose all attempts to +prevent soldiers from voting, or to detain or alter the votes already +cast." These commissioners, after a hurried investigation, reported +that "although there may have been irregularities, they have found no +evidence that any frauds have been committed by any person connected +with the New York agency."<a name="vol3FNanchor_265_265" id="vol3FNanchor_265_265"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_265_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a> Nevertheless, the sequel showed that<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.125" id="vol3Page_iii.125">iii. 125</a></span> +this plot, if not discovered, would probably have changed the result +in the State.</p> + +<p>During the last month of the campaign the interest of the whole +country centred in New York. Next to the election of Lincoln, +Republicans everywhere desired the defeat of Seymour. To them his +speech at Chicago had been a malignant indictment of the Government, +and his one address in the campaign, while it did not impute personal +dishonesty to the President, had branded his administration as a party +to fraud. Lincoln regarded the contest in New York as somewhat +personal to himself, and from day to day sought information with the +anxious persistency that characterised his inquiries during the +canvass in 1860. Fenton fully appreciated the importance of +vindicating the President, and for the admirable thoroughness of the +campaign he received great credit.</p> + +<p>After the polls had closed on November 8 it soon became known that +although the President had 179 electoral votes to 21 for McClellan, +New York was in grave doubt. On Wednesday approximated returns put +Republicans 1,400 ahead. Finally it developed that in a total vote of +730,821, Lincoln had 6,749 more than McClellan, and Fenton 8,293 more +than Seymour. Fenton's vote exceeded Lincoln's by 1,544. "We believe +this the only instance," said the <i>Tribune</i>, "in which a Republican +candidate for governor polled a heavier vote than that cast for our +candidate for President at the same election."<a name="vol3FNanchor_266_266" id="vol3FNanchor_266_266"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_266_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a> The Legislature +was largely Republican, and the twenty congressmen, a gain of five, +included Roscoe Conkling and John A. Griswold, an intrepid, energetic +spirit—the very incarnation of keen good sense. Like Erastus Corning, +whom he succeeded in Congress, Griswold was a business man, whose +intelligent interest in public affairs made him mayor of Troy at the +age of twenty-eight. In 1862 he carried his district as a Democrat by +over 2,000 majority, but developing more political independence than +friend or foe had anticipated, he refused to follow his party<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.126" id="vol3Page_iii.126">iii. 126</a></span> in war +legislation, and with Moses F. Odell, a Democratic colleague from +Brooklyn, boldly supported the Thirteenth Amendment. This made him a +Republican.</p> + +<p>To this galaxy also belonged Henry J. Raymond. He had come into +possession of great fame. His graceful and vigorous work on the +<i>Times</i>, supplemented by his incisive speeches and rare intelligence +in conventions, had won many evidences of his party's esteem, but with +a desire for office not less pronounced than Greeley's<a name="vol3FNanchor_267_267" id="vol3FNanchor_267_267"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_267_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> he coveted +a seat in Congress from a district which gave a Tammany majority of +2,000 in 1862. To the surprise of his friends he won by a plurality of +386. It was the greatest victory of the year, and, in the end, led to +the saddest event of his life.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.127" id="vol3Page_iii.127">iii. 127</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_X" id="vol3CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h2>A COMPLETE CHANGE OF POLICY</h2> + +<h2>1865</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">For</span> the moment the surrender of Lee and the collapse of the +Confederacy left the Democrats without an issue. The war had not been +a failure, peace had come without the intervention of a convention of +the States, the South was "subjugated," the abolition of slavery +accomplished, arbitrary arrests were forgotten, the professed fear of +national bankruptcy had disappeared, and Seymour's prophetic gift was +in eclipse. Nothing had happened which he predicted—everything had +transpired which he opposed. Meanwhile, under the administration of +Andrew Johnson, the country was gradually recovering from the awful +shock of Abraham Lincoln's assassination.</p> + +<p>Substantially following Lincoln's policy, the President had issued, on +May 29, 1865, a proclamation of amnesty pardoning such as had +participated in rebellion,<a name="vol3FNanchor_268_268" id="vol3FNanchor_268_268"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_268_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a> with restoration of all rights of +property except as to slaves, on condition that each take an oath to +support the Constitution and to obey the laws respecting emancipation. +He also prescribed a mode for the reconstruction of States lately in +rebellion. This included the appointment of provisional governors +authorised to devise the proper machinery for choosing legislatures, +which should determine the qualifica<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.128" id="vol3Page_iii.128">iii. 128</a></span>tion of electors and +office-holders. In this preliminary scheme Johnson limited the voters +to white men. Personally he declared himself in favour of a qualified +suffrage for negroes, but he thought this a matter to be determined by +the States themselves.</p> + +<p>A policy that excluded the negro from all participation in public +affairs did not commend itself to the leaders of the Radicals. It was +believed that Mississippi's denial of even a limited suffrage to the +negro, such as obtained in New York, indicated the feeling of the +Southern people, and the Union conventions of Pennsylvania, dominated +by Thaddeus Stevens, and of Massachusetts, controlled by Charles +Sumner, refused to endorse the President's scheme. During the summer +Horace Greeley, in several earnest and able editorials, advocated +negro suffrage as a just and politic measure, but he carefully avoided +any reflection upon the President, and disclaimed the purpose of +making such suffrage an inexorable condition in reconstruction.<a name="vol3FNanchor_269_269" id="vol3FNanchor_269_269"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_269_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> +Nevertheless, the Radicals of the State hesitated to leave the civil +status of coloured men to their former masters.</p> + +<p>Johnson's policy especially appealed to the Democrats, and at their +State convention, held at Albany on September 9 (1865), they promised +the President their cordial support, commended his reconstruction +policy, pledged the payment of the war debt, thanked the army and +navy, and denounced the denial "of representation to States in order +to compel them to adopt negro equality or negro suffrage as an element +of their Constitutions."<a name="vol3FNanchor_270_270" id="vol3FNanchor_270_270"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_270_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a> Indeed, with one stroke of the pen the +convention erased all issues of the war, and with one stroke of the +axe rid itself of the men whom it held responsible for defeat. It +avoided Seymour for president of the convention; it nominated for +secretary of state Henry W. Slocum of Onondaga, formerly a Republican +office-holder, whose superb leadership as a corps commander placed +him<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.129" id="vol3Page_iii.129">iii. 129</a></span> among New York's most famous soldiers; it preferred John Van +Buren to Samuel J. Tilden for attorney-general; and it refused Manton +Marble's platform, although the able editor of the <i>World</i> enjoyed the +hospitality of the committee room. Further to popularise its action, +it welcomed back to its fold Lucius Robinson, whom it nominated for +comptroller, an office he was then holding by Republican suffrage.</p> + +<p>Robinson's political somersault caused no surprise. His dislike of the +Lincoln administration, expressed in his letter to the Cleveland +convention, influenced him to support McClellan, while the Radicals' +tendency to accept negro suffrage weakened his liking for the +Republican party. However, no unkind words followed his action. +"Robinson is to-day," said the <i>Tribune</i>, "what he has always been, a +genuine Democrat, a true Republican, a hearty Unionist, and an +inflexibly honest and faithful guardian of the treasury. He has proved +a most valuable officer, whom every would-be plunderer of the State +regards with unfeigned detestation, and, if his old associates like +him well enough to support his re-election, it is a proof that some of +the false gods they have for years been following have fallen from +their pedestals and been crumbled into dust."<a name="vol3FNanchor_271_271" id="vol3FNanchor_271_271"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_271_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a></p> + +<p>The Union Republican convention, held at Syracuse on September 20, +followed the policy of the Democrats in the nomination of Slocum. +Officers of distinguished service abounded. Daniel E. Sickles, a hero +of Gettysburg; Francis G. Barlow, the intrepid general of Hancock's +famous corps; Henry W. Barnum, a soldier of decided valour and +energy;<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.130" id="vol3Page_iii.130">iii. 130</a></span> Charles H. Van Wyck, who left Congress to lead a regiment to +the field; John H. Martindale, a West Point graduate of conspicuous +service in the Peninsular campaign, and Joseph Howland, whose large +means had benefited the soldiers, were especially mentioned. Of this +galaxy all received recognition save Sickles and Van Wyck, Chauncey M. +Depew being dropped for Barlow, Cochrane for Martindale, Bates for +Barnum, and Schuyler for Howland. In other words, the officials +elected in 1863, entitled by custom to a second term, yielded to the +sentiment that soldiers deserved recognition in preference to +civilians.<a name="vol3FNanchor_272_272" id="vol3FNanchor_272_272"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_272_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a></p> + +<p>The question of negro suffrage troubled the convention. The Radicals +had a decided majority—"not less than fifty," Greeley said; but Weed +and Raymond, now the acknowledged friends of the President, had the +power. Shortly after Johnson took the oath of office, Preston King +presented Weed to the new Executive and the three breakfasted +together. King's relations with the President bore the stamp of +intimacy. They had served together in Congress, and on March 4, 1865, +that ill-fated inauguration day when Johnson's intoxication humiliated +the Republic, King concealed him in the home of Francis P. Blair at +Silver Springs, near Washington.<a name="vol3FNanchor_273_273" id="vol3FNanchor_273_273"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_273_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> After Lincoln's death King +became for a time the President's constant adviser, and through his +influence, it was believed, Johnson foreshadowed in one of his early +speeches a purpose to pursue a more unfriendly policy towards the +South than his predecessor had intended. For a time it was thought +King would displace Seward in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.131" id="vol3Page_iii.131">iii. 131</a></span> the Cabinet if for no other reason than +because of the latter's part in defeating the former's re-election to +the Senate in 1863. However, differences between them were finally +adjusted by King's acceptance of the collectorship of the port of New +York in place of Draper. This, it was understood, meant a complete +reconciliation of all the factions in the State. Within sixty days +thereafter, King, in a moment of mental aberration, took his life by +jumping from a Jersey City ferry-boat.</p> + +<p>There was something peculiarly pathetic in the passing of King. In +accepting the collectorship he yielded to the solicitation of friends +who urged him to retain it after his health, due to worry and +overwork, was seriously impaired. "He thought it incumbent upon him," +says Weed, "to sign nothing he did not personally examine, becoming +nervously apprehensive that his bondsmen might suffer."<a name="vol3FNanchor_274_274" id="vol3FNanchor_274_274"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_274_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a> It was +surmised, also, that the President's change of policy occasioned him +extreme solicitude as well as much embarrassment, since the threatened +breach between President and Radicals made him sensitive as to his +future course. He was a Radical, and, deeply as he regarded the +President, he hesitated to hold an office, which, by associating him +with the Administration, would discredit his sincerity and deprive him +of the right to aid in overthrowing an obnoxious policy. Premeditated +suicide was shown by the purchase, while on his way to the ferry, of a +bag of shot which sank the body quickly and beyond immediate recovery.</p> + +<p>Every delegate in the Syracuse convention knew that Weed's cordial +relations with Johnson, established through Preston King, made him the +undisputed dispenser of patronage. Nevertheless, the failure of +Pennsylvania and Massachusetts to endorse the President's policy, +supplemented by Mississippi's action, made a deep impression upon +radical delegates. Besides, it had already been noised abroad that +Johnson could not be influenced. Senator Wade of Ohio discovered it +early in July, and in August, after two at<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.132" id="vol3Page_iii.132">iii. 132</a></span>tempts, Stevens gave him up +as inexorable.<a name="vol3FNanchor_275_275" id="vol3FNanchor_275_275"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_275_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a> "If something is not done," wrote the +Pennsylvanian, "the President will be crowned King before Congress +meets."<a name="vol3FNanchor_276_276" id="vol3FNanchor_276_276"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_276_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a> Under these circumstances the leading Radicals desired to +vote for a resolution affirming the right of all loyal people of the +South to a voice in reorganising and controlling their respective +State governments, and Greeley believed it would have secured a large +majority on a yea and nay vote.<a name="vol3FNanchor_277_277" id="vol3FNanchor_277_277"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_277_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> But Raymond resisted. His +friendship for Johnson exhibited at the Baltimore convention had +suddenly made him an acknowledged power with the new Administration +which he was soon to represent in Congress, and he did not propose +allowing the <i>Tribune's</i> editor to force New York into the list of +States that refused to endorse the President.</p> + +<p>Such a course, he believed, would give the State to the Democrats, +whose prompt and intrepid confidence in the President had plainly +disconcerted the Republicans. Besides, Raymond disbelieved in the +views of the extreme Radicals, who held that States lately in +rebellion must be treated as conquered provinces and brought back into +the Union as new States, subject to conditions prescribed by their +conquerors. As chairman of the committee on resolutions, therefore, +the editor of the <i>Times</i> bore down heavily on the Radical dissenters, +and in the absence of a decided leader they allowed their devotion to +men to overbear attachment to principles. As finally adopted the +platform recognised Johnson's ability, patriotism, and integrity, +declared the war debt sacred, thanked the soldiers and sailors, +commended the President's policy of reconstruction, and expressed the +hope that when the States lately in rebellion are restored to the +exercise of their constitutional rights, "it will be done in the faith +and on the basis that they will be exercised in the spirit of equal +and impartial justice, and with a view to the elevation and +perpetuation of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.133" id="vol3Page_iii.133">iii. 133</a></span> the full rights of citizenship of all their people, +inasmuch as these are principles which constitute the basis of our +republican institutions."<a name="vol3FNanchor_278_278" id="vol3FNanchor_278_278"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_278_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a> Greeley pronounced this language "timid +and windy."<a name="vol3FNanchor_279_279" id="vol3FNanchor_279_279"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_279_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a></p> + +<p>In the campaign that followed the Democrats flattered the President, +very cleverly insisting that the Radicals' devotion to negro suffrage +made them his only real opponents. On the other hand, conservative +Republicans, maintaining that the convention did not commit itself to +an enfranchisement of the negro, insisted that it was a unit in its +support of the President's policy, and that the Democrats, acting +insincerely, sought to destroy the Union party and secure exclusive +control of the Executive. "They propose," said the <i>Times</i>, "to repeat +upon him precisely the trick which they practised with such brilliant +success upon John Tyler and Millard Fillmore, both of whom were taken +up by the Democracy, their policy endorsed, and their supporters +denounced. Both were flattered with the promise of a Democratic +nomination and both were weak enough to listen and yield to the +temptation. Both were used unscrupulously to betray their principles +and their friends, and when the time came both were remorselessly +thrown, like squeezed oranges, into the gutter. The game they are +playing upon President Johnson is precisely the same. They want the +offices he has in his gift, and when his friends are scattered and +overthrown they will have him at their mercy. Then, the power he gives +them will be used for his destruction."<a name="vol3FNanchor_280_280" id="vol3FNanchor_280_280"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_280_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a></p> + +<p>Horatio Seymour made two speeches. With charming candor he admitted +that "signal victories have been won by generals who have made the +history of our country glorious." But to him the great debt, the +untaxed bonds, the inflation of the currency, the increased prices, +and the absence of congressmen from the States lately in rebellion, +seemed as full of peril as war itself. In his address at<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.134" id="vol3Page_iii.134">iii. 134</a></span> Seneca Falls +his field of view, confined to war-burdens and rights withheld from +"subjugated" States, did not include the vision that thrilled others, +who saw the flag floating over every inch of American territory, now +forever freed from slavery. "When we were free from debt," he said, "a +man could support himself with six hours of daily toil. To-day he must +work two hours longer to pay his share of the national debt.... This +question of debt means less to give your families.... It reaches every +boy and girl, every wife and mother.... It affects the character of +our people." Prosperity also troubled him. "We see upon every hand its +embarrassing effect. The merchant does not know whether he will be a +loser or gainer. We see men who have been ruined without fault, and +men who have made great fortunes without industry. Inquire of the +person engaged in mechanical operations and he will say that labour +has lost its former certain reward." He disapproved the national +banking act because the new banks "have converted the debt of the +country into currency and inflated prices;" he disputed the +correctness of the Treasury debt statement because "it is the +experience of all wars that long after their close new claims spring +up, which render the expense at least fifty per cent. more than +appeared by the figures;" and he condemned the national system of +taxation because it "disables us to produce as cheaply at home as we +can buy in the markets of the world."<a name="vol3FNanchor_281_281" id="vol3FNanchor_281_281"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_281_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a></p> + +<p>The brief campaign promised to be spiritless and without incident +until John Van Buren, in his extended canvass for attorney-general, +freely expressed his opinion of Horatio Seymour. Van Buren was not an +admirer of that statesman. He had supported him with warmth in 1862, +but after the development of the Governor's "passion for peace" he had +little sympathy with and less respect for his administration. In the +campaign of 1864 he practically ignored him, and the subsequent +announcement of his defeat liberated Van Buren's tongue. "Seymour is a +damned fool," he said. "He<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.135" id="vol3Page_iii.135">iii. 135</a></span> spoiled everything at Chicago, and has +been the cause of most of the disasters of the Democratic party."<a name="vol3FNanchor_282_282" id="vol3FNanchor_282_282"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_282_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a> +At Troy he declared that "the Democracy were suffering now from the +infernal blunder at Chicago last year," and that "if Seymour and +Vallandigham had been kicked out of the national convention it would +have been a good thing for the party."<a name="vol3FNanchor_283_283" id="vol3FNanchor_283_283"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_283_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a></p> + +<p>This opinion scarcely expressed the sentiment of a majority of +Democrats, but those who had preferred John A. Dix as the man of +destiny held Seymour and his school of statesmen responsible for the +party's deplorable condition. It had emerged from the war defeated in +every distinctive principle it had promulgated, and in the absence of +an available issue it now sought to atone for the past and to gain the +confidence of the people by nominating candidates who were either +active in the field or recognised as sincerely devoted to a vigorous +prosecution of the war. To aid in this new departure Van Buren threw +his old-time fire into the campaign, speaking daily and to the delight +of his audiences; but he soon discovered that things were looking +serious, and when the Union Republican ticket was elected by +majorities ranging from 28,000 to 31,000, with two-thirds of the +Assembly and all the senators save one, he recognised that the glory +of Lee's surrender and the collapse of the Confederacy did not +strengthen the Democratic party, although one of its candidates had +led an army corps, and another, with eloquence and irresistible +argument, had stirred the hearts of patriotic Americans in the darkest +hours of the rebellion.<a name="vol3FNanchor_284_284" id="vol3FNanchor_284_284"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_284_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.136" id="vol3Page_iii.136">iii. 136</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XI" id="vol3CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h2>RAYMOND CHAMPIONS THE PRESIDENT</h2> + +<h2>1866</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">When</span> Congress convened in December, 1865, President Johnson, in a calm +and carefully prepared message, advocated the admission of Southern +congressmen whenever their States ratified the Thirteenth Amendment. +He also recommended that negro suffrage be left to the States. On the +other hand, extreme Radicals, relying upon the report of Carl Schurz, +whom the President had sent South on a tour of observation, demanded +suffrage and civil rights for the negro, and that congressional +representation be based upon actual voters instead of population. +Schurz had remained three months in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, +Mississippi, and Louisiana, and to him "treason, under existing +circumstances, does not appear odious in the South. The people are not +impressed with any sense of its criminality. And there is yet among +the Southern people an utter absence of national feeling.... While +accepting the abolition of slavery, they think that some species of +serfdom, peonage, or other form of compulsory labour is not slavery, +and may be introduced without a violation of their pledge." Schurz, +therefore, recommended negro suffrage as "a condition precedent to +readmission."<a name="vol3FNanchor_285_285" id="vol3FNanchor_285_285"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_285_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a></p> + +<p>On the contrary, General Grant, who had spent a couple of weeks in the +South upon the invitation of the President, reported that the mass of +thinking men accepted conditions in good faith; that they regarded +slavery and the right to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.137" id="vol3Page_iii.137">iii. 137</a></span> secede as settled forever, and were anxious +to return to self-government within the Union as soon as possible; +that "while reconstructing they want and require protection from the +government. They are in earnest in wishing to do what is required by +the government, not humiliating to them as citizens, and if such a +course was pointed out they would pursue it in good faith."<a name="vol3FNanchor_286_286" id="vol3FNanchor_286_286"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_286_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a></p> + +<p>The North had been too happy over the close of the war and the return +of its soldiers to anticipate the next step, but when Thaddeus Stevens +of Pennsylvania, the leader of the Radicals, opened the discussion in +Congress on December 10 (1865), the people quickly saw the drift of +things. Stevens contended that hostilities had severed the original +contract between the Southern States and the Union, and that the +former, in order to return to the Union, must come in as new States +upon terms made by Congress and approved by the President. In like +manner he argued that negroes, if denied suffrage, should be excluded +from the basis of representation, thus giving the South 46 +representatives instead of 83. "But why should slaves be excluded?" +demanded Stevens. "This doctrine of a white man's government is as +atrocious as the infamous sentiment that damned the late Chief Justice +to everlasting fame, and, I fear, to everlasting fire."<a name="vol3FNanchor_287_287" id="vol3FNanchor_287_287"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_287_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a></p> + +<p>Stevens' speech, putting Johnson's policy squarely in issue, was +answered by Henry J. Raymond, now the selected and acknowledged leader +of the Administration in the House. Raymond had entered Congress with +a prestige rarely if ever equalled by a new member. There had been +greater orators, abler debaters, and more profound statesmen, but no +one had ever preceded him with an environment more influential. He was +the favourite of the President; he had been brought into more or less +intimate association with all the men of his party worth knowing; he +was the close friend of Weed and the recognized ally of Seward; his +good will<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.138" id="vol3Page_iii.138">iii. 138</a></span> could make postmasters and collectors, and his displeasure, +like that of a frigid and bloodless leader, could carry swift penalty. +Indeed, there was nothing in the armory of the best equipped +politician, including able speaking and forceful writing, that he did +not possess, and out of New York as well as within it he had been +regarded the earnest friend and faithful champion of Republican +doctrines. On the surface, too, it is doubtful if a member of +Congress, whether new or old, ever seemed to have a better chance of +winning in a debate. Only three months before the people of the North, +with great unanimity, had endorsed the President and approved his +policy. Besides, the great body of Republicans in Congress preferred +to work with the President. He held the patronage, he had succeeded by +the assassin's work to the leadership of the party, and thus far had +evinced no more dogmatism than Stevens or Sumner. Moreover, the +sentiment of the North at that time was clearly against negro +suffrage. All the States save six<a name="vol3FNanchor_288_288" id="vol3FNanchor_288_288"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_288_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a> denied the vote to the negro, +and in the recent elections three States had specifically declared +against extending it to him.</p> + +<p>Thus fortified Raymond did not object to speaking for the +Administration. To him Stevens' idea of subjecting the South to the +discipline and tutelage of Congress was repulsive, and his ringing +voice filled the spacious hall of the House with clear-cut sentences. +He denied that the Southern States had ever been out of the Union. "If +they were," he asked, "how and when did they become so? By what +specific act, at what precise time, did any one of those States take +itself out of the American Union? Was it by the ordinance of +secession? An ordinance of secession is simply a nullity, because it +encounters the Constitution which is the supreme law of the land. Did +the resolutions of those States, the declaration of their officials, +the speeches of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.139" id="vol3Page_iii.139">iii. 139</a></span> members of their Legislatures, or the utterances +of their press, accomplish the result desired? Certainly not. All +these were declarations of a purpose to secede. Their secession, if it +ever took place, certainly could not date from the time when their +intention to secede was first announced. They proceeded to sustain +their purpose of secession by arms against the force which the United +States brought to bear against them. Were their arms victorious? If +they were, then their secession was an accomplished fact. If not, it +was nothing more than an abortive attempt—a purpose unfulfilled. They +failed to maintain their ground by force of arms. In other words, they +failed to secede. But if," he concluded, "the Southern States did go +out of the Union, it would make those in the South who resisted the +Confederacy guilty of treason to an independent government. Do you +want to make traitors out of loyal men?"<a name="vol3FNanchor_289_289" id="vol3FNanchor_289_289"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_289_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a></p> + +<p>Raymond received close attention. Several leaders acknowledged their +interest by asking questions, and the congratulations that followed +evidenced the good will of his colleagues. His speech had shown none +of the usual characteristics of a maiden effort. Without advertising +his intention to speak, he obtained the floor late in the afternoon, +referred with spirit to the sentiments of the preceding speaker, and +moved along with the air of an old member, careless of making a +rhetorical impression but intensely in earnest in what he had to +present. As an argument in favor of the adoption of a liberal policy +toward the South, regardless of its strict legal rights, the speech +commended itself to his colleagues as an admirable one, but it +entirely failed to meet Stevens' logic that the States lately in +rebellion could not set up any rights against the conqueror except +such as were granted by the laws of war. In his reply the +Pennsylvanian taunted Raymond with failing to quote a single authority +in support of his contention. "I admit the gravity of the gentleman's +opinion," he said, "and with<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.140" id="vol3Page_iii.140">iii. 140</a></span> the slightest corroborating authority +should yield the case. But without some such aid I am not willing that +the sages of the law—Grotius, Vattel, and a long line of +compeers—should be overthrown and demolished by the single arm of the +gentleman from New York. I pray the gentleman to quote authority; not +to put too heavy a load upon his own judgment; he might sink under the +weight. Give us your author."<a name="vol3FNanchor_290_290" id="vol3FNanchor_290_290"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_290_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a></p> + +<p>As the debate continued it became evident the President's friends were +losing ground. Aside from the withering blows of Stevens, unseen +occurrences which Raymond, in his eagerness to champion Johnson's +policy, did not appreciate or willingly ignored, had a most disturbing +influence. The Northern people welcomed peace and approved the +generosity of the government, but they wanted the South to exhibit its +appreciation by corresponding generosity to the government's friends. +Its acts did not show this. Enactments in respect to freedmen, passed +by the President's reconstructed legislatures, grudgingly bestowed +civil rights. A different punishment for the same offence was +prescribed for the negroes; apprentice, vagrant, and contract labour +laws tended to a system of peonage; and the prohibition of public +assemblies, the restriction of freedom of movement, and the +deprivation of means of defence illustrated the inequality of their +rights. Such laws, for whatever purpose passed, had a powerful effect +on Northern sentiment already influenced by reported cruelties, while +the Southern people's aversion to Union soldiers settling in their +midst intensified the feeling. Moreover, Southern and Democratic +support of the President made Republicans distrust his policy. If +States can be reconstructed in a summer and congressmen admitted in a +winter, it was said, the South, helped by the Democracy of the North, +might again be in control of the Government within two years. These +considerations were bound to affect the judgment of Republicans, and +when Stevens began to talk and the real condi<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.141" id="vol3Page_iii.141">iii. 141</a></span>tions in the South came +to be known, it aroused party indignation to a high pitch in the +House.</p> + +<p>Raymond, in his brilliant rejoinders, endeavoured to recover lost +ground. He had created no enemies. On the contrary his courtesy and +tact smoothed the way and made him friends. But after weeks of +discussion an effort to adopt a resolution of confidence in the +President met with overwhelming defeat. Stevens asked that the +resolution be referred to the Committee on Reconstruction—Raymond +demanded its adoption at once. On a roll-call the vote stood 32 to 107 +in favour of reference, Raymond and William A. Darling of New York +City being the only Republicans to vote against it. It was a heavy +blow to the leader of the Conservatives. It proved the unpopularity of +Johnson's policy and indicated increasing estrangement between the +President and his party. Moreover, it was personally humiliating. On a +test question, with the whole power of the Administration behind him, +Raymond had been able, after weeks of work, to secure the support of +only one man and that a colleague bound to him by the ties of personal +friendship.</p> + +<p>The division in the party spread with the rapidity of a rising thunder +cloud. On February 6 Congress passed the Freedman's Bureau Bill, +designed to aid helpless negroes, which the President vetoed. A month +later his treatment of the Civil Rights Bill, which set in motion the +necessary machinery to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment, shattered the +confidence of the party. "Surely," declared Senator Trumbull of +Illinois, "we have authority to enact a law as efficient in the +interest of freedom as we had in the interest of slavery."<a name="vol3FNanchor_291_291" id="vol3FNanchor_291_291"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_291_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a> But +the President promptly vetoed it, because, he said, it conferred +citizenship on the negro, invaded the rights of the States, had no +warrant in the Constitution, and was contrary to all precedent.</p> + +<p>The President had developed several undesirable characteristics, being +essentially obstinate and conceited, the pos<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.142" id="vol3Page_iii.142">iii. 142</a></span>sessor of a bad temper, +and of a coarse and vulgar personality. His speech on February 22, in +which he had invoked the wild passions of a mob, modified the opinions +even of conservative men. "It is impossible to conceive of a more +humiliating spectacle," said Sherman.<a name="vol3FNanchor_292_292" id="vol3FNanchor_292_292"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_292_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a> "During the progress of +events," wrote Weed, "the President was bereft of judgment and reason, +and became the victim of passion and unreason."<a name="vol3FNanchor_293_293" id="vol3FNanchor_293_293"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_293_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a> But up to this +time the party had hoped to avoid a complete break with the Executive. +Now, however, the question of passing the Civil Rights Bill over his +veto presented itself. Not since the beginning of the government had +Congress carried an important measure over a veto. Besides, it meant a +complete and final separation between the President and his party. +Edwin D. Morgan so understood it, and although he had heretofore +sustained the President, he now stood with the Radicals. Raymond also +knew the gravity of the situation. But Raymond, who often wavered and +sometimes exhibited an astonishing fickleness,<a name="vol3FNanchor_294_294" id="vol3FNanchor_294_294"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_294_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a> saw only one side +to the question, and on April 9 when the House, by a vote of 122 to +41, overrode the veto, he was one of only seven Unionists to support +the President.<a name="vol3FNanchor_295_295" id="vol3FNanchor_295_295"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_295_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a></p> + +<p>After the passage of the Civil Rights Bill the President's friends +proposed to invoke, through a National Union convention to be held at +Philadelphia on August 14, the sup<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.143" id="vol3Page_iii.143">iii. 143</a></span>port of conservative Republicans +and Democrats. Weed told Raymond of the project and Seward urged it +upon him. Raymond expressed a disinclination to go to the convention +because it seemed likely to fall into the hands of former Confederates +and their Northern associates, and to be used for purposes hostile to +the Union party, of which, he said, he was not only a member, but the +chairman of its national committee. Seward did not concur in this +view. He said it was not a party convention and need not affect the +party standing of those who attended it. He was a Union man, he +declared, and he did not admit the right of anybody to turn him out of +the Union party. Moreover, he wanted Raymond to attend the convention +to prevent its control by the enemies of the Union party.</p> + +<p>Raymond, still undecided, called with Seward upon the President, who +favoured neither a new party nor the restoration to power of the +Democratic party, although the movement, he said, ought not to repel +Democrats willing to act with it. He wanted the matter settled within +the Union party, and thought the proposed convention, in which +delegates from all the States could again meet in harmony, would exert +a wholesome influence on local conventions and nominations to +Congress.<a name="vol3FNanchor_296_296" id="vol3FNanchor_296_296"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_296_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a> Raymond, however, was still apprehensive. He deemed the +Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments "reasonable, wise, and popular;" +thought the President had "made a great mistake in taking grounds +against them;" and declared that notwithstanding the peppery method of +their passage "the people will not be stopped by trifles." The outcome +of the convention also worried him. "If it should happen to lay down a +platform," he continued, "which shall command the respect of the +country, it would be such a miracle as we have no right to expect in +these days. However," he concluded, "I shall be governed in my course +toward it by developments. I do not see the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.144" id="vol3Page_iii.144">iii. 144</a></span> necessity of denouncing +it from the start, nor until more is known of its composition, +purposes, and actions."<a name="vol3FNanchor_297_297" id="vol3FNanchor_297_297"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_297_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a></p> + +<p>Raymond did not attend the preliminary State convention held at +Saratoga on August 9. He left this work to Weed, who, with the help of +Dean Richmond, made an excellent showing in numbers and enthusiasm. +The support of the Democrats was assured because they would benefit, +and the presence of Tilden, Kernan, William H. Ludlow, and Sanford E. +Church created no surprise; but the interest manifested by John A. +Dix, Hamilton Fish, Moses Taylor, Marshall O. Roberts, Francis B. +Cutting, and Richard M. Blatchford amazed the Republicans. Henry J. +Raymond was made a delegate-at-large, with Samuel J. Tilden, John A. +Dix, and Sanford E. Church.</p> + +<p>At Philadelphia the convention derived a manifest advantage from +having all the States, South as well as North, fully represented, +making it the first real "National" convention to assemble, it was +said, since 1860. Besides, it was a picturesque convention, full of +striking contrasts and unique spectacles. In the hotel lobbies Weed +and Richmond, walking together, seemed ubiquitous as they dominated +the management and arranged the details. Raymond and Church sat side +by side in the committee on resolutions, while the delegates from +Massachusetts and South Carolina, for spectacular effect, entered the +great wigwam arm in arm. This picture of apparent reconciliation +evoked the most enthusiastic cheers, and became the boast of the +Johnsonians until the wits likened the wigwam to Noah's Ark, into +which there went, "two and two, of clean beasts, and of beasts that +are not clean, and of fowls, and of everything that creepeth upon the +earth."</p> + +<p>John A. Dix became temporary chairman, and the resolutions, reciting +the issue between the President and the Republicans, laid great +emphasis upon the right of every State, without condition, to +representation in Congress as soon as<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.145" id="vol3Page_iii.145">iii. 145</a></span> the war had ended. But Raymond, +presumably to please Southern delegates,<a name="vol3FNanchor_298_298" id="vol3FNanchor_298_298"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_298_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a> pressed the argument far +beyond the scope of the resolutions, maintaining that even if the +condition of the Southern States rendered their admission unsafe +because still disloyal in sentiment and purpose, Congress had no power +to deny them rights conferred by the Constitution. This reckless claim +amazed his friends as much as it aroused his enemies, and he at once +became the object of most cutting reproaches. "Had he been elected as +a Copperhead," said the <i>Tribune</i>, "no one could have complained that +he acted as a Copperhead, and had Judas been one of the Pharisees +instead of one of the Disciples, he would not be the worst example +that Presidents and Congressmen can follow."<a name="vol3FNanchor_299_299" id="vol3FNanchor_299_299"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_299_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> Ten days later the +Republican National committee removed him from the chairmanship, a +punishment promptly followed by his removal from the committee.<a name="vol3FNanchor_300_300" id="vol3FNanchor_300_300"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_300_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a> +Raymond, in his talk with Seward, had anticipated trouble of this +character, but the humiliation was now doubly deep because it +separated him from friends whose staunch support had contributed to +his strength. Moreover, in a few weeks he was compelled to abandon the +President for reasons that had long existed. "We have tried hard," he +wrote, "to hold our original faith in his personal honesty, and to +attribute his disastrous action to errors of judgment and infirmities +of temper. The struggle has often been difficult, and we can maintain +it no longer."<a name="vol3FNanchor_301_301" id="vol3FNanchor_301_301"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_301_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a> But the change came too late. He had followed too +far. It added to the sadness, also, because his popularity was never +to return to any considerable extent during the remaining three years +of his brilliant life.</p> + +<p>Raymond's congressional experience, confined to a single term, added +nothing to his fame. He delivered clever speeches, his wide +intelligence and courteous manner won him popularity, and to some +extent he probably influenced<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.146" id="vol3Page_iii.146">iii. 146</a></span> public opinion; but his brief career +left no opportunity to live down his fatal alliance with Johnson. +Indeed, it may well be doubted if longer service or more favourable +conditions would have given him high standing as a legislator. +Prominence gained in one vocation is rarely transferred to another. +Legislation is a profession as much as medicine or law or journalism, +the practice of which, to gain leadership, must be long and +continuous, until proposed public measures and their treatment worked +out in the drudgery of the committee room, become as familiar as the +variety of questions submitted to lawyers and physicians. The +prolonged and exacting labour as a journalist which had given Raymond +his great reputation, must, in a measure, have been repeated as a +legislator to give him similar leadership in Congress. At forty-five +he was not too old to accomplish it. Samuel Shellabarger of Ohio, who +made his greatest speech in reply to Raymond, began his congressional +life at forty-nine, and Thaddeus Stevens, the leader of the House, at +fifty-seven. But the mental weariness, already apparent in Raymond's +face, indicated that the enthusiasm necessary for such preparation had +departed. Besides, he lacked the most important qualification for a +legislative leader—the rare political sagacity to know the thoughts +of people and to catch the tiniest shadow of a coming event.</p> + +<p>Seward shared Raymond's unpopularity. Soon after assuming office +President Johnson outlined a severe policy toward the South, violently +denouncing traitors, who, he declared, must be punished and +impoverished. "The time has arrived," he said, "when the American +people should be educated that treason is the highest crime and those +engaged in it should suffer all its penalties."<a name="vol3FNanchor_302_302" id="vol3FNanchor_302_302"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_302_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a> These sentiments, +reiterated again and again, extorted from Benjamin F. Wade, the chief +of Radicals, an entreaty that he would limit the number to be hung to +a good round dozen and no more.<a name="vol3FNanchor_303_303" id="vol3FNanchor_303_303"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_303_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> Suddenly the President changed +his tone to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.147" id="vol3Page_iii.147">iii. 147</a></span> one of amnesty and reconciliation, and in answering the +question, "who has influenced him?" Sumner declared that "Seward is +the marplot. He openly confesses that he counselled the present fatal +policy."<a name="vol3FNanchor_304_304" id="vol3FNanchor_304_304"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_304_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a> Blaine also expressed the belief that the Secretary of +State changed the President's policy,<a name="vol3FNanchor_305_305" id="vol3FNanchor_305_305"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_305_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a> a suggestion that Seward +himself corroborated in an after-dinner speech at New York in +September, 1866. "When Mr. Johnson came into the Presidency," said the +Secretary, "he did nothing until I got well, and then he sent for me +and we fixed things."<a name="vol3FNanchor_306_306" id="vol3FNanchor_306_306"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_306_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a></p> + +<p>But Seward did more to exasperate Republicans than change a harsh +policy to one of reconciliation. He believed in the soundness of the +President's constitutional views and the correctness of his vetoes, +deeming the course of Congress unwise.<a name="vol3FNanchor_307_307" id="vol3FNanchor_307_307"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_307_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a> It is difficult, +therefore, to credit Blaine's unsupported statement that Seward +"worked most earnestly to bring about an accommodation between the +Administration and Congress."<a name="vol3FNanchor_308_308" id="vol3FNanchor_308_308"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_308_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a> The split grew out of the +President's veto messages which Seward approved and probably wrote.</p> + +<p>Until the spring of 1866 Seward's old friends believed he had remained +in the Cabinet to dispose of diplomatic questions which the war left +unsettled, but after his speech at Auburn on May 22 the men who once +regarded him as a champion of liberty and equality dropped him from +their list of saints. He argued that the country wanted reconciliation +instead of reconstruction, and denied that the President was +unfaithful to the party and its cardinal principles of public policy, +since his disagreements with Congress on the Freedman's Bureau and +Civil Rights Bills "have no real bearing upon the question of +reconciliation." Nor was there<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.148" id="vol3Page_iii.148">iii. 148</a></span> any "soundness in our political +system, if the personal or civil rights of white or black, free born +or emancipated, are not more secure under the administration of a +State government than they could be under the administration of the +National government."<a name="vol3FNanchor_309_309" id="vol3FNanchor_309_309"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_309_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a> This sentiment brought severe criticism. +"Mr. Seward once earned honour by remembering the negro at a time when +others forgot him," said the <i>Independent</i>; "he now earns dishonour by +forgetting the negro when the nation demands that the negro should be +remembered."<a name="vol3FNanchor_310_310" id="vol3FNanchor_310_310"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_310_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a></p> + +<p>Seward's participation in the President's tour of the country +contributed to destroy his popularity. This Quixotic junketing journey +quickly passed into history as the "swinging-around-the-circle" trip, +which Lowell described as an "advertising tour of a policy in want of +a party."<a name="vol3FNanchor_311_311" id="vol3FNanchor_311_311"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_311_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a> Seward had many misgivings. The memory of the +President's condition on inauguration day and of his unfortunate +speech on February 22 did not augur well for its success. "But it is a +duty to the President and to the country," he wrote, "and I shall go +on with right good heart."<a name="vol3FNanchor_312_312" id="vol3FNanchor_312_312"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_312_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a> In the East the party got on very +well, but at Cleveland and other Western cities the President acted +like a man both mad and drunk, while people railed at him as if he +were the clown of a circus. "He sunk the Presidential office to the +level of a grog-house," wrote John Sherman.<a name="vol3FNanchor_313_313" id="vol3FNanchor_313_313"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_313_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a></p> + +<p>Seward's position throughout was pathetic. His apologies and +commonplace appeals for his Chief contrasted strangely with the +courageous, powerful, and steady fight against the domination of +slavery which characterised his former visits to Cleveland, and the +men who had accepted him as their ardent champion deprecated both his +acts and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.149" id="vol3Page_iii.149">iii. 149</a></span> his words. It called to mind Fillmore's desertion of his +anti-slavery professions, and Van Buren's revengeful action in 1848. +"Distrusted by his old friends," said the <i>Nation</i>, "he will never be +taken to the bosom of his old enemies. His trouble is not that the +party to which he once belonged is without a leader, but that he +wanders about like a ghost—a leader without a party."<a name="vol3FNanchor_314_314" id="vol3FNanchor_314_314"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_314_314" class="fnanchor">[314]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.150" id="vol3Page_iii.150">iii. 150</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XII" id="vol3CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h2>HOFFMAN DEFEATED, CONKLING PROMOTED</h2> + +<h2>1866</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> knowledge that Republicans, to overcome the President's vetoes, +must have a two-thirds majority in Congress, precipitated a State +campaign of unusual energy. The contest which began on April 9, when +Johnson disapproved the Civil Rights Bill, was intensified by the +Philadelphia convention and the President's "swing-around-the-circle;" +but the events that made men bitter and deeply in earnest were the +Memphis and New Orleans riots, in which one hundred and eighty negroes +were killed and only eleven of their assailants injured. To the North +this became an object-lesson, illustrating the insincerity of the +South's desire, expressed at Philadelphia, for reconciliation and +peace.</p> + +<p>The Republican State convention, meeting at Syracuse on September 5, +echoed this sentiment. In the centre of the stage the Stars and +Stripes, gracefully festooned, formed a halo over the portrait of +Abraham Lincoln, while a Nast caricature of President Johnson betrayed +the contempt of the enthusiastic gathering. Weed and Raymond were +conspicuous by their absence. The Radicals made Charles H. Van Wyck +chairman, Lyman Tremaine president, George William Curtis chairman of +the committee on resolutions, and Horace Greeley the lion of the +convention. At the latter's appearance delegates leaped to their feet +and gave three rounds of vociferous cheers. The day's greatest +demonstration, however, occurred when the chairman, in his opening +speech, stigmatised the New York friends of the President.<a name="vol3FNanchor_315_315" id="vol3FNanchor_315_315"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_315_315" class="fnanchor">[315]</a> Van +Wyck prudently censored his bitterness<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.151" id="vol3Page_iii.151">iii. 151</a></span> from the press copy, but the +episode reflected the intense unpopularity of Seward, Weed, and +Raymond.</p> + +<p>In the privacy of the club Seward's old-time champions had spoken of +"the decline of his abilities," "the loss of his wits," and "that +dry-rot of the mind's noble temper;" but now, in a crowded public +hall, they cheered any sentiment that charged a betrayal of trust and +the loss of principles. Of course Seward had not lost his principles, +nor betrayed his trust. He held the opinions then that he entertained +before the removal of the splints and bandages from the wounds +inflicted by the bowie-knife of the would-be assassin. He had been in +thorough accord with Lincoln's amnesty proclamation, issued in +December, 1863, as well as with his "Louisiana plan" of +reconstruction, and Johnson's proclamation and plan of reconstruction, +written under Seward's influence, did not differ materially. But +Seward's principles which rarely harmonised with those of the +Radicals, now became more conspicuous and sharply defined because of +the tactlessness and uncompromising spirit of Lincoln's successor. +Besides, he was held responsible for the President's follies. To a +convention filled with crutches, scarred faces, armless sleeves, and +representatives of Andersonville and Libby Prisons, such an attitude +seemed like a betrayal of his trust, and the resentment of the +delegates, perhaps, was not unnatural.</p> + +<p>If Seward was discredited, Reuben E. Fenton was conspicuously trusted. +According to Andrew D. White, a prominent State senator of that day, +the Governor was not a star of the magnitude of his Republican +predecessors.<a name="vol3FNanchor_316_316" id="vol3FNanchor_316_316"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_316_316" class="fnanchor">[316]</a> Others probably held the same opinion. Fenton's +party, however, renominated him by acclamation, and then showed its +inconsistency by refusing a like honour to Thomas G. Alvord, the +lieutenant-governor. The service of the Onondaga Chief, as his friends +delighted to call him, had been as creditable if<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.152" id="vol3Page_iii.152">iii. 152</a></span> not as important as +the Governor's, but the brilliant gifts of Stewart L. Woodford, a +young soldier of patriotic impulses, attracted a large majority of the +convention.<a name="vol3FNanchor_317_317" id="vol3FNanchor_317_317"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_317_317" class="fnanchor">[317]</a> Up to that time, Woodford, then thirty years of age, +was the youngest man nominated for lieutenant-governor. He had made a +conspicuous sacrifice to become a soldier. In 1861 Lincoln appointed +him an assistant United States attorney, but the silenced guns of +Sumter inspired him to raise a company, and he marched away at its +head, leaving the civil office to another. Later he became commandant +of the city that sheltered the guns first trained upon the American +flag, and after his return, disciplined and saddened by scenes of +courage and sacrifice, the clarion notes of the young orator easily +commanded the emotions of his hearers. No one ever wearied when he +spoke. His lightest word, sent thrilling to the rim of a vast +audience, swayed it with the magic of control. He was not then at the +fulness of his power or reputation, but delegates had heard enough to +desire his presence in the important campaign of 1866, and to +stimulate his activity they made him a candidate.</p> + +<p>The platform declared that while the constitutional authority of the +Federal government cannot be impaired by the act of a State or its +people, a State may, by rebellion, so far rupture its relations to the +Union as to suspend its power to exercise the rights which it +possessed under the Constitution; that it belonged to the legislative +power of the government to determine at what time a State may safely +resume the exercise of its rights; and that the doctrine that such +State is itself to judge when it is in proper condition to resume its +place in the Union is false, as well as the other doctrine that the +President was alone sole judge of the period when such suspension +shall be at an end.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.153" id="vol3Page_iii.153">iii. 153</a></span></p> + +<p>If these propositions created no surprise, the refusal squarely to +meet the suffrage issue created much adverse comment. One resolution +expressed a hope that the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment would +tend to the equalisation of all political rights among citizens of the +Union, but although Greeley submitted a suffrage plank, as he did in +the preceding year, Curtis carefully avoided an expression favourable +even to the colored troops.</p> + +<p>"Extreme opinions usually derive a certain amount of strength from +logical consistency," wrote Raymond. "Between the antecedent +proposition of an argument and its practical conclusion there is +ordinarily a connection which commends itself to the advocates of +principle. But the radicalism which proposes to reconstruct the Union +has not this recommendation. Its principles and its policy are not +more alike than fire and water. What it contends for theoretically it +surrenders practically."<a name="vol3FNanchor_318_318" id="vol3FNanchor_318_318"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_318_318" class="fnanchor">[318]</a> Although this was clearly a just +criticism, the radicalism of Congress showed more leniency in practice +than in theory. The Northern people themselves were not yet ready for +negro suffrage, and had the South promptly accepted the Fourteenth +Amendment and the congressional plan of reconstruction, it is doubtful +if the Fifteenth Amendment would have been heard of.</p> + +<p>Conservative Republicans, however, were too well satisfied with their +work at Philadelphia to appreciate this tendency of Congress. The +evidence of reconciliation had been spectacular, if not sincere, and +they believed public opinion was with them. The country, it was +argued, required peace; the people have made up their minds to have +peace; and to insure peace the Southern States must enjoy their +constitutional right to seats in Congress. "This is the one question +now before the country," said the <i>Post</i>; "and all men of every party +who desire the good of the country and can see what is immediately +necessary to produce this good, will unite to send to Congress only +men who will vote for the im<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.154" id="vol3Page_iii.154">iii. 154</a></span>mediate admission of Southern +representatives."<a name="vol3FNanchor_319_319" id="vol3FNanchor_319_319"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_319_319" class="fnanchor">[319]</a> In the opinion of such journals the situation +presented a rare opportunity to the Democratic party. By becoming the +vehicle to bring real peace and good will to the country, it would not +only efface its questionable war record, but it could "spike the guns" +of the Radicals, control Congress, sustain the President, and carry +the Empire State. This was the hope of Raymond and of Weed, back of +whom, it was said, stood tens of thousands of Republicans.</p> + +<p>To aid in the accomplishment of this work, great reliance had been +placed upon the tour of the President. Raymond reluctantly admitted +that these anticipations were far from realised,<a name="vol3FNanchor_320_320" id="vol3FNanchor_320_320"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_320_320" class="fnanchor">[320]</a> although the +managers thought the tour through New York, where the President had +been fairly discreet, was of value in marshalling the sentiment of +Republicans. Besides, it seemed to them to show, in rural districts +and towns as well as in the commercial centres, a decided preference +for a policy aimed to effect the union of all the States according to +the Constitution.</p> + +<p>To encourage the coöperation of Republicans, the Democrats, led by +Dean Richmond, agreed, temporarily at least, to merge their name and +organisation in that of the National Union party. This arrangement was +not easily accomplished. The <i>World</i> hesitated and the <i>Leader</i> +ridiculed, but when the Democracy of the State approved, these +journals acquiesced.<a name="vol3FNanchor_321_321" id="vol3FNanchor_321_321"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_321_321" class="fnanchor">[321]</a> In obedience to this understanding the +Democratic State committee called a National Union State convention, +and invited all to participate who favoured the principles enunciated +by the Philadelphia convention. The obscuration of State policies and +partisan prejudices made this broad and patriotic overture, devoted +exclusively to a more perfect peace, sound as soft and winning as the +spider's invitation to the fly. "If the action of the convention is in +harmony with the spirit of the call," wrote Ray<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.155" id="vol3Page_iii.155">iii. 155</a></span>mond, "it cannot fail +to command a large degree of popular support."<a name="vol3FNanchor_322_322" id="vol3FNanchor_322_322"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_322_322" class="fnanchor">[322]</a> As county +delegations equally divided between Republicans and Democrats arrived +at Albany on September 11, it was apparent that the invitation had +been accepted at its face value. Although no Republican of prominence +appeared save Thurlow Weed, many Republicans of repute in their +respective localities answered to the roll call. These men favoured +John A. Dix for governor. To them he stood distinctly for the specific +policy announced at Philadelphia. In his opening address at that +convention he had sounded the key-note, declaring a speedy restoration +of the Union by the admission of Southern representatives to Congress +a necessary condition of safe political and party action. Besides, Dix +had been a Democrat all his life, a devoted supporter of the +government during the war, and it was believed his career would +command the largest measure of public confidence in the present +emergency.</p> + +<p>This had been the opinion of Dean Richmond, whose death on August 27 +deprived the convention of his distinguished leadership. This was also +the view of Edwards Pierrepont, then as afterward a powerful factor in +whatever circle he entered. Although a staunch Democrat, Pierrepont +had announced, at the historic meeting in Union Square on April 20, +1861, an unqualified devotion to the government, and had accepted, +with James T. Brady and Hamilton Fish, a place on the union defence +committee. Later, he served on a commission with Dix to try prisoners +of state, and in 1864 advocated the election of Lincoln. There was no +dough about Pierrepont. He had shown himself an embodied influence, +speaking with force, and usually with success. He possessed the grit +and the breadth of his ancestors, one of whom was a chief founder of +Yale College, and his presence in the State convention, although he +had not been at Philadelphia, encouraged the hope that it would +concentrate the conservative sentiment and strength of New York, and +restore Democracy to popular confidence. Stimulated by his<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.156" id="vol3Page_iii.156">iii. 156</a></span> +earnestness, the up-State delegates, when the convention opened, had +practically settled Dix's nomination.</p> + +<p>There were other candidates. A few preferred Robert H. Pruyn of +Albany, a Republican of practical energy and large political +experience, and until lately minister to Italy, while others thought +well of Henry C. Murphy of Brooklyn, a Democrat and State senator of +recognised ability. But next to Dix the favourite was John T. Hoffman, +then mayor of New York. It had been many years since the Democrats of +the metropolis had had a State executive. Edwards Pierrepont said that +"no man in the convention was born when the last Democratic governor +was elected from New York or Brooklyn."<a name="vol3FNanchor_323_323" id="vol3FNanchor_323_323"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_323_323" class="fnanchor">[323]</a> This, of course, was +hyperbole, since Pierrepont himself could remember when, at the +opening of the Erie Canal, Governor DeWitt Clinton, amidst the roar of +artillery and the eloquence of many orators, passed through the locks +at Albany, uniting the waters of Lake Erie with those of the Hudson. +Perhaps the thought of Clinton, climbing from the mayoralty to the +more distinguished office of governor, added to the desire of Hoffman, +for although the latter's capacity was limited in comparison with the +astonishing versatility and mental activity of Clinton, he was not +without marked ability.</p> + +<p>Hoffman's life had been full of sunshine and success. He was a +distinguished student at Union College, an excellent lawyer, an +effective speaker, and a superb gentleman. Slenderly but strongly +built, his square, firm chin and prominent features, relieved by large +brown eyes, quickly attracted attention as he appeared in public. "In +the winter of 1866," wrote Rhodes, "I used frequently to see him at an +early morning hour walking down Broadway on his way to the City Hall. +Tall and erect, under forty and in full mental and physical vigor, he +presented a distinguished appearance and was looked at with interest +as he passed with long elastic strides. He was regarded as one of the +coming men of the nation. He had the air of a very successful man who<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.157" id="vol3Page_iii.157">iii. 157</a></span> +is well satisfied with himself and confident that affairs in general +are working for his advantage."<a name="vol3FNanchor_324_324" id="vol3FNanchor_324_324"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_324_324" class="fnanchor">[324]</a></p> + +<p>Not always overstocked with eligibles whom it could admire and trust, +Tammany, proud of the young man's accomplishments, elected him in +1860, at the age of thirty-two, recorder of the city, the presiding +officer of what was then the principal criminal court. Here he +acquitted himself, especially in the draft riot of 1863, with such +credit that Republicans and Democrats united in re-electing him, and +in 1865, before the expiration of his second term as recorder, Tammany +made him mayor. It was a hard, close contest. Indeed, success could +not have come to Tammany without the aid of Hoffman's increasing +popularity. This office, however, plunged him at once into partisan +politics, and gave to his career an uncertain character, as if a turn +of chance would decide what path of political life he was next to +follow. Now, at the age of thirty-eight, Tammany proposed making him +governor.</p> + +<p>But Hoffman represented neither the principles nor the purposes of the +Philadelphia convention. The success of that movement depended largely +upon the pre-eminent fitness of the men who led it. The question was, +would the State be safer in the hands of a well-known Democratic +statesman like Dix than in the control of Fenton and the Radicals? Dix +stood for everything honest and conservative. For more than three +decades his prudence had been indissolubly associated with the wise +discretion of William L. Marcy and Silas Wright, while Hoffman, the +exponent of unpurged Democracy, charged with promoting its welfare and +success, was the one man whom conservative Republicans wished to +avoid, and whom, in their forcible presentation of Dix, they were +driving out of the race.</p> + +<p>Democratic leaders saw the situation with alarm. They had endorsed the +Philadelphia movement to get into power,—not to give it to Dix and +the Conservatives. The Presi<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.158" id="vol3Page_iii.158">iii. 158</a></span>dent's reconstruction policy, benefiting +their party in the South and thus strengthening it in national +elections, had been adopted with sincerity, but they did not seriously +propose to merge their organisation in the State with another, giving +it the reins and the whip. "The New York delegation to Philadelphia," +said the <i>World</i>, "was appointed by a gathering of politicians at +Saratoga, who neither represented, had any authority to bind, nor made +any pretence of binding the Democratic organisation of the +State."<a name="vol3FNanchor_325_325" id="vol3FNanchor_325_325"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_325_325" class="fnanchor">[325]</a> Indeed, it was treated as a surprising revelation that +conservative Republicans and Dix Democrats should come to Albany with +such a notion. However, the Dix appeal, developing wonderful strength, +could not be reasoned with, and in their desperation the Democrats +sought an adjournment until the morrow. This the convention refused, +granting only a recess until four o'clock. In the meantime Dix's +chances strengthened. It was plain that his nomination, on lines +approved by Seward, meant a split in Republican ranks, and the +up-State delegates, fearing delay, stood for early action. Then came +the inevitable trick. On reassembling a motion to adjourn was voted +down three to one, but Sanford E. Church, the chairman, declaring it +carried, put on his hat and quickly left the hall. It was an audacious +proceeding. Two-thirds of the convention stood aghast, and Church, the +next morning, found it necessary to make an abject apology. +Nevertheless, his purpose had been accomplished. Adjournment gave +Tammany the time fiercely to assail Dix, who was now charged with +consigning Democrats to Fort Lafayette, suppressing Democratic +legislatures, and opposing Seymour in 1864. John Morrissey, the +pugilist and congressman, declared that Dix could not poll twenty +thousand votes in New York City. Meanwhile Democratic leaders, closing +the door against Weed and the Conservatives, quietly agreed upon +Hoffman. Had Dean Richmond lived a month longer this <i>coup d'état</i> +would probably not have occurred. In vigour of intellect, in terseness +of expression, and in grasp of ques<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.159" id="vol3Page_iii.159">iii. 159</a></span>tions presented for consideration, +Richmond was recognised as the first unofficial man in America, and he +had long thought it time for the Democratic party to get into step +with the progress of events.</p> + +<p>The next morning, as prearranged, Edwards Pierrepont took the floor, +and after characterising the assembly as a Democratic convention whose +programme had been settled in advance by Democrats, he formally and +apparently with the assent of Dix coolly withdrew the latter's name, +moving that the nomination of John T. Hoffman be made by +acclamation.<a name="vol3FNanchor_326_326" id="vol3FNanchor_326_326"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_326_326" class="fnanchor">[326]</a> This was carried with shouts of wild exultation. +Many Dix supporters, anticipating the outcome, had silently left the +hall, but enough remained to hear, with profound astonishment, the +confession of Pierrepont that he had united with Tammany for the +nomination of Hoffman before the meeting of the Philadelphia +convention. Why, then, it was asked, did he advocate Dix the day +before? and upon whose authority did he withdraw Dix's name? After +such an exposure it could not be said of Pierrepont that he was +without guile. "It was the occasion of especial surprise and regret," +wrote Weed, "that even before the National Union State convention had +concluded its labours, Judge Pierrepont should have assumed that it +was a Democratic convention, and that its programme had been settled +in advance by Democrats. This was not less a surprise when I +remembered that on the day previous to that announcement, Judge +Pierrepont concurred fully with me in the opinion that the nomination +of General Dix for governor was expedient and desirable."<a name="vol3FNanchor_327_327" id="vol3FNanchor_327_327"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_327_327" class="fnanchor">[327]</a></p> + +<p>But the worst blow to a union of political interests was yet to come. +To afford the people safety in their persons, security in their +property, and honesty in the administration<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.160" id="vol3Page_iii.160">iii. 160</a></span> of their government, a +Republican Legislature had placed the affairs of New York City largely +in control of Boards and Commissions. Tammany naturally resented this +invasion of home rule, and after reaffirming the principles of the +Philadelphia movement, the convention declared that "recent +legislation at Albany has usurped a supreme yet fitful control of the +local affairs which counties and municipalities are entitled to +regulate."<a name="vol3FNanchor_328_328" id="vol3FNanchor_328_328"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_328_328" class="fnanchor">[328]</a> To Conservatives nothing could have been more +offensive than such a declaration. "There are thousands of +Republicans," said Raymond, "who long for a restoration of the Union +by the admission to their seats in Congress of loyal men from loyal +States, but who will be quite likely to prefer taking their chances of +securing this result from the action of the Republican party, modified +as it may be by reflection and moderate counsels, rather than seek it +in the way marked out for them by the Albany Democratic +convention."<a name="vol3FNanchor_329_329" id="vol3FNanchor_329_329"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_329_329" class="fnanchor">[329]</a></p> + +<p>Thus the clash began. Conservatives resented the evident intention of +the Democrats to strengthen their party at the expense of the +Philadelphia movement. "We desire to call special attention," said a +Buffalo paper, "to the necessity of carrying out in good faith the +understanding which was entered into at the Philadelphia convention +that all old party antecedents and future action should be merged in +the National Union organisation. It was not contemplated then, or +since, to strengthen the Democratic party by that movement, and any +effort in that direction now cannot fail to be mischievous."<a name="vol3FNanchor_330_330" id="vol3FNanchor_330_330"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_330_330" class="fnanchor">[330]</a> +Before the month of September expired Raymond warned the <i>World</i> that +he was not pledged to the action of the Albany convention. "No +Republican went into it for any such purpose," he said. "No hint of +putting it to any such use was given in the call or in any of its +preliminary proceedings. The convention was called to give effect to +the principles and policy of the Philadelphia convention, and +Republicans who approved those principles<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.161" id="vol3Page_iii.161">iii. 161</a></span> concurred in the call. But +how did this give that convention the right to commit them in favour +of measures alien from its ostensible purpose, and at war with their +entire political action? It is utterly preposterous to suppose that +they can coöperate with the Democratic party in the accomplishment of +any such design."<a name="vol3FNanchor_331_331" id="vol3FNanchor_331_331"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_331_331" class="fnanchor">[331]</a></p> + +<p>Five days later Raymond announced his support of the Republican +ticket.<a name="vol3FNanchor_332_332" id="vol3FNanchor_332_332"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_332_332" class="fnanchor">[332]</a> It was significant of his sincerity that he declined to +run again for Congress. Thomas E. Stewart, a conservative Republican, +was easily elected in the Sixth District, and Raymond could have had +the same vote, but without "the approval of those who originally gave +me their suffrage," he said, "a seat in Congress ceases to have any +attraction. With the Democratic party, as it has been organised and +directed since the rebellion broke out, I have nothing in +common."<a name="vol3FNanchor_333_333" id="vol3FNanchor_333_333"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_333_333" class="fnanchor">[333]</a> It is impossible not to feel a high respect for the +manner in which Raymond, having come to this determination, at once +acted upon it. He resented no criticism; he allowed no gleam of +feeling to creep into his editorials. Few men could have avoided the +temptation to assume the tone of the wronged one who endures much and +will not complain. Instinctively, however, Raymond felt the bad taste +and unwisdom of such a style, and he joined heartily and +good-naturedly in the effort to elect Reuben E. Fenton.</p> + +<p>Thurlow Weed, on the other hand, remained a Conservative. Indeed, he +went a step farther in the way of irreconciliation, preferring Hoffman +and Tammany, he said, to "the reckless, red-radicalism which rules the +present Congress.... The men who now lead the radical crusade against +the President," he continued, explanatory of his course, "attempted +during the war to divide the North. That calamity was averted by the +firmness and patriotism of conservative Republicans. In 1864 the same +leaders, as hostile to Mr. Lincoln as they are to President Johnson, +at<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.162" id="vol3Page_iii.162">iii. 162</a></span>tempted to defeat his election by a flank movement at Cleveland. +Mr. Greeley wrote private letters to prominent Republicans inviting +their coöperation in a scheme to defeat Mr. Lincoln's election. The +same leaders went to Washington last December with the deliberate +intention to quarrel with the President, who up to that day and hour +had followed in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor. Their +denunciations have been systematic and fiendish. If, under a keen +sense of injustice, he has since erred in judgment or temper, none +will deny the sufficiency of the provocation. That it would have been +wiser, though less manly, to forbear, I admit. But no nature, merely +human, excepting, perhaps, that of Abraham Lincoln, can patiently +endure wanton public indignities and contumely."<a name="vol3FNanchor_334_334" id="vol3FNanchor_334_334"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_334_334" class="fnanchor">[334]</a></p> + +<p>After the October elections it became apparent that the North would +support Congress rather than the President. One cause of distrust was +the latter's replacement of Republican office-holders with men noted +for disloyalty during the war. Weed complained that the appointment of +an obnoxious postmaster in Brooklyn "has cost us thousands of votes in +that city."<a name="vol3FNanchor_335_335" id="vol3FNanchor_335_335"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_335_335" class="fnanchor">[335]</a> During the campaign Johnson removed twelve hundred +and eighty-three postmasters, and relatively as many custom-house +employés and internal revenue officers.<a name="vol3FNanchor_336_336" id="vol3FNanchor_336_336"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_336_336" class="fnanchor">[336]</a> Among the latter was +Philip Dorsheimer of Buffalo. Indeed, the sweep equalled the violent +action of the Council of Appointment in the days when DeWitt Clinton +and Ambrose Spencer, resenting opposition to Morgan Lewis, sent Peter +B. Porter to the political guillotine for supporting Aaron Burr. Such +wholesale removals, however, did not arrest the progress of the +Republican party. After Johnson's "swing around the circle," +Conservatives were reduced to a few prominent men who could not +consistently retrace their steps, and to hungry office-holders who +were known as "the bread and butter brigade."<a name="vol3FNanchor_337_337" id="vol3FNanchor_337_337"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_337_337" class="fnanchor">[337]</a> The<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.163" id="vol3Page_iii.163">iii. 163</a></span> <i>Post</i>, a +loyal advocate of the President's policy, thought it a melancholy +reflection "That its most damaging opponent is the President, who +makes a judicious course so hateful to the people that no argument is +listened to, and no appeals to reason, to the Constitution, to common +sense, can gain a hearing."<a name="vol3FNanchor_338_338" id="vol3FNanchor_338_338"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_338_338" class="fnanchor">[338]</a> Henry Ward Beecher voiced a similar +lament. The great divine had suffered severe criticism for casting his +large influence on the side of Johnson, and he now saw success melting +away because of the President's vicious course. "Mr. Johnson just now +and for some time past," he wrote, "has been the greatest obstacle in +the way of his own views. The mere fact that he holds them is their +condemnation with a public utterly exasperated with his rudeness and +violence."<a name="vol3FNanchor_339_339" id="vol3FNanchor_339_339"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_339_339" class="fnanchor">[339]</a> A few weeks later the Brooklyn minister, tired of the +insincerity of the President and of his Philadelphia movement, opened +the campaign with a characteristic speech in support of the Republican +candidates.<a name="vol3FNanchor_340_340" id="vol3FNanchor_340_340"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_340_340" class="fnanchor">[340]</a></p> + +<p>In animation, frequent meetings, and depth of interest, the campaign +resembled a Presidential contest. The issues were largely national. As +one of the disastrous results of Johnson's reconstruction policy, +Republicans pointed to the New Orleans and Memphis massacres, +intensified by the charge of the Southern loyalists that "more than a +thousand devoted Union citizens have been murdered in cold blood since +the surrender of Lee."<a name="vol3FNanchor_341_341" id="vol3FNanchor_341_341"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_341_341" class="fnanchor">[341]</a> The horrors of Andersonville, illuminated +by eye witnesses, and the delay to try Jefferson Davis, added to the +exasperation. On the other hand, Democrats traced Southern conditions +to opposition to the President's policy, charging Congress with a base +betrayal of the Constitution in requiring the late Confederate States +to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment as a condition precedent to the +admission of their representatives. The great debate attracted to the +rostrum the ablest and best known speakers. For the Republicans, +Roscoe Conkling, sounding the ac<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.164" id="vol3Page_iii.164">iii. 164</a></span>cepted key-note, now for the first +time made an extended tour of the State, speaking in fourteen towns +and cities. On the other hand, true to the traditions of his life, +John A. Dix threw his influence on the side of the President.</p> + +<p>Hoffman, also, patiently traversed the State, discussing +constitutional and legal principles with the care of an able lawyer. +There was much in Hoffman himself to attract the enthusiasm of popular +assemblages. Kind and sympathetic, with a firm dignity that avoided +undue familiarity, he was irresistibly fascinating to men as he moved +among them. He had an attractive presence, a genial manner, and a good +name. He had, too, a peculiar capacity for understanding and pleasing +people, being liberal and spontaneous in his expressions of sympathy, +and apparently earnest in his attachment to principle. He was not an +orator. He lacked dash, brilliant rhetoric, and attractive figures of +speech. He rarely stirred the emotions. But he pleased people. They +felt themselves in the presence of one whom they could trust as well +as admire. The Democratic party wanted a new hero, and the favourite +young mayor seemed cut out to supply the want.</p> + +<p>However, Hoffman did not escape the barbed criticism of the Republican +press. Raymond had spoken of his ability and purity, and of his course +during the war as patriotic.<a name="vol3FNanchor_342_342" id="vol3FNanchor_342_342"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_342_342" class="fnanchor">[342]</a> Weed, also, had said that "during +the rebellion he was loyal to the government and Union."<a name="vol3FNanchor_343_343" id="vol3FNanchor_343_343"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_343_343" class="fnanchor">[343]</a> To +overcome these certificates of character, the <i>Tribune</i> declared that +"Saturn is not more hopelessly bound with rings than he. Rings of +councilmen, rings of aldermen, rings of railroad corporations, hold +him in their charmed circles, and would, if he were elected, use his +influence to plunder the treasury and the people."<a name="vol3FNanchor_344_344" id="vol3FNanchor_344_344"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_344_344" class="fnanchor">[344]</a> It also +charged him with being disloyal. In 1866 and for several years later +the standing of pronounced Copperheads was similar to that of Tories +after the Revolution, and it seriously crippled a candidate for office +to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.165" id="vol3Page_iii.165">iii. 165</a></span> classed among them. Moreover, it was easy to discredit a +Democrat's loyalty. To most members of the Union party the name itself +clothed a man with suspicion, and the slightest specification, like +the outcropping of a ledge of rocks, indicated that much more was +concealed than had been shown. On this theory, the Republican press, +deeming it desirable, if not absolutely essential, to put Hoffman into +the disloyal class, accepted the memory of men who heard him speak at +Sing Sing, his native town, in 1864. As they remembered, he had +declared that "Democrats only had gone to war;" that "volunteering +stopped when Lincoln declared for an abolition policy;" and that he +"would advise revolution and resistance to the government" if Lincoln +was elected without Tennessee being represented in the electoral +college.<a name="vol3FNanchor_345_345" id="vol3FNanchor_345_345"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_345_345" class="fnanchor">[345]</a> Other men told how "at one of the darkest periods of the +war, Hoffman urged an immediate sale of United States securities, then +under his control and held by the sinking fund of the city."<a name="vol3FNanchor_346_346" id="vol3FNanchor_346_346"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_346_346" class="fnanchor">[346]</a> In +the <i>Tribune's</i> opinion such convenient recollections of unnamed and +unknown men made him a "Copperhead."<a name="vol3FNanchor_347_347" id="vol3FNanchor_347_347"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_347_347" class="fnanchor">[347]</a></p> + +<p>Although New York indicated the same direction of the popular will +that had manifested itself in Pennsylvania and other October States, +the heavy and fraudulent registration in New York City encouraged the +belief that Tammany would overcome the up-State vote.<a name="vol3FNanchor_348_348" id="vol3FNanchor_348_348"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_348_348" class="fnanchor">[348]</a> However, +the pronounced antagonism to the President proved too serious a +handicap, and the Radicals, electing Fenton by 13,000 majority,<a name="vol3FNanchor_349_349" id="vol3FNanchor_349_349"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_349_349" class="fnanchor">[349]</a> +carried both branches of the Legislature, and twenty out of thirty-one +congressmen. It was regarded a great victory for Fenton, who was +really opposed by one of the most formidable combinations known to the +politics of the State. Besides the full strength of the Democratic +party, the combined liquor interest antagonised him, while the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.166" id="vol3Page_iii.166">iii. 166</a></span> Weed +forces, backed by the Johnsonised federal officials, were not less +potent. Indeed, Seward publicly predicted Republican defeat by 40,000 +majority.<a name="vol3FNanchor_350_350" id="vol3FNanchor_350_350"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_350_350" class="fnanchor">[350]</a></p> + +<p>The result also insured the election of a Republican to the United +States Senate to succeed Ira Harris on March 4, 1867. Candidates for +the high honour were numerous. Before the end of November Horace +Greeley, having suffered defeat for Congress in the Fourth District, +served notice of his desire.<a name="vol3FNanchor_351_351" id="vol3FNanchor_351_351"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_351_351" class="fnanchor">[351]</a> George William Curtis had a like +ambition. Lyman Tremaine, too, was willing. Charles J. Folger, the +strong man of the State Senate, belonged in the same class, and Ransom +Balcom of Binghamton, who had achieved an enviable reputation as a +Supreme Court judge, also had his friends. But the three men seriously +talked of were Ira Harris, Noah Davis, and Roscoe Conkling.</p> + +<p>Harris had been something of a disappointment. He had performed the +duties of judge and legislator with marked ability, but in Washington, +instead of exercising an adequate influence on the floor of the +Senate, he contented himself with voting, performing committee work, +and attending to the personal wants of soldiers and other +constituents. President Lincoln, referring to the Senator's +persistency in pressing candidates for office, once said: "I never +think of going to sleep now without first looking under my bed to see +if Judge Harris is not there wanting something for somebody."<a name="vol3FNanchor_352_352" id="vol3FNanchor_352_352"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_352_352" class="fnanchor">[352]</a></p> + +<p>Davis had been on the Supreme bench since 1857, and although he had +had little opportunity to develop statesmanship, his enthusiastic +devotion to the Union had discovered resources of argument and a +fearless independence which were destined to win him great fame in the +trial of William M. Tweed. People liked his nerve, believed in his +honesty, confided in his judgment, and revelled in the retorts that +leaped to his lips. There was no question, either, how<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.167" id="vol3Page_iii.167">iii. 167</a></span> he would stand +if called to vote upon the impeachment of the President, a proceeding +already outlined and practically determined upon by the majority in +Congress. This could not be said with confidence of Ira Harris. +Although his radicalism had stiffened as the time for a re-election +approached, he had not always been terribly in earnest. It was not his +nature to jump to the support of a measure that happened to please the +fancy of the moment. Yet his votes followed those of Senator +Fessenden, and his voice, if not strong in debate, expressed the +wisdom and judgment of a safe counsellor.</p> + +<p>In the House of Representatives Conkling had displayed real ability. +Time had vindicated his reasons for demanding a bankrupt law, and his +voice, raised for economy in the public expense, had made him of +special service during the war. He voted to reduce the mileage of +congressmen, he opposed the creation of wide-open commissions, and he +aided in uncovering frauds in the recruiting service. In the darkest +hour of rebellion he approved Vallandigham's arrest and refused to +join a movement to displace Lincoln for another candidate. On his +return to Congress, after his defeat in 1862, he had passed to the +Committee on Ways and Means, and to the Joint Committee on +Reconstruction. Of the Radicals no one surpassed him in diligence and +energy. He voted to confiscate the property of rebels, he stood with +Stevens for disfranchising all persons who voluntarily adhered to the +late insurrection until July 4, 1870, and he would agree to no plan +that operated to disfranchise the coloured population. Indeed, to the +system of constructive legislation which represented the plan of +reconstruction devised by Congress, he practically devoted his time.</p> + +<p>Of the New York delegation Conkling was admittedly the ablest speaker, +although in a House which numbered among its members James A. +Garfield, Thaddeus Stevens, and James G. Blaine, he was not an +admitted star of the first magnitude. Blaine's serious oratorical +castigation, administered after a display of offensive manners, had +disarmed<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.168" id="vol3Page_iii.168">iii. 168</a></span> him except in resentment.<a name="vol3FNanchor_353_353" id="vol3FNanchor_353_353"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_353_353" class="fnanchor">[353]</a> The <i>Times</i> spoke of him as +of "secondary rank,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_354_354" id="vol3FNanchor_354_354"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_354_354" class="fnanchor">[354]</a> and the <i>Tribune</i>, the great organ of the +party, had declined to put upon him the seal of its approval. Besides, +his vanity and arrogance, although not yet a fruitful subject of the +comic literature of the day, disparaged almost as much as his +brilliant rhetoric exalted him. Careful observers, however, had not +failed to measure Conkling's ability. From Paris, William Cullen +Bryant wrote his friends to make every effort to nominate him, and +Parke Godwin extended the same quality of support.<a name="vol3FNanchor_355_355" id="vol3FNanchor_355_355"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_355_355" class="fnanchor">[355]</a> His recent +campaign, too, had made men proud of him. Although disaffected +Republicans sought to drive him from public life, and the <i>Tribune</i> +had withheld its encouragement, he gained a great triumph.</p> + +<p>But men talked geography. Seward and Preston King had represented +western New York, and since Morgan had succeeded King, a western man, +it was argued, should suc<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.169" id="vol3Page_iii.169">iii. 169</a></span>ceed Harris. This strengthened Noah Davis. +Never in the history of the State, declared his friends, had a United +States senator been taken from territory west of Cayuga Bridge, a +section having over one million people, and giving in the recent +election 27,000 Republican majority. On this and the strength of their +candidate the western counties relied, with the further hope of +inheriting Harris' strength whenever it left him. On the other hand, +Harris sought support as the second choice of the Davis men. Greeley +never really got into the race. Organisation would probably not have +availed him, but after serving notice upon his friends that their +ardent and button-holing support would not be sanctioned by him, the +impression obtained that Greeley was as ridiculous as his letter.<a name="vol3FNanchor_356_356" id="vol3FNanchor_356_356"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_356_356" class="fnanchor">[356]</a> +When Lyman Tremaine withdrew from the contest he threw his influence +to Conkling. This jolted Harris. Then Andrew D. White changed from +Curtis to the Oneidan. Curtis understood the situation too well to +become active. "The only chance," he wrote, "is a bitter deadlock +between the three, or two, chiefs. The friends of Davis proposed to me +to make a combination against Conkling, the terms being the election +of whichever was stronger now,—Davis or me,—and the pledges of the +successful man to support the other two years hence. I declined +absolutely."<a name="vol3FNanchor_357_357" id="vol3FNanchor_357_357"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_357_357" class="fnanchor">[357]</a> As Harris weakened, Reuben E. Fenton, hopeful of +becoming Edwin D. Morgan's successor in 1869, restrained any rush to +Davis.</p> + +<p>The potential influence of Ellis H. Roberts, editor of the Utica +<i>Herald</i>, a paper of large circulation in northern and central New +York, proved of great assistance to Conkling. Roberts was of Welsh +origin, a scholar in politics, strong with the pen, and conspicuously +prominent in the discussion of economic issues. When in Congress +(1871-75) he served upon the Ways and Means Committee. In 1867 his +friends sent him to the Assembly especially to promote the election of +Utica's favourite son, and in his sincere, earnest<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.170" id="vol3Page_iii.170">iii. 170</a></span> efforts he very +nearly consolidated the Republican press of the State in Conkling's +behalf. During the week's fierce contest at Albany he marshalled his +forces with rare skill, not forgetting that vigilance brings +victory.<a name="vol3FNanchor_358_358" id="vol3FNanchor_358_358"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_358_358" class="fnanchor">[358]</a></p> + +<p>Thus the strife, without bitterness because free from factional +strife, remained for several days at white-heat. "On reaching here +Tuesday night," Conkling wrote his wife, "the crowd took and held +possession of me till about three o'clock the next morning. Hundreds +came and went, and until Thursday night this continued from early +morning to early morning again. The contest is a very curious and +complex one. Great sums of money are among the influences here. I have +resolutely put down my foot that no friend of mine, even without my +knowledge, shall pay a cent, upon any pretext nor in any strait, come +what will. If chosen, it will be by the men of character, and if +beaten this will be my consolation. The gamblers say that I can have +$200,000 here from New York in a moment if I choose, and that the +members are fools to elect me without it."<a name="vol3FNanchor_359_359" id="vol3FNanchor_359_359"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_359_359" class="fnanchor">[359]</a> As evidence of the +want of faith in legislative virtue, the <i>Times</i> gave the answer of a +veteran lobbyist, who was asked respecting the chances of Freeman +Clarke. "Who's Clark?" he inquired. "Formerly the comptroller of the +currency," was the reply. "Oh, yes," said the lobbyist; "and if he +controlled the currency now, he would have a sure thing of it."<a name="vol3FNanchor_360_360" id="vol3FNanchor_360_360"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_360_360" class="fnanchor">[360]</a></p> + +<p>Conkling's winning card was his forensic ability. In the United State +Senate, since the days of Seward, New York had been weak in debating +power, and the party's desire to be represented by one who could place +the Empire State in the front rank of influence appealed strongly to +many of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.171" id="vol3Page_iii.171">iii. 171</a></span> legislators. Andrew D. White, therefore, raised a +whirlwind of applause at the caucus when he declared, in seconding +Conkling's nomination, that what the Empire State wanted was not +judicial talent "but a voice."<a name="vol3FNanchor_361_361" id="vol3FNanchor_361_361"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_361_361" class="fnanchor">[361]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, so evenly did the members divide that it took five +ballots to make a nomination. Conkling led on the first ballot and +Davis on the second. On the third, Conkling stood one ahead, and three +on the fourth, with Harris clinging to six votes. The disposition of +these six would make a senator, and by gaining them Conkling became +the nominee on the fifth ballot.<a name="vol3FNanchor_362_362" id="vol3FNanchor_362_362"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_362_362" class="fnanchor">[362]</a> Had they gone to Noah Davis, +Fenton's way to the Senate in 1869 must have been blocked. But the +Governor was watchful. At the critical moment on the last ballot, one +vote which had been twice thrown for Davis went back to Folger. The +Chautauquan did not propose to take any chances.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.172" id="vol3Page_iii.172">iii. 172</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XIII" id="vol3CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h2>THE RISE OF TWEEDISM</h2> + +<h2>1867</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> election of Roscoe Conkling to the United States Senate made him +the most prominent, if not the most influential politician in New +York. "No new senator," said a Washington paper, "has ever made in so +short a time such rapid strides to a commanding position in that +body."<a name="vol3FNanchor_363_363" id="vol3FNanchor_363_363"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_363_363" class="fnanchor">[363]</a></p> + +<p>Conkling was not yet established, however. His friends who wished to +make him chairman of the Republican State convention which assembled +at Syracuse on September 24, 1867, discovered that he was not beloved +by the Radical leaders. He had a habit of speaking his own mind, and +instead of confining his thoughts to the committee room, or whispering +them in the ears of a few alleged leaders, it was his custom to take +the public into his confidence. Horace Greeley, jealous of his +prerogative, disapproved such independence, and Governor Fenton, the +<i>Tribune's</i> protégé, had apprehensions for his own leadership. +Besides, it was becoming more apparent each day that the men who did +not like Greeley and preferred other leadership to Fenton's, thought +well of Conkling. He was not a wild partisan. Although a stiff Radical +he had no reason to feel bitter toward men who happened to differ with +him on governmental policies. His life did not run back into the +quarrels between Greeley and Thurlow Weed, and he had no disposition +to be tangled up with them; but when he discovered that Greeley had +little use for him, he easily formed friendships among men who had +little use for Greeley. It was noticeable that<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.173" id="vol3Page_iii.173">iii. 173</a></span> Conkling did not +criticise Raymond's erratic run after Andrew Johnson. He heard +Shellabarger's stinging reply, he listened to the editor's hopeless +appeal for support, and he voted against the resolution of confidence +in the President, but he added nothing to Raymond's humiliation. +Perhaps this accounted for the latter's appreciation of the young +Senator. At all events, the <i>Times</i> complimented while the <i>Tribune</i> +remained silent. It was evident the great Republican organ did not +intend advertising the ability of the strenuous, self-asserting +Senator, who was rapidly becoming a leader.</p> + +<p>The existence of this jealousy quickly betrayed itself to Conkling's +admirers at the State convention. On the surface men were calm and +responsive. But in forming the committee on permanent organisation +Fenton's supporters, who easily controlled the convention, secretly +arranged to make Lyman Tremaine chairman. When this plan came to the +ears of the Conkling men, one of them, with the shrewdness of a +genuine politician, surprised the schemers by moving to instruct the +committee to report the Senator for permanent president. This made it +necessary to accept or squarely to reject him, and wishing to avoid +open opposition, the Governor's managers allowed the convention to +acquiesce in the motion amid the vociferous cheers of the Senator's +friends.</p> + +<p>Conkling's speech on this occasion was one of interest. He outlined a +policy for which, he contended, his party in the Empire State ought to +stand. This was a new departure in New York. Heretofore, its chosen +representatives, keeping silent until a way had been mapped out in +Washington or elsewhere, preferred to follow. Conkling preferred to +lead. There was probably not a Republican in the State capable of +forming an opinion who did not know that from the moment Conkling +became a senator the division of the party into two stout factions was +merely a question of time. That time had not yet come, but even then +it was evident to the eye of a close observer that the action of the +Radicals,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.174" id="vol3Page_iii.174">iii. 174</a></span> led by Fenton, turned in a measure upon their distrust of +Conkling and his supporters.</p> + +<p>This was manifest in the cool treatment accorded the New York City +delegates who represented the bolting Republicans of the year before. +Conkling's friends, disposed to be liberal, argued that the vote of a +"returning sinner" counted as much on election day as that of a saint. +On the other hand, the Fenton forces, while willing to benefit by the +suffrage of Conservatives, were disinclined to admit to the convention +men tainted with the sin of party treason, who would naturally +strengthen their adversaries. In the end, after a fierce struggle +which absorbed an entire session, the Conservatives were left out.</p> + +<p>Opposition to the State officials who had shown a disposition to +favour the Senator was less open but no less effective. The exposure +of canal frauds in the preceding winter, showing that for a period of +six years trifling causes had been deemed sufficient to displace low +bids for high ones, thus greatly enriching a canal ring at the expense +of the State, involved only the Canal Commissioner. Indeed, every +reason existed why Barlow and his soldier associates whose army +records had strengthened their party in 1865 should receive the usual +endorsement of a renomination; but to avoid what, it was claimed, +might otherwise be regarded an invidious distinction, the Greeley +Radicals cleverly secured a new ticket.<a name="vol3FNanchor_364_364" id="vol3FNanchor_364_364"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_364_364" class="fnanchor">[364]</a> "In their zeal to become +honest," said Horatio Seymour, "the Republicans have pitched overboard +all the officials who have not robbed the treasury."<a name="vol3FNanchor_365_365" id="vol3FNanchor_365_365"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_365_365" class="fnanchor">[365]</a></p> + +<p>The platform no longer revealed differences in the party.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.175" id="vol3Page_iii.175">iii. 175</a></span> It affirmed +impartial suffrage, protested against maladministration and corruption +in State affairs, supported Congress in its policy of reconstruction, +and rebuked all tampering with the financial obligations of the Union. +Upon these plain, simple issues Conservatives and Radicals stood +united. Those who, in 1865, thought the restoration of the Union on +the President's plan would have been wise, conceded that under the +changed conditions in 1867 it would be impracticable as well as unsafe +and impolitic. Indeed, in his conduct of the <i>Times</i>, Raymond was +again in accord with the Republicans, but he did not seek to renew his +former relations with the party. Being complimented for "keeping in +the background,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_366_366" id="vol3FNanchor_366_366"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_366_366" class="fnanchor">[366]</a> he replied that "when, a year ago, he declined a +re-election to Congress, it was for the purpose of devoting himself +wholly to the editorship of the <i>Times</i>, a position more to his taste +than any other, and which carries with it as much of influence, +honour, and substantial reward as any office in the gift of Presidents +or political parties."<a name="vol3FNanchor_367_367" id="vol3FNanchor_367_367"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_367_367" class="fnanchor">[367]</a> Had he appreciated the truth of this wise +statement in 1864 his sun might not have set in a cloud. "His +parliamentary failure," says Blaine, "was a keen disappointment to +him, and was not improbably one among many causes which cut short a +brilliant and useful life."<a name="vol3FNanchor_368_368" id="vol3FNanchor_368_368"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_368_368" class="fnanchor">[368]</a></p> + +<p>The passing of Raymond and the advent of John T. Hoffman as a factor +in the State illustrate the curious work often wrought by political +changes. Raymond's efforts in behalf of reconciliation and peace +happened to concur in point of time with the demands of Tammany for +Hoffman and home-rule, and the latter proved the more potent.</p> + +<p>Hoffman's appearance in State politics marked the beginning of a new +era. The increased majority in New York City in 1866, so +disproportionate to other years, and the naturalisation of immigrants +at the rate of one thousand a day, regardless of the period of their +residence in the coun<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.176" id="vol3Page_iii.176">iii. 176</a></span>try,<a name="vol3FNanchor_369_369" id="vol3FNanchor_369_369"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_369_369" class="fnanchor">[369]</a> indicated that a new leader of the +first magnitude had appeared, and that methods which differentiated +all moral principles had been introduced. For ten years William Marcy +Tweed had been sachem or grand sachem of Tammany and chairman of its +general committee. In climbing the ladder of power he had had his ups +and downs. He endured several defeats, notably for assistant alderman, +for re-election to Congress after a service of one term, and for +sheriff of New York County. But his popularity suffered no eclipse. +Ever since he led the ropes as a volunteer fireman, carrying a +silver-mounted trumpet, a white fire coat, and a stiff hat, the young +men of his class had made a hero of the tall, graceful, athletic +chief. His smiles were winning and his manners magnetic. From leading +a fire company he quickly led the politics of his district and then of +his ward, utilising his popularity by becoming in 1859 a member of the +Board of Supervisors, and in 1863 deputy street commissioner. As +supervisor he influenced expenditures and the making of contracts, +while the street deputy-ship gave him control of thousands of +labourers and sent aldermen after him for jobs for their ward +supporters. Thus intrenched he dropped chair-making, a business +inherited from his father, put up the sign of lawyer, and became known +to friends and foes as Boss Tweed, a title to which he did not object.</p> + +<p>Like Hoffman, Tweed had a most agreeable personality. Always +scrupulously neat in his dress and suave in manner, he possessed the +outward characteristics of a gentleman, being neither boastful nor +noisy, and never addicted to the drink or tobacco habit. To his +friends the warmth of his greeting and the heartiness of his +hand-shake evidenced the active sympathies expressed in numberless +deeds of kindness and charity. Yet he could be despotic. If he desired +a motion carried in his favour he neglected to call for negative +votes, warning opponents with significant glances of the danger of +incurring his displeasure. Once, when his ruling<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.177" id="vol3Page_iii.177">iii. 177</a></span> as chairman of a +Tammany nominating convention raised a storm of protests, he blocked +the plans of his adversaries by adjourning the meeting and turning off +the gas.</p> + +<p>Although Tweed, perhaps, was often at fault in his estimate of men who +frequently deceived him, he selected his immediate lieutenants with +intelligent care. In 1857 he had George G. Barnard elected recorder +and Peter B. Sweeny district attorney. About the same time Richard B. +Connolly became county clerk. When Barnard's term expired in 1860 he +advanced him to the Supreme Court and took up Hoffman for recorder. +Later Hoffman became mayor and Connolly city comptroller. After +Hoffman's second promotion A. Oakey Hall was made mayor. In his way +each of these men contributed strength to the political junta which +was destined to grow in influence and power until it seemed +invincible. Hall had been a versifier, a writer of tales in prose, a +Know-nothing, a friend of Seward, and an anti-Tammany Democrat. As a +clubman, ambitious for social distinction, he was known as "elegant +Oakey." Although "without ballast," as Tweed admitted, he was +indispensable as an interesting speaker of considerable force, who +yielded readily to the demands of a boss. Connolly, suave and courtly, +was at heart so mean and crafty that Tweed himself held him in the +utmost contempt as a "Slippery Dick." But he was a good bookkeeper. +Besides, however many leeches he harboured about him, his intimate +knowledge of Tweed's doings kept him in power. Perhaps Barnard, more +in the public eye than any other, had less legal learning than wit, +yet in spite of his foppish dress he never lacked sufficient dignity +to float the appearance of a learned judge. He was a handsome man, +tall and well proportioned, with peculiarly brilliant eyes, a jet +black moustache, light olive complexion, and a graceful carriage. +Whenever in trouble Tweed could safely turn to him without +disappointment. But the man upon whom the Boss most relied was Sweeny. +He was a great manipulator of men, acquiring the cognomen of Peter +Brains Sweeny in recognition of his admitted<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.178" id="vol3Page_iii.178">iii. 178</a></span> ability. He had little +taste for public life. Nevertheless, hidden from sight, without +conscience and without fear, his sly, patient intrigues surpassed +those of his great master. The <i>Tribune</i> called him "the +Mephistopheles of Tammany."<a name="vol3FNanchor_370_370" id="vol3FNanchor_370_370"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_370_370" class="fnanchor">[370]</a></p> + +<p>The questionable doings of some of these men had already attracted the +attention of the press. It was not then known that a thirty-five per +cent. rake-off on all bills paid by the city was divided between Tweed +and Connolly, or that Sweeny had stolen enough to pay $60,000 for his +confirmation as city chamberlain by the Board of Aldermen;<a name="vol3FNanchor_371_371" id="vol3FNanchor_371_371"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_371_371" class="fnanchor">[371]</a> but +the prompt subscription of $175,000 by a few members of Tammany for +the erection of a new hall on Fourteenth Street, the cornerstone of +which was laid on July 4, 1867, showed that some folks were rapidly +getting rich.<a name="vol3FNanchor_372_372" id="vol3FNanchor_372_372"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_372_372" class="fnanchor">[372]</a> In the year after Hoffman's defeat for governor the +aim of Tweed and his lieutenants was to carry city elections and +control State conventions, with dreams of making Hoffman governor and +then President, and of electing Tweed to the United States Senate.</p> + +<p>With this ambitious scheme in view the Tammany braves, reaching Albany +on October 3, 1867, demanded that Hoffman be made president of the +Democratic State convention. It was a bold claim for a defeated +candidate. After Fenton's election in 1864 Seymour had deemed it +proper to remain in the background, and for two years did not attend a +State convention. He had now reappeared, and the up-State delegates, +delighted at his return, insisted upon his election as president. +Instantly this became the issue. The friends of the Governor pointed +to his achievements and to his distinguished position as the great +apostle of Democracy. On the other hand, Tammany, with its usual +assurance, talked of its 50,000 majority given the Democratic ticket +in 1866, declared that Seymour had had enough, and that Hoffman needed +the endorsement to secure his re-election as<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.179" id="vol3Page_iii.179">iii. 179</a></span> mayor in the following +December. Thus the contest raged. Tammany was imperious and the +country delegates stubborn. One year before these men had allowed +their better judgment to be coerced into a condemnation of John A. Dix +because of his alleged ill treatment of Democrats; but now, standing +like a stone wall for Seymour, they followed their convictions as to +the best interests of the party. In the end Hoffman became temporary +chairman and Seymour president. The generous applause that greeted +Hoffman's appearance must have satisfied his most ardent friend until +he witnessed the spontaneous and effusive welcome accorded Seymour. If +it was noisy, it was also hearty. It had the ring of real joy, mingled +with an admiration that is bestowed only upon a leader who captivates +the imagination by recalling glorious victory and exciting high hopes +of future success.<a name="vol3FNanchor_373_373" id="vol3FNanchor_373_373"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_373_373" class="fnanchor">[373]</a></p> + +<p>The selection of candidates provoked no real contests,<a name="vol3FNanchor_374_374" id="vol3FNanchor_374_374"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_374_374" class="fnanchor">[374]</a> but the +platform presented serious difficulties. The Democratic party +throughout the country found it hard to digest the war debt. Men who +believed it had been multiplied by extravagance and corruption in the +prosecution of an unholy war, thought it should be repudiated +outright, while many others, especially in the Western States, would +pay it in the debased currency of the realm. To people whose +circulating medium before the war was mainly the bills of wild-cat +banks, greenbacks seemed like actual money and the best money they had +ever known. It was attractive and everywhere of uniform value. +Moreover, as the Government was behind it the necessity for gold and +silver no longer appealed to them. The popular policy, therefore,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.180" id="vol3Page_iii.180">iii. 180</a></span> +made the 5-20 bonds payable in greenbacks instead of coin. Of the +whole interest-bearing debt of $2,200,000,000, there were outstanding +about $1,600,000,000 of 5-20's, or securities convertible into them, +and of these $500,000,000 became redeemable in 1867. Their redemption +in gold, worth from 132 to 150, it was argued, would not only be a +discrimination in favour of the rich, but a foolish act of generosity, +since the law authorising the bonds stipulated that the interest +should be paid in "coin" and the principal in "dollars." As greenbacks +were lawful money they were also "dollars" within the meaning of the +legal tender act, and although an inflation of the currency, made +necessary by the redemption of bonds, might increase the price of gold +and thus amount to practical repudiation, it would in nowise modify +the law making the bonds payable in paper "dollars." This was known as +the "Ohio idea." It was a popular scheme with debtors, real estate +owners, shopkeepers, and business men generally, who welcomed +inflation as an antidote for the Secretary of the Treasury's +contraction of the currency. Democratic politicians accepted this +policy the more readily, too, because of the attractive cry—"the same +currency for the bondholder and the ploughboy."</p> + +<p>There was much of this sentiment in New York. Extreme Democrats, +taught that the debt was corruptly incurred, resented the suggestion +of its payment in gold. "Bloated bondholders" became a famous +expression with them, to whom it seemed likely that the $700,000,000 +of United States notes, if inflated to an amount sufficient to pay the +bonds, would ultimately force absolute repudiation. These views found +ready acceptance among delegates to the State convention, and to put +himself straight upon the record, John T. Hoffman, in his speech as +temporary chairman, boldly declared "the honour of the country pledged +to the payment of every dollar of the national debt, honestly and +fully, in the spirit as well as in the letter of the bond."<a name="vol3FNanchor_375_375" id="vol3FNanchor_375_375"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_375_375" class="fnanchor">[375]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.181" id="vol3Page_iii.181">iii. 181</a></span></p> +<p>Seymour, with his usual dexterity, declined to commit himself or his +party to any decided policy. Although he would "keep the public +faith," and "not add repudiation to the list of crimes which destroy +confidence in republican governments," his arguments shed no light on +the meaning of those words. He declared that "waste and corruption had +piled up the national debt," and that it was "criminal folly to exempt +bonds from taxation." Then, entering into a general discussion of +finance, he arraigned the war party for its extravagance, infidelity, +and plundering policy. "Those who hold the power," he said, "have not +only hewed up to the line of repudiation, but they have not tried to +give value to the public credit. It is not the bondholder, it is the +office holder who sucks the blood of the people. If the money +collected by the government was paid to lessen our debt we could +command the specie of the world. We could gain it in exchange for our +securities as the governments of Europe do. Now, they are peddled out +at half price in exchange for dry-goods and groceries. The reports of +the Secretary of the Treasury show that we could swiftly wipe out our +debt if our income was not diverted to partisan purposes. Do not the +columns of the press teem with statements of official plunder and +frauds in every quarter of our land, while public virtue rots under +this wasteful expenditure of the public fund? It is said it is +repudiation to force our legal tenders upon the bondholders. What +makes it so? The low credit of the country. Build that up; make your +paper as good as gold, and this question cannot come up. The +controversy grows out of the fact that men do not believe our legal +tenders ever will be as good as gold. If it is repudiation to pay such +money, it is repudiation to make it, and it is repudiation to keep it +debased by waste and by partisan plans to keep our country in disorder +and danger."<a name="vol3FNanchor_376_376" id="vol3FNanchor_376_376"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_376_376" class="fnanchor">[376]</a></p> + +<p>Perhaps no American ever possessed a more irritating way of presenting +the frailties of an opposite party. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.182" id="vol3Page_iii.182">iii. 182</a></span> unwholesome sentiment of his +Tweddle Hall and draft-riot speeches, so shockingly out of key with +the music of the Union, provoked the charge of sinning against clear +light; but ordinarily he had such a faculty for skilfully blending +truth with hyperbole in a daring and spirited argument that Greeley, +who could usually expose the errors of an opponent's argument in a +dozen sentences, found it woven too closely for hasty answer. On this +occasion his speech compelled the committee on resolutions, after an +all day and night session, to refer the matter to Samuel J. Tilden and +two associates, who finally evaded the whole issue by declaring for +"equal taxation." This meant taxation of government bonds without +specification as to their payment. John McKeon of New York City +attacked the words as "equivocal" and "without moral effect," but the +influence of Seymour and Tilden carried it with practical unanimity.</p> + +<p>The power of Seymour, however, best exhibited itself in the treatment +accorded Andrew Johnson. The conventions of 1865 and 1866 had +sustained the President with energy and earnestness, endorsing his +policy, commending his integrity, and encouraging him to believe in +the sincerity of their support. In recognition Johnson had displaced +Republicans for Democrats until the men in office resembled the +appointees of Buchanan's administration. The proceedings of the +convention of 1867, however, contained no evidence that the United +States had a Chief Executive. Nothing could have been more +remorseless. The plan, silently matured, was suddenly and without +scruple flashed upon the country that Andrew Johnson, divested of +respect, stripped of support, and plucked of offices, had been coolly +dropped by the Democracy of the Empire State.</p> + +<p>The campaign opened badly for the Republicans. Weighted with canal +frauds the party, with all its courage and genius, seemed unequal to +the odds against which it was forced to contend. The odious +disclosures showed that the most trifling technicalities, often only a +misspelled or an interlined word, and in one instance, at least, +simply an ink<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.183" id="vol3Page_iii.183">iii. 183</a></span> blot, had been held sufficient to vacate the lowest +bids, the contracts afterward being assigned to other bidders at +largely increased amounts. So insignificant were these informalities +that in many cases the official who declared the bids irregular could +not tell upon the witness stand wherein they were so, although he +admitted that in no instance did the State benefit by the change. +Indeed, without cunning or reason, the plunderers, embracing all who +made or paid canal accounts, declared bids informal that contracts at +increased prices might be given to members of a ring who divided their +ill-gotten gains. These increases ranged from $1,000 to $100,000 each, +aggregating a loss to the State of many hundreds of thousands of +dollars. "The corruption is so enormous," said the <i>World</i>, "as to +render absurd any attempt at concealment."<a name="vol3FNanchor_377_377" id="vol3FNanchor_377_377"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_377_377" class="fnanchor">[377]</a></p> + +<p>Republicans offered no defence except that their party, having had the +courage to investigate and expose the frauds and the methods of the +peculators, could be trusted to continue the reform. To this the +<i>World</i> replied that "a convention of shoddyites might, with as good a +face, have lamented the rags hanging about the limbs of our shivering +soldiers, or a convention of whisky thieves affect to deplore the +falling off of the internal revenue."<a name="vol3FNanchor_378_378" id="vol3FNanchor_378_378"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_378_378" class="fnanchor">[378]</a> Moreover, Democrats claimed +that the worst offender was still in office as an appointee of +Governor Fenton,<a name="vol3FNanchor_379_379" id="vol3FNanchor_379_379"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_379_379" class="fnanchor">[379]</a> and that the Republican nominee for canal +commissioner had been guilty of similar transactions when +superintendent of one of the waterways.<a name="vol3FNanchor_380_380" id="vol3FNanchor_380_380"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_380_380" class="fnanchor">[380]</a> These charges became the +more glaring because Republicans refused to renominate senators who +had been chiefly instrumental in exposing the frauds. "They take great +credit to themselves for having found out this cor<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.184" id="vol3Page_iii.184">iii. 184</a></span>ruption in the +management of the canals," said Seymour. "But how did they exhibit +their hatred of corruption? Were the men who made these exposures +renominated? Not by the Republicans. One of them is running upon our +ticket."<a name="vol3FNanchor_381_381" id="vol3FNanchor_381_381"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_381_381" class="fnanchor">[381]</a> On another occasion he declared that "not one of the +public officers who are charged and convicted by their own friends of +fraud and robbery have ever been brought to the bar of justice."<a name="vol3FNanchor_382_382" id="vol3FNanchor_382_382"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_382_382" class="fnanchor">[382]</a> +The severity of such statements lost none of its sting by the +declaration of Horace Greeley, made over his own signature, that +Republican candidates were "conspicuous for integrity and for +resistance to official corruption."<a name="vol3FNanchor_383_383" id="vol3FNanchor_383_383"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_383_383" class="fnanchor">[383]</a></p> + +<p>The practical failure of the constitutional convention to accomplish +the purpose for which it assembled also embarrassed Republicans. By +the terms of the Constitution of 1846 the Legislature was required, in +each twentieth year thereafter, to submit to the people the question +of convening a convention for its revision, and in 1866, an +affirmative answer being given, such a convention began its work at +Albany on June 4, 1867. Of the one hundred and sixty delegates, +ninety-seven were Republicans. Its membership included many men of the +highest capacity, whose debates, characterised by good temper and +forensic ability, showed an intelligent knowledge of the needs of the +State. Their work included the payment of the canal and other State +debts, extended the term of senators from two to four years, increased +the members of the Assembly, conferred the right of suffrage without +distinction of colour, reorganised the Court of Appeals with a chief +justice and six associate justices, and increased the tenure of +supreme and appellate judges to fourteen years, with an age limit of +seventy.</p> + +<p>Very early in the life of the convention, however, the press, largely +influenced by the New York <i>Tribune</i>, began to discredit its work. +Horace Greeley, who was a member, talked<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.185" id="vol3Page_iii.185">iii. 185</a></span> often and always well, but +the more he talked the more he revealed his incapacity for safe +leadership. He seemed to grow restive as he did in Congress over +immaterial matters. Long speeches annoyed him, and adjournments from +Friday to the following Tuesday sorely vexed him, although this +arrangement convenienced men of large business interests. Besides, +committees not being ready to report, there was little to occupy the +time of delegates. Nevertheless, Greeley, accustomed to work without +limit as to hours or thought of rest, insisted that the convention +ought to keep busy six days in the week and finish the revision for +which it assembled. When his power to influence colleagues had +entirely disappeared, he began using the <i>Tribune</i>, whose acrid +arguments, accepted by the lesser newspapers, completely undermined +all achievement. Finally, on September 24, the convention recessed +until November 12.</p> + +<p>Democrats charged at once that the adjournment was a skulking +subterfuge not only to avoid an open confession of failure, but to +evade submitting negro suffrage to a vote in November. The truth of +the assertion seemed manifest. At all events, it proved a most serious +handicap to Republicans, who, by an act of Congress, passed on March +2, 1867, had forced negro suffrage upon the Southern States. Their +platform, adopted at Syracuse, also affirmed it. Moreover, their +absolute control of the constitutional convention enabled them, if +they had so desired, to finish and submit their work in the early +autumn. This action subjected their convention resolve for "impartial +suffrage" to ridicule as well as to the charge of cowardice. If you +shrink from giving the ballot to a few thousand negroes at home, it +was asked, why do you insist that it should be conferred on millions +in the South? If, as you pretend, you wish the blacks of this State to +have the ballot, why do you not give it to them? How can you blame the +South for hesitating when you hesitate? "It is manifest," said the +<i>World</i>, "that the Republicans do not desire the negroes of this State +to vote. Their refusal to present the question in this election is a +confession that<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.186" id="vol3Page_iii.186">iii. 186</a></span> the party is forcing on the South a measure too +odious to be tolerated at home."<a name="vol3FNanchor_384_384" id="vol3FNanchor_384_384"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_384_384" class="fnanchor">[384]</a></p> + +<p>This charge, perhaps, was the most disturbing influence Republicans +had to meet in the campaign. Responsibility for canal frauds made them +wince, since it appealed strongly and naturally to whatever there was +of discontent among the people, but their apparent readiness to force +upon the South what they withheld in New York seemed so unreasonable +and unjust that it aided materially in swelling the strength of the +Democrats.</p> + +<p>James T. Brady, Henry C. Murphy, John T. Hoffman, and Samuel J. Tilden +made the campaign attractive, speaking with unsparing severity to the +great audiences gathered in New York City. Although somewhat +capricious in his sympathies, Brady seemed never to care who knew what +he thought on any subject, while the people, captivated by his +marvellously easy mode of speech, listened with rapture as he +exercised his splendid powers. It remained for Seymour, however, to +give character to the discussion in one of his most forcible +philippics. He endeavoured to show that the ballot, given to a few +negroes in New York, could do little harm compared to the +enfranchisement of millions of them in the Southern States. The +Radicals, he said, not only propose to put the white men of the South +under the blacks, but the white men of the North as well. To allow +three millions of negroes, representing ten Southern States, to send +twenty senators to Washington, while more than half the white +population of the country, living in nine Northern States, have but +eighteen senators, is a home question. "Will you sanction it?" he +asked. "Twenty senators, recollect, who are to act in relation to +interests deeply affecting you. Can you afford to erect such a +government of blacks over the white men of this continent? Will you +give them control in the United States Senate and thus in fact +disfranchise the North? This to you is a local question. It will +search<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.187" id="vol3Page_iii.187">iii. 187</a></span> you out just as surely as the tax-gatherer searches you +out."<a name="vol3FNanchor_385_385" id="vol3FNanchor_385_385"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_385_385" class="fnanchor">[385]</a></p> + +<p>Republicans acknowledged their weakness. An opposition that invited +attention to disclosures as sensational and corrupt as they were +indefensible had deeper roots than ordinary political rivalry, while +the question of manhood suffrage, like a legacy of reciprocal hate, +aroused the smouldering prejudices that had found bitter expression +during the discussion of emancipation. Moreover, the feeling developed +that the narrow and unpatriotic policy which ruled the Syracuse +convention had displaced good men for unsatisfactory candidates. This +led to the substitution of Thomas H. Hillhouse for comptroller, whose +incorruptibility made him a candidate of unusual strength. But the +sacrifice did not change the political situation, aggravated among +other things by hard times. The wave of commercial depression which +spread over Europe after the London financial panic of May, 1866, +extended to this country during the last half of 1867. A reaction from +the inflated war prices took place, quick sales and large profits +ceased, and a return to the old methods of frugality and good +management became necessary. In less than two years the currency had +been contracted $140,000,000, decreasing the price of property and +enhancing the face value of debts, and although Congress, in the +preceding February, had suspended further contraction, business men +charged financial conditions to contraction and the people held the +party in power responsible.</p> + +<p>Indeed, the people had become tired of Republican rule, and their +verdict changed a plurality of 13,000, given Fenton in 1866, to a +Democratic majority of nearly 48,000, with twenty-two majority on +joint ballot in the Legislature. New York City gave the Democrats +60,000 majority. Thousands of immigrants had been illegally +naturalised, and a fraudulent registration of 1,500 in one ward +indicated the extent of the enormous frauds that had been practised by +Boss Tweed<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.188" id="vol3Page_iii.188">iii. 188</a></span> and his gang;<a name="vol3FNanchor_386_386" id="vol3FNanchor_386_386"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_386_386" class="fnanchor">[386]</a> but the presence of large Democratic +gains in the up-State counties showed that Republican defeat was due +to other causes than fraudulent registration and illegal voting. +"Outside the incapables and their miserable subalterns who managed the +Syracuse convention," said one Republican paper, "a pervading +sentiment existed among us, not only that we should be beaten, but +that we needed chastisement."<a name="vol3FNanchor_387_387" id="vol3FNanchor_387_387"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_387_387" class="fnanchor">[387]</a> Another placed the responsibility +upon "a host of political adventurers, attracted to the party by +selfish aggrandisements."<a name="vol3FNanchor_388_388" id="vol3FNanchor_388_388"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_388_388" class="fnanchor">[388]</a> The <i>Tribune</i> accepted it as a +punishment for cowardice on the negro suffrage question. "To say that +we are for manhood suffrage in the South and not in the North is to +earn the loathing, contempt, and derision alike of friends and +foes."<a name="vol3FNanchor_389_389" id="vol3FNanchor_389_389"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_389_389" class="fnanchor">[389]</a> Thus had Republican power disappeared like Aladdin's +palace, which was ablaze with splendour at night, and could not be +seen in the morning.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.189" id="vol3Page_iii.189">iii. 189</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XIV" id="vol3CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h2>SEYMOUR AND HOFFMAN</h2> + +<h2>1868</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> fall elections of 1867 made a profound impression in the Empire +State. Pennsylvania gave a small Democratic majority, Ohio defeated a +negro suffrage amendment by 50,000, besides electing a Democratic +legislature, and New York, leading the Democratic column, surprised +the nation with a majority of nearly 48,000. In every county the +Republican vote had fallen off. It was plain that reconstruction and +negro suffrage had seriously disgruntled the country. The policy of +the Republicans, therefore, which had hitherto been one of delay in +admitting Southern States to representation in Congress, now changed +to one of haste to get them in, the party believing that with negro +enfranchisement and white disfranchisement it could control the South. +This sudden change had alarmed conservatives of all parties, and the +Democratic strength shown at the preceding election encouraged the +belief that the radical work of Congress might be overthrown. "The +danger now is," wrote John Sherman, "that the mistakes of the +Republicans may drift the Democratic party into power."<a name="vol3FNanchor_390_390" id="vol3FNanchor_390_390"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_390_390" class="fnanchor">[390]</a></p> + +<p>The action of Congress after the removal of Edwin M. Stanton, then +secretary of war, did not weaken this prediction. The Senate had +already refused its assent to the Secretary's suspension, and when the +President, exercising what he believed to be his constitutional power, +appointed Adjutant-General Thomas in his place, it brought the contest +to a crisis. Stanton, barricaded in the War Office, refused to leave, +while Thomas, bolder in talk than in deeds,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.190" id="vol3Page_iii.190">iii. 190</a></span> threatened to kick him +out.<a name="vol3FNanchor_391_391" id="vol3FNanchor_391_391"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_391_391" class="fnanchor">[391]</a> In support of Stanton a company of one hundred men, mustered +by John A. Logan, a member of Congress, occupied the basement of the +War Department. Not since the assassination of Lincoln had the country +been in such a state of excitement. Meanwhile former propositions of +impeachment were revived, and although without evidence of guilty +intent, the House, on February 14, resolved that Andrew Johnson be +impeached of high crimes and misdemeanours. This trial, which +continued for nearly three months, kept the country flushed with +passion.</p> + +<p>New York Democrats greatly enjoyed the situation. To them it meant a +division of the Republican party vastly more damaging than the one in +1866. Opposition to Grant's candidacy also threatened to widen the +breach. The Conservatives, led by Thurlow Weed, wishing to break the +intolerant control of the Radicals by securing a candidate free from +factional bias, had pronounced for the Soldier's nomination for +President as early as July, 1867,<a name="vol3FNanchor_392_392" id="vol3FNanchor_392_392"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_392_392" class="fnanchor">[392]</a> and although the current of +Republican journalism as well as the drift of party sentiment tended +to encourage the movement, the Radicals opposed it. Grant's report on +the condition of the South in 1865, and his attendance upon the +President in 1866 during the famous swing-around-the-circle, had +provoked much criticism. Besides, his acceptance of the War Office +after Stanton's suspension indicated marked confidence in the Chief +Executive. Indeed, so displeasing had been his record since the close +of the war that the <i>Tribune</i> ridiculed his pretensions, predicting +that if any man of his type of politics was elected it would be by the +Democrats.<a name="vol3FNanchor_393_393" id="vol3FNanchor_393_393"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_393_393" class="fnanchor">[393]</a> Even after the loss of the elections the <i>Tribune</i> +continued its opposition. "We object to the Grant movement," it said. +"It is of the ostrich's simple strategy that deceives only himself. +There are times in which personal preference and personal popularity +go far; but they are not these times.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.191" id="vol3Page_iii.191">iii. 191</a></span> Does any one imagine that +General Grant, supported by the Republicans, would carry Maryland or +Kentucky, under her present Constitution, against Seymour or +Pendleton?"<a name="vol3FNanchor_394_394" id="vol3FNanchor_394_394"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_394_394" class="fnanchor">[394]</a> Many agreed with Greeley. Indeed, a majority of the +Radicals, deeming Grant unsound on reconstruction and the negro, +preferred Chief Justice Chase.</p> + +<p>Very unexpectedly, however, conditions changed. Stanton's suspension +in August, 1867, led to Grant's appointment as secretary of war, but +when the Senate, early in the following January, refused to concur in +Johnson's action, Grant locked the door of the War Office and resumed +his post at army headquarters. The President expressed surprise that +he did not hold the office until the question of Stanton's +constitutional right to resume it could be judicially determined. This +criticism, delivered in Johnson's positive style, provoked a long and +heated controversy, involving the veracity of each and leaving them +enemies for life. The quarrel delighted the Radicals. It put Grant +into sympathy with Congress, and Republicans into sympathy with Grant. +Until then it was not clear to what party he belonged. Before the war +he acted with the Democrats, and very recently the successors of the +old Albany Regency had been quietly preparing for his nomination.<a name="vol3FNanchor_395_395" id="vol3FNanchor_395_395"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_395_395" class="fnanchor">[395]</a> +Now, however, he was in cordial relation with Republicans, whose +convention, held at Syracuse on February 5, 1868, to select delegates +to the National convention, indorsed his candidacy by acclamation. The +Conservatives welcomed this action as their victory. Moreover, it was +the first formal expression of a State convention. Republicans of +other Commonwealths had indicated their readiness to accept Grant as a +candidate, but New York, endorsing him before the termination of his +controversy with the President, anticipated their action and set the +party aflame. Indeed, it looked to Republicans as if this nomination +assured success at a moment when their chances had seemed hopeless.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.192" id="vol3Page_iii.192">iii. 192</a></span></p> +<p>In like manner the convention recommended Reuben E. Fenton for +Vice-President. Fenton had made an acceptable governor. Under his +administration projects for lengthening the locks on the Erie Canal +and other plans for extending the facilities of transportation were +presented. Another memorable work was the establishment of Cornell +University, which has aptly been called "the youngest, the largest, +and the richest" of the nearly thirty colleges in the State. Even the +<i>Times</i>, the great organ of the Conservatives, admitted that the +Governor's "executive control, in the main, has been a success."<a name="vol3FNanchor_396_396" id="vol3FNanchor_396_396"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_396_396" class="fnanchor">[396]</a> +Opposition to his promotion, however, presented well-defined lines. To +Thurlow Weed he represented the mismanagement which defeated the +party,<a name="vol3FNanchor_397_397" id="vol3FNanchor_397_397"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_397_397" class="fnanchor">[397]</a> and to Conkling he appealed only as one on whom to employ +with effect, when occasion offered, his remarkable resources of +sarcasm and rhetoric. The Governor understood this feeling, and to +avoid its influence delegates were instructed to vote for him as a +unit, while three hundred devoted friends went to Chicago. Daniel E. +Sickles became chairman of the delegation.</p> + +<p>The Republican convention convened at Chicago on May 20, and amidst +throat-bursting cheers and salvos of artillery Ulysses S. Grant was +nominated for President by acclamation. For Vice-President a dozen +candidates were presented, including Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, +Reuben E. Fenton of New York, Benjamin Wade of Ohio, and Schuyler +Colfax of Indiana. Fenton's friends, finding the Northern States +pre-empted by other candidates, turned to the South, hoping to benefit +as Wade's strength receded. Here, however, it was manifest that Wilson +would become the Buckeye's residuary legatee. Fenton also suffered +from the over-zeal of friends. In seconding his nomination an Illinois +delegate encountered John A. Logan, who coolly remarked that Fenton +would get three votes and no more from his State. To recover prestige +after this blow Daniel E.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.193" id="vol3Page_iii.193">iii. 193</a></span> Sickles, in a brief speech, deftly included +him with Morton of Indiana, Curtin of Pennsylvania, Andrew of +Massachusetts, and other great war governors. In this company Fenton, +who had served less than four months at the close of the war, seemed +out of place, and Sickles resumed his seat undisturbed by any +demonstration except by the faithful three hundred.<a name="vol3FNanchor_398_398" id="vol3FNanchor_398_398"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_398_398" class="fnanchor">[398]</a> Fenton's +vote, however, was more pronounced than the applause, although his +strength outside of New York came largely from the South, showing that +his popularity centred in a section whose representatives in National +Republican conventions have too often succumbed to influences other +than arguments.<a name="vol3FNanchor_399_399" id="vol3FNanchor_399_399"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_399_399" class="fnanchor">[399]</a></p> + +<p>The echo of Fenton's defeat seriously disturbed the Syracuse State +convention (July 8). The Conservatives of New York City, many of whom +had now become the followers of Conkling, objected to the Fenton +method of selecting delegates, and after a bitter discussion between +Matthew Hale of Albany and Charles S. Spencer, the Governor's ardent +friend, the convention limited the number of delegates from a city +district to the Republican vote actually cast, and appointed a +committee to investigate the quarrel, with instructions to report at +the next State convention.</p> + +<p>The selection of a candidate for governor also unsettled the +Republican mind. Friends of Lyman Tremaine, Charles H. Van Wyck, +Frederick A. Conkling (a brother of the Senator), Stewart L. Woodford, +and John A. Griswold had<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.194" id="vol3Page_iii.194">iii. 194</a></span> not neglected to put their favourites into +the field at an early day, but to all appearances Horace Greeley was +the popular man among the delegates. Although Conkling had snuffed out +his senatorial ambition, he had been the directing power of the +February convention, and was still the recognised guide-post of the +party. Besides, the withdrawal of Tremaine, Van Wyck, and Conkling +practically narrowed the rivalry to Greeley and Griswold. Indeed, it +seemed as if the ambition of the editor's life was at last to be +satisfied. Weed was in Europe, Raymond still rested "outside the +breastworks," and the Twenty-third Street organisation, as the +Conservatives were called, sat on back seats without votes and without +influence.</p> + +<p>Greeley did not go to Syracuse. But his personal friends appeared in +force, led by Reuben E. Fenton, who controlled the State convention. +Greeley believed the Governor sincerely desired his nomination. +Perhaps he was also deceived in the strength of John A. Griswold. The +people, regarding Griswold's change from McClellan to Lincoln as a +political emancipation, had doubled his majority for Congress in 1864 +and again in 1866. The poor loved him, the workmen admired him, and +business men backed him. Though but forty-six years old he had already +made his existence memorable. In their emphasis orators expressed no +fear that the fierce white light which beats upon an aspirant for high +office would disclose in him poor judgment, or any weakness of +character. To these optimistic speeches delegates evinced a +responsiveness that cheered his friends.</p> + +<p>But the real noise of the day did not commence until Chauncey M. Depew +began his eulogy of the great editor. The applause then came in drifts +of cheers as appreciative expressions fell from the lips of his +champion. It was admitted that Depew's speech adorned the day's +work.<a name="vol3FNanchor_400_400" id="vol3FNanchor_400_400"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_400_400" class="fnanchor">[400]</a> He referred to Greeley as "the embodiment of the principles +of his party," "the one man towering above all others in in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.195" id="vol3Page_iii.195">iii. 195</a></span>tellect," +who "has contributed more than any other man toward the +enfranchisement of the slaves," and "with his pen and his tongue has +done more for the advancement of the industrial classes." In +conclusion, said the speaker, "he belongs to no county, to no +locality; he belongs to the State and to the whole country, because of +the superiority of his intellect and the purity of his +patriotism."<a name="vol3FNanchor_401_401" id="vol3FNanchor_401_401"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_401_401" class="fnanchor">[401]</a> As the speaker finished, the applause, lasting "many +minutes,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_402_402" id="vol3FNanchor_402_402"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_402_402" class="fnanchor">[402]</a> finally broke into several rounds of cheers, while +friends of Griswold as well as those of Greeley, standing on chairs, +swung hats and umbrellas after the fashion of a modern convention. +Surely, Horace Greeley was the favourite.</p> + +<p>The roll-call, however, gave Griswold 247, Greeley 95, Woodford 36. +For the moment Greeley's friends seemed stunned. It was worse than a +defeat—it was utter rout and confusion. He had been led into an +ambuscade and slaughtered. The <i>Tribune</i>, in explaining the affair, +said "it was evident in the morning that Griswold would get the +nomination. His friends had been working so long and there were so +many outstanding pledges." Besides, it continued, "when the fact +developed that he had a majority, it added to his strength +afterward."<a name="vol3FNanchor_403_403" id="vol3FNanchor_403_403"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_403_403" class="fnanchor">[403]</a> Why, then, it was asked, did Greeley's friends put +him into a contest already settled? Did they wish to humiliate him? +"Had Greeley been here in person," said the <i>Times</i>, with apparent +sympathy, "the result might have been different."<a name="vol3FNanchor_404_404" id="vol3FNanchor_404_404"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_404_404" class="fnanchor">[404]</a> The <i>Nation</i> +thought otherwise. "In public," it said, "few members of conventions +have the courage to deny his fitness for any office, such are the +terrors inspired by his editorial cowskin; but the minute the voting +by ballots begins, the cowardly fellows repudiate him under the veil +of secrecy."<a name="vol3FNanchor_405_405" id="vol3FNanchor_405_405"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_405_405" class="fnanchor">[405]</a> The great disparity between the applause and the +vote for the editor became the subject of much suppressed amusement. +"The highly wrought eulogium pronounced by Depew was applauded to the +echo," wrote a correspondent of the <i>Times</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.196" id="vol3Page_iii.196">iii. 196</a></span> "but the enthusiasm +subsided wonderfully when it came to putting him at the head of the +ticket."<a name="vol3FNanchor_406_406" id="vol3FNanchor_406_406"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_406_406" class="fnanchor">[406]</a> Depew himself appreciated the humour of the situation. +"Everybody wondered," said the eulogist, speaking of it in later +years, "how there could be so much smoke and so little fire."<a name="vol3FNanchor_407_407" id="vol3FNanchor_407_407"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_407_407" class="fnanchor">[407]</a> To +those conversant with the situation, however, it was not a mystery. +Among conservative men Greeley suffered discredit because of his +ill-tempered criticisms, while his action in signing Jefferson Davis's +bail-bond was not the least powerful of the many influences that +combined to weaken his authority. It seemed to shatter confidence in +his strength of mind. After that episode the sale of his <i>American +Conflict</i> which had reached the rate of five hundred copies a day, +fell off so rapidly that his publishers lost $50,000.<a name="vol3FNanchor_408_408" id="vol3FNanchor_408_408"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_408_408" class="fnanchor">[408]</a></p> + +<p>The platform approved the nomination of Grant and Colfax, held +inviolate the payment of the public debt in the spirit as well as the +letter of the law, commended the administration of Fenton, and +demanded absolute honesty in the management and improvement of the +canals; but adopting "the simple tactics of the ostrich" it maintained +the most profound silence in regard to suffrage of any kind—manhood, +universal, impartial, or negro.<a name="vol3FNanchor_409_409" id="vol3FNanchor_409_409"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_409_409" class="fnanchor">[409]</a></p> + +<p>The day the Syracuse convention avoided Greeley, the National +Democratic convention which had assembled in Tammany's new building on +July 4, accepted a leader under whom victory was impossible. It was an +historic gathering. The West sent able leaders to support its +favourite greenback theory, the South's delegation of Confederate +officers recalled the picturesque scenes at Philadelphia in 1866, and +New England and the Middle States furnished a strong<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.197" id="vol3Page_iii.197">iii. 197</a></span> array of their +well-known men. Samuel J. Tilden headed the New York delegation, +Horatio Seymour became permanent president, and in one of the chairs +set apart for vice presidents, William M. Tweed, "fat, oily, and +dripping with the public wealth,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_410_410" id="vol3FNanchor_410_410"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_410_410" class="fnanchor">[410]</a> represented the Empire State.</p> + +<p>The chairmanship of the committee on resolutions fell to Henry C. +Murphy of Brooklyn. Murphy was a brave fighter. In 1832, when barely +in his twenties, he had denounced the policy of chartering banks in +the interest of political favourites and monopolists, and the reform, +soon after established, made him bold to attack other obnoxious fiscal +systems. As mayor of Brooklyn he kept the city's expenditures within +its income, and in the constitutional convention of 1846 he stood with +Michael Hoffman in preserving the public credit and the public faith. +To him who understood the spirit of the Legal Tender Act of 1862, it +seemed rank dishonesty to pay bonds in a depreciated currency, and he +said so in language that did not die in the committee room. But +opposed to him were the extremists who controlled the convention. +These Greenbackers demanded "that all obligations of the government, +not payable by their express terms in coin, ought to be paid in lawful +money," and through them the Ohio heresy became the ruling thought of +the Democratic creed.</p> + +<p>Although New York consented to the Pendleton platform, it determined +not to sacrifice everything to the one question of finance by +permitting the nomination of the Ohio statesman. There were other +candidates. Andrew Johnson was deluded into the belief that he had a +chance; Winfield S. Hancock, the hero of the famous Second Army Corps, +who had put himself in training while department commander at New +Orleans, believed in his star; Salmon P. Chase, chief justice of the +United States Supreme Court, having failed to capture the nomination +at Chicago, was willing to lead whenever and by whomsoever called; +while Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana, then a United States senator +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.198" id="vol3Page_iii.198">iii. 198</a></span> supporter of the "Ohio idea," hoped to succeed if Pendleton +failed. Of these candidates Seymour favoured Chase. If nominated, he +said, the Chief Justice would disintegrate the Republican party, carry +Congress, and by uniting conservative Republicans and Democrats secure +a majority of the Senate. It was known that the sentiments of Chase +harmonised with those of Eastern Democrats except as to negro +suffrage, and although on this issue the Chief Justice declined to +yield, Seymour did not regard it of sufficient importance to quarrel +about. Indeed, it was said that Seymour had approved a platform, +submitted to Chase by Democratic progressionists, which accepted negro +suffrage.<a name="vol3FNanchor_411_411" id="vol3FNanchor_411_411"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_411_411" class="fnanchor">[411]</a></p> + +<p>Samuel J. Tilden, appreciating the importance of defeating Pendleton, +at once directed all the resources of a cold, calculating nature to a +solution of the difficult problem. To mask his real purpose he pressed +the name of Sanford E. Church until the eighth ballot, when he +adroitly dropped it for Hendricks. It was a bold move. The Hoosier was +not less offensive than the Buckeye, but it served Tilden's purpose to +dissemble, and, as he apprehended, Hendricks immediately took the +votes of his own and other States from the Ohioan. This proved the end +of Pendleton, whose vote thenceforth steadily declined. On the +thirteenth ballot California cast half a vote for Chase, throwing the +convention into wild applause. For the moment it looked as if the +Chief Justice, still in intimate correspondence with influential +delegates, might capture the nomination. Vallandigham, who preferred +Chase to Hendricks, begged Tilden to cast New York's vote for him, but +the man of sheer intellect was not yet ready to show his hand. +Meanwhile Hancock divided with Hendricks the lost strength of +Pendleton. Amidst applause from Tammany, Nebraska, on the seventeenth +and eighteenth ballots, cast three votes for John T. Hoffman. This +closed the fourth day of the convention, the eighteenth ballot +registering 144½ votes for Hancock, 87 for Hendricks, 56½ for +Pendleton, and 28 scattering.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.199" id="vol3Page_iii.199">iii. 199</a></span></p> + +<p>On the morning of the fifth and last day, the New York delegation, +before entering the convention, decided by a vote of 37 to 24 to +support Chase provided Hendricks could not be nominated. Seymour +favoured the Chief Justice in an elaborate speech, which he intended +delivering on the floor of the convention, and for this purpose had +arranged with a delegate from Missouri to occupy the chair. It was +known, too, that Chase's strength had increased in other delegations. +Eleven Ohio delegates favoured him as their second choice, while +Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Georgia, and Wisconsin could be +depended upon. Indeed, it was in the air that the Chief Justice would +be nominated. When the convention opened, however, a letter several +days old was read from Pendleton withdrawing from the contest. This +quickly pushed Hendricks to 107. On the twenty-first ballot he rose to +132 and Hancock fell off to 135½, while four votes for Chase, given +by Massachusetts, called out hisses<a name="vol3FNanchor_412_412" id="vol3FNanchor_412_412"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_412_412" class="fnanchor">[412]</a> as well as applause, +indicating that the ambitious Justice was not entirely <i>persona grata</i> +to all of the Westerners. To the confused delegates, worn out with +loss of sleep and the intense heat, the situation did not excite hopes +of an early settlement. New York could not name Chase since +Pendleton's withdrawal had strengthened Hendricks, while the +nomination of a conservative Union soldier like Hancock, so soon after +the close of the war, would inevitably exasperate the more radical +element of the party. Thus it looked as if the motion to adjourn to +meet at St. Louis in September presented the only escape. Pending a +roll-call, however, this motion was declared out of order, and the +voting continued until the Ohio delegation, having returned from a +conference, boldly proposed the name of Horatio Seymour. The +delegates, hushed into silence by the dominating desire to verify +rumours of an impending change, now gave vent to long, excited +cheering. "The folks were frantic," said an eyewitness; "the delegates +daft. All other enthusiasms were<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.200" id="vol3Page_iii.200">iii. 200</a></span> as babbling brooks to the eternal +thunder of Niagara. The whole mass was given over to acclaims that +cannot even be suggested in print."<a name="vol3FNanchor_413_413" id="vol3FNanchor_413_413"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_413_413" class="fnanchor">[413]</a></p> + +<p>Seymour had positively declined a score of times. As early as +November, 1867, after the Democratic victories of that month, he had +addressed a letter to the <i>Union</i>, a Democratic paper of Oneida, +stating that for personal reasons which he need not give, he was not +and could not be a candidate. Other letters of similar purport had +frequently appeared in the press. To an intimate friend he spoke of +family griefs, domestic troubles, impaired health, and the +impossibility of an election. Besides, if chosen, he said, he would be +as powerless as Johnson, a situation that "would put him in his grave +in less than a year."<a name="vol3FNanchor_414_414" id="vol3FNanchor_414_414"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_414_414" class="fnanchor">[414]</a> In the whole convention there was not a man +who could truthfully say that the Governor, by look, or gesture, or +inflection of voice, had encouraged the hope of a change of mind. +Within forty-eight hours every Democrat of influence had sounded him +and gone away sorrowful. Now, when order was restored, he declined +again. His expressions of gratitude seemed only to make the +declaration stronger. "I do not stand here," he said, "as a man proud +of his opinion or obstinate in his purposes, but upon a question of +duty and of honour I must stand upon my own convictions against the +world. When I said here, at an early day, that honour forbade my +accepting a nomination, I meant it. When I said to my friends I could +not be a candidate, I meant it. And now, after all that has taken +place here, I could not receive the nomination without placing myself +in a false position. Gentlemen, I thank you for your kindness, but +your candidate I cannot be."<a name="vol3FNanchor_415_415" id="vol3FNanchor_415_415"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_415_415" class="fnanchor">[415]</a></p> + +<p>Vallandigham replied that in times of great public exigency personal +consideration should yield to the public good, and Francis Kernan, +disclaiming any lot or part in Ohio's motion, declared that others +than the New York delegation<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.201" id="vol3Page_iii.201">iii. 201</a></span> must overcome the sensitiveness of the +chairman. Still, he said, Horatio Seymour ought to abide the action of +the convention. These speeches over, the roll-call monotonously +continued, each State voting as before until Wisconsin changed from +Doolittle to Seymour. In an instant the chairman of each State +delegation, jumping to his feet, changed its vote to the New Yorker. +The pandemonium was greater than before, in the midst of which +Seymour, apparently overwhelmed by the outcome, retired to a committee +room, where Church, Joseph Warren of the Buffalo <i>Courier</i>, and other +friends urged him to yield to the demands of the Democracy of the +country. He was deeply affected. Tears filled his eyes, and he +piteously sought the sympathy of friends.<a name="vol3FNanchor_416_416" id="vol3FNanchor_416_416"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_416_416" class="fnanchor">[416]</a> Soon after he left the +building. Meanwhile Tilden rose to change the vote of the Empire State +from Hendricks to Seymour. "It is fit on this occasion," he said, +"that New York should wait for the voice of all her sister States. +Last evening I did not believe this event possible. There was one +obstacle—Horatio Seymour's earnest, sincere, deep-felt repugnance to +accept this nomination. I did not believe any circumstance would make +it possible except that Ohio, with whom we have been unfortunately +dividing our votes, demanded it. I was anxious that whenever we should +leave this convention there should be no heart-burnings, no jealousy, +no bitter disappointment; and I believe that in this result we have +lifted the convention far above every such consideration. And I +believe further that we have made the nomination most calculated to +give us success."<a name="vol3FNanchor_417_417" id="vol3FNanchor_417_417"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_417_417" class="fnanchor">[417]</a></p> + +<p>This did not then seem to be the opinion of many men outside the +convention. The nomination did not arouse even a simulated enthusiasm +upon the streets of the metropolis.<a name="vol3FNanchor_418_418" id="vol3FNanchor_418_418"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_418_418" class="fnanchor">[418]</a> In Washington Democratic +congressmen declared that but one weaker candidate was before the +convention,<a name="vol3FNanchor_419_419" id="vol3FNanchor_419_419"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_419_419" class="fnanchor">[419]</a> while dispatches from Philadelphia and Boston +represented "promi<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.202" id="vol3Page_iii.202">iii. 202</a></span>nent Democrats disgusted at Seymour and the +artifices of his friends."<a name="vol3FNanchor_420_420" id="vol3FNanchor_420_420"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_420_420" class="fnanchor">[420]</a> Even Tammany, said the <i>Times</i>, +"quailed at the prospect of entering upon a canvass with a leader +covered with personal dishonour, as Seymour had said himself he would +be, if he should accept. Men everywhere admit that such a nomination, +conferred under such circumstances, was not only pregnant with +disaster, but if accepted stained the recipient with personal +infamy."<a name="vol3FNanchor_421_421" id="vol3FNanchor_421_421"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_421_421" class="fnanchor">[421]</a></p> + +<p>Not since the Democratic party began holding national conventions had +the tactics practised at New York been equaled. The convention of 1844 +must always be ranked as a masterpiece of manipulation, but its +diplomacy was played to defeat Van Buren rather than nominate a +candidate. In 1852 circumstances combined to prevent the nomination of +the convention's first or second choice, and in the end, as a +ball-player at the bat earns first base through the errors of a +pitcher, Franklin Pierce benefited. But in 1868 nothing was gained by +errors. Although there was a chief candidate to defeat, it was not +done with a bludgeon as in 1844. Nor were delegates allowed to +stampede to a "dark horse" as in 1852. On the contrary, while the +leading candidate suffered slow strangulation, the most conspicuous +man in the party was pushed to the front with a sagacity and firmness +that made men obey the dictates of a superior intelligence, and to +people who studied the ballots it plainly appeared that Samuel J. +Tilden had played the game.</p> + +<p>Tilden had not sought prominence in the convention. He seldom spoke, +rarely figured in the meeting of delegates, and except to cast the +vote of the New York delegation did nothing to attract attention. But +the foresight exhibited in changing from Church to Hendricks on the +eighth ballot discovered a mind singularly skilled in controlling the +actions of men. The play appeared the more remarkable after the +revelation of its influence. New York did not want Hendricks. Besides, +up to that time, the Hoosier had received<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.203" id="vol3Page_iii.203">iii. 203</a></span> less than forty votes, his +own State refusing to unite in his support. Moreover, since adjoining +States save Michigan warmly advocated Pendleton, all sources of growth +seemed closed to him. Yet Tilden's guiding hand, with infallible +sagacity, placed New York's thirty-three votes on Indiana and +absolutely refused to move them. To dispose of Hendricks, Vallandigham +and other Ohio delegates offered to support Chase, and if the chairman +of the New York delegation had led the way, a formidable coalition +must have carried the convention for the Chief Justice. But the man +whose subtile, mysterious influence was already beginning to be +recognised as a controlling factor in the party desired Seymour, and +to force his nomination he met at Delmonico's, on the evening of the +fourth day, Allen G. Thurman, George E. Pugh, Washington McLean, +George W. McCook, and George W. Morgan, Ohio's most influential +delegates, and there arranged the <i>coup d'état</i> that succeeded so +admirably. This scheme remained a profound secret until the Ohio +delegation retired for consultation after the twenty-first ballot, so +that when Seymour was addressing the New York delegation in behalf of +Chase, Tilden knew of the pending master-stroke. "The artful Tilden," +said Alexander Long, a well-known politician of the day, "is a +candidate for the United States Senate, and he thinks that with +Seymour the Democrats can carry both branches of the New York +Legislature."<a name="vol3FNanchor_422_422" id="vol3FNanchor_422_422"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_422_422" class="fnanchor">[422]</a></p> + +<p>Tilden disclaimed all instrumentality in bringing about the +nomination. "I had no agency," he wrote, "in getting Governor Seymour +into his present scrape."<a name="vol3FNanchor_423_423" id="vol3FNanchor_423_423"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_423_423" class="fnanchor">[423]</a> He likewise professed ignorance as to +what the convention would do. "I did not believe the event possible," +he said, "unless Ohio demanded it."<a name="vol3FNanchor_424_424" id="vol3FNanchor_424_424"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_424_424" class="fnanchor">[424]</a> This admission, frankly +conceding the necessity of Ohio's action which he had himself forced, +shattered the sincerity of Tilden's disclaimer.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.204" id="vol3Page_iii.204">iii. 204</a></span></p><p>Seymour also had difficulty in preserving the appearance of sincerity. +The press claimed that when he saw the nomination coming to him with +the approval of Pendleton's supporters he quickly retired instead of +further insisting upon his declination. This insinuation allied his +dramatic performance with Tilden's tactics, and he hesitated to expose +himself to such a compromising taunt. In this emergency Tilden +endeavoured very adroitly to ease his mind. "My judgment is," he wrote +a mutual friend, "that acceptance under present circumstances would +not compromise his repute for sincerity or be really misunderstood by +the people; that the case is not analogous to the former instances +which have made criticism possible; that the true nature of the +sacrifice should be appreciated, while on the other hand the opposite +course would be more likely to incite animadversion; that, on the +whole, acceptance is the best thing. I think a decision is necessary, +for it is not possible to go through a canvass with a candidate +declining. I am sincerely willing to accept such action as will be +most for the honour of our friend; at the same time my personal wish +is acceptance. You may express for me so much on the subject as you +find necessary and think proper."<a name="vol3FNanchor_425_425" id="vol3FNanchor_425_425"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_425_425" class="fnanchor">[425]</a></p> + +<p>On August 4, when Seymour finally accepted, he neither apologised nor +explained. "The nomination," he wrote, "was unsought and unexpected. I +have been caught up by the overwhelming tide which is bearing us on to +a great political change, and I find myself unable to resist its +pressure."<a name="vol3FNanchor_426_426" id="vol3FNanchor_426_426"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_426_426" class="fnanchor">[426]</a> Those who recalled the Governor's alleged tortuous +course at Chicago and again at Albany in 1864 did not credit him with +the candour that excites admiration. "Such men did not believe in the +sincerity of Seymour's repeated declinations," said Henry J. Raymond, +"and therefore accepted the final result with the significant remark, +'I told you so.'"<a name="vol3FNanchor_427_427" id="vol3FNanchor_427_427"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_427_427" class="fnanchor">[427]</a> Horace Greeley was more severe. "The means<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.205" id="vol3Page_iii.205">iii. 205</a></span> by +which Horatio Seymour obtained his nomination," he wrote, "are +characteristic of that political cunning which has marked his career. +The whole affair was an adroit specimen of political hypocrisy, by +which the actual favourite of the majority was not only sold, but was +induced to nominate the trickster who had defeated him."<a name="vol3FNanchor_428_428" id="vol3FNanchor_428_428"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_428_428" class="fnanchor">[428]</a></p> + +<p>After Seymour's nomination the first expression of the campaign +occurred in Vermont. Although largely Republican the Democrats made an +unusually animated contest, sending their best speakers and furnishing +the needed funds. Nevertheless, the Republicans added 7,000 to their +majority of the preceding year. This decisive victory, celebrated in +Albany on September 2, had a depressing influence upon the Democratic +State convention then in session, ending among other things the +candidacy of Henry C. Murphy for governor. The up-State opponents of +the Tweed ring, joined by the Kings County delegation, hoped to make a +winning combination against John T. Hoffman, and for several days +Murphy stood up against the attacks of Tammany, defying its threats +and refusing to withdraw. But he wilted under the news from Vermont. +If not beaten in convention, he argued, defeat is likely to come in +the election, and so, amidst the noise of booming cannon and parading +Republicans, he allowed Hoffman to be nominated by acclamation.<a name="vol3FNanchor_429_429" id="vol3FNanchor_429_429"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_429_429" class="fnanchor">[429]</a></p> + +<p>In the selection of a lieutenant-governor Tammany did not fare so +well. Boss Tweed, in return for Western support of Hoffman, had +declared for Albert P. Laning of Buf<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.206" id="vol3Page_iii.206">iii. 206</a></span>falo, and until District Attorney +Morris of Brooklyn seconded the nomination of another, Laning's +friends had boasted a large majority. Morris said he had no objection +to Laning personally. He simply opposed him as a conspirator who had +combined with Tammany to carry out the programme of a grasping clique. +He wished the country delegates who had unconsciously aided its +wire-pulling schemes to understand that it sought only its own +aggrandisement. It cared nothing for the Democratic party except as it +contributed to its selfish ends. This corrupt oligarchy, continued the +orator, his face flushed and his eyes flashing with anger, intends +through Hoffman to control the entire patronage of the State, and if +Seymour is elected it will grasp that of the whole country. Suppose +this offensive ring, with its unfinished courthouse and its thousand +other schemes of robbery and plunder, controls the political power of +the State and nation as it now dominates the metropolis, what honest +Democrat can charge corruption to the opposite party? Did men from the +interior of the State understand that Hoffman for governor means a +ring magnate for United Sates senator? That is the game, and if it +cannot be played by fair means, trickery and corruption will +accomplish it. Kings County, which understands the methods of this +clique, has not now and he hoped never would have anything in common +with it, and he warned the country members not to extend its wicked +sway.<a name="vol3FNanchor_430_430" id="vol3FNanchor_430_430"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_430_430" class="fnanchor">[430]</a></p> + +<p>Morris' speech anticipated the startling disclosures of 1871, and as +the orator raised his voice to a pitch that could easily be heard +throughout the hall, the up-State delegates became deeply interested +in his words. He did not deal in glittering generalities. He was a +prosecuting officer in a county adjoining Tammany, and when he +referred to the courthouse robbery he touched the spot that reeked +with corruption. The Ring winced, but remained speechless. Tweed and +his associate plunderers, who had spent three millions on the +courthouse and charged on their books an<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.207" id="vol3Page_iii.207">iii. 207</a></span> expenditure of eleven, had +no desire to stir up discussion on such a topic and be pilloried by a +cross-examination on the floor of the convention. A majority of the +delegates, however, convinced that Tammany must not control the +lieutenant-governor, nominated Allen C. Beach of Jefferson, giving him +77 votes to 47 for Laning.<a name="vol3FNanchor_431_431" id="vol3FNanchor_431_431"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_431_431" class="fnanchor">[431]</a></p> + +<p>In the light of this result Murphy's friends seriously regretted his +hasty withdrawal from the contest. Morris intended arraigning Tammany +in his speech, nominating the Brooklyn Senator for governor, and the +latter's supporters believed that Hoffman, whom they recognised as the +personal representative of the Tweed ring, must have gone down under +the disclosures of the District Attorney quite as easily as did +Laning. This hasty opinion, however, did not have the support of +truth. Hoffman's campaign in 1866 strengthened him with the people of +the up-counties. To them he had a value of his own. In his speeches he +had denounced wrongs and rebuked corruption, and his record as mayor +displayed no disposition to enrich himself at the expense of his +reputation. He was careful at least to observe surface proprieties. +Besides, at this time, Tammany had not been convicted of crime. +Vitriolic attacks upon the Tweed Ring were frequent, but they came +from men whom it had hurt. Even Greeley's historic philippic, as +famous for its style as for its deadly venom, came in revenge for +Tweed's supposed part in defeating him for Congress in 1866.<a name="vol3FNanchor_432_432" id="vol3FNanchor_432_432"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_432_432" class="fnanchor">[432]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.208" id="vol3Page_iii.208">iii. 208</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XV" id="vol3CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h2>THE STATE CARRIED BY FRAUD</h2> + +<h2>1868</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Horatio Seymour’s</span> nomination for President worried his Republican +opponents in New York. It was admitted that he would adorn the great +office, and that if elected he could act with more authority and +independence than Chief Justice Chase, since the latter must have been +regarded by Congress as a renegade and distrusted by Democrats as a +radical. It was agreed, also, that the purity of Seymour's life, his +character for honesty in financial matters, and the high social +position which he held, made him an especially dangerous adversary in +a State that usually dominated a national election. On the other hand, +his opponents recalled that whenever a candidate for governor he had +not only run behind his ticket, but had suffered defeat three out of +five times. It was suggested, too, that although his whole public life +had been identified with the politics of the Commonwealth, his name, +unlike that of Daniel D. Tompkins, DeWitt Clinton, or Silas Wright, +was associated with no important measure of State policy. To this +criticism Seymour's supporters justly replied that as governor, in +1853, he had boldly championed the great loan of ten and one-half +millions for the Erie Canal enlargement.</p> + +<p>As usual national issues controlled the campaign in New York. Although +both parties denounced corruption in the repair of the Erie Canal, the +people seemed more concerned in a return of good times and in a better +understanding between the North and South. The financial depression of +the year before had not disappeared, and an issue of greenbacks in +payment of the 5-20 bonds, it was argued, would over<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.209" id="vol3Page_iii.209">iii. 209</a></span>come the policy +of contraction which had enhanced the face value of debts and +decreased the price of property. Pendleton's tour through Maine +emphasised this phase of the financial question, and while Democrats +talked of "The same currency for ploughboy and bondholder," +Republicans insisted upon "The best currency for both ploughboy and +bondholder."</p> + +<p>The campaign in Maine, however, satisfied Republicans that the +Southern question, forced into greater prominence by recent acts of +violence, had become a more important issue than the financial +problem. In Saint Mary's parish, Louisiana, a Republican sheriff and +judge were shot, editors and printers run out of the county, and their +newspaper offices destroyed. But no arrests followed. In Arkansas a +Republican deputy sheriff was tied to a negro and both killed with one +shot. In South Carolina a colored State senator, standing on the +platform of a street car, suffered the death penalty, his executioners +publicly boasting of their act. In Georgia negro members of the +Legislature were expelled. Indeed, from every Southern State came +reports of violence and murder. These stories were accentuated by the +Camilla riot in Georgia, which occurred on September 19. With banners +and music three hundred Republicans, mostly negroes, were marching to +Camilla to hold a mass meeting. Two-thirds of them carried arms. +Before reaching the town the sheriff endeavoured to persuade them to +lay aside their guns and revolvers, and upon their refusal a riot +ensued, in which eight or nine negroes were killed and twenty or +thirty wounded. As usual their assailants escaped arrest and injury. +General Meade, commander of the department, reported that "the authors +of this outrage were civil officers who, under the guise of enforcing +the law and suppressing disorder, had permitted a wanton sacrifice of +life and blood."<a name="vol3FNanchor_433_433" id="vol3FNanchor_433_433"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_433_433" class="fnanchor">[433]</a></p> + +<p>The mere recital of these incidents aroused Northern feeling. It was +the old story—murder without arrests or<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.210" id="vol3Page_iii.210">iii. 210</a></span> investigation. The +knowledge, too, that it was in part the work of the Ku-Klux-Klan, a +secret organisation pledged to disfranchise the negro by intimidation, +intensified the bitterness. It is probably true that many reported +atrocities were merely campaign stories. It is likely, too, that horse +thieves and illicit distillers screened their misdeeds behind the +Ku-Klux. It is well understood, also, that ambitious carpet-bag +agitators, proving bad instructors for negroes just emerging from +slavery, added largely to the list of casualties, making crime appear +general throughout the South. But whether violence was universal or +sporadic Republicans believed it a dangerous experiment to commit the +government to the hands of "rebels and copperheads," and in their +contest to avoid such an alleged calamity they emphasised Southern +outrages and resurrected Seymour's speech to the draft rioters in +July, 1863. To give the latter fresh interest Nast published a cartoon +entitled "Matched,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_434_434" id="vol3FNanchor_434_434"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_434_434" class="fnanchor">[434]</a> which represented Grant demanding the +unconditional surrender of Vicksburg, while Seymour, addressing a mob +of foreigners wet with the blood of their victims, called them "my +friends." Nast presented another cartoon which disturbed the +Democracy. It represented John T. Hoffman standing before a screen +behind which a gang of thieves was busily rifling the city treasury. +The face of Hoffman only was depicted, but the picture's serious note +of warning passed for more than a bit of campaign pleasantry. Frank P. +Blair, the Democratic candidate for Vice-President, also furnished a +text for bitter invective because of his declaration that "there is +but one way to restore the government and the Constitution and that is +for the President-elect to declare the Reconstruction Acts null and +void, compel the army to undo its usurpations at the South, disperse +the carpet-bag State governments, allow the white people to reorganise +their own governments and elect senators and representatives."<a name="vol3FNanchor_435_435" id="vol3FNanchor_435_435"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_435_435" class="fnanchor">[435]</a> +Republicans charged that this represented<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.211" id="vol3Page_iii.211">iii. 211</a></span> the Democratic policy. On +the other hand, the closing sentence of Grant's brief letter of +acceptance, "Let us have peace," became the shibboleth of his +followers, who claimed that the courteous and deferential spirit shown +at Appomattox would characterise his administration. Indeed, the issue +finally resolved itself to "Blair and Revolution" or "Grant and +Peace," and after a contest of unusual bitterness Republicans carried +the October States, although with greatly reduced majorities. +Pennsylvania gave only 10,000, Ohio 17,000, and Indiana less than +1,000.</p> + +<p>Though these elections presaged a Republican victory in November, +Democrats, still hopeful of success, renewed their efforts with great +energy. Blair went to the rear and Seymour took the stump. With +studied moderation Seymour had written his letter of acceptance to +catch the wavering Republican voter. He made it appear that the South +was saved from anarchy by the military, and that the North, to the +sincere regret of many Republicans and their ablest journals, was no +longer controlled by the sober judgment of the dominant party's safest +leaders. "There is hardly an able man who helped to build up the +Republican organisation," he said, "who has not within the past three +years warned it against its excesses." These men he pictured as forced +to give up their sentiments or to abandon their party, arguing that +the latter's policy must be more violent in future unless checked by a +division of political power. "Such a division," he said, adroitly +seeking to establish confidence in himself, "tends to assure the peace +and good order of society. The election of a Democratic Executive and +a majority of Democratic members to the House of Representatives would +not give to that party organisation the power to make sudden or +violent changes, but it would serve to check those extreme measures +which have been deplored by the best men of both political +organisations."<a name="vol3FNanchor_436_436" id="vol3FNanchor_436_436"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_436_436" class="fnanchor">[436]</a></p> + +<p>Preaching this gospel of peace Seymour passed through Western New +York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.212" id="vol3Page_iii.212">iii. 212</a></span> Illinois, attempting to +overcome the prestige of Grant's great fame, and to stem the tide of +Northern prejudice against Southern outrages. Meanwhile Roscoe +Conkling, having returned from a pleasure trip to Denver, entered the +campaign with earnestness against his brother-in-law. He desired +especially to carry Oneida County, to which he devoted his energies in +the closing days of the contest, making a schoolhouse canvass that +lifted the issue above local pride in its distinguished citizen who +headed the Democratic ticket. In going the rounds he met "Black +Paddy," a swarthy Irishman and local celebrity, who announced that he +had "turned Democrat."</p> + +<p>"How so?" asked the Senator.</p> + +<p>"Shure, sir," replied the quick-witted Celt, "O'im payin' ye a +compliment in votin' for your brother-in-law."<a name="vol3FNanchor_437_437" id="vol3FNanchor_437_437"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_437_437" class="fnanchor">[437]</a></p> + +<p>Near the close of the campaign, in accordance with the habit of many +years, William H. Seward returned to Auburn to speak to his neighbors +and townsmen. No one then realised that this was to be his last +political meeting, or that before another presidential election +occurred he would have entered upon his long sleep on Fort Hill. But +the hall was as full as if it had been so advertised. He was neither +an old man, being sixty-seven, nor materially changed in appearance. +Perhaps his face was a trifle thinner, his hair lighter, and his jaw +more prominent, but his mental equipment survived as in the olden days +when the splendid diction hit the tone and temper of the anti-slavery +hosts. His speech, however, showed neither the spirit that nerved him +in the earlier time, nor the resources that formerly sustained him in +vigorous and persuasive argument. He spoke rather in a vein of +extenuation and reminiscence, as one whose work, judged by its +beginnings, had perhaps ended unsatisfactorily as well as illogically, +and for which there was no sufficient reason.<a name="vol3FNanchor_438_438" id="vol3FNanchor_438_438"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_438_438" class="fnanchor">[438]</a></p> + +<p>This speech had the effect of widening the breach between<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.213" id="vol3Page_iii.213">iii. 213</a></span> him and his +old associates, who bitterly resented his apparent indifference in the +great contest, while men of a younger generation, looking at him with +wonder and interest, found it hard to realise that he had been one of +the most conspicuous and energetic figures in political life. How +complete was the loss of his political influence is naïvely +illustrated by Andrew D. White. "Mr. Cornell and I were arranging a +programme for the approaching annual commencement when I suggested Mr. +Seward for the main address. Mr. Cornell had been one of Mr. Seward's +lifelong supporters, but he received this proposal coldly, pondered it +for a few moments silently, and then said dryly: 'Perhaps you are +right, but if you call him you will show to our students the deadest +man that ain't buried in the State of New York.'"<a name="vol3FNanchor_439_439" id="vol3FNanchor_439_439"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_439_439" class="fnanchor">[439]</a></p> + +<p>Samuel J. Tilden voiced the supreme ante-election confidence of the +Democrats. "Speaking from an experience of more than thirty years in +political observation and political action," he said, "I do not +hesitate to say that in no presidential conflict since the days of +Andrew Jackson have omens of victory to any party or any cause been so +clear, so numerous, and so inspiring as those which now cheer the +party of the national Democracy to battle in the cause of American +liberty."<a name="vol3FNanchor_440_440" id="vol3FNanchor_440_440"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_440_440" class="fnanchor">[440]</a> The victory of 1867, in the opinion of leading +Democrats, had removed the Empire State from the doubtful list, but +while proclaiming their confidence of success many of them knew that a +confidential circular, issued from the rooms of the Democratic State +Committee and bearing the signature of Samuel J. Tilden, instructed +certain persons in each of the up-State counties to telegraph William +M. Tweed, "the minute the polls close and at his expense," the +probable Republican majority.<a name="vol3FNanchor_441_441" id="vol3FNanchor_441_441"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_441_441" class="fnanchor">[441]</a> Its purpose was plain. The +conspirators desired to know how many fraudulent votes would be needed +to overcome the Republi<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.214" id="vol3Page_iii.214">iii. 214</a></span>can superiority, and their method, then novel +and ingenious, avoided all chance of failure to carry the State. +Tilden denied knowledge of this circular. He also disclaimed its evil +purpose, but preferred to remain silent rather than denounce the +forgers.<a name="vol3FNanchor_442_442" id="vol3FNanchor_442_442"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_442_442" class="fnanchor">[442]</a></p> + +<p>Forewarned by the returns of 1867 Griswold's supporters, fearing fraud +in the metropolis, invoked the aid of the United States Court to +prevent the use of forged naturalisation papers, which resulted in the +indictment of several men and the publication of fraudulent registry +lists. Against such action John T. Hoffman, as mayor, violently +protested. "We are on the eve of an important election," said his +proclamation. "Intense excitement pervades the whole community. +Unscrupulous, designing, and dangerous men, political partisans, are +resorting to extraordinary means to increase it. Gross and unfounded +charges of fraud are made by them against those high in authority. +Threats are made against naturalised citizens, and a federal grand +jury has been induced to find, in great haste and secrecy, bills of +indictment for the purpose, openly avowed, of intimidating them in the +discharge of their public duties.... Let no citizen, however, be +deterred by any threats or fears, but let him assert his rights boldly +and resolutely, and he will find his perfect protection under the laws +and the lawfully constituted authorities of the State. By virtue of +authority invested in me I hereby offer a reward of $100 to be paid on +the arrest and conviction of any person charged ... with intimidating, +obstructing or defrauding any voter in the exercise of his right as an +elector."<a name="vol3FNanchor_443_443" id="vol3FNanchor_443_443"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_443_443" class="fnanchor">[443]</a> Thus did the Tweed Ring strike back.</p> + +<p>The result of the election in the country at large deeply disappointed +the Democrats. Grant obtained 214 electoral votes in twenty-six +States, while Seymour secured 80 in eight States. In New York, +however, the conspirators did their word well. Although the +Republicans won a majority in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.215" id="vol3Page_iii.215">iii. 215</a></span> both branches of the Legislature and +elected eighteen of the thirty-one congressmen, Seymour carried the +State by 10,000 and Hoffman by 27,946.</p> + +<p>After the election the Union League Club charged that in New York City +false naturalisation and fraudulent voting had been practised upon a +gigantic scale. It appeared from its report that one man sold seven +thousand fraudulent naturalisation certificates; that thousands of +fictitious names, with false residences attached, were enrolled, and +that gangs of repeaters marched from poll to poll, voting many times +in succession. The <i>Tribune</i> showed that in twenty election districts +the vote cast for Hoffman largely exceeded the registry lists, already +heavily padded with fictitious names, and that by comparison with +other years the aggregate State vote clearly revealed the work of the +conspirators.<a name="vol3FNanchor_444_444" id="vol3FNanchor_444_444"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_444_444" class="fnanchor">[444]</a> Instead of being the choice of the people, it said, +"Hoffman was 'elected' by the most infamous system of fraud."<a name="vol3FNanchor_445_445" id="vol3FNanchor_445_445"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_445_445" class="fnanchor">[445]</a> +Andrew D. White wrote that "the gigantic frauds perpetrated in the +sinks and dens of the great city have overborne the truthful vote and +voice of the Empire State. The country knows this, and the Democratic +party, flushed with a victory which fraud has won, hardly cares to +deny it."<a name="vol3FNanchor_446_446" id="vol3FNanchor_446_446"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_446_446" class="fnanchor">[446]</a> A few months later Conkling spoke of it as a well known +fact that John T. Hoffman was counted in. "The election was a +barbarous burlesque," he continued. "Many thousand forged +naturalisation papers were issued; some of them were white and some +were coffee-coloured. The same witnesses purported to attest hundreds +and thousands of naturalisation affidavits, and the stupendous fraud +of the whole thing was and is an open secret.... Repeating, ballot-box +stuffing, ruffianism, and false counting decided everything. Tweed +made the election officers, and the election officers were corrupt. +Thirty thousand votes were falsely added to the Democratic majority in +New York and Brooklyn alone. Taxes and elections were the mere spoil<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.216" id="vol3Page_iii.216">iii. 216</a></span> +and booty of a corrupt junta in Tammany. Usurpation and fraud +inaugurated a carnival of corrupt disorder; and obscene birds without +number swooped down to the harvest and gorged themselves on every side +in plunder and spoliation."<a name="vol3FNanchor_447_447" id="vol3FNanchor_447_447"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_447_447" class="fnanchor">[447]</a></p> + +<p>When Congress convened a committee, appointed to investigate +naturalisation frauds in the city of New York, reported that prior to +1868 the Common Pleas and Superior Courts, controlling matters of +naturalisation, annually averaged, from 1856 to 1867, 9,000 new +voters, but that after the Supreme Court began making citizens on +October 6, 1868, the number rapidly increased to 41,112. Several +revelations added interest to this statement. Judge Daly served in the +Common Pleas, while McCunn, Barnard, Cardozo, and others whom Tweed +controlled, sat in the Supreme and Superior Courts. Daly required from +three to five minutes to examine an applicant, but McCunn boasted that +he could do it in thirty seconds, with the result that the Supreme +Court naturalised from 1,800 to 2,100 per day, whereas the Common +Pleas during the entire year acted upon only 3,140. On the other hand, +the Supreme and Superior Courts turned out 37,967. "One day last week +one of our 'upright judges,'" said the <i>Nation</i>, "invited a friend to +sit by him while he played a little joke. Then he left off calling +from the list before him and proceeded to call purely imaginary names +invented by himself on the spur of the moment: John Smith, James +Snooks, Thomas Noakes, and the like. For every name a man instantly +answered and took a certificate. Finally, seeing a person scratching +his head, the judge called out, 'George Scratchem!' 'Here,' responded +a voice. 'Take that man outside to scratch,' said his honour to an +usher, and resumed the more regular manufacture of voters."<a name="vol3FNanchor_448_448" id="vol3FNanchor_448_448"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_448_448" class="fnanchor">[448]</a></p> + +<p>To show that a conspiracy existed to commit fraud, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.217" id="vol3Page_iii.217">iii. 217</a></span> committee +submitted valuable evidence contributed by the clerks of these courts. +Instead of printing the usual number of blank certificates based on +the annual average of 9,000, they ordered, between September 16 and +October 23, more than seven times as many, or 69,000, of which 39,000 +went to the Supreme Court. As this court had just gone into the +naturalisation business the order seemed suspiciously large. At the +time of the investigation 27,068 of these certificates were +unaccounted for, and the court refused an examination of its records. +However, by showing that the vote cast in 1868, estimated upon the +average rate of the increase of voters, should have been 131,000 +instead of 156,000, the committee practically accounted for them. The +<i>Nation</i> unwittingly strengthened this measured extent of the fraud, +declaring on the day the courts finished their work, that of "the +35,000 voters naturalised in this city alone, 10,000 are perhaps +rightly admitted, 10,000 have passed through the machine without +having been here five years, and the other 15,000 have never been near +the courtroom."<a name="vol3FNanchor_449_449" id="vol3FNanchor_449_449"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_449_449" class="fnanchor">[449]</a> A table also published by the committee showed +the ratio of votes to the population at each of the five preceding +presidential elections to have been 1 to 8, while in 1868 it was 1 to +4.65. "The only fair conclusion from these facts would be," said the +<i>Nation</i>, "that enormous frauds were perpetrated."<a name="vol3FNanchor_450_450" id="vol3FNanchor_450_450"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_450_450" class="fnanchor">[450]</a></p> + +<p>On the other hand, the Democratic minority of the committee, after +examining Hoffman and Tweed, who disclaimed any knowledge of the +transactions and affected to disbelieve the truth of the charges, +pronounced the facts cited "stale slanders," and most of the witnesses +"notorious swindlers, liars, and thieves," declaring that the +fraudulent vote did not exceed 2,000, divided equally between the two +parties. Moreover, it pronounced the investigation a shameful effort +to convict the Democracy of crimes that were really the result of the +long-continued misgovernment of the Republicans. If that party +controlled the city, declared one<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.218" id="vol3Page_iii.218">iii. 218</a></span> critic, it would become as adept in +"repeating" as it was in "gerrymandering" the State, whose Legislature +could not be carried by the Democrats when their popular majority +exceeded 48,000 as in 1867. This sarcastic thrust emphasised the +notorious gerrymander which, in spite of the Tammany frauds, gave the +Republicans a legislative majority of twenty-four on joint-ballot.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.219" id="vol3Page_iii.219">iii. 219</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XVI" id="vol3CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h2>INFLUENCE OF MONEY IN SENATORIAL ELECTIONS</h2> + +<h2>1869</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> election of a legislative majority in 1868 plunged the Republicans +into a fierce contest over the choice of a successor to Edwin D. +Morgan, whose term in the United States Senate ended on March 4. In +bitterness it resembled the historic battle between Weed and Greeley +in 1861. Morgan had made several mistakes. His support of Johnson +during the first year of the latter's Administration discredited him, +and although he diligently laboured to avoid all remembrance of it, +the patronage which the President freely gave had continued to +identify him with the Johnsonised federal officials. To overcome this +distrust he presented letters from Sumner and Wade, testifying to his +loyalty to the more radical element of the party.<a name="vol3FNanchor_451_451" id="vol3FNanchor_451_451"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_451_451" class="fnanchor">[451]</a> A revival of +the story of his opposition to Wadsworth in 1862 also embarrassed him. +He had overcome it when first elected to the Senate by the sustaining +hand of Thurlow Weed, whose position in the management of the party +was strengthened by Wadsworth's defeat; but now Weed was absent, and +to aid in meeting the ugly charges which rendered his way devious and +difficult, Morgan had recourse to Edwin M. Stanton, who wrote that +Wadsworth, distinguishing the Senator from his betrayers, repeatedly +spoke of him as a true friend and faithful supporter.<a name="vol3FNanchor_452_452" id="vol3FNanchor_452_452"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_452_452" class="fnanchor">[452]</a></p> + +<p>Morgan's strength, though of a negative kind, had its head concealed +under the coils of Conkling's position. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.220" id="vol3Page_iii.220">iii. 220</a></span> manifest that the +latter's admirers were combining to depose Reuben E. Fenton, Morgan's +chief competitor for the senatorial toga. Chester A. Arthur, looking +into the future, had already recognised the need of a new alignment, +and the young Senator evidenced the qualities that appealed to him. +There was a common impression that if Morgan were re-elected, he would +yield to the greater gifts of Conkling and the purpose, now so +apparent, was to crush Fenton and make Conkling the head of an +organisation which should include both Senators. John A. Griswold +understood this and declined to embarrass Morgan by entering the race.</p> + +<p>Fenton at this time was at the height of his power. His lieutenants, +headed by Waldo M. Hutchins, the distributor of his patronage, +excelled in the gifts of strategy, which had been illustrated in the +election of Truman G. Younglove for speaker. They were dominated, +also, by the favourite doctrine of political leaders that organisation +must be maintained and victory won at any cost save by a revolution in +party policy, and they entered the senatorial contest with a courage +as sublime as it was relentless. Their chief, too, possessed the +confidence of the party. His radicalism needed no sponsors. Besides, +his four years' service as governor, strengthened by the veto of +several bills calculated to increase the public burdens, had received +the unmistakable approval of the people.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless he was heavily handicapped. Greeley, still smarting under +Fenton's failure to support him for governor in 1868, declared for +Marshall O. Roberts, while Noah Davis, surprised at his insincerity, +aided Morgan. If Greeley's grievance had merit, Davis' resentment was +certainly justified. The latter claimed that after Conkling's election +in 1867, Fenton promised to support him in 1869, and that upon the +Governor's advice, to avoid the prejudice against a judge who engaged +in politics, he had resigned from the Supreme Court and made a winning +race for Congress.<a name="vol3FNanchor_453_453" id="vol3FNanchor_453_453"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_453_453" class="fnanchor">[453]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.221" id="vol3Page_iii.221">iii. 221</a></span></p> +<p>But the <i>Commercial Advertiser</i>, a journal then conducted by +Conservatives, placed the most serious obstacle in Fenton's pathway, +charging that an intimate friend of the Governor had received $10,000 +on two occasions after the latter had approved bills for the New York +Dry Dock and the Erie Railroad Companies.<a name="vol3FNanchor_454_454" id="vol3FNanchor_454_454"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_454_454" class="fnanchor">[454]</a> Although the <i>Sun</i> +promptly pronounced it "a remarkable piece of vituperation,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_455_455" id="vol3FNanchor_455_455"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_455_455" class="fnanchor">[455]</a> and +the <i>Tribune</i>, declaring "its source of no account," called it "a most +scurrilous diatribe,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_456_456" id="vol3FNanchor_456_456"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_456_456" class="fnanchor">[456]</a> the leading Democratic journal of the State +accepted it as "true."<a name="vol3FNanchor_457_457" id="vol3FNanchor_457_457"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_457_457" class="fnanchor">[457]</a> The story was not new. In the preceding +summer, during an investigation into the alleged bribery of members of +the Legislature of 1868, Henry Thompson, an Erie director, was asked +if his company paid Governor Fenton any money for approving the bill +legalising the acts of its directors in the famous "Erie war." +Thompson refused to answer as the question fell without the scope of +the committee's jurisdiction. Thereupon Thomas Murphy testified that +Thompson told him that he saw two checks of $10,000 each paid to +Hamilton Harris, the Governor's legal adviser, under an agreement that +Fenton should sign the bill. Murphy added that afterwards, as chairman +of a Republican political committee, he asked Jay Gould, president of +the Erie company, for a campaign contribution, and was refused for the +reason that he had already given $20,000 for Fenton. Harris and Gould +knew nothing of the transaction.<a name="vol3FNanchor_458_458" id="vol3FNanchor_458_458"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_458_458" class="fnanchor">[458]</a></p> + +<p>Matthew Hale, chairman of the Senate investigating committee, did not +include this testimony in his report, and the startling and improbable +publication in the <i>Commercial Advertiser</i> must have withered as the +sensation of a day, had not the belief obtained that the use of money +in senatorial contests played a prominent and important part. This +scandalous practice was modern. Until 1863 nothing had been heard of +the use of money in such contests. But what was<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.222" id="vol3Page_iii.222">iii. 222</a></span> then whispered, and +openly talked about in 1867 as Conkling testified, now became a common +topic of conversation. "It is conceded on all hands," said the +<i>Times</i>, editorially, "that money will decide the contest."<a name="vol3FNanchor_459_459" id="vol3FNanchor_459_459"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_459_459" class="fnanchor">[459]</a></p> + +<p>Talk of this kind appealed to the pessimist who believes a legislator +is always for sale, but Speaker Younglove, an assemblyman of long +experience, knowing that good committee appointments were more potent +than other influences, tactfully withheld the announcement of his +committees. Such a proceeding had never before occurred in the history +of the State, and twelve years later, when George H. Sharpe resorted +to the same tactics, William B. Woodin declared that it made Younglove +"a political corpse."<a name="vol3FNanchor_460_460" id="vol3FNanchor_460_460"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_460_460" class="fnanchor">[460]</a> Nevertheless, Morgan soon understood that +chairmanships and assignments on great committees were vastly more +attractive than anything he had to offer, and on January 16 (1869) the +first ballot of the caucus gave Fenton 52 votes to 40 for Morgan. A +month later, Richard M. Blatchford, then a justice of the United +States Supreme Court, wrote Thurlow Weed: "Morgan loses his election +because, you being sick, his backbone was missing."<a name="vol3FNanchor_461_461" id="vol3FNanchor_461_461"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_461_461" class="fnanchor">[461]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.223" id="vol3Page_iii.223">iii. 223</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XVII" id="vol3CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h2>TWEED CONTROLS THE STATE</h2> + +<h2>1869-70</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">William M. Tweed</span> had become a State senator in 1867. At this time he +held seventeen city offices.<a name="vol3FNanchor_462_462" id="vol3FNanchor_462_462"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_462_462" class="fnanchor">[462]</a> But one more place did not embarrass +him, and in entering upon his new career he promptly invoked the +tactics that strengthened him in the metropolis. Through the influence +of a Republican colleague on the Board of Supervisors he secured +appointments upon the important committees of Finance and Internal +Affairs, the first passing upon all appropriations, and the second +controlling most of the subordinate legislation in the State including +Excise measures. This opportunity for reviewing general legislation +gave him the advantage of a hawk circling in the sky of missing no +chance for plunder. By means of generous hospitality and a natural +affability he quickly won the esteem of his fellow senators, many of +whom responded to his gentle suggestion of city clerkships for +constituents. In his pretended zeal to serve Republicans he had +offered, during the recent contest for United States senator, to +marshal the Democrats to the support of Charles J. Folger, the leader +of the Senate, provided two Republican senators and twelve assemblymen +would vote for him.<a name="vol3FNanchor_463_463" id="vol3FNanchor_463_463"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_463_463" class="fnanchor">[463]</a> Persons familiar with Tweed's true character +understood that a senator of Folger's integrity and ability would be +less in the way at Washington than in Albany, but his apparent desire +to help the Genevan did him no harm.</p> + +<p>Thus intrenched in the good will of his colleagues Tweed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.224" id="vol3Page_iii.224">iii. 224</a></span> early in +the session, began debauching the tax levies for the city and county +of New York. His party controlled the Assembly, and his henchman, +William Hitchman, whom he had made speaker, controlled its committees. +What the Senate did, therefore, would be approved in the House. The +tax levies contained items of expense based upon estimates by the +different departments of the municipal and county governments. They +were prepared by the comptroller, examined by the city council and +county supervisors respectively, and submitted to the Legislature for +its approval. In the process they might be swelled by the comptroller +and the two boards, but the Legislature, acting as an outside and +disinterested party, usually trimmed them. Tweed, however, proposed to +swell them again. Accordingly projects for public improvements, +asylums, hospitals, and dispensaries that never existed except on +paper, appeared as beneficiaries of county and city. The comptroller +concealed these thefts by the issue of stocks and bonds and the +creation of a floating debt, which formed no part of his +statements.<a name="vol3FNanchor_464_464" id="vol3FNanchor_464_464"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_464_464" class="fnanchor">[464]</a> When the committee on appropriations reported these +additions, "the increase," it was claimed in the progress of the +discussion, "was called for only by plunderers."</p> + +<p>The passage of these vicious appropriations, requiring the help of +Republicans, gave rise to numerous charges of bribery and corruption. +"It was fully believed here," said the <i>Tribune</i>, "that tax levies +supplied the means for fabricating naturalisation papers and hiring +repeaters whereby Republicans were swindled out of the vote of this +State."<a name="vol3FNanchor_465_465" id="vol3FNanchor_465_465"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_465_465" class="fnanchor">[465]</a> Other corrupt practices in connection with important +railroad legislation, having special reference to the passage of the +so-called "Erie Bill," likewise attracted public attention. But +Matthew Hale's investigating committee, after a long and fruitless +session in the summer of 1868, expressed the opinion that the crime of +bribery could not be proven under the law as it then existed, since +both parties<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.225" id="vol3Page_iii.225">iii. 225</a></span> to the transaction were liable to punishment. This led +to a new statute exempting from prosecution the giver of a bribe which +was accepted.</p> + +<p>However, the Legislature elected in November, 1868, proved no less +plastic in the hands of the Boss, who again corrupted the tax levies. +After allowing every just item the committee coolly added six +millions,<a name="vol3FNanchor_466_466" id="vol3FNanchor_466_466"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_466_466" class="fnanchor">[466]</a> an amount subsequently reduced to three.<a name="vol3FNanchor_467_467" id="vol3FNanchor_467_467"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_467_467" class="fnanchor">[467]</a> This +iniquity was immediately denounced and exposed through pamphlets, +journals, and debates. Men frankly admitted that no reason or economic +principle justified the existence of such monstrous levies. Indeed, +every honest influence, legal, social, and political, opposed it. The +press condemned it, good men mourned over it, and wise men unmasked +it. But with the help of twenty Republicans, backed by the approval of +John T. Hoffman, the bill became a law. This time, however, +indignation did not die with the Legislature. The <i>Tribune</i>, charging +that the twenty Republican assemblymen whose names it published were +"bought and paid with cash stolen by means of tax levies," insisted +that "the rascals" should not be renominated. "We firmly believe," it +added, "that no Republican voted for these levies except for pay ... +and we say distinctly that we do not want victory this fall if it is +to be in all respects like the victory of last fall."<a name="vol3FNanchor_468_468" id="vol3FNanchor_468_468"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_468_468" class="fnanchor">[468]</a></p> + +<p>Local party leaders, resenting the <i>Tribune's</i> declarations, packed +conventions, renominated the black-listed legislators, and spread such +demoralisation that George William Curtis, Thomas Hillhouse, and John +C. Robinson withdrew from the State ticket. As a punishment for his +course the State Committee, having little faith in the election of its +candidates, substituted Horace Greeley for comptroller in place of +Hillhouse.<a name="vol3FNanchor_469_469" id="vol3FNanchor_469_469"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_469_469" class="fnanchor">[469]</a> In accepting the nomination Greeley ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.226" id="vol3Page_iii.226">iii. 226</a></span>pressed the +hope that it never would be said of him that he asked for an office, +or declined an honourable service to which he was called.<a name="vol3FNanchor_470_470" id="vol3FNanchor_470_470"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_470_470" class="fnanchor">[470]</a></p> + +<p>If corruption had demoralised Republicans, fear of a repetition of the +Tweed frauds paralysed them. The plan of having counties telegraph the +votes needed to overcome an up-State majority could be worked again as +successfully as before, since the machinery existed and the men were +more dexterous. Besides, danger of legal punishment had disappeared. +The Union League Club had established nothing, the congressional +investigation had resulted in no one's arrest, and Matthew Hale's +committee had found existing law insufficient. Moreover, Hale had +reported that newspaper charges were based simply upon rumours +unsupported by proof.<a name="vol3FNanchor_471_471" id="vol3FNanchor_471_471"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_471_471" class="fnanchor">[471]</a></p> + +<p>Tweed understood all this, and his confidence whetted an ambition to +control the State as absolutely as he did the city. At the Syracuse +convention which assembled in September (1869) Tilden represented the +only influence that could be vitalised into organised opposition. +Tilden undoubtedly despised Tweed. Yet he gave him countenance and +saved the State chairmanship.<a name="vol3FNanchor_472_472" id="vol3FNanchor_472_472"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_472_472" class="fnanchor">[472]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.227" id="vol3Page_iii.227">iii. 227</a></span></p> +<p>The campaign pivoted on the acceptance or rejection of the new State +constitution, framed by the convention of 1867 and submitted by the +Legislature of 1869. From the first the constitutional convention had +become a political body. Republicans controlled it, and their +insistence upon unrestricted negro suffrage gave colour to the whole +document, until the Democrats, demanding its defeat, focused upon it +their united opposition. As a candidate for comptroller Horace Greeley +likewise became an issue. Democrats could not forget his impatient, +petulant, and, as they declared, unfair charges of election frauds, +and every satirist made merry at his expense. To denunciation and +abuse, however, Greeley paid no attention. "They shall be most welcome +to vote against me if they will evince unabated devotion to the cause +of impartial suffrage."<a name="vol3FNanchor_473_473" id="vol3FNanchor_473_473"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_473_473" class="fnanchor">[473]</a> But the people, tired of Republican rule, +turned the State over to the Democrats regardless of men.<a name="vol3FNanchor_474_474" id="vol3FNanchor_474_474"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_474_474" class="fnanchor">[474]</a></p> + +<p>Although this result was not unexpected, no one dreamed that the +Democracy would win every department of the State government, +executive, legislative, and judicial. For seventeen years the +Democrats had twice elected the governor and once secured the +Assembly, while the Republicans, holding the Senate continuously and +the governorship and Assembly most of the time, had come to regard +themselves the people's lawmakers and the representatives of executive +authority. But Tweed's quiet canvass in the southern tier of counties +traversed by the Erie Railroad exhibited rare cunning in the capture +of the State Senate. Until this fortress of Republican opposition +surrendered, Hoffman's appointments, like those of Seward in 1839, +could not be confirmed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.228" id="vol3Page_iii.228">iii. 228</a></span></p> + +<p>After this election William M. Tweed's supremacy was acknowledged. In +1867 he had captured the Assembly and elected most of the State +officials; in 1868, after forcing the nomination of John T. Hoffman, +he made him governor by a system of gigantic frauds; and now in 1869, +having employed similar tactics in the southern tier of counties, he +had carried the Senate by four majority, secured the Assembly by +sixteen, and for the third time elected the State officials. This made +him leader of the State Democracy. Seymour so understood it, and +Tilden knew that he existed only as a figure-head.</p> + +<p>Tweed's power became more apparent after the Legislature opened in +January, 1870. He again controlled the Assembly committees through +William Hitchman, his speaker; he arranged them to his liking in the +Senate through Allen C. Beach, the lieutenant-governor; and he +sweetened a majority of the members in both houses with substantial +hopes of large rewards. This defeated an organisation, called the +Young Democracy, which hoped to break his power by the passage of a +measure known as the Huckleberry Charter, transferring the duties of +State commissions to the Board of Aldermen. Then Tweed appeared with a +charter. Sweeny was its author and home-rule its alleged object. It +substituted for metropolitan commissions, devised and fostered by +Republicans, municipal departments charged with equivalent duties, +whose heads were appointed by the mayor. It also created a department +of docks, and merged the election of city and state officials. Its +crowning audacity, however, was the substitution of a superintendent +of public works for street commissioner, to be appointed by the mayor +for a term of four years, and to be removable only after an +impeachment trial, in which the entire six judges of the Common Pleas +Court must participate. It was apparent that this charter perpetuated +whatever was most feared in the system of commissions, and obliterated +all trace of the corrective. It was obvious, also, that by placing +officials beyond the reach of everybody interested in their good +be<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.229" id="vol3Page_iii.229">iii. 229</a></span>haviour except the Courts, whose aid could be invoked only by the +mayor, and by him only for the extreme offense of malfeasance, it gave +a firmer hold to a Ring actuated by the resolute determination to +enrich itself at the public expense.</p> + +<p>Yet this measure encountered little opposition. The Young Democracy, +backed by Tilden and the remnant of the Albany Regency, exposed its +dangerous features, the <i>Times</i> called it an "abominable +charter,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_475_475" id="vol3FNanchor_475_475"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_475_475" class="fnanchor">[475]</a> and Manton Marble bitterly denounced it. But Tweed +raised no flag of truce, and after the distribution of a million of +dollars the Sweeny charter had an easy passage through both houses, +the Senate recording but two votes against it and the Assembly only +five.<a name="vol3FNanchor_476_476" id="vol3FNanchor_476_476"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_476_476" class="fnanchor">[476]</a> It was said that five Republican senators received $40,000 +each, and six others $10,000 each. Six hundred thousand went to a +lobbyist to buy assemblymen.<a name="vol3FNanchor_477_477" id="vol3FNanchor_477_477"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_477_477" class="fnanchor">[477]</a> Within three days after its passage +(April 5) the Governor had approved it, the Mayor had appointed Tweed +to the position of most power, and Sweeny had taken the place of most +lucre. Thereafter, as commissioner of public works, the Boss was to be +"the bold burglar," and his silent partner "the dark plotter." A week +later the departments of police and health, the office of comptroller, +the park commission, and the great law bureau had passed into the +control of their pals, with Connolly as "sneak-thief" and Hall "the +dashing bandit of the gang."<a name="vol3FNanchor_478_478" id="vol3FNanchor_478_478"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_478_478" class="fnanchor">[478]</a> Indeed, a month had scarcely elapsed +before the <i>ad interim</i> Board of Audit, authorised by the Legislature +as an additional scheme for theft, and composed of Tweed, Hall, and +Connolly, had ordered the payment of $6,000,000, and within the year, +as subsequent revelations disclosed, its bills aggregated $12,250,000, +of which 66 per cent. went to the thieves.<a name="vol3FNanchor_479_479" id="vol3FNanchor_479_479"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_479_479" class="fnanchor">[479]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.230" id="vol3Page_iii.230">iii. 230</a></span></p><p>John T. Hoffman approved Tweed's measures. During the earlier months +of his gubernatorial career his veto of several bills granting aid to +railroads gave promise of independence, but after Tweed and Sweeny +became directors of the Erie he approved the measure enabling corrupt +operators to retain possession of the road for an indefinite period in +defiance of the stockholders. It is probable that the real character +and fatal tendency of his associates had not been revealed to him. +Nevertheless, ambition seems to have blunted a strong, alert mind. The +appointment of Ingraham, Cardozo, and Barnard to the General Term of +the Supreme Court within the city of New York, if further evidence +were needed, revealed the Governor's subserviency. To avoid the Tweed +judges as well as interruption to the business of the Courts, the Bar +Association asked the Executive to designate outside judges. Tweed +understood the real object, and before the lawyers' committee, +consisting of Charles O'Conor, Joseph H. Choate, Henry Nicoll, William +H. Peckham, and William E. Curtis, could reach Albany, the Governor, +under telegraphic instructions from the Boss, appointed the notorious +trio. Such revelations of weakness plunged the <i>Evening Post</i> and +other admirers into tribulation. "The moral of Hoffman's fall," said +the <i>Nation</i>, "is that respectable citizens must give up the notion +that good can be accomplished by patting anybody on the back who, +having got by accident or intrigue into high official position, treats +them to a few spasms of virtue and independence.... Had Hoffman held +out against the Erie Ring he would have had no chance of renomination, +all hope of the Presidency would be gone, and he would find himself +ostracised by his Democratic associates."<a name="vol3FNanchor_480_480" id="vol3FNanchor_480_480"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_480_480" class="fnanchor">[480]</a></p> + +<p>Hoffman knew this as well as the <i>Nation</i>, and his obedience made him +the favourite of the Democratic State convention which assembled at +Rochester on September 21, 1870. It was a Tweed body. When he nodded +the delegates became unanimous. Tilden called it to order and had his +pocket<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.231" id="vol3Page_iii.231">iii. 231</a></span> picked by a gentleman in attendance.<a name="vol3FNanchor_481_481" id="vol3FNanchor_481_481"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_481_481" class="fnanchor">[481]</a> "We hope he has a +realising sense of the company he keeps," said the <i>Nation</i>, "when he +opens conventions for Mr. Tweed, Mr. Hall, and Mr. Sweeny."<a name="vol3FNanchor_482_482" id="vol3FNanchor_482_482"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_482_482" class="fnanchor">[482]</a> A +week later it expressed the opinion that "Tilden's appearance ought to +be the last exhibition the country is to witness of the alliance of +decent men for any purpose with these wretched thieves and +swindlers."<a name="vol3FNanchor_483_483" id="vol3FNanchor_483_483"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_483_483" class="fnanchor">[483]</a> The plundering Boss denied so much as a hearing to +the Young Democracy whom Tilden encouraged, while their delegates, +without vote or voice or seat, witnessed the renomination of Hoffman +by acclamation, and saw the programme, drafted by Tweed, executed with +unanimity. Mighty was Tammany, and, mightier still, its Tweed! The +Rochester authorities urged the departure of the delegates before +dark, and upon their arrival at Jersey City the next morning the local +police made indiscriminate arrests and locked up large batches of +them, including a Commissioner of Charities and Correction.<a name="vol3FNanchor_484_484" id="vol3FNanchor_484_484"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_484_484" class="fnanchor">[484]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.232" id="vol3Page_iii.232">iii. 232</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XVIII" id="vol3CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h2>CONKLING DEFEATS FENTON</h2> + +<h2>1870</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> Republican State convention which assembled at Saratoga on +September 7 was not so harmonious as the Tammany body. For several +years Senator Morgan and Governor Fenton had represented the two +sections of the party, the latter, soon after his inauguration on +January 1, 1865, having commenced building his political machine. As +an organiser he had few equals. One writer declares him "the ablest +after Van Buren."<a name="vol3FNanchor_485_485" id="vol3FNanchor_485_485"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_485_485" class="fnanchor">[485]</a> At all events he soon became the head of the +party, controlling its conventions and distributing its patronage. +After entering the Senate he paid assiduous attention to the +President. The repeal of the Tenure-of-Office Act and an effort to +secure the confirmation of Alexander T. Stewart for secretary of the +treasury opened the way to Grant's heart, and for these and other +favours he received the lion's share of appointments. In the meantime +his opponents insisted that under cover of loud radical professions he +had relied wholly upon trickery for success, banning able men and +demoralising the party.<a name="vol3FNanchor_486_486" id="vol3FNanchor_486_486"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_486_486" class="fnanchor">[486]</a></p> + +<p>To these criticisms and Conkling's advances the President presented a +listening ear. Conkling had not thrust himself upon Grant, but the +more the President tired of Fenton's importunities, the more he liked +Conkling's wit and sarcasm and forceful speech. As patronage gradually +disappeared Fenton redoubled his efforts to retain it, until in his +desperation he addressed a letter to the Chief Executive, referring to +his own presidential aspirations, and offering to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.233" id="vol3Page_iii.233">iii. 233</a></span> withdraw and give +him New York if the question of offices could be satisfactorily +arranged.<a name="vol3FNanchor_487_487" id="vol3FNanchor_487_487"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_487_487" class="fnanchor">[487]</a> This ended their relations.</p> + +<p>Subsequent appointments, however, did not meet with more favour. +Fenton declared them fatal to party harmony, since some of the new +officials, besides holding confidential relations with Tammany, had +been friendly to the Philadelphia movement in 1866 and to Hoffman in +1868. Bitter criticism especially followed the nomination of Thomas +Murphy for collector of New York in place of Moses H. Grinnell. "The +President appointed Murphy without consulting either Senator," says +Stewart, for thirty years a senator from Nevada. "Grant met him at +Long Branch, and being thoroughly acquainted with the country and +quite a horseman he made himself such a serviceable friend that the +Chief Executive thought him a fit person for collector."<a name="vol3FNanchor_488_488" id="vol3FNanchor_488_488"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_488_488" class="fnanchor">[488]</a> The New +York <i>Times</i> said, "the President has taken a step which all his +enemies will exult over and his friends deplore."<a name="vol3FNanchor_489_489" id="vol3FNanchor_489_489"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_489_489" class="fnanchor">[489]</a> The <i>Tribune</i> +was more severe. "The objection is not that he belongs to a particular +wing of the Republican party," it said, "but that he does not honestly +belong to any; that his political record is one of treachery well +rewarded; his business record such that the merchants of New York have +no confidence in him; and the record of his relations to the +government such that, until cleared up, he ought to hold no place of +trust under it."<a name="vol3FNanchor_490_490" id="vol3FNanchor_490_490"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_490_490" class="fnanchor">[490]</a> Yet Murphy bore endorsements from men of the +highest respectability. "Of those who in writing recommended his +appointment or confirmation," said Conkling, "are Edwin D. Morgan, +George Opdyke, Henry Clews, John A. Griswold, Charles J. Folger, +Matthew Hale, George Dawson, and others. Their signatures are in my +possession."<a name="vol3FNanchor_491_491" id="vol3FNanchor_491_491"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_491_491" class="fnanchor">[491]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Conkling preferred another, and until urged<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.234" id="vol3Page_iii.234">iii. 234</a></span> by his +friend Stewart to secure Murphy's confirmation "to avoid the possible +appointment of a less deserving man," he hesitated to act. "I told him +that the struggle to confirm Murphy would enlighten the President as +to the political situation in New York, and that he would undoubtedly +accord him the influence to which he was entitled. Then, to force the +fight, Conkling, at my suggestion, objected to further +postponement."<a name="vol3FNanchor_492_492" id="vol3FNanchor_492_492"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_492_492" class="fnanchor">[492]</a> The contest came on July 11, 1870.</p> + +<p>Fenton recalled Murphy's malodorous army contracts, spoke of his +disloyalty to the party while a member of the State Senate, submitted +proof of his unscrupulous business relations with the leaders of +Tammany, and denounced his political treachery in the gubernatorial +contest of 1866. In this fierce three hours' arraignment the Senator +spared no one. He charged that Charles J. Folger and Chester A. Arthur +had appeared in Washington in Murphy's behalf, because to the latter's +potent and corrupt influence with Tammany, Folger owed his election to +the Court of Appeals in the preceding May,<a name="vol3FNanchor_493_493" id="vol3FNanchor_493_493"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_493_493" class="fnanchor">[493]</a> while Arthur, through +Murphy's unclean bargaining with Tweed, was fattening as counsel for +the New York City Tax Commission.<a name="vol3FNanchor_494_494" id="vol3FNanchor_494_494"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_494_494" class="fnanchor">[494]</a></p> + +<p>In his reply Conkling spoke for an hour in his most vigorous style. +"Every sentence," said Stewart, "was replete with logic, sarcasm, +reason, and invective. Sometimes the senators would rise to their +feet, so great was the effect upon them. Toward the conclusion of his +speech Conkling walked down the aisle to a point opposite the seat of +Fenton. 'It is true,' he said, 'that Thomas Murphy is a mechanic, a +hatter by trade; that he worked at his trade in Albany supporting<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.235" id="vol3Page_iii.235">iii. 235</a></span> an +aged father and mother and crippled brother, and that while thus +engaged another visited Albany and played a very different rôle.' At +this point he drew from his pocket a court record, and extending it +toward Fenton, he continued,—'the particulars of which I will not +relate except at the special request of my colleague.' Fenton's head +dropped upon his desk as if struck down with a club. The scene in the +Senate was tragic."<a name="vol3FNanchor_495_495" id="vol3FNanchor_495_495"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_495_495" class="fnanchor">[495]</a></p> + +<p>It was a desperate battle. For several weeks heated politicians, with +pockets full of affidavits, had hurried to Washington from all parts +of New York, and while it was admitted that the appointee was not a +shining credit to his backers, the belief obtained that the control of +the party in the State depended upon the result. The two Senators so +understood it, and their preparation for the contest omitted all +amenities. Fenton, regardless of whom he hit, relied upon carefully +drawn charges sustained by affidavits; Conkling trusted to a fire of +scathing sarcasm, supported by personal influence with his Democratic +colleagues and the President's power in his own party. The result +showed the senior Senator's shrewdness, for when he ceased talking the +Senate, by a vote of 48 to 3, confirmed the appointment.</p> + +<p>From Washington the contest was transferred to Saratoga. Fenton, +desiring to impress and coerce the appointing power, made a herculean +effort to show that although Conkling had the ear of the President, he +could control the convention, and his plan included the election of +Charles H. Van Wyck for temporary chairman and himself for permanent +president. No doubt existed that at this moment he possessed great +power. Delegates crowded his head<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.236" id="vol3Page_iii.236">iii. 236</a></span>quarters, and a score of lieutenants +reported him far in the lead. From Fenton's accession to the +governorship a majority of the State Committee had supported him, +while chairmen, secretaries, and inspectors of the Republican district +organisations in New York City, many of whom held municipal +appointments under Tweed, had been welded together in the interest of +the Chautauquan's ascendency. To try to break such a combine was +almost attempting the impossible. Indeed, until the President, in a +letter dated August 22, expressed the wish that Conkling might go as a +delegate, the Senator had hesitated to attend the convention.<a name="vol3FNanchor_496_496" id="vol3FNanchor_496_496"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_496_496" class="fnanchor">[496]</a> +Even on the eve of its meeting he counselled with friends on the +policy of not taking his seat, while his backers talked of harmony and +proposed George William Curtis for chairman. The confident Fenton, +having retired for the night, would listen to no compromise. Meanwhile +the senior Senator, accompanied by Thomas Murphy, visited the rooms of +the up-State delegates, telling them that a vote for Fenton was a blow +at the Administration.<a name="vol3FNanchor_497_497" id="vol3FNanchor_497_497"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_497_497" class="fnanchor">[497]</a> This was the argument of desperation. It +meant to one man the loss of a federal office and to another the hope +that one might be gained. Such a significant statement, addressed by +the favourite of the President to internal revenue and post-office +officials, naturally demoralised the Fenton ranks, and when the +convention acted Curtis had 220 votes to 150 for Van Wyck.<a name="vol3FNanchor_498_498" id="vol3FNanchor_498_498"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_498_498" class="fnanchor">[498]</a> +Promptly upon this announcement Conkling, with great cunning, as if +acting the part of a peacemaker, moved that the committee on +organisation report Van Wyck for permanent president. The acceptance +of this suggestion without<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.237" id="vol3Page_iii.237">iii. 237</a></span> dissent settled Fenton, who an hour later +heard Conkling named at the head and himself at the foot of the +committee on resolutions.</p> + +<p>Thus far Conkling's success had been as unexpected as it was dazzling. +Heretofore he had been in office but not in power. Now for the first +time he had a strong majority behind him. He could do as he liked. He +possessed the confidence of the President, the devotion of his +followers, and the admiration of his opponents, who watched his +tactics in the selection of a candidate for governor with deepest +interest. It was a harrowing situation. For several weeks Horace +Greeley had been the principal candidate talked of, and although the +editor himself did not "counsel or advise" his nomination, he admitted +that "he would feel gratified if the convention should deliberately +adjudge him the strongest candidate."<a name="vol3FNanchor_499_499" id="vol3FNanchor_499_499"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_499_499" class="fnanchor">[499]</a> Several circumstances added +to his strength. Conkling had encouraged his candidacy to checkmate +Fenton's support of Marshall O. Roberts. For this reason the President +also favoured him. Besides, Stewart L. Woodford, who really expected +little, offered to withdraw if Greeley desired it,<a name="vol3FNanchor_500_500" id="vol3FNanchor_500_500"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_500_500" class="fnanchor">[500]</a> while DeWitt +C. Littlejohn, always a Titan in the political arena, likewise +side-stepped. These influences, as Conkling intended, silenced Fenton +and suppressed Roberts.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, Greeley's old-time enemies had not disappeared. No +one really liked him,<a name="vol3FNanchor_501_501" id="vol3FNanchor_501_501"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_501_501" class="fnanchor">[501]</a> while party managers, the shadow of whose +ill-will never ceased to obscure his chances, shook their heads. +Reasons given in 1868 were repeated with greater emphasis, and to +prevent his nomination which now seemed imminent, influences that had +suddenly made him strong were as quickly withdrawn. It was intimated +that the President preferred Woodford, and to defeat Fenton's possible +rally to Roberts use was again made of Curtis. The latter did not ask +such preferment, but Conkling, who had made him chairman, promised him +the governorship and Curtis being human acquiesced. In the fierce<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.238" id="vol3Page_iii.238">iii. 238</a></span> +encounter, however, this strategy, as questionable as it was sudden, +destroyed Greeley, humiliated Curtis, and nominated Woodford.<a name="vol3FNanchor_502_502" id="vol3FNanchor_502_502"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_502_502" class="fnanchor">[502]</a> +Conkling's tactics neither commended his judgment nor flattered his +leadership. But Conkling did not then possess the nerve openly to make +war upon Greeley. On the contrary, after secretly informing his +lieutenants of his preference for Curtis, he dodged the vote on the +first ballot and supported Greeley on the second, thus throwing his +friends into confusion. To extricate them from disorder he sought an +adjournment, while Fenton, very adroitly preventing such an excursion +to the repair-shop, forced the convention to support Woodford or +accept Greeley. The feeling obtained that Conkling had lost the +prestige of his early victory, but in securing control of the State +Committee he began the dictatorship that was destined to continue for +eleven years.</p> + +<p>The New York <i>Times</i> charged Greeley's defeat upon Fenton, insisting +that "the fault is not to be laid at the door of Senator +Conkling."<a name="vol3FNanchor_503_503" id="vol3FNanchor_503_503"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_503_503" class="fnanchor">[503]</a> Conkling also explained that "Greeley was +pertinaciously supported by all those connected with the custom-house. +He failed from a want of confidence in him, so general among the +delegates that electioneering and persuasion could not prevail against +it, and even those who voted for him declared, in many instances, that +they did so as a harmless compliment, knowing that he could not be +nominated."<a name="vol3FNanchor_504_504" id="vol3FNanchor_504_504"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_504_504" class="fnanchor">[504]</a> Greeley himself avoided<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.239" id="vol3Page_iii.239">iii. 239</a></span> the controversy, but his +acknowledgment of Fenton's loyal support and his sharp censure of +Curtis indicated full knowledge of Conkling's strategy, to whom, +however, he imputed no "bad faith," since "his aid had not been +solicited and none promised."<a name="vol3FNanchor_505_505" id="vol3FNanchor_505_505"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_505_505" class="fnanchor">[505]</a> Nevertheless, the great editor did +not forget!</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.240" id="vol3Page_iii.240">iii. 240</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XIX" id="vol3CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h2>TWEED WINS AND FALLS</h2> + +<h2>1870</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> campaign that followed the control of Tweed and Conkling combined +the spectacular and the dramatic. The platform of each party was +catchy. Both congratulated Germany for its victories and France for +its republic. Cuba also was remembered. But here the likeness ceased. +Democrats praised Hoffman, arraigned Grant, sympathised with Ireland, +demanded the release of Fenian raiders and the abolition of vexatious +taxes, declared the system of protection a robbery, and resolved that +a license law was more favourable to temperance than prohibition. On +the other hand, Republicans praised the President, arraigned the +Governor, applauded payments on the national debt and the reduction of +taxation, denounced election frauds and subventions to sectarian +schools, and resolved that so long as towns and cities have the right +to license the sale of liquor, they should also have the right to +prohibit its sale. The live issue, however, was Tammany and the Tweed +frauds. Congress had authorised Circuit Courts of the United States to +appoint in every election district one person from each party to watch +the registration and the casting and the count of votes. It had also +empowered United States marshals to appoint deputies to keep order at +the polls and to arrest for offences committed in their presence. +Against these acts the Democrats vigorously protested, declaring them +unconstitutional, revolutionary, and another step toward +centralisation, while Republicans pointed out their necessity in the +interest of a fair vote and an honest count.</p> + +<p>To Conkling the result of the campaign was of the utmost<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.241" id="vol3Page_iii.241">iii. 241</a></span> importance. +He had suddenly come into power, and success would materially aid him +in carrying out his policy of reorganising the party in the +metropolis. For many years, under an arrangement with Tammany, +Republicans had held important municipal positions. This custom had +grown out of the appointment of mixed commissions, created by +Republican legislatures, which divided the patronage between the two +parties. But since 1865, under Fenton's skilful manipulation, these +Tammany-Republicans, as they were called, had become the ardent +promoters of the Fenton machine, holding places on the general and +district committees, carrying primaries with the aid of Democratic +votes, and resorting to methods which fair-minded men did not approve. +Among other things it was charged that Fenton himself had a secret +understanding with Democratic leaders.<a name="vol3FNanchor_506_506" id="vol3FNanchor_506_506"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_506_506" class="fnanchor">[506]</a> These rumours had aroused +the suspicions of many Republicans, who thought it time to dissolve +the Tammany partnership, and having obtained control of the State +Committee in the late convention, Conkling proposed to reorganise the +New York general committee. Fenton was not unmindful of Conkling's +purpose. It had been disclosed in the convention, and to defeat it the +Chautauquan was indifferent to ways and means. During much of the +campaign he absented himself from the State, while threats of avenging +the appointment of Murphy and the removal of Grinnell created the +apprehension that his faction would secretly oppose the ticket.<a name="vol3FNanchor_507_507" id="vol3FNanchor_507_507"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_507_507" class="fnanchor">[507]</a></p> + +<p>Throughout the canvass Conkling was energetic. He spoke frequently. +That his temper was hot no one who looked at him could doubt, but he +had it in tight control. Although he encountered unfriendly +demonstrations, especially in New York, the pettiness of ruffled +vanity did not ap<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.242" id="vol3Page_iii.242">iii. 242</a></span>pear. Nothing could be more easy and graceful than +his manner on these occasions. His expository statements, lucid, +smooth, and equally free from monotony and abruptness, were models of +their kind. In dealing with election frauds in New York his +utterances, without growing more vehement or higher keyed, found +expression in the fire of his eye and the resistless strength of his +words. The proud, bold nature of the man seemed to flash out, +startling and thrilling the hearer by the power of his towering +personality.</p> + +<p>Revelations of fraud had been strengthened by the publication of the +Eighth Census. In many election districts it appeared that the count +was three, four, five, and even six times as large as an honest vote +could be. Proofs existed, including in some instances a confession, +that in 1868 the same men registered more than one hundred times under +different names—one man one hundred and twenty-seven times. Instances +were known and admitted in which the same man on the same day voted +more than twenty times for John T. Hoffman. "To perpetuate this +infamy," declared Conkling, "Mayor Hall has invented since the +publication of the census new escapes for repeaters by changing the +numbers and the boundaries of most of the election districts, in some +cases bisecting blocks and buildings, so that rooms on the same +premises are in different districts, thus enabling colonised repeaters +to register and vote often, and to find doors of escape left open by +officials who have sworn to keep them closed." The registration for +1870, although twenty thousand less than in 1868, he declared, +contained seventeen thousand known fraudulent entries.<a name="vol3FNanchor_508_508" id="vol3FNanchor_508_508"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_508_508" class="fnanchor">[508]</a> The +newspapers strengthened his arguments. In one of Nast's cartoons Tweed +as "Falstaff" reviews his army of repeaters, with Hoffman as +sword-bearer, and Comptroller Sweeny, Mayor Hall, James Fisk, Jr., and +Jay Gould as spectators.<a name="vol3FNanchor_509_509" id="vol3FNanchor_509_509"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_509_509" class="fnanchor">[509]</a> Another pre-election cartoon, entitled +"The<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.243" id="vol3Page_iii.243">iii. 243</a></span> Power behind the Throne," presented Governor Hoffman crowned and +robed as king, with Tweed grasping the sword of power and Sweeny the +axe of an headsman.<a name="vol3FNanchor_510_510" id="vol3FNanchor_510_510"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_510_510" class="fnanchor">[510]</a></p> + +<p>Democrats resented these attacks. People, still indifferent to or +ignorant of Tweed's misdeeds, rested undisturbed. The Citizens' +Association of New York had memorialised the Legislature to pass the +Tweed charter, men of wealth and character petitioned for its +adoption, and the press in the main approved it.<a name="vol3FNanchor_511_511" id="vol3FNanchor_511_511"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_511_511" class="fnanchor">[511]</a> Even the +<i>World</i>, after its bitter attacks in the preceding winter upon the +Ring officials, championed their cause.<a name="vol3FNanchor_512_512" id="vol3FNanchor_512_512"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_512_512" class="fnanchor">[512]</a> "There is not another +municipal government in the world," said Manton Marble, "which +combines so much character, capacity, experience, and energy as are to +be found in the city government of New York under the new +charter."<a name="vol3FNanchor_513_513" id="vol3FNanchor_513_513"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_513_513" class="fnanchor">[513]</a> The final Democratic rally of the campaign also +contributed to Tammany's glory. Horatio Seymour was the guest of honor +and August Belmont chairman. Conspicuous in the list of +vice-presidents were Samuel J. Tilden, George Tichnor Curtis, Augustus +Schell, and Charles O'Conor, while Tweed, with Hoffman and McClellan, +reviewed thirty thousand marchers in the presence of one hundred +thousand people who thronged Union Square, attracted by an +entertainment as lavish as the fêtes of Napoleon III. To many this +prodigal expenditure of money suggested as complete and sudden a +collapse to Tweed as had befallen the French Emperor, then about to +become the prisoner of Germany. In the midst of the noise Seymour, +refraining from committing himself to Tammany's methods, read a +carefully written essay on the canals.<a name="vol3FNanchor_514_514" id="vol3FNanchor_514_514"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_514_514" class="fnanchor">[514]</a> It was noted, too, that +Tilden did not speak.</p> + +<p>The election resulted in the choice of all the Democratic candidates, +with sixteen of the thirty-one congressmen and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.244" id="vol3Page_iii.244">iii. 244</a></span> a majority in each +branch of the Legislature. Hall was also re-elected mayor.<a name="vol3FNanchor_515_515" id="vol3FNanchor_515_515"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_515_515" class="fnanchor">[515]</a> +Republicans extracted a bit of comfort out of the reduced majority in +New York City, but to all appearances Tammany had tightened its grip. +Indeed, on New Year's Day, 1871, when Hoffman and Hall, with almost +unlimited patronage to divide, were installed for a second time, the +Boss had reason to feel that he could do as he liked. From a modest +house on Henry Street he moved to Fifth Avenue. At his summer home in +Greenwich he erected a stable with stalls of finest mahogany. His +daughter's wedding became a prodigal exhibition of great wealth, and +admittance to the Americus Club, his favourite retreat, required an +initiation fee of one thousand dollars. To the poor he gave lavishly. +In the winter of 1870-71 he donated one thousand dollars to each +alderman to buy coal and food for the needy. His own ward received +fifty thousand. Finally, in return for his gifts scattered broadcast +to the press and to an army of protégés, it was proposed to erect a +statue "in commemoration of his services to the Commonwealth of New +York." His followers thought him invulnerable, and those who despised +him feared his power. In New York he had come to occupy something of +the position formerly accorded to Napoleon III by the public opinion +of Europe.</p> + +<p>Tweed's legislative achievements, increasing in boldness, climaxed in +the session of 1871 by the passage of the Acts to widen Broadway and +construct the Viaduct Railroad. The latter company had power to grade +streets, to sell five millions of its stock to the municipality, and +to have its property exempted from taxation,<a name="vol3FNanchor_516_516" id="vol3FNanchor_516_516"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_516_516" class="fnanchor">[516]</a> while the Broadway<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.245" id="vol3Page_iii.245">iii. 245</a></span> +swindle, estimated to cost the city between fifty and sixty +millions,<a name="vol3FNanchor_517_517" id="vol3FNanchor_517_517"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_517_517" class="fnanchor">[517]</a> enabled members of the Ring to enrich themselves in the +purchase of real estate. To pass these measures Tweed required the +entire Democratic vote, so that when one member resigned to avoid +expulsion for having assaulted a colleague,<a name="vol3FNanchor_518_518" id="vol3FNanchor_518_518"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_518_518" class="fnanchor">[518]</a> he found it necessary +to purchase a Republican to break the deadlock. The character of +Republican assemblymen had materially changed for the better, and the +belief obtained that "none would be brazen enough to take the risk of +selling out;"<a name="vol3FNanchor_519_519" id="vol3FNanchor_519_519"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_519_519" class="fnanchor">[519]</a> but an offer of seventy-five thousand dollars +secured the needed vote.<a name="vol3FNanchor_520_520" id="vol3FNanchor_520_520"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_520_520" class="fnanchor">[520]</a> Thus did the power of evil seem more +strongly intrenched than ever.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the constant and unsparing denunciation of the New York +<i>Times</i>, coupled with Nast's cartoons in <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, excited +increasing attention to the Ring. As early as 1869 Nast began +satirising the partnership of Tweed, Sweeny, Connolly, and Hall, and +in 1870 the <i>Times</i> opened its battery with an energy and sureness of +aim that greatly disturbed the conspirators. To silence its suggestive +and relentless attacks Tweed sought to bribe its editor, making an +offer of one million dollars.<a name="vol3FNanchor_521_521" id="vol3FNanchor_521_521"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_521_521" class="fnanchor">[521]</a> A little later he sent word to Nast +that he could have half a million.<a name="vol3FNanchor_522_522" id="vol3FNanchor_522_522"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_522_522" class="fnanchor">[522]</a> Failing in these attempts the +Ring, in November, 1870, secured an indorsement from Marshall O. +Roberts, Moses Taylor, John Jacob Astor, and three others of like +position, that the financial affairs of the city, as shown by the +comptroller's books, were administered correctly. It subsequently +transpired that<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.246" id="vol3Page_iii.246">iii. 246</a></span> some of these men were associated with Tweed in the +notorious Viaduct job,<a name="vol3FNanchor_523_523" id="vol3FNanchor_523_523"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_523_523" class="fnanchor">[523]</a> but for the time their certificate +re-established the Ring's credit more firmly than ever. "There is +absolutely nothing in the city," said the <i>Times</i>, "which is beyond +the reach of the insatiable gang who have obtained possession of +it."<a name="vol3FNanchor_524_524" id="vol3FNanchor_524_524"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_524_524" class="fnanchor">[524]</a></p> + +<p>While Roberts and his associates were certifying to the correctness of +Connolly's books, William Copeland, a clerk in the office, was making +a transcript of the Ring's fraudulent disbursements. Copeland was a +protégé of ex-sheriff James O'Brien, who had quarrelled with Connolly +because the latter refused to allow his exorbitant bills, and with the +Copeland transcript he tried to extort the money from Tweed. Failing +in this he offered the evidence to the <i>Times</i>. A little later the +same journal obtained a transcript of fraudulent armoury accounts +through Matthew J. O'Rourke, a county bookkeeper. When knowledge of +the <i>Times'</i> possessions reached the Ring, Connolly offered George +Jones, the proprietor, five million dollars to keep silent. "I cannot +consider your proposition," said Jones.<a name="vol3FNanchor_525_525" id="vol3FNanchor_525_525"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_525_525" class="fnanchor">[525]</a></p> + +<p>The <i>Times'</i> publication of the armoury expenses furnished by O'Rourke +created a sensation, but the excitement over the Copeland evidence +grew into a fierce tempest. These figures, carefully tabulated and +printed in large type, showed that the new courthouse, incomplete and +miserably furnished, involved a steal of $8,000,000. One plasterer +received $38,187 for two days' work. Another, during a part of two +months, drew nearly $1,000,000. A carpenter received $350,000 for a +month's labour. A single item of stationery aggregated $186,495, while +forty chairs and three tables cost $179,729. In supplying aldermen +with carriages, mostly for funerals, two liverymen earned $50,000 in a +few days. Advertising in city newspapers amounted to $2,703,308. +Carpets purchased at five dollars per yard would cover City<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.247" id="vol3Page_iii.247">iii. 247</a></span> Hall Park +three times over. As these disclosures appeared in successive issues +the people realised that a gang of very common thieves had been at +work. It was a favourite method to refuse payment for want of money +until a claimant, weary of waiting, accepted the suggestion of +Connolly's agent to increase the amount of his bill. This turned an +honest man into a conspirator and gave the Ring the benefit of the +raise.<a name="vol3FNanchor_526_526" id="vol3FNanchor_526_526"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_526_526" class="fnanchor">[526]</a></p> + +<p>On September 4, 1871, a mass meeting of indignant citizens, held in +Cooper Union, created the Committee of Seventy, and charged it with +the conduct of investigations and prosecutions. Before it could act +vouchers and cancelled warrants, covering the courthouse work for 1869 +and 1870, had been stolen from the comptroller's office.<a name="vol3FNanchor_527_527" id="vol3FNanchor_527_527"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_527_527" class="fnanchor">[527]</a> This +increased the excitement. At last Connolly, to escape becoming a +scape-goat, appointed Andrew H. Green deputy comptroller, and the +Governor designated Charles O'Conor to act in behalf of the +Attorney-General. Thus the Committee of Seventy passed into complete +control of the situation, and under the pressure of suits and arrests +the Ring rapidly lost its power and finally its existence. On October +26, 1871, Tweed was arrested and held to bail in the sum of +$1,000,000, Jay Gould becoming his chief bondsman. Soon after Sweeny +retired from the Board of Park Commissioners, Connolly resigned as +comptroller, and Tweed gave up the offices of grand sachem of Tammany, +director of the Erie Railway, and commissioner of public works. Of all +his associates Mayor Hall alone continued in office, serving until the +end of 1872, the close of his term.<a name="vol3FNanchor_528_528" id="vol3FNanchor_528_528"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_528_528" class="fnanchor">[528]</a></p> + +<p>Having anticipated a little it may not be improper to anticipate a +little more, and say what became of other mem<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.248" id="vol3Page_iii.248">iii. 248</a></span>bers of this historic +Ring. When the public prosecutor began his work Sweeny and Connolly +fled to Europe.<a name="vol3FNanchor_529_529" id="vol3FNanchor_529_529"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_529_529" class="fnanchor">[529]</a> After one mistrial, Tweed, found guilty on +fifty-one counts, was sent to prison for twelve years on Blackwell's +Island, but at the end of a year the Court of Appeals reversed the +sentence, holding it cumulative. Being immediately rearrested Tweed, +in default of bail fixed at $3,000,000, remained in jail until his +escape in December, 1875. Disguised by cutting his beard and wearing a +wig and gold spectacles, he concealed his whereabouts for nearly a +year, going to Florida in a schooner, thence to Cuba in a fishing +smack, and finally to Spain, where he was recognised and returned to +New York on a United States man-of-war. He re-entered confinement on +November 23, 1876, and died friendless and moneyless in Ludlow Street +jail on April 12, 1878.</p> + +<p>Meantime the Legislature of 1871 had ordered the impeachment of +Barnard and Cardozo of the Supreme Court, and McCunn of the Superior +Court. Their offences extended beyond the sphere of Tweed's +operations, indicating the greed of a Sweeny and the disregard of all +honorable obligations. Cardozo, the most infamous of the trio, called +the Machiavelli of the Bench, weakened under investigation and +resigned to avoid dismissal. Barnard and McCunn, being summarily +removed, were forever disqualified from holding any office of trust in +the State. McCunn died three days after sentence, while Barnard, +although living for seven years, went to his grave at the early age of +fifty.</p> + +<p>The aggregate of the Ring's gigantic swindles is known only +approximately. Henry F. Taintor, the auditor employed by Andrew H. +Green, estimated it between forty-five and fifty millions; an +Aldermanic committee placed it at sixty millions; and Matthew J. +O'Rourke, after thorough study, fixed it at seventy-five millions, +adding that if his report had included the vast issues of fraudulent +bonds, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.249" id="vol3Page_iii.249">iii. 249</a></span> swindling by franchises and favours granted, and +peculation by blackmail and extortion, the grand total would aggregate +two hundred millions. Of the entire sum stolen only $876,000 were +recovered.<a name="vol3FNanchor_530_530" id="vol3FNanchor_530_530"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_530_530" class="fnanchor">[530]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.250" id="vol3Page_iii.250">iii. 250</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XX" id="vol3CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h2>CONKLING PUNISHES GREELEY</h2> + +<h2>1871</h2> + + +<p><br />"<span class="smcap">It</span> were idle," said Horace Greeley, soon after the election in +November, 1870, "to trace the genealogy of the feud which has divided +Republicans into what are of late designated Fenton and Conkling men. +Suffice it that the fatal distraction exists and works inevitable +disaster. More effort was made in our last State convention to triumph +over Senator Fenton than to defeat Governor Hoffman, and in selecting +candidates for our State ticket the question of Fenton and anti-Fenton +was more regarded by many than the nomination of strong and popular +candidates. Since then every Fenton man who holds a federal office has +felt of his neck each morning to be sure that his head was still +attached to his shoulders."<a name="vol3FNanchor_531_531" id="vol3FNanchor_531_531"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_531_531" class="fnanchor">[531]</a></p> + +<p>Conkling's effort to obtain control of the State Committee provoked +this threnody. Subsequently, without the slightest warning, Fenton's +naval officer, general appraiser, and pension agent were removed.<a name="vol3FNanchor_532_532" id="vol3FNanchor_532_532"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_532_532" class="fnanchor">[532]</a> +But as the year grew older it became apparent that designs more fatal +in their consequences than removals from office threatened the Fenton +organisation. It was not a secret that the Governor had kept his +control largely through the management of politicians, entitled +"Tammany Republicans," of whom "Hank" Smith, as he was familiarly +called, represented an active type. Smith was a member of the +Republican State committee and of the Republican general city +committee. He was also a county supervisor and a Tweed police +commissioner. Moreover, he was the very model of a re<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.251" id="vol3Page_iii.251">iii. 251</a></span>sourceful +leader, acute and energetic, strong and unyielding, and utterly +without timidity in politics. In supporting Fenton he appointed +Republicans to city offices, took care of those discharged from the +custom-house, and used the police and other instruments of power as +freely as Thomas Murphy created vacancies and made appointments.<a name="vol3FNanchor_533_533" id="vol3FNanchor_533_533"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_533_533" class="fnanchor">[533]</a> +In his despotic sway he had shown little regard for opposition leaders +and none whatever for minorities, until at last a faction of the +general city committee, of which Horace Greeley was then chairman, +petitioned the State committee for a reorganisation. So long as Fenton +controlled State conventions and State committees, Smith's iron rule +easily suppressed such seceders; but when the State committee revealed +a majority of Conkling men, with Cornell as chairman, these +malcontents found ready listeners and active sympathisers.</p> + +<p>Alonzo B. Cornell, then thirty-nine years old, had already entered +upon his famous career. From the time he began life as a boy of +fifteen in an Erie Railroad telegraph office, he had achieved +phenomenal success in business. His talents as an organiser easily +opened the way. He became manager of the Western Union telegraph +lines, the promoter of a steamboat company for Lake Cayuga, and the +director of a national bank at Ithaca. Indeed, he forged ahead so +rapidly that soon after leaving the employ of the Western Union, Jay +Gould charged him with manipulating a "blind pool"<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.252" id="vol3Page_iii.252">iii. 252</a></span> in telegraph +stocks.<a name="vol3FNanchor_534_534" id="vol3FNanchor_534_534"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_534_534" class="fnanchor">[534]</a> His education and experience also made him an expert in +political manipulation, until, in 1868, he shone as the Republican +candidate for lieutenant-governor. After his defeat and Grant's +election, he became surveyor of the port of New York, a supporter of +Conkling, and the champion of a second term for the President. His +silence, deepened by cold, dull eyes, justified the title of "Sphinx," +while his massive head, with bulging brows, indicated intellectual and +executive power. He was not an educated man. Passing at an early age +from his studies at Ithaca Academy into business no time was left him, +if the disposition had been his, to specialise any branch of political +economic science. He could talk of politics and the rapid growth of +American industries, but the better government of great cities and the +need of reform in the national life found little if any place among +his activities. In fact, his close identification with the +organisation had robbed him of the character that belongs to men of +political independence, until the public came to regard him only an +office-holder who owed his position to the favour of a chief whom he +loyally served.</p> + +<p>Very naturally the scheme of the malcontents attracted Cornell, who +advised Horace Greeley that after careful and patient consideration +the State Committee,<a name="vol3FNanchor_535_535" id="vol3FNanchor_535_535"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_535_535" class="fnanchor">[535]</a> by a vote of 20 to 8, had decided upon an +entire reorganisation of his committee. Cornell further declared that +if their action was without precedent so was the existing state of +political af<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.253" id="vol3Page_iii.253">iii. 253</a></span>fairs in the city, since never before in the history of +the party had the general committee divided into two factions of +nearly equal numbers, one ordering primaries for the election of a new +committee, and the other calling upon the State committee to direct an +entire reorganisation. However, he continued, abundant precedent +existed for the arbitrary reorganisation of assembly, district, and +ward committees by county committees. Since the State committee bore +the same official relation to county committees that those committees +sustained to local organisations within their jurisdiction, it had +sufficient authority to act in the present crisis.<a name="vol3FNanchor_536_536" id="vol3FNanchor_536_536"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_536_536" class="fnanchor">[536]</a></p> + +<p>Conscious of the motive inspiring Cornell's action, Greeley replied +that the State committee was the creature of State conventions, +delegated with certain powers confined to the interval of time between +such conventions. It executed its annual functions and expired. When +contesting delegations from rival general committees had presented +themselves in 1868, the State convention, rather than intrust the +reorganisation to the State committee, appointed a special committee +for the purpose, and when, in 1869, that committee made its report, +the State convention resolved that the general committee of 1870 +should thereafter be the regular and the only organisation. Nor was +that all. When a resolution was introduced in the State convention of +1870 to give the State committee power to interfere with the general +committee, the convention frowned and peremptorily dismissed it. +Neither did the State committee, Greeley continued, take anything by +analogy. County committees had never assumed to dissolve or reorganise +assembly or district committees, nor had the power ever been conceded +them, since assembly and district committees were paramount to county +committees. But aside from this the general committee had other and +greater powers than those of county committees, for the State +convention in 1863, in 1866, and again in 1869 ordered that Republican +electors in each city<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.254" id="vol3Page_iii.254">iii. 254</a></span> and assembly district should be enrolled into +associations, delegates from each of which composed the general +committee. No such power was conceded to county committees.<a name="vol3FNanchor_537_537" id="vol3FNanchor_537_537"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_537_537" class="fnanchor">[537]</a></p> + +<p>Although this statement seemed to negative its jurisdiction to +interfere, the State committee, exposing the real reason for its +action, based its right to proceed on the existence of improper +practices, claiming that certain officers and members of the Greeley +and district committees held positions in city departments under the +control of Tammany, and that when members of Republican associations +were discharged from federal offices by reason of Democratic +affiliations, they were promptly appointed to places under Democratic +officials.<a name="vol3FNanchor_538_538" id="vol3FNanchor_538_538"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_538_538" class="fnanchor">[538]</a> To this the Greeley committee replied that Republicans +holding municipal offices did so under a custom growing out of mixed +commissions of Republicans and Democrats, which divided certain places +between the two parties—a custom as old as the party itself, and one +that had received the sanction of its best men. Indeed, it continued, +George Opdyke, a member of the State committee, had himself, when +mayor, appointed well-known Democrats on condition that Republicans +should share the minor offices,<a name="vol3FNanchor_539_539" id="vol3FNanchor_539_539"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_539_539" class="fnanchor">[539]</a> and a Republican governor and +Senate, in placing a Tammany official at the head of the +street-cleaning department, invoked the same principle of +division.<a name="vol3FNanchor_540_540" id="vol3FNanchor_540_540"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_540_540" class="fnanchor">[540]</a> Several members of the State committee had themselves, +until recently, held profitable places by reason of such an +understanding without thought of their party fealty being questioned. +It was a recognition of the rights of the minority. As to the wisdom +of such a policy the committee did not express an opinion, but it +suggested that if members of the general committee or of district +associations, holding such city places, should be charged with party +infidelity, prompt expulsion would follow proof of guilt. It declared +itself as anxious to maintain party purity<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.255" id="vol3Page_iii.255">iii. 255</a></span> and fidelity as the State +committee, and for the purpose of investigating all charges it +appointed a sub-committee.<a name="vol3FNanchor_541_541" id="vol3FNanchor_541_541"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_541_541" class="fnanchor">[541]</a></p> + +<p>It was manifest from the first, however, that no investigation, no +purging of the rolls, no compromise would avail. The charge had gone +forth that "Tammany Republicans" controlled the Greeley committee, and +in reply to the demand for specifications the State committee accused +Henry Smith and others with using Tammany's police, taking orders from +Sweeny, and participating in Ring enterprises to the detriment of the +Republican party.<a name="vol3FNanchor_542_542" id="vol3FNanchor_542_542"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_542_542" class="fnanchor">[542]</a> "These men," said the <i>Times</i>, "are receiving +the devil's pay, and consequently, it is to be presumed, are doing the +devil's work. Republicans under Tammany cannot serve two masters. A +Republican has a right to serve Tweed if he chooses. But he ought not +at the same time to be taken into the confidence of Republicans who +wage war against Tammany for debasing the bench, the bar, and every +channel of political life."<a name="vol3FNanchor_543_543" id="vol3FNanchor_543_543"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_543_543" class="fnanchor">[543]</a></p> + +<p>To articles of this character Greeley replied that the Republicanism +of Cornell and Smith did not differ. They had graced the same ticket; +they had gone harmonious members of the same delegation to the last +State convention; and they were fellow members of the State committee, +created by that convention, Smith being aided thither by Cornell's +vote.<a name="vol3FNanchor_544_544" id="vol3FNanchor_544_544"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_544_544" class="fnanchor">[544]</a> In the presence of such evidence the Fenton faction +declared that there was neither soundness nor sincerity in the +<i>Times'</i> statements or in the State committee's charges. Nevertheless, +it was known then and publicly charged afterward that, although +thoroughly honest himself, Greeley had long been associated with the +most selfish politicians in the State outside of Murphy and the +Tammany Ring.<a name="vol3FNanchor_545_545" id="vol3FNanchor_545_545"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_545_545" class="fnanchor">[545]</a> Thus the accusation against "Tammany Republicans" +became a taking cry, since the feeling generally obtained that it was +quite impossible for a man to perform service for Tweed and be a<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.256" id="vol3Page_iii.256">iii. 256</a></span> +faithful Republican. Formerly the question had assumed less +importance, but Tammany, identified with fraudulent government, a +corrupt judiciary, and a dishonest application of money, could no +longer be treated as a political organisation. Its leaders were +thieves, it was argued, and a Republican entering their service must +also be corrupt. In his letter to John A. Griswold, Conkling openly +charged the Greeley committee with being corrupted and controlled by +Tammany money.<a name="vol3FNanchor_546_546" id="vol3FNanchor_546_546"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_546_546" class="fnanchor">[546]</a></p> + +<p>The controversy, bitter enough before, became still more bitter now. +Conscious that all was lost if the State committee succeeded, the +Greeley organisation, by a vote of 99 to 1, declined to be +reorganised. "The determination of the State committee to dissolve the +regular Republican organisation of the city of New York and to create +another, without cause and without power," it said, "is an act +unprecedented in its nature, without justification, incompatible with +the principles and life of the Republican party, and altogether an act +of usurpation, unmitigated by either policy or necessity."<a name="vol3FNanchor_547_547" id="vol3FNanchor_547_547"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_547_547" class="fnanchor">[547]</a> +Greeley alone appeared willing to yield. He offered a resolution, +which, while describing the State committee's order as an injustice +and a wrong, agreed to obey it; but an adverse majority of 91 to 9 +showed that his associates interpreted his real feelings.<a name="vol3FNanchor_548_548" id="vol3FNanchor_548_548"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_548_548" class="fnanchor">[548]</a></p> + +<p>Thus the break had come. It was not an unusual event for the general +city committee to quarrel. For many years Republican contentions in +the metropolis had occupied the attention of the party throughout the +State. In fact a State convention had scarcely met without being +wearied with them. But everything now conspired to make the spirit of +faction unrelenting and to draw the line sharply between friend and +foe. The removal of Grinnell, the declaration of Greeley against +Grant's renomination,<a name="vol3FNanchor_549_549" id="vol3FNanchor_549_549"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_549_549" class="fnanchor">[549]</a> the intense bitterness between Conkling and +Fenton, and the boast of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.257" id="vol3Page_iii.257">iii. 257</a></span> State committee that it would control +the State convention and substitute its own creature for the Greeley +committee, all coalesced against harmony and a compromise.</p> + +<p>Moreover, even the appearance of relations between Greeley and +Conkling had ceased. "Mr. Conkling's frenzy," said the <i>Tribune</i>, +"generally comes on during executive session, when, if we may be +allowed the metaphor, he gets upon stilts and supports his dignity.... +We can see the pose of that majestic figure, the sweep of that +bolt-hurling arm, the cold and awful gleam of that senatorial eye, as +he towers above the listening legislators." It spoke of him as the +"Pet of the Petticoats," the "Apollo of the Senate," the "darling of +the ladies' gallery," who "could look hyacinthine in just thirty +seconds after the appearance of a woman." Then it took a shot at the +Senator's self-appreciation. "No one can approach him, if anybody can +approach him, without being conscious that there is something great +about Conkling. Conkling himself is conscious of it. He walks in a +nimbus of it. If Moses' name had been Conkling when he descended from +the Mount, and the Jews had asked him what he saw there, he would +promptly have replied, 'Conkling!' It is a little difficult to see why +Mr. Conkling did not gain a reputation during the war. Many men took +advantage of it for the display of heroic qualities. But this was not +Conkling's opportunity. Is he a man to make a reputation while his +country is in danger? He was not. Probably he knew best when to hitch +his dogcart to a star. Such a man could afford to wait. Wrapped in the +mantle of his own great opinion of himself, he could afford to let his +great genius prey upon itself until the fulness of time."<a name="vol3FNanchor_550_550" id="vol3FNanchor_550_550"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_550_550" class="fnanchor">[550]</a> Of +course, after this there could be no relations between the editor and +the senator. These editorials recalled the Blaine episode, and +although not so steeped in bitterness, as a character-study they did +not differ from the prototype.</p> + +<p>This was the condition of affairs when the Republican convention met +at Syracuse on September 27. Except<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.258" id="vol3Page_iii.258">iii. 258</a></span> Greeley every prominent leader in +the State attended. The question whether the rival general committee +created by the State organisation should be recognised involved the +whole party, and the audience assembled surpassed any previous +attendance. The presence of a multitude of federal officials as +delegates and leaders indicated that the Administration at Washington +also took a deep interest. There was much doubt and solicitude as to +the result, for no opportunity had been given the factions to measure +strength since the convention of 1870. The nomination of a minority +candidate for speaker of the Assembly in the preceding January had +been claimed as a Fenton victory, but the selection of James W. +Husted, then at the threshold of a long and conspicuous career, did +not turn on such a hinge. Husted had strength of his own. Although +never to become an orator of great power and genuine inspiration, his +quickness of perception, coupled with the manners of an accomplished +gentleman, brilliant in conversation and formidable in debate, made +him a popular favourite whose strength extended beyond faction. Now, +however, the issue was sharply drawn, and when Alonzo B. Cornell +called the convention to order, the opposing forces, marshalled for a +fight to the finish, announced Andrew D. White and Chauncey M. Depew +as their respective candidates for temporary chairman. White's recent +appointment as a commissioner to San Domingo had been a distinct gain +to the President's scheme of annexation, and he now appeared at the +convention in obedience to Cornell's solicitation.<a name="vol3FNanchor_551_551" id="vol3FNanchor_551_551"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_551_551" class="fnanchor">[551]</a> To gain a bit +of advantage Depew, in the interest of harmony, he said, withdrew in +favour of G. Hilton Scribner of Westchester, who had headed a young +men's association formed to allay strife between the rival senators. +The suggestion being accepted, Depew then moved to make Scribner and +White temporary and permanent chairmen. Upon the temporary chairman +depended the character of the committees, and Cornell, with a frown +upon his large, sallow, cleanly shaven face, promptly ruled the motion +out of order.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.259" id="vol3Page_iii.259">iii. 259</a></span> When a Fenton delegate appealed from the Chair's +ruling, he refused to put the question.</p> + +<p>Instantly the convention was upon its feet. Demands for roll-call and +the shouts of a hundred men stifled the work of the gavel. Police +interference increased the noise. In the midst of the confusion the +stentorian voice of John Cochrane, a Fenton delegate, declared "the +roll entirely wrong."<a name="vol3FNanchor_552_552" id="vol3FNanchor_552_552"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_552_552" class="fnanchor">[552]</a> This aggravated the situation. Finally, +when delegates and chairman had physically exhausted themselves, Waldo +M. Hutchins was allowed to suggest that in all cases of contested +seats the names of delegates be passed. To this Cornell reluctantly +agreed amidst loud applause from the Fenton faction, which desired its +action interpreted as an unselfish concession in the interest of +harmony; but the tremendous surprise subsequently displayed upon the +announcement of White's election by 188 to 159 revealed its +insincerity. It had confidently counted on twenty-one additional +votes, or a majority of thirteen.<a name="vol3FNanchor_553_553" id="vol3FNanchor_553_553"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_553_553" class="fnanchor">[553]</a> Thus, in a moment, were +brightest hopes and fairest prospects blasted.</p> + +<p>It was easy to speculate as to the cause of this overthrow. To declare +it the triumph of patronage; to assert that delegates from Republican +strongholds supported Fenton and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.260" id="vol3Page_iii.260">iii. 260</a></span> that others from counties with +overwhelming Democratic majorities sustained Conkling; to stigmatise +the conduct of Cornell as an unprecedented exhibition of tyranny, and +to charge White with seeking the votes of Fenton members on the plea +that his action would promote harmony,<a name="vol3FNanchor_554_554" id="vol3FNanchor_554_554"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_554_554" class="fnanchor">[554]</a> probably did not economise +the truth. Explanations, however, could not relieve the anguish of +defeat or nerve the weak to greater effort. Many delegates, filled +with apprehension and anxious to be on the winning side, thought +annihilation more likely than any sincere and friendly understanding, +a suspicion that White's committee appointments quickly ratified. +Although the Fenton faction comprised nearly one-half the convention, +the Committee on Credentials stood 12 to 2 in favour of Conkling. Of +course the famous president of Cornell University did not select this +committee. He simply followed custom and fathered the list of names +Cornell handed him.<a name="vol3FNanchor_555_555" id="vol3FNanchor_555_555"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_555_555" class="fnanchor">[555]</a> "But in blindly consenting to be thus used by +the State committee," wrote Greeley, "he became the instrument of such +an outrage as no respectable presiding officer of any prominent +deliberative body has ever committed."<a name="vol3FNanchor_556_556" id="vol3FNanchor_556_556"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_556_556" class="fnanchor">[556]</a></p> + +<p>To the Fenton faction this severe criticism of a presumably fair man +seemed justified after his jug-handle committee had made its +jug-handle report. It favoured seating all contesting delegates +outside of the City, admitted the Greeley delegates and their +opponents with the right to cast half of one vote, and recognised the +organisation established by the State committee as the regular and the +only one. By this time the dullest delegate understood the trend of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.261" id="vol3Page_iii.261">iii. 261</a></span> +affairs. Indeed, dismissals and appointments in the civil service had +preceded the assembling of the convention until politicians understood +that the way to preferment opened only to those obedient to the new +dictator. Accordingly, on the next roll-call, the weak-kneed took +flight, the vote standing 202 to 116. Upon hearing the astounding +result a Fenton delegate exclaimed, "Blessed are they that expect +nothing, for they shall not be disappointed."<a name="vol3FNanchor_557_557" id="vol3FNanchor_557_557"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_557_557" class="fnanchor">[557]</a></p> + +<p>In discussing the resolution to abolish the Greeley committee the +question narrowed itself to members holding office under Tammany, the +Greeley organisation maintaining that it had simply inherited the +custom, not created it, while Cornell and his associates, having +"Hank" Smith in mind, declared it impossible to avoid the custom +without destroying the committee. To some of the Conkling leaders this +seemed unnecessarily severe. Having showed their teeth they hesitated +to lacerate the party, especially after the mad rush to the winning +side had given them an overwhelming majority. At last, it fell to +Hamilton Ward, a friend of the Senator, for six years a member of +Congress, a forcible speaker, and still a young man of nerve, who was +to become attorney-general and a judge of the Supreme Court, to +propose as a substitute that the State committee be directed to +consolidate and perfect the two city organisations. The Fenton people +promptly acquiesced, and their opponents, after eliminating Smith by +disallowing a member of the organisation to hold office under Tammany, +cheerfully accepted it.</p> + +<p>This compromise, thus harmoniously perfected in the presence and +hearing of the convention, was loudly applauded, and the chairman had +risen to put the motion when Conkling interrupted, "Not yet the +question, Mr. President!" Until then the Senator had been a silent +spectator. Indeed, not until the previous roll-call did he become a +member of the convention. But he was now to become its master. His +slow, measured utterances and deep chest-tones commanded<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.262" id="vol3Page_iii.262">iii. 262</a></span> instant +attention. If for a moment, as he calmly declared opposition to the +substitute, he seemed to stand alone, his declaration that a horde of +Tammany ballot-box stuffers, pirates, and robbers had controlled and +debauched the Republican organisation in the city of New York called +forth the loudest applause of the evening. His next statement, that +the time had come when such encroachments must cease, renewed the +cheering. Having thus paid his respects to the Greeley committee, +Conkling argued that a new State committee could not do in the four +weeks preceding election what it had taken the old committee months to +accomplish. The campaign must be made not with a divided organisation, +but with ranks closed up. Reading from an editorial in the <i>Tribune</i>, +he claimed that it approved the committee's report, and he begged the +convention to take the editor at his word, shake hands, bury +animosities and disappointments, make up a ticket equally of both +factions, and accept the reorganisation of the city committee, so that +double delegations might not appear at the next national convention to +parade their dissensions. He disclaimed any unkind feeling, and in +favouring the admission of both city delegations, he said, he supposed +he had worked in the interest of harmony.</p> + +<p>This appeal has been called one of Conkling's "most remarkable +speeches."<a name="vol3FNanchor_558_558" id="vol3FNanchor_558_558"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_558_558" class="fnanchor">[558]</a> Unlike the Senator's usual efforts laboured +preparation did not precede it. The striking passage and the +impressive phrase are entirely wanting. Epigrammatic utterances are +the supreme test of a great orator or poet, but Conkling's speech of +September 27 added nothing to that vocabulary. It may be said to lack +every element of a well-ordered oration. As preserved in the +newspapers of the day<a name="vol3FNanchor_559_559" id="vol3FNanchor_559_559"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_559_559" class="fnanchor">[559]</a> it is hard, if not impossible, to find +sufficient<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.263" id="vol3Page_iii.263">iii. 263</a></span> rhetorical merit to entitle it to a place in any volume of +ordinary addresses. It wanted the persuasive power that allures by an +exquisite choice of words, or charms by noble and sympathetic +elocution. Even the style of his appeal for harmony was too +self-assured and his faith in his own superiority too evident. +Nevertheless, of the living who heard his explosive exclamation, "Not +yet the question, Mr. President," and the flaming sentences arraigning +the Greeley Republicans as partners of Tammany, it lingers in the +memory as a forceful philippic, full of pose and gesture and dramatic +action. Its influence, however, is not so clear. The power of +patronage had already twice carried the convention, and that this +incentive would have done so again had Conkling simply whispered to +his lieutenants, must be evident to all who read the story. Ward's +motion was lost by 154 to 194, the Conkling vote being eight less than +on the preceding roll-call.<a name="vol3FNanchor_560_560" id="vol3FNanchor_560_560"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_560_560" class="fnanchor">[560]</a></p> + +<p>Conkling desired a solid delegation at the next Republican National +Convention, and the recognition of the organisation established by the +State committee assured it, whereas the Ward amendment, by including +the Greeley constituency, inspired the fear of a divided one.<a name="vol3FNanchor_561_561" id="vol3FNanchor_561_561"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_561_561" class="fnanchor">[561]</a> +Perhaps the failure of his friends to appreciate this fear justified +Conkling's interference, but a single word of dissent was sufficient +to alarm them, while a less arrogant and dominating spirit might +easily have avoided making the bitter assault which provoked a storm +of hostile criticism. Greeley's stinging retort illuminated the +Senator's insincerity. "Conkling declared it right," said the editor, +"to abolish the regular organisation because corrupted and controlled +by Tammany money, and then invited its delegates to an equal share in +making the platform and selecting a ticket. If he believed what he +said, he was guilty of party treason in the offer;<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.264" id="vol3Page_iii.264">iii. 264</a></span> if he did not, he +added the folly of insult to the crime of foul slander."<a name="vol3FNanchor_562_562" id="vol3FNanchor_562_562"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_562_562" class="fnanchor">[562]</a> This was +the view of the Greeley delegates, and refusing to accept the offered +terms, Moses H. Grinnell, Marshall O. Roberts, and their associates, +amid ironical cheers, withdrew from the convention.</p> + +<p>After this business progressed smoothly and easily. There were no +divisions, no debates, and no questions of importance. Nominations +aroused little enthusiasm,<a name="vol3FNanchor_563_563" id="vol3FNanchor_563_563"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_563_563" class="fnanchor">[563]</a> and the platform which Greeley called +"the miracle of clumsiness,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_564_564" id="vol3FNanchor_564_564"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_564_564" class="fnanchor">[564]</a> indorsed the administration of +President Grant, denounced the crimes of the Tweed ring, and +recommended local option. Meanwhile the seceders, assembled in Wild's +Opera House, gave vent to bitter criticism and the whispered scandal +of hotel lobbies.<a name="vol3FNanchor_565_565" id="vol3FNanchor_565_565"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_565_565" class="fnanchor">[565]</a> When this proceeding finally ended they +separated with the consciousness that their last performance, at +least, had made them ridiculous.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.265" id="vol3Page_iii.265">iii. 265</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XXI" id="vol3CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h2>TILDEN CRUSHES TAMMANY</h2> + +<h2>1871</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">While</span> Conkling was disposing of Greeley and the Fenton organisation, +Samuel J. Tilden prepared to crush Tammany. Tweed had reason to fear +Tilden. In 1869 he accused the Ring of being "opposed to all good +government."<a name="vol3FNanchor_566_566" id="vol3FNanchor_566_566"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_566_566" class="fnanchor">[566]</a> Afterward, in 1870, the defeat of the Young +Democracy's charter added to his bitterness. On the evening of the day +on which that vote occurred, Tweed jeered Tilden as the latter passed +through the hotel corridor, while Tilden, trembling with suppressed +emotion, expressed the belief that the Boss would close his career in +jail or in exile.<a name="vol3FNanchor_567_567" id="vol3FNanchor_567_567"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_567_567" class="fnanchor">[567]</a> One wonders that Tilden, being a natural +detective, should have delayed strenuous action until the <i>Times'</i> +exposure, but when, at last, a knowledge of the colossal frauds +suddenly opened the way to successful battle, he seized the advantage +with the skill and persistency of a master.</p> + +<p>In his crusade he did not unite with Republicans, for whom he had no +liking. He was not only an intense partisan, but he had a positive +genius for saying bitter things in the bitterest way. To him the +quarter of a century covered by Van Buren, Marcy, and Wright, shone as +an era of honour and truth, while the twenty-four years spanned by the +Republicans and the party from whence they sprung brought shame and +disgrace upon the State. "The Republicans made the morals of the +legislative bodies what they have<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.266" id="vol3Page_iii.266">iii. 266</a></span> recently become. When Seward and +Weed took the place of Wright, Marcy, and Flagg, public and official +morality fell in the twinkling of an eye. Even our city government, +until 1870, was exactly what a Republican legislature made it. The +league between corrupt Republicans and corrupt Democrats, which was +formed during Republican ascendency, proved too strong for honest men. +The charter of 1870 which I denounced in a public speech, had the +votes of nearly all the Republicans and Democrats."<a name="vol3FNanchor_568_568" id="vol3FNanchor_568_568"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_568_568" class="fnanchor">[568]</a> Still, he +admitted that Tammany was synonymous with Democracy, and that its +corruption, especially since its blighting influence had become so +notorious and oppressive, impeded and dishonoured the party. Under its +rule primaries had been absurdities and elections a farce. Without +being thoroughly reorganised, therefore, the party, in his opinion, +could not exist.<a name="vol3FNanchor_569_569" id="vol3FNanchor_569_569"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_569_569" class="fnanchor">[569]</a></p> + +<p>In this spirit Tilden entered upon the great work of his life. Two +classes of Democrats faced him—the more clamorous reformers and the +enemies of all reform. To the latter reorganisation seemed a reckless +step. It argued that the loss of the Tammany vote meant the +dissolution of the party, and that a great organisation ought not to +be destroyed for the wrong of a few individuals, since the party was +not responsible for them. Besides, the executive power of the State, +with its vast official patronage scattered throughout all the +counties, would oppose such a policy. On the other hand, the first +class, possessing little faith in the party's ability to purge itself, +threatened to turn reform into political revolution. It desired a new +party. Nevertheless, Tilden did not hesitate. He issued letters to +thousands of Democrats, declaring that "wherever the gangrene of +corruption has reached the Democratic party we must take a knife and +cut it out by the roots;"<a name="vol3FNanchor_570_570" id="vol3FNanchor_570_570"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_570_570" class="fnanchor">[570]</a> he counselled with Horatio Seymour and +Charles O'Conor; he origi<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.267" id="vol3Page_iii.267">iii. 267</a></span>nated the movement that ultimately sent a +reform delegation to the State convention; he consented to stand for +the Assembly; and finally, to secure the fruit of three months' work, +he raised one-half the funds expended by the Democratic reform +organisation.</p> + +<p>The Ring had not been an indifferent observer of these efforts. While +it cared little for the control of a State convention without a +governor to nominate, its continued existence absolutely depended upon +a majority in the Senate. Tweed planned to carry the five senatorial +districts in the city, and to re-elect if possible the eight +Republican senators whom he had used the year before.<a name="vol3FNanchor_571_571" id="vol3FNanchor_571_571"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_571_571" class="fnanchor">[571]</a> This would +insure him control. To achieve his purpose word was sent to Tilden +early in August that he could name the delegates to the State +convention and the candidates upon the State ticket if he would not +interfere with Tammany's legislative nominations. If Tilden had not +before distrusted Tweed, such a proposition must have aroused his +suspicion. But Tilden, conscious of the need of an anti-Tweed +legislature, had surmised the Ring's plan as early as Tweed devised +it, and he replied with firmness that everything beside the +legislative ticket was of minor importance to him. Similar +propositions, presented by powerful men from all parts of the State +with the plea that a compromise would "save the party," received the +same answer.<a name="vol3FNanchor_572_572" id="vol3FNanchor_572_572"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_572_572" class="fnanchor">[572]</a> Meanwhile, he laboured to shorten the life of the +Ring. To him Richard Connolly appealed for protection against Tweed's +treachery, and at Tilden's suggestion the comptroller turned over his +office to Andrew H. Green, thus assuring the protection of the records +which subsequently formed the basis of all civil and criminal actions. +Tilden's sagacity in procuring the opinion of Charles O'Conor also +secured the Mayor's acquiescence in Green's possession of the office, +while his patient investigation of the Broadway Bank accounts +discovered the judicial proofs that opened the prison doors.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.268" id="vol3Page_iii.268">iii. 268</a></span></p><p>These were fatal blows to the Ring. The leading Democratic papers of +the interior, notably the Buffalo <i>Courier</i> and Albany <i>Argus</i>, came +boldly out demanding the dismissal of the shameless robbers who were +disgracing the name and destroying the future of their party. +Moreover, Tilden, like an avenging angel, with all the skill and +knowledge of his kind, had united into one great reform party the four +Democratic organisations of the city, pledged to oppose Tammany.<a name="vol3FNanchor_573_573" id="vol3FNanchor_573_573"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_573_573" class="fnanchor">[573]</a> +This formidable combination, having complied with every requirement of +the State committee, selected delegates to the State convention. The +hearts of Tweed and his associates may well have sunk within them as +they studied this list. There were able lawyers like William E. +Curtis; powerful merchants like Havermeyer; influential editors like +Ottendorfer; solid business men like Schell; and determined members of +the Committee of Seventy like Roswell D. Hatch, who had been +conspicuous in tracking the thieves. But the name that must have shone +most formidably in the eyes of Tweed was that of Charles O'Conor. It +stood at the head of the list like a threatening cloud in the sky, +ready to bring ruin upon the Ring. The moral support of his great +legal fame, affirming the validity of Andrew H. Green's possession of +the comptroller's office, had intimidated O'Gorman, Tweed's +corporation counsel, and shattered the plot to forcibly eject Tilden's +faithful friend under colour of judicial process. Thus the reform +party seemed to be in the ascendant. With confidence Tilden expressed +the belief that the State convention would repudiate Tammany.<a name="vol3FNanchor_574_574" id="vol3FNanchor_574_574"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_574_574" class="fnanchor">[574]</a></p> + +<p>Although it had become well known that Tilden would not compromise, +Tweed lost none of his former prestige. His control of the State +convention which assembled at<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.269" id="vol3Page_iii.269">iii. 269</a></span> Rochester on October 4 (1871) seemed as +firm as on that day in 1870 when he renominated John T. Hoffman. It +was still the fashion to praise all he said and all he did. Before his +arrival the Reformers claimed a majority, but as the up-State +delegates crowded his rooms to bend the obsequious knee he reduced +these claims to a count, finding only forty-two disobedient members. +He was too tactful, however, to appear in the convention hall. His +duty was to give orders, and like a soldier he pitched his +headquarters near the scene of action, boasting that his friends were +everywhere ready for battle.</p> + +<p>In his opening speech Tilden touched the Ring frauds with the delicacy +of a surgeon examining an abscess, and the faint response that greeted +his condemnation of corruption satisfied him that the convention did +not appreciate the danger of party blood-poisoning. The truth of this +diagnosis more fully appeared when Tammany, "in the interest of +harmony," waived its right to participate in the proceedings. The +whirlwind of applause which greeted this "unselfish act" had scarcely +subsided when a delegate from Kings county, acting for Tweed, moved +the previous question on a resolution reciting that hereafter, on the +call of the roll, the city of New York be omitted since it presented +no delegation bearing the prestige of regularity. This threw the +Reformers into an animated counsel. They knew of the proposed +withdrawal of Tammany, which seemed to them to smooth the way for the +acceptance of their credentials, but the resolution came with +startling suddenness. It narrowed the question of their admission to a +mere technicality and cut off debate. Tilden, appreciating the +ambuscade into which he had fallen, exhausted every expedient to +modify the parliamentary situation, knowing it to be in the power of +the convention to accept another delegation regardless of its +regularity, as the Republicans had done at Syracuse in the previous +week. But the delegates derisively laughed at his awkward predicament +as they adopted the resolution by a vote of 90 to 4.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.270" id="vol3Page_iii.270">iii. 270</a></span></p> + +<p>By this act the convention clearly indicated its purpose to treat the +fraud issue as a local matter and to keep it out of the State +campaign. It intended to denounce the crime and the criminals, and to +allow no one to become a delegate who had aided or in anywise profited +by the conspiracy, but it would not recognise a delegation which +desired to reorganise the party in the metropolis by humiliating a +great association whose regularity had been accepted for many years, +and which had finally turned the State over to the Democracy. This +view had the support of every office-holder and of every appointee of +the Executive, whose great desire to "save the party" had its +inspiration in a greater desire to save themselves. On the other hand, +the minority argued that allowing Tammany voluntarily to withdraw from +the convention was equivalent to its endorsement, thus giving its +nominations regularity. This would compel the Democratic masses, in +order to participate in the primaries, to vote its ticket. Tilden +sought to avoid this regularity just as Conkling had destroyed the +Greeley committee, and if office-holders had supported him as they did +the Senator he must have won as easily.</p> + +<p>The convention's treatment of Horatio Seymour also exhibited its +dislike of the reformer. Seymour came to the convention to be its +president, and upon his entrance to the hall had been hailed, amidst +tumultuous cheers, as "Our future president in 1872." While waiting +the conclusion of the preliminary proceedings he observed Francis +Kernan sitting outside the rail with the rejected Reformers. +Hesitatingly, and in the hope, he said, of arousing no unpleasant +discussion, he moved the admission of the veteran Democrat, whom he +described as grown gray in the party harness, and whose very presence +was a sufficient credential to his title to a seat. Kernan, being in +sympathy with Tilden, was <i>non persona grata</i> to Tammany, and Seymour +had scarcely resumed his seat when the ubiquitous delegate from Kings, +with a flourish of rhetoric, promptly substituted another, who, he +alleged, was the regularly elected<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.271" id="vol3Page_iii.271">iii. 271</a></span> delegate as well as "the friend of +that great Democrat, John T. Hoffman." The convention, frantic with +delight at the mention of the Governor's name, saw the Oneidan grow +lividly pale with chagrin at this exhibition of Tammany's manners. +Seymour had lived long in years, in fame, and in the esteem of his +party. He could hardly have had any personal enemies. He possessed no +capricious dislikes, and his kindly heart, in spite of a stateliness +of bearing, won all the people who came near him. To be thus opposed +and bantered in a Democratic assembly was a deep humiliation, and +after expressing the hope that the Tammany man would fight for the +Democratic party as gallantly in future as he had fought against it in +the past, the illustrious statesman withdrew his motion. When, later, +his name was announced as presiding officer of the permanent +organisation, the convention discovered to its dismay that Seymour, +feigning sickness, had returned to Utica.<a name="vol3FNanchor_575_575" id="vol3FNanchor_575_575"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_575_575" class="fnanchor">[575]</a></p> + +<p>At the end of the day's work it was plain that Tweed had controlled +the convention. The Reformers had been excluded, the committee on +contested seats had refused them a hearing, Seymour was driven home, +and a eulogy of Tammany's political services had been applauded to the +echo. The platform did, indeed, express indignation at the "corruption +and extravagance recently brought to light in the municipal affairs of +the city of New York," and condemned "as unworthy of countenance or +toleration all who are responsible," but the contrast between the acts +of the convention and the words of its platform made its professions +of indignation seem incongruous if not absolutely empty. When one +speaker, with rhetorical effect, pronounced the frauds in New York +"the mere dreams of Republican imagination" delegates sprang to their +feet amidst ringing cheers. In the joy of victory, Tweed, with +good-natured<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.272" id="vol3Page_iii.272">iii. 272</a></span> contempt, characterised Seymour, Tilden, and Kernan as +"three troublesome old fools."<a name="vol3FNanchor_576_576" id="vol3FNanchor_576_576"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_576_576" class="fnanchor">[576]</a></p> + +<p>After adjournment the Reformers made no concealment of their bitter +dissatisfaction. Oswald Ottendorfer, editor of the most powerful +German Democratic organ then in the State, threatened to issue an +address denouncing their betrayal, and William E. Curtis, referring to +the refusal of the credentials' committee, declared that a voice from +the Democratic masses of New York, seeking relief from a gang of +thieves, was stronger, higher, and more sublime than mere questions of +technicality. Under the spur of this threatened revolt, the +convention, when it reconvened the next day, listened to the +Reformers. Their recital was not a panegyric. Ottendorfer said that +the operation of the previous question exposed the party to the +suspicion that Tammany's seats would be open for their return after +the storm of indignation had subsided. O'Conor, in a letter, declared +that absolute freedom from all complicity in the great official crime +and an utter intolerance of all persons suspected of sympathy with it +must be maintained, otherwise its action would inflict a fatal wound +upon the party. Curtis characterised the question as one of life or +death to a great community weighed down by oppression and crime, and +maintained that the convention, if it sought to avoid its duty by the +subterfuge already enacted, would show both sympathy and complicity +with the oligarchy of terror and infamy. These statements did not +please the Ring men, who, with much noise, passed contemptuously out +of the hall.</p> + +<p>Riotous interruption, however, did not begin until Tilden announced +that the real point of the controversy was to estop Tammany, after +nominating five senators and twenty-one assemblymen, from declaring +the Democratic masses out of the party because they refused to vote +for its candidates. The whip of party regularity was Tweed's last +reliance, and when Tilden proclaimed absolution to those who +disregarded it, the friends of Tammany drowned his words with loud<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.273" id="vol3Page_iii.273">iii. 273</a></span> +calls to order. The excitement threatened to become a riot, but +Tilden, caring as little for disapprobation as the son of Tisander in +the story told by Herodotus, calmly awaited silence. "I was stating," +he continued, without the slightest tremor of a singularly unmusical +voice, "what I considered the objection to Tammany Hall, aside from +the cloud that now covers that concern, and I am free to avow before +this convention that I shall not vote for any one of Mr. Tweed's +members of the Legislature. And if that is to be regarded the regular +ticket, I will resign my place as chairman of the State committee and +help my people stem the tide of corruption. When I come to do my duty +as an elector, I shall cast my vote for honest men."<a name="vol3FNanchor_577_577" id="vol3FNanchor_577_577"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_577_577" class="fnanchor">[577]</a> Then, to +show his independence if not his contempt of the Tweed-bound body, +Tilden suddenly waived aside the question of the Reformers' admission +and moved to proceed to the nomination of a State ticket.<a name="vol3FNanchor_578_578" id="vol3FNanchor_578_578"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_578_578" class="fnanchor">[578]</a></p> + +<p>The convention was stunned. It became dizzy when he denied Tammany's +right to be regarded as the regular organisation, but his +proclamation, defiantly and clearly made, that hereafter he should +bolt its nominations even if the convention refused to impeach its +regularity, struck a trenchant blow that silenced rather than excited. +Such courage, displayed at such a critical moment, was sublime. An +organised revolt against an association which had for years been +accepted as regular by State conventions meant the sacrifice of a +majority and an invitation to certain defeat, yet he hurled the words +of defiance into the face of the convention with the energy of the Old +Guard when called upon to surrender at Waterloo. The course taken by +Tilden<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.274" id="vol3Page_iii.274">iii. 274</a></span> on this memorable occasion made his own career, and also a new +career for his party. From that hour he became the real leader of the +Democracy. Although more than a twelvemonth must pass before his voice +gave the word of command, his genius as a born master was recognised.</p> + +<p>The attitude of the Reformers strengthened the Republicans, whose +distractions must otherwise have compassed their defeat. Murphyism and +Tweedism resembled each other so much that a contest against either +presented a well-defined issue of political morality. The greater +importance of the Tammany frauds, however, obscured all other issues. +To preserve their organisation in the up-State counties the Democrats +made creditable local nominations and professed support of the State +ticket, but in the city the entire voting population, irrespective of +former party alignments, divided into Tammany and anti-Tammany +factions. As the crusade progressed the details of the great crime, +becoming better understood, made Tammany's position intolerable. Every +respectable journal opposed it and every organisation crucified it. In +a double-page cartoon, startling in its conception and splendidly +picturesque, Nast represented the Tammany tiger, with glaring eyes and +distended jaws, tearing the vitals from the crushed and robbed city, +while Tweed and his associates sat enthroned.<a name="vol3FNanchor_579_579" id="vol3FNanchor_579_579"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_579_579" class="fnanchor">[579]</a> "Let's stop those +damned pictures," proposed Tweed when he saw it. "I don't care so much +what the papers write about me—my constituents can't read; but they +can see pictures."<a name="vol3FNanchor_580_580" id="vol3FNanchor_580_580"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_580_580" class="fnanchor">[580]</a></p> + +<p>On October 26 all doubt as to the result of the election was +dissipated. Until then belief in Tweed's direct profit in the Ring's +overcharges was based upon presumption. No intelligent man having an +accurate knowledge of the facts could doubt his guilt, since every +circumstance plainly pointed to it, but judicial proof did not exist +until furnished by the investigation of the Broadway Bank, which +Tilden personally conducted. His analysis of this information +dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.275" id="vol3Page_iii.275">iii. 275</a></span>closed the fact that two-thirds of the money paid under the +sanction of the Board of Audit had passed into the possession of +public officials and their accomplices, some of it being actually +traced into Tweed's pocket, and upon this evidence, verified by +Tilden's affidavit, the Attorney-General based an action on which a +warrant issued for Tweed's arrest. This announcement flashed over the +State eleven days before the election. It was a powerful campaign +document. People had not realised what an avenging hand pursued +Tammany, but they now understood that Tweed was a common thief, and +that Tilden, by reducing strong suspicion to a mathematical certainty, +had closed the mouths of eulogists and apologists.</p> + +<p>The result of the election carried dismay and confusion to Tammany. +Its register, its judges, its aldermen, a majority of its assistant +aldermen, fourteen of its twenty-one assemblymen, and four of its five +senators were defeated, while Tweed's majority fell from 22,000 in +1869 to 10,000. As expected the Republicans reaped the benefit of the +anti-Tammany vote, carrying the State by 18,000 majority and the +Legislature by 79 on joint ballot.<a name="vol3FNanchor_581_581" id="vol3FNanchor_581_581"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_581_581" class="fnanchor">[581]</a> To obliterate Tweedism, Tilden +had overthrown his party, but he had not fallen, Samsonlike, under the +ruin.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.276" id="vol3Page_iii.276">iii. 276</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XXII" id="vol3CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h2>GREELEY NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT</h2> + +<h2>1872</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Although</span> the Tammany exposure had absorbed public attention, the +Republican party did not escape serious criticism. Reconstruction had +disappointed many of its friends. By controlling the negro vote +Republican administrations in several Southern States had wrought +incalculable harm to the cause of free-government and equal suffrage. +The State debt of Alabama had increased from six millions in 1860 to +forty millions, that of Florida from two hundred thousand to fifteen +millions, and that of Georgia from three millions to forty-four +millions. "I say to-day, in the face of heaven and before all +mankind," declared Tilden, "that the carpet-bag governments are +infinitely worse than Tweed's government of the city of New +York."<a name="vol3FNanchor_582_582" id="vol3FNanchor_582_582"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_582_582" class="fnanchor">[582]</a></p> + +<p>Following such gross misgovernment the reactionary outbreaks +influenced Congress to pass the so-called Ku-Klux Act of April 20, +1871, designed to suppress these outrages. This measure, although not +dissimilar to others which protected the negro in his right of +suffrage, met with stout Republican opposition, the spirited debate +suddenly heralding a serious party division. Trumbull held it +unconstitutional, while Schurz, reviewing the wretched State +governments of the South, the venal officials who misled the negro, +and the riotous corruption of men in possession of great authority, +attacked the policy of the law as unwise and unsound.</p> + +<p>Not less disturbing was the failure of Congress to grant universal +amnesty. To this more than to all other causes<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.277" id="vol3Page_iii.277">iii. 277</a></span> did the critics of the +Republican party ascribe the continuance of the animosities of the +war, since it deprived the South of the assistance of its former +leading men, and turned it over to inexperienced, and, in some +instances, to corrupt men who used political disabilities as so much +capital upon which to trade. The shocking brazenness of these methods +had been disclosed in Georgia under the administration of Governor +Bullock, who secured from Congress amnesty for his legislative friends +while others were excluded. Schurz declared "When universal suffrage +was granted to secure the equal rights of all, universal amnesty ought +to have been granted to make all the resources of political +intelligence and experience available for the promotion of the welfare +of all."<a name="vol3FNanchor_583_583" id="vol3FNanchor_583_583"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_583_583" class="fnanchor">[583]</a></p> + +<p>The South had expected the President to develop a liberal policy. The +spirit displayed at Appomattox, his "Let us have peace" letter of +acceptance, and his intervention in Virginia and Mississippi soon +after his inauguration, encouraged the belief that he would conciliate +rather than harass it. His approval of the Ku-Klux law, therefore, +intensified a feeling already strained to bitterness, and although he +administered the law with prudence, a physical contest occurred in the +South and a political rupture in the North. The hostility of the +American people to the use of troops at elections had once before +proved a source of angry contention, and the criticism which now +rained upon the Republican party afforded new evidence of the public's +animosity.</p> + +<p>These strictures would have awakened no unusual solicitude in the +minds of Republicans had their inspiration been confined to political +opponents, but suddenly there came to the aid of the Democrats a +formidable array of Republicans. Although the entering wedge was a +difference of policy growing out of conditions in the Southern States, +other reasons contributed to the rupture. The removal of Motley as +minister to England, coming so soon after Sumner's suc<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.278" id="vol3Page_iii.278">iii. 278</a></span>cessful +resistance to the San Domingo scheme, was treated as an attempt to +punish a senator for the just exercise of his right and the honest +performance of his duty. Nine months later Sumner was discontinued as +chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. If doubt existed as to +the ground of Motley's removal, not a shadow clouded the reason for +Sumner's deposition. The cause assigned was that he no longer +maintained personal and social relations with the President and +Secretary of State, but when Schurz stigmatised it as "a flimsy +pretext" he voiced the opinion of a part of the press which accepted +it as a display of pure vindictiveness. "The indignation over your +removal," telegraphed John W. Forney, "extends to men of all parties. +I have not heard one Republican approve it."<a name="vol3FNanchor_584_584" id="vol3FNanchor_584_584"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_584_584" class="fnanchor">[584]</a> Among Sumner's +correspondents Ira Harris noted the popular disapproval and +indignation in New York. "Another term of such arrogant assumption of +power and wanton acquiescence," said Schurz, "may furnish the flunkies +with a store of precedents until people cease to look for ordinary +means of relief."<a name="vol3FNanchor_585_585" id="vol3FNanchor_585_585"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_585_585" class="fnanchor">[585]</a></p> + +<p>More disturbing because more irritating in its effects was the +Administration's disposition to permit the control of its patronage by +a coterie of senators, who preferred to strengthen faction regardless +of its influence. Under this policy something had occurred in nearly +every Northern State to make leading men and newspapers bitter, and as +the years of the Administration multiplied censure became more +drastic. Perhaps the influence of Conkling presented a normal phase of +this practice. The Senator stood for much that had brought criticism +upon the party. He approved the Southern policy and the acquisition of +San Domingo. He indulged in a personal attack on Sumner, advised his +deposition from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, commended the +removal of Motley, and voted against the confirmation of E. Rockwood +Hoar for associate justice of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.279" id="vol3Page_iii.279">iii. 279</a></span> the Supreme Court.<a name="vol3FNanchor_586_586" id="vol3FNanchor_586_586"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_586_586" class="fnanchor">[586]</a> He also opposed +civil service reform.</p> + +<p>A statesman so pronounced in his views and in control of abundant +patronage was not likely to change a contest for personal advantage +into a choice of public policies. Such an one appointed men because of +their influence in controlling political caucuses and conventions. +"The last two State conventions were mockeries," declared Greeley, +"some of the delegates having been bought out of our hands and others +driven out of the convention.... I saw numbers, under threats of +losing federal office, dragooned into doing the bidding of one +man."<a name="vol3FNanchor_587_587" id="vol3FNanchor_587_587"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_587_587" class="fnanchor">[587]</a> The removal of officials whose names stood high in the roll +of those who had greatly honoured their State deeply wounded many +ardent Republicans, but not until the appointment and retention of +Thomas Murphy did criticism scorn the veil of hint and innuendo. This +act created a corps of journalistic critics whose unflagging satire +and unswerving severity entertained the President's opponents and +amazed his friends. They spoke for the popular side at the moment of a +great crisis. Almost daily during the eighteen months of Murphy's +administration the press of the whole country, under the lead of the +<i>Tribune</i>, pictured the collector as a crafty army contractor and the +partner of Tweed. "I think the warmest friends of Grant," wrote +Curtis, "feel that he has failed terribly as President, not from want +of honesty but from want of tact and great ignorance. It is a +political position and he knew nothing of politics."<a name="vol3FNanchor_588_588" id="vol3FNanchor_588_588"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_588_588" class="fnanchor">[588]</a> The +sacrifice of the best men among his cabinet advisers added greatly to +this unrest. In one of his letters, Lowell, unintentionally +overlooking Hamilton Fish, declared that E. Rockwood Hoar and Jacob D. +Cox were "the only really strong men in the Cabinet."<a name="vol3FNanchor_589_589" id="vol3FNanchor_589_589"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_589_589" class="fnanchor">[589]</a> After the +latter's forced<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.280" id="vol3Page_iii.280">iii. 280</a></span> resignation and the former's sudden exit to make room +for a Southern Republican in order to placate carpet-bag senators for +the removal of Sumner, the great critics of the Administration again +cut loose. "How long," asked Bowles, "does the President suppose the +people will patiently endure this dealing with high office as if it +were a presidential perquisite, to be given away upon his mere whim, +without regard to the claims of the office? It was bad enough when he +only dealt so with consulates and small post-offices; but now that he +has come to foreign ministers and cabinet officers it is +intolerable."<a name="vol3FNanchor_590_590" id="vol3FNanchor_590_590"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_590_590" class="fnanchor">[590]</a></p> + +<p>Under these conditions Republicans had been losing strength. In the +election of 1870 their numbers, for the first time since 1864, had +fallen below a two-thirds majority in the national House, while the +Democrats gained four United States senators. In the same year Carl +Schurz, with the assistance of the Democrats, had carried Missouri on +the issue of universal amnesty. As the disaffection with the +Administration became more pronounced, this faction, assuming the name +of Liberal Republicans, met in convention at Jefferson City on January +24, 1872, and invited all Republicans who favoured reform to meet in +national mass convention at Cincinnati on May 1. This call acted like +a lighted match in a pile of shavings, prominent Republicans in every +State, including many leading newspapers, giving it instant and hearty +response. Among other journals in New York the <i>Nation</i> and the +<i>Evening Post</i> guardedly approved the movement, and the <i>World</i>, +although a Democratic organ, offered conditional support. The +<i>Tribune</i> also encouraged the hope that it would eventually swing into +line.</p> + +<p>Horace Greeley's principles were in substantial accord with those of +his party. He had little liking for civil service re<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.281" id="vol3Page_iii.281">iii. 281</a></span>form; the +integrity of the national debt invoked his unflagging support; and the +suppression of the Ku-Klux, although favouring a liberal Southern +policy, had received his encouragement.<a name="vol3FNanchor_591_591" id="vol3FNanchor_591_591"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_591_591" class="fnanchor">[591]</a> Nor had he said anything +in speech or writing disrespectful of the President. He did not favour +his renomination, but he had faith in the essential honesty and +soundness of Republican voters. Moreover, the demand for "a genuine +reform of the tariff" made it impossible to reconcile his policy with +that of the Liberal Republicans of Missouri.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Greeley's position in the Republican party had become +intolerable. Conkling controlled the city and State machines, Fenton +belonged in a hopeless minority, and Grant resented the <i>Tribune's</i> +opposition to his succession. Besides, the editor's friends had been +deeply humiliated. The appointment of Murphy was accepted as "a plain +declaration of war."<a name="vol3FNanchor_592_592" id="vol3FNanchor_592_592"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_592_592" class="fnanchor">[592]</a> The treatment of the Greeley committee, +overthrown by the power of patronage, also festered in his heart. "For +more than a year," he said, "to be an avowed friend of Governor Fenton +was to be marked for proscription at the White House."<a name="vol3FNanchor_593_593" id="vol3FNanchor_593_593"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_593_593" class="fnanchor">[593]</a> Thus, with +the past unforgiven and the future without hope, the great journalist +declared that "We propose to endure this for one term only."<a name="vol3FNanchor_594_594" id="vol3FNanchor_594_594"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_594_594" class="fnanchor">[594]</a></p> + +<p>From the first it was apparent that the Republican schism, to be +successful, needed the support of the <i>Tribune</i>. Although its +influence had materially suffered during and since the war, it still +controlled a great constituency throughout the North, and the longer +its chief hesitated to join the new party the more earnest and +eloquent did the appeals of the Liberals become. At last, relying upon +a compromise of their economic differences, Greeley accepted the +invitation to meet the Missouri reformers in convention.<a name="vol3FNanchor_595_595" id="vol3FNanchor_595_595"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_595_595" class="fnanchor">[595]</a> His +action was the occasion for much rejoicing, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.282" id="vol3Page_iii.282">iii. 282</a></span> on April 13 the +Liberals of New York City began their campaign amidst the cheers of an +enthusiastic multitude assembled at Cooper Institute.<a name="vol3FNanchor_596_596" id="vol3FNanchor_596_596"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_596_596" class="fnanchor">[596]</a> The Fenton +leaders, conspicuously posted on the platform, indicated neither a +real love of reform nor an absence of office-seekers, but the presence +among the vice-presidents of E.L. Godkin of the <i>Nation</i> and Parke +Godwin of the <i>Post</i> removed all doubt as to the sincere desire of +some of those present to replace Grant with a President who would +discourage the use of patronage by enforcing civil service reform, and +encourage good government in the South by enacting universal amnesty. +To Schurz's charge that the national Republican convention would be +made up of office-holders, Oliver P. Morton declared, three days later +in the same hall, that there would be more office-seekers at +Cincinnati than office-holders at Philadelphia.<a name="vol3FNanchor_597_597" id="vol3FNanchor_597_597"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_597_597" class="fnanchor">[597]</a></p> + +<p>The managers of the Liberal Republican movement preferred Charles +Francis Adams for President. Adams' public life encouraged the belief +that he would practise his professed principles, and although isolated +from all political associations it was thought his brilliant +championship of the North during the temporising of the English +government would make his nomination welcome. David Davis and Lyman +Trumbull of Illinois were likewise acceptable, and Salmon P. Chase had +his admirers. Greeley's availability was also talked of. His signature +to the bail-bond of Jefferson Davis, releasing the ex-president of the +Confederacy from prison, attracted attention to his presidential +ambition, while his loud declaration for universal amnesty opened the +way for a tour of the South. At a brilliant reception in Union Square, +given after his return, he described the carpet-bagger as "a worthless +adventurer whom the Southern States hate and ought to hate," likening +him to the New York legislator "who goes to Albany nominally to +legis<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.283" id="vol3Page_iii.283">iii. 283</a></span>late, but really to plunder and steal."<a name="vol3FNanchor_598_598" id="vol3FNanchor_598_598"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_598_598" class="fnanchor">[598]</a> His excessive zeal +for Democratic support led to the intimation that he had economised +his epithets in criticising the Tweed ring.<a name="vol3FNanchor_599_599" id="vol3FNanchor_599_599"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_599_599" class="fnanchor">[599]</a> As early as February, +Nast, with his usual foresight, pictured "H.G., the editor" offering +the nomination to "H.G., the farmer," who, rejoicing in the name of +Cincinnatus, had turned from the plough toward the dome of the Capitol +in the distance.<a name="vol3FNanchor_600_600" id="vol3FNanchor_600_600"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_600_600" class="fnanchor">[600]</a> To the charge that he was a candidate for +President, Greeley frankly admitted that while he was not an aspirant +for office, he should never decline any duty which his political +friends saw fit to devolve upon him.<a name="vol3FNanchor_601_601" id="vol3FNanchor_601_601"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_601_601" class="fnanchor">[601]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the men whose earnest efforts had prepared the way for +the Liberal movement did not encourage Greeley's ambition. Especially +were his great newspaper associates dumb. A week before the convention +Bowles of the Springfield <i>Republican</i> mentioned him with Sumner and +Trumbull as a proper person for the nomination, but Godkin of the +<i>Nation</i>, Halstead of the Cincinnati <i>Commercial</i>, and Horace White of +the Chicago <i>Tribune</i> remained silent. The <i>Evening Post</i> spoke of him +as "the simple-minded philanthropist, with his various scraps of +so-called principles."<a name="vol3FNanchor_602_602" id="vol3FNanchor_602_602"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_602_602" class="fnanchor">[602]</a> Jacob D. Cox, Stanley Matthews, and George +Hoadley, the conspicuous Liberal triumvirate of Ohio, repudiated his +candidacy, and Schurz, in his opening speech as president of the +convention, without mentioning names, plainly designated Adams as the +most suitable candidate and Greeley as the weakest.<a name="vol3FNanchor_603_603" id="vol3FNanchor_603_603"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_603_603" class="fnanchor">[603]</a></p> + +<p>The first New Yorker to appear at Cincinnati was Reuben E. Fenton, +followed by John Cochrane, Waldo M. Hutchins, Sinclair Tousey, and +other seceders from the Syracuse convention of 1871. These political +veterans, with the cunning practised at ward caucuses, quickly +organised the New York delegation in the interest of Greeley. On +motion of Cochrane, Hutchins became chairman of a committee to name<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.284" id="vol3Page_iii.284">iii. 284</a></span> +sixty-eight delegates, the people present being allowed to report two +delegates from their respective congressional districts. These tactics +became more offensive when the committee, instead of accepting the +delegates reported, arbitrarily assumed the right to substitute +several well-known friends of Greeley. Not content with this +advantage, the majority, on motion of Cochrane, adopted the unit rule, +thus silencing one-third of the delegation.<a name="vol3FNanchor_604_604" id="vol3FNanchor_604_604"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_604_604" class="fnanchor">[604]</a> Henry R. Selden, +whose reputation for fair dealing had preceded him, characterised this +performance as "a most infamous outrage," and upon hearing a protest +of the minority, presented by Theodore Bacon of Rochester, Schurz +denounced the proceeding "as extraordinary" and "as indicating that +the reform movement, so far as it concerned New York, was virtually in +the hands of a set of political tricksters, who came here not for +reform, but for plunder."<a name="vol3FNanchor_605_605" id="vol3FNanchor_605_605"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_605_605" class="fnanchor">[605]</a></p> + +<p>Next to the "tricksters" the platform-makers embarrassed the +convention. It was easy to recognise the equality of all men before +the law, to pledge fidelity to the Union, to oppose the re-election of +the President, to denounce repudiation, to demand local +self-government for the Southern States, to ask "the immediate and +absolute removal of all disabilities imposed on account of the +rebellion," and to favour "a thorough reform of the civil service;" +but for a tariff reform assemblage to frame a resolution which the +apostle of protection could accept required great patience and +persistence. The vexatious delay became so intolerable that delegates +insisted upon making a ticket before adopting a platform. Cochrane +bitterly opposed such a resolution since Greeley's candidacy, if not +his support of the movement, depended upon the convention's attitude +on the tariff. Indeed, not until the committee on resolutions had +accepted what the editor himself dictated was the knotty point finally +settled. "Recognising," said the platform, "that there are in our +midst honest but irreconcilable dif<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.285" id="vol3Page_iii.285">iii. 285</a></span>ferences of opinion with regard to +the respective systems of protection and free-trade, we remit the +discussion of the subject to the people in their congressional +districts and to the decision of Congress thereon, wholly free from +executive interference or dictation."</p> + +<p>Although the resolution was out of keeping with the spirit of the +movement, it seemed proper to pay this extortionate price for +Greeley's support, since his conspicuous championship of protection +made it impossible for him to acquiesce in any impairment of that +doctrine; but the advantage that such a concession gave his candidacy +appears not to have occurred to the leaders who embodied whatever of +principle and conviction the convention possessed. Indeed, no scheme +of the managers contemplated his nomination. To many persons Greeley's +aspiration took the form of "a joke."<a name="vol3FNanchor_606_606" id="vol3FNanchor_606_606"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_606_606" class="fnanchor">[606]</a> Nor was his name seriously +discussed until the delegates assembled at Cincinnati. Even then the +belief obtained that after a complimentary vote to him and other +favourite sons, Adams would become their beneficiary. But the work of +Fenton quickly betrayed itself. In obedience to a bargain, Gratz Brown +of Missouri, at the end of the first ballot, withdrew in favour of +Greeley, and although Adams held the lead on the next four ballots, +the strength of Davis and Trumbull shrivelled while Greeley's kept +increasing. Yet the managers did not suspect a stampede. Eighty per +cent. of the New Yorker's votes came from the Middle and Southern +States.<a name="vol3FNanchor_607_607" id="vol3FNanchor_607_607"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_607_607" class="fnanchor">[607]</a> Moreover, the Trumbull men held the balance of power. +After several notable changes Adams still led by half a hundred. On +the sixth ballot, however, to the surprise and chagrin of the Adams +managers, Trumbull's delegates began breaking to Greeley, and in the +confusion which quickly developed into a storm of blended cheers and +hisses, Illinois and the Middle West carried the <i>Tribune's</i> chief +beyond the required number of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.286" id="vol3Page_iii.286">iii. 286</a></span> votes.<a name="vol3FNanchor_608_608" id="vol3FNanchor_608_608"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_608_608" class="fnanchor">[608]</a> Gratz Brown was then +nominated for Vice-President.</p> + +<p>Greeley's nomination astounded the general public as much as it +disappointed the Liberal leaders. Bowles called the result "a fate +above logic and superior to reason,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_609_609" id="vol3FNanchor_609_609"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_609_609" class="fnanchor">[609]</a> but the <i>Evening Post</i> +thought it due to "commonplace chicanery, intrigue, bargaining, and +compromise."<a name="vol3FNanchor_610_610" id="vol3FNanchor_610_610"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_610_610" class="fnanchor">[610]</a> Stanley Matthews, who was temporary chairman of the +convention, declared himself greatly chagrined at the whole matter. "I +have concluded," he said, "that as a politician and a President maker, +I am not a success."<a name="vol3FNanchor_611_611" id="vol3FNanchor_611_611"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_611_611" class="fnanchor">[611]</a> Hoadly published a card calling the result +"the alliance of Tammany and Blair," and William Cullen Bryant, Oswald +Ottendorfer of the <i>Staats-Zeitung</i>, and other anti-protectionists of +New York, made a fruitless effort to put another candidate before the +country.<a name="vol3FNanchor_612_612" id="vol3FNanchor_612_612"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_612_612" class="fnanchor">[612]</a> In the end the <i>Nation</i> and the <i>Evening Post</i> supported +President Grant.</p> + +<p>The nomination deeply mortified the Democrats. They had encouraged the +revolt, expecting the selection of Adams, or Trumbull, or David Davis, +whom they could readily adopt, but Greeley, a lifelong antagonist, +plunged them into trouble. No other Republican had so continuously +vilified them. From his introduction to political life in 1840 he had +waged a constant and personal warfare, often using his strong, +idiomatic English with the ferocity of a Wilkes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.287" id="vol3Page_iii.287">iii. 287</a></span> A caricature by +Greeley was as much feared as a cartoon by Nast. He spared no one. He +had assailed Seymour with a violence that might well seem to have made +any form of political reconciliation impossible. With equal skill he +had aimed his epithets at every Democratic statesman and politician +from Van Buren to Fernando Wood, the sting of his relentless and +merciless criticism goading each one into frenzy. For them now to +assume to overlook such treatment and accept its author as a political +associate and exemplar seemed a mockery. Several Democratic journals, +following the lead of the <i>World</i>, refused to do so, while others, +shrouding their disinclination in a non-committal tone, awaited the +assembling of the State convention which met at Rochester on May 15. +Seymour did not attend this meeting, and although Tilden carefully +avoided an expression of opinion, the delegates, after approving the +Cincinnati platform, insisted upon referring the choice of candidates +to the national convention, sending John T. Hoffman as a +delegate-at-large to represent them.</p> + +<p>One month later the Democratic national convention met at +Baltimore.<a name="vol3FNanchor_613_613" id="vol3FNanchor_613_613"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_613_613" class="fnanchor">[613]</a> Although the delegates, especially those from the +South, indicated a growing sentiment in favour of Greeley, the absence +of veteran leaders from the North created much comment. Hendricks of +Indiana sent his regrets; Seymour also remained at home; and Tilden, +Kernan, and Sanford E. Church found it convenient to be otherwise +engaged. But August Belmont appeared, and for the last time, after +twelve years of service and defeat as chairman of the national +committee, called the convention to order. John T. Hoffman also +appeared. He was the best known if not the wisest delegate in the +convention, and as he actively joined the Southern leaders in +encouraging the new order of things, it was easy to understand how his +star might still have been in the ascendant had his political +associates been content with power without plunder. Samuel S. Cox, +recently characterised by Greeley as "our carpet-<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.288" id="vol3Page_iii.288">iii. 288</a></span>bag representative +in Congress" who had "cast in his lot with thieves,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_614_614" id="vol3FNanchor_614_614"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_614_614" class="fnanchor">[614]</a> also +smoothed the way for his critic's nomination. He could forgive if he +did not forget.</p> + +<p>Next to Cox sat John Kelly, the new boss of Tammany. The combativeness +indicated by the form of the head was accentuated by the conspicuous +jaw, the firm, thin-lipped mouth, and the closely cropped hair and +beard, already fading into white; but there was nothing rough or +rowdyish in his manner or appearance. He dressed neatly, listened +respectfully, and spoke in low, gentle tones, an Irish sense of humour +frequently illuminating a square, kindly face. It was noticeable, too, +that although he began life as a mason and had handled his fists like +a professional, his hands were small and shapely. Kelly had served two +years as alderman, four years in Congress, and six years as sheriff. +He had also represented his county in the national conventions of 1864 +and 1868. His character for honesty had not been above suspicion. Men +charged that he was "counted in" as congressman, and that while +sheriff he had obtained a large sum of money by illegal methods.<a name="vol3FNanchor_615_615" id="vol3FNanchor_615_615"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_615_615" class="fnanchor">[615]</a> +In 1868 he suddenly sailed for Europe because of alleged ill-health, +where he remained until late in 1871. He was a rich man then.<a name="vol3FNanchor_616_616" id="vol3FNanchor_616_616"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_616_616" class="fnanchor">[616]</a> +Now, at the age of fifty-one, he was destined to make himself not less +powerful or widely known than the great criminal whom he +succeeded.<a name="vol3FNanchor_617_617" id="vol3FNanchor_617_617"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_617_617" class="fnanchor">[617]</a> With the aid of Til<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.289" id="vol3Page_iii.289">iii. 289</a></span>den, O'Conor, and other men +conspicuous in the reform movement, he had reorganised Tammany in the +preceding April, increasing a new general committee to five hundred +members, and with great shrewdness causing the appointment of +committees to coöperate with the Bar Association, with the Committee +of Seventy, and with the Municipal Taxpayers' Association. These +represented regenerated Tammany. Kelly affected extreme modesty, but +as he moved about the hall of the national convention, urging the +nomination of Greeley, the delegates recognised a master in the art of +controlling men.</p> + +<p>If any doubt had existed as to Greeley's treatment at Baltimore, it +quickly disappeared on the assembling of the convention, for the +question of nomination or indorsement alone disturbed it. If it +adopted him as its own candidate fear was entertained that Republicans +would forsake him. On the other hand, it was claimed that many +Democrats who could only be held by party claims would not respect a +mere indorsement. Southern delegates argued that if Democrats hoped to +defeat their opponents they must encourage the revolt by giving it +prestige and power rather than smother it by compelling Liberals to +choose between Grant and a Democrat. The wisdom of this view could not +be avoided, and after adopting the Cincinnati platform without change, +the convention, by a vote of 686 to 46, stamped the Cincinnati ticket +with the highest Democratic authority.<a name="vol3FNanchor_618_618" id="vol3FNanchor_618_618"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_618_618" class="fnanchor">[618]</a> Little heartiness, +however, characterised the proceedings. Hoffman, in casting New York's +vote, aroused<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.290" id="vol3Page_iii.290">iii. 290</a></span> much enthusiasm, but the response to the announcement +of Greeley's nomination was disappointing. The <i>Tribune</i> attributed it +to the intense heat and the exhaustion of the delegates,<a name="vol3FNanchor_619_619" id="vol3FNanchor_619_619"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_619_619" class="fnanchor">[619]</a> but the +<i>Nation</i> probably came nearer the truth in ascribing it to "boiled +crow."<a name="vol3FNanchor_620_620" id="vol3FNanchor_620_620"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_620_620" class="fnanchor">[620]</a> This gave rise to the expression "to eat crow," meaning +"to do what one vehemently dislikes and has before defiantly declared +he would not do."<a name="vol3FNanchor_621_621" id="vol3FNanchor_621_621"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_621_621" class="fnanchor">[621]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.291" id="vol3Page_iii.291">iii. 291</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XXIII" id="vol3CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h2>DEFEAT AND DEATH OF GREELEY</h2> + +<h2>1872</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> Republicans of New York welcomed the outcome of the Democratic +national convention. There was a time in its preliminary stages when +the Liberal movement, blending principle and resentment, had assumed +alarming proportions. Discontent with the Administration, stimulated +by powerful journals, seemed to permeate the whole Republican party, +and the haste of prominent men to declare themselves Liberals, +recalling the unhappy division in the last State convention and the +consequent falling off in the Republican vote, added to the +solicitude. Moreover, the readiness of the Democrats to approve the +principles of the Missouri reformers suggested a coalition far more +formidable than the Philadelphia schism of 1866. That movement was to +resist untried Reconstruction, while the Missouri division was an +organised protest against practices in the North as well as in the +South which had become intolerable to men in all parties. Gradually, +however, the Republican revolt in New York disclosed limitations which +the slim attendance at Cincinnati accentuated. Several congressional +districts had been wholly unrepresented, and few prominent men had +appeared at Cincinnati other than free-traders and Fenton leaders. +Such an exhibition of weakness had an exhilarating effect upon +Republicans, who received the nomination of Greeley with derision.</p> + +<p>In this frame of mind the friends of the Administration, meeting in +State convention at Elmira on May 15, sent a delegation to +Philadelphia, headed by the venerable Gerrit Smith, which boasted that +it was without an office-holder.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.292" id="vol3Page_iii.292">iii. 292</a></span> Three weeks later the Republican +national convention, amidst great enthusiasm, unanimously renominated +Grant for President. A single ballot sufficed also for the selection +of Henry Wilson of Massachusetts for Vice-President.<a name="vol3FNanchor_622_622" id="vol3FNanchor_622_622"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_622_622" class="fnanchor">[622]</a> The +platform, to offset the Liberals' arraignment, favoured civil service +reform, the abolition of the franking privilege, the prohibition of +further land grants to corporations, an increase in pensions, and "the +suppression of violent and treasonable organisations" in the South.</p> + +<p>At their State convention, held in Utica on August 21, Republicans +felt no fear of factional feuds since the aggressive Fenton leaders +had passed into the Liberal camp. But reasons for alarm existed. The +election in 1871, carried by the inspiration of a great popular +uprising in the interest of reform, had given them control of the +Legislature, and when it assembled honest men rejoiced, rogues +trembled, and Tweed failed to take his seat. The people expected the +shameless Erie ring and its legislation to be wiped out, corrupt +judges to be impeached, a new charter for New York City created, the +purity of the ballot-box better protected, canal management reformed, +and a variety of changes in criminal practice. But it proved timid and +dilatory. At the end of the session the Tweed charter still governed, +the machinery of the courts remained unchanged, and reforms in canal +management, in elections, and in the city government had been +sparingly granted. In cases of proven dishonesty its action was no +less disappointing. It allowed a faithless clerk of the Senate to +resign without punishment;<a name="vol3FNanchor_623_623" id="vol3FNanchor_623_623"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_623_623" class="fnanchor">[623]</a> it permitted the leaders of the +Tammany ring to continue in office; it decided that a man did not +disqualify himself for a seat in the Senate by taking bribes;<a name="vol3FNanchor_624_624" id="vol3FNanchor_624_624"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_624_624" class="fnanchor">[624]</a> and +it failed to attack the Erie ring until the reign of Jay Gould was<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.293" id="vol3Page_iii.293">iii. 293</a></span> +destroyed by the bold action of Daniel E. Sickles.<a name="vol3FNanchor_625_625" id="vol3FNanchor_625_625"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_625_625" class="fnanchor">[625]</a> Never did a +party more shamelessly fail in its duty. Even credit for the +impeachment of the Tweed judges belonged to Samuel J. Tilden. "That +was all Tilden's work, and no one's else," said Charles O'Conor. "He +went to the Legislature and forced the impeachment against every +imaginable obstacle, open and covert, political and personal."<a name="vol3FNanchor_626_626" id="vol3FNanchor_626_626"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_626_626" class="fnanchor">[626]</a></p> + +<p>Such a record did not inspire the party with confidence, and its +representatives looked for a head to its State ticket who could +overcome its shortcomings. Of the names canvassed a majority seemed +inclined to William H. Robertson of Westchester. He had been an +assemblyman, a representative in Congress, a judge of his county for +twelve years, and a State senator of distinguished service. Although +prudent in utterance and somewhat cautious in entering upon a course +of action, his indefatigable pursuit of an object, coupled with +conspicuous ability and long experience, marked him as one of the +strong men of New York, destined for many years to direct the politics +of his locality.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, a feeling existed that his course in the Senate had +lacked force. The New York <i>Times</i> severely criticised it, regarding +him too much of a tenderfoot in pushing the reform movement, and on +the eve of the convention it opposed his candidacy.<a name="vol3FNanchor_627_627" id="vol3FNanchor_627_627"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_627_627" class="fnanchor">[627]</a> The <i>Times</i>, +then the only paper in New York City upon which the party relied with +confidence to fight its battles, exerted an influence which could +scarcely be overrated. However, it is doubtful if its opposition could +have avoided Robertson's nomination had not the name of John A. Dix +been sprung upon the convention. It came with great suddenness. No +open canvass preceded it. Thurlow Weed, who had proposed it to nearly +every convention since 1861, was in Utica, but to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.294" id="vol3Page_iii.294">iii. 294</a></span> Henry Clews, the +well-known banker, belonged the credit of presenting it "on behalf of +the business men of New York." The captivating suggestion quickly +caught the delegates, who felt the alarming need of such a candidate, +and the audience, rising to its feet, broke into cheers, while county +after county seconded the nomination. One excited delegate, with +stentorian voice, moved that it be made by acclamation, and although +the Chair ruled the motion out of order, the withdrawal of Robertson's +name quickly opened a way for its passage.</p> + +<p>This incident produced a crop of trouble. Because Clews happened to be +the guest of Conkling, Robertson, grievously disappointed, assumed +that the Senator had inspired the <i>coup d'état</i>, and from that moment +began the dislike which subsequently ripened into open enmity. "As a +matter of fact," wrote Clews, "Conkling knew nothing of my intention, +but he was either too proud or too indifferent to public sentiment to +explain."<a name="vol3FNanchor_628_628" id="vol3FNanchor_628_628"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_628_628" class="fnanchor">[628]</a></p> + +<p>Dix's political course had been a tortuous one. He followed the Van +Burens in 1848, becoming the Barnburners' candidate for governor, and +immediately preceding the reduction of Fort Sumter advocated the +restoration of the Missouri compromise, perpetuating slavery in all +territory south of 36° 30´. After the war he joined President Johnson, +presided at the famous Philadelphia convention in 1866, and in return +received appointments as minister to The Hague and later to France. +For several years, under the changing conditions of Weed's leadership, +he figured as a possible candidate for governor, first of one party +and then of the other, but the Republicans declined to accept him in +1862 and 1864, and the Democrats refused to take him in 1866. After +President Grant had relieved him of the French mission by the +appointment of Elihu B. Washburne, he inclined like Weed himself to +the Liberal movement until the nomination of Greeley, whom they both +despised.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.295" id="vol3Page_iii.295">iii. 295</a></span></p> + +<p>Seymour charged Dix with being "a mercenary man," who "rented out his +influence gained from political positions to companies of doubtful +character for large pay."<a name="vol3FNanchor_629_629" id="vol3FNanchor_629_629"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_629_629" class="fnanchor">[629]</a> At a later day he sketched his +readiness "to change his politics" for "a large consideration and pay +down." It was a drastic arraignment. "Starting out with a view of +being an Anti-Mason," wrote Seymour, "he shifted to the Democratic +party for the office of adjutant-general. He hesitated between Cass +and Van Buren until he was nominated for governor by the Free-Soilers. +He went back to the Democratic party for the New York post-office +under Pierce. He went over to Buchanan for a place in the cabinet; and +from his Free-Soil views he became so violent for the South that he +would not vote for Douglas, but supported Breckinridge. After +presiding at an anti-war meeting he went over to Lincoln, when he was +made a major-general. To get a nomination for the French mission he +took part with President Johnson. To get confirmed he left him for +Grant. In 1868 he intrigued for a presidential nomination from the +Democratic party; as in 1866 he had tried to be nominated by the same +party for the office of governor. I think this history shows that he +valued his political principles at a high rate, and never sold them +unless he got a round price and pay down."<a name="vol3FNanchor_630_630" id="vol3FNanchor_630_630"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_630_630" class="fnanchor">[630]</a></p> + +<p>Of the same age as Dix, Weed knew his history perfectly, which during +and after the war resembled his own. But he had faith that Dix's war +record would more than offset his political vagaries. "When there was +danger that Washington would fall into the hands of the rebels," he +said, "Dix severed his relations with the Democratic administration, +and in concert with Secretary Holt, Mr. Stanton, and Mr. Seward, +rendered services which saved the nation's capital. A few weeks +afterward, when in command of Fort McHenry, by a prompt movement +against a treasonable design of members of the Legislature, he +prevented Maryland from<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.296" id="vol3Page_iii.296">iii. 296</a></span> joining the Secessionists."<a name="vol3FNanchor_631_631" id="vol3FNanchor_631_631"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_631_631" class="fnanchor">[631]</a> Moreover, +Weed insisted that conservative Democrats and business men, having +confidence in his integrity, would vote for him regardless of party.</p> + +<p>The platform, endorsing the National Administration, failed to mention +the record of the Legislature. Praise for members of Congress +accentuated this omission. To enlarge the canal for steam navigation +it favoured an appropriation by the general government.<a name="vol3FNanchor_632_632" id="vol3FNanchor_632_632"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_632_632" class="fnanchor">[632]</a></p> + +<p>The Democrats and Liberals met in separate State conventions at +Syracuse on September 4. In numbers and enthusiasm the Liberals made a +creditable showing. Many Republicans who had assisted at the birth of +their party and aided in achieving its victories, adorned the platform +and filled the seats of delegates. John Cochrane called the convention +to order, Truman G. Younglove, speaker of the Assembly in 1869, acted +as temporary chairman, Chauncey M. Depew became its president, and +Reuben E. Fenton, with Waldo M. Hutchins, Archibald M. Bliss, Edwin A. +Merritt, D.D.S. Brown, and Frank Hiscock, served upon the committee of +conference. Among others present were Sinclair Tousey, William +Dorsheimer, George P. Bradford, and Horatio N. Twombly. In his speech +on taking the chair, Depew, who had attended every Republican State +convention since 1858, declared that he saw before him the men whom he +had learned to recognise as the trusted exponents of party policy in +their several localities.<a name="vol3FNanchor_633_633" id="vol3FNanchor_633_633"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_633_633" class="fnanchor">[633]</a></p> + +<p>In apportioning the State offices the Democrats, after much wrangling, +conceded to the Liberals the lieutenant-<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.297" id="vol3Page_iii.297">iii. 297</a></span>governor, prison inspector, +and fifteen of the thirty-four electors. This settlement resulted, +amidst much enthusiasm, in the nomination of Depew for +lieutenant-governor.</p> + +<p>The Democrats experienced more difficulty in selecting a candidate for +governor. The withdrawal of Hoffman, who "usually made his +appointments to office," said John Kelly, "on the recommendation of +the Tammany ring and at the solicitation of the Canal ring," was +inevitable,<a name="vol3FNanchor_634_634" id="vol3FNanchor_634_634"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_634_634" class="fnanchor">[634]</a> and long before he declined several aspirants had +betrayed their ambition.<a name="vol3FNanchor_635_635" id="vol3FNanchor_635_635"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_635_635" class="fnanchor">[635]</a> But a decided majority of the delegates, +"fully four-fifths" declared the New York <i>Times</i>,<a name="vol3FNanchor_636_636" id="vol3FNanchor_636_636"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_636_636" class="fnanchor">[636]</a> preferred +Sanford E. Church, then chief judge of the Court of Appeals, who +became known as the "ring candidate."<a name="vol3FNanchor_637_637" id="vol3FNanchor_637_637"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_637_637" class="fnanchor">[637]</a> On the other hand, Kernan +had the support of Tilden, against whom the same combination arrayed +itself that controlled at Rochester in 1871. Although the Tweed ring +had practically ceased to exist, its friendships, rooted in the rural +press and in the active young men whom it had assisted to positions in +Albany and New York, blocked the way. Besides, Kernan himself had +invited open hostility by vigorously supporting Tilden in his crusade +against Tammany. Thus the contest became complicated and bitter.</p> + +<p>It was an anxious moment for Tilden. Kelly stood for Schell, Kings +County presented Church, and Robinson and Beach held their friends +firmly in hand. With the skill of an astute leader, however, Tilden +weakened the support of Church by publishing his letters declining to +be a candidate, and by invoking the influences which emphasised the +division between Beach and Schell, gained Robinson for Kernan. The +audacity of such tactics staggered the opposition,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.298" id="vol3Page_iii.298">iii. 298</a></span> and when Beach +surrendered, Tammany and Kings hastened into line. This led to +Kernan's nomination by acclamation.<a name="vol3FNanchor_638_638" id="vol3FNanchor_638_638"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_638_638" class="fnanchor">[638]</a> As further evidence of +harmony Kelly moved the appointment of Tilden as a State +committeeman-at-large, and subsequently, on the organisation of the +committee, continued him as its chairman.</p> + +<p>Both conventions endorsed the Cincinnati platform, denounced the +Legislature for its failure to expel dishonest members, and charged +the National Administration with corruption and favoritism. As a +farewell to the Governor, the Democrats resolved that "the general +administration of John T. Hoffman meets the approbation of this +convention."<a name="vol3FNanchor_639_639" id="vol3FNanchor_639_639"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_639_639" class="fnanchor">[639]</a></p> + +<p>Hoffman's political career closed under circumstances that a more +heroic soul might have avoided. In his last message he had repudiated +the Ring. He had also made some atonement by authorising such suits +against it as Charles O'Conor might advise,<a name="vol3FNanchor_640_640" id="vol3FNanchor_640_640"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_640_640" class="fnanchor">[640]</a> and by vetoing the +Code Amendment Bill, devised by Cardozo and designed to confer +authority upon the judges to punish the press for attacking the Ring; +but the facts inspiring Nast's cartoon, which pictured him as the +Tammany wooden Indian on wheels, pushed and pulled by the Erie and +Tweed combination, had fixed the Governor in the popular mind as the +blind tool of rings. "I saw him in 1885," says Rhodes, "at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.299" id="vol3Page_iii.299">iii. 299</a></span> +Schweizerhof in Lucerne. Accompanied by his wife he was driving +through Switzerland; and in this hotel, full of his own countrymen, he +sat neglected, probably shunned by many. The light was gone from his +eyes, the vigour from his body, the confidence from his manner; +consciousness of failure brooded in their stead. He had not become +dissipated. Great opportunities missed; this was the memory that +racked him, body and spirit, and left him nerveless and decrepit, +inviting death."<a name="vol3FNanchor_641_641" id="vol3FNanchor_641_641"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_641_641" class="fnanchor">[641]</a> He died in Germany in 1888.</p> + +<p>For mayor of New York, John Kelly nominated Abram R. Lawrence, a +lawyer of ability and integrity, whom the Liberals endorsed. The +anti-Tammany forces, not yet willing to surrender to the new Boss, +divided their strength, the Apollo Hall Democracy nominating James +O'Brien, its founder, while the associations centring about the +Committee of Seventy supported William F. Havermeyer, whom the +Republicans endorsed. Havermeyer had twice been mayor.<a name="vol3FNanchor_642_642" id="vol3FNanchor_642_642"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_642_642" class="fnanchor">[642]</a> He +belonged among the enemies of jobbery, and although sixty-seven years +of age his mental and physical powers remained unimpaired. The +contest, thus narrowed to Lawrence and Havermeyer, assured a good +mayor.</p> + +<p>The campaign opened encouragingly for Democrats and Liberals. "The +antagonisms which civil war has created between the kindred +populations of our country," declared Tilden, in his speech at the +Syracuse convention, "must be closed up now and forever."<a name="vol3FNanchor_643_643" id="vol3FNanchor_643_643"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_643_643" class="fnanchor">[643]</a> This +was the key-note of his party, and, apart from the personal question +of candidates, was the only serious issue of the campaign. In his +letter of acceptance Greeley added a new phrase to the vocabulary of +the common people: "I accept your nomination," he said, "in the +confident trust that the masses of our countrymen North and South are +eager to clasp hands across the bloody chasm."<a name="vol3FNanchor_644_644" id="vol3FNanchor_644_644"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_644_644" class="fnanchor">[644]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.300" id="vol3Page_iii.300">iii. 300</a></span></p><p>This was a taking cry, and as the great editor moved across +Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, the general demonstration of interest +created considerable uneasiness at Republican headquarters. "His name +had been honoured for so many years in every Republican household," +says Blaine, "that the desire to see and hear him was universal, and +secured to him the majesty of numbers at every meeting."<a name="vol3FNanchor_645_645" id="vol3FNanchor_645_645"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_645_645" class="fnanchor">[645]</a> +Greeley's friends interpreted these vast audiences as indications of a +great tidal wave which would sweep Grant and his party from power. In +the latter part of September they confidently counted upon carrying +the October States. The South's endorsement of the Thirteenth, +Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, its declaration that the public +credit must be sacredly maintained, and its denunciation of +repudiation in every form and guise, created the belief that the North +and South would, indeed, "clasp hands across the bloody chasm."</p> + +<p>In New York, however, although the Democratic leaders stood loyally by +their candidate, pushing Kernan boldly to the front wherever Greeley +seemed weak, the inequality of the fight was apparent. Tammany and +old-time Democrats could not forget that the <i>Tribune's</i> editor had +classed them with blacklegs, thieves, burglars, gamblers, and keepers +of dens of prostitution.<a name="vol3FNanchor_646_646" id="vol3FNanchor_646_646"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_646_646" class="fnanchor">[646]</a> Moreover, only three Republican +newspapers had declared for Greeley,<a name="vol3FNanchor_647_647" id="vol3FNanchor_647_647"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_647_647" class="fnanchor">[647]</a> while many leaders like +Lyman Tremaine and James W. Husted, whose criti<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.301" id="vol3Page_iii.301">iii. 301</a></span>cism of the President +had encouraged the belief that they would favour the Cincinnati +nominee, preferred Grant.<a name="vol3FNanchor_648_648" id="vol3FNanchor_648_648"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_648_648" class="fnanchor">[648]</a> Besides, the business men of the +country thought the Republican party without Greeley safer than the +Democratic party with Greeley.</p> + +<p>After the Cincinnati convention a Republican Congress passed a General +Amnesty Act, approved May 22, and in the interest of "a free breakfast +table" placed tea and coffee on the free list. The reduction of the +public debt at the rate of one hundred millions a year, as well as +large annual reductions in the rate of taxation, also inspired +confidence, while to the President and his Secretary of State belonged +great credit for the Geneva arbitration. This amicable and dignified +adjustment of differences between England and the United States, +leading to new rules for the future government of Anglo-American +relations, and making impossible other than a friendly rivalry between +the two nations, sent a thrill of satisfaction through the American +people. Until then the settlement of such irritating questions had not +come by the peaceful process of law.</p> + +<p>As the campaign progressed both sides indulged in bitter +personalities. In his Cooper Institute speech, an address of great +power, Conkling's invective and sarcasm cut as deeply as Nast's +cartoons.<a name="vol3FNanchor_649_649" id="vol3FNanchor_649_649"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_649_649" class="fnanchor">[649]</a> Greeley's face, dress, and manners readily lent +themselves to caricature. "I have been assailed so bitterly," wrote +Greeley, "that I hardly knew whether I was running for President or +the Penitentiary."<a name="vol3FNanchor_650_650" id="vol3FNanchor_650_650"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_650_650" class="fnanchor">[650]</a> The <i>Tribune</i> told of a negro woman who was +heard cursing him in the streets of an Ohio river town because he had +"sold her baby down South before the war."<a name="vol3FNanchor_651_651" id="vol3FNanchor_651_651"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_651_651" class="fnanchor">[651]</a> Grant did<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.302" id="vol3Page_iii.302">iii. 302</a></span> not escape. +Indeed, he was lampooned until he declared that "I have been the +subject of abuse and slander scarcely ever equalled in political +history."<a name="vol3FNanchor_652_652" id="vol3FNanchor_652_652"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_652_652" class="fnanchor">[652]</a></p> + +<p>Early elections increased Republican confidence. North Carolina, then +a doubtful State, gave a Republican majority in August.<a name="vol3FNanchor_653_653" id="vol3FNanchor_653_653"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_653_653" class="fnanchor">[653]</a> Vermont +and Maine followed in September, and Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana +practically settled the question in October. Finally, the election on +November 5 gave Greeley, by small majorities, Georgia, Kentucky, +Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas, or sixty-six electoral votes +to two hundred and seventy-two for Grant, whose popular majority +exceeded three-quarters of a million. Dix carried New York by 55,451 +majority.<a name="vol3FNanchor_654_654" id="vol3FNanchor_654_654"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_654_654" class="fnanchor">[654]</a> Of thirty-two congressmen the Republicans elected +twenty-three, with a legislative majority of seventy on joint ballot. +To the surprise of Tammany, Havermeyer was elected mayor by over 8,000 +plurality, although Greeley carried the city by 23,000 majority.<a name="vol3FNanchor_655_655" id="vol3FNanchor_655_655"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_655_655" class="fnanchor">[655]</a> +A comparison of the vote with that cast for Seymour in 1868 showed +that a marked percentage of Democrats refused to support Greeley, and +that a larger percent<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.303" id="vol3Page_iii.303">iii. 303</a></span>age did not vote at all.<a name="vol3FNanchor_656_656" id="vol3FNanchor_656_656"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_656_656" class="fnanchor">[656]</a> Other slights +added to his disappointment. "I was an Abolitionist for years," he +said, "when to be one was as much as one's life was worth even here in +New York, and the negroes have all voted against me. Whatever of +talents and energy I have possessed, I have freely contributed all my +life long to Protection; to the cause of our manufactures. And the +manufacturers have expended millions to defeat me. I even made myself +ridiculous in the opinion of many whose good wishes I desired, by +showing fair play and giving a fair field in the <i>Tribune</i> to Woman's +Rights; and the women have all gone against me."<a name="vol3FNanchor_657_657" id="vol3FNanchor_657_657"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_657_657" class="fnanchor">[657]</a></p> + +<p>Before the vote of the State was officially canvassed Greeley had gone +to his rest.<a name="vol3FNanchor_658_658" id="vol3FNanchor_658_658"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_658_658" class="fnanchor">[658]</a> The campaign had overtaxed his strength, and upon +his return from the western speaking tour he watched at the bedside of +his wife until her decease on October 30. After the election he +resumed editorial charge of the <i>Tribune</i>, which he formally +relinquished on the 15th of the preceding May, but it was plain that +the robust animal spirits which characterised his former days were +gone.<a name="vol3FNanchor_659_659" id="vol3FNanchor_659_659"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_659_659" class="fnanchor">[659]</a> The loss of his wife, the mortification of defeat, the +financial embarrassment of his paper, and the exhaustion of his +physical powers had broken him. The announcement of his death, +however, although the public got an early intimation of the cruel work +which his troubles were making upon a frame that once seemed to be of +iron, came with the shock of sudden calamity. The whole country<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.304" id="vol3Page_iii.304">iii. 304</a></span> +recognised that in the field of his real conquests the most remarkable +man in American history had fallen, and it buried him with the +appreciation that attends a conqueror. At the funeral President Grant, +Vice-President Colfax, and the Vice-President-elect, Henry Wilson, +rode in the same carriage.<a name="vol3FNanchor_660_660" id="vol3FNanchor_660_660"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_660_660" class="fnanchor">[660]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.305" id="vol3Page_iii.305">iii. 305</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XXIV" id="vol3CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> + +<h2>TILDEN DESTROYS HIS OPPONENTS</h2> + +<h2>1873-4</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> Legislature which convened January 6, 1873, re-elected Roscoe +Conkling to the United States Senate. There was no delay and no +opposition. Cornell was in the watch-tower as speaker of the Assembly +and other lieutenants kept guard in the lobbies.<a name="vol3FNanchor_661_661" id="vol3FNanchor_661_661"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_661_661" class="fnanchor">[661]</a> The Republican +caucus nominated on the 8th and the election occurred on the +21st.<a name="vol3FNanchor_662_662" id="vol3FNanchor_662_662"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_662_662" class="fnanchor">[662]</a> A few months later (November 8) the President, in +complimentary and generous terms, offered Conkling the place made +vacant by the death of Chief Justice Chase (May 7). His industry and +legal training admirably fitted him for the position, but for reasons +not specified he declined the distinguished preferment just as he had +refused in December, 1870, the offer of a law partnership with an +annual compensation of fifty thousand dollars. Probably the suggestion +that he become a presidential candidate influenced his decision, +especially as the President favoured his succession.<a name="vol3FNanchor_663_663" id="vol3FNanchor_663_663"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_663_663" class="fnanchor">[663]</a></p> + +<p>At this time Conkling, then forty-four years old, may be said to have +reached the height of his power, if not of his fame. His opponents +were under his feet. Greeley was dead, Fenton's long and successful +career had closed in the gloom of defeat and the permanent eclipse of +his influence in public affairs, and others were weakened if not +destroyed by their party desertion. Moreover, the re-election of a +Presi<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.306" id="vol3Page_iii.306">iii. 306</a></span>dent whom he had supported and defended with an opulent +vocabulary that made his studied addresses models of speech, continued +his political control. About half a dozen able lieutenants, holding +fat offices in the great patronage centres, revolved with the fidelity +of planets, while in every custom-house and federal office in the +State trained politicians performed the function of satellites. To +harness the party more securely hundreds of young men, selected from +the various counties because of their partisan zeal, filled the great +departments at Washington. "In obedience to this system," said George +William Curtis, "the whole machinery of the government is pulled to +pieces every four years. Political caucuses, primary meetings, and +conventions are controlled by the promise and expectation of +patronage. Political candidates for the lowest or highest positions +are directly or indirectly pledged. The pledge is the price of the +nomination, and when the election is determined, the pledges must be +redeemed. The business of the nation, the legislation of Congress, the +duties of the departments, are all subordinated to the distribution of +what is well called spoils."<a name="vol3FNanchor_664_664" id="vol3FNanchor_664_664"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_664_664" class="fnanchor">[664]</a></p> + +<p>President Grant is quoted as declaring that the Senator never sought +an appointment from him.<a name="vol3FNanchor_665_665" id="vol3FNanchor_665_665"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_665_665" class="fnanchor">[665]</a> This statement is probably true, but not +on the theory of the Latin maxim, <i>Qui facit per alium, facit per +se</i>.<a name="vol3FNanchor_666_666" id="vol3FNanchor_666_666"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_666_666" class="fnanchor">[666]</a> No occasion existed for him to make requests since his +agents, well known to the President, cabinet, and collectors, could +obtain the necessary appointments without the Senator's participation +or even knowledge. Nevertheless, he relied upon public patronage as an +instrument of party and factional success, and uniformly employed it +throughout his career. The principal objection of the independent +press to his appointment as chief justice implied his devotion to +practical politics and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.307" id="vol3Page_iii.307">iii. 307</a></span> an absence of the quality of true +statesmanship.<a name="vol3FNanchor_667_667" id="vol3FNanchor_667_667"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_667_667" class="fnanchor">[667]</a> Indeed, in spite of his transcendent gifts, his +hold upon party and people was never stronger than the machine's, +since the influence of his control tended to transform political +action into such subserviency that men of spirit, though loving their +party, frequently held aloof from its service.</p> + +<p>But Conkling used only the methods inherited with his leadership, and +to all appearances the grasp of the Republican party in New York in +January, 1873, was as firm as the most ardent partisan could desire. +This feeling controlled the State convention at Utica on September 24 +to such a degree that its action resembled the partisan narrowness of +a ward caucus. Conkling did not attend, but his lieutenants, evidently +considering the party vote as a force which only needed exhortation or +intimidation to bring out, dropped Barlow, the attorney-general, +without the slightest regard to public sentiment, and visited the +penalty of party treason upon Thomas Raines, the State treasurer, for +his support of Greeley. From a party viewpoint perhaps Raines deserved +such treatment, but Francis C. Barlow's conduct of his office had been +characterised by the superb daring with which he met the dangers and +difficulties of many battlefields, making him the connecting link +between his party and the Reform movement. He had prosecuted the Erie +spoilers, and was then engaged in securing the punishment of the +Tammany ring. O'Conor spoke of his "austere integrity" in refusing to +accept millions as a compromise.<a name="vol3FNanchor_668_668" id="vol3FNanchor_668_668"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_668_668" class="fnanchor">[668]</a> Moreover it was conceded that +Barlow, with the possible exception of Tilden and O'Conor, knew more +of the canal frauds than any one in the State. The list of suits +brought by him showed the rottenness of the whole system of canal +management, while a recent letter, denouncing a leader of the Ring, +did not veil his hostility to its individual members.<a name="vol3FNanchor_669_669" id="vol3FNanchor_669_669"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_669_669" class="fnanchor">[669]</a> This +attack, boldly directed<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.308" id="vol3Page_iii.308">iii. 308</a></span> against a prominent Republican, aroused the +fierce opposition of the contract manipulators, whose influence +sufficed not only to defeat him, but to nominate the very man he had +accused.</p> + +<p>To add to its shame the party in New York City made a bargain with +Apollo Hall, an organisation gotten up by James O'Brien, the +ex-sheriff, for the purpose of selling to the highest bidder. In 1871 +by skilful manœuvres the party freed itself from any suspicion of +an alliance with this faction, and had thus to a very great extent +obtained the direction of the Reform movement; but now, by dropping +Barlow, ignoring his disclosures, and accepting O'Brien's offer, +already rejected by Tammany with contempt, it sacrificed its hold upon +the solid part of the community which had been taught that a vote for +the Republican ticket was the only way to obtain the fruits of +reform.<a name="vol3FNanchor_670_670" id="vol3FNanchor_670_670"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_670_670" class="fnanchor">[670]</a></p> + +<p>At the Democratic convention which met in Utica on October 1, Thomas +Raines, whose adhesion to Greeley had made him a martyr, was nominated +by acclamation. Here, however, the enthusiasm ended. The overwhelming +defeat of the previous year had sapped the party of confidence, and +candidates whom the convention desired refused to accept, while those +it nominated brought neither prominence nor strength.<a name="vol3FNanchor_671_671" id="vol3FNanchor_671_671"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_671_671" class="fnanchor">[671]</a> The +platform denounced the "salary grab,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.309" id="vol3Page_iii.309">iii. 309</a></span> passed in the closing hours of +the last Congress, and condemned the Crédit Mobilier disclosures which +had recently startled the country and disgraced Congress.<a name="vol3FNanchor_672_672" id="vol3FNanchor_672_672"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_672_672" class="fnanchor">[672]</a> Through +its executive committee the Liberal party indorsed the Democratic +nominees except for comptroller and prison inspector. For these +offices it preferred the Republicans' choice of Hopkins and Platt.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the financial crash which began on September 18 by the +failure of Jay Cooke & Co., spread an intense gloom over the State as +well as the country, and although by the middle of October the panic, +properly defined, had ended, a commercial crisis continued. By +November 1 several railroads had defaulted in the payment of interest +on their bonds, cotton and iron mills had closed, and many labourers +were thrown out of employment. Criticism of the Administration's +financial policy naturally followed, and men whose purchasing power +had ceased turned against the Republicans, giving the State to the +Democrats by 10,000 majority. With the aid of the Liberals, Hopkins +and Platt received about 4,000 majority. On the question of electing +or appointing judges, the people by an overwhelming vote pronounced in +favour of election.</p> + +<p>As in other "off years" the result of this contest indicated a general +drift of political opinion. Ever since the Republican party came into +power ebbs and flows had occurred at alternating biennial periods. A +Democratic revival in 1862 followed Lincoln's election in 1860; his +re-election in 1864 saw a similar revival in 1865; and Grant's +decisive vote in 1868 brought a conservative reaction in 1870. It was +perhaps natural to expect that after the President's<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.310" id="vol3Page_iii.310">iii. 310</a></span> re-election in +1872 something of the kind would happen in 1873. Nevertheless, Samuel +J. Tilden saw in the result something more than the usual reaction. He +believed the failure of the Republicans to associate themselves +intimately with reformers and to manifest a loathing for all corrupt +alliances, had added greatly to their burden, and early in the summer +of 1874 he determined to run for governor.</p> + +<p>On his return from Europe in the early fall of 1873 Tilden had found +thoughtful men of both parties talking of him as a successor to Dix. +To them the trials of Tweed and his confederates made it plain that +substantial reform must begin at Albany, and they wanted a man whose +experience and success in dealing with one Ring rendered it certain +that he would assault and carry the works of the other. But Tilden was +cunning. He betrayed no evidence of his desire until others confessed +their unwillingness to take the nomination. To the average +office-seeker running against Dix and his plurality of 55,000 was not +an attractive race. Meanwhile John Kelly, realising the value of +appearing honest, indicated a preference for Tilden.</p> + +<p>There was something magnetic about the suggestion. Tilden was able, +rich, and known to everybody as the foe of the Tweed ring. Besides he +was capable, notwithstanding his infirmity, of making a forceful +speech, full of fire, logic and facts, his quick, retentive memory +enabling him to enter easily into political controversy. As a powerful +reasoner it was admitted that he had few equals at the bar. Indeed, +the press, crediting him with courage, perseverance, and indomitable +industry, had pictured him as a successful leader and an ideal +reformer. Tilden himself believed in his destiny, and when, at last, +the time seemed ripe to avow his candidacy he carried on a canvass +which for skill, knowledge of human nature, and of the ins and outs of +politics, had rarely been approached by any preceding master. The +press of the State soon reflected the growing sentiment in his favour. +"In selecting him," said George William Curtis, "the party will +designate one of its most reputable mem<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.311" id="vol3Page_iii.311">iii. 311</a></span>bers."<a name="vol3FNanchor_673_673" id="vol3FNanchor_673_673"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_673_673" class="fnanchor">[673]</a> The New York +<i>Times</i> spoke of him as a "man of unsullied honour,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_674_674" id="vol3FNanchor_674_674"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_674_674" class="fnanchor">[674]</a> and the +<i>Tribune</i> declared that "his career in office, should he be elected, +would be distinguished alike by integrity, decorum, administrative +ability, and shrewd political management."<a name="vol3FNanchor_675_675" id="vol3FNanchor_675_675"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_675_675" class="fnanchor">[675]</a></p> + +<p>As one county after another instructed its delegates for Tilden, +professional politicians exhibited much astonishment. To the Canal +ring the trend of public sentiment toward a man of his record and +independence was especially ominous. Suddenly, such violent opposition +appeared that the New York <i>Herald</i>, studying the Democratic papers in +the State, declared that outside of New York City only the Utica +<i>Observer</i>, which was influenced by Kernan, favoured his +nomination.<a name="vol3FNanchor_676_676" id="vol3FNanchor_676_676"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_676_676" class="fnanchor">[676]</a> It was openly charged that selfish ambition prompted +his prosecution of the Tweed frauds, and that he was a cunning +schemer, cold, reticent, and severe. Then men began to dissuade him. +Friends counselled him not to take the risk of a nominating +convention. Even Seymour, moved perhaps by ambitions of his own, +discouraged him. If nominated, he wrote, you must expect the martyr's +crown. "There has been a widespread plan to carry the convention +against you. It was started last winter, and it shaped laws and +appointments. The State officers are against you.... You will find the +same combination at Syracuse that controlled at Rochester in 1871.... +Our people want men in office who will not steal, but who will not +interfere with those who do."<a name="vol3FNanchor_677_677" id="vol3FNanchor_677_677"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_677_677" class="fnanchor">[677]</a> Coupled with this opposition was +the suggestion that Sanford E. Church, being in no wise identified +with the Ring prosecutions, would make a more available candidate.</p> + +<p>Earlier in the year Church, in an interview with Tilden, had declined +to become a candidate, but afterward, as in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.312" id="vol3Page_iii.312">iii. 312</a></span> 1872, he grew anxious for +the honour, and finally gave Joseph Warren of the Buffalo <i>Courier</i> a +written consent to accept if nominated with the concurrence of other +candidates.<a name="vol3FNanchor_678_678" id="vol3FNanchor_678_678"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_678_678" class="fnanchor">[678]</a> Armed with this statement and with letters of +withdrawal from others associated with the gubernatorial nomination, +Warren sought Tilden with confidence. By prearrangement their meeting +occurred on September 8 at the Delavan House in Albany. Several were +present—Jarvis Lord, a senator from Rochester and an extensive canal +contractor, DeWolf of Oswego, and other canal men. In the room +adjoining Reuben E. Fenton waited.</p> + +<p>Tilden was not surprised at the latter's presence. He knew that in the +event of his withdrawal, Fenton intended that the Liberals should +nominate Church at their convention which assembled in Albany two days +later.<a name="vol3FNanchor_679_679" id="vol3FNanchor_679_679"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_679_679" class="fnanchor">[679]</a> But Tilden, long familiar with the Ring's methods, refused +to withdraw. On no theory could they make it appear to be his duty, +and the longer they talked the more determined he became. Then John +Kelly, in a published interview, gave Church's aspiration its death +blow. "DeWolf of Oswego, Warren of Erie, and Senator Lord of Monroe," +he said, "belong to what is called the Canal ring.... It has been +their policy to control a majority of the canal board to enable them +to control the canal contracts.... They have always been very friendly +to Judge Church and of great assistance to him personally.... There +was friendship existing between the old Tammany ring and this Canal +ring."<a name="vol3FNanchor_680_680" id="vol3FNanchor_680_680"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_680_680" class="fnanchor">[680]</a> John Bigelow, the friend of Tilden, subsequently used +stronger phrases. "Tilden knew the Canal ring had no more servile +instrument in the State than the candidate they were urging. Church +was poor; he was ambitious; he was not content with his place on the +bench, and was only too ready at all times to combine with anybody on +any terms to se<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.313" id="vol3Page_iii.313">iii. 313</a></span>cure wealth and power."<a name="vol3FNanchor_681_681" id="vol3FNanchor_681_681"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_681_681" class="fnanchor">[681]</a> To Kelly's charges the +Buffalo <i>Courier</i> retorted that "Tammany Hall under honest John Kelly +is exactly the same as Tammany Hall under dishonest William M. +Tweed."<a name="vol3FNanchor_682_682" id="vol3FNanchor_682_682"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_682_682" class="fnanchor">[682]</a></p> + +<p>When the Democratic State convention met a week later war existed +between Kelly and the Canal ring.<a name="vol3FNanchor_683_683" id="vol3FNanchor_683_683"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_683_683" class="fnanchor">[683]</a> Warren intensified it by giving +the Syracuse <i>Standard</i> a despatch declaring that Kelly's robberies +while sheriff were as criminal as those of Garvey's and Ingersoll's of +the Tweed ring.<a name="vol3FNanchor_684_684" id="vol3FNanchor_684_684"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_684_684" class="fnanchor">[684]</a> In the furious assault upon Tilden no reasons +appeared other than the fear of the Canal ring that his administration +would lead to its discomfiture. Indeed, the flankers of the reform +movement found it difficult to agree upon a candidate, and when Amasa +J. Parker finally consented to stand he did so to gratify Church's +friends in the middle and western portions of the State, who resented +the Kelly interview. That the bad blood between the Warren and Kelly +factions did not break out in the convention was probably due to +Seymour's conciliatory, tactful remarks. A single ballot, however, +banished the thought of setting Tilden aside for some man less +obnoxious to the Ring.<a name="vol3FNanchor_685_685" id="vol3FNanchor_685_685"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_685_685" class="fnanchor">[685]</a></p> + +<p>The convention was not less fortunate in its selection of William +Dorsheimer of Buffalo for lieutenant-governor. Many delegates, +desiring a Democrat who would inspire enthusiasm among the younger +men, preferred Smith M. Weed of Clinton, resourceful and brilliant, if +unembarrassed by methods; but he succumbed to the earnest appeals of +DeWitt C. Littlejohn in behalf of Liberal recognition.<a name="vol3FNanchor_686_686" id="vol3FNanchor_686_686"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_686_686" class="fnanchor">[686]</a> Dorsheimer +possessed almost all the qualities that go to make up suc<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.314" id="vol3Page_iii.314">iii. 314</a></span>cess in +politics. He had courage and tact, fascination and audacity, rare +skill on the platform, creditable associations, and marked literary +attainments. Moreover, he had given up a United States attorneyship to +follow Greeley.<a name="vol3FNanchor_687_687" id="vol3FNanchor_687_687"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_687_687" class="fnanchor">[687]</a> Not less helpful was the platform, drafted by +Seymour, which abounded in short, clear, compact statements, without +buncombe or the least equivocation. It demanded the payment of the +public debt in coin, the resumption of specie payment, taxation for +revenue only, local self-government, and State supervision of +corporations. It also denounced sumptuary laws and the third term.</p> + +<p>Although John Kelly aided in nominating Tilden, his desire for +anti-ring candidates did not extend to the metropolis. William F. +Havermeyer's sudden death in November made necessary the election of a +mayor, and Kelly, to keep up appearances, selected William H. Wickham, +his neighbour, an easy-going diamond merchant, whose membership on the +Committee of Seventy constituted his only claim to such +preferment.<a name="vol3FNanchor_688_688" id="vol3FNanchor_688_688"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_688_688" class="fnanchor">[688]</a> But here all semblance of reform disappeared. James +Hayes, charged with making half a million dollars during the Tweed +régime, became the candidate for register, and of fifteen persons +selected for aldermen nine belonged to the old Ring, two of whom were +under indictment for fraud.<a name="vol3FNanchor_689_689" id="vol3FNanchor_689_689"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_689_689" class="fnanchor">[689]</a> Evidently Warren did not betray +ignorance when he pronounced the new Tammany no better than the old. +The Republicans presented Salem H. Wales<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.315" id="vol3Page_iii.315">iii. 315</a></span> for mayor, while the +Germans, declining to act with Kelly, selected Oswald Ottendorfer, the +editor, a most able and upright citizen who had proven his fidelity to +the reform movement.</p> + +<p>The Republicans renominated John A. Dix with other State officials +elected in 1872,<a name="vol3FNanchor_690_690" id="vol3FNanchor_690_690"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_690_690" class="fnanchor">[690]</a> and had the Custom-house sincerely desired the +Governor's re-election, the expediency of a coalition with +Ottendorfer's supporters must have appealed to it as highly important. +Dix had made an admirable executive. His decisions of questions +regardless of men and of the next election excited popular confidence, +and the power of public opinion had forced his renomination by +acclamation. But his independence could not be forgiven. Moreover, the +platform gave him little assistance. It neither denounced corruption, +demanded relief from predatory rings, nor disapproved a third term. +Except as to resumption and the payment of the public debt in coin, it +followed the beaten track of its predecessors, spending itself over +Southern outrages. Although several delegates had prepared resolutions +in opposition to a third term, no one dared present them after +Conkling had finished his eulogy of the President.</p> + +<p>The Liberals who assembled at Albany on September 10 had about +finished their course as a separate party. Their creed, so far as it +represented practical, well-meditated reform, was a respectable, +healthy faith, but the magnet which attracted the coterie of +Republicans whose leadership gave it whatever influence it exerted in +the Empire State was Horace Greeley. When he died their activity +ceased. Besides, the renomination of Dix, who had little liking for +the organisation and no sympathy with a third term, now afforded them +good opportunity to return to the fold. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.316" id="vol3Page_iii.316">iii. 316</a></span> Albany convention, +therefore, represented only a small fraction of the original +dissenters, and these adjourned without action until the 29th. On +reconvening a long, acrimonious discussion indicated a strong +disposition to run to cover. Some favoured Tilden, others Dix, but +finally, under the lead of George W. Palmer, the convention, deciding +to endorse no one, resolved to support men of approved honesty, who +represented the principles of the Cincinnati convention and opposed a +third term.<a name="vol3FNanchor_691_691" id="vol3FNanchor_691_691"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_691_691" class="fnanchor">[691]</a></p> + +<p>As the days shortened the campaign became more spirited. Tilden, +putting himself in close relation with every school district in the +State, introduced the clever device of mailing a fac-simile of one of +his communications, thus flattering the receiver with the belief that +he possessed an autograph letter. His genius for detail kept a corps +of assistants busy, and the effort to inspire his desponding partisans +with hope of success made each correspondent the centre of an earnest +band of endeavourers. Meanwhile the Democratic press kept up a galling +fire of criticism. Dix had escaped in 1872, but now the newspapers +charged him with nepotism and extravagance. "Governor Morgan had two +aides in time of war," wrote Seymour, "while Dix has six in time of +peace. Morgan had one messenger, Dix has two. Morgan had a secretary +at $2,000; Dix had the pay put up to $3,500—and then appointed his +son.... The people think the Governor gets $4,000; in fact, under +different pretexts it is made $14,000."<a name="vol3FNanchor_692_692" id="vol3FNanchor_692_692"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_692_692" class="fnanchor">[692]</a> An attempt was also made +to connect him with the Crédit Mobilier scandal because of his +presidency of the Union Pacific road at the time of the consideration +of the Oakes Ames contract.<a name="vol3FNanchor_693_693" id="vol3FNanchor_693_693"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_693_693" class="fnanchor">[693]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.317" id="vol3Page_iii.317">iii. 317</a></span> That the Governor had no interest in +or connection with the construction company availed him little. Other +men of approved honesty had become involved in the back-salary grab, +the Sanborn claims, and the Crédit Mobilier, and the people, quickly +distrusting any one accused, classed him with the wrong-doers.</p> + +<p>Moreover, Dix laboured under the disadvantage of having apathetic +party managers. "They deliberately refused to support him," said his +son, "preferring defeat to the re-election of one whom they desired to +be rid of."<a name="vol3FNanchor_694_694" id="vol3FNanchor_694_694"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_694_694" class="fnanchor">[694]</a> Conkling, in his speech at Brooklyn,<a name="vol3FNanchor_695_695" id="vol3FNanchor_695_695"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_695_695" class="fnanchor">[695]</a> rebuked the +spirit of calumny that assails the character of public men, but he +neglected to extol the record of a patriotic Governor, or to speak the +word against a third term which would have materially lightened the +party burden.</p> + +<p>When the opposition press began its agitation of a third term, +charging that the country was "drifting upon the rock of +Cæsarism,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_696_696" id="vol3FNanchor_696_696"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_696_696" class="fnanchor">[696]</a> few men believed such an idea sincerely entertained. +Nevertheless, as the election approached it aroused popular +solicitude. Congressmen who hurried to Washington in the hope of being +authorised to contradict the accusation, returned without an utterance +to disarm their opponents, while the Democrats not only maintained +that Grant himself was not averse to using his official position to +secure the nomination, but that eighty thousand office-holders were +plotting for this end.<a name="vol3FNanchor_697_697" id="vol3FNanchor_697_697"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_697_697" class="fnanchor">[697]</a> As the idea had its inception largely in +the talk of a coterie of Grant's political and personal friends, +Conkling's eulogies of the President seemed to corroborate the claim. +So plainly did the <i>Times</i> stagger under the load that rumours of the +<i>Tribune's</i> becoming a Conkling organ reached the <i>Nation</i>.<a name="vol3FNanchor_698_698" id="vol3FNanchor_698_698"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_698_698" class="fnanchor">[698]</a> It +could not be denied that next to the commercial depression and the +insolence of the Canal ring, the deep-seated dissatisfaction with +Grant's administration influenced public senti<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.318" id="vol3Page_iii.318">iii. 318</a></span>ment. Excluding the +inflation veto the record of his second term had not improved upon the +first, while to many his refusal to disclaim the third-term accusation +became intolerable.</p> + +<p>The municipal contest in New York City also developed embarrassments. +Barring a few appointments Havermeyer had made a fair record, having +improved the public school system, kept clean streets, and paid much +attention to sanitary conditions. Moreover, he distributed the revenue +with care, and by the practice of economy in the public works reduced +expenses nearly eight millions. The winter of 1873-4 proved a severe +one for the unemployed, however, and to catch their votes Kelly, with +great adroitness, favoured giving them public employment. This was a +powerful appeal. Fifteen thousand idle mechanics in the city wanted +work more than public economy, while thousands in the poorer +districts, seeking and receiving food from Tammany, cheered the +turbulent orator as he pictured the suffering due to Havermeyer's +policy and the hope inspired by Kelly's promises.</p> + +<p>Havermeyer's accusations against Kelly also recoiled upon his party. +In the course of a bitter quarrel growing out of Kelly's appointment +of Richard Croker as marshal,<a name="vol3FNanchor_699_699" id="vol3FNanchor_699_699"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_699_699" class="fnanchor">[699]</a> the Mayor publicly charged "Honest +John" with obtaining while sheriff $84,482 by other than legal +methods.<a name="vol3FNanchor_700_700" id="vol3FNanchor_700_700"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_700_700" class="fnanchor">[700]</a> "I think," said Havermeyer, "you were worse than Tweed +who made no pretensions to purity, while you avow your honesty and +wrap yourself in the mantle of purity."<a name="vol3FNanchor_701_701" id="vol3FNanchor_701_701"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_701_701" class="fnanchor">[701]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.319" id="vol3Page_iii.319">iii. 319</a></span> Kelly's prompt denial, +followed by a suit for criminal libel, showed a willingness to try the +issue, but Havermeyer's sudden death from apoplexy on the morning of +the trial (November 30), leaving his proofs unpublished, strengthened +Kelly's claim that "Tammany is the only reform party in existence here +to-day."<a name="vol3FNanchor_702_702" id="vol3FNanchor_702_702"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_702_702" class="fnanchor">[702]</a></p> + +<p>The Republican press, apparently with effect, enlarged upon the +general excellence of Dix's administration, but early in the campaign +the people showed greater liking for reform at home than abhorrence of +outrages in the South, and the result proved a political revolution, +Tilden receiving a plurality of 50,317 and Dorsheimer 51,488.<a name="vol3FNanchor_703_703" id="vol3FNanchor_703_703"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_703_703" class="fnanchor">[703]</a> +Besides the State ticket the Democrats carried the Assembly and +eighteen of the thirty-three congressional districts. With the +exception of James Hayes, who was defeated for register by over 10,000 +majority, Tammany likewise elected its entire ticket.<a name="vol3FNanchor_704_704" id="vol3FNanchor_704_704"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_704_704" class="fnanchor">[704]</a></p> + +<p>Democratic success was not confined to New York. Small majorities were +obtained in Ohio and Indiana as well as in Pennsylvania and +Massachusetts, and for the first time since 1861 the House of +Representatives passed into the control of that party. The financial +depression plainly operated to the great advantage of the Democrats, +but in allowing Tilden to pre-empt the reform issue when men were +intent upon smashing rings, the Republicans opened the door for their +destruction. "They [the Republican leaders] have apparently believed +the people would submit to anything and everything," said the <i>Times</i>, +"and that the party was indestructible. If a newspaper warned them in +a friendly<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.320" id="vol3Page_iii.320">iii. 320</a></span> but firm spirit against the policy of blundering, it was +treated with a mixture of the insolence and arrogance which they +exhibited toward all opposition."<a name="vol3FNanchor_705_705" id="vol3FNanchor_705_705"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_705_705" class="fnanchor">[705]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.321" id="vol3Page_iii.321">iii. 321</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XXV" id="vol3CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV</h2> + +<h2>RIVALRY OF TILDEN AND CONKLING</h2> + +<h2>1875</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">If</span> further evidence of Tilden's supremacy in his party were needed, +the election of Francis Kernan to the United States Senate furnished +it. It had been nearly thirty years since the Democrats of New York +were represented in the Senate, and Tilden sent his staunchest +supporter to take the place of Fenton.<a name="vol3FNanchor_706_706" id="vol3FNanchor_706_706"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_706_706" class="fnanchor">[706]</a> This fidelity disturbed +the members of the Canal ring, who now anxiously awaited the +development of the Governor's policy. The overthrow of the Tammany +ring and the memory of Tweed's fate hung about them like the shadow of +a great fear.</p> + +<p>Tilden did not strike at once. Treating the matter as he did the Tweed +disclosures, he secretly studied the methods of the Ring, examined +more than one hundred contracts, and employed a civil engineer to +verify work paid for with that actually done. So severe was the strain +of this labour that in February he suffered a cerebral attack nearly +akin to paralysis.<a name="vol3FNanchor_707_707" id="vol3FNanchor_707_707"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_707_707" class="fnanchor">[707]</a> Of the character or purpose of his work no one +had any intimation, and guilty men who obsequiously complimented him +thought him weak and without the nerve to harm them. But on the 18th +of March (1875) he thrilled the State and chilled the Ring with a +special message to the Legislature, showing that for the five years +ending September 30, 1874, millions had been wasted because of +unnecessary repairs and corrupt contracts. Upon ten of these +fraudulent contracts the State, it appeared, had paid more<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.322" id="vol3Page_iii.322">iii. 322</a></span> than a +million and a half, while the proposals at contract prices called for +less than half a million. This result, he said in substance, was +brought about by a unique contrivance. The engineer designated the +quantity and kinds of work to be done, and when these estimates were +published by the commissioners, the favoured contractor, learning +through collusion what materials would actually be required, bid +absurdly low prices for some and unreasonably high rates for others. +After the contract was let, changes made in accordance with the +previous secret understanding required only the higher priced +materials. Thus the contractor secured the work without competition or +real public letting.<a name="vol3FNanchor_708_708" id="vol3FNanchor_708_708"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_708_708" class="fnanchor">[708]</a></p> + +<p>The Governor recommended various measures of reform, notably a new +letting after any change in the proposals for<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.323" id="vol3Page_iii.323">iii. 323</a></span> bids. He also suggested +an investigation of the frauds already perpetrated, and for this +purpose the Senate confirmed a non-partisan commission,<a name="vol3FNanchor_709_709" id="vol3FNanchor_709_709"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_709_709" class="fnanchor">[709]</a> who +quickly reported that the work of one contractor showed fraudulent +estimates, false measurements, and a charge of $150,337.02 for +excavations and embankments that were never made. Neither surveys nor +estimates preceded the letting of the contract, while in every +instance he appeared as the lowest bidder. Eleven additional reports +made during the year showed that similar frauds were repeatedly +practised by him and other contractors. In each case arrests, +indictments, and suits for restitution promptly followed.<a name="vol3FNanchor_710_710" id="vol3FNanchor_710_710"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_710_710" class="fnanchor">[710]</a> It also +appeared that the auditor of the canal department, a former Republican +candidate for secretary of state, had made use of his office to +speculate in canal drafts and certificates.</p> + +<p>The excitement over these revelations recalled the indignation +following the Tweed disclosures. Every voter in every corner of the +State knew of them. Furthermore, the arrests of contractors and +officials along the line of the canal multiplied evidence of the +Governor's courage. He spared no one. Of the principal officials and +ex-officials indicted all save two were Democrats,<a name="vol3FNanchor_711_711" id="vol3FNanchor_711_711"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_711_711" class="fnanchor">[711]</a> but his +administration knew no party and expressed no concern. Such creditable +public service made a profound impression, and during a visit to the +western part of the State in August, the people accorded him the +attention given to a conqueror. From Albany to Buffalo crowds +everywhere saluted him with bands of music and salvos of artillery, +while his addresses, charac<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.324" id="vol3Page_iii.324">iii. 324</a></span>terised by plainness of speech, deprecated +a reactionary policy.</p> + +<p>These demonstrations alarmed Republican leaders. They appreciated that +his adroitness and energy in accumulating proof of Tweed's guilt had +fixed the attention of the country upon him as a presidential +candidate, and that the assault on the canal spoilers made his +pretensions more formidable. Moreover, they realised that their own +failure to lead in canal reform in 1873, evidenced by ignoring Barlow +and his incriminating disclosures, yielded Tilden a decided advantage +of which he must be dispossessed. To accomplish this two ways opened +to them. Regarding the canal scandal as not a party question they +could heartily join him in the crusade, thus dividing whatever +political capital might be made out of it; or they could disparage his +effort and belittle his character as a reformer. The latter being the +easier because the more tolerable, many Republican papers began +charging him with insincerity, with trickery, and with being wholly +influenced by political aspirations. His methods, too, were criticised +as undiplomatic, hasty, and often harsh. Of this policy <i>Harper's +Weekly</i> said: "Those who say that the Governor's action is a mere +political trick, and that he means nothing, evidently forget that they +are speaking of the man who, when he once took hold of the Tweed +prosecution, joined in pushing it relentlessly to the end."<a name="vol3FNanchor_712_712" id="vol3FNanchor_712_712"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_712_712" class="fnanchor">[712]</a></p> + +<p>This was the sentiment of George William Curtis, who presided at the +Republican State convention.<a name="vol3FNanchor_713_713" id="vol3FNanchor_713_713"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_713_713" class="fnanchor">[713]</a> It also became the policy of the +managers whom defeat had chastened. They discerned the signs of the +times, and instead of repressing hostility to a third term and +dissatisfaction with certain tendencies of the National +administration, as had been done in 1874, they deemed it wiser to swim +with the current, meeting new influences and conditions by discarding +old policies that had brought their party into peril. The delegates, +therefore, by a great majority, favoured "a just, gener<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.325" id="vol3Page_iii.325">iii. 325</a></span>ous, and +forbearing national policy in the South," and "a firm refusal to use +military power, except for purposes clearly defined in the +Constitution." They also commended "honest efforts for the correction +of public abuses," pledged coöperation "in every honourable way to +secure pure government and to bring offenders to justice," and +declared "unalterable opposition to the election of any President for +a third term."<a name="vol3FNanchor_714_714" id="vol3FNanchor_714_714"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_714_714" class="fnanchor">[714]</a> Furthermore, the convention sought candidates of +prominence and approved integrity. In the presence of threatened +defeat such men were shy. William H. Robertson of Westchester thrice +declined the comptrollership, and insistence upon his acceptance did +not cease until James W. Husted, springing to his feet, declared that +such demands were evidently intended as an insult. Then Edwin D. +Morgan proposed George R. Babcock, a distinguished lawyer of Buffalo, +who likewise declined. In a short, crisp letter, John Bigelow, +chairman of the canal investigating committee, rejected the proffered +honour. Finally, the choice fell upon Francis E. Spinner, formerly +United States treasurer, and although he sent two unconsenting +telegrams, the convention refused to revoke its action. Despite such +embarrassments, however, it secured an array of strong, clean +men.<a name="vol3FNanchor_715_715" id="vol3FNanchor_715_715"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_715_715" class="fnanchor">[715]</a></p> + +<p>A week later the Democrats assembled at Syracuse. They quickly retired +an anti-Tammany delegation led by John Morrissey,<a name="vol3FNanchor_716_716" id="vol3FNanchor_716_716"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_716_716" class="fnanchor">[716]</a> reaffirmed the +platforms of 1872 and 1874, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.326" id="vol3Page_iii.326">iii. 326</a></span> nominated John Bigelow for secretary +of state. Bigelow, well known as a former editor of the <i>Evening Post</i> +and more recently minister to France, had always been a Republican. +Indeed, Tilden named and a Republican Senate confirmed him as one of +two Republicans on a non-partisan board; but for reasons best known to +himself Bigelow changed his party in the twinkling of an eye. +Associated with him were John D. Van Buren, also upon the canal +commission; Lucius Robinson, who won, when comptroller in 1862, great +honour in the teeth of much obloquy by paying the State interest in +coin; and Charles S. Fairchild, then a young lawyer earning +substantial credit, like Bigelow and Van Buren, in the prosecution of +the Canal ring.<a name="vol3FNanchor_717_717" id="vol3FNanchor_717_717"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_717_717" class="fnanchor">[717]</a> In naming this ticket Tilden had exhibited his +characteristic shrewdness. He exaggerated the partisan aspect of +administrative reform, and strengthened his candidacy for President by +appropriating the glory.</p> + +<p>The Republican press, quickly interpreting his purpose, now changed +from praise to censure, scrutinising and criticising every act in his +long public career. It reviewed his war record, disclosed his part in +the convention of 1864, and hinted at uncanny financial transactions. +His service as the figure-head of Tweed's conventions, and his +passiveness<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.327" id="vol3Page_iii.327">iii. 327</a></span> after possessing knowledge of the infamous circular of +1868 to which his name had been forged, also became the subject of +severe censure. Though he neither shared Tweed's corrupt counsels nor +sanctioned his audacious schemes, Tilden's abhorrence of wrong, it was +argued, seemed insufficient to break his silence. But the accusation +that cut the deepest, because without palliation, illuminated his +declination to attend the great indignation meeting that appointed the +Committee of Seventy. This fact, established by abundant proof as well +as by his conspicuous absence, created the belief that had the +<i>Times'</i> exposure failed fatally to wound the Ring, he would have +shrunk from defying Tweed.</p> + +<p>In the presence of such a record it was ludicrous to deny that Tilden, +although resembling a reformer, was simply an adroit politician, who +had cultivated some queer political associates and had countenanced +some very shady transactions. Nevertheless, Tilden would not be +diverted from the singleness of his purpose. To make the issue a +personal one he took the stump and traversed the State from one end to +the other, always addressing immense crowds. At Utica the contemporary +press estimated the throng at twenty-five thousand persons. With +directness and business brevity he sought to arouse the people to the +importance and gravity of the issues at stake. "To-day about one-half +of the tax contributed by the farmer," he said, "goes to the State to +carry on public affairs.... It is in the power of the Legislature and +the Executive at Albany to reduce this State tax one-half if you send +the right men.... We began this work last winter. It made great +conflict and turmoil, the attempt to remove the fungus-growths which +had sprung up all over our State institutions, and which were +smothering their vitality.... It is not alone the saving of dollars +and cents, for you cannot preserve your present system of government +unless you purify administration and purify legislation."<a name="vol3FNanchor_718_718" id="vol3FNanchor_718_718"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_718_718" class="fnanchor">[718]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.328" id="vol3Page_iii.328">iii. 328</a></span></p> +<p>During the anti-slavery struggle Tilden's incapacity to measure the +moral force of public sentiment had undoubtedly kept him in error. He +failed entirely to appreciate the close connection between rebellion +and slavery, and in finally yielding to the war-failure resolution at +Chicago in 1864 he did not realise how completely abolition and a +restoration of the Union were associated in the hearts of the people. +But with the advent of the business period, although his bodily +presence was weak and the external elements of popularity were +wanting, his subtle, strong mind and great administrative capacity +brought him irresistibly to the front, and his shrewd, homely appeals, +without mixed metaphors or partisan allusions, reduced the issue of +the campaign to the attractive one of saving dollars and cents by +protecting the treasury against the raid of canal spoilers.</p> + +<p>Conkling did not attend the Saratoga convention.<a name="vol3FNanchor_719_719" id="vol3FNanchor_719_719"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_719_719" class="fnanchor">[719]</a> But he did not +remain silent during the campaign. The Democratic and independent +press, illuminating the story of Louisiana under carpet-bag-negro rule +which culminated in the ejection of members of the Legislature by a +file of soldiers under command of General Sheridan, had greatly +increased the disfavour of the Administration's policy toward the +South.<a name="vol3FNanchor_720_720" id="vol3FNanchor_720_720"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_720_720" class="fnanchor">[720]</a> So intense had been the excitement following the +publication of Sheridan's despatches that a great indignation meeting +called out William Cullen Bryant, then past eighty, who addressed it +"with the vehemence and fire of a man of thirty."<a name="vol3FNanchor_721_721" id="vol3FNanchor_721_721"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_721_721" class="fnanchor">[721]</a> Moreover, the +exposure of the Whiskey ring which began under Bristow, then secretary +of the treasury, added to the advantage of the Democrats. The chief +conspirator figured as Grant's most generous gift-giver, who claimed +collusion with<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.329" id="vol3Page_iii.329">iii. 329</a></span> the President's private secretary. The Executive's +evident displeasure with Bristow also increased the unrest. Indeed, it +seemed a period of exposure. Public opinion had become aroused and +inflamed. "Great as are the frauds of Tammany," said Charles A. Dana, +"they sink into insignificance not only beside those of the carpet-bag +governments of the South, but still more beside those committed by the +Republican Administration at Washington."<a name="vol3FNanchor_722_722" id="vol3FNanchor_722_722"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_722_722" class="fnanchor">[722]</a></p> + +<p>These revelations, however, did not call more loudly for Conkling's +defence of his party than did the popular applause which everywhere +greeted the reform Governor. The work and rising fame of Tilden +alarmed the Senator if it did not irritate him. He saw the tremendous +throng at Utica; he had read the plain, brief, unadorned statement +about dividing the State-tax by two; and he recognised a rival who had +leaped into the political arena full-armed and eager. Moreover, +Conkling was himself a candidate for President. Grant's letter of May +29,<a name="vol3FNanchor_723_723" id="vol3FNanchor_723_723"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_723_723" class="fnanchor">[723]</a> interpreted as a declination to be a candidate for a third +term, set him free to enter the lists, and the argument of his +availability, based upon his power to carry the pivotal State, made a +Republican victory in 1875 of the highest importance. For him to take +part in the campaign, therefore, was imperative, and he selected +Albany as the place and October 13 as the day to begin. Other +engagements followed at Buffalo, Utica, New York, and elsewhere.<a name="vol3FNanchor_724_724" id="vol3FNanchor_724_724"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_724_724" class="fnanchor">[724]</a></p> + +<p>Attracted by the critical situation and an intense curiosity great +audiences greeted him, and hundreds of friends cheered an address, +which, as usual, contained from his point of view the whole Republican +case. He recited the Democratic party's history during the war; +described reformers as selfish, hypocritical, and pure, placing +Re<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.330" id="vol3Page_iii.330">iii. 330</a></span>publicans in the last category; claimed that the canal frauds +originated under Democratic rule and were connived at by Democratic +State officials; and proved that Republicans had administered the +canals and the State's finances more economically than the Democrats. +He also admitted reform to be the principal issue, thanked Tilden for +the little he had accomplished, severely castigated Bigelow for +accepting place on the canal commission as a Republican and on the +State ticket as a Democrat, and drew attention to Kelly as a bad man +and to the extravagance of Democratic rule in New York City. +Throughout it all his treatment was characteristically bold, +brilliant, and aggressive. "The bright blade of his eloquence with its +keen satiric edge flashed defiantly before the eyes of the applauding +audience,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_725_725" id="vol3FNanchor_725_725"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_725_725" class="fnanchor">[725]</a> and every period exhibited his profound sense of the +duty of maintaining the ascendency of a party which to him promised +best for the public.</p> + +<p>With wisdom and sound argument Conkling had opposed inflation, and +after the passage of the bill on April 14, 1874, he had encouraged the +President's veto. He had likewise advocated with no less fervour and +sagacity the resumption of specie payment, which became a law on +January 14, 1875. This service justly entitled him to the highest +praise. Nevertheless, in his speech at Albany he failed to show that +Republican success in 1875 would not mean a continuation of those +things which helped a Republican defeat in 1874. Hostility to a third +term and sympathy with a generous Southern policy were the conspicuous +features of the Saratoga platform, and upon these issues he maintained +a notable silence. His address was rather an appeal to the past—not +an inspiring assurance for the future, seeking pure administration. Of +his personal honesty no one entertained a doubt, but for party ends he +had failed to use his opportunities in exposing and correcting abuses. +To him the country under Republican rule, whatever its shortcomings, +was in the safest hands, and he ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.331" id="vol3Page_iii.331">iii. 331</a></span>hibited no sympathy with those +whose great love for their party made them long to have it stand for +civic righteousness, regardless of whom it might destroy.</p> + +<p>As the campaign grew older Republicans cherished the hope of victory. +The break between Kelly and Morrissey had led to the formation of the +Irving Hall Democracy. In this organisation all anti-Tammany elements +found a home, and to test its strength Morrissey declared himself a +candidate for the Senate in the fourth or old Tweed district, which +usually recorded eleven thousand majority for Tammany. The Republicans +promptly endorsed the nomination. This challenge had turned the whole +city into turmoil. Morrissey's audacity in selecting the invincible +stronghold of Tammany for his field of battle, throwing the glamour of +a gloveless ring-contest over the struggle, brought into life all the +concomitants of such a bout. Kelly, leaving his uptown home, +personally led the Tammany forces, and on election day the paralytic, +the maimed, and men feeble from sickness were brought to the polls.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, when the votes were counted Morrissey proved the winner. +Indeed, to the chagrin of Kelly and the alarm of the Democrats, +Tammany candidates had fallen in every part of the city, their +overthrow encouraging the belief that the State had been carried by +the Republicans. Subsequently, when Bigelow's plurality of nearly +fifteen thousand was established, it made defeat doubly +disheartening.<a name="vol3FNanchor_726_726" id="vol3FNanchor_726_726"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_726_726" class="fnanchor">[726]</a> It put Tilden on a pinnacle. It left Conkling on +the ground.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.332" id="vol3Page_iii.332">iii. 332</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XXVI" id="vol3CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> + +<h2>DEFEAT OF THE REPUBLICAN MACHINE</h2> + +<h2>1876</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Much</span> discussion of Conkling's candidacy for President followed the +defeat of his party in 1875. The Union League Club, a body of earnest +Republicans and generous campaign givers, declared for pure government +and a reforming Executive. Several county conventions voiced a protest +against pledged delegations, and <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, in order to divide +Republicans more sharply into Conkling and anti-Conkling advocates, +suggested, in a series of aggressive editorials, that a reform +Democrat might be preferable to a Republican who represented the low +tone of political honour and morality which exposed itself in official +life. On the assembling of the State convention (March 22) to select +delegates to Cincinnati, Curtis opened the way wider for a determined +struggle. "The unceasing disposition of the officers and agents of the +Administration to prostitute the party organisations relentlessly and +at all costs to personal ends," he said, "has everywhere aroused the +apprehension of the friends of free government, and has startled and +alarmed the honest masses of the Republican party."<a name="vol3FNanchor_727_727" id="vol3FNanchor_727_727"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_727_727" class="fnanchor">[727]</a> This shot +fired across the bow of the organisation brought its head into the +wind.</p> + +<p>The Conkling managers had secured a majority of the delegates, whose +desire to advertise an undivided sentiment for the Senator in New York +manifested itself by a willingness to yield in the interest of +harmony. Finally, their resolution to instruct the delegation to vote +as a unit took the more modest form of simply presenting "Roscoe +Conk<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.333" id="vol3Page_iii.333">iii. 333</a></span>ling as our choice for the nomination of President." Curtis, +refusing his assent, moved a substitute that left the selection of a +candidate to the patriotic wisdom of the National convention "in full +confidence that it will present the name of some tried and true +Republican whose character and career are the pledge of a pure, +economical, and vigorous administration of the government." This was +an issue—not a compromise. It practically put Conkling out of the +race, and after its presentation nothing remained to be done except to +call the roll. At its completion the startling discovery was made that +of the 432 delegates present only 363 had answered, and that of these +113 had boldly stood with Curtis. Equally impressive, too, was the +silence of the 69 who refrained from voting. Thus it appeared that, +after the whole office-holding power had worked for weeks to secure +delegates, only 33 more than a majority favoured even the presentation +of Conkling's name. It was recalled by way of contrast that in 1860, +Seward, without an office at his command, had led the united +Republican enthusiasm of the State.</p> + +<p>Following the example of Seward's supporters at Chicago, the friends +of Conkling at Cincinnati occupied an entire hotel, distributed with +lavishness the handsome State badge of blue, entertained their +visitors with a great orchestra, paraded in light silk hats, and swung +across the street an immense banner predicting that "Roscoe Conkling's +nomination assures the thirty-five electoral votes of New York." These +headquarters were in marked contrast to the modest rooms of other +States having favourite sons. No Blaine flag appeared, and only an oil +portrait of Hayes adorned the Ohio parlours. A Philadelphia delegate, +after surveying the Grand Hotel and the marchers, ironically remarked +that "it was a mystery to him where the Custom-house got bail for all +those fellows."<a name="vol3FNanchor_728_728" id="vol3FNanchor_728_728"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_728_728" class="fnanchor">[728]</a></p> + +<p>The appearance of Edwin D. Morgan, who called the convention to order, +evoked long-continued applause. It re<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.334" id="vol3Page_iii.334">iii. 334</a></span>called two decades of stirring +national life since he had performed a like duty in 1856. Theodore M. +Pomeroy's selection as temporary chairman likewise honoured New York, +and his address, although read from manuscript, added to his fame as +an orator. In seconding the nomination of Bristow, George William +Curtis, speaking "for that vast body of Republicans in New York who +have seen that reform is possible within the Republican party," won +his way to the convention's heart as quickly as he did in 1860, +although each person present avowed, after Robert G. Ingersoll had +spoken, that for the first time he understood the possible compass of +human eloquence.<a name="vol3FNanchor_729_729" id="vol3FNanchor_729_729"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_729_729" class="fnanchor">[729]</a></p> + +<p>Until the deciding ballot New York's part in the convention proved +perfunctory. Beyond the sound of its music and the tread of its +marchers neither applause nor good will encouraged its candidate. +Reformers regarded Conkling as the antithesis of Bristow, supporters +of Morton jealously scowled at his rivalry, and the friends of Blaine +resented his attitude toward their favourite. Only Hayes's little band +of expectant backers, hoping eventually to capture the New York +delegation, gracefully accorded him generous recognition.<a name="vol3FNanchor_730_730" id="vol3FNanchor_730_730"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_730_730" class="fnanchor">[730]</a> +Conkling's support, beginning with ninety-nine votes, gradually fell +off to eighty-one, when the delegation, without formally withdrawing +his name, dropped him with not a word and divided between Blaine and +Hayes, giving the former nine votes and the latter sixty-one.<a name="vol3FNanchor_731_731" id="vol3FNanchor_731_731"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_731_731" class="fnanchor">[731]</a> In<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.335" id="vol3Page_iii.335">iii. 335</a></span> +fact, Morton and Conkling, the two political legatees of Grant, fared +about alike, their strength in the North outside their respective +States aggregating only six votes. The President, believing a "dark +horse" inevitable, wrote a letter favouring Hamilton Fish.<a name="vol3FNanchor_732_732" id="vol3FNanchor_732_732"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_732_732" class="fnanchor">[732]</a></p> + +<p>For Vice-President the convention turned to New York. Stewart L. +Woodford was the choice of the delegation. In presenting Conkling's +name his oratorical power had won admiration, while delegates from +Ohio, Indiana, and other Western States, where his voice had been +heard in opposition to Greenbackism, did not forget his unselfish +devotion, nor the brilliant rhetoric that clothed his unanswerable +arguments. But the Blaine States manifested genuine enthusiasm for +William A. Wheeler, a man of pure life, simple habits, ripe culture, +and sincere and practical principles, who had won the esteem of all +his associates in Congress. To add to his charm he had a good presence +and warm family affections. He possessed, too, a well-earned +reputation for ability, having served with credit in the Legislature, +in Congress, and as president of the constitutional convention of +1866-7. Conkling thought him "not very well known."<a name="vol3FNanchor_733_733" id="vol3FNanchor_733_733"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_733_733" class="fnanchor">[733]</a> Nevertheless, +he had been mentioned for President, and throughout the long and +exciting contest two delegates from Massachusetts kept his name before +the convention. George F. Hoar, afterward the distinguished +Massachusetts senator, became especially active in his behalf, and +James Russell Lowell called him "a very sensible man."<a name="vol3FNanchor_734_734" id="vol3FNanchor_734_734"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_734_734" class="fnanchor">[734]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.336" id="vol3Page_iii.336">iii. 336</a></span> Outside +delegations, therefore, without waiting for New York to act, quickly +exhibited their partiality by putting him in nomination.<a name="vol3FNanchor_735_735" id="vol3FNanchor_735_735"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_735_735" class="fnanchor">[735]</a> Later, +when the Empire State named Stewart L. Woodford, the situation became +embarrassing. Finally, as the Wheeler vote rapidly approached a +majority, the Empire delegation, to escape being run over again, +reluctantly withdrew its candidate.<a name="vol3FNanchor_736_736" id="vol3FNanchor_736_736"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_736_736" class="fnanchor">[736]</a> The roll call, thus abruptly +discontinued, showed Wheeler far ahead of the aggregate vote of all +competitors, and on motion his nomination was made unanimous.<a name="vol3FNanchor_737_737" id="vol3FNanchor_737_737"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_737_737" class="fnanchor">[737]</a></p> + +<p>The rank and file of the party, exhibiting no discouragement because +of the outcome at Cincinnati, sought a strong candidate to head their +State ticket.<a name="vol3FNanchor_738_738" id="vol3FNanchor_738_738"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_738_738" class="fnanchor">[738]</a> To those possessing the reform spirit William M. +Evarts appealed as a representative leader. He had indicated no desire +to hold public office. Indeed, it may be said that he always seemed +disinterested in political conditions so far as they affected him +personally. Although his friends thought the old supporters of Seward, +if not Seward himself, had failed to sustain him for the United States +Senate in 1861 as faithfully as he would have supported the Secretary +of State under like conditions, there is no evidence that he ever +found fault. When in Hayes' Cabinet and afterwards in the Senate +(1885-91),<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.337" id="vol3Page_iii.337">iii. 337</a></span> he did not take or attempt to take, either in the counsels +of his party or of his colleagues, the leadership for which he was +admirably fitted. It is doubtful, in fact, if he ever realised the +strong hold he had upon the respect and admiration of the country. But +the people knew that his high personal character, his delightful +oratory, his unfailing wit and good-nature, and his great prestige as +a famous lawyer of almost unexampled success commended him as an ideal +candidate. Conspicuously among those urging his candidacy for governor +in 1876 appeared a body of influential leaders from the Union League +and Reform clubs of the metropolis, calling themselves Independents. +The Liberals, too, added voice to this sentiment.<a name="vol3FNanchor_739_739" id="vol3FNanchor_739_739"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_739_739" class="fnanchor">[739]</a></p> + +<p>If the candidate could not be Evarts, the same elements evidenced a +disposition to support Edwin D. Morgan, who had shown of late a +disturbing independence of the machine. Of the other aspirants William +H. Robertson presented his usual strength in the Hudson River +counties.</p> + +<p>Alonzo B. Cornell was the candidate of the organisation. Evarts had +illustrated his independence in accepting office under President +Johnson, in criticising the Grant administration, and in protesting +against the Louisiana incident. Robertson, in voting for Blaine, had +likewise gone to the outer edge of disloyalty. Nor did Morgan's +attitude at Cincinnati commend him. His ambition, which centred in the +vice-presidency, left the impression that he had cared more for +himself than for Conkling. Under these circumstances the Senator +naturally turned to Cornell, an efficient lieutenant, who, having +encountered heavy seas and a head wind, hoisted the signal of distress +and waited for Conk<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.338" id="vol3Page_iii.338">iii. 338</a></span>ling's coming. The Senator, however, did not +appear. His rooms were engaged, his name was added to the hotel +register, and Cornell's expectant friends declared that he would again +capture the convention with his oratory; but Conkling, knowing that in +political conventions the power of oratory depended largely upon +pledged delegations, prudently stayed away. Besides, he was not a +delegate, his partisans in Oneida having been put to rout. This forced +the withdrawal of Cornell, whose delegates, drifting to Morgan as the +lesser of two evils, nominated him on the first ballot.<a name="vol3FNanchor_740_740" id="vol3FNanchor_740_740"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_740_740" class="fnanchor">[740]</a> Evarts +was too great a man to be lifted into national prominence.</p> + +<p>For lieutenant-governor, Sherman S. Rogers of Erie and Theodore M. +Pomeroy of Cayuga entered the lists. Encouraged by the folly of a few +rash friends, Cornell also allowed his name to be presented, "since he +had been grievously wronged," said his eulogist, "in the dishonest +count of 1868."<a name="vol3FNanchor_741_741" id="vol3FNanchor_741_741"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_741_741" class="fnanchor">[741]</a> Cornell had adroitly extricated himself from +humiliating defeat in the morning by a timely withdrawal, but not +until George William Curtis declared his nomination "the most +dangerous that could be made," and William B. Woodin of Cayuga had +stigmatised him, did he fully appreciate his unpopularity as the +representative of machine methods. Woodin's attack upon Cornell +undoubtedly weakened Pomeroy. It possessed the delectable acidity, so +reckless in spirit, but so delightful in form, that always made the +distinguished State senator's remarks attractive and diverting. +Although whatever weakened Pomeroy naturally strengthened Rogers, it +added greatly to the latter's influence that he represented the home +of William Dorsheimer, whom the Democrats would renominate, and in the +end the Buffalonian won by a handsome majority.<a name="vol3FNanchor_742_742" id="vol3FNanchor_742_742"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_742_742" class="fnanchor">[742]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.339" id="vol3Page_iii.339">iii. 339</a></span></p><p>The day's work, however, left bitter thoughts. Conkling's absence +exaggerated Arthur's poor generalship and George H. Sharpe's failure +to support Cornell. Sharpe was one of the organisation's cleverest +leaders, and his indifference to Cornell's interests left a jagged +wound that was not soon to heal. Moreover, it could not be concealed +that Morgan's nomination was a Pyrrhic victory. In fact, the +conventions at Cincinnati and Saratoga had thrown the Conkling machine +out of gear, and while the repair shop kept it running several years +longer, it was destined never again to make the speed it had formerly +attained.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.340" id="vol3Page_iii.340">iii. 340</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XXVII" id="vol3CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> + +<h2>TILDEN ONE VOTE SHORT</h2> + +<h2>1876</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">After</span> the election in 1875 the eyes of the national Democracy turned +toward Tilden as its inevitable candidate for President. He had not +only beaten a Canal ring, strengthened by remnants of the old Tweed +ring, but he had carried the State against the energies of a fairly +united Republican party. Moreover, he had become, in the opinion of +his friends, the embodiment of administrative reform, although he +suffered the embarrassment of a statesman who is suspected, rightly or +wrongly, of a willingness to purchase reform at any price.<a name="vol3FNanchor_743_743" id="vol3FNanchor_743_743"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_743_743" class="fnanchor">[743]</a> To +prove his right to be transferred from Albany to Washington he now +made his message to the Legislature a treatise upon national affairs.</p> + +<p>Dwelling at length upon the financiering of the Federal Government, +Tilden sought to account for the financial depression, and in pointing +to a remedy he advocated the prompt resumption of specie payment, +criticised the dread of imaginary evils, encouraged economy in +legislation, and analysed the federal system of taxation and +expenditure. Furthermore, he sought to cut loose from the discredited +past of his party, and in paying high tribute to the patriotism of the +South, he expressed the hope that its acceptance of the results of the +war might end forever the retribution<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.341" id="vol3Page_iii.341">iii. 341</a></span> visited upon it by the standing +menace of military force.<a name="vol3FNanchor_744_744" id="vol3FNanchor_744_744"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_744_744" class="fnanchor">[744]</a></p> + +<p>The result at Cincinnati increased the necessity for nominating Tilden +at St. Louis, since Wheeler's popularity would materially assist in +replacing New York among reliable Republican States. Nevertheless, the +predatory class who had felt the weight of Tilden's heavy hand +fomented a most formidable opposition at the State convention.<a name="vol3FNanchor_745_745" id="vol3FNanchor_745_745"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_745_745" class="fnanchor">[745]</a> +John Kelly deeply sympathised with the movement. He resented the +rivalry and independence of the Sage of Gramercy Park, and he did not +disguise his hostility. But Kelly's immediate need centred in the +exclusion of the Morrissey delegation, and when the Tilden lieutenants +proscribed it, the way was smoothed for the Governor's unanimous +endorsement with the gag of unit rule.</p> + +<p>The admission of Kelly's delegates, however, did not close the mouths +of Tilden's opponents.<a name="vol3FNanchor_746_746" id="vol3FNanchor_746_746"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_746_746" class="fnanchor">[746]</a>. Organs of the Canal ring continued to +urge Seymour or Church for President, maintaining that the +convention's action did not bind the delegation. Church supported this +interpretation of the declaration.<a name="vol3FNanchor_747_747" id="vol3FNanchor_747_747"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_747_747" class="fnanchor">[747]</a> But it remained for the +<i>Express</i>, the authorised organ of Tammany, to stigmatise Tilden. With +cruel particularity it referred to his many-sided conduct as counsel +and director in connection with the foreclosure and reorganisation of +certain railroads in Illinois, reciting de<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.342" id="vol3Page_iii.342">iii. 342</a></span>tails of the affair in a +manner highly prejudicial to his integrity as a lawyer and his +reputation as a man of wealth. "Of the weak points in Mr. Tilden's +railroad record," the editor suggestively added, "we know more than we +care to publish."<a name="vol3FNanchor_748_748" id="vol3FNanchor_748_748"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_748_748" class="fnanchor">[748]</a> It doubled the severity of the blow because +suit had been instituted to compel Tilden to account for the proceeds +of large amounts of bonds and stock, and instead of meeting the +allegations promptly he had sought and obtained delay. This seemed to +give colour to the indictment.</p> + +<p>At St. Louis Tilden's opponents, headed by John Kelly, Augustus +Schell, and Erastus Corning, soon wore these insinuations +threadbare.<a name="vol3FNanchor_749_749" id="vol3FNanchor_749_749"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_749_749" class="fnanchor">[749]</a> To their further declaration that in order to succeed +in November the Democracy must have one October State and that Tilden +could not carry Indiana, Dorsheimer and Bigelow, the Governor's +spokesmen, replied that New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut could +elect Tilden without Indiana. The colossal assurance of this answer +characterised the convention's confidence in Tilden's strength. It +possessed the South, the East, and the West. Hancock might be the +favourite in Pennsylvania, Parker in New Jersey, Bayard in Delaware, +Allen in Ohio, and Hendricks in Indiana, but as delegates entered the +convention city the dense Tilden sentiment smothered them. Even +scandal did not appreciably weaken it.</p> + +<p>There was nothing mysterious about this strength. Tilden represented +success. Without him disaster threatened—with him victory seemed +certain. His achievement in administrative reform exaggerated +Republican failure; his grasp upon New York, the most vital State of +the North, magnified Democratic strength; his leadership, based upon +ideas and organisation, dwarfed political rivals; his acute legal +mind, leading to the largest rewards in the realm of law, captivated +business men; and his wealth, amassed in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.343" id="vol3Page_iii.343">iii. 343</a></span> the field of railroad +organisation and litigation, could fill Democracy's exchequer. Thus +Tilden, standing less on the Democratic platform than on his own +record, held the commanding position in his party, and the talk of his +unpopularity or how he obtained wealth seemed to make as little +impression as his professed devotion to the Wilmot Proviso in 1847, or +his departure for a season from a lifelong pro-slavery record to bear +a prominent part in the Barnburners' revolt of 1848. Indeed, so +certain was Tilden of success that he did not ask for advices until +after the nomination. James C. Carter of the New York bar, who +happened at the time to be with him respecting legal matters, wondered +at his unconcern. On their return from an evening drive Carter +ventured to suggest that he would find telegrams announcing his +nomination. "Not until half-past nine," Tilden replied.<a name="vol3FNanchor_750_750" id="vol3FNanchor_750_750"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_750_750" class="fnanchor">[750]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the first call of States made the Tilden managers +shiver.<a name="vol3FNanchor_751_751" id="vol3FNanchor_751_751"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_751_751" class="fnanchor">[751]</a> Alabama divided its vote, Colorado caused a murmur of +disappointment, and the slump of Georgia and Illinois, with Missouri's +division, threatened them with heart-failure. The South wabbled, and +promised votes in the North found their way elsewhere. At the close of +the first roll-call Missouri asked if its vote could be changed, and +on receiving an affirmative answer, the Tilden men, pale with worried +excitement, awaited the result. A change to Hancock at that moment +would have been a serious calamity, for nearly one hundred votes +separated Tilden from the necessary two-thirds. When Missouri declared +for the New Yorker, however, the opportunity to turn the tide against +him was lost forever. The second ballot undoubtedly represented his +real strength.<a name="vol3FNanchor_752_752" id="vol3FNanchor_752_752"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_752_752" class="fnanchor">[752]</a> For second place Thomas A. Hendricks had no +opposition.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.344" id="vol3Page_iii.344">iii. 344</a></span></p><p>The platform, prepared under the eye of Tilden by Manton Marble, the +accomplished editor of the <i>World</i>, advocated reform as its key-note +and made historic its vituperative arraignment of the party in power. +On the vital question of the currency it demanded the repeal of the +resumption clause of the Act of 1875, denouncing it as an hindrance to +the resumption of specie payment. The Republicans, wishing to avoid +too sharp a conflict with the soft money sentiment of the West, had +pledged the fulfilment of the Public Credit Act,<a name="vol3FNanchor_753_753" id="vol3FNanchor_753_753"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_753_753" class="fnanchor">[753]</a> approved March +18, 1869, "by a continuous and steady progress to specie payments." +Both declarations savoured of indefiniteness, but Hayes, in his letter +of acceptance (July 8), added greatly to his reputation for firmness +and decision of character in supplying the needed directness by +demanding the resumption of specie payment. On the other hand, +Tilden's letter (July 31) weakened the country's respect for him.<a name="vol3FNanchor_754_754" id="vol3FNanchor_754_754"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_754_754" class="fnanchor">[754]</a> +He had no sympathy for soft money, but in supporting the demand for a +repeal of the resumption clause he urged, in a long, indefinite +communication, the importance of preparation for resumption, ignoring +the fact that the Act of 1875 anticipated such precaution. Although +less prolix in his treatment of civil service reform, he was no less +indefinite. After describing recognised evils he failed to indicate +any practical remedy beyond the "conviction that no reform will be +complete and permanent until the Chief Executive is constitutionally +disqualified for re-election."<a name="vol3FNanchor_755_755" id="vol3FNanchor_755_755"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_755_755" class="fnanchor">[755]</a> Speaking of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.345" id="vol3Page_iii.345">iii. 345</a></span> character of the +men holding office his use of the word "usufruct" led to the derisive +appellation of "Old Usufruct Tilden."<a name="vol3FNanchor_756_756" id="vol3FNanchor_756_756"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_756_756" class="fnanchor">[756]</a> On civil service reform +Hayes was more specific. He declared against the use of official +patronage in elections and pledged himself not to be a candidate for a +second term.<a name="vol3FNanchor_757_757" id="vol3FNanchor_757_757"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_757_757" class="fnanchor">[757]</a></p> + +<p>If Conkling had been balked in his desire to nominate Cornell, Tilden +was not less baffled a week later in his effort to promote William +Dorsheimer, his special friend. His genius for organisation had +smoothed the way for harmony at Saratoga.<a name="vol3FNanchor_758_758" id="vol3FNanchor_758_758"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_758_758" class="fnanchor">[758]</a> Kelly and Morrissey +settled their differences in advance, the platform created no +discussion, and the appointment of electors-at-large provoked little +criticism; but when Tilden's lieutenants proposed Dorsheimer for +governor the convention revolted. It noisily demanded a Democrat, and +in the stampede that followed Clarkson N. Potter, backed by Tammany +and the Canal ring, rapidly accumulated strength despite Tilden's +personal opposition. To all of Tilden's friends vital objections +seemed to be raised. Dorsheimer could not command a solid Democratic +vote; Robinson favoured high canal tolls and cultivated Republican +affiliations; Manton Marble remained unpopular because the <i>World</i> +changed front in 1868; and Starbuck of Jefferson did not attract +Independents. For once Tilden had plainly been deceived as to his +strength. Furthermore, the convention, divided in its attention +between speeches for Potter and demands for Seymour, was beyond his +control. Nevertheless, as the delegates in their stentorian insistence +upon a "Democrat" became more and more furious for Seymour, the Tilden +managers, to head off the alarming sentiment for Potter, adroitly +increased the volume of the demand for the Oneidan. It was known that +Seymour had refused the use of his name. Telegrams to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.346" id="vol3Page_iii.346">iii. 346</a></span> Kernan and +letters to the president of the convention alleged indisposition and +"obstacles which I cannot overcome."<a name="vol3FNanchor_759_759" id="vol3FNanchor_759_759"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_759_759" class="fnanchor">[759]</a> But the convention, +conscious that the former governor had before changed his mind under +similar circumstances, closed its ears to his entreaties, and amidst +the most vociferous cheering nominated him by acclamation. The next +morning, with equal unanimity, it renominated Dorsheimer for +lieutenant-governor.</p> + +<p>A few days later Seymour, pleading mental inability to perform the +duties of the office, put himself out of the race.<a name="vol3FNanchor_760_760" id="vol3FNanchor_760_760"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_760_760" class="fnanchor">[760]</a> This gave +Tilden opportunity to re-form his lines, and upon the convention's +reassembling (September 13) Robinson easily won.<a name="vol3FNanchor_761_761" id="vol3FNanchor_761_761"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_761_761" class="fnanchor">[761]</a></p> + +<p>Democratic factions likewise buried their differences in New York +City, Kelly and Morrissey uniting upon Smith Ely for mayor. The +Republicans nominated John A. Dix. Thus was the municipal struggle in +the metropolis, for the first time in many years, confined within +strict party lines.<a name="vol3FNanchor_762_762" id="vol3FNanchor_762_762"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_762_762" class="fnanchor">[762]</a></p> + +<p>The campaign, although a prolonged and intensely exciting one, +developed no striking incidents. Democratic orators repeated Marble's +rhetorical arraignment of the Re<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.347" id="vol3Page_iii.347">iii. 347</a></span>publican party, and the Democratic +press iterated and reiterated its symmetrical, burning sentences. +Marble's platform, besides being the most vitriolic, had the +distinction of being the longest in the history of national +conventions. Copies of it printed in half a dozen languages seemed to +spring up as plentifully as weeds in a wheatfield. Every cross-roads +in the State became a centre for its distribution. It pilloried +Grant's administration, giving in chronological order a list of his +unwise acts, the names and sins of his unfaithful appointees, and a +series of reasons why Tilden, the Reformer, could alone restore the +Republic to its pristine purity. It was a dangerous document because +history substantially affirmed its statement of facts, while the +rhythm of its periods and the attractiveness of its typography invited +the reader.<a name="vol3FNanchor_763_763" id="vol3FNanchor_763_763"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_763_763" class="fnanchor">[763]</a></p> + +<p>Conkling, because of ill-health, limited his activity in the canvass +to one address.<a name="vol3FNanchor_764_764" id="vol3FNanchor_764_764"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_764_764" class="fnanchor">[764]</a> It was calmer than usual, but it shone with +sparkles of sarcasm and bristled with covert allusions readily +understood. It was noticeable, too, that he made no reference to Hayes +or to Wheeler. Nevertheless, party associates from whom he had +radically differed pronounced it a model of partisan oratory and the +most conclusive review of the political situation. He admitted the +corruption indicated by Marble, attributing it chiefly to the war +which incited speculative passion in all the activities of life, its +ill consequences not being confined exclusively to public affairs. In +contrasting the management of the two parties, he disclosed under +Buchanan a loss on each thousand dollars collected and disbursed of +six dollars and ninety-eight cents against forty cents during Grant's +first term and twenty-six cents during the three years of his second, +while current expenses under Buchanan amounted to one dollar and +ninety cents per capita to one dollar and seventy cents under Grant. +In ten years, he added, $800,000,000 of the debt had been paid, +nearly<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.348" id="vol3Page_iii.348">iii. 348</a></span> $50,000,000 of interest saved yearly, and the taxes reduced +$262,000,000 per annum.</p> + +<p>Of civil service reform Conkling said nothing. He made a clear, sharp +issue on the resumption of specie payment, however, showing that the +demand for a repeal of the Act's most important feature was a bid for +the votes of soft-money advocates. The Southern question assumed even +greater importance. Tilden depended for success upon the Southern +States plus New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. This was +Dorsheimer's argument, put with characteristic grace and force at St. +Louis. The North had cause to fear, it was argued, if a solid South, +strengthened by States controlled by the great majorities in and about +New York City, could elect a President. The charge that Tilden +intended indemnifying the South and assuming the Confederate debt +increased the anxiety. Conkling's reference to the repayment of direct +taxes, the refund of the cotton tax, and the liquidation of Southern +claims mounted so high into the hundreds of millions that Tilden +deemed it prudent to issue a letter pledging an enforcement of the +Constitutional Amendments and resistance to such monetary demands.</p> + +<p>Personal criticism of Tilden exploited his war record, his reputation +as a railroad wrecker, and his evasion of the income tax.<a name="vol3FNanchor_765_765" id="vol3FNanchor_765_765"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_765_765" class="fnanchor">[765]</a> The +accusation of "railroad wrecking" was scarcely sustained, but his +income tax was destined to bring him trouble. Nast kept his pencil +busy. One cartoon, displaying Tilden emptying a large barrel of +greenbacks into the ballot box, summed up the issues as follows: "The +shot-gun policy South, the barrel policy North;"<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.349" id="vol3Page_iii.349">iii. 349</a></span> "The solid South and +the solid Tammany;" "Tilden's war record—defeating the tax +collector." George William Curtis asserted that the Democrats of South +Carolina meant to carry the State for Tilden by means of "the shot +gun," declaring that "Jefferson Davis and the secessionists merely +endeavoured to enforce with bayonets the doctrines of Mr. +Tilden."<a name="vol3FNanchor_766_766" id="vol3FNanchor_766_766"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_766_766" class="fnanchor">[766]</a></p> + +<p>Tilden displayed a stoical indifference to these personal attacks. He +made no speeches, he rarely exhibited himself to the public, and he +kept his own counsels. His adroit, mysterious movements recalled the +methods but not the conceit of Aaron Burr. Although Abram S. Hewitt, +chairman of the Democratic National Committee, managed the campaign +with skill, Tilden relied largely upon his own shrewdness, displacing +old leaders for new ones, and making it clear to the country that he +ranked with Martin Van Buren as a great political manager. As he swept +onward like a conquering Marlborough, inspiring his party with +confidence and his opponents with fear, events favoured his designs. +The Belknap exposures, the Whiskey ring suits, the Babcock trial, +alarming and disgusting the country, inclined public opinion toward a +change which was expressed in the word "reform." A combination of +propitious circumstances within the State, in nowise indebted to his +sagacity or assistance, also increased his strength. The collapse of +the Tweed and Canal rings justly gave him great prestige, but no +reason existed why the extinguishment of the State war debt and the +limitations of canal expenditures to canal revenues should add to his +laurels, for the canal amendment to the Constitution was passed and +the payment of the war debt practically accomplished before he took +office. Nevertheless, the resulting decrease of the State budget by +nearly one-half, being coincident with his term of office, added +prodigiously to his fame.<a name="vol3FNanchor_767_767" id="vol3FNanchor_767_767"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_767_767" class="fnanchor">[767]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.350" id="vol3Page_iii.350">iii. 350</a></span> Indeed, he seemed to be the darling of +Fortune, and on November 7, exactly according to his calculation, he +carried New York,<a name="vol3FNanchor_768_768" id="vol3FNanchor_768_768"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_768_768" class="fnanchor">[768]</a> New Jersey, Connecticut, and Indiana. But +Republicans claimed South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana.</p> + +<p>In the historic dispute which led to a division of the solid South, +partisan papers revelled in threats, and rumours indicated danger of +mob violence. To prevent fraud prominent citizens in the North, +appointed to represent each political party, watched the canvassing +boards in the three disputed States, and although it subsequently +developed that distinguished New Yorkers resorted to bribery,<a name="vol3FNanchor_769_769" id="vol3FNanchor_769_769"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_769_769" class="fnanchor">[769]</a> the +legal canvassing boards finally certified the electoral votes to Hayes +and Wheeler. On December 6 the official count in all the States gave +Hayes 185 votes and Tilden 184. The Democrats, deeply disturbed by the +action of the Returning Boards, now displayed a temper that<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.351" id="vol3Page_iii.351">iii. 351</a></span> resembled +the spirit preceding the civil war. Threats were openly made that +Hayes should never be inaugurated. The Louisville <i>Courier Journal</i> +announced that "if they (our people) will rise in their might, and +will send 100,000 petitioners to Washington to present their memorial +in person,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.352" id="vol3Page_iii.352">iii. 352</a></span> there will be no usurpation and no civil war."<a name="vol3FNanchor_770_770" id="vol3FNanchor_770_770"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_770_770" class="fnanchor">[770]</a> A +prominent ex-Confederate in Congress talked of 145,000 well +disciplined Southern troops who were ready to fight.<a name="vol3FNanchor_771_771" id="vol3FNanchor_771_771"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_771_771" class="fnanchor">[771]</a> Because the +President prudently strengthened the military forces about Washington +he was charged with the design of installing Hayes with the aid of the +army.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, Republicans believed Tilden endeavoured to buy the +presidency. Although nothing was then known of Marble's and Weed's +efforts to tamper with the canvassing boards of South Carolina and +Florida, the disposition to "steal" a vote in Oregon, which clearly +belonged to Hayes, deprived Tilden's cause of its moral weight. +Indeed, so strongly did sentiment run against him that the <i>Nation</i> +"lost nearly three thousand subscribers for refusing to believe that +Mr. Hayes could honourably accept the presidency."<a name="vol3FNanchor_772_772" id="vol3FNanchor_772_772"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_772_772" class="fnanchor">[772]</a></p> + +<p>When Congress opened the Democrats, being in control of the House, +desired to continue the joint rule of February, 1865, directing that +"no electoral vote objected to shall be counted except by the +concurrent votes of the two Houses." This would elect Tilden. On the +other hand, the Republicans, holding that the joint rule expired with +the Congress adopting it, insisted that, inasmuch as the canvass by +Congress at all previous elections had been confined exclusively to +opening the certificates of each State, sent to Washington under the +official seal of the respective governors, the Vice-President should +open and count the electoral votes and declare the result, the members +of the two Houses acting simply as witnesses. This would elect Hayes. +To many and especially to President Grant this controversy seemed full +of danger, to avert which if possible Congress adopted a resolution +providing for a committee of fourteen, equally divided between the +Senate and House, "to report without delay such a measure as may in +their judgment<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.353" id="vol3Page_iii.353">iii. 353</a></span> be best calculated to accomplish the desired +end."<a name="vol3FNanchor_773_773" id="vol3FNanchor_773_773"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_773_773" class="fnanchor">[773]</a> On January 18 (1877) this committee reported a bill +providing that where two or more returns had been received from a +State such returns should be referred to an Electoral Commission +composed of five senators, five members of the House, and five +justices of the Supreme Court, who should decide any question +submitted to it touching the return from any State, and that such +decision should stand unless rejected by the concurrent votes of the +two Houses. By tacit agreement the Senate was to name three +Republicans and two Democrats, and the House three Democrats and two +Republicans, while the Bill itself appointed Justices Clifford, +Miller, Field, and Strong, a majority of whom were authorised to +select a fifth justice.<a name="vol3FNanchor_774_774" id="vol3FNanchor_774_774"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_774_774" class="fnanchor">[774]</a></p> + +<p>When doubt as to the three Southern States precipitated itself into +the result of the election, Tilden exhibited characteristic diligence +and secrecy. He avoided public statements, but he scrutinised the +returns with the acumen exhibited in securing the Tweed evidence, and +left no flaw unchallenged in the title of his opponent. After the +action of the canvassing boards he contended that the joint rule of +1865 must govern, and in the study of the subject he devoted more than +a month to the preparation of a complete history of electoral counts, +showing it to have been the unbroken usage for Congress and not the +President of the Senate to count the vote.<a name="vol3FNanchor_775_775" id="vol3FNanchor_775_775"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_775_775" class="fnanchor">[775]</a> Moreover, early in the +session of Congress he prepared two resolutions which raised the +issue, and urged his friends in the leadership of the House to take no +further step until the great constitutional battle had been fought +along that line, assuring them of his readiness to accept all the +responsibility of the out<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.354" id="vol3Page_iii.354">iii. 354</a></span>come. To appraise the country of the +strength of this position he also prepared an extended brief which +Governor Robinson incorporated as a part of his inaugural message on +January 1, 1877.<a name="vol3FNanchor_776_776" id="vol3FNanchor_776_776"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_776_776" class="fnanchor">[776]</a></p> + +<p>Tilden first learned of the proposed Electoral Commission Bill on +January 14. Abram S. Hewitt brought the information, saying that +Bayard and Thurman of the Senate, being absolutely committed to it, +would concur in reporting it whatever Tilden's action.<a name="vol3FNanchor_777_777" id="vol3FNanchor_777_777"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_777_777" class="fnanchor">[777]</a> Tilden, +resenting the secrecy of its preparation as unwise and essentially +undemocratic, declined to give it his approval.<a name="vol3FNanchor_778_778" id="vol3FNanchor_778_778"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_778_778" class="fnanchor">[778]</a> In his later +telegrams to Hewitt he expressed the belief that "We should stand on +the Constitution and the settled practice;" that "the other side, +having no way but by usurpation, will have greater troubles than we, +unless relieved by some agreement;" that "the only way of getting +accessions in the Senate is by the House standing firm;" that "we are +over-pressed by exaggerated fears;" and that "no information is here +which could justify an abandonment of the Constitution and practice of +the government, and of the rights of the two Houses and of the +people." To his friends who urged that time pressed, he exclaimed: +"There is time enough. It is a month before the count." +Representations of the danger of a collision with the Executive met +his scorn. "It is a panic of pacificators," he said. "Why surrender +before the battle for fear of having to surrender after the +battle?"<a name="vol3FNanchor_779_779" id="vol3FNanchor_779_779"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_779_779" class="fnanchor">[779]</a></p> + +<p>In view of his resentment of the secrecy which characterised the +preparation of the Electoral Commission Bill, one wonders that Tilden +made no appeal directly to the people, demanding that his party stand +firm to "the settled practice" and allow Republicans peaceably to +inaugurate Hayes "by usurpation" rather than "relieve them by some +agreement." His telegrams to congressmen could not be<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.355" id="vol3Page_iii.355">iii. 355</a></span> published, and +few if any one knew him as the author of the discussion in Robinson's +inaugural. The <i>Times</i> thought "the old Governor's hand is to be seen +in the new Governor's message,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_780_780" id="vol3FNanchor_780_780"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_780_780" class="fnanchor">[780]</a> but the <i>Nation</i> expressed doubt +about it.<a name="vol3FNanchor_781_781" id="vol3FNanchor_781_781"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_781_781" class="fnanchor">[781]</a> A ringing proclamation over his own signature, however, +would have been known before sunset to every Democratic voter in the +land. Blaine told Bigelow a year or two later that if the Democrats +had been firm, the Republicans would have backed down.<a name="vol3FNanchor_782_782" id="vol3FNanchor_782_782"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_782_782" class="fnanchor">[782]</a> Tilden's +silence certainly dampened his party's enthusiasm. It recalled, too, +his failure to assail the Tweed ring until the <i>Times'</i> disclosure +made its destruction inevitable.</p> + +<p>Bigelow, reflecting Tilden's thought, charged that in accepting the +plan of an Electoral Commission Thurman and Bayard were influenced by +presidential ambition, and that prominent congressmen could not regard +with satisfaction the triumph of a candidate who had been in nowise +indebted to them for his nomination or success at the polls.<a name="vol3FNanchor_783_783" id="vol3FNanchor_783_783"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_783_783" class="fnanchor">[783]</a> On +the other hand, Blaine says the Democrats favoured the Commission +because Davis, who affiliated with the Democratic party and had +preferred Tilden to Hayes, was to be chosen for the fifth justice. The +Maine statesman adds, without giving his authority, that Hewitt +advanced this as one of the arguments to induce Tilden to approve the +bill.<a name="vol3FNanchor_784_784" id="vol3FNanchor_784_784"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_784_784" class="fnanchor">[784]</a> In his history of the Hewitt-Tilden interview Marble makes +no mention of Davis' selection, nor does Bigelow refer to Tilden's +knowledge of it. Nevertheless, the strength disclosed for the bill +sustains Blaine's suggestion, since every Democrat of national +reputation in both Houses supported it. The measure passed the Senate +on January 24 and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.356" id="vol3Page_iii.356">iii. 356</a></span> House on the 26th,<a name="vol3FNanchor_785_785" id="vol3FNanchor_785_785"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_785_785" class="fnanchor">[785]</a> but an unlooked-for +event quickly destroyed Democratic calculations and expectations, for +on January 25, too late for the party to recede with dignity or with +honour, the Democrats of the Illinois Legislature elected Davis by two +majority to the United States Senate in place of John A. Logan. +Probably a greater surprise never occurred in American political +history. It gave Davis an opportunity, on the ground of obvious +impropriety, to avoid what he neither sought nor desired, and narrowed +the choice of a fifth justice to out-and-out Republicans, thus +settling the election of Hayes. "The drop in the countenance of Abram +S. Hewitt," said a writer who informed Tilden's representative of +Davis' transfer from the Supreme Court to the Senate, "made it plain +that he appreciated its full significance."<a name="vol3FNanchor_786_786" id="vol3FNanchor_786_786"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_786_786" class="fnanchor">[786]</a> Bigelow could not +understand why Davis did not serve on the Commission unless his +"declination was one of the conditions of his election," adding that +"it was supposed by many that Morton and others engineered the +agreement of Davis' appointment with full knowledge that he would not +serve."<a name="vol3FNanchor_787_787" id="vol3FNanchor_787_787"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_787_787" class="fnanchor">[787]</a> This cynical comment betrayed Tilden's knowledge of +"things hoped for," and accounts for his final acquiescence in the +Commission, since Davis and a certainty were far better than a fight +and possible failure.</p> + +<p>Another dagger-thrust that penetrated the home in Gramercy Park was +Conkling's exclusion from the Electoral Commission. Of all the members +of the famous committee the Senator had borne the most useful part in +framing the measure, and his appointment to the Commission was +naturally expected to follow.<a name="vol3FNanchor_788_788" id="vol3FNanchor_788_788"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_788_788" class="fnanchor">[788]</a> His biographer states that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.357" id="vol3Page_iii.357">iii. 357</a></span> +declined to serve.<a name="vol3FNanchor_789_789" id="vol3FNanchor_789_789"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_789_789" class="fnanchor">[789]</a> "If this be correct," says Rhodes, "he shirked +a grave duty."<a name="vol3FNanchor_790_790" id="vol3FNanchor_790_790"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_790_790" class="fnanchor">[790]</a> Bigelow charges the omission to the Senator's +belief "that the vote of Louisiana rightfully belonged to Mr. Tilden," +and volunteers the information "that Conkling had agreed to address +the Commission in opposition to its counting Louisiana for +Hayes."<a name="vol3FNanchor_791_791" id="vol3FNanchor_791_791"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_791_791" class="fnanchor">[791]</a> Conkling's absence from the Senate when the Louisiana +vote was taken corroborates Bigelow,<a name="vol3FNanchor_792_792" id="vol3FNanchor_792_792"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_792_792" class="fnanchor">[792]</a> and supports the general +opinion which obtained at the time, that the Republicans, suspecting +Conkling of believing Tilden entitled to the presidency, intentionally +ignored him in the make-up of the Commission.<a name="vol3FNanchor_793_793" id="vol3FNanchor_793_793"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_793_793" class="fnanchor">[793]</a> The reason for +Conkling's failure subsequently to address the Commission in +opposition to counting Louisiana for Hayes nowhere explicitly appears. +"Various explanations are in circulation," writes Bigelow, "but I have +not been able to determine which of them all had the demerit of +securing his silence."<a name="vol3FNanchor_794_794" id="vol3FNanchor_794_794"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_794_794" class="fnanchor">[794]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.358" id="vol3Page_iii.358">iii. 358</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="vol3CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2> + +<h2>CONKLING AND CURTIS AT ROCHESTER</h2> + +<h2>1877</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">Two</span> State governments in Louisiana, one under Packard, a Republican, +the other under Nicholls, a Democrat, confronted Hayes upon the day of +his inauguration. The canvassing boards which returned the Hayes +electors also declared the election of Packard as governor, and it +would impeach his own title, it was said, if the President refused +recognition to Packard, who had received the larger popular majority.</p> + +<p>It was not unknown that the President contemplated adopting a new +Southern policy. His letter of acceptance presupposed it, and before +the completion of the Electoral Commission's work political and +personal friends had given assurance in a published letter that Hayes +would not continue military intervention in the South.<a name="vol3FNanchor_795_795" id="vol3FNanchor_795_795"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_795_795" class="fnanchor">[795]</a> Moreover, +the President's inaugural address plainly indicated such a purpose. To +inform himself of the extent to which the troops intervened, +therefore, and to harmonise if possible the opposing governments, he +sent a commission to New Orleans,<a name="vol3FNanchor_796_796" id="vol3FNanchor_796_796"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_796_796" class="fnanchor">[796]</a> who reported (April 21) a +returning board quorum in both branches of the Nicholls Legislature +and recommended the withdrawal of the army from the immediate vicinity +of the State House. This was done on April 24 and thenceforward the +Nicholls government controlled in State affairs.<a name="vol3FNanchor_797_797" id="vol3FNanchor_797_797"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_797_797" class="fnanchor">[797]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.359" id="vol3Page_iii.359">iii. 359</a></span></p><p>The President's policy quickly created discontent within the ranks of +the Republican party. Many violently resented his action, declaring +his refusal to sustain a governor whose election rested substantially +upon the same foundation as his own as a cowardly surrender to the +South in fulfillment of a bargain between his friends and some +Southern leaders.<a name="vol3FNanchor_798_798" id="vol3FNanchor_798_798"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_798_798" class="fnanchor">[798]</a> Others disclaimed the President's obligation to +continue the military, declaring that it fostered hate, drew the +colour line more deeply, promoted monstrous local misgovernment, and +protected venal adventurers whose system practically amounted to +highway robbery. Furthermore, it did not keep the States under +Republican control, while it identified the Republican name with +vindictive as well as venal power, as illustrated by the Louisiana +Durrell affair in 1872,<a name="vol3FNanchor_799_799" id="vol3FNanchor_799_799"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_799_799" class="fnanchor">[799]</a> in the elections of 1874, and at the +organisation of the Louisiana Legislature early in 1875.<a name="vol3FNanchor_800_800" id="vol3FNanchor_800_800"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_800_800" class="fnanchor">[800]</a> +Notwithstanding these potent reasons for the President's action the +judgment of a majority of his party deemed it an unwise and +unwarranted act, although Grant spoke approvingly of it.<a name="vol3FNanchor_801_801" id="vol3FNanchor_801_801"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_801_801" class="fnanchor">[801]</a></p> + +<p>Similar judgment was pronounced upon the President's<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.360" id="vol3Page_iii.360">iii. 360</a></span> attempt to +reform the civil service by directing competitive examinations for +certain positions and by forbidding office-holders actively to +participate in political campaigns.<a name="vol3FNanchor_802_802" id="vol3FNanchor_802_802"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_802_802" class="fnanchor">[802]</a> "No officer should be +required or permitted to take part in the management of political +organisations, caucuses, conventions, or election campaigns," he wrote +to the Secretary of the Treasury. "Their right to vote and to express +their views on public questions, either orally or through the press, +is not denied, provided it does not interfere with the discharge of +their official duties. No assessments for political purposes should be +allowed." In a public order dated June 22 he made this rule applicable +to all departments of the civil service. "It should be understood by +every officer of the government that he is expected to conform his +conduct to its requirements."<a name="vol3FNanchor_803_803" id="vol3FNanchor_803_803"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_803_803" class="fnanchor">[803]</a> To show his sincerity the +Presi<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.361" id="vol3Page_iii.361">iii. 361</a></span>dent also appointed a new Civil Service Commission, with Dorman +B. Eaton at its head, who adopted the rules formulated under Curtis +during the Grant administration, and which were applied with a measure +of thoroughness, especially in the Interior Department under Carl +Schurz, and in the New York post-office, then in charge of Thomas L. +James.</p> + +<p>This firm and aggressive stand against the so-called spoils system +very naturally aroused the fears of many veteran Republicans of +sincere and unselfish motives, who had used offices to build up and +maintain party organisation, while the order restricting freedom of +political action provoked bitter antagonism, especially among members +of the New York Republican State Committee, several of whom held +important Federal positions. To add to the resentment an official +investigation of the New York custom-house was ordered, which +disclosed "irregularities," said the report, "that indicate the peril +to which government and merchants are exposed by a system of +appointments in which political influence dispenses with fitness for +the work."<a name="vol3FNanchor_804_804" id="vol3FNanchor_804_804"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_804_804" class="fnanchor">[804]</a> The President concurred. "Party leaders should have no +more influence in appointments than other equally respectable +citizens," he said. "It is my wish that the collection of the revenue +should be organised on a strictly business basis, with the same +guarantees for efficiency and fidelity in the selection of the chief +and subordinate officers that would be required by a prudent +merchant."<a name="vol3FNanchor_805_805" id="vol3FNanchor_805_805"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_805_805" class="fnanchor">[805]</a></p> + +<p>The Republican press, in large part, deplored the President's action, +and while managing politicians smothered their real grievance under +attacks upon the Southern policy, they generally assumed an attitude +of armed neutrality and observation.<a name="vol3FNanchor_806_806" id="vol3FNanchor_806_806"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_806_806" class="fnanchor">[806]</a> No doubt the President was<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.362" id="vol3Page_iii.362">iii. 362</a></span> +much to blame for this discontent. He tolerated the abuses disclosed +by the investigation in New York, continued a disreputable régime in +Boston, and installed a faction in Baltimore no better than the one +turned out. Besides, the appointment to lucrative offices of the +Republican politicians who took active part in the Louisiana Returning +Board had closely associated him with the spoils system.<a name="vol3FNanchor_807_807" id="vol3FNanchor_807_807"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_807_807" class="fnanchor">[807]</a> +Moreover, his failure to remove offending officials discredited his +own rule and created an unfavourable sentiment, because after +provoking the animosity of office-holders and arousing the public he +left the order to execute itself. Yet the people plainly believed in +the President's policy of conciliation, sympathised with his desire to +reform abuses in the civil service, and honoured him for his +frankness, his patriotism, and his integrity. During the months of +August and September several Republican State conventions, notably +those in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New Jersey +commended him, while Maine, under the leadership of Blaine, although +refusing to indorse unqualifiedly the policy and acts of the +Administration, refrained from giving any expression of +disapproval.<a name="vol3FNanchor_808_808" id="vol3FNanchor_808_808"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_808_808" class="fnanchor">[808]</a></p> + +<p>New York's Republican convention assembled at Rochester on September +26. The notable absence of Federal office-holders who had resigned +committeeships and declined political preferment attracted attention, +otherwise the membership of the assembly, composed largely of the +usual array of politicians, provoked no comment. Conkling and Cornell<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.363" id="vol3Page_iii.363">iii. 363</a></span> +arrived early and took possession. In 1874 and in 1875 the Senator's +friends fought vigorously for control, but in 1877 the divided +sentiment as to the President's policies and the usual indifference +that follows a Presidential struggle inured to their benefit, giving +them a sufficient majority to do as they pleased.</p> + +<p>Thus far Conkling had not betrayed his attitude toward the +Administration. At the time of his departure for Europe in search of +health, when surrounded by the chief Federal officials of the city, he +significantly omitted words of approbation or criticism, and with +equal dexterity avoided the expression of an opinion in the many +welcoming and serenade speeches amidst which his vacation ended in +August. No doubt existed, however, as to his personal feeling. The +selection of Evarts for secretary of state in place of Thomas C. Platt +for postmaster general did not make him happy.<a name="vol3FNanchor_809_809" id="vol3FNanchor_809_809"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_809_809" class="fnanchor">[809]</a> George William +Curtis's ardent support of the President likewise aided in separating +him from the White House. Nevertheless, Conkling's attitude remained a +profound secret until Thomas C. Platt, as temporary chairman, began +the delivery of a carefully prepared speech.</p> + +<p>Platt was then forty-four years old. He was born in Owego, educated at +Yale, and as a man of affairs had already laid the foundation for the +success and deserved prominence that crowned his subsequent business +career. Ambition also took him early into the activities of public +political life, his party having elected him county clerk at the age +of twenty-six and a member of Congress while yet in his thirties. His +friends, attracted by his promise-keeping and truth-telling, included +most of the people of the vicinage. He was not an orator, but he +possessed the resources of tact, simplicity, and bonhomie, which are +serviceable in the management of men.<a name="vol3FNanchor_810_810" id="vol3FNanchor_810_810"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_810_810" class="fnanchor">[810]</a> Moreover, as an or<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.364" id="vol3Page_iii.364">iii. 364</a></span>ganiser +he developed in politics the same capacity for control that he +exhibited in business. He had quickness of decision and flexibility of +mind. There was no vacillation of will, no suspension of judgment, no +procrastination that led to harassing controversy over minor details. +He seemed also as systematic in his political purposes as he was +orderly in his business methods. These characteristic traits, well +marked in 1877, were destined to be magnified in the next two decades +when local leaders recognised that his judgment, his capacity, and his +skill largely contributed to extricate the party from the chaotic +conditions into which continued defeat had plunged it.</p> + +<p>Conkling early recognised Platt's executive ability, and their +friendship, cemented by likeness of views and an absence of rivalry, +kept them sympathetically together in clearly defined fields of +activity. In a way each supplemented the other. Platt was neither +self-opinionated nor overbearing. He dealt with matters political with +the light touch of a man of affairs, and although without sentiment or +ideals, he worked incessantly, listened attentively, and was anxious +to be useful, without taking the centre of the stage, or repelling +support by affectations of manner. But like Conkling he relied upon +the use of patronage and the iron rule of organisation, and too little +upon the betterment of existing political conditions.</p> + +<p>This became apparent when, as temporary chairman, he began to address +the convention. He startled the delegates by calling the distinguished +Secretary of State a "demagogue," and other Republicans who differed +with him<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.365" id="vol3Page_iii.365">iii. 365</a></span> "Pecksniffs and tricksters." As he proceeded dissent blended +with applause, and at the conclusion of his speech prudent friends +regretted its questionable taste. In declining to become permanent +president Conkling moved that "the gentleman who has occupied the +chair thus far with the acceptance of us all" be continued. This +aroused the Administration's backers, of whom a roll-call disclosed +110 present.<a name="vol3FNanchor_811_811" id="vol3FNanchor_811_811"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_811_811" class="fnanchor">[811]</a></p> + +<p>The platform neither approved nor criticised the President's Southern +policy, but expressed the hope that the exercise of his constitutional +discretion to protect a State government against domestic violence +would result in peace, tranquillity, and justice. Civil service reform +was more artfully presented. It favoured fit men, fixed tenure, fair +compensation, faithful performance of duty, frugality in the number of +employés, freedom of political action, and no political assessments. +Moreover, it commended Hayes's declaration in his letter of acceptance +that "the officer should be secure in his tenure so long as his +personal character remained untarnished and the performance of his +duty satisfactory," and recommended "as worthy of consideration, +legislation making officers secure in a limited fixed tenure and +subject to removal only as officers under State laws are removed in +this State on charges to be openly preferred and adjudged."<a name="vol3FNanchor_812_812" id="vol3FNanchor_812_812"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_812_812" class="fnanchor">[812]</a> This +paralleled the President's reform except as to freedom of political +action, and in support of that provision it arrayed a profoundly +impressive statement, showing by statistics that Hayes's order, if +applied to all State, county, and town officials in New York, would +exclude from political action one voter out of every eight and +one-half. If this practical illustration exhibited the weakness of the +President's order it also anticipated what the country afterwards +recognised, that true reform must rest upon competitive examination +for which the Act of March 3, 1871 opened the way, and which President +Hayes had directed for certain positions.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.366" id="vol3Page_iii.366">iii. 366</a></span></p> +<p>But despite the platform's good points, George William Curtis, +construing its failure to endorse the Administration into censure of +the President, quickly offered a resolution declaring Hayes's title to +the presidency as clear and perfect as that of George Washington, and +commending his efforts in the permanent pacification of the South and +for the correction of abuses in the civil service.<a name="vol3FNanchor_813_813" id="vol3FNanchor_813_813"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_813_813" class="fnanchor">[813]</a> Curtis had +never sought political advantage for personal purposes. The day he +drifted away from a clerkship in a business firm and landed among the +philosophers of Brook Farm he became an idealist, whom a German +university and years of leisure travel easily strengthened. So fixed +was his belief of moral responsibility that he preferred, after his +unfortunate connection with <i>Putnam's Magazine</i>, to lose his whole +fortune and drudge patiently for sixteen years to pay a debt of +$60,000 rather than invoke the law and escape legal liability. He was +an Abolitionist when abolitionism meant martyrdom; he became a +Republican when others continued Whigs; and he stood for Lincoln and +emancipation in the months of dreadful discouragement preceding +Sheridan's victories in the Shenandoah. He was likewise a civil +service reformer long in advance of a public belief, or any belief at +all, that the custom of changing non-political officers on merely +political grounds impaired the efficiency of the public service, +lowered the standard of political contests, and brought reproach upon +the government and the people. It is not surprising, therefore, that +he stood for a President who sought to re-establish a reform that had +broken down under Grant, and although the effort rested upon an +Executive order, without the permanency of law, he believed that any +attempt to inaugurate a new system should have the undivided support +of the party which had demanded it in convention and had elected a +President pledged to establish it. Moreover, the President had offered +Curtis his choice of the chief missions, expecting him to choose the +English. Remembering Irving in Spain, Bancroft in Germany, Mot<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.367" id="vol3Page_iii.367">iii. 367</a></span>ley in +England, and Marsh in Italy, it was a great temptation. But Curtis, +appreciating his "civic duty," remained at home, and now took this +occasion to voice his support of the Executive who had honoured +him.<a name="vol3FNanchor_814_814" id="vol3FNanchor_814_814"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_814_814" class="fnanchor">[814]</a></p> + +<p>His speech, pitched in an exalted key, sparkled with patriotic +utterances and eloquent periods, with an occasional keen allusion to +Conkling. He skilfully contrasted the majority's demand for harmony +with Platt's reference to Evarts as a "demagogue" and to civil service +reform as a "nauseating shibboleth." He declared it would shake the +confidence of the country in the party if, after announcing its +principles, it failed to commend the agent who was carrying them out. +Approval of details was unnecessary. Republicans did not endorse +Lincoln's methods, but they upheld him until the great work of the +martyr was done. In the same spirit they ought to support President +Hayes, who, in obedience to many State and two or three National +conventions, had taken up the war against abuses of the civil service. +If the convention did not concur in all his acts, it should show the +Democratic party that Republicans know what they want and the man by +whom to secure such results.</p> + +<p>In speaking of abuses in the civil service he told the story of +Lincoln looking under the bed before retiring to see if a +distinguished senator was waiting to get an office,<a name="vol3FNanchor_815_815" id="vol3FNanchor_815_815"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_815_815" class="fnanchor">[815]</a> referred to +the efforts of Federal officials to defeat his own election to the +convention, and declared that the President, by his order, intended +that a delegate like himself, having<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.368" id="vol3Page_iii.368">iii. 368</a></span> only one vote, should not meet +another with one hundred votes in his pocket obtained by means of +political patronage. Instead of the order invading one's rights it was +intended to restore them to the great body of the Republicans of New +York, who now "refuse to enter a convention to be met—not by brains, +not always by mere intelligence, not always by convictions, or by +representative men, but by the forms of power which federal patriots +assume." He did "not believe any eminent Republican, however high his +ambition, however sore his discontent, hoped to carry the Republican +party of the United States against Rutherford B. Hayes. Aye, sir, no +such Republican, unless intoxicated with the flattery of parasites, or +blinded by his own ambition." He spoke of Conkling's interest in +public affairs as beginning contemporaneously with his own, of their +work side by side in 1867, and of their sustaining a Republican +President without agreement in the details of his policy, and he +closed with the prayer that they might yet see the Republican party +fulfilling the hope of true men everywhere, who look to it for +honesty, for reform, and for pacification.<a name="vol3FNanchor_816_816" id="vol3FNanchor_816_816"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_816_816" class="fnanchor">[816]</a></p> + +<p>Conkling had been waiting for Curtis as the American fleet waited for +the Spanish at Santiago. Curtis had adorned the centre of opposition +until he seemed most to desire what would most disappoint Conkling. +For months prior to the Cincinnati convention <i>Harper's Weekly</i> +bristled with reasons that in its opinion unfitted the Senator for +President, and advertised to the country the desire at least of a +large minority of the party in New York to be rid of him. With +consummate skill he unfolded Conkling's record, and emphasised his +defence of the questionable acts that led to a deep distrust of +Republican tendencies. To him the question was not whether a National +convention could be persuaded to adopt the Senator as its candidate, +but whether, "being one of the leaders that had imperilled the party, +it was the true policy for those who patriotically de<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.369" id="vol3Page_iii.369">iii. 369</a></span>sired Republican +success." Furthermore, Curtis had a habit of asking questions. "With +what great measure of statesmanship is his name conspicuously +identified?"<a name="vol3FNanchor_817_817" id="vol3FNanchor_817_817"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_817_817" class="fnanchor">[817]</a> and, as if this admitted of no reply, he followed it +with more specific inquiries demanding to know "why the Senator had +led a successful opposition to Judge Hoar for the Supreme Bench," and +become "the ardent supporter of Caleb Cushing for chief justice, and +of Alexander Shepherd for commissioner of the District of Columbia?" +These interrogatories seemed to separate him from statesmen of high +degree and to place him among associates for whom upright citizens +should have little respect.</p> + +<p>Nor was this all. The part Greeley took at Chicago to defeat Seward, +Curtis played at Cincinnati to defeat Conkling. He declared him the +especial representative of methods which the best sentiment of the +party repudiated, and asserted that his nomination would chill +enthusiasm, convince men of the hopelessness of reform within the +party, and lose the vote indispensable for the election of the +Republican candidate. If his words were parliamentary, they were not +less offensive. Once only did he strike below the belt. In the event +of the Senator's nomination he said "a searching light would be turned +upon Mr. Conkling's professional relations to causes in which he was +opposed to attorneys virtually named by himself, before judges whose +selection was due to his favour."<a name="vol3FNanchor_818_818" id="vol3FNanchor_818_818"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_818_818" class="fnanchor">[818]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.370" id="vol3Page_iii.370">iii. 370</a></span></p> +<p>This thrust penetrated the realm of personal integrity, a +characteristic in which Conkling took great pride. Perhaps the hostile +insinuation attracted more attention because it prompted the public, +already familiar with the occult influences that persuaded Tweed's +judges, to ask why men who become United States judges upon the +request of a political boss should not be tempted into favourable +decisions for the benefactor who practises in their courts? Curtis +implied that something of the kind had happened in Conkling's +professional career. Disappointment at Cincinnati may have made the +presidential candidate sore, but this innuendo rankled, and when he +rose to oppose Curtis's resolution his powerful frame seemed in a +thrill of delight as he began the speech which had been laboriously +wrought out in the stillness of his study.</p> + +<p>The contrast in the appearance of the two speakers was most striking. +Curtis, short, compact, punctilious in attire, and exquisitely +cultured, with a soft, musical voice, was capable of the noblest +tenderness. Conkling, tall, erect, muscular, was the very embodiment +of physical vigour, while his large, well-poised head, his strong +nose, handsome eyes, well-cut mouth, and prominent chin, were +expressive of the utmost resolution. The two men also differed as much +in mind as in appearance. Curtis stood for all the force and feeling +that make for liberal progressive principles; Conkling, the product of +a war age, of masterly audacity and inflexible determination, +represented the conservative impulse, with a cynical indifference to +criticism and opposition.</p> + +<p>The preface to his attack was brief. This was a State convention to +nominate candidates, he said in substance, and the National +Administration was not a candidate or in question. He repelled the +idea that it suggested or sanctioned such a proceeding, and although +broad hints had been heard that retribution would follow silence, any +one volunteering for such a purpose lacked discretion if not +sincerity. "Who are these men who, in newspapers or elsewhere, are +cracking their whips over me and playing school<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.371" id="vol3Page_iii.371">iii. 371</a></span>master to the party? +They are of various sorts and conditions. Some of them are the +man-milliners, the dilettante and carpet knights of politics, whose +efforts have been expended in denouncing and ridiculing and accusing +honest men.... Some of them are men who, when they could work +themselves into conventions, have attempted to belittle and befoul +Republican administrations and to parade their own thin veneering of +superior purity. Some of them are men who, by insisting that it is +corrupt and bad for men in office to take part in politics, are +striving now to prove that the Republican party has been unclean and +vicious all its life.... Some of these worthies masquerade as +reformers. Their vocation and ministry is to lament the sins of other +people. Their stock in trade is rancid, canting self-righteousness. +They are wolves in sheep's clothing. Their real object is office and +plunder. When Dr. Johnson defined patriotism as the last refuge of a +scoundrel, he was unconscious of the then undeveloped capabilities and +uses of the word reform.... Some of these new-found party overseers +who are at this moment laying down new and strange tenets for +Republicans, have deemed it their duty heretofore, upon no +provocation, to make conventions and all else the vehicle of +disparaging Republican administrations. Some of them sat but yesterday +in Democratic conventions, some have sought nominations at the hands +of Democrats in recent years, and some, with the zeal of neophytes and +bitterness of apostates, have done more than self-respecting Democrats +would do to vilify and slander their government and their +countrymen.... They forget that parties are not built up by +deportment, or by ladies' magazines, or gush.... The grasshoppers in +the corner of a fence, even without a newspaper to be heard in, +sometimes make more noise than the flocks and herds that graze upon a +thousand hills.... For extreme license in criticism of administrations +and of everybody connected with them, broad arguments can no doubt be +found in the files of the journal made famous by the pencil of Nast. +But<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.372" id="vol3Page_iii.372">iii. 372</a></span> a convention may not deem itself a chartered libertine of +oracular and pedantic conceits."</p> + +<p>Conkling could not comprehend why Republicans of New York should be +thought predisposed to find fault with Hayes. Without their votes he +could not have become the candidate. "Even the member from Richmond +was, I believe, in the end prevailed upon, after much difficulty, to +confer his unique and delicate vote also." New York congressmen, with +few exceptions, heartily supported the measure without which Hayes +would never have been effectually inaugurated. No opposition had come +from New York. What, then, is the meaning and purpose of constantly +accusing Republicans of this State of unfriendly bias? Wanton assaults +had been made upon Republicans, supposed to be inspired by the +champions and advisers of the President. For not doing more in the +campaign of 1876, he, an office-holder, had been denounced by the same +men who now insist that an office-holder may not sign even a notice +for a convention. No utterance hostile to men or measures had +proceeded from him. Not a straw had been laid in the way of any man. +Still he had been persistently assaulted and misrepresented by those +claiming to speak specially for the Administration. A word of greeting +to his neighbours had drawn down bitter and scornful denunciations +because it did not endorse the Administration.</p> + +<p>"These anxious and super-serviceable charioteers seem determined to +know nothing but the President and his policy and them crucified.... +The meaning of all this is not obscured by the fact that the new +President has been surrounded and courted by men who have long purred +about every new Administration.... Some of these disinterested +patriots and reformers have been since the days of Pierce the friends +and suitors of all Administrations and betrayers of all. The assaults +they incite are somewhat annoying. It would have been a luxury to +unfrock some of them, but it has seemed to me the duty of every +sincere Republican to endure a great deal rather than say any<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.373" id="vol3Page_iii.373">iii. 373</a></span>thing to +introduce division or controversy into party ranks.... I am for +peace.... I am for everything tending to that end.... I am for one +thing more—the success of the Administration in everything that is +just and wise and real."</p> + +<p>The Senator thought Hayes deserved the same support other Republican +administrations had received. Whenever he is right he should be +sustained; whenever misled by unwise or sinister advice, dissent +should be expressed. This right of judgment is the right of every +citizen. He exercised it in Congress under Lincoln and Grant, who +never deemed an honest difference of opinion cause for war or quarrel, +"nor were they afflicted by having men long around them engaged in +setting on newspapers to hound every man who was not officious or +abject in fulsomely bepraising them. The matters suggested by the +pending amendment," he continued, "are not pertinent to this day's +duties, and obviously they are matters of difference. They may promote +personal and selfish aims, but they are hostile to concord and good +understanding between Republicans at a time when they should all be +united everywhere, in purpose and action. Let us agree to put +contentions aside and complete our task. Let us declare the purposes +and methods which should guide the government of our great State."</p> + +<p>After this plea for harmony, the Senator commented briefly upon the +remarks of other delegates, complimented Platt, and then turned again +upon Curtis. Being assured that the latter did not refer to him as the +Senator for whom Lincoln looked under the bed, he concluded: "Then I +withhold a statement I intended to make, and I substitute for it a +remark which I hope will not transgress the proprieties or liberties +of this occasion. It is this: If a doubt arose in my mind whether the +member from Richmond intended a covert shot at me, that doubt sprang +from the fact that that member has published, in a newspaper, touching +me, not matters political—political assaults fairly conducted no man +ever heard me complain of—but imputations upon my personal<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.374" id="vol3Page_iii.374">iii. 374</a></span> integrity +so injurious and groundless, that as I think of them now, nothing but +the proprieties of the occasion restrain me from denouncing them and +their author as I feel at liberty to do in the walks of private life. +Mr. President, according to that Christian code which I have been +taught, there is no atonement in the thin lacquer of public courtesy, +or of private ceremonial observance, for the offence one man does +another when he violates that provision of the Decalogue, which, +speaking to him, says, 'Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy +neighbour,' and which means thou shalt not do it, whatever thy +personal or political pique or animosity may be. The member from +Richmond did me honour overmuch in an individual if not personal +exhortation wherein he was pleased to run some parallel between +himself and me.... Let me supplement the parallel by recalling a +remark of a great Crusader when Richard of England and Leopold of +Austria had held dispute over the preliminaries of battle: 'Let the +future decide between you, and let it declare for him who carries +furthest into the ranks of the enemy the sword of the cross.'"<a name="vol3FNanchor_819_819" id="vol3FNanchor_819_819"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_819_819" class="fnanchor">[819]</a></p> + +<p>From a mere reading of this speech it is difficult, if not impossible, +to realise its effect upon those who heard it.<a name="vol3FNanchor_820_820" id="vol3FNanchor_820_820"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_820_820" class="fnanchor">[820]</a> As an oratorical +exhibition the testimony of friends and of foes is alike offered in +its unqualified praise. He spoke distinctly and with characteristic +deliberation, his stateliness of manner and captivating audacity +investing each sentence with an importance that only attaches to the +utterances of a great orator. The withering sneer and the look of +contempt gave character to the sarcasms and bitter invectives which he +scattered with the prodigality of a seed-sower. When he declared +Curtis a "man-milliner," his long, flexible index finger and eyes +ablaze with resentment<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.375" id="vol3Page_iii.375">iii. 375</a></span> pointed out the editor as distinctly as if he +had transfixed him with an arrow, while the slowly pronounced +syllables, voiced in a sliding, descending key, gave the title a +cartoon effect. Referring to the parallel in Curtis's peroration, he +laid his hand on his heart, bowed toward his antagonist with mock +reverence, and distorted his face with an expression of ludicrous +scorn. In repelling the innuendo as to his "personal integrity," the +suppressed anger and slowly spoken words seemed to preface a challenge +to mortal combat, and men held their breath until his purpose cleared. +The striking delivery of several keen thrusts fixed them in the +memory. Given in his deep, sonorous tones, one of these ran much as +follows: "When Doc-tor-r-r Ja-a-awnson said that patr-r-riotism-m was +the l-a-w-s-t r-r-refuge of a scoundr-r-rel he ignor-r-red the +enor-r-rmous possibilities of the word r-refa-awr-rm."<a name="vol3FNanchor_821_821" id="vol3FNanchor_821_821"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_821_821" class="fnanchor">[821]</a> Other +sentences, now historic, pleased opponents not less than friends. That +parties are not upheld by "deportment, ladies' magazines, or gush" +instantly caught the audience, as did "the journal made famous by the +pencil of Nast," and the comparison suggested by Edmund Burke of the +noise of "grasshoppers in the corner of a fence even without a +newspaper to be heard in."<a name="vol3FNanchor_822_822" id="vol3FNanchor_822_822"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_822_822" class="fnanchor">[822]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, these moments of accord between speaker and hearers +deepened by contrast the depth of bitterness existing between him and +the friends of the President. His denunciation of Curtis had included +Evarts if not other members of the Administration, and during the +recital of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.376" id="vol3Page_iii.376">iii. 376</a></span> the rhythmical sentences of arraignment dissent mingled +with applause. "He was hissed," said a reporter of long experience, +"as I have never heard any speaker hissed at a convention +before."<a name="vol3FNanchor_823_823" id="vol3FNanchor_823_823"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_823_823" class="fnanchor">[823]</a> A friend to whom Conkling read the speech on the +preceding Sunday pronounced it "too severe," and the nephew excluded +the epithet "man-milliner" from the address as published in his +uncle's biography.<a name="vol3FNanchor_824_824" id="vol3FNanchor_824_824"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_824_824" class="fnanchor">[824]</a> The contemporary press, reflecting the injury +which Conkling's exuberance of denunciation did his cause, told how +its effect withered as soon as oratory and acting had ceased. Within +an hour after its delivery Charles E. Fitch of the Rochester +<i>Democrat-Chronicle</i>, voicing the sentiment of the Senator's best +friends, deprecated the attack. Reading the article at the breakfast +table on the following morning, Conkling exclaimed, "the man who wrote +it is a traitor!" It was "the man" not less than the criticism that +staggered him. Fitch was a sincere friend and a writer with a purpose. +His clear, incisive English, often forcible and at times eloquent, had +won him a distinct place in New York journalism, not more by his +editorials than by his work in various fields of literature, and his +thought usually reflected the opinion of the better element of the +party. To Conkling it conveyed the first intimation that many +Republican papers were to pronounce his address unfortunate, since it +exhorted to peace and fomented bitter strife.</p> + +<p>Curtis refused to make public comment, but to Charles Eliot Norton, +his intimate friend, he wrote: "It was the saddest sight I ever knew, +that man glaring at me in a fury of hate, and storming out his foolish +blackguardism. I was all pity. I had not thought him great, but I had +not suspected how small he was. His friends, the best, were +confounded. One of them said to me the next day, 'It was not amazement +that I felt, but consternation.' I spoke offhand and the report is +horrible. Conkling's speech was carefully written out, and therefore +you do not get all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.377" id="vol3Page_iii.377">iii. 377</a></span> venom, and no one can imagine the +Mephistophelean leer and spite."<a name="vol3FNanchor_825_825" id="vol3FNanchor_825_825"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_825_825" class="fnanchor">[825]</a></p> + +<p>Conkling closed his speech too late at night for other business,<a name="vol3FNanchor_826_826" id="vol3FNanchor_826_826"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_826_826" class="fnanchor">[826]</a> +and in the morning one-half of the delegates had disappeared. Those +remaining occupied less than an hour in the nomination of +candidates.<a name="vol3FNanchor_827_827" id="vol3FNanchor_827_827"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_827_827" class="fnanchor">[827]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.378" id="vol3Page_iii.378">iii. 378</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XXIX" id="vol3CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX</h2> + +<h2>THE TILDEN RÉGIME ROUTED</h2> + +<h2>1877</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> result at Rochester, so unsatisfactory to a large body of +influential men to whom the President represented the most patriotic +Republicanism, was followed at Albany by a movement no less +disappointing to a large element of the Democratic party.<a name="vol3FNanchor_828_828" id="vol3FNanchor_828_828"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_828_828" class="fnanchor">[828]</a> In +their zeal to punish crime Secretary of State Bigelow and +Attorney-General Fairchild had made themselves excessively obnoxious +to the predatory statesmen of the canal ring, who now proposed to +destroy the Tilden régime. Back of them stood John Kelly, eager to +become the master, and determined to accomplish what he had failed to +do at St. Louis.</p> + +<p>As if indifferent to the contest Bigelow had remained in Europe with +Tilden, and Fairchild, weary of the nervous strain of office-holding, +refused to make an open canvass for the extension of his official +life. Nevertheless, the friends of reform understood the importance of +renominating the old ticket. It had stood for the interest of the +people. Whatever doubt might have clouded the public mind as to +Tilden's sincerity as an ardent, unselfish reformer, Republicans as +well as Democrats knew that Bigelow and Fairchild represented an +uncompromising hostility to public plunderers, and that their work, if +then discontinued, must be shorn of much of its utility. Their friends +understood, also, the importance of controlling the temporary +organisation of the convention, otherwise all would be lost.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.379" id="vol3Page_iii.379">iii. 379</a></span></p> + +<p>The result of the Presidential struggle had seriously weakened Tilden. +In the larger field of action he had displayed a timid, vacillating +character, and the boldest leaders of his party felt that in the final +test as a candidate he lost because he hesitated. Besides, the +immediate prospect of power had disappeared. Although Democrats talked +of "the great Presidential crime," and seemed to have their eyes and +minds fastened on offices and other evidences of victory, they +realised deep in their hearts that Hayes was President for four years, +and that new conditions and new men might be existent in 1880. +Moreover, many Democratic leaders who could not be classed as selfish, +felt that Tilden, in securing the advantageous position of a reformer, +had misrepresented the real Democratic spirit and purpose in the +State. They deeply resented his course in calling about him, to the +exclusion of recognised and experienced party advisers, men whom he +could influence, who owed their distinction to his favour, and who +were consequently devoted to his fortunes. Upon some of these he +relied to secure Republican sympathy, while he depended upon +Democratic discipline to gain the full support of his party. If events +favoured his designs and the exigencies of an exciting Presidential +election concealed hostility, these conditions did not placate his +opponents, who began plotting his downfall the moment the great +historic contest ended. This opposition could be approximately +measured by the fact that the entire party press of the State, with +three exceptions, disclosed a distinct dislike of his methods.<a name="vol3FNanchor_829_829" id="vol3FNanchor_829_829"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_829_829" class="fnanchor">[829]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Tilden's friends held control. Governor Robinson, an +executive of remarkable force, sensitively obedient to principles of +honest government and bold in his utterances, remained at the head of +a devoted band which had hitherto found its career marked by triumph +after triumph, and whose influence was still powerful enough to rally +to its standard new men of strength as well as old leaders flushed +with recent victories. Robinson's courageous words espe<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.380" id="vol3Page_iii.380">iii. 380</a></span>cially engaged +the attention of thoughtful Democrats. He did not need to give reasons +for the opposition to John Bigelow, or the grievance against Charles +S. Fairchild, whose court docket sufficiently exposed the antagonism +between canal contractors and the faithful prosecutor. But in his +fascinating manner he told the story of the Attorney-General's heroic +firmness in refusing to release Tweed.<a name="vol3FNanchor_830_830" id="vol3FNanchor_830_830"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_830_830" class="fnanchor">[830]</a> In Robinson's opinion the +vicious classes, whose purposes discovered themselves in the +depredations of rings and weakness for plunder, were arrayed against +the better element of the party which had temporarily deprived the +wrong-doers of power, and he appealed to his friends to rescue +administrative reform from threatened defeat.</p> + +<p>The Governor was not unmindful of his weakness. Besides Tilden's loss +of prestige, the renomination of the old ticket encountered the +objection of a third term, aroused the personal antagonism of hundreds +of men who had suffered because of its zeal, and arrayed against it +all other influences that had become hostile to Tilden through envy or +otherwise during his active management of the party. Moreover, he +understood the cunning of John Kelly and the intrigue of his +lieutenants. Knowing that contesting delegations excluded precincts +from taking part in the temporary organisation, these men had sought +to weaken Tilden by creating fictitious contests in counties loyal to +him, thus offsetting John Morrissey's contest against Tammany. It was +a desperate struggle, and the only gleam of light that opened a way to +Tilden's continued success came from the action of the State +Committee, which gave David B. Hill of Chemung 19 votes for temporary +chairman to 14 for Clarkson N. Potter of New York. The victory, +ordinarily meaning the control of the Committee on Credentials, +restored hope if not confidence.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.381" id="vol3Page_iii.381">iii. 381</a></span></p> + +<p>Hill was the friend of Robinson. Although his name had not then become +a household word, he was by no means unknown throughout the State. He +had come into public life as city attorney in 1864 at the age of +twenty-one, and had shown political instincts for the most part +admirable. Of those to go to the Assembly in 1871 to aid in the work +of judicial purification, Hill was suggested by O'Conor and Tilden as +one of the trustworthy lawyers, and in February, 1872, when the +legislative committee began its investigation into the charges +presented by the Bar Association against Judges Barnard, Cardozo, +Ingraham, and McCunn with a view to their impeachment, Hill sat by the +side of Tilden. It was recognised that he belonged to the coterie of +able men who stood at the front of the reform movement.</p> + +<p>His personal habits, too, commended him. He seems to have been +absolved from the love of wine, and if the love of a good woman did +not win him, he created a substantial home among his books, and worked +while others feasted. He talked easily, he learned readily, and with +the earnestness of one who inherited an ambition for public life he +carefully equipped himself for a political as well as a professional +career. He had a robust, straightforward nature. Men liked his +courage, his earnestness, his effectiveness as a debater, and his +declared purposes which were thoroughly in unison with the spirit of +his party. But it was his boldness, tempered with firmness, which +justified Robinson in singling him out for chairman. Still, the +courage exhibited as a presiding officer in one of the stormiest +conventions that ever assembled in the Empire State did not win him +distinction.</p> + +<p>The Kelly opposition raised no question of principle. The platform +denounced the defeat of Tilden as due to fraud, applauded Hayes for +his Southern policy, declared for reapportionment of the State, and +bitterly assailed railroad subsidies. But it had no words of +unkindness for Tilden and Robinson. Indeed, with a most sublime +display of hypocrisy, Kelly pointed with pride to the fruits of their +admin<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.382" id="vol3Page_iii.382">iii. 382</a></span>istrations, made illustrious by canal reforms, economy, and the +relentless prosecution of profligate boards and swindling contractors, +and vied with the apostles of administrative reform in calling them +"fearless" and "honest," and in repudiating the suggestion of desiring +other directing spirits. His only issue involved candidates. Should it +be the old ticket or a new one? Should it be Bigelow for a third term, +or Beach, the choice of the ring? In opposing the old ticket several +delegates extended their hostility only to Bigelow; others included +the attorney-general. Only a few demanded an entire change. But +Tammany and the Canal ring tactfully combined these various elements +with a skill never before excelled in a State convention. Their +programme, sugar-coated with an alleged affection for Tilden, was +arranged to satisfy the whim of each delegate, while Robinson's +policy, heavily freighted with well doing, encountered the odium of a +third-term ticket.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the Governor's control of the chairmanship assured him +victory unless Hill yielded too much. But Kelly was cunning and quick. +After accepting Hill without dissent, he introduced a resolution +providing that the convention select the committee on contested seats. +To appoint this committee was the prerogative of the chairman, and +Hill, following Cornell's bold ruling in 1871, could have refused to +put the motion. When he hesitated delegates sprang to their feet and +enthroned pandemonium.<a name="vol3FNanchor_831_831" id="vol3FNanchor_831_831"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_831_831" class="fnanchor">[831]</a> During the cyclone of epithets and +invective John Morrissey for the last time opposed John Kelly in a +State convention. His shattered health, which had already changed +every lineament of a face that successfully resisted the blows of +Yankee Sullivan and John C. Heenan, poorly equipped him for the +prolonged strain of such an encounter, but he threw<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.383" id="vol3Page_iii.383">iii. 383</a></span> his envenomed +adjectives with the skill of a quoit-pitcher.</p> + +<p>Distributed about the hall were William Purcell, DeWitt C. West, +George M. Beebe, John D. Townsend, and other Tammany talkers, who had +a special aptitude for knockdown personalities which the metropolitan +side of a Democratic convention never failed to understand. Their loud +voices, elementary arguments, and simple quotations neither strained +the ears nor puzzled the heads of the audience, while their jibes and +jokes, unmistakable in meaning, sounded familiar and friendly. +Townsend, a lawyer of some prominence and counsel for Kelly, was an +effective and somewhat overbearing speaker, who had the advantage of +being sure of everything, and as he poured out his eloquence in +language of unmeasured condemnation of Morrissey, he held attention if +he did not enlighten with distracting novelty.</p> + +<p>Morrissey admitted he was wild in his youth, adding in a tone of +sincere penitence that if he could live his life over he would change +many things for which he was very sorry. "But no one, not even Tweed +who hates me," he exclaimed, pointing his finger across the aisle in +the direction of Kelly, "ever accused me of being a thief." +Morrissey's grammar was a failure. He clipped his words, repeated his +phrases, and lacked the poise of a public speaker, but his opponents +did not fail to understand what he meant. His eloquence was like that +of an Indian, its power being in its sententiousness, which probably +came from a limited vocabulary.</p> + +<p>At the opening of the convention Robinson's forces had a clear +majority,<a name="vol3FNanchor_832_832" id="vol3FNanchor_832_832"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_832_832" class="fnanchor">[832]</a> but in the presence of superior generalship, which +forced a roll-call before the settlement of contests, Tammany and the +Canal ring, by a vote of 169 to 114, passed into control. To Tilden's +friends it came as the death knell of hope, while their opponents, +wild with delight, turned the convention into a jubilee. "This is the +first Democratic triumph in the Democratic party since<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.384" id="vol3Page_iii.384">iii. 384</a></span> 1873," said +Jarvis Lord of Monroe. "It lets in the old set."<a name="vol3FNanchor_833_833" id="vol3FNanchor_833_833"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_833_833" class="fnanchor">[833]</a></p> + +<p>The adoption of the Credentials Committee's report seated Tammany, +made Clarkson N. Potter permanent chairman, and turned over the party +machine. Pursuing their victory the conquerors likewise nominated a +new ticket.<a name="vol3FNanchor_834_834" id="vol3FNanchor_834_834"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_834_834" class="fnanchor">[834]</a> Quarter was neither asked nor offered. Robinson had +squarely raised the issue that refusal to continue the old officials +would be repudiation of reform, and his friends, as firmly united in +defeat as in victory, voted with a calm indifference to the threats of +the allied power of canal ring and municipal corruptionists. Indeed, +their boast of going down with colours flying supplemented the +vigorous remark of the Governor that there could be no compromise with +Tweed and canal thieves.<a name="vol3FNanchor_835_835" id="vol3FNanchor_835_835"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_835_835" class="fnanchor">[835]</a></p> + +<p>This apparently disastrous result encouraged the hope that +Republicans, in spite of Conkling's indiscretion at Rochester, might +profit by it as they did in 1871. Upon the surface Republican +differences did not indicate bitterness. Except in the newspapers no +organised opposition to the Senator had appeared, and the only mass +meeting called to protest against the action of the Rochester +convention appealed for harmony and endorsed the Republican +candi<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.385" id="vol3Page_iii.385">iii. 385</a></span>dates.<a name="vol3FNanchor_836_836" id="vol3FNanchor_836_836"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_836_836" class="fnanchor">[836]</a> Even Curtis, the principal speaker, although +indulging in some trenchant criticism, limited his remarks to a +defence of the Administration. Nevertheless, the presence of William +J. Bacon, congressman from the Oneida district, who voiced an intense +admiration for the President and his policies, emphasised the fact +that the Senator's home people had elected a Hayes Republican. Indeed, +the Senator deemed it essential to establish an organ, and in October +(1877) the publication of the Utica <i>Republican</i> began under the +guidance of Lewis Lawrence, an intimate friend. It lived less than two +years, but while it survived it reflected the thoughts and feelings of +its sponsor.<a name="vol3FNanchor_837_837" id="vol3FNanchor_837_837"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_837_837" class="fnanchor">[837]</a></p> + +<p>The campaign presented several confusing peculiarities. Governor +Robinson in his letter to a Tammany meeting refused to mention the +Democratic candidates, and Tilden, after returning from Europe, +expressed the belief in his serenade speech that "any nominations that +did not promise coöperation in the reform policy which I had the +honour to inaugurate and which Governor Robinson is consummating will +be disowned by the Democratic masses."<a name="vol3FNanchor_838_838" id="vol3FNanchor_838_838"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_838_838" class="fnanchor">[838]</a> This was a body-blow to +the Ring. Its well-directed aim also struck the ticket with telling +effect, for its election involved the discontinuance of Fairchild's +spirited canal prosecutions. On the other hand, the adoption of the +recent amendment, substituting for the canal commission a +superintendent of public works to be appointed by the Governor, made +the election of Olcott and Seymour especially desirable, since it +would give Robinson and his reforms stronger support than Tilden had +in the State board. Yet it could not be denied that the success of the +Albany ticket would be construed as a defeat of Tilden's ascendency.</p> + +<p>Similar confusion possessed the Republican mind. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.386" id="vol3Page_iii.386">iii. 386</a></span> large body of men, +resenting the Rochester convention's covert condemnation of the +President's policies, hesitated to vote for candidates whose victory +would be attributed to Republican opposition to the Administration. +This singular political situation made a very languid State campaign. +An extra session of Congress called Conkling to Washington, Tilden +retired to Gramercy Park, the German-Independent organisation limited +its canvass to the metropolis, and the candidates of neither ticket +got a patient hearing. Other causes contributed to the Republican +dulness. Old leaders became inactive and government officials refused +to give money because of their interpretation of the President's civil +service order, while rawness and indifference made newer leaders +inefficient. After the October collapse in Ohio conditions became +hopelessly discouraging.<a name="vol3FNanchor_839_839" id="vol3FNanchor_839_839"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_839_839" class="fnanchor">[839]</a> The tide set more heavily in favour of +the Democracy, and each discordant Republican element, increasing its +distrust, practically ceased work lest the other profit by it.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the hunt for State senators, involving the election of a +United States Senator in 1879, provoked animated contests which +centred about the candidacy of John Morrissey, whom Republicans and +the combined anti-Tammany factions backed with spirit. Morrissey had +carried the Tweed district for senator in 1874, and the taunt that no +other neighbourhood would elect a notorious gambler and graduate of +the prize-ring goaded him into opposing Augustus Schell in one of the +fashionable districts of the metropolis. Schell had the advantage of +wealth, influence, long residence in the precinct, and the +enthusiastic support of Kelly, who turned the contest into a battle +for the prestige of victory. For the moment the fierceness of the +fight excited the hopes of Republicans that the State might be +carried, and to spread the influence of the warring Democratic +factions into all sections of the commonwealth,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.387" id="vol3Page_iii.387">iii. 387</a></span> Republican journals +made a combined attack upon Allen C. Beach.</p> + +<p>Like Sanford E. Church, Beach was a courteous, good-natured +politician, who tried to keep company with a canal ring and keep his +reputation above reproach. But his character did not refine under the +tests imposed upon it. His policy of seeming to know nothing had +resulted in doubling the cost of canal repairs during his four years +in office. A careful analysis of his record showed that only once did +he vote against the most extravagant demands of the predatory +contractors. This did not prove him guilty of corruption, "but when as +the steady servant of the canal ring," it was asked, "he voted +thousands and thousands of dollars, sometimes at the rate of a hundred +thousand a day, into the pockets of men whom he knew to be thieves, +and on claims which he must have known were full of fraud, was he not +lending himself to corruption?"<a name="vol3FNanchor_840_840" id="vol3FNanchor_840_840"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_840_840" class="fnanchor">[840]</a> This charge his opponents +circulated through many daily and scores of weekly papers, making the +weakness of his character appear more objectionable.</p> + +<p>To these attacks Beach affected an indifference which he did not +really feel, for the pride of a candidate who desires the respect of +his neighbours is not flattered by their distrust of his integrity. +Church had felt the iron enter his soul, and had Tilden and the +reformers rearoused the moral awakening that refused to tolerate the +Chief Justice in 1874, Beach must have fallen the victim of his +partiality to a coterie of political associates willing to benefit at +the expense of his ruin. As it was he received a plurality of 11,000, +while Seymour and Olcott, his associates upon the ticket, obtained +35,000 and 36,000 respectively.<a name="vol3FNanchor_841_841" id="vol3FNanchor_841_841"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_841_841" class="fnanchor">[841]</a></p> + +<p>The election of State senators in which Conkling had so vital an +interest exhibited the work of influential Hayes<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.388" id="vol3Page_iii.388">iii. 388</a></span> Republicans, who, +openly desiring his destruction, defeated his candidates in Brooklyn, +Rochester, and Utica.<a name="vol3FNanchor_842_842" id="vol3FNanchor_842_842"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_842_842" class="fnanchor">[842]</a> Nevertheless, by carrying eighteen of the +thirty-two districts he saved fighting ground for himself in the +succeeding year.<a name="vol3FNanchor_843_843" id="vol3FNanchor_843_843"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_843_843" class="fnanchor">[843]</a> Indeed, he was able to point to the popular vote +and declare that he was as strong in New York as the President was in +Ohio. It was known, too, that if Morrissey survived, the Senator would +profit by the prize-fighter's remarkable majority of nearly 4,000 over +Augustus Schell, a victory which ranked as the crowning achievement of +the senatorial campaign.<a name="vol3FNanchor_844_844" id="vol3FNanchor_844_844"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_844_844" class="fnanchor">[844]</a> But Morrissey, prostrated by his +exertions, did not live to reciprocate. He spent the winter in Florida +and the early spring in Saratoga. Finally, after the loss of speech, +his right arm, which had so severely punished Yankee Sullivan, became +paralysed, and on May 1 (1878) Lieutenant-governor Dorsheimer +announced his death to the Senate. "It is doubtful," added a colleague +in eulogy, "if such boldness and daring in political annals were ever +shown as he displayed in his last canvass."<a name="vol3FNanchor_845_845" id="vol3FNanchor_845_845"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_845_845" class="fnanchor">[845]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.389" id="vol3Page_iii.389">iii. 389</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XXX" id="vol3CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX</h2> + +<h2>GREENBACKERS SERVE REPUBLICANS</h2> + +<h2>1878</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">While</span> Democrats rejoiced over their victory in 1877, a new +combination, the elements of which had attracted little or no +attention, was destined to cause serious disturbance. Greenbackism had +not invaded New York in 1874-5, when it flourished so luxuriantly in +Ohio, Indiana, and other Western States. Even after the party had +nominated Peter Cooper for President in 1876, it polled in the Empire +State less than 1,500 votes for its candidate for governor, and in +1877, having put Francis E. Spinner, the well-known treasurer of the +United States, at the head of its ticket, its vote fell off to less +than 1,000.</p> + +<p>Meantime the labour organisations, discontented because of long +industrial inaction, had formed a Labour Reform party. This +organisation gradually increased its strength, until, in 1877, it +polled over 20,000 votes. Encouraged by success its leaders held a +convention at Toledo, Ohio, on February 22 (1878), and resolved to +continue the Cooper movement. It resented the resumption of specie +payment, favoured absolute paper money, and demanded payment of the +public debt in greenbacks. On May 10 the executive council, calling +themselves Nationalists, coalesced with the Greenbackers, and issued a +call for a National Greenback Labour Reform convention to assemble at +Syracuse on July 25. This sudden extension of the movement attracted +widespread attention, and although the convention was marked by great +turbulence and guided by inconspicuous leaders, it seemed as if by +magic to take possession of a popular issue which gathered about its +standard thousands of ear<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.390" id="vol3Page_iii.390">iii. 390</a></span>nest men. Gideon J. Tucker, a former +Democratic secretary of state, who had led the Americans in 1859, was +nominated for judge of the Court of Appeals. To its platform it added +declarations favouring a protective tariff and excluding the Chinese.</p> + +<p>The treatment of the Greenback question earlier in the year by the +older parties had materially strengthened the Nationalists. Democratic +conventions distinctly favoured their chief issue, and Republicans +employed loose and vague expressions. So accomplished and experienced +a politician as Thurlow Weed complimented the bold declarations of +Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts, who had left the Republicans to +become the independent leader of a vast mass of voters that accepted +his Greenback theories and joined in his sneers at honest money. +Republican congressmen, returning from Washington, told how their +party held Greenback views and why Greenbackers ought to support it. +The Secretary of the Republican Congressional Committee practically +announced himself a Greenback Republican, and Blaine's position seemed +equivocal. During the entire financial debate in Congress, Conkling +said nothing to mould public opinion upon the question of sound money, +while the Utica <i>Republican</i>, his organ, thought it a "mistake to +array the Republican party, which originated the Greenback, as an +exclusively hard-money party.... It is not safe or wise to make the +finances a party question."<a name="vol3FNanchor_846_846" id="vol3FNanchor_846_846"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_846_846" class="fnanchor">[846]</a> As late as July 30, the evening +preceding the Maine convention, Blaine objected to the phrase "gold or +its equivalent," preferring the word "coin," which subsequently +appeared in the platform.</p> + +<p>The election in Maine, hailed with joy by every organ of the Greenback +movement, showed how profound was the political disturbance. The +result made it plain that the chief political issue was one of common +honesty, and that an alliance of Democratic and Greenback interests +threatened Republican ascendency. In the presence of such dan<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.391" id="vol3Page_iii.391">iii. 391</a></span>ger +Republican leaders, recognising that harmony could alone secure +victory, called a State convention to meet at Saratoga on September +26. As the time for this important event approached the impression +deepened that real harmony must rest upon an acceptance of the +President's plea for honest money and the honest payment of the +nation's bonds. The word "coin" seemed insufficient, since both coin +and currency should be kept at par with gold, and although this would +make Republicans "an exclusively hard-money party," which Conkling's +organ characterised as a "mistake," the common danger proved a +sufficient magnet to unite the two factions on a platform declaring +that national pledges should be redeemed in letter and spirit, that +there should be no postponement of resumption, and that permanent +prosperity could rest alone on the fixed monetary standard of the +commercial world.</p> + +<p>To further exclude just cause of offence Conkling, in accepting the +chairmanship of the convention, broke his long silence upon the +currency question, and without sarcasm or innuendo honoured the +President by closely following the latter's clear, compact, and +convincing speeches on hard money. George William Curtis led in the +frequent applause. Speaking of convention harmony the <i>Times</i> declared +that during the address "there seemed to be something in the air which +made children of strong men. Many of the delegates were affected to +tears."<a name="vol3FNanchor_847_847" id="vol3FNanchor_847_847"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_847_847" class="fnanchor">[847]</a> Curtis also stirred genuine enthusiasm. He had not been +captious as to the form of the platform. To him it sufficed if the +convention keyed its resolutions to the President's note for sound +money, which had become the Administration's chief work, and although +the spectacle of Curtis applauding and supplementing Conkling's speech +seemed as marvellous as it was unexpected, it did not appear out of +place. Indeed, the environment at Saratoga differed so radically from +conditions at Rochester that it required a vivid fancy to picture +these men as the hot combatants of the year before. The bril<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.392" id="vol3Page_iii.392">iii. 392</a></span>liant, +closely packed Rochester audience, the glare of a hundred gas jets, +and an atmosphere surcharged with intense hostility, had given place +to gray daylight, a sullen sky, and a morning assemblage tempered into +harmony by threatened danger. The absence of the picturesque greatly +disappointed the audience. The labour of reading a speech from printed +proofs marred Conkling's oratory, and Curtis' effort to compliment the +President without arousing resentment spoiled the rhetorical finish +that usually made his speeches enjoyable. But the prudence of the +speakers and the cordial reception of the platform proved thoroughly +acceptable to the delegates, who nominated George F. Danforth for the +Court of Appeals and then separated with the feeling that the State +might be redeemed.<a name="vol3FNanchor_848_848" id="vol3FNanchor_848_848"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_848_848" class="fnanchor">[848]</a></p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Democratic State convention which assembled at Syracuse +on September 25 became more violent and boisterous than its +predecessor. Confident of defeat unless Tammany participated in the +preliminary organisation, John Kelly, through his control of the State +Committee, secured Albert P. Laning of Erie for temporary chairman. +Laning ruled that the roll of delegates as made up by the State +committee should be called except those from New York and Kings, and +as to these he reserved his decision. In obedience thereto the vote of +uncontested delegations stood 132 to 154 in favour of Tilden and +Robinson, whereas the admission of Tammany and Kings would make it 181 +to 195 in favour of Kelly. Would the chair include these contested +delegations in the roll-call? To admit one side and exclude the other +before the settlement of a contest was a monstrous proposition. The +history of conventions did not furnish a supporting precedent. +Nevertheless, Laning, wishing to succeed Dorsheimer as +lieutenant-governor in 1879 and relying upon Tammany to nominate<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.393" id="vol3Page_iii.393">iii. 393</a></span> and +elect him, had evidenced a disposition to rule in the Boss's favour, +and when, at last, he did so, the angry convention sprang to its feet. +For three hours it acted like wild men.<a name="vol3FNanchor_849_849" id="vol3FNanchor_849_849"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_849_849" class="fnanchor">[849]</a> Under a demand for the +previous question Laning refused to recognise the Tilden delegates, +and the latter's tumult drowned the voice of the chair. Finally, +physical exhaustion having restored quiet, Kings County declined to +vote and Tammany was added without being called. This left the result +154 to 195 in favour of John Kelly. An hour later Laning, hissed and +lampooned, left the convention unthanked and unhonoured.</p> + +<p>But having gotten into the convention Tammany found it had not gotten +into power. The Tilden forces endorsed Robinson's administration, +refused to dicker with Greenbackers, whom Kelly was suspected of +favouring, and assuaged their passion by nominating George B. Bradley +of Steuben for the Court of Appeals. While Tammany was looking for +votes to get in on, it bargained with St. Lawrence to support William +H. Sawyer, whose success seemed certain. On the second ballot, +however, Bradley's vote ran up to 194, while Sawyer's stopped at 183. +This left Kelly nothing but a majority of the State committee, which +was destined, in the hour of great need, to be of little service.</p> + +<p>Throughout the State the several parties put local candidates in the +field. The Greenbackers, exhibiting the activity of a young and +confident organisation, uniformly made congressional and legislative +nominations. In one congressional district they openly combined with +the Democrats, and in several localities their candidates announced an +intention of coöperating with the Democratic party. In the metropolis +the various anti-Tammany factions supported independent candidates for +Congress and combined with Republicans in nominating a city ticket +with Edward<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.394" id="vol3Page_iii.394">iii. 394</a></span> Cooper for mayor.<a name="vol3FNanchor_850_850" id="vol3FNanchor_850_850"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_850_850" class="fnanchor">[850]</a> Kelly, acting for Tammany, +selected Augustus Schell. This alignment made the leaders of the +combined opposition sanguine of victory. It added also to the +confidence of Republicans that the Greenbackers were certain to draw +more largely from the ranks of the Democrats.</p> + +<p>The difference between the Syracuse and Saratoga platforms was +significant. Democrats declared "gold and silver, and paper +convertible into coin at the will of the holder, the only currency of +the country."<a name="vol3FNanchor_851_851" id="vol3FNanchor_851_851"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_851_851" class="fnanchor">[851]</a> Convertible into what kind of coin? it was asked. +Coin of depreciated value, or the fixed monetary standard of the +commercial world? The <i>Nation</i> thought "this platform not noticeable +for strength or directness of statement."<a name="vol3FNanchor_852_852" id="vol3FNanchor_852_852"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_852_852" class="fnanchor">[852]</a> The Republican plank +was clearer. "We insist that the greenback shall be made as good as +honest coin ... that our currency shall be made the best currency, by +making all parts of it, whether paper or coin, equivalent, +convertible, secure, and steady."<a name="vol3FNanchor_853_853" id="vol3FNanchor_853_853"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_853_853" class="fnanchor">[853]</a> As the campaign advanced a +resistless tendency to force the older parties into the open made it +plain that if the Democrats did not say just what they meant, the +Republicans meant more than they said, for their speakers and the +press uniformly declared that the greenback, which had carried the +country triumphantly through the war, must be made as good as gold. +Meantime the Democratic leaders realised that "fiat" money had a +strange fascination for many of their party.</p> + +<p>To add to Democratic embarrassment the <i>Tribune</i>, in the midst of the +canvass, began its publication of the cipher despatches which had +passed between Tilden's personal friends and trusted associates during +the closing and exciting months of 1876.<a name="vol3FNanchor_854_854" id="vol3FNanchor_854_854"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_854_854" class="fnanchor">[854]</a> The shameful story, +revealed by<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.395" id="vol3Page_iii.395">iii. 395</a></span> the <i>Tribune's</i> discovered key to the cipher, made a +profound impression. As shown elsewhere the important telegrams passed +between Manton Marble and Smith M. Weed on one side, and Henry +Havermeyer and William T. Pelton, Tilden's nephew, on the other.<a name="vol3FNanchor_855_855" id="vol3FNanchor_855_855"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_855_855" class="fnanchor">[855]</a> +Marble had called McLin of the Florida board an "ague-smitten pariah" +for having charged him with attempted bribery, but these translated +telegrams corroborated McLin. Moreover, notwithstanding Tilden's +comprehensive and explicit denial, it sorely taxed the people's faith +to believe him disconnected with the correspondence, since the corrupt +bargaining by which he was to profit was carried on in his own house +by a nephew, who, it was said, would scarcely have ventured on a +transaction so seriously affecting his uncle's reputation without the +latter's knowledge. "Of their [telegrams] effect in ruining Mr. +Tilden's fortunes, or what was left of them," said the <i>Nation</i>, +"there seems no doubt."<a name="vol3FNanchor_856_856" id="vol3FNanchor_856_856"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_856_856" class="fnanchor">[856]</a> Whatever of truth this prophecy +contained, the revelation of the cipher despatches greatly +strengthened the Republican party and brought to a tragic end Clarkson +N. Potter's conspicuous failure to stain the President.<a name="vol3FNanchor_857_857" id="vol3FNanchor_857_857"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_857_857" class="fnanchor">[857]</a></p> + +<p>The result of the October elections likewise encouraged Republicans. +It indicated that the Greenback movement, which threatened to sweep +the country as with a tornado, had been stayed if not finally +arrested, and thenceforth greater activity characterised the canvass. +Conkling spoke<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.396" id="vol3Page_iii.396">iii. 396</a></span> often; Woodford, who had done yeoman service in the +West, repeated his happily illustrated arguments; and Evarts crowded +Cooper Union. In the same hall Edwards Pierrepont, fresh from the +Court of St. James, made a strenuous though belated appeal. Speaking +for the Democrats, Kernan advocated the gold standard, declaring it +essential to commercial and the workingmen's prosperity. Erastus +Brooks shared the same view, and Dorsheimer, with his exquisite choice +of words, endeavoured to explain it to a Tammany mass meeting. John +Kelly, cold, unyielding, precise, likewise talked. There was little +elasticity about him. He dominated Tammany like a martinet, naming its +tickets, selecting its appointees, and outlining its policies. Indeed, +his rule had developed so distinctly into a one-man power that four +anti-Tammany organisations had at last combined with the Republicans +in one supreme effort to crush him, and with closed ranks and firm +purpose this coalition exhibited an unwavering earnestness seldom +presented in a local campaign.<a name="vol3FNanchor_858_858" id="vol3FNanchor_858_858"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_858_858" class="fnanchor">[858]</a> It was intimated that Kelly having +in mind his reappointment as city comptroller in 1880, sought +surreptitiously to aid Cooper.<a name="vol3FNanchor_859_859" id="vol3FNanchor_859_859"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_859_859" class="fnanchor">[859]</a> Kelly saw his danger. He +recognised the power of his opponents, the weakness of Schell whom he +had himself named for mayor, and the strength of Cooper, a son of the +distinguished philanthropist, whose independence of character had +brought an honourable career; but the assertion that the Boss, bowing +to the general public sentiment, gave Cooper support must be dismissed +with the apocryphal story that Conkling was in close alliance with +Tammany. Doubtless Kelly's disturbed mind saw clearly that he must +eventually divide his foes to recover lost prestige. Nevertheless, it +was after November 5, the day of Tammany's blighting overthrow, that +he shaped his next political move.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.397" id="vol3Page_iii.397">iii. 397</a></span></p><p>The election returns disclosed that the greatly increased +Greenback-Labour vote, aggregating 75,000, had correspondingly +weakened the Democratic party, especially in the metropolis, thus +electing Danforth to the Court of Appeals, Cooper as mayor, the entire +anti-Tammany-Republican ticket, a large majority of Republican +assemblymen, and twenty-six Republican congressmen, being a net gain +of eight.<a name="vol3FNanchor_860_860" id="vol3FNanchor_860_860"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_860_860" class="fnanchor">[860]</a> Indeed, the divisive Greenback vote had produced a +phenomenal crop of Republican assemblymen. After the crushing defeat +of the Liberal movement in 1872 the Republicans obtained the +unprecedented number of ninety-one. Now they had ninety-eight, with +nineteen hold-over senators, giving them a safe working majority in +each body and seventy-six on joint ballot. This insured the +re-election of Senator Conkling, which occurred without Republican +opposition on January 21, 1879. One month later the Utica <i>Republican</i> +closed its career. While its existence probably gratified the founder, +it had done little more than furnish opponents with material for +effective criticism.</p> + +<p>The Democrats, who supported Lieutenant-governor Dorsheimer for United +States senator, protested against granting Conkling a certificate of +election because no alteration of senate or assembly districts had +occurred since the enumeration of 1875, as required by the +constitution, making the existing legislature, it was claimed, a +legislature <i>de facto</i> and not <i>de jure</i>. This was a new way of +presenting an old grievance. For years unjust inequality of +representation had fomented strife, but more recently the rapid growth +of New York and Brooklyn had made the disparity more conspicuous, +while continued Republican control of the Senate had created intense +bitterness. In fact, a tabulated statement of the inequality between +senatorial districts enraged a Democrat as quickly as a red flag +infuriated<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.398" id="vol3Page_iii.398">iii. 398</a></span> the proverbial bull.<a name="vol3FNanchor_861_861" id="vol3FNanchor_861_861"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_861_861" class="fnanchor">[861]</a> Although the caucus refused to +adopt the protest, it issued an address showing that New York and +Kings were entitled to ten senators instead of seven and forty-one +assemblymen instead of thirty-one. These additional members, all +belonging to Democratic districts, said the address, are now awarded +to twelve counties represented by Republicans. The deep indignation +excited throughout the State by such manifest injustice resulted in a +new apportionment which transferred one assemblyman from each of six +Republican counties to New York and Kings. This did not correct the +greater injustice in the senatorial districts, however, and in +permitting the measure to become a law without his signature Governor +Robinson declared that the "deprivation of 150,000 inhabitants in New +York and Kings of their proper representation admits of no apology or +excuse."<a name="vol3FNanchor_862_862" id="vol3FNanchor_862_862"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_862_862" class="fnanchor">[862]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.399" id="vol3Page_iii.399">iii. 399</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XXXI" id="vol3CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI</h2> + +<h2>REMOVAL OF ARTHUR AND CORNELL</h2> + +<h2>1878-9</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">One</span> week before the election of 1877 President Hayes nominated +Theodore Roosevelt for collector of customs, L. Bradford Prince for +naval officer, and Edwin A. Merritt for surveyor, in place of Chester +A. Arthur, Alonzo B. Cornell, and George H. Sharpe.<a name="vol3FNanchor_863_863" id="vol3FNanchor_863_863"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_863_863" class="fnanchor">[863]</a> The terms of +Arthur and Cornell had not expired, and although their removal had +been canvassed and expected for several months, its coming shocked the +party and increased the disgust of the organisation. George William +Curtis, with the approval of Evarts, urged the promotion of James L. +Benedict for collector, a suggestion which the Secretary of the +Treasury stoutly opposed. If Arthur, the latter argued, was to be +removed because of his identification with a system of administration +which the President desired to abolish, no reason existed for +promoting one who had made no effort to reform that system. No one +questioned Roosevelt's ability, high character, and fitness for the +place, but to those who resented the removal of Arthur his nomination +was an offence.</p> + +<p>Chester A. Arthur had succeeded Thomas Murphy as collector of the port +in November, 1871. He was then forty-seven years old, a lawyer of fair +standing and a citizen of good repute. He had studied under the +tuition of his clergyman father, graduated at Union College, taught +school in his native Vermont, cast a first vote for Winfield Scott,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.400" id="vol3Page_iii.400">iii. 400</a></span> +and joined the Republican party at its organisation. At the outbreak +of the rebellion Governor Morgan appointed him quartermaster-general, +his important duties, limited to the preparation and forwarding of +troops to the seat of war, being performed with great credit. When +Seymour succeeded Morgan in 1863 Arthur resumed his law practice, +securing some years later profitable employment as counsel for the +department of city assessments and taxes.</p> + +<p>From the first Arthur showed a liking for public life. He was the +gentleman in politics. The skill of an artist tailor exhibited his +tall, graceful figure at its best, and his shapely hands were +immaculately gloved. His hat advertised the latest fashion just as his +exquisite necktie indicated the proper colour.<a name="vol3FNanchor_864_864" id="vol3FNanchor_864_864"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_864_864" class="fnanchor">[864]</a> He was equally +particular about his conduct. Whatever his environment he observed the +details of court etiquette. His stately elegance of manner easily +unbent without loss of dignity, and although his volatile spirits and +manner of living gave him the appearance of a <i>bon vivant</i>, lively and +jocose, with less devotion to work than to society, it was noticeable +that he attracted men of severer mould as easily as those vivacious +and light-hearted associates who called him "Chet." While Fenton, +after Greeley's failure as a leader, was gathering the broken threads +of party management into a compact and aggressive organisation, Arthur +enjoyed the respect and confidence of every local leader, who +appreciated his wise reticence and perennial courtesy, blended with an +ability to control restless and suspicious politicians by timely hints +and judicious suggestions. Indeed, people generally, irrespective of +party, esteemed him highly because of his kindness of heart, his +conciliatory disposition, his lively sense of humour, and his +sympathetic attention to the interests of those<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.401" id="vol3Page_iii.401">iii. 401</a></span> about him. He was +neither self-opinionated, argumentative, nor domineering, but tactful, +considerate, and persuasive. There was also freedom from prejudice, +quickness of decision, a precise knowledge of details, and a +flexibility of mind that enabled him to adapt himself easily to +changing conditions.</p> + +<p>When Conkling finally wrested the Federal patronage from Fenton and +secured to himself the favour and confidence of the Grant +administration, Arthur bivouacked with the senior Senator so quietly +and discreetly that Greeley accepted his appointment as collector +without criticism. "He is a young man of fair abilities," said the +editor, "and of unimpeached private character. He has filled no such +rôle in public affairs as should entitle him to so important and +responsible a part, but as things go, his is an appointment of fully +average fitness and acceptability. With the man we have no difference; +with the system that made him collector we have a deadly quarrel. He +was Mr. Murphy's personal choice, and he was chosen because it is +believed he can run the machine of party politics better than any of +our great merchants."<a name="vol3FNanchor_865_865" id="vol3FNanchor_865_865"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_865_865" class="fnanchor">[865]</a></p> + +<p>In party initiative Arthur's judgment and modesty aided him in +avoiding the repellent methods of Murphy. He did not wait for +emergencies to arise, but considering them in advance as possible +contingencies, he exercised an unobtrusive but masterful authority +when the necessity for action came. He played an honest game of +diplomacy. What others did with Machiavellian intrigue or a cynical +indifference to ways and means, he accomplished with the cards on the +table in plain view, and with motives and objects frankly disclosed. +No one ever thought his straightforward methods clumsy, or +unbusinesslike, or deficient in cleverness. In like manner he studied +the business needs of the customs service, indicating to the Secretary +of the Treasury the flagrant use of backstair wiles, and pointing<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.402" id="vol3Page_iii.402">iii. 402</a></span> out +to him ways of reform.<a name="vol3FNanchor_866_866" id="vol3FNanchor_866_866"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_866_866" class="fnanchor">[866]</a> He sought in good faith to secure +efficiency and honesty, and if he had not been pinioned as with ball +and chain to a system as old as the custom-house itself, and upon +which every political boss from DeWitt Clinton to Roscoe Conkling had +relied for advantage, he would doubtless have reformed existing +peculation and irregularities among inspectors, weighers, gaugers, +examiners, samplers, and appraisers.<a name="vol3FNanchor_867_867" id="vol3FNanchor_867_867"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_867_867" class="fnanchor">[867]</a> Until this army of placemen +could be taken out of politics Secretary Sherman refused to believe it +possible to make the custom-house "the best managed business agency of +the government," and as Arthur seemed an inherent part of the system +itself, the President wished to try Theodore Roosevelt.<a name="vol3FNanchor_868_868" id="vol3FNanchor_868_868"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_868_868" class="fnanchor">[868]</a> It is +safe to conclude, judging the father's work by the later achievements +of his illustrious son, that the Chief Executive's choice would have +accomplished the result had Conkling allowed him to undertake it.</p> + +<p>When Conkling felt himself at ease, in congenial society, he displayed +his mastery of irony and banter, neither hesitating to air his opinion +of persons nor shrinking from admissions which were candid to the +verge of cynicism. At such times he had not veiled his intense dislike +of the Administration. After Hayes's election his conversation +discovered as aggressive a spirit as he had exhibited at Rochester, +speaking of the Secretary of State as "little Evarts," and charging +the President with appointing "a Democratic cabinet," whose principal +labour had been "to withdraw Republican support from me." Apropos of +Schurz, he told a story of the man who disbelieved the Bible because +he didn't write it. He criticised the Republican<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.403" id="vol3Page_iii.403">iii. 403</a></span> press for praising +Tilden as governor and "lampooning" him as a candidate for the +presidency, pronounced Packard's title as good as Hayes's, and +declared the President's "objectionable and dishonourable" record +consisted not in the withdrawal of the troops but in bargaining with +Southerners. "Every man knows," he said, "that on the face of the +returns Packard was more elected than Hayes. You cannot present those +returns in any form that will not give more legality to Packard as +Governor than to Hayes as President. People say this man assumes all +the virtues of reform in an office which he has gained by the simple +repudiation of the ladder that lifted him. It is the general record of +usurpers that though sustained they do their favours to the other +side.... I have no faith in a President whose only distinct act is +ingratitude to the men who voted for him and to the party which gave +him its fealty. In the domain and forum of honour that sense of Mr. +Hayes's infidelity stands forward and challenges him. It is felt by +honest men all over the country. He smiles and showers on the +opposition the proofs of a disturbed mind."</p> + +<p>Speaking of the civil service order the Senator was no less severe. +"That celebrated reformatory order was factional in its intent, made +in the interests of envious and presuming little men. Sherman +(secretary of the treasury) goes out to Ohio and makes speeches in +defiance of it; McCrary (secretary of war) goes to Iowa and manages a +convention in spite of it; and Devens (attorney-general) says the +order meant itself to be disobeyed, and that the way to obey it was to +violate it."<a name="vol3FNanchor_869_869" id="vol3FNanchor_869_869"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_869_869" class="fnanchor">[869]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.404" id="vol3Page_iii.404">iii. 404</a></span></p> +<p>Conkling's criticism of the fitful execution of the civil service +order was not too severe. Instead of justifying the expectations he +had aroused by vigorously enforcing the principles of his letter of +acceptance and inaugural address, the President, as if inthralled by +some mysterious spell, had discredited his professions by his +performances. The establishment of a real change in the system of +appointments and of office-holding control invited a severe contest, +and success depended upon the courage and conviction of the +Administration itself. For firmness, however, Hayes substituted +hesitation, compromise, and in some instances surrender. Numerous +cases were cited in proof of this criticism, notably the reappointment +of Chauncey I. Filley, postmaster at St. Louis, whom George William +Curtis pronounced the most conspicuous office-holder in the country +for his active manipulation of politics. "He is a shining example of +'the thing to be reformed.'"<a name="vol3FNanchor_870_870" id="vol3FNanchor_870_870"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_870_870" class="fnanchor">[870]</a></p> + +<p>The President's removal of Arthur and Cornell, it was argued, was no +less irrational. In failing to charge them with inefficiency he +subjected himself to the graver charge of inconsistency, since his +letter of acceptance and inaugural address declared in substance that +efficient officers would be retained. The President meant, his friends +assumed, that political activity nullified efficiency, to which +opponents replied that the President, after inviting Arthur to carry +out the recommendations of the Jay Commission, had condoned the +collector's wrong-doing if any existed, making him an agent for +reform, and that his subsequent removal was simply in the interest of +faction. Cornell's<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.405" id="vol3Page_iii.405">iii. 405</a></span> case likewise presented a peg upon which to hang +severe criticism, since the Administration, when asked for the reason +of his removal, dodged the decisive one. Such inconsistency showed +timidity and confusion instead of courage and conviction, +disappointing to friends and ridiculous to opponents.</p> + +<p>Conkling made use of these and other points. Indeed, for more than six +weeks after Congress convened he bent all his energies and diplomacy +to defeat the confirmation of Roosevelt and Prince. That a Republican +senator might be substituted for a Democrat on the commerce committee, +of which he was chairman and to which the nominations were referred, +he delayed action until a reorganisation of the Senate. Finally, in a +forceful and pathetic speech, regarded by colleagues as his most +impressive address,<a name="vol3FNanchor_871_871" id="vol3FNanchor_871_871"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_871_871" class="fnanchor">[871]</a> he illuminated what he deemed an act of +injustice to Arthur and Cornell. It was less bitter perhaps than that +in the contest with Fenton over the confirmation of Thomas Murphy, but +no less carefully worked up and quite as successful. To the +consternation of the Administration, which relied upon a solid +Democratic party, the Senator won by a decisive vote, having the +support of several Democrats and of all the Republicans except five.</p> + +<p>It was an important victory for Conkling, who must soon begin another +canvass for members of the Legislature. It sent a thrill of joy +through the ranks of his friends, renewed the courage of +office-holding lieutenants, and compelled the Administration's +supporters to admit that the President was "chiefly to blame."<a name="vol3FNanchor_872_872" id="vol3FNanchor_872_872"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_872_872" class="fnanchor">[872]</a> +Moreover, the cordial support given Conkling by Blaine created the +impression that it had led to their complete reconciliation, a belief +strengthened by a conversation that subsequently occurred between them +on the floor of the Senate Chamber in full view of crowded galleries. +David Davis had added to the tableau by putting an arm around each, +thus giving the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.406" id="vol3Page_iii.406">iii. 406</a></span> meeting the appearance of an unusually friendly +one.<a name="vol3FNanchor_873_873" id="vol3FNanchor_873_873"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_873_873" class="fnanchor">[873]</a></p> + +<p>But the President, if he had previously omitted to say what he meant, +determined not to surrender, and on July 11 (1878), after the +adjournment of Congress, he suspended Arthur and Cornell and appointed +Edwin A. Merritt and Silas W. Burt. Arthur's suspension did not +involve his integrity. Nor was any distinct charge lodged against +Cornell. Their removal rested simply upon the plea that the interests +of the public service demanded it, and the death of Roosevelt very +naturally opened the way for Merritt.<a name="vol3FNanchor_874_874" id="vol3FNanchor_874_874"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_874_874" class="fnanchor">[874]</a></p> + +<p>All his life Merritt had been serviceable and handy in politics. After +holding successively several local offices in St. Lawrence, the people +sent him to the Assembly in 1859 and in 1860. When the rebellion began +he entered the quartermaster's and commissary departments, and at its +close served as quartermaster-general of the State until appointed +naval officer in 1869, an office which he lost in 1870 when Conkling +got control of the patronage. Then he followed Fenton and Greeley into +the Liberal party, but returning with other leaders in 1874, he +accepted the nomination for State treasurer in 1875, the year when +administrative reform accelerated Tilden's run for the White House. +This made him eligible for surveyor, an office to which he had been +confirmed in December, 1877. His unsought promotion to the +collectorship, however, was a testimonial to his ability. Whatever +Merritt touched he improved. Whether quartermaster, naval officer, or +surveyor, he attended rigorously to duty, enforcing the law fairly and +without favour, and disciplining his force into a high state of +efficiency, so that revenues increased, expenses diminished, and +corruption talk ceased. In selecting him for collector, therefore, the +President had secured the right type of man.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Hayes's action roiled the political waters. Conkling's +friends accused the President of violating his<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.407" id="vol3Page_iii.407">iii. 407</a></span> own principles, of +endeavouring to set up a new machine, and of grossly insulting the +Senator. On the other hand, Administration supporters maintained that +the law authorising removals was as obligatory as that empowering a +senator to advise and consent to appointments, and that in removing +Arthur the President did not insult Conkling any more than Conkling +insulted the President by rejecting the nomination of Roosevelt. This +renewal of an ugly quarrel was auguring ill for the Republicans, when +the organisation of the National Greenback-Labour-Reform party, +suddenly presenting a question which involved the integrity and +welfare of the country, put factional quarrels and personal politics +into eclipse.</p> + +<p>Conkling had exhibited both tact and skill in that campaign. He did +not lead the gold column. In fact, it was not until the last moment +that the Saratoga committee on resolutions which he dominated, +substituted "the fixed monetary standard of the commercial world" for +the word "coin." But after the guide-boards pointed the way he became +a powerful champion of hard money. Besides, the moderation and good +temper with which he discussed the doctrine of the inflationists did +much to hold dissenters within the party and justly entitled him to +high praise. His unanimous re-election to the Senate followed as a +matter of course. Not that unanimity of action implied unanimity of +feeling. It was rather, perhaps, a yielding to the necessity of the +situation.<a name="vol3FNanchor_875_875" id="vol3FNanchor_875_875"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_875_875" class="fnanchor">[875]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, to all appearances Conkling had recovered the prestige +lost at Rochester. His conduct at the convention and in the campaign +excited the hope, also, that he would drop his opposition to Merritt +and Burt. Such a course commended itself to the judgment of a large +ma<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.408" id="vol3Page_iii.408">iii. 408</a></span>jority of the New York delegation in Congress as well as to many +stout legislative friends; but re-election seemed to have hardened his +heart, and when, ten days after that event, he rose in the Senate to +defeat confirmation he exhibited the confidence of the man of +Gath.<a name="vol3FNanchor_876_876" id="vol3FNanchor_876_876"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_876_876" class="fnanchor">[876]</a></p> + +<p>Prior to his re-election Conkling had not voluntarily moved in the +matter. To him the settlement of one thing at a time sufficed. Early +in January, however, the Secretary of the Treasury, on his own +initiative and with the skill of a veteran legislator, had addressed +the President of the Senate, setting forth that Arthur's conduct of +the custom-house was neither efficient nor economical. To this Arthur +answered, denying inattention to business or loss of revenue, and +affirming that he had recommended a system of reform upon which the +Secretary had not acted.<a name="vol3FNanchor_877_877" id="vol3FNanchor_877_877"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_877_877" class="fnanchor">[877]</a> After the reception of this letter +Conkling demanded immediate action. But the Senate, by two majority, +preferred to wait for Sherman's replication, and when that statement +came the Senate again, by a vote of 35 to 26, put off action until the +document, with its many exhibits, could be carefully examined.<a name="vol3FNanchor_878_878" id="vol3FNanchor_878_878"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_878_878" class="fnanchor">[878]</a> +These delays augured ill for the Senator. It appeared that a +Democratic member of his own committee had left him, and on the day +fixed for consideration other Democrats, while calmly discussing the +matter, disclosed a disposition to desert. Alarmed at their loss +Conkling suddenly moved to recommit, which was carried by a <i>viva +voce</i> vote amidst shouts of approval and whispered assurances that +further action should be deferred until a Democratic Senate convened +on March 4. Then some one demanded the yeas and nays.</p> + +<p>Believing the matter practically settled, Conkling, to improve the +last chance "of freeing his mind," he said, unex<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.409" id="vol3Page_iii.409">iii. 409</a></span>pectedly took the +floor, and for more than an hour, with a bitterness and eloquence not +excelled at Rochester, assailed the President and those associated +with him. To illustrate the insincerity of the Administration's desire +to reform the civil service he read several place-seeking letters +addressed to Arthur while collector and written by the President's +private secretary, by a member of the Cabinet, and other reformers. +One letter sought a position for the son of Justice Bradley, who had +figured conspicuously on the Electoral Commission. Such a scene had +never before been witnessed in the Senate. Exclamations of mock +surprise followed by fun-making questions and loud laughter added to +the grotesque exhibition. It was so ludicrous as to become pitiful and +painful. Although no particular harm was done to anybody, the +Government for the moment was made ridiculous.</p> + +<p>At times Conkling was blessed with the gift of offence, and on this +occasion he seems to have exercised it to its full capacity. Before he +began speaking the Senate exhibited a readiness to recommit the +nominations, but as he proceeded he lost ground, and when he finished +several Republican senators, unwilling to afford another opportunity +for such a scene, demanded that the matter be disposed of at once and +forever. Each succeeding name, as the roll-call proceeded on the +motion to recommit, showed more and more the change that had taken +place in senators' feelings. Failure to recommit turned defeat into +confusion, and confusion into disaster. When the three roll-calls were +over it was found that Merritt had been confirmed by 33 to 24 and Burt +by 31 to 19. An analysis of the "pairs" increased the rout, since it +disclosed that twenty-five Democrats and fifteen Republicans favoured +confirmation, while only seven Democrats and twenty-three Republicans +opposed it. In other words, the Administration required only five +Democratic votes to match the strength of the dissatisfied +Republicans. Kernan, although he had spoken slightingly of Merritt, +refused to vote, but Blaine, who had<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.410" id="vol3Page_iii.410">iii. 410</a></span> joined heartily in the laughter +provoked by Conkling's thrusts as he read the letters, antagonised the +President. This noticeable desire of the Maine statesman to attach his +fortunes to those of the New York Senator neither escaped the +attention nor faded from the memory of Secretary Sherman.</p> + +<p>The next morning everybody knew what had happened. Although secrecy +was removed only from the vote, nothing of the seven hours' conflict +remained untold, the result of which to all New Yorkers proved a great +surprise. They had supposed Conkling invincible in the Senate. +Nevertheless, to most Republicans, whether friends or foes, his defeat +on February 3 was a great relief. Merritt had made an excellent +collector, and a feeling existed, which had crystallised into a strong +public sentiment, that it was unwise to force into his place an +official unsatisfactory to the Secretary of the Treasury.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.411" id="vol3Page_iii.411">iii. 411</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XXXII" id="vol3CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII</h2> + +<h2>JOHN KELLY ELECTS CORNELL</h2> + +<h2>1879</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">If</span> threatened danger had bred an artificial harmony among the +Republican factions of the State in 1878, the presence of a real +peril, growing out of the control of both branches of Congress by the +Democrats, tended to bring them closer together in 1879. During a +special session of the Forty-sixth Congress the Democratic majority +had sought, by a political rider attached to the army appropriation +bill, to repeal objectionable election laws, which provided among +other things for the appointment of supervisors and deputy marshals at +congressional elections. This law had materially lessened cheating in +New York City, and no one doubted that its repeal would be followed in +1880 by scenes similar to those which had disgraced the metropolis +prior to its enactment in 1870.</p> + +<p>But the attempt to get rid of the objectionable Act by a rider on a +supply bill meant more than repeal. It implied a threat. In effect the +Democrats declared that if the Executive did not yield his veto power +to a bare majority, the needed appropriations for carrying on the +government would be stopped. This practically amounted to revolution, +and the debate that followed reawakened bitter partisan and sectional +animosities. "Suppose in a separate bill," said Conkling, "the +majority had, in advance of appropriations, repealed the national bank +act and the resumption act, and had declared that unless the Executive +surrendered his convictions and yielded up his approval of the +repealing act, no appropriations should be made; would the separation +of the bills have palliated or condoned the revolutionary pur<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.412" id="vol3Page_iii.412">iii. 412</a></span>pose? +When it is intended that, unless another species of legislation is +agreed to, the money of the people, paid for that purpose, shall not +be used to maintain their government, the threat is revolution and its +execution is treasonable." Then he gave the mortal stab. Of the +ninety-three senators and representatives from the eleven disloyal +States, he said, eighty-five were soldiers in the armies of the +rebellion, and their support of these "revolutionary measures is a +fight for empire. It is a contrivance to clutch the national +government. That we believe; that I believe."<a name="vol3FNanchor_879_879" id="vol3FNanchor_879_879"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_879_879" class="fnanchor">[879]</a> The President, by +advising the country through his spirited veto messages of the +desperate tactics invoked by the majority, added to Northern +indignation.</p> + +<p>It was a losing battle to the Democrats. The longer they insisted the +more the Southern brigadiers were held up to public scorn as if they +had again betrayed their country, and when, finally, the appropriation +bills were passed without riders, it left Republicans more firmly +united than at the beginning of the Hayes administration.<a name="vol3FNanchor_880_880" id="vol3FNanchor_880_880"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_880_880" class="fnanchor">[880]</a></p> + +<p>Two months later the Republican State convention, held at Saratoga +(September 3), evidenced this union.<a name="vol3FNanchor_881_881" id="vol3FNanchor_881_881"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_881_881" class="fnanchor">[881]</a> Every distinguished +Republican of the State was present save Thurlow Weed, whose +feebleness kept him at home. Conkling presided. With fine humour, +George William Curtis, the sound of whose flute-like voice brought a +burst of applause, asked that the crowded aisles be cleared that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.413" id="vol3Page_iii.413">iii. 413</a></span> +might see the chairman. Conkling's speech excited close attention. It +was freer and more vivid because of more human interest than his +address of the year before, and his appeal for harmony, his +denunciation of revolutionary methods in Congress, and his demand that +freedmen be protected in their rights, brought strenuous, purposeful +applause from determined men. The principles thus felicitously and +rhetorically stated formed the basis of the platform, which pledged +the party anew to national supremacy, equal rights, free elections, +and honest money. It also thanked the President for his recent +attitude.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, a disposition to contest the strength of the +organisation and its methods boldly asserted itself. For months +Cornell had been Conkling's candidate for governor. A searching +canvass, extended into all sections of the State and penetrating the +secrets of men, had been noiselessly and ceaselessly carried on. +Indeed, a more inquisitorial pursuit had never before been attempted, +since the slightest chance, the merest accident, might result, as it +did in 1876, in defeating Cornell.</p> + +<p>So much depended upon the control of the temporary organisation that +the anti-Conkling forces begged the Vice-President to stand for +temporary chairman. They could easily unite upon him, and the belief +obtained that he could defeat the Senator. But Wheeler, a mild and +amiable gentleman, whose honours had come without personal contests, +was timid and unyielding.<a name="vol3FNanchor_882_882" id="vol3FNanchor_882_882"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_882_882" class="fnanchor">[882]</a> What the opposition needed was a real +State leader. It had within its ranks brilliant editors,<a name="vol3FNanchor_883_883" id="vol3FNanchor_883_883"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_883_883" class="fnanchor">[883]</a> +excellent lawyers, and with few exceptions the best speakers in the +party, but since Fenton lost control<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.414" id="vol3Page_iii.414">iii. 414</a></span> of the organisation no man had +arisen capable of crossing swords with its great chieftain.</p> + +<p>Of the four pronounced candidates for governor Frank Hiscock of +Syracuse divided the support of the central counties with Theodore M. +Pomeroy of Cayuga, while William H. Robertson of Westchester and John +H. Starin of New York claimed whatever delegates Cornell did not +control in the metropolis and its vicinity. Among them and their +lieutenants, however, none could dispute leadership with Conkling and +his corps of able managers. Starin had pluck and energy, but two terms +in Congress and popularity with the labouring classes, to whom he paid +large wages and generously contributed fresh-air enjoyments, summed up +his strength.<a name="vol3FNanchor_884_884" id="vol3FNanchor_884_884"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_884_884" class="fnanchor">[884]</a> Pomeroy was better known. His public record, dating +from the famous speech made in the Whig convention of 1855, had kept +him prominently before the people, and had he continued in Congress he +must have made an exalted national reputation. But the day of younger +men had come. Besides, his recent vote for John F. Smyth, the head of +the Insurance Department, injured him.<a name="vol3FNanchor_885_885" id="vol3FNanchor_885_885"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_885_885" class="fnanchor">[885]</a> Robertson, as usual, had +strong support. His long public career left a clear imprint of his +high character, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.415" id="vol3Page_iii.415">iii. 415</a></span> his attractive personality, with its restrained +force, made him a central figure in the politics of the State.</p> + +<p>Hiscock was then on the threshold of his public career. He began life +as the law partner and political lieutenant of his brother, Harris, an +adroit politician, whose violent death in 1867, while a member of the +constitutional convention, left to the former the Republican +leadership of Onondaga County. If his diversion as a Liberal +temporarily crippled him, it did not prevent his going to Congress in +1876, where he was destined to remain for sixteen years and to achieve +high rank as a debater on financial questions. He was without a sense +of humour and possessed rather an austere manner, but as a highly +successful lawyer he exhibited traits of character that strengthened +him with the people. He was also an eminently wary and cautious man, +alive to the necessity of watching the changeful phases of public +opinion, and slow to propound a plan until he had satisfied himself +that it could be carried out in practice. It increased his influence, +too, that he was content with a stroke of practical business here and +there in the interest of party peace without claiming credit for any +brilliant or deep diplomacy.</p> + +<p>It is doubtful, however, if the genius of a Weed could have induced +the disorganised forces, representing the four candidates, to put up a +single opponent to Cornell. Such a course, in the opinion of the +leaders, would release delegates to the latter without compensating +advantage. It was decided, therefore, to hold the field intact with +the hope of preventing a nomination on the first ballot, and to let +the result determine the next step. In their endeavour to accomplish +this they stoutly maintained that Cornell, inheriting the unpopularity +of the machine, could not carry the State. To win New York and thus +have its position defined for 1880 was the one great desire of +Republicans, and the visible effect of the fusionists' attack, +concededly made with great tact and cleverness, if without much effort +at organisation, turned Conkling's confidence into doubt. Then he put +on more pressure. In the preceding winter<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.416" id="vol3Page_iii.416">iii. 416</a></span> Pomeroy's vote and speech +in the State Senate had saved John F. Smyth from deserved impeachment, +and he now counted confidently upon the Commissioner's promised +support of his candidacy. But Conkling demanded it for Cornell, and +Smyth left Pomeroy to care for himself.</p> + +<p>It is seldom that a roll-call ever proceeded under such tension. +Nominating speeches were abandoned, cheers for the platform faded into +an ominous silence, and every response sounded like the night-step of +a watchful sentinel. Only when some conspicuous leader voted was the +stillness broken. A score of men were keeping count, and halfway down +the roll the fusionists tied their opponents. When, at last, the call +closed with nine majority for Cornell, the result, save a spasm of +throat-splitting yells, was received with little enthusiasm.<a name="vol3FNanchor_886_886" id="vol3FNanchor_886_886"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_886_886" class="fnanchor">[886]</a> On +the motion to make the nomination unanimous George William Curtis +voted "No" distinctly.<a name="vol3FNanchor_887_887" id="vol3FNanchor_887_887"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_887_887" class="fnanchor">[887]</a></p> + +<p>It was a Conkling victory. For three days delegates had crowded the +Senator's headquarters, while in an inner room he strengthened the +weak, won the doubtful, and directed his forces with remarkable skill. +He asked no quarter, and after his triumph every candidate selected +for a State office was an avowed friend of Cornell. "It would have +been poor policy," said one of the Senator's lieutenants, "to +apologise for what he had done by seeming to strengthen the ticket +with open enemies of the chief candidate."<a name="vol3FNanchor_888_888" id="vol3FNanchor_888_888"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_888_888" class="fnanchor">[888]</a></p> + +<p>The aftermath multiplied reasons for the coalition's<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.417" id="vol3Page_iii.417">iii. 417</a></span> downfall. Some +thought the defeat of Cornell in 1876 deceived the opposition as to +his strength; others, that a single candidate should have opposed him; +others, again, that the work of securing delegates did not begin early +enough. But all agreed that the action of George B. Sloan of Oswego +seriously weakened them. Since 1874 Sloan had been prominently +identified with the unfettered wing of the party. Indeed, his activity +along lines of reform had placed him at the head and front of +everything that made for civic betterment. In character he resembled +Robertson. His high qualities and flexibility of mind gave him +unrivalled distinction. He possessed a charm which suffused his +personality as a smile softens and irradiates a face, and although it +was a winsome rather than a commanding personality, it lacked neither +firmness nor power. Moreover, he was a resourceful business man, keen, +active, and honest—characteristics which he carried with him into +public life. His great popularity made him speaker of the Assembly in +the third year of his service (1877), and his ability to work +tactfully and effectively had suggested his name to the coalition as a +compromise candidate for governor. He had never leaned to the side of +the machine. In fact, his failure to win the speakership in the +preceding January was due to the opposition of Cornell backed by John +F. Smyth, and his hopes of future State preferment centred in the +defeat of these aggressive men. Yet at the critical moment, when +success seemed within the grasp of his old-time friends, he voted for +Cornell. For this his former associates never wholly forgave him. Nor +was his motive ever fully understood. Various reasons found +currency—admiration of Conkling, a desire to harmonise his party at +home by the nomination of John C. Churchill for State comptroller, and +weariness of opposing an apparently invincible organisation. But +whatever the motive the coalition hissed when he declared his choice, +and then turned upon Churchill like a pack of sleuth-hounds, defeating +him upon the first ballot in spite of Conkling's assistance.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.418" id="vol3Page_iii.418">iii. 418</a></span></p> + +<p>Tammany's threat to bolt Robinson's renomination may have encouraged +Cornell's nomination, since such truancy would aid his election. John +Kelly was <i>in extremis</i>. Tammany desertions and the election of Mayor +Cooper had shattered his control of the city. To add to his +discomfiture the Governor had removed Henry A. Gumbleton, charged with +taking monstrous fees as clerk of New York County, and appointed +Hubert O. Thompson in his place. Gumbleton was Kelly's pet; Thompson +was Cooper's lieutenant. Although the Governor sufficiently justified +his action, the exercise of this high executive function was generally +supposed to be only a move in the great Presidential game of 1880. His +failure to remove the Register, charged with similar misdoings, +strengthened the supposition that the Tilden camp fires were burning +brightly. But whatever the Governor's motive, Kelly accepted +Gumbleton's removal as an open declaration of war, and on September 6 +(1879), five days before the Democratic State convention, Tammany's +committee on organisation secretly declared "that in case the +convention insists upon the renomination of Lucius Robinson for +governor, the Tammany delegation will leave in a body."<a name="vol3FNanchor_889_889" id="vol3FNanchor_889_889"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_889_889" class="fnanchor">[889]</a> In +preparation for this event an agent of Tammany hired Shakespeare Hall, +the only room left in Syracuse of sufficient size to accommodate a +bolting convention.<a name="vol3FNanchor_890_890" id="vol3FNanchor_890_890"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_890_890" class="fnanchor">[890]</a></p> + +<p>The changes visible in the alignment of factions since the Democrats +had selected a candidate for governor in Syracuse reflected the fierce +struggle waged in the intervening five years. In 1874 Tweed was in +jail; Kelly, standing for Tilden, assailed Sanford E. Church as a +friend of the canal ring; Dorsheimer, thrust into the Democratic party +through the Greeley revolt, was harvesting honour in high office; +Bigelow, dominated by his admiration of a public servant who concealed +an unbridled ambition, gave character to the so-called reform; and +Charles S. Fairchild, soon to appreciate the ingratitude of party, was +building a reputation<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.419" id="vol3Page_iii.419">iii. 419</a></span> as the undismayed prosecutor of a predatory +ring. Now, Tweed was in his grave; Kelly had joined the canal ring in +sounding the praises of Church; Dorsheimer, having drifted into +Tammany and the editorship of the <i>Star</i>, disparaged the man whom he +adored as governor and sought to make President; and Bigelow and +Fairchild, their eyes opened, perhaps, by cipher telegrams, found +satisfaction in the practice of their professions.</p> + +<p>But Tilden was not without friends. If some had left him, others had +grown more potent. For several years Daniel E. Manning, known to his +Albany neighbours as a youth of promise and a young man of ripening +wisdom, had attracted attention by his genius for political +leadership.<a name="vol3FNanchor_891_891" id="vol3FNanchor_891_891"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_891_891" class="fnanchor">[891]</a> He seems never to have been rash or misled. Even an +exuberance of animal vitality that eagerly sought new outlets for its +energy did not waste itself in aimless experiments. Although +possessing the generosity of a rich nature, he preferred to work +within lines of purpose without heady enthusiasms or reckless +extremes, and his remarkable gifts as an executive, coupled with the +study of politics as a fine art, soon made him a manager of men. This +was demonstrated in his aggressive fight against Tweedism. Manning was +now (1879) forty-eight years old. It cannot be said that he had then +reached the place filled by Dean Richmond, or that the <i>Argus</i> wielded +the power exerted in the days of Edwin Croswell; but the anti-ring +forces in the interior of the State cheerfully mustered under his +leadership, while the <i>Argus</i>, made forceful and attractive by the +singularly brilliant and facile pen of St. Clair McKelway, swayed the +minds of its readers to a degree almost unequalled among its party +contemporaries.<a name="vol3FNanchor_892_892" id="vol3FNanchor_892_892"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_892_892" class="fnanchor">[892]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.420" id="vol3Page_iii.420">iii. 420</a></span></p><p>Manning took charge of the interests of Robinson, who did not attend +the convention, receiving Kelly's tactful and spirited assault with +fine courage. The Governor's enemies were more specific than +Cornell's. They predicted that Robinson's renomination would lose +twenty thousand votes in New York City alone, and an ingenious and +extensively circulated table showed that the counties represented by +his delegates had recently exhibited a Democratic loss of thirty +thousand and an increased Republican vote of forty thousand, while +localities opposed to him revealed encouraging gains. Mindful of the +havoc wrought in 1874 by connecting Church with the canal ring, Kelly +also sought to crush Robinson by charging that corporate rings, +notably the New York Mutual Life Insurance Company, had controlled his +administration, and that although he had resigned from the Erie +directorate at the time of his election, he still received large fees +through his son who acted as attorney for the road. Moreover, Kelly +intimated, with a dark frown, that he had another stone in his sling. +This onslaught, made upon every country delegate in town, seemed to +confuse if not to shake the Tilden men, whose interest centred in +success as well as in Robinson. The hesitation of the Kings County +delegation, under the leadership of Hugh McLaughlin, to declare +promptly for the Governor, and the toying of Senator Kernan with the +name of Church while talking in the interest of harmony, indicated +irresolution. Even David B. Hill and Edward K.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.421" id="vol3Page_iii.421">iii. 421</a></span> Apgar, who desired to +shape affairs for a pledged delegation to the next national +convention, evidenced weariness.</p> + +<p>Manning steadied the line. In proclaiming Robinson's nomination on the +first ballot he anticipated every movement of the enemy. He knew that +Henry W. Slocum's candidacy did not appeal to McLaughlin; that Chief +Justice Church's consent rested upon an impossible condition; and that +Kelly's threatened bolt, however disastrously it might end in +November, would strengthen Robinson in the convention. Nevertheless, +unusual concessions showed a desire to proceed on lines of harmony. +Tammany's delegation was seated with the consent of Irving Hall; John +C. Jacobs, a senator from Brooklyn, was made chairman; the fairness of +committee appointments allayed suspicion; a platform accepted by if +not inoffensive to all Democrats set forth the principles of the +party,<a name="vol3FNanchor_893_893" id="vol3FNanchor_893_893"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_893_893" class="fnanchor">[893]</a> and an avoidance of irritating statements characterised +the speeches placing Robinson's name in nomination.</p> + +<p>Tammany's part was less cleverly played. Its effort centred in +breaking the solid Brooklyn delegation, and although with much tact it +presented Slocum as its candidate for governor, and cunningly +expressed confidence in Jacobs by proposing that he select the +Committee on Credentials, two Bowery orators, with a fierceness born +of hate, abused Robinson and pronounced Tilden "the biggest fraud of +the age."<a name="vol3FNanchor_894_894" id="vol3FNanchor_894_894"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_894_894" class="fnanchor">[894]</a> Then Dorsheimer took the floor. His purpose was to +capture the Kings and Albany delegations, and walking down the aisles +with stage strides he begged them, in a most impassioned manner, to +put themselves in Tammany's place, and to say whether, under like +circumstances, they would not adopt the same course. He did it very +adroitly. His eyes blazed, his choice words blended entreaty with<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.422" id="vol3Page_iii.422">iii. 422</a></span> +reasoning, and his manner indicated an earnestness that captivated if +it did not convert. His declaration, however, that Tammany would bolt +Robinson's renomination withered the effect of his rhetoric. Kelly had +insinuated as much, and Tammany had flouted it for two days; but +Dorsheimer's announcement was the first authoritative declaration, and +it hardened the hearts of men who repudiated such methods.</p> + +<p>Then the tricksters had their inning. Pending a motion that a +committee of one from each county be appointed to secure harmony, a +Saratoga delegate moved that John C. Jacobs be nominated for governor +by acclamation. This turned the convention into a pandemonium. In the +midst of the whirlwind of noise a Tammany reading clerk, putting the +motion, declared it carried. Similar tactics had won Horatio Seymour +the nomination for President in 1868, and for a time it looked as if +the Chair might profit by their repetition. Jacobs was a young man. +Ambition possessed and high office attracted him. But if a vision of +the governorship momentarily unsettled his mind, one glance at +McLaughlin and the Brooklyn delegation, sitting like icebergs in the +midst of the heated uproar, restored his reason. When a motion to +recess increased the tumult, Rufus H. Peckham, a cool Tilden man, +called for the ayes and noes. This brought the convention to earth +again, and as the noise subsided Jacobs reproved the clerk for his +unauthorised assumption of the Chair's duties, adding, with a slight +show of resentment, that had he been consulted respecting the +nomination he should have respectfully declined.</p> + +<p>At the conclusion of the roll-call the Tammany tellers, adding the +aggregate vote to suit the needs of the occasion, pronounced the +motion carried, while others declared it lost. A second call defeated +a recess by 166 to 217. On a motion to table the appointment of a +harmony committee the vote stood 226 to 155. A motion to adjourn also +failed by 166 to 210. These results indicated that neither tricks<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.423" id="vol3Page_iii.423">iii. 423</a></span> nor +disorder could shake the Robinson phalanx, and after the call to +select a nominee for governor had begun, Augustus Schell, John Kelly, +William Dorsheimer, and other Tammany leaders rose in their places. +"Under no circumstances will the Democracy of New York support the +nomination of Lucius Robinson," said Schell; "but the rest of the +ticket will receive its warm and hearty support." Then he paused. +Kelly, standing in the background of the little group, seemed to +shrink from the next step. Regularity was the touchstone of Tammany's +creed. Indifference to ways and means gave no offence, but +disobedience to the will of a caucus or convention admitted of no +forgiveness. Would Kelly himself be the first to commit this +unpardonable sin? He could invoke no precedent to shield him. In 1847 +the Wilmot Proviso struck the key-note of popular sentiment, and the +Barnburners, leaving the convention the instant the friends of the +South repudiated the principle, sought to stay the aggressiveness of +slavery. Nor could he appeal to party action in 1853, for the Hunkers +refused to enter the convention after the Barnburners had organised +it. Moreover, he was wholly without excuse. He had accepted the +platform, participated in all proceedings, and exhausted argument, +diplomacy, trickery, and deception. Not until certain defeat faced him +did he rise to go, and even then he tarried with the hope that +Schell's words would bring the olive-branch. It was a moment of +intense suspense. The convention, sitting in silence, realised that +the loss meant probable defeat, and anxious men, unwilling to take +chances, looked longingly from one leader to another. But the symbol +of peace did not appear, and Schell announced, as he led the way to +the door: "The delegation from New York will now retire from the +hall." Then cheers and hisses deadened the tramp of retreating +footsteps.</p> + +<p>After the bolters' departure Irving Hall took the seats of Tammany, +and the convention quickly closed its work. The roll-call showed 301 +votes cast, of which Robinson received 243 and Slocum 56. Little +conflict occurred in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.424" id="vol3Page_iii.424">iii. 424</a></span> selection of other names on the ticket, all +the candidates save the lieutenant-governor being renominated.<a name="vol3FNanchor_895_895" id="vol3FNanchor_895_895"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_895_895" class="fnanchor">[895]</a></p> + +<p>In the evening Tammany occupied Shakespeare Hall. David Dudley Field, +formerly a zealous anti-slavery Republican, and more recently Tilden's +counsel before the Electoral Commission, presided; Dorsheimer, whose +grotesque position must have appealed to his own keen sense of the +humorous, moved the nomination of John Kelly for governor; and Kelly, +in his speech of acceptance, prophesied the defeat of Governor +Robinson. This done they went out into darkness.</p> + +<p>Throughout the campaign the staple of Republican exhortations was the +Southern question and the need of a "strong man." Even Conkling in his +one speech made no reference to State politics or State affairs. When +Cornell's election, midway in the canvass, seemed assured, Curtis +argued that his success would defeat the party in 1880, and to avoid +such a calamity he advocated "scratching the ticket."<a name="vol3FNanchor_896_896" id="vol3FNanchor_896_896"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_896_896" class="fnanchor">[896]</a> Several +well-known Republicans, adopting the suggestion, published an address, +giving reasons for their refusal to support the head and the tail of +the ticket. They cited the cause of Cornell's dismissal from the +custom-house; compared the cost of custom-house administration before +and after his separation from the service; and made unpleasant +reference to the complicity of Soule in the canal frauds, as revealed +in the eleventh report of the Canal Investigating Committee.<a name="vol3FNanchor_897_897" id="vol3FNanchor_897_897"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_897_897" class="fnanchor">[897]</a> +Immediately the signers were dubbed "Scratchers." The party press +stigmatised them as traitors, and several journals refused to publish +their address even as an advertisement. So bitterly was Curtis<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.425" id="vol3Page_iii.425">iii. 425</a></span> +assailed that he thought it necessary to resign the chairmanship of +the Richmond County convention. Party wits also ridiculed him. Henry +Ward Beecher said, with irresistible humour, that scratching is good +for cutaneous affections. Martin I. Townsend declared that no +Republican lived in Troy who had any disease that required scratching. +Evarts called it "voting in the air." To all this Curtis replied that +the incessant fusillade proved his suggestion not so utterly +contemptible as it was alleged to be. "If the thing be a mosquito, +there is too much powder and ball wasted upon it."<a name="vol3FNanchor_898_898" id="vol3FNanchor_898_898"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_898_898" class="fnanchor">[898]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the speech of the Secretary of State cut deeply. Evarts +represented an Administration which had removed Cornell that "the +office may be properly and efficiently administered." Now, he endorsed +him for governor, ridiculed Republicans that opposed him, and pointed +unmistakably to Grant as the "strong man" who could best maintain the +power of the people.<a name="vol3FNanchor_899_899" id="vol3FNanchor_899_899"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_899_899" class="fnanchor">[899]</a> The <i>Nation</i> spoke of Evarts' appearance as +"indecent."<a name="vol3FNanchor_900_900" id="vol3FNanchor_900_900"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_900_900" class="fnanchor">[900]</a> Curtis was not less severe. "Both his appearance and +his speech are excellent illustrations of the reason why the political +influence of so able and excellent a man is so slight. Mr. Evarts, +musing on the folly of voting in the air, may remember the arrow of +which the poet sings, which was shot into the air and found in the +heart of an oak. It is hearts of oak, not of bending reeds, that make +and save parties."<a name="vol3FNanchor_901_901" id="vol3FNanchor_901_901"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_901_901" class="fnanchor">[901]</a></p> + +<p>Talk of a secret alliance between Tammany and the Cornell managers +began very early in the campaign. Perhaps the fulsome praise of John +Kelly in Republican journals, the constant support of John F. Smyth by +Tammany senators, and Kelly's avowed intention to defeat Robinson, +were sufficient to arouse suspicion. Conkling's sudden silence as to +the danger threatening free elections, of which he declaimed so warmly +in April, seemed<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.426" id="vol3Page_iii.426">iii. 426</a></span> to indicate undue satisfaction with existing +conditions. To several newspapers the action of two Republican police +commissioners, who championed Tammany's right to its share of poll +inspectors, pointed unmistakably to a bargain, since it gave Tammany +and the Republicans power to select a chairman at each poll.<a name="vol3FNanchor_902_902" id="vol3FNanchor_902_902"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_902_902" class="fnanchor">[902]</a> +Evidence of a real alliance, however, was nebulous. The defeat of +Robinson meant the election of Cornell, and Republicans naturally +welcomed any effort to accomplish it. They greeted Kelly, during his +tour of the State, with noise and music, crowded his meetings, and +otherwise sought to dishearten Robinson's friends. Although Kelly's +speeches did not compare in piquancy with his printed words, his +references to Tilden as the "old humbug of Cipher Alley" and to +Robinson as having "sore eyes" when signing bills, kept his hearers +expectant and his enemies disturbed. The <i>World</i> followed him, +reporting his speeches as "failures" and his audiences as "rushing +pell-mell from the building."<a name="vol3FNanchor_903_903" id="vol3FNanchor_903_903"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_903_903" class="fnanchor">[903]</a></p> + +<p>Kelly did not mean to dish the whole Democratic ticket. He expected to +elect the minor State officers. But he learned on the morning after +election that he had entirely miscalculated the effect of his scheme, +since every Democrat except the nephew of Horatio Seymour rested in +the party morgue by the side of Lucius Robinson.<a name="vol3FNanchor_904_904" id="vol3FNanchor_904_904"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_904_904" class="fnanchor">[904]</a> In<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.427" id="vol3Page_iii.427">iii. 427</a></span> the city +Kelly also disappointed his followers. His own vote ran behind +Robinson's, and all his friends were slaughtered. Indeed, when Tammany +surrendered its regularity at Syracuse it lost its voting strength. +Even Cornell whom it saved ran 20,000 behind his ticket. The election +was, in fact, a triumph for nobody except Conkling. He had put into +the highest State office a personal adherent, whom the Administration +had stigmatised by dismissal; he had brought to New York his principal +opponents in the Cabinet (Evarts and Sherman) to speak for his nominee +and their dismissed servant; and he had induced the Administration to +call for a "strong man" for the Presidency.<a name="vol3FNanchor_905_905" id="vol3FNanchor_905_905"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_905_905" class="fnanchor">[905]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.428" id="vol3Page_iii.428">iii. 428</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="vol3CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII</h2> + +<h2>STALWART AND HALF-BREED</h2> + +<h2>1880</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">While</span> General Grant made his tour around the world there was much +speculation respecting his renomination for the Presidency. Very +cautiously started on the ground of necessity because of the attitude +of the Southerners in Congress, the third-term idea continued to +strengthen until the widespread and deep interest in the great +soldier's home-coming was used to create the belief that he was +unmistakably the popular choice. Grant himself had said nothing +publicly upon the subject except in China, and his proper and modest +allusions to it then added to the people's respect. But during the +welcome extended him at Philadelphia, the Mayor of that city disclosed +a well-laid plan to make him a candidate. This frank declaration +indicated also that Grant expected the nomination, if, indeed, he was +not a party to the scheme for securing it.</p> + +<p>The question of discrediting the traditions quickly became a serious +one, and its discussion, stimulated by other aspirants for the +Presidency, took a wide range. The opponents of a third term did not +yield to any in their grateful remembrance and recognition of what +Grant had done for the country, but they deemed it impolitic upon both +public and party grounds. If the tradition of two terms be overthrown +because of his distinguished service, they argued, his election for a +fourth term, to which the Constitution offered no bar, could be urged +for the same reason with still more cogency. Such apparently logical +action would not only necessarily familiarise the public mind, already +disturbed by the increasing depression to business<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.429" id="vol3Page_iii.429">iii. 429</a></span> caused by the +turmoil incident to quadrennial elections, with the idea of a +perpetual Presidency, but it would foster confidence in personal +government, and encourage the feeling that approved experience, as in +the case of trusted legislators, is necessary to the continuance of +wise administration.</p> + +<p>Party reasons also furnished effective opposition. German voters, +especially in New York and Wisconsin, early disclosed an indisposition +to accept Grant even if nominated, while the Independent or Scratcher +voiced a greater hostility than the Cornell nomination had excited. +Never before had so much attention been given to a political question +by persons ordinarily indifferent to such speculation. Anti-Grant +clubs, springing up in a night, joined the press in ridiculing the +persistent talk about the need of "a strong man," and charged that the +scheme was conceived by a coterie of United States senators, managed +by former office-holders under President Grant, and supported by men +who regarded the Hayes administration as an impertinence. Matthew +Hale, in accepting the presidency of the Albany Club, declared the +movement to be at war with American traditions and with the spirit of +American institutions.<a name="vol3FNanchor_906_906" id="vol3FNanchor_906_906"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_906_906" class="fnanchor">[906]</a></p> + +<p>Such acrimonious antagonism quickly uncovered the purpose of the +Stalwarts, who now sought to control the nomination regardless of +opposition. For this purpose unusually early conventions for the +selection of delegates to the National Convention, to be held at +Chicago on June 2, were called in Pennsylvania, New York, and other +States. Pennsylvania's was fixed for February 4 at Harrisburg, and New +York's for the 25th at Utica. Like methods obtained in the selection +of delegates. At Albany John F. Smyth issued a call in the evening for +primaries to be held the next day at noon, and furnished his followers +with pink coloured tickets, headed "Grant." Smyth was already in bad +odour. Governor Robinson had accused him of compelling illegal +payments by insurance companies of a large<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.430" id="vol3Page_iii.430">iii. 430</a></span> sum of money, to which he +replied that the act making it illegal was unconstitutional, although +no court had so pronounced. His misdemeanour was confirmed in the +public mind by the fact, elicited on the impeachment trial, that the +money so obtained had been divided among agents of the Republican +organisation. Indeed, the <i>Times</i> charged, without reservation, that +in one case the place of division was in none other than the house of +Cornell himself.<a name="vol3FNanchor_907_907" id="vol3FNanchor_907_907"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_907_907" class="fnanchor">[907]</a> Although the Senate of 1878 and of 1879 failed +to remove Smyth, the Senate of 1880, notwithstanding his reappointment +by Governor Cornell, refused to confirm him.<a name="vol3FNanchor_908_908" id="vol3FNanchor_908_908"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_908_908" class="fnanchor">[908]</a> In the presence of +such a sorry record the ostracised Albany Republicans were not +surprised at his attempt to cheat them at the primaries, and their +indignation at the shameless procedure resounded through the State. At +the end of a week Charles Emory Smith, the gifted editor of the Albany +<i>Journal</i>, who headed the delegation thus selected, deemed it +expedient to withdraw. Five associates did likewise. Nevertheless, the +opponents of a third term refused to participate in a second election, +called to fill the vacancies, since it did not remove the taint from +the majority who refused to resign.</p> + +<p>In reward for his defence of Smyth, if not to express contempt for the +Albany malcontents, Charles Emory Smith was made chairman of the Utica +convention. This evidenced Conkling's complete control. Smith had +lived in Albany since early boyhood. He passed from its Academy to +Union College, thence back to the Academy as a teacher, and from that +position to the editorship of the <i>Express</i>. In a few years his clear, +incisive English, always forcible, often eloquent, had advanced him to +the editorship of the <i>Evening Journal</i>. Singularly attractive in +person, with slender, agile form, sparkling eyes, and ruddy cheeks, +he<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.431" id="vol3Page_iii.431">iii. 431</a></span> adorned whatever place he held. Indeed, the beauty and strength of +his character, coupled with the esteem in which Republican leaders +held him as a counsellor, gave him in the seventies a position in the +politics of the State somewhat akin to that held by Henry J. Raymond +in the sixties. He did not then, if ever, belong in Raymond's class as +a journalist or as an orator. Nor did he possess the vehement desire +for office that distinguished the brilliant editor of the <i>Times</i>. But +Smith's admirable temper, his sweet disposition, and his rare faculty +for saying things without offence, kept him, like Raymond, on friendly +terms with all. His part was not always an easy one. Leaders changed +and new issues appeared, yet his pen, though sometimes crafty, was +never dipped in gall. While acting as secretary for Governor Fenton he +enjoyed the esteem of Edwin D. Morgan, and if his change from the +Albany <i>Express</i> to the Albany <i>Journal</i> in 1870, and from the +<i>Journal</i> to the Philadelphia <i>Press</i> in 1880, carried him from +Fenton's confidence into Conkling's embrace and converted him from an +ardent third-termer to a champion of Blaine, the bad impression of +this prestidigitation was relieved, if not excused or forgotten, +because of his journalistic promotion.</p> + +<p>In State conventions, too, Smith played the part formerly assigned to +Raymond, becoming by common consent chairman of the Committee on +Resolutions. His ear went instinctively to the ground, and, aided by +Carroll E. Smith of the Syracuse <i>Journal</i>, he wrote civil service +reform into the platform of 1877, the principle of sound money into +that of 1878, and carefully shaded important parts of other platforms +in that eventful decade.<a name="vol3FNanchor_909_909" id="vol3FNanchor_909_909"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_909_909" class="fnanchor">[909]</a> In like manner, al<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.432" id="vol3Page_iii.432">iii. 432</a></span>though a pronounced +champion of Conkling and the politics he represented, Smith encouraged +moderate policies, urged frank recognition of the just claims of the +minority, and sought to prevent the stalwart managers from too widely +breaching the proprieties that should govern political organisations. +If his efforts proved unavailing, it seemed that he had at least +mastered the art of being regular without being bigoted, and of living +on good terms with a machine whose methods he could not wholly +approve. Nevertheless, there came a time when his associations, as in +the career of Raymond, seriously injured him, since his toleration and +ardent defence of John F. Smyth, besides grieving sincere friends and +temporarily clouding his young life,<a name="vol3FNanchor_910_910" id="vol3FNanchor_910_910"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_910_910" class="fnanchor">[910]</a> dissolved his relations with +a journal that he loved, and which, under his direction, had reminded +its readers of the forceful days of Thurlow Weed. Fortunately, the +offer of the editorship of the Philadelphia <i>Press</i>, coming +contemporaneously with his separation from the Albany <i>Journal</i>, gave +him an honourable exit from New York, and opened not only a larger +sphere of action but a more distinguished career.<a name="vol3FNanchor_911_911" id="vol3FNanchor_911_911"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_911_911" class="fnanchor">[911]</a></p> + +<p>Having control of the convention Conkling boldly demanded the adoption +of a resolution instructing "the delegates to use their most earnest +and united efforts to secure the nomination of Ulysses S. Grant." The +admirers of Blaine seemed unprepared for such a contest. The meagre<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.433" id="vol3Page_iii.433">iii. 433</a></span> +majority given Grant at the Pennsylvania convention had greatly +encouraged them, but the intervening three weeks afforded insufficient +time to gather their strength. Besides, no one then suspected the +overwhelming public sentiment against a third term which was soon to +sweep the country. As it was no one seemed to have definite plans or a +precise knowledge of how to proceed or what to do, while local leaders +frittered away their strength in petty quarrels which had little +bearing upon the question of Presidential candidates. Finally, an +amendment simply endorsing the nominee of the Chicago convention was +offered as a substitute for the Grant resolution.</p> + +<p>The Stalwarts, with the steadiness of veterans conscious of their +strength, deftly, almost delicately, in fact, silenced the minority. +Only once, when the reader of the resolutions hesitated over an +illegible word, did the dramatic happen. At that moment a thin voice +in the gallery exclaimed, "Hurrah for Blaine!" Instantly the audience +was on fire. The burst of applause brought out by Smith's opening +reference to the "never vanquished hero of Appomattox" had been +disappointing because it lacked spontaneity and enthusiasm, but the +sound of the magic word "Blaine," like a spark flying to powder, threw +the galleries into a flame of cheering which was obstinate in dying +out. Conkling, in closing the debate on the resolution, showed his +customary audacity by hurling bitter sarcasm at the people who had +presumed to applaud. It was in this address that he recited Raleigh's +famous line from <i>The Silent Lover</i>: "The shallows murmur but the +deeps are dumb."<a name="vol3FNanchor_912_912" id="vol3FNanchor_912_912"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_912_912" class="fnanchor">[912]</a></p> + +<p>Conkling's purpose was to put district delegates upon their honour to +obey the convention's instructions regardless of the preference of +their districts. He did it very adroitly, arguing that a delegate is +an agent with a principal behind him, whom he represents if he is +faithful.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.434" id="vol3Page_iii.434">iii. 434</a></span> "For what is this convention held?" he asked. "Is it merely +to listen while the delegates from the several congressional districts +inform the convention who the districts are going to send to the +national convention? Is it for that five hundred men, the selected +pride of the Republican party of this State, have come here to meet +together? I think not. Common sense and the immemorial usages of both +parties answer the question. What is the use of a delegate? Is it a +man to go to a convention representing others, and then determine as +he individually prefers what he will do? Let me say frankly that if +any man, however much I respect him, were presented to this convention +who would prove recreant to its judgment, I would never vote for him +as a delegate to any convention."<a name="vol3FNanchor_913_913" id="vol3FNanchor_913_913"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_913_913" class="fnanchor">[913]</a></p> + +<p>Earlier in the day Newton M. Curtis of St. Lawrence, the one-eyed hero +of Fort Fisher, had insisted with much vehemence that district +delegates represented the views of their immediate constituents and +not those of the State convention. Others as stoutly maintained the +same doctrine. But after Conkling had concluded no one ventured to +repeat the claim.<a name="vol3FNanchor_914_914" id="vol3FNanchor_914_914"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_914_914" class="fnanchor">[914]</a> Indeed, when the several districts reported +their delegates, the Stalwarts openly called upon the suspected ones +to say whether they submitted to the instructions. Woodin and Curtis +voluntarily surrendered. Thus the Grant forces accomplished by +indirection what prudence deterred them from doing boldly and with a +strong hand.<a name="vol3FNanchor_915_915" id="vol3FNanchor_915_915"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_915_915" class="fnanchor">[915]</a></p> + +<p>What the managers gained by indirection, however, they lost in +prestige. If the Harrisburg convention punctured the assumption that +the people demanded Grant's nomination, the Utica assembly destroyed +it, since the majority of thirty-three indicated an entire absence of +spontaneity. Moreover, the convention had scarcely adjourned before +its work became a target. George William Curtis declared the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.435" id="vol3Page_iii.435">iii. 435</a></span> +assertion "audacious" and "ridiculous" that a district delegate was an +agent of the State convention, claiming that when the latter +relinquished the right to select it abandoned the right to instruct. +Furthermore, the National Convention, the highest tribunal of the +party, had decided, he said, that State instructions did not bind +district delegates.<a name="vol3FNanchor_916_916" id="vol3FNanchor_916_916"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_916_916" class="fnanchor">[916]</a> The <i>Tribune</i>, voicing the sentiment of the +major part of the Republican press, thought the convention had clearly +exceeded its power. "It was the right of the majority to instruct the +delegates-at-large," it said, "but it had no right to compel district +delegates to vote against their consciences and the known wishes of +their constituents." This led to the more important question whether +delegates, pledged without authority, ought to observe such +instructions. "No man chosen to represent a Blaine district can vote +for Grant and plead the convention's resolution in justification of +his course," continued the <i>Tribune</i>, which closed with serving notice +upon delegates to correct their error as speedily as possible, "since +a delegate who disobeys the instructions of his constituents will find +himself instantly retired from public life."<a name="vol3FNanchor_917_917" id="vol3FNanchor_917_917"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_917_917" class="fnanchor">[917]</a></p> + +<p>As the campaign waxed warmer and the success of Grant seemed more +certain if Pennsylvania and New York voted under the unit rule, the +pressure to create a break in those States steadily increased. The +Stalwarts rested their case upon the regularity of the procedure and +the delegates' acceptance of the instructions after their election. +"They accepted both commissions and instructions," said the <i>Times</i>, +"with every protestation that they were bound by their sacred honour +to obey the voice of the people as expressed by the traditional and +accepted methods."<a name="vol3FNanchor_918_918" id="vol3FNanchor_918_918"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_918_918" class="fnanchor">[918]</a> On the other hand, the Blaine delegates relied +upon the decision of the last National Convention, which held that +where a State convention had instructed its delegation to vote as a +unit, each delegate had the right to vote for his individual<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.436" id="vol3Page_iii.436">iii. 436</a></span> +preference. "My selection as a delegate," said Woodin, "was the act of +the delegates representing my congressional district, and the State +convention has ratified and certified that act to the National +Convention. Our commissions secure the right to act, and our +conventions guarantee freedom of choice without restraint or +fetters."<a name="vol3FNanchor_919_919" id="vol3FNanchor_919_919"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_919_919" class="fnanchor">[919]</a></p> + +<p>Woodin was the most courageous if not the ablest opponent of Conkling +in the convention. He may not have been an organiser of the machine +type, but he was a born ruler of men. Robust, alert, florid, with +square forehead, heavy brows, and keen blue eyes, he looked determined +and fearless. His courage, however, was not the rashness of an +impetuous nature. It was rather the proud self-confidence of a rugged +character which obstacles roused to a higher combative energy. He was +not eloquent; not even ornate in diction. But his voice, his words, +and his delivery were all adequate. Besides, he possessed the +incomparable gift of reserved power. During his career of ten years in +the State Senate he was unquestionably the strongest man in the +Legislature and the designated as well as the real leader for more +than half a decade. He was not intolerant, seldom disclosing his +powers of sarcasm, or being betrayed, even when excited, into angry or +bitter words. Yet he was extremely resolute and tenacious, and must +have been the undisputed leader of the anti-Conkling forces save for +the pitch that many said defiled him. If he yielded it was not proven. +Nevertheless, it tended to mildew his influence.</p> + +<p>It was evident from the speech of Woodin that the anti-Grant forces +had the reasonableness of the argument, but the acceptance of the +Utica instructions put delegates in a delicate position. To say that +Conkling had "tricked" them into a pledge which the convention had no +authority to exact,<a name="vol3FNanchor_920_920" id="vol3FNanchor_920_920"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_920_920" class="fnanchor">[920]</a> did not explain how a personal pledge could +be avoided. Finally, William H. Robertson, a delegate from<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.437" id="vol3Page_iii.437">iii. 437</a></span> the +Twelfth District, who had not appeared at Utica, published a letter +that he should vote for Blaine "because he is the choice of the +Republicans of the district which I represent."<a name="vol3FNanchor_921_921" id="vol3FNanchor_921_921"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_921_921" class="fnanchor">[921]</a> Two days +afterwards John Birdsall of the First District and Loren B. Sessions +of the Thirty-third announced on the floor of the Senate that they +should do likewise. Woodin said that as he could not reconcile a vote +for some candidate other than Grant with his attitude voluntarily +taken at Utica he should let his alternate go to Chicago.<a name="vol3FNanchor_922_922" id="vol3FNanchor_922_922"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_922_922" class="fnanchor">[922]</a> From +time to time other delegates followed with declarations similar to +Robertson's.</p> + +<p>As expected, this disobedience drew a volley of anathemas upon the +offending delegates, who became known as "Half-breeds."<a name="vol3FNanchor_923_923" id="vol3FNanchor_923_923"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_923_923" class="fnanchor">[923]</a> The +<i>Times</i> thought Robertson's "tardy revolt" dictated by +"self-interest," because "the pliant politician from Westchester had +chafed under a sense of disappointed ambition ever since the defeat of +his nomination for governor in 1872."<a name="vol3FNanchor_924_924" id="vol3FNanchor_924_924"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_924_924" class="fnanchor">[924]</a></p> + +<p>Upon Sessions and Woodin it was more severe. "We have never regarded +State Senator Sessions as a type of all that is corrupt in politics at +Albany," it said, "and we have steadily defended Mr. Woodin against +the attacks made upon him on the testimony of Tweed. But if these +recent accessions to the Blaine camp are half as bad as the <i>Tribune</i> +has painted them in the past, that journal and its candidate must have +two as disreputable allies as could be found outside of state +prison."<a name="vol3FNanchor_925_925" id="vol3FNanchor_925_925"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_925_925" class="fnanchor">[925]</a> Woodin's manner of avoiding his Utica pledge seemed to +arouse more indignation than the mere breaking of it. The <i>Times</i> +called it "a sneaking fashion,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_926_926" id="vol3FNanchor_926_926"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_926_926" class="fnanchor">[926]</a> and charged lack of courage. "He +does not believe that he who performs an act through another is +himself responsible for the act."<a name="vol3FNanchor_927_927" id="vol3FNanchor_927_927"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_927_927" class="fnanchor">[927]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.438" id="vol3Page_iii.438">iii. 438</a></span></p><p>At Chicago the principle of district representation became the +important question. It involved the admission of many delegates, and +after two days of debate the convention sustained it by a vote of 449 +to 306.<a name="vol3FNanchor_928_928" id="vol3FNanchor_928_928"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_928_928" class="fnanchor">[928]</a> To complete the overthrow of the unit-rule a resolution +was also adopted providing that when any delegate excepted to the +correctness of a vote as cast by the chairman of a delegation, the +president of the convention should direct a roll-call of the +delegation. This practically settled the result. Nevertheless, the +belief obtained, so strong was the Stalwarts' faith in their success, +that when the Blaine and Sherman forces broke to a compromise +candidate, Grant would gain the needed additional seventy-four votes.</p> + +<p>Conkling had never before attended a national convention. Indeed, he +had never been seen at a great political gathering west of the +Alleghanies. But he now became the central figure of the convention, +with two-fifths of the delegates rallying under his leadership. His +reception whenever he entered the hall was the remarkable feature of +the great gathering. Nothing like it had occurred in previous national +conventions. Distinguished men representing favourite candidates had +been highly honoured, but never before did the people continue, day +after day, to welcome one with such vociferous acclaim. It was not all +for Grant. The quick spontaneous outburst of applause that shook the +banners hanging from the girders far above, had in it much of +admiration for the stalwart form, the dominant spirit, the iron-nerved +boss, who led his forces with the arrogance of a gifted, courageous +chieftain. His coming seemed planned for dramatic effect. He rarely +appeared until the audience, settled into order by the opening prayer +or by the transaction of business, might easily catch sight of him, +and as he passed down the long aisle, moving steadily on with graceful +stride and immobile face, a flush of pride tinged<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.439" id="vol3Page_iii.439">iii. 439</a></span> his cheeks as cheer +after cheer, rolling from one end of the amphitheatre to the other, +rent the air. He sat in the front row on the centre aisle, and about +him clustered Chester A. Arthur, Levi P. Morton, Benjamin F. Tracy, +Edwards Pierrepont, George H. Sharpe, and the boyish figure of Charles +E. Cornell, a pale, sandy, undersized youth, the son of the Governor, +who was represented by an alternate.<a name="vol3FNanchor_929_929" id="vol3FNanchor_929_929"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_929_929" class="fnanchor">[929]</a></p> + +<p>Conkling's presentation of Grant was largely relied upon to gain the +needed votes. Prior to 1876 little importance attached to such +speeches, but after the famous oration of Robert G. Ingersoll at +Cincinnati, which became influential almost to the point of success, +the solicitude exhibited in the selection of dominating speakers +constituted a new phase in convention politics and added immeasurably +to the popular interest. By common consent Conkling was named to +present the Stalwarts' choice, and in most of the qualities desirable +in such an address his was regarded the best of the day.</p> + +<p>The lines of Private Miles O'Reilly,<a name="vol3FNanchor_930_930" id="vol3FNanchor_930_930"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_930_930" class="fnanchor">[930]</a> suggested to the Senator on +the evening before he spoke, caught the convention as quickly as did +Ingersoll's opening sentences in 1876, and all that followed, save his +sarcasm and flashes of scorn, held the closest attention. "His +unmatched eloquence," said Brandegee of Connecticut.<a name="vol3FNanchor_931_931" id="vol3FNanchor_931_931"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_931_931" class="fnanchor">[931]</a> This was the +judgment of an opponent. "It had the warmth of eulogy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.440" id="vol3Page_iii.440">iii. 440</a></span> the finish of +a poem, the force and fire of a philippic," said the +<i>Inter-Ocean</i>.<a name="vol3FNanchor_932_932" id="vol3FNanchor_932_932"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_932_932" class="fnanchor">[932]</a> This was the judgment of a friend. All the art of +which he was master found expression in every sentence, polished and +balanced with rhetorical skill, and delivered with the emphasis and +inflection of a great orator. One critic thought it a revelation to +find a man who could be eloquent with studied composure, who could be +fervid without wildness, and who could hold imagery and metaphor to +the steady place of relentless logic without detracting from their +special and peculiar character.</p> + +<p>Not content with reciting the achievements of his own candidate, +Conkling seriously weakened his oration as a vote-making speech by +launching shafts of irony first into Sherman and then into Blaine. +"Nobody is really worried about a third term," he said in conclusion, +"except those hopelessly longing for a first term. Without patronage, +without telegraph wires running from his house to this convention, +without election contrivances, his name is on the country's lips. +Without bureaus, committees, officers, or emissaries to manufacture +sentiment in his favour, without intrigue or effort, Grant is the +candidate whose supporters stand by the creed of the party, holding +the right of the majority as the very essence of their faith, and +meaning to uphold that faith against the charlatans and guerillas, +who, from time to time, deploy and forage between the lines."<a name="vol3FNanchor_933_933" id="vol3FNanchor_933_933"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_933_933" class="fnanchor">[933]</a> As +these sabre-cuts, dealt with the emphasis of gesture and inflection, +flashed upon the galleries, already charmed with the accomplishment of +his speech and the grace of his sentiment, loud hisses, mingled with +distracting exclamations of banter and dissent, proclaimed that the +spell of his magic was broken.</p> + +<p>Balloting for a candidate began on the fifth day. Many rumours +preceded Conkling's method of announcing New York's vote, but when his +turn came, he explained that although he possessed full instructions +concerning the true<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.441" id="vol3Page_iii.441">iii. 441</a></span> condition of the vote, he thought it better to +call the roll, since several of the delegates preferred to speak for +themselves. This plan, so adroitly submitted, made it impossible to +conceal one's vote behind an anonymous total, and compelled John +Birdsall, the Queens County senator, to lead in the disagreeable duty +of disobeying the instructions of the State convention. Birdsall rose +with hesitation, and, after voting for Blaine in a subdued voice, +dropped quickly into his seat as if anxious to avoid publicity. Then +the convention, having listened in perfect silence, ratified his work +with a chorus of hisses and applause. Gradually the anti-third termers +exhibited more courage, and after Robertson and Husted had called out +their candidate with an emphasis that indicated pride and defiance, +the applause drowned the hisses. Woodin's conduct contrasted sharply +with his usual courage. He was an aggressive member of the opposition, +but at this moment, when brave hearts, unflinching resolve, and +unruffled temper were needed, he stood at the rear of the hall, while +Leander Fitts, his alternate, upon whom he cast the responsibility of +violating a solemnly uttered pledge, feebly pronounced the name +"Blaine." The result of the roll-call gave Grant 51, Blaine 17, and +Sherman 2.<a name="vol3FNanchor_934_934" id="vol3FNanchor_934_934"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_934_934" class="fnanchor">[934]</a> On the seventeenth ballot Dennis McCarthy, a State +senator from Onondaga, changed his vote from Grant to Blaine. Thus +modified the New York vote continued until the thirty-sixth ballot, +when the Blaine and Sherman delegates united, recording twenty votes +for Garfield to fifty for Grant. On this roll-call Grant received 306 +votes to 399 for Garfield.<a name="vol3FNanchor_935_935" id="vol3FNanchor_935_935"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_935_935" class="fnanchor">[935]</a> Thus by a strange coincidence the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.442" id="vol3Page_iii.442">iii. 442</a></span> +Stalwarts registered the fateful number that marked their strength +when the unit rule was defeated. During the thirty-six roll-calls +Grant's vote varied from 302 to 313, but in the stampede, when two +hundred and fifteen Blaine men and ninety-six supporters of Sherman +rushed into line for Garfield, the faithful 306 went down in defeat +together. These figures justly became an insignia for the heroic.<a name="vol3FNanchor_936_936" id="vol3FNanchor_936_936"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_936_936" class="fnanchor">[936]</a></p> + +<p>After Garfield's nomination the Stalwarts of the New York delegation +did not conceal their disappointment. When everybody else was cheering +they kept their seats, and while others displayed Garfield badges, +they sullenly sought their headquarters to arrange for the +Vice-Presidency. Leaders of the Garfield movement, now eager to +strengthen the ticket, looked to them for a candidate. New York +belonged in the list of doubtful States, and to enlist the men who +seemed to control its destiny they instinctively turned to the +defeated faction. William M. Dennison, a former governor of Ohio, +promptly made their wishes known, confidently counting upon Conkling's +coöperation, since the Senator had been the first on his feet to make +Garfield's nomination unanimous. In doing so he expressed the hope +that the zeal and fervour of the convention would characterise its +members "in bearing the banner and carrying the lances of the +Republican party into the ranks of the enemy."</p> + +<p>Conkling's treatment of Dennison's request has been variously +reported. One version is that he demanded the nomination of Chester A. +Arthur; another, that he sternly refused to make any suggestion. +Contemporary press reports confirm the first, basing it upon his +desire to vindicate<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.443" id="vol3Page_iii.443">iii. 443</a></span> Arthur and humiliate Sherman; the second is +supported by Alfred R. Conkling's biography of his uncle.<a name="vol3FNanchor_937_937" id="vol3FNanchor_937_937"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_937_937" class="fnanchor">[937]</a> But +neither report is correct. Conkling bitterly resented Garfield's +nomination, predicted his defeat at the polls, and did not hesitate to +dissuade friends from accepting the nomination for Vice-President. +"The convention has nominated a candidate, but not a President," he +said to Stewart L. Woodford. "Since the nomination I have heard from +an influential friend at Albany, who declares that Garfield cannot +carry New York. Now, the question is, whom shall we place upon the +altar as a vicarious sacrifice? Mr. Morton has declined. Perhaps you +would like the nomination for Vice-President?" Being assured that +Woodford would accept it if tendered to him, Conkling added: "I hope +no sincere friend of mine will accept it."<a name="vol3FNanchor_938_938" id="vol3FNanchor_938_938"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_938_938" class="fnanchor">[938]</a></p> + +<p>In the event of Grant's nomination Levi P. Morton had been prominently +mentioned as a proper candidate for Vice-President. He was then +fifty-six years of age, and had achieved high reputation in banking +and financial circles. Though not eloquent according to the canons of +oratory, he spoke with clearness, was widely intelligent, and had +given careful attention to public questions. Conservative in his +nature and sturdy in his principles, he always advised against +rashness and counselled firmness. A single session in Congress had +proven his zeal in the performance of public duty, and his fitness for +Vice-President was recognised then as it was eight years later when he +became the running mate of Benjamin Harrison. Upon his nomination, +therefore, Garfield, before the convention had recessed, sent word by +Dennison that he desired Morton nominated for second place. Morton, +answering that his nomination must not be made without previous +consultation with his<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.444" id="vol3Page_iii.444">iii. 444</a></span> associates, immediately informed Conkling of +Garfield's desire. Conkling replied, "If you think the ticket will be +elected; if you think you will be happy in the association, accept." +To this Morton answered, "I have more confidence in your judgment than +in my own." Conkling then added: "Governor Boutwell of Massachusetts +is a great friend of yours. Why don't you talk with him?" Acting upon +this suggestion Morton sought Boutwell, who advised against it. Morton +acquiesced and refused the use of his name.<a name="vol3FNanchor_939_939" id="vol3FNanchor_939_939"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_939_939" class="fnanchor">[939]</a></p> + +<p>After returning to their headquarters at the hotel the Stalwarts, upon +the suggestion and insistence of George H. Sharpe, quickly agreed upon +Chester A. Arthur, who gave an affirmative response to their appeal. +Conkling was not present at the time, but subsequently in Arthur's +room, where Howard Carroll and several other delegates lingered, he +bitterly opposed placing a Stalwart upon the ticket and expressed in +unmeasured terms his disapprobation of Arthur's acceptance.<a name="vol3FNanchor_940_940" id="vol3FNanchor_940_940"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_940_940" class="fnanchor">[940]</a> On +their way to the convention Sharpe told Woodford of the pungent +flavour of Conkling's invective, and of Arthur's calm assertion of the +propriety of his action. At the wigwam Conkling refused Sharpe's +request to place Arthur in nomination.<a name="vol3FNanchor_941_941" id="vol3FNanchor_941_941"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_941_941" class="fnanchor">[941]</a></p> + +<p>Upon the reassembling of the convention California presented Elihu B. +Washburne for Vice-President, a nomination which Dennis McCarthy of +New York, amidst cordial and hearty applause from the galleries, +seconded in a forceful speech. This indicated that Arthur was <i>persona +non grata</i> to the anti-Grant delegates of the Empire State. Jewell of +Connecticut, Ferry of Michigan, Settle of North Carolina, and Maynard +of Tennessee, were likewise presented. As the call of States proceeded +New York made no response in its turn, but when Woodford subsequently +proposed the name of Arthur, Dennison responded with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.445" id="vol3Page_iii.445">iii. 445</a></span> spirited +second, followed by delegates from New Jersey, Illinois, Mississippi, +Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. This array of backing +brought McCarthy to his feet, who withdrew his second to Washburne and +moved that Arthur's nomination, under a suspension of the rules, be +made by acclamation. This required a two-thirds vote and was lost. +Then Campbell of West Virginia, amidst the loudest cheers of the +evening, seconded the nomination of Washburne. "Let us not do a rash +thing." he said. "The convention has passed a resolution favouring +civil service reform. Let us not stultify ourselves before the +country."<a name="vol3FNanchor_942_942" id="vol3FNanchor_942_942"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_942_942" class="fnanchor">[942]</a></p> + +<p>At first Arthur's strength was confined to the Grant delegation, +twenty-five States showing an increase of only seventy votes, thirty +of which came from the South. But as the roll-call proceeded New York, +Ohio, and Pennsylvania brought other States into line, the ballot +giving Arthur 468, Washburne 193, and other favourite sons 90.</p> + +<p>Arthur's nomination was a distinct disappointment. To many it was an +offence. Within the State leading Republican journals resented it by +silence, while others were conspicuously cold; without the State it +encountered even greater disadvantages, since his dismissal as +collector of customs had advertised him as the enemy of reform, the +apostle of bossism, and the friend of whatever was objectionable in +politics.<a name="vol3FNanchor_943_943" id="vol3FNanchor_943_943"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_943_943" class="fnanchor">[943]</a> Yet his friends found a creditable record. He had +successfully opposed the well-known action of Jonathan Lemmon, who +sought to recover eight slaves which he incautiously brought into New +York on his way from Virginia to Texas; he had established the right +of coloured people to ride in the street-cars; and he had rendered +valuable service in the early years of the war as engineer-in-chief +and quartermaster-general on the staff of Governor<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.446" id="vol3Page_iii.446">iii. 446</a></span> Morgan. He +possessed, too, an inherited instinct for keeping faith with men. In +his relations with politicians of high or low degree there was not a +trace of dissimulation or double-dealing. His career is a study of the +evolution of character. It is not strange, perhaps, that in the days +of custom-house investigations and bitter partisan strife, when he was +known as an henchman of Conkling, there was a lack of public +appreciation of the potentialities of a unique personality, but the +Arthur heritage included then as afterward absolute truthfulness, +shrewdness of judgment, high-minded patriotism, and consciousness of +moral obligation.<a name="vol3FNanchor_944_944" id="vol3FNanchor_944_944"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_944_944" class="fnanchor">[944]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.447" id="vol3Page_iii.447">iii. 447</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="vol3CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV</h2> + +<h2>TILDEN, KELLY, AND DEFEAT</h2> + +<h2>1880</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">The</span> defeat of Governor Robinson did not apparently change party +sentiment respecting Tilden's renomination for the Presidency. No +other candidate was seriously discussed. Indeed, the Democratic press +continued to treat it as a matter of course, coupling with it the +alleged subversion of an election, transcending in importance all +questions of administration, and involving the vital principle of +self-government through elections by the people. This new issue, +dwarfing all other policies, had been for three years the cornerstone +of every Democratic platform in state, county, or congressional +convention. No argument seemed to weaken it, no event could destroy +it. The Republican claim that the vote of three Southern States, as +declared at the polls, was the result of terrorism and did not in any +sense represent an honest expression of the popular will, made no +impression upon it. The well-known fact that Congress, because of the +confusion of the situation, had wisely sought a remedy in the +Electoral Commission, which was passed by Democratic rather than +Republican votes, in nowise weakened the force of its appeal. Not even +did the disclosure that Tilden's house had become the headquarter of +confidential agents, who sought to corrupt the electors, produce any +change in it. The one declaration, patiently and persistently kept +before the people, was that Tilden had been elected by the popular +vote and defrauded by a false count of the electoral vote, and that +the supreme issue in 1880 must be whether "this shall be a government +by the sovereign people through elections, or a government<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.448" id="vol3Page_iii.448">iii. 448</a></span> by +discarded servants holding over by force and fraud."<a name="vol3FNanchor_945_945" id="vol3FNanchor_945_945"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_945_945" class="fnanchor">[945]</a> The +reiteration of this proposition made Tilden, it was claimed, the +necessary and inevitable candidate of the Cincinnati convention, +called to meet on June 22. The party seemed to believe, what Tilden +himself had announced from his doorstep three years before, that the +country would "never condone fraud," and it did not propose to +sacrifice a winning issue.<a name="vol3FNanchor_946_946" id="vol3FNanchor_946_946"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_946_946" class="fnanchor">[946]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, many New York Democrats disliked Tilden. Their number, +which the cipher disclosures materially increased, grew into +threatening proportions after Kelly's dissatisfaction had settled into +a relentless feud. This condition made Tilden's chances of carrying +the State uncertain if not absolutely nil, and encouraged his critics +to magnify his weaknesses until the belief generally obtained that +serious, perhaps fatal opposition would array itself at the State +convention on April 20. Statements as to Tilden's ill-health likewise +found currency. When not displaying evidence of unimpaired mental +vigour in the courtroom, he was said to be on the verge of total +paralysis.<a name="vol3FNanchor_947_947" id="vol3FNanchor_947_947"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_947_947" class="fnanchor">[947]</a> To his burdens the government also added another by +pursuing his income tax. This suit, commenced in January, 1877, and +destined to drag through five years until dismissed by the prosecution +without costs to either party, was fixed for the April term in 1880, +although the United States attorney admitted his unpreparedness for +trial.<a name="vol3FNanchor_948_948" id="vol3FNanchor_948_948"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_948_948" class="fnanchor">[948]</a> "Thus was he persecuted with unrelenting virulence by the +Administration," says his biographer, "and by the Republican press, +which neglected no opportunity of refreshing the memory of its readers +in regard to his imputed capacities for wickedness."<a name="vol3FNanchor_949_949" id="vol3FNanchor_949_949"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_949_949" class="fnanchor">[949]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.449" id="vol3Page_iii.449">iii. 449</a></span></p><p>Meanwhile, to escape interruptions to which Gramercy Park exposed him, +Tilden settled in the summer of 1879 at Greystone on the Hudson, three +miles beyond the northernmost limit of the city, on the highest ground +south of the Highlands. Here he brought a portion of his library; here +he mingled with his flocks and herds; and here in the seclusion of a +noble estate, with the comforts of a palatial stone dwelling, he +discoursed with friends, who came from every part of the country to +assure him that he alone could keep the party together. Ever silent as +to his own intentions Tilden talked of the crime of 1876 until his +visitors, imbued with his own spirit, left him thoroughly impressed +with the importance of his renomination.</p> + +<p>But Tilden did not trust the result to sentiment. Throughout New York +Daniel E. Manning and other lieutenants held a tight rein, and when +the Syracuse convention assembled an early roll-call, on a resolution +to determine the character of the Committee on Credentials, showed 295 +votes for Tilden to 80 against him. If this overwhelming majority +shocked the dissenters, it was not less a surprise to the regulars. In +the convention of 1876 Tilden mustered, including Tammany, only 201 +out of 375; now, after his enemies had exhausted their opposition, he +proved stronger than in the closing months of his famous career as a +reform governor. The result of this vote settled all controversies, +leaving the convention free to appoint electors and to select +delegates to Cincinnati.<a name="vol3FNanchor_950_950" id="vol3FNanchor_950_950"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_950_950" class="fnanchor">[950]</a> It was not to adjourn, however, until it +had shown a serene and polite contempt for John Kelly. During the +morning John B. Haskin, on behalf of the Tammany convention, had +presented a resolution expressing a desire for the union of the party +and asking the appointment of a harmony committee. Ignoring the +assembly from which he came, the convention treated the resolution as +a personal communication from<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.450" id="vol3Page_iii.450">iii. 450</a></span> Haskin, whom it assured, after politely +reciprocating his desire for the union of the Democratic party, "that +the deliberative wisdom of the national convention will result in such +action as will secure the triumph of the Democratic party in the +ensuing election."<a name="vol3FNanchor_951_951" id="vol3FNanchor_951_951"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_951_951" class="fnanchor">[951]</a> This bitter rebuff, coupled with the +overwhelming majority for Tilden, indicated a conscious strength which +deeply impressed the party in other States, and greatly aided in +demoralising opposition in New York.</p> + +<p>Nor did the convention adjourn until its Committee on Resolutions +sprung a further surprise. The delegates anticipated and applauded an +elaborate statement of the fraud issue, but the presentation of Tilden +as a candidate for President came with the suddenness of his +unexpected majority. Manning did not intend to go so far. His courage +came with his strength. Proof of this, if any were needed, existed in +the fact that the endorsement was in manuscript, while the rest of the +platform was read from a printed slip. To define the situation more +clearly the committee submitted a unit rule, declaring "that in case +any attempt is made to dismember or divide the delegation by +contesting the seats of a portion of the delegates, or if delegates +countenance such an attempt by assuming to act separately from the +majority, or fail to coöperate with such majority, the seats of such +delegates shall be deemed to be vacated."<a name="vol3FNanchor_952_952" id="vol3FNanchor_952_952"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_952_952" class="fnanchor">[952]</a> Never did convention +adopt a more drastic rule. The reading of these ball and chain +provisions provoked hisses and widened the chasm between Tilden's +convention and John Kelly's side-show.</p> + +<p>Kelly's bolt in 1879 had proved his power to destroy; yet to his +friends, if not to himself, it must have been deeply humiliating to +see the fierce light of public interest turned entirely on Tilden. +Kelly also realised the more poignant fact that jealousy, distrust, +and accumulated resentment lined the way he had marked out for +himself. Nevertheless, he walked on apparently heedless of the signs +of conflict. Since<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.451" id="vol3Page_iii.451">iii. 451</a></span> the regular Democratic convention would not admit +him, he threateningly assembled one of his own in Shakespeare Hall, to +be used, if the party did not yield, in knocking at the door of the +Cincinnati convention. William Dorsheimer acted as its temporary +chairman. Dorsheimer had become a political changeling. Within a +decade he had been a Republican, a Liberal, and a Democrat, and it was +whispered that he was already tired of being a Kellyite. His appeal +for Horatio Seymour indicated his restlessness. The feuds of Tilden +and Church and Kernan and Kelly and Robinson had left Seymour the one +Democrat who received universal homage from his party, and it became +the fashion of Tilden's enemies to refer to the Oneidan as the only +one who could unite the party and carry the State. It did not matter +to Dorsheimer that Seymour, having retired from active politics in +1868, was placidly meditating at Deerfield, devoted to agricultural +and historical interests. Nor did his clamour cease after the bucolic +statesman had declared that if he must choose between a funeral and a +nomination he would take the first,<a name="vol3FNanchor_953_953" id="vol3FNanchor_953_953"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_953_953" class="fnanchor">[953]</a> since the mention of +Seymour's name always waked an audience into cheers. Later in the day +Amasa J. Parker, on taking the chair as president, artfully made use +of the same ruse to arouse interest.</p> + +<p>It was not an enthusiastic convention. Many delegates had lost heart. +Kelly himself left the train unnoticed, and to some the blue badges, +exploiting the purpose of their presence, indicated a fool's errand. +In the previous September they had refused to support Robinson, and +having defeated him they now returned to the same hall to threaten +Tilden with similar treatment. This was their only mission. +Humiliation did not possess them, however, until John B. Haskin +reported that the regulars refused to recognise their existence. Then +John Kelly threw off his muzzle, and with the Celtic-English of a +Tammany brave exhibited a violent and revolutionary spirit. "Tilden +was elected by the votes of the people," said Kelly, "and he had not +suffi<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.452" id="vol3Page_iii.452">iii. 452</a></span>cient courage after he was elected to go forward, as a brave man +should have gone forward, and said to the people of the country, 'I +have been elected by the votes of the people, and you see to it that I +am inaugurated.' Nothing of the like did Mr. Tilden."<a name="vol3FNanchor_954_954" id="vol3FNanchor_954_954"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_954_954" class="fnanchor">[954]</a></p> + +<p>In other words, Kelly thought Tilden an unfit candidate because he did +not decide for himself that he had been elected and proceed to take +his seat at the cost of a tremendous civil convulsion. Perhaps it was +this policy more than Kelly's personality which had begun to alienate +Dorsheimer. One who had been brought up in the bosom of culture and +conservatism could have little confidence in such a man. The platform, +though bitter, avoided this revolutionary sentiment. It protested +against the total surrender of the party to one man, who has "cunning" +and "unknown resources of wealth," and who "attempts to forestall +public opinion, to preoccupy the situation, to overrule the majority, +and to force himself upon the party to its ruin." It declared that +"Tildenism is personalism, which is false to Democracy and dangerous +to the Republic," and it pronounced "Tilden unfit for President" +because "his political career has been marked with selfishness, +treachery, and dishonour, and his name irretrievably connected with +the scandals brought to light by the cipher despatches."<a name="vol3FNanchor_955_955" id="vol3FNanchor_955_955"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_955_955" class="fnanchor">[955]</a> Haskin +proposed a more compact statement, declaring that "the Democratic +party does not want any such money-grabber, railroad wrecker, and +paralytic hypocrite at the helm of State."<a name="vol3FNanchor_956_956" id="vol3FNanchor_956_956"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_956_956" class="fnanchor">[956]</a></p> + +<p>After the two conventions adjourned the question of chiefest interest +was, would Tilden seek the nomination at Cincinnati? The action of the +convention demonstrated that the regular party organisation was +unaffected by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.453" id="vol3Page_iii.453">iii. 453</a></span> Kelly bolt, that Tilden controlled the party in the +State, and that his nomination was a part of the programme. Moreover, +it showed that the New York Democracy did not intend asking support +upon any principle other than the issue of fraud. But intimations of +Tilden's purpose to decline a nomination found expression in the +speech and acts of men presumedly informed. Lester B. Faulkner's +statement, in calling the convention to order, that he did not know +whether the Governor would accept a renomination, coupled with the +convention's reply to Haskin, expressing confidence that the action at +Cincinnati would result in the Democracy's carrying New York, had made +a deep impression. To many these insinuations indicated that because +of his health or for some unknown cause he was not seriously a +candidate. Others found reason for similar belief in the indisposition +of prominent delegates to resent such a suggestion. One veteran +journalist, skilled in reading the words and actions of political +leaders, asserted with confidence that he would not be a candidate. To +him Tilden's name concealed a strategic movement, which, in the end, +would enable his friends to control the nomination for another.<a name="vol3FNanchor_957_957" id="vol3FNanchor_957_957"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_957_957" class="fnanchor">[957]</a></p> + +<p>Such interpretation found hosts of doubters. Without Tilden, it was +said, the fraud issue would lose its influence. Besides, if he +intended to withdraw, why did Kelly assemble his convention? Surely +some one, said they, would have given him an inkling in time to save +him from the contempt and humiliation to which he had subjected +himself. There was much force in this reasoning, and as the date of +the national convention approached the mystery deepened.</p> + +<p>Tilden was not a paralytic, as Haskin proclaimed. He could not even be +called an invalid. His attention to vexatious litigation evidenced +unimpaired mental power, and his open life at Greystone proved that +his physical condition did not hide him from men. He undoubtedly +required regular rest and sleep. His nervous system did not resist<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.454" id="vol3Page_iii.454">iii. 454</a></span> +excitement as readily as in the days of his battle with Tweed and the +Canal ring. It is possible, too, that early symptoms of a confirmed +disease had then appeared, and that prudence dictated hygienic +precautions. Once, in December, 1879, when contemplating the strain of +the campaign of 1876, he questioned his ability to go through another. +Again, in the early spring of 1880, after prolonged intellectual +effort, he remarked in rather a querulous tone, "If I am no longer fit +to prepare a case for trial, I am not fit to be President of the +United States." Such casual remarks, usually made to a confidential +friend, seemed to limit his references to his health.<a name="vol3FNanchor_958_958" id="vol3FNanchor_958_958"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_958_958" class="fnanchor">[958]</a> He +doubtless felt disinclined, as have many stronger men, to meet the +strain that comes when in pursuit of high public office, but there is +no evidence that ill-health, if it really entered into his +calculations, was the determining factor of his action. Conditions in +the Republican party had changed in the Empire State since the +nomination of Garfield. Besides, the cipher disclosures had lost him +the independent vote which he received in 1876. This left only the +regulation party strength, minus the Kelly vote. In 1876 Tilden's +majority was 26,568, and in 1879 Kelly polled 77,566. If Kelly's bolt +in 1880, therefore, should carry one-half or only one-quarter of the +votes it did in 1879, Tilden must necessarily lose New York which +meant the loss of the election. These were conditions, not theories, +that confronted this hard-headed man of affairs, who, without +sentiment, never failed to understand the inexorable logic of facts. +Nevertheless, Tilden wanted the endorsement of a renomination. This +would open the way for a graceful retreat. Yet, to shield him from +possible defeat, he secretly gave Manning a letter, apparently +declining to run again, which could be used if needed.</p> + +<p>On reaching Cincinnati Manning found that a multiplicity of candidates +made it difficult to determine Tilden's strength. The ranks of the +opposition, based on cipher dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.455" id="vol3Page_iii.455">iii. 455</a></span>closures and Kelly's threats, rapidly +strengthened, and although many friends of other candidates thought it +less hazardous to nominate him than to repudiate him, ominous warnings +piled up like thunder clouds on a summer day. Meantime New York's +active canvass for Henry B. Payne of Ohio seemed to conflict with +Tilden's candidacy, while Tilden's remarks, spoken in moments of +physical discouragement, added to the impression that he did not seek +the nomination. But why did he not say so? Manning, supposing he was +the sole possessor of the letter and believing the time not yet ripe +for producing it, kept his own counsels. Tilden, however, had given a +duplicate to his brother Henry, who now announced through the press +that Tilden had forwarded a communication. This reached Cincinnati on +the eve of the convention.</p> + +<p>It was long and characteristic. He recalled his services as a private +citizen in overthrowing the Tweed ring and purifying the judiciary, +and as governor of the State in breaking up the Canal ring, reducing +the taxes, and reforming the administration. He told the familiar +story of the "count out"; maintained that he could, if he pleased, +have bought "proof of the fraud" from the Southern returning boards; +and accused Congress of "abdicating its duty" in referring the count +to the Electoral Commission. Since 1876, he said, he had been "denied +the immunities of private life without the powers conferred by public +station," but he had done all in his power to keep before the people +"the supreme issue" raised by the events of that year. Now, however, +he felt unequal to "a new engagement which involves four years of +ceaseless toil. Such a work of renovation after many years of misrule, +such a reform of systems and policies, to which I would cheerfully +have sacrificed all that remained to me of health and life, is now, I +fear, beyond my strength."<a name="vol3FNanchor_959_959" id="vol3FNanchor_959_959"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_959_959" class="fnanchor">[959]</a></p> + +<p>Tilden did not intend this to be a letter of withdrawal. With the hope +of stimulating loyalty he sought to impress<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.456" id="vol3Page_iii.456">iii. 456</a></span> upon the delegates his +vicarious sacrifice and the need of holding to the fraud issue. This +was the interpretation quickly given it by his enemies. Kelly declared +it a direct bid for the nomination. But a majority of the New York +delegation regretfully accepted it as final. Nevertheless, many ardent +Tilden men, believing the letter had strengthened him, insisted upon +his nomination. The meeting of the delegation proved a stormy one. +Bold charges of infidelity to Tilden reacted against Payne, and to +escape controversy Manning indiscreetly asked if he might yield to the +pressure which his letter had stimulated. To this Tilden could make +but one reply: "My action is irrevocable. No friend must cast a doubt +on my sincerity."<a name="vol3FNanchor_960_960" id="vol3FNanchor_960_960"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_960_960" class="fnanchor">[960]</a></p> + +<p>There is something pathetic in this passing of Tilden, but there seems +no reason for surprise. Tilden was essentially an opportunist. He +attacked the Tweed ring after its exposure; he made war upon the Canal +ring after its record had become notorious; and he reduced the State +taxes after the war debt had been paid. Upon these reforms he rode +into power, and upon the cry of fraud he hoped to ride again to +success. He was much too acute not to know that the cipher disclosures +had robbed him of the rôle of reformer, but he seems to have been +blind to the obvious fact that every one else was also aware of it. +Besides, he lacked boldness and was at times the victim of indecision. +He was singularly unfortunate, moreover, in failing to attract a +circle of admirers such as usually surround public men of great +prominence. Nevertheless, the opinion then obtained, and a quarter of +a century perhaps has not changed it, that had Manning, when he +reached the convention city, boldly and promptly demanded Tilden's +nomination it could have been secured. Whether, if tendered him, he +would have accepted it, "no one," says Bigelow, "is competent to +affirm or deny. He probably did not know himself."<a name="vol3FNanchor_961_961" id="vol3FNanchor_961_961"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_961_961" class="fnanchor">[961]</a></p> + +<p>Meanwhile, New York lost whatever prestige it had inherited through +him. Payne had the support of barely a<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.457" id="vol3Page_iii.457">iii. 457</a></span> majority of the +delegation,<a name="vol3FNanchor_962_962" id="vol3FNanchor_962_962"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_962_962" class="fnanchor">[962]</a> Samuel J. Randall of Pennsylvania, who had relied +upon it, was angry, and the first roll-call showed that Winfield S. +Hancock and Thomas F. Bayard held the leading places.<a name="vol3FNanchor_963_963" id="vol3FNanchor_963_963"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_963_963" class="fnanchor">[963]</a> This +contrasted sharply with its early success. George Hoadley of Ohio, +Tilden's devoted friend, had been made temporary chairman; Kelly, +rising to address the convention, had felt most keenly the absence of +a friend in the chair; and a two-thirds majority excluded the +Shakespeare Hall delegation. Such influence, however, was at an end. +The delegation affected control when Rufus H. Peckham declared from +the platform that as Tilden had renounced all claims New York would +support Randall; but the convention failed to join in the excited +cheers of the Philadelphians, while the roll-call soon disclosed +Hancock as the favourite. Before the result was announced officially +Wisconsin asked permission to change its twenty votes to the soldier, +and in the twinkling of an eye the stampede began. At the conclusion +of the changes Hancock had received all the votes cast save 33.<a name="vol3FNanchor_964_964" id="vol3FNanchor_964_964"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_964_964" class="fnanchor">[964]</a> +William H. English of Indiana, a rich man, who had served four terms +in Congress during the administrations of Presidents Pierce and +Buchanan, was nominated for Vice-President. The platform favoured a +tariff for revenue only, exploited the election fraud, demanded honest +money of coin or paper convertible into coin, and stoutly opposed +Chinese immigration.</p> + +<p>After Hancock's nomination Kelly's inning began. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.458" id="vol3Page_iii.458">iii. 458</a></span> convention had +treated him coldly. On the first day, when New York was called, +desiring to protest against seating a member of the regular +delegation, he sought recognition from a seat among the alternates, +but Hoadley, without the slightest sign of seeing or hearing him, +ordered the roll-call to proceed. The overwhelming rejection of his +delegation was not less crushing. The vote combined a compliment to +Tilden and an official utterance against the action of his great +enemy, and as the States, answering promptly and sharply, dealt death +to bolting and paralysis to Tammany it became evident to the blindest +that Tilden possessed the confidence of his party. In spite of the +friendly relations between Hendricks and Kelly, Indiana voted a solid +No. Nine other States, including Kentucky, Louisiana, and North +Carolina, did likewise. Indeed, nearly two-thirds of the Southern +delegates ranged themselves against the Boss. To add to the public +proof of Kelly's weakness New York asked to be excused from +voting.<a name="vol3FNanchor_965_965" id="vol3FNanchor_965_965"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_965_965" class="fnanchor">[965]</a></p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Kelly had his friends. They were not as strong in +numbers or in voice as those who cheered Conkling at Chicago, but in +the absence of a master-mind the galleries seized upon the Tammany +leader and cheered whenever he appeared. To give greater spectacular +effect to his first greeting, Wade Hampton of South Carolina got upon +his crutches and stumped down the aisle to shake him solemnly by the +hand. Kelly, however, did not reach the culminating point of his +picturesque rôle until Hancock's nomination. After Randall, Hampton, +and others had spoken, cries for Kelly brought to the platform a +delegation of Tammany leaders walking arm in arm, with John Kelly, +Augustus Schell, Amasa J. Parker, and George C. Green in front. The +convention, save the New York delegation, leaped to its feet, and when +Kelly declared that hereafter whoever alluded to the differences which +had heretofore<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.459" id="vol3Page_iii.459">iii. 459</a></span> existed in the New York Democracy should be considered +a "traitor to his party," the great enthusiasm forced cheers from +one-half of the New York delegation. To make the love-feast complete, +John R. Fellows, finally responding to impatient calls from all parts +of the hall, also took the platform.</p> + +<p>Fellows, still in his forties, had had a varied, perhaps a brilliant +career. Born in Troy he found his way in early boyhood to Arkansas, +joined the Confederate army, fought at Shiloh, escaped from Vicksburg, +surrendered at Port Hudson, and remained a prisoner of war until June, +1865. Returning to Arkansas he served in the State Senate, and in 1868 +came to New York, where he secured an appointment in the office of the +District Attorney. Public attention became instantly fixed on the +attractive figure of the intrepid young assistant. He leaped into +renown. He soon became the principal Democratic speaker in the city, +and from the first followed the fortunes of the pale, eager form of +the distinguished reform Governor. At Cincinnati he represented the +conservative Tilden men, and although upon reaching the platform he +faced a man of greater force, he betrayed no docile character, ready +to receive passively whatever the Boss might allot. His speech was +cleverly framed. He expressed no desire that Tilden Democrats be +forgiven for the political sins which their opponents had committed; +neither did he mar the good feeling of the occasion. But when, at the +conclusion of his remarks, John Kelly stepped forward, seized his +hand, and began working it up and down like a handle, Fellows stood +stiffly and passionlessly as a pump, neither rejecting nor accepting +the olive branches thrust upon him. Thus ended the great scene of the +reconciliation of the New York Democracy.</p> + +<p>When plucked the fruit of this reunion was found not to be very +toothsome. Returning to New York, Tammany held a ratification meeting +(July 1) in which the regulars would not unite. Subsequently the +regulars held a meeting (July 28) at which Tilden presided, and which +Tammany did not<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.460" id="vol3Page_iii.460">iii. 460</a></span> attend. Similar discord manifested itself respecting +the choice of a chief judge for the Court of Appeals. The Republican +State Committee had chosen Charles J. Folger, but when the regulars +advocated the same method of selection Kelly defiantly issued a call +(August 14) for a State convention. Such bossism, the product of a +strange, fitful career, was only less dramatic than that of Tweed. At +a subsequent conference Kelly submitted a letter stating that if a +convention were regularly summoned and Tammany given its full share of +delegates and committeemen, his call would be withdrawn.<a name="vol3FNanchor_966_966" id="vol3FNanchor_966_966"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_966_966" class="fnanchor">[966]</a> To this +the regulars finally yielded, and a State convention, held at Saratoga +on September 28, made Kelly its head and front. His advent evoked the +loudest cheers, his demand for five members of the State committee met +little resistance, and Dorsheimer, besides serving as chairman of the +Committee on Resolutions, presented the name of Charles J. Rapallo, +who became the nominee for chief judge of Appeals. Thus within a few +months Kelly had defeated Robinson for governor, prevented Tilden's +nomination for President, and imposed his will upon the regular +organisation.</p> + +<p>In the selection of municipal candidates he was not less successful. +Irving Hall insisted upon naming the mayor, and for many weeks the +bickering and bargaining of conference committees resulted in nothing. +Finally, Kelly proposed that the regulars select several satisfactory +persons from whom he would choose. Among those submitted was the name +of William Russell Grace, a respected merchant, a native of Ireland, a +Roman Catholic in religion, and a man of large wealth, but without +official experience of any kind. This was better, it was said, than +official experience of the wrong kind. Irving Hall included his name +with considerable reluctance. It distrusted his loyalty, since a +rumour, too well founded not to cause alarm, revealed Kelly's interest +in him. But Kelly's cunning equalled his audacity. He had secured the +nomination of Rapallo by voting for<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.461" id="vol3Page_iii.461">iii. 461</a></span> William C. Ruger of Onondaga, and +he now caused it to be understood that under no circumstances would +Grace be acceptable. The merchant's name once upon the list, however, +the Boss snapped it up with avidity, while the Germans muttered +because three of the five city candidates were Irishmen. Thus the +campaign opened badly for the Democrats.</p> + +<p>Nor did it open more auspiciously for the Republicans. Garfield's part +in the Crédit Mobilier scandal was reviewed without regard to the +vindicatory evidence, while Nast's incriminating cartoon of 1873<a name="vol3FNanchor_967_967" id="vol3FNanchor_967_967"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_967_967" class="fnanchor">[967]</a> +emphasised the failure of the great artist to introduce the Republican +candidate into his campaign pictures of 1880. It advertised the fact +that Nast retained his early opinion of the nominee's conduct. Further +to alienate the independent vote it was charged that Garfield, during +the visit of Grant and Conkling at Mentor (September 28), had +surrendered to the Stalwarts. Appearances did not discourage such a +belief. Conkling's hostility disclosed at Chicago was emphasised by +his withdrawal from New York City on the day that Garfield entered it +(August 5). Subsequently, in his initial speech of the campaign +(September 17), Conkling's first important words were a sneer at Hayes +and an implied threat at Garfield.<a name="vol3FNanchor_968_968" id="vol3FNanchor_968_968"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_968_968" class="fnanchor">[968]</a> Yet two weeks later the +Senator, while on a speaking tour through Ohio and Indiana, went out +of his way, riding three-fourths of a mile through a heavy rain, to +call upon Garfield. This looked as if somebody had surrendered. As a +matter of fact Conkling did not meet Garfield in private, nor did they +discuss any political topic,<a name="vol3FNanchor_969_969" id="vol3FNanchor_969_969"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_969_969" class="fnanchor">[969]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.462" id="vol3Page_iii.462">iii. 462</a></span> but the apparent sudden collapse of +Conkling's dislike supplied Garfield's opponents with abundance of +powder. Meantime the loss of the September election in Maine crushed +Republican hope. A victory had been confidently expected, and the +failure to secure it, although the adverse majority was less than two +hundred, sent a chill to every Republican heart.</p> + +<p>Spurred to greater effort by this blighting disappointment, the +Republicans regained courage by a spirited presentation of the +industrial question, which was strongly reinforced by returning +activity in trade and commerce. To offset its effect and to win the +industrial masses to Democratic support, lithographic copies of the +so-called "Morey letter," approving Chinese immigration, which +purported to be written by Garfield, were spread broadcast (October +20) over the country. Garfield promptly branded it a forgery. Though +the handwriting and especially the signature resembled his, +accumulating evidence and the failure to produce the man to whom the +letter purported to be addressed, rapidly made clear its fictitious +character. Nevertheless, many Democratic journals and orators, notably +Abraham S. Hewitt, assuming its genuineness, used it with tremendous +force as favouring Chinese competition with home labour.</p> + +<p>To add to the slanderous character of the closing days of the campaign +John Kelly, through the New York <i>Express</i>, rained fierce personal +assaults upon the distinguished editor of the New York <i>Herald</i>, who +opposed Grace. In bitterness the mayoralty fight surpassed the +presidential contest. Hints of a division of public money for +sectarian purposes had deeply stirred the city and given prominence to +William Dowd, the Republican candidate, whose interest in the common +schools characterised his public activities. Dowd had the support of +many members of Irving Hall, who, as they gnashed their teeth in +resentment of Kelly's cunning, became unweariedly active in combining +the strange and various elements of opposition. Not Daniel<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.463" id="vol3Page_iii.463">iii. 463</a></span> himself +was more uncomfortably encompassed than Grace.</p> + +<p>The October elections in Ohio and Indiana plainly indicated the trend +of public opinion, and on November 3 the Republicans carried New York +and the country.<a name="vol3FNanchor_970_970" id="vol3FNanchor_970_970"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_970_970" class="fnanchor">[970]</a> The significant point in the State returns, +however, was the severe punishment administered to Kelly. Whomsoever +he supported suffered humiliation. Hancock received 21,000 votes less +than Garfield, Rapallo 55,000 less than Folger, and Grace 38,000 less +than Hancock. In the presence of such a showing the Brooklyn <i>Eagle</i>, +a Democratic journal friendly to Tilden, thus philosophised: "Bosses +and thorough organisation are incompatible. The success of +organisation depends upon reason. The success of the boss is due to +underhand arts. No young man can hope for the favour of a boss who +does not begin by cultivating the temper of a lick-spittle."<a name="vol3FNanchor_971_971" id="vol3FNanchor_971_971"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_971_971" class="fnanchor">[971]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.464" id="vol3Page_iii.464">iii. 464</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XXXV" id="vol3CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV</h2> + +<h2>CONKLING DOWN AND OUT</h2> + +<h2>1881</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">In</span> the speakership contest of January, 1881, the anti-Conkling leaders +discovered a disposition to profit by the election of Garfield. They +wanted to learn their voting strength, and to encourage assemblymen to +oppose George H. Sharpe, the Stalwart candidate, the <i>Tribune</i>, in +double-leaded type, announced, apparently with authority, that the +President-elect would not allow them to suffer.<a name="vol3FNanchor_972_972" id="vol3FNanchor_972_972"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_972_972" class="fnanchor">[972]</a> This sounded a +trifle warlike. It also quickly enhanced the stress between the +opposing factions, for those who are themselves not averse to +wire-pulling are morbidly suspicious of intrigue in others.</p> + +<p>But nothing came of the <i>Tribune's</i> announcement. Sharpe's creditable +service on Grant's staff, his cleverness as a Stalwart manager, and +his acceptability as a speaker of the preceding Assembly, brought him +troops of friends. Although making no pretensions to the gift of +oratory, he possessed qualities needed for oratorical success. He was +forceful, remarkably clear, with impressive manners and a winning +voice. As a campaign speaker few persons in the State excelled him. +Men, too, generally found him easy of approach and ready to listen. At +all events his tactful management won a majority of the Republican +assemblymen before the opposition got a candidate into the field. +Under these circumstances members did not fancy staking good committee +appointments against the uncertainty of Presidential favours, and in +the end Sharpe's election followed without dissent.</p> + +<p>In the election of a United States senator to succeed<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.465" id="vol3Page_iii.465">iii. 465</a></span> Francis Kernan +on March 4, the Stalwarts did not find such smooth sailing. For +several years, ever since the gubernatorial nomination in 1876, +jealousy, accumulated resentment, and inevitable distrust had divided +them, but not until Thomas C. Platt of Owego and Richard Crowley of +Niagara announced their candidacy did the smouldering bitterness burst +into a blaze. Cornell and his friends promptly declared for Platt, +while Arthur, Sharpe, Thomas Murphy, and John F. Smyth, known as ultra +Conkling men, wheeled into line for Crowley. Conkling held aloof. He +probably preferred Levi P. Morton, although each candidate claimed to +be his preference. In the end Morton's name was tangled up in the +controversy, but he did not really get into it. Besides, a place in +the Cabinet seemed open to him.</p> + +<p>At this time Cornell was at the height of his power. Prior to his +inauguration he had not stood for much in the way of statesmanship. He +was known principally as the maker and chauffeur of Conkling's +machine, which he subsequently turned over to Arthur, who came later +into the Conkling connection from the Morgan wing. Moreover, the +manner of his election, the loss of many thousand Republican votes, +and his reappointment of Smyth seriously discredited him. But friend +and foe admitted that he had shown real ability as governor. He had +about him no angles and no surprises. He exercised authority +cautiously, marshalled facts with skill, and presented clear and +enlightened reasons for his action. He seemed to be above rather than +below the level of his party, and his official colleagues, working in +harmony with his policies, found him honourable, if sometimes stubborn +and aggressive.</p> + +<p>But in his relations to men as well as to policies he had betrayed a +disposition to change position. He did not attend the Chicago +convention. Nor did Arthur's nomination, brought about largely by +Sharpe's activity, particularly please him. While he behaved with +decorum and perhaps with loyalty, it was evident that if he did not +raise the standard of revolt, he had chosen to fight for his hand. +This<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.466" id="vol3Page_iii.466">iii. 466</a></span> became the more apparent as the senatorial contest progressed. A +grim darksomeness about the expression of his countenance showed that +he took a sullen satisfaction in humiliating those who had humiliated +him. It was deftly done, but in the result it left its impression.</p> + +<p>Crowley, then in his forty-sixth year, was well equipped for the +Senate. As a forceful speaker he was an object of respect even by his +opponents. In whatever legislative body he appeared he ranked amongst +the foremost debaters, generally speaking with an enlightenment and a +moderation that did credit to his intellect and to the sweetness of +his nature. He had served four years in the State Senate, one term in +Congress, and eight years as United States attorney in the Northern +District, being justly distinguished as one of the able men of Western +New York. He was sadly handicapped, however, by the infirmity of his +backers. Sharpe excited the deepest resentment by withholding the +appointment of the Assembly committees;<a name="vol3FNanchor_973_973" id="vol3FNanchor_973_973"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_973_973" class="fnanchor">[973]</a> and Smyth and Murphy +represented all that was undesirable in politics.</p> + +<p>Cornell was fortunate in his candidate. Platt's cool, quiet methods +had aroused little antipathy, while around him gathered loyalty and +gratitude. Very early in the contest, too, it began to be whispered +that if elected he might act independently of Conkling. To think of a +light-weight sparring up to a recognised champion tickled the +imagination of the Independents who numbered about forty, of whom +Chauncey M. Depew was the choice of a majority.<a name="vol3FNanchor_974_974" id="vol3FNanchor_974_974"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_974_974" class="fnanchor">[974]</a> Ira Davenport of +Steuben, a State senator of decided character and<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.467" id="vol3Page_iii.467">iii. 467</a></span> strength, supported +his brother-in-law, Sherman S. Rogers of Erie, and others talked of +Vice-President Wheeler. George William Curtis argued that the aim of +the Independents should be to vote for the cause even if they voted +for different candidates, and thus show to the country and to Garfield +that a large and resolute opposition to the ruling organisation +existed in the party.<a name="vol3FNanchor_975_975" id="vol3FNanchor_975_975"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_975_975" class="fnanchor">[975]</a></p> + +<p>On the other hand, Depew's friends thought it wiser to "split the +machine." It was a taking proposition. If the two senators, they +argued, differed upon questions of patronage, the one agreeing with +the President would undoubtedly prevail. Thus the Senator and the +Governor, backed by the patronage of the State and Federal +administrations, would control a machine of great possibilities. +Conkling appreciated the danger, and Warner Miller and William H. +Robertson approved the plan.</p> + +<p>Miller was then in the prime of life. He combined the occupations of +manufacturer and farmer, evidenced marked capacity for business, and +gave substantial promise of growing leadership. From the schools of +Oswego he had entered Union College, and after teaching in Fort Edward +Collegiate Institute he became a soldier. Since 1874 he had been in +the Assembly and in Congress. He was fully six feet tall, well +proportioned, with a large head, a noticeably high forehead, a strong, +self-reliant, colourless face, and a resolute chin. A blond moustache +covered a firm mouth. He had the appearance of a man of reserve power, +and as a speaker, although without the gift of brilliantly phrased +sentences, he made a favourable impression. His easy, simple manner +added to the vigour and clearness of his words. Perhaps in the end he +fell short of realising the full measure of strength that his ardent +friends anticipated, for he possessed none of the characteristics of +the boss and seemed incapable of submitting to the daily drudgery that +political leadership demands. But for several years the reasonableness +of his opinions had an unmistakable influence upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.468" id="vol3Page_iii.468">iii. 468</a></span> judgment of +men. Certainly, in 1881, his opinion greatly strengthened the Depew +scheme, and it soon became apparent that a sufficient number of +Independents could be relied upon to choose Platt. In the conference +that followed the latter promised to support the Garfield +administration. "Does that statement cover appointments?" asked +Woodin. Platt said it did. "Even if Judge Robertson's name should be +sent in?" insisted Woodin. Platt replied, "Yes."<a name="vol3FNanchor_976_976" id="vol3FNanchor_976_976"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_976_976" class="fnanchor">[976]</a> That settled it, +and Platt's nomination occurred on the first ballot.<a name="vol3FNanchor_977_977" id="vol3FNanchor_977_977"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_977_977" class="fnanchor">[977]</a> Among the +earliest to send him congratulations was Senator Conkling.</p> + +<p>After the campaign of 1880 Conkling seemed to dismiss the feeling +exhibited toward Garfield at Chicago, and in February (1881), at the +invitation of the President-elect, he visited Mentor. The Senator +asked the appointment of Levi P. Morton as secretary of the treasury, +and Garfield consented to give him the Navy, or select Thomas L. James +for postmaster-general. "This conference was not wholly +satisfactory,"<a name="vol3FNanchor_978_978" id="vol3FNanchor_978_978"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_978_978" class="fnanchor">[978]</a> but Conkling's position at the inauguration +ceremonies, voluntarily taken directly behind Garfield while the +latter read his inaugural address, indicated a real friendship. His +motion in the Senate that James be confirmed as postmaster-general +without the usual reference to a committee seemed to support this +belief, an impression subsequently stimulated by the prompt +confirmation of William M. Evarts for commissioner to the +International Monetary Conference,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.469" id="vol3Page_iii.469">iii. 469</a></span> Henry G. Pearson for postmaster of +New York, and Levi P. Morton for minister to France.<a name="vol3FNanchor_979_979" id="vol3FNanchor_979_979"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_979_979" class="fnanchor">[979]</a> Two weeks +later came a bunch of five Stalwarts.<a name="vol3FNanchor_980_980" id="vol3FNanchor_980_980"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_980_980" class="fnanchor">[980]</a> The next day (March 23) +Garfield nominated William H. Robertson for collector of customs at +New York and Edwin A. Merritt for consul-general to London. "That +evens things up," said Dennis McCarthy, the well-known Half-breed of +the State Senate. "This is a complete surprise," added Robertson. "To +my knowledge no one has solicited for me any place under Garfield. It +comes entirely unsought."<a name="vol3FNanchor_981_981" id="vol3FNanchor_981_981"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_981_981" class="fnanchor">[981]</a> It was no less a surprise to the +Stalwarts. Not a hint of it had been dropped by the President. "We had +been told only a few hours before," wrote Conkling, "that no removals +in the New York offices were soon to be made or even considered, and +had been requested to withhold the papers and suggestions bearing on +the subject until we had notice from the President of his readiness to +receive them."<a name="vol3FNanchor_982_982" id="vol3FNanchor_982_982"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_982_982" class="fnanchor">[982]</a> Indeed, the nomination came with such suddenness +that the action seemed to be hasty and ill considered.</p> + +<p>There is much literature on the subject. Reminiscences of public men +during the last decade have opened a flood of memories, some of them +giving specific statements from the principal actors. Blaine assured +George S. Boutwell that he had no knowledge of Robertson's nomination +until it had been made, and Garfield told Marshall Jewell that Blaine, +hearing of the nomination, came in very pale and much astonished.<a name="vol3FNanchor_983_983" id="vol3FNanchor_983_983"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_983_983" class="fnanchor">[983]</a> +Garfield wrote (May 29, 1881) Thomas M.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.470" id="vol3Page_iii.470">iii. 470</a></span> Nichols, once his private +secretary, that "the attempt to shift the fight to Blaine's shoulders +is as weak as it is unjust. The fact is, no member of the Cabinet +behaves with more careful respect for the rights of his brother men +than Blaine. It should be understood that the Administration is not +meddling in New York politics. It only defends itself when +assailed."<a name="vol3FNanchor_984_984" id="vol3FNanchor_984_984"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_984_984" class="fnanchor">[984]</a> The President said to Conkling, declares Hoar, that he +desired to make one conspicuous appointment of a New York man who had +supported him against Grant, and that thereafter, upon consultation +with the two Senators, appointments should be made of fit men without +regard to factions. To this Conkling refused his consent, stoutly +objecting to Robertson's appointment to any important office in this +country. "Conkling's behaviour in the interview," said President +Garfield "was so insolent that it was difficult for him to control +himself and keep from ordering him out of his presence."<a name="vol3FNanchor_985_985" id="vol3FNanchor_985_985"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_985_985" class="fnanchor">[985]</a> Conkling +says the President, on the Sunday preceding the appointment, informed +him "that the collectorship of New York would be left for another +time."<a name="vol3FNanchor_986_986" id="vol3FNanchor_986_986"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_986_986" class="fnanchor">[986]</a> In a statement purporting to come from the President, +Jewell relates that when the five Stalwart nominations went to the +Senate, Garfield was immediately burdened with letters and despatches +in protest, coupled with the suggestion that everything had been +surrendered to Conkling, and that without delay or consultation he +sent in Robertson's name. "It was only an instance," says Boutwell, +"of General Garfield's impulsive and unreasoning submission to an +expression of public opinion, without waiting for evidence of the +nature and value of that opinion."<a name="vol3FNanchor_987_987" id="vol3FNanchor_987_987"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_987_987" class="fnanchor">[987]</a></p> + +<p>On the other hand, the country at large accepted it as a Blaine +triumph. Senators, especially those who had served in the House with +the President and his Secretary of State, had no doubt of it. Such a +tremendously bold act was en<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.471" id="vol3Page_iii.471">iii. 471</a></span>tirely foreign to Garfield's character. +Nor could it have but one meaning. The man who had split the New York +delegation for Blaine was to have his reward and to occupy the place +of patronage and of power. More than that it was Blaine's long look +ahead. Such action required the highest order of political courage. It +opened an old quarrel, it invited opposition, it challenged to battle. +Men like Senator Frye of Maine, who had many times witnessed the +resolution and dominating fearlessness of Blaine, knew that it was his +act. "For sixteen years," said Frye, "the sting of Blaine's attack +kept Conkling unfriendly. Besides, he had no confidence in him. +Whenever reconciliation seemed imminent, it vanished like a +cloud-shadow. I could never unite them. Blaine was ready, but Conkling +would accept no advances. When Robertson's appointment came he knew as +well as I that it was the act of Blaine."<a name="vol3FNanchor_988_988" id="vol3FNanchor_988_988"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_988_988" class="fnanchor">[988]</a> Depew, with whom Blaine +had conferred, took the same view. On the day after the nomination was +sent in, Mrs. Blaine, rather exultingly and without any expression of +surprise, wrote her daughter of the incident. "Your father has just +gone to the Department. Did you notice the nominations sent in +yesterday? They mean business and strength."<a name="vol3FNanchor_989_989" id="vol3FNanchor_989_989"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_989_989" class="fnanchor">[989]</a></p> + +<p>Boutwell illustrates Conkling's lack of confidence in Blaine. After +the latter had become secretary of state he said to the Massachusetts +Senator that Conkling was the only man who had had three elections to +the Senate, and that he and his friends would be considered fairly in +the New York appointments. "When in conversation with Conkling, I +mentioned Blaine's remark, he said, 'Do you believe one word of that?' +I said, 'Yes, I believe Mr. Blaine.' He said with emphasis, 'I don't.' +Subsequent events strengthened Mr. Conkling in his opinion."<a name="vol3FNanchor_990_990" id="vol3FNanchor_990_990"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_990_990" class="fnanchor">[990]</a></p> + +<p>The cordial relations apparently existing until then between the +President and the Senator encouraged the hope<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.472" id="vol3Page_iii.472">iii. 472</a></span> that confirmation of +the nomination might not be opposed. Because of this feeling the New +York Legislature, by a formal resolution, endorsed it, and Republicans +generally spoke not unkindly of it. But Conkling, knowing that though +the voice was Garfield's, the hand was Blaine's, quickly precipitated +a contest in which the interest of the whole country centred. It +recalled the Arthur controversy, renewed the feverish energy of +Stalwart and Half-breed, and furnished glimpses of the dramatic +discord which stirred restlessly behind the curtains of Senate +secrecy. Under the rules of the Senate, Robertson's nomination went to +the Committee on Commerce, of which Conkling was chairman and in +control. Here the matter could be held in abeyance, at least until the +Stalwarts marshalled their influence to have it withdrawn. For this +purpose Vice-President Arthur and Postmaster-General James called at +the White House. Governor Cornell, through a personal friend, sent a +message to the President, declaring the nomination a great mistake and +urging its withdrawal.<a name="vol3FNanchor_991_991" id="vol3FNanchor_991_991"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_991_991" class="fnanchor">[991]</a> Other distinguished men, including Senator +Allison of Iowa, visited the President on a similar mission. When +these overtures failed compromises were suggested, such as making +Robertson a Federal judge, a district attorney, a foreign minister, or +the solicitor general.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile assuring messages and comforting letters from Blaine's New +York friends stimulated Garfield's courage. On March 27, four days +after the nomination, Whitelaw Reid, the accomplished editor of the +<i>Tribune</i>, telegraphed John Hay, in part, as follows: "From +indications here and at Albany we have concluded that the Conkling +plan is: First, to make tremendous pressure on the President for +withdrawal of Robertson's name under threats from Conkling and +persuasion from James. Second, if this fail, then to make their +indignation useful by extorting from the President, as a means of +placating them, the surveyorship and naval office. With these two they +think they could largely neutralise Robertson. Cornell is believed +willing to acquiesce in Robertson, hoping to get other offices.<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.473" id="vol3Page_iii.473">iii. 473</a></span></p> + +<p>"I wish to say to the President in my judgment this is the turning +point of his whole administration—the crisis of his fate. If he +surrenders now Conkling is president for the rest of the term and +Garfield becomes a laughing stock. On the other hand, he has only to +stand firm to succeed. With the unanimous action of the New York +Legislature, Conkling cannot make an effectual fight. That action came +solely from the belief that Garfield, unlike Hayes, meant to defend +his own administration. The Assembly is overwhelmingly Conkling, but +they did not dare go on the record against Robertson so long as they +thought the Administration meant business. Robertson should be held +firm. Boldness and tenacity now insure victory. The least wavering +would be fatal."<a name="vol3FNanchor_992_992" id="vol3FNanchor_992_992"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_992_992" class="fnanchor">[992]</a></p> + +<p>When Hay read this message to Garfield, the latter said, "They may +take him out of the Senate head first or feet first; I will never +withdraw him."<a name="vol3FNanchor_993_993" id="vol3FNanchor_993_993"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_993_993" class="fnanchor">[993]</a> That the President might not weaken, Depew and +other Independents spent much time in Washington during the +controversy. "The party standing of Blaine's New York supporters at +Chicago absolutely depended upon Robertson's confirmation," declared +Depew.<a name="vol3FNanchor_994_994" id="vol3FNanchor_994_994"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_994_994" class="fnanchor">[994]</a></p> + +<p>Conkling had not been idle. As usual he cast an anchor to the windward +by coquetting with Democratic senators and soothing his Republican +colleagues.<a name="vol3FNanchor_995_995" id="vol3FNanchor_995_995"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_995_995" class="fnanchor">[995]</a> He knew how to<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.474" id="vol3Page_iii.474">iii. 474</a></span> control in caucus as well as in +committee, and on May 2, the Republican senators appointed a Committee +of Safety, which recommended that a majority decide the order of +executive business including "uncontested nominations." These +nominations, it was explained, embraced such as were favourably +reported by a committee or accepted by the Republican senators of the +State from which the nominee hailed. In other words, the caucus action +practically notified the President that no nomination would be +confirmed that did not please a senator, if a Republican. To exclude +Robertson under such a rule it was only necessary that the New York +senators object to his confirmation. Immediately the press of the +country teemed with protests. The Constitution, it declared, imposed a +moral obligation upon senators to confirm a nomination which was not +personally unfit or improper, or which did not imperil the public +interest, and it was puerile for a majority to agree in advance to +refuse to consider any nomination to which any member, for any reason +whatever, saw fit to object. Such a rule substantially transferred the +Executive power to one branch of Congress, making the President the +agent of the Senate. It was "senatorial courtesy" run mad.</p> + +<p>As the days passed senators exhibited, under pressure from the country +as well as from the White House, a growing desire to have the matter +settled, and as a final effort in the interest of harmony the +Committee of Safety itself called<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.475" id="vol3Page_iii.475">iii. 475</a></span> upon the President, proposing that +he withdraw Robertson's name and have the others confirmed. To this +Garfield emphatically declined to accede. A few days later (May 5) +Vice-President Arthur and Senator Platt suggested that he withdraw all +the New York nominations. The President replied that he would +willingly withdraw all except Robertson's, and if the latter failed an +entire new slate could then be made up. This did not satisfy, but +within an hour after his visitors had departed, the President, to +prevent the confirmation of some while Robertson's was left tied up in +committee, put his suggestion into a message, withdrawing the names of +the five Stalwarts. This was another surprise, more alarming than the +first, since it showed the Administration's readiness to fight.</p> + +<p>Meantime the Republican majority exhibited signs of disintegration. +The session was running into hot weather, Democrats had demonstrated +their power to prevent a reorganisation of the Senate, and discord in +Republican States threatened disaster. Until recently Conkling had +felt sure of victory. But now, appreciating the delicacy of the +situation, he opened the caucus (May 9) with an earnest, conciliatory +speech. He disclaimed desiring any conflict with the President, +against whom he made no accusations of bad faith; described the +impracticability of his sustaining any relations with Robertson, in +whose way, however, he would place no obstacle to any office other +than that of collector; discussed the danger to which a lack of +political harmony would expose the party in New York; and in almost +pathetic tones urged that the courtesy of the Senate be not withheld +from him in this hour of his extreme need.</p> + +<p>It was plain that he had won the sympathy of his colleagues, but +succeeding caucuses, now held daily, lined his pathway with portents +and warnings. The iron-clad rule ceased to be operative; a resolution +to postpone action until the next session avoided defeat because +hastily withdrawn; and a compromise, the last to be suggested, +proposing confirmation on condition that Robertson then decline the +office,<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.476" id="vol3Page_iii.476">iii. 476</a></span> met with no favour. It was plain that at last the stress had +reached a climax. Senators no longer exchanged their impressions, or +asked "How long?" or "What next?" In their opinion either Garfield or +Conkling must recede, and they had learned that the President would +not. Moreover, it was rumored, after the caucus of May 13, that +Conkling had talked harshly, with much of the temper of a spoiled +child. As senators separated on that eventful Friday they declared +without hesitation, though not without misgiving, that the last caucus +had been held and the last obstacle to Robertson's confirmation +removed.</p> + +<p>The position of Platt had at last become intolerable. Mindful of the +promise to Depew and his friends he had tactfully and patiently sought +to avoid a contest by satisfactorily arranging matters between the +President and Conkling. Now the end of compromises had come and a vote +impended. At this critical if not desperate moment he suggested +resignation.<a name="vol3FNanchor_996_996" id="vol3FNanchor_996_996"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_996_996" class="fnanchor">[996]</a> The Legislature that chose him in January was still +in session, and the combined votes of the Stalwarts would be +sufficient to re-elect them. This would liberate him from a promise +and strengthen both with a legislative endorsement. It was neither an +intrepid nor an exalted proposition, but Conkling accepted it. +Perhaps<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.477" id="vol3Page_iii.477">iii. 477</a></span> his nature required a relief from its high-strung +irritability in some sort of violence, and resignation backed by the +assurance that he would soon be restored to office and to greater +power on the shoulders of the party offered the seductive form which +that violence could take.</p> + +<p>Before the Senate reconvened on Monday (May 16) the resignation of +Conkling and Platt was in the hands of Governor Cornell. It came with +the suddenness of Robertson's nomination. Neither Vice-President +Arthur shared their intention, nor did Cornell suspect it. The first +intimation came in two brief notes, read by the clerk, informing the +Senate of their action. But the crash—the consternation, if any were +anticipated, did not appear.<a name="vol3FNanchor_997_997" id="vol3FNanchor_997_997"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_997_997" class="fnanchor">[997]</a> No doubt many senators sincerely +regretted the manner of Conkling's going, but that all were weary of +his restless predominance soon became an open secret.<a name="vol3FNanchor_998_998" id="vol3FNanchor_998_998"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_998_998" class="fnanchor">[998]</a> Nor did his +reasons appeal to any one except as regarded his own personality and +power, since the Senator's statement showed a deliberate, personal +choice, not based on a question of public policy.</p> + +<p>Stripped of its rhetoric and historicity the letter of Conkling and +Platt presented but two causes of complaint, one that the President, +in withdrawing some of the New York nominations, tried to coerce the +Senate to vote for Robertson; second, that Robertson, in voting and +procuring others<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.478" id="vol3Page_iii.478">iii. 478</a></span> to vote against Grant at Chicago, was guilty of "a +dishonest and dishonourable act."<a name="vol3FNanchor_999_999" id="vol3FNanchor_999_999"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_999_999" class="fnanchor">[999]</a> The poverty of these reasons +excited more surprise than the folly of their resignation.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1000_1000" id="vol3FNanchor_1000_1000"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1000_1000" class="fnanchor">[1000]</a> Every +one knew that in urging senators to say by their vote whether William +H. Robertson was a fit person to be collector, the President kept +strictly within his constitutional prerogative, and that in +withdrawing the earlier nominations he exercised his undoubted right +to determine the order in which he should ask the Senate's advice. +Moreover, if any doubt ever existed as to Robertson's right to +represent the sentiment of his district instead of the decree of the +State convention, the national convention had settled it in his +favour.</p> + +<p>Conkling's friends are credited with having overborne his purpose, +expressed soon after the election of Garfield, to leave the Senate and +engage in the practice of his profession.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1001_1001" id="vol3FNanchor_1001_1001"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1001_1001" class="fnanchor">[1001]</a> But that such +intention did not influence his resignation was evidenced by the fact +that immediately afterward he bivouacked at Albany and sought a +re-election. With his faithful lieutenants he constantly conferred, +while the faithless ones, scarcely less conspicuous, who openly +refused their support, he stigmatised. From the first Cornell was an +object of distrust. He had wired Conkling advising Robertson's +confirmation, and the Senator crushed the telegram in<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.479" id="vol3Page_iii.479">iii. 479</a></span> his hand. This +put the Governor into the disloyal class.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1002_1002" id="vol3FNanchor_1002_1002"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1002_1002" class="fnanchor">[1002]</a> It added to Conkling's +irritation also that Cornell remained silent. The Governor's friends +expressed some surprise that the Senator did not suggest an interview. +It would have been much more surprising if he had, for it is doubtful +if Conkling ever suggested an interview in his life. On the other +hand, Cornell, unwilling to use the machinery of his great office to +force Conkling's return, did not care to approach the Senator. It was +not unknown, however, that he refused to become a candidate for United +States senator, and that, although ten or fifteen members continued to +vote for him, he steadily encouraged his Stalwart friends not to +desert Conkling.</p> + +<p>Although the Legislature which elected Platt on January 18 was still +in session, the sentiment dominating it had radically changed. The +party was deeply stirred. The Senator's sudden resignation had added +to the indignation aroused by his opposition to the Administration, +and members had heard from their constituents. Besides, a once +powerful Senator was now a private citizen. At the outset Independents +and several Stalwarts refused to enter a caucus, and early in the +contest the Democrats, marshalled by Manning, refused to come to the +rescue. Thus, without organisation, Republicans began voting on May +31. Seven weeks and four days later (July 22), after fifty-six +ballots, their work was concluded. The first ballot marked the highest +score for Conkling and Platt, the former receiving 39 and the latter +29 out of 105 Republican votes.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1003_1003" id="vol3FNanchor_1003_1003"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1003_1003" class="fnanchor">[1003]</a> This severe comment upon their +course plainly reflected the general sentiment of the party. It showed +especially the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.480" id="vol3Page_iii.480">iii. 480</a></span> dissatisfaction existing toward Conkling. Yet a few +Stalwarts remained steadfast to the end. On the morning of July 1, +when Platt, to the surprise of his friends, suddenly withdrew, he had +28 votes. On July 22 Conkling had the same.</p> + +<p>The act of the assassin of President Garfield on the morning of July 2 +had a visible effect upon the proceedings at Albany.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1004_1004" id="vol3FNanchor_1004_1004"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1004_1004" class="fnanchor">[1004]</a> Although +for a time conditions indicated that the distinguished sufferer might +recover, legislators evinced a great desire to conclude the +disagreeable work, and on July 5, sixty-six Republicans held a +conference. Up to this time Depew had been the favourite for the long +term, registering fifty-five votes on the fourteenth ballot (June 14), +but in the interest of harmony he now withdrew his name.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1005_1005" id="vol3FNanchor_1005_1005"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1005_1005" class="fnanchor">[1005]</a></p> + +<p>This opened the way for Warner Miller, who received in caucus on the +fifth ballot sixty-two of the sixty-six votes cast for the long term. +By previous agreement a Stalwart was entitled to the short term, and +had Cornell allowed his Stalwart friends to enter the caucus he might +have had the nomination. But he would not oppose Conkling. Moreover, +the belief obtained that the Democrats and Stalwarts would yet unite +and adjourn the session without day, thus giving the Senator time to +elect other friends to a new Legislature, and the Governor would not +disturb this hallucina<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.481" id="vol3Page_iii.481">iii. 481</a></span>tion. With Cornell out of the way Elbridge G. +Lapham easily won the nomination on the second ballot. Lapham had been +the first to desert Conkling, who now exclaimed, not without the +bitter herb of truth: "That man must not reap the reward of his +perfidy."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1006_1006" id="vol3FNanchor_1006_1006"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1006_1006" class="fnanchor">[1006]</a></p> + +<p>The caucus did not at once bring union, but on July 12 Miller's vote +reached seventy; on the 15th it registered seventy-four; and on the +16th, with the help of Speaker Sharpe, who had encouraged Conkling's +going to Albany, Miller was elected.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1007_1007" id="vol3FNanchor_1007_1007"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1007_1007" class="fnanchor">[1007]</a> Lapham's vote, however, +hung fire until July 22, when, during a brief and most exciting +conference in the Assembly Chamber, State Senator Halbert, the +Conkling Gibraltar, exclaimed with the suddenness of a squall at sea: +"We must come together or the party is divided in the State. I am +willing to vote now."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1008_1008" id="vol3FNanchor_1008_1008"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1008_1008" class="fnanchor">[1008]</a> Reason and good nature being thus +restored, each Republican present rose and voted his choice, Lapham +receiving sixty-one, Conkling twenty-eight. In the general rejoicing +State Senator Pitts, a leader of the Independents, no doubt voiced the +feeling of all at that moment: "I am as happy as Mr. Halbert. This +nomination has been made good-naturedly. It is an augury of good +feeling in the future. New York proposes to stand<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.482" id="vol3Page_iii.482">iii. 482</a></span> by the Republican +administration. I hope we shall never hear more the words Stalwart, +Featherhead, Half-breed."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1009_1009" id="vol3FNanchor_1009_1009"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1009_1009" class="fnanchor">[1009]</a> When the joint convention again +reassembled the fifty-sixth ballot gave Elbridge G. Lapham ninety-two, +and Clarkson N. Potter, the new Democratic nominee, forty-two.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1010_1010" id="vol3FNanchor_1010_1010"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1010_1010" class="fnanchor">[1010]</a></p> + +<p>For Conkling it was worse than defeat. The humiliation of having gone +to Albany, of being deserted by friend after friend, of enduring the +taunts of an inhospitable press, and, finally, of having his place +taken by one, who, in his opinion, had proven most faithless, was like +the torture of an unquenchable fire. Lord Randolph Churchill, after +his historic resignation as chancellor of the exchequer, declared that +he would not live it over again for a million a year. It is likewise a +matter of history that Senator Conkling never ceased to deplore his +mistake.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1011_1011" id="vol3FNanchor_1011_1011"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1011_1011" class="fnanchor">[1011]</a></p> + + + +<hr /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.483" id="vol3Page_iii.483">iii. 483</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="vol3CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="vol3CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI</h2> + +<h2>CLEVELAND’S ENORMOUS MAJORITY</h2> + +<h2>1881-2</h2> + + +<p><br /><span class="smcap">While</span> Conkling was being deposed, John Kelly, to whom responsibility +attached for Hancock's defeat, also suffered the penalty of selfish +leadership.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1012_1012" id="vol3FNanchor_1012_1012"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1012_1012" class="fnanchor">[1012]</a> Although his standard of official honesty had always +been as low as his standard of official responsibility, it never +aroused violent party opposition until his personal resentments +brought Democratic defeat. This classified him at once as a common +enemy. In vain did he protest as Tweed had done against being made a +"scape-goat." His sentence was political death, and as a first step +toward its execution, Mayor Cooper refused to reappoint him +comptroller, an office which he had held for four years. Republican +aldermen joined in confirming his successor. Similar treatment, +accorded his office-holding associates, stripped him of patronage +except in the office of register.</p> + +<p>Then his Democratic opponents proposed depriving him of control in +conventions, and having failed to reorganise him out of Tammany +(April, 1881), they founded the County Democracy. William C. Whitney, +corporation counsel, Hubert O. Thompson, the young commissioner of +public works, and other leaders of similar character, heading a +Committee of One Hundred, became its inspiration. Under the Tam<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.484" id="vol3Page_iii.484">iii. 484</a></span>many +system twenty-four men constituted the Committee on Organisation, +while a few persons at any Assembly primary might represent all the +votes of the district. The new organisation proposed to make its +Committee on Organisation consist of six hundred and seventy-eight +members and to place the control of all nominations in the hands of +the people. It was a catchy scheme and quickly became popular. To +carry it into effect a public enrolment was made of the Democratic +voters in each election district, who had an opportunity, by +registering their names, to join the Election District Committee. When +thus affiliated each one could vote for a member of the Committee on +Organisation and for delegates to nominating conventions. On October 7 +(1881) Abram S. Hewitt, chairman of the Committee of One Hundred, +issued an address, declaring that the organisation had 26,500 enrolled +members, and had elected delegates to attend the State convention +which met at Albany on October 11.</p> + +<p>Kelly did not attend the convention. On his way from the depot to the +hotel he found the air too chilly and the speech of people far from +complimentary. It was plain, also, that the crushing defeat of Hancock +had obliterated factional division in the up-State counties and that +Daniel E. Manning was in control. Nevertheless, Tammany's delegates, +without the slightest resemblance to penitents, claimed regularity. +The convention answered that the County Democracy appeared upon the +preliminary roll. To make its rebuff more emphatic Rufus W. Peckham, +in presenting the report on contested seats, briefly stated that the +committee, by a unanimous vote, found "the gentlemen now occupying +seats entitled to them by virtue of their regularity."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1013_1013" id="vol3FNanchor_1013_1013"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1013_1013" class="fnanchor">[1013]</a> Kelly's +conceit did not blind his penetration<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.485" id="vol3Page_iii.485">iii. 485</a></span> to the fact that for the +present, at least, he had reached his end.</p> + +<p>The Republican convention (October 5) proved not less harmonious. +Arthur had become President (September 19),<a name="vol3FNanchor_1014_1014" id="vol3FNanchor_1014_1014"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1014_1014" class="fnanchor">[1014]</a> Conkling did not +appear, and Warner Miller's surprising vote for temporary chairman +(298 to 190), sustaining the verdict of the Legislature in the +prolonged senatorial struggle, completely silenced the Stalwarts. +Conkling's name, presented as a contesting delegate from Oneida, +provoked no support, while Depew, whom the Senator a year earlier had +sneeringly referred to as a "creature of no influence," became +permanent chairman without opposition. In the selection of State +candidates few organization men found favour.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1015_1015" id="vol3FNanchor_1015_1015"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1015_1015" class="fnanchor">[1015]</a> Finally, in their +overconfidence the Independents carelessly postponed a resolution +reorganising the party in New York City to an hour when their rural +support had left the convention, and the most important business +before it failed by five majority. "Thus by sheer negligence," said +George William Curtis, "the convention has left a formidable nucleus +for the reconstruction of the machine which had been +overthrown."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1016_1016" id="vol3FNanchor_1016_1016"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1016_1016" class="fnanchor">[1016]</a> The platform deplored the death of Garfield, +expressed confidence in President Arthur, praised Cornell's wisdom, +prudence, and economy, and insisted upon equal taxation of +corporations and individuals.</p> + +<p>Although the deep silence that characterised the October contest in +Ohio pervaded the campaign in New York, Republicans believed that +President Arthur, by the moderation and dignity of his course, had +favourably impressed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.486" id="vol3Page_iii.486">iii. 486</a></span> public.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1017_1017" id="vol3FNanchor_1017_1017"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1017_1017" class="fnanchor">[1017]</a> His nomination of Postmaster +General James and the tender of the Treasury to Edwin D. Morgan +commanded universal approval. When Morgan declined, the nomination of +Charles J. Folger, suggested by Morgan, added to his prestige. In +fact, the most ardent champions of Garfield had taken little exception +to the acts of the new Administration, and although Arthur's +supporters had suffered defeat in convention, it was inferred that the +President and his friends sincerely desired the triumph of their +party. Moreover, the action of Tammany and the County Democracy in +nominating separate local tickets had stimulated Republican +confidence. It meant that Kelly, in his inevitable desire to defeat +his enemy, would trade, combine, and descend to other underhand +jobbery, which usually benefited the opposite party.</p> + +<p>However, the harmony blandly predicted did not appear. James W. Husted +was overwhelmingly defeated, while his party, for the first time in +twelve years, lost both branches of the Legislature.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1018_1018" id="vol3FNanchor_1018_1018"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1018_1018" class="fnanchor">[1018]</a> This +amazing disclosure exhibited the bitter animosity of faction. In +Albany, Erie, Oneida, and Oswego counties, Stalwart and Independent +resolutely opposed each other, even to the point in some instances of +supporting the Democratic ticket.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the County Democracy was exultant. In spite of the +combined opposition of Tammany and Irving Hall, the Whitney +organisation carried the county by several thousand majority, securing +four of the seven senators, twelve of the twenty-four assemblymen, and +twelve of the twenty-two aldermen. This left Tammany absolutely<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.487" id="vol3Page_iii.487">iii. 487</a></span> +without patronage. It was not unnatural that many of Kelly's +co-workers should doubt the possibility of longer working harmoniously +under his leadership, and the great secession of prominent men from +Tammany after the formation of the County Democracy created little +surprise. But that the movement should include the rank and file was +an astonishing revelation.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, Kelly, gathering up his three senators and eight +assemblymen, carried the war to Albany. Strangely enough Republican +discord had given him the balance of power in each legislative body, +and until the Democrats acceded to his terms (February 2) the Assembly +remained without a speaker.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1019_1019" id="vol3FNanchor_1019_1019"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1019_1019" class="fnanchor">[1019]</a> Two weeks later, upon the +announcement of the Assembly committees, Tammany, declaring its +agreement violated, joined the Republicans in modifying the rules of +the Senate so as to permit the Lieutenant-Governor to appoint its +committees and complete its organisation.</p> + +<p>No one knowing Kelly expected him to act otherwise. Nor can it be +seriously doubted that he fully expected the Democracy, at the very +next opportunity, to make substantial concessions. At all events Kelly +presented with great confidence Tammany's claims to representation in +the State convention which assembled at Syracuse on September 22 +(1882).<a name="vol3FNanchor_1020_1020" id="vol3FNanchor_1020_1020"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1020_1020" class="fnanchor">[1020]</a> He knew it was a critical moment<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.488" id="vol3Page_iii.488">iii. 488</a></span> for the Democracy. The +poverty of the Republican majority in the preceding election, and the +Administration's highhanded efforts to defeat Cornell for +renomination, seemed to put the State within the grasp of a united +party. Yet the Tilden leaders, although divided among themselves, +shrank from giving him power. This feeling was intensified by the +renewed activity of the old canal ring. The presence, too, of Stephen +T. Arnot of Chemung, who served as a member of the Kelly State +Committee in 1879, added to their hostility. Indeed, so pronounced was +the resentment that on the first day of the convention Tammany was +refused tickets of admission.</p> + +<p>But behind Kelly stood the two leading candidates for governor.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1021_1021" id="vol3FNanchor_1021_1021"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1021_1021" class="fnanchor">[1021]</a> +In his canvass of the State Roswell P. Flower, hopeful of Kelly's +support, had created a strong sentiment favourable to Tammany's +admission, while Henry W. Slocum, mindful of Tammany's dislike, had +also done what he could to smooth its way. Under such pressure the +leaders, after recognising the County Democracy as the regular +organisation with thirty-eight votes, gave Tammany twenty-four and +Irving Hall ten.</p> + +<p>Although this preliminary struggle did not clarify the gubernatorial +situation, it had the effect of materially weakening Flower. Of his +popularity no doubt existed. As an industrious young man in Watertown +he had been a general favourite, and in New York, whither he went in +early manhood to take charge of his sister's property, left by her +millionaire husband, he became the head of a prosperous banking house +and the friend of all classes. The liberality of<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.489" id="vol3Page_iii.489">iii. 489</a></span> his charities +equalled the splendour of his social entertainments, while a few +months in Congress as the successor of Levi P. Morton and the +successful opponent of William W. Astor, had introduced him to the +voters of the metropolis. He was now forty-four years old, with ample +wealth, a wide acquaintance, and surrounded by scores of experienced +political diplomats.</p> + +<p>But Manning distrusted Flower. Back of him were Arnot, DeWolf, and +other anti-Tilden leaders. He also deeply resented Flower's support of +Kelly. It gave the Boss a new lease of power and practically paralysed +all efforts to discipline him. Besides, it betrayed an indisposition +to seek advice of the organisation and an indifference to political +methods. He seemed to be the rich man in politics, relying for control +upon money rather than political wisdom. Nor did it improve Flower's +chances among the country delegates that one of the convention +speakers thought him guided by Jay Gould, in whose questionable deals +he had generously participated.</p> + +<p>Slocum had likewise sinned. Manning thought well of the distinguished +soldier whom he promised one hundred votes, which he delivered. But +his support of Kelly had been distasteful to the County Democracy. +Besides, he was charged with voting, when in Congress, for the "salary +grab," and one delegate, speaking on the floor of the convention, +declared that as a trustee of the Brooklyn Bridge, "Slocum would be +held responsible for the colossal frauds connected with its +erection."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1022_1022" id="vol3FNanchor_1022_1022"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1022_1022" class="fnanchor">[1022]</a> It added to the chaos of the situation that Flower's +supporters resented Slocum's activity, while Slocum's friends excepted +to the County Democracy's use of Allan Campbell as a stalking horse.</p> + +<p>Grover Cleveland's candidacy seemed not very important. He was not +wholly unknown throughout the State. Lawyers recognised him as a +prominent member of the profession, and politicians knew him as +sheriff of Erie County in the early seventies and as the recently +elected mayor of Buffalo. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.490" id="vol3Page_iii.490">iii. 490</a></span> people outside the Lake city knew +nothing of his character for stubborn independence, uncompromising +honesty, and fearless devotion to duty. His friends tried to tell the +delegates that he insisted upon public officials treating the people's +money as its trustees, and that he had promptly vetoed every departure +from this rule. They claimed also that he could neither be coaxed nor +constrained into the approval of men or measures that were not honest +and proper, citing several illustrations that had greatly gratified +and aroused his home people. This was the gist of Daniel N. Lockwood's +short, happy, and forceful speech in presenting his name to the +convention.</p> + +<p>But such recommendations of candidates were not unusual, and although +Erie and the surrounding counties mustered fifty or sixty votes, no +movement toward Cleveland existed other than that growing out of the +peculiar political situation. If Slocum and Flower failed, Nelson or +Corning might benefit. Edward Murphy of Rensselaer, then mayor of Troy +for the fourth term and closely associated with Manning in leadership, +represented Corning with spirit, while the Dutchess friends of Homer +A. Nelson exhibited their devotion by an energetic canvass. Yet +Cleveland possessed one strategic point stronger than either of them. +His absolute freedom from the political antagonisms of New York and +King counties commended him to the County Democracy. This organisation +of extraordinary leadership had tired of deals and quarrels. The +hammering of Tilden, the sacrifice of Robinson, the defeat of Hancock, +and the hold-up in the last Legislature made a new departure +necessary, and it may be said with truth and without injustice that +the night before the convention opened the nomination of Cleveland, if +it could be accomplished, seemed to the County Democracy the wisest +and safest result.</p> + +<p>When the roll-call began Kelly, playing for position, divided +Tammany's vote among the possible winners, giving Flower seven, Slocum +six, Cleveland six, and Corning five. The County Democracy voted for +Campbell. Corning's with<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.491" id="vol3Page_iii.491">iii. 491</a></span>drawal and large secessions from Nelson and +Belmont sent Slocum and Flower far in the lead on the second ballot, +while Cleveland moved up five points with the help of Kelly and +others. The County Democracy again voted for Campbell. On the third +ballot a break was inevitable. Hutchins had remained stationary, +Nelson and Belmont were practically out of the race, and Slocum and +Flower stood even. It was now in the power of the County Democracy to +nominate Slocum. Manning approved it and Murphy had already given him +the Corning vote. But the County Democracy, inspired by men of +prescience and of iron nerve, went to Cleveland in a body, making the +hall resound with cheers. Had Tammany, the next delegation called, +followed suit, Kelly might have divided with his opponents the honour +of Cleveland's nomination. Instead, it practically voted as before. +But Albany, Rensselaer, and other counties, catching the tide at its +turn, threw the convention into a bedlam. Finally, when Kelly could +secure recognition, he changed Tammany's vote to Cleveland.</p> + +<p>To the tally-clerks Cleveland's nomination by two majority was known +before the completion of the ballot. Yet upon the insistence of the +Slocum men, because of confusion in making changes, the convention +refused to receive the result and ordered another roll-call. This gave +Cleveland eighteen votes to spare.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1023_1023" id="vol3FNanchor_1023_1023"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1023_1023" class="fnanchor">[1023]</a></p> + +<p>The result brought the Democrats into perfect accord for the first +time in many years. It had come without the exercise of illegitimate +influences or the incurrence of personal obligation. To no one in +particular did Cleveland owe his nomination. Besides, his success as a +politician, his character as a public official, and his enthusiastic +devo<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.492" id="vol3Page_iii.492">iii. 492</a></span>tion to the clients whose causes he championed, challenged the +most careful scrutiny. He was then unmarried, forty-four years old, +tall, stoutly-built, with a large head, dark brown hair, clear keen +eyes, and a generous and kindly nature concealed under a slightly +brusque manner. His sturdy old-fashioned rectitude, and the just +conviction that by taste and adaptability for public life he had +peculiar qualifications for the great office of governor, commended +him to popular confidence. In Buffalo, where he had lived for a +quarter of a century, people knew him as a man without guile.</p> + +<p>Two days before Cleveland's nomination (September 20), the Republicans +had selected Charles J. Folger, then secretary of the treasury. In +character for honesty and ability the two men were not dissimilar, but +the manner of their selection was antipodal. Of the five candidates +who appealed to the convention, Cornell was the only real opponent of +the Secretary.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1024_1024" id="vol3FNanchor_1024_1024"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1024_1024" class="fnanchor">[1024]</a> For more than a year, ever since he took office, +in fact, Cornell had counted upon a renomination. He cleverly +strengthened the State machine, surrounded himself with able +lieutenants, and never failed to make appointments promotive of his +ambition. The confirmation of Isaac V. Baker as superintendent of +prisons with the aid of Tammany's three senators, especially +illustrated his skill in reaching men. But he had done more than +organise. His numerous vetoes called attention to his discriminating +work, indicating honesty, efficiency, activity in promoting the +people's interests, and fidelity to Republican principles. An honest +public sentiment recognised these good features of his work. Indeed, +his administration admittedly ranked with the best that had adorned +the State for a century, and his friends, including Independents and +many Stalwarts, rallied with energy to his support. It was known, too, +that the wisdom of Blaine permeated his councils.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.493" id="vol3Page_iii.493">iii. 493</a></span></p> +<p>Nevertheless, Conkling and the President marked him for defeat. It was +notorious that their hostility grew out of the Governor's passivity in +the senatorial election, Arthur feeling the humiliation of that defeat +scarcely less than Conkling, while memories of Crowley's failure and +of the Governor's exultation had not faded. Conkling, not less bitter, +had more recent cause for resentment. As the attorney of Jay Gould he +had indicated a willingness to forgive and forget the past if the +Governor would approve legislation favourable to the Gould properties. +But Cornell, satisfied of its unfairness, courageously refused.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1025_1025" id="vol3FNanchor_1025_1025"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1025_1025" class="fnanchor">[1025]</a> +When he did so he knew and subsequently declared, that if he had +signed the bill, neither Gould nor Conkling would have opposed his +renomination.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1026_1026" id="vol3FNanchor_1026_1026"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1026_1026" class="fnanchor">[1026]</a></p> + +<p>For these purely personal reasons an extraordinary situation was +created, revealing the methods of purse and patronage by which the +Gould-Conkling combine and the Administration got revenge. In their +efforts in Folger's behalf delegates were coerced, and efficient +officials at Albany, Brooklyn, Utica, and Ogdensburg, removed in the +middle of their terms, were replaced by partisans of the President. +Even after the patronage packed convention assembled the questionable +methods continued. Gould's agent hovered about Saratoga. To secure the +selection of a temporary chairman by the State committee, Stephen B. +French, an intimate of Arthur, presented a fraudulent proxy to +represent William H. Robertson.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1027_1027" id="vol3FNanchor_1027_1027"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1027_1027" class="fnanchor">[1027]</a> Had the convention known<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.494" id="vol3Page_iii.494">iii. 494</a></span> this +at the moment of voting swift defeat must have come to the +Administration, which barely escaped (251 to 243) by getting +postmasters into line.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1028_1028" id="vol3FNanchor_1028_1028"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1028_1028" class="fnanchor">[1028]</a></p> + +<p>The candidacy of James W. Wadsworth, son of the famous general, and +recently state-comptroller, likewise became a decoy for Folger. +Wadsworth himself had no understanding with that wing. He was +absolutely independent and unpledged. But the Stalwarts, in districts +opposed to them, promoted the choice of such so-called Wadsworth +delegates as could be captured by the persuasive plea for harmony, and +under the stress of the second ballot, when Starin's and Robinson's +support broke to Cornell, some of them voted for Folger. This gave the +Administration's candidate eight more than the required number.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1029_1029" id="vol3FNanchor_1029_1029"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1029_1029" class="fnanchor">[1029]</a></p> + +<p>The belated platform, fulsomely eulogistic of Cornell, added to the +indignation of the Independents, since it seemed a mockery to present +what the Stalwarts did not offer until after a nomination. It gave +still greater offence when the State Committee selected John F. Smyth +as its chairman to conduct the campaign.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1030_1030" id="vol3FNanchor_1030_1030"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1030_1030" class="fnanchor">[1030]</a></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.495" id="vol3Page_iii.495">iii. 495</a></span></p> +<p>"It is hardly worth while analysing the influences which have +contributed to this result," said the New York <i>Times</i>. "The fact is +plain that the Gould-Conkling combination, backed by the power of the +Federal Administration, has accomplished what it set out to do."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1031_1031" id="vol3FNanchor_1031_1031"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1031_1031" class="fnanchor">[1031]</a> +Henry Ward Beecher in a Sunday evening sermon, said that "When Cornell +went out, Avarice and Revenge kissed each other." Theodore L. Cuyler, +then pastor of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, +declared that he "stood by the cradle of the Republican party, but +when it shunted off on the wrong track I will not go over the +precipice with it."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1032_1032" id="vol3FNanchor_1032_1032"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1032_1032" class="fnanchor">[1032]</a> In hastening to deny that <i>Harper's Weekly</i> +would support Folger, George William Curtis wrote: "Judge Folger's +ability and character are not in question, but his nomination is. That +nomination was procured by the combined power of fraud and patronage, +and to support it would be to acquiesce in them as legitimate forces +in a convention."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1033_1033" id="vol3FNanchor_1033_1033"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1033_1033" class="fnanchor">[1033]</a> The Buffalo <i>Express</i>, a vigorous and +independent Republican journal, also bolted the ticket,<a name="vol3FNanchor_1034_1034" id="vol3FNanchor_1034_1034"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1034_1034" class="fnanchor">[1034]</a> an +example followed by several other papers of similar character +throughout the State. After the lapse of a fortnight, Hepburn, +candidate for congressman-at-large, declined to accept because "it is +quite apparent that a very large portion of the Republicans, owing to +the unfortunate circumstances which have come to light since the +adjournment of the convention, are not disposed to accept its +conclusion as an authoritative utterance of the party."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1035_1035" id="vol3FNanchor_1035_1035"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1035_1035" class="fnanchor">[1035]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.496" id="vol3Page_iii.496">iii. 496</a></span></p><p>Folger was not suspected of any personal complicity with unfair +dealing, but the deep and general Republican dissatisfaction greatly +disturbed him. His friends urged him to withdraw. Stewart L. Woodford, +then United States attorney, insisted that fraud and forgery vitiated +all the convention did, and that the "short, direct, and honourable +way out of it was to refuse the nomination."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1036_1036" id="vol3FNanchor_1036_1036"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1036_1036" class="fnanchor">[1036]</a> The Kings County +executive committee assured him that many influential Republicans +considered this the wisest course. From prominent men in all parts of +the State came similar advice. This view appealed to his own better +judgment, and he had decided so to act until persuaded otherwise by +the pleadings of the Stalwarts.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1037_1037" id="vol3FNanchor_1037_1037"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1037_1037" class="fnanchor">[1037]</a> His acceptance, recalling the +Tilden letter of 1880, was a touching appeal to the voters. Referring +to the fraudulent practices, he said: "No one claims, no one believes, +that I had lot or part therein, or previous hint or suspicion thereof. +I scorn an end to be got by such means. I will not undertake to +measure the truth of all these reports; that of one is beyond +dispute."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1038_1038" id="vol3FNanchor_1038_1038"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1038_1038" class="fnanchor">[1038]</a> Nevertheless, Folger could not deny that he was a +willing recipient of that "one," through the influence of which, by +creating the impression that Robertson and other anti-Administration +leaders favoured the Stalwart's choice of a temporary chairman, he +gained a much greater power in the convention than his eight majority +represented.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1039_1039" id="vol3FNanchor_1039_1039"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1039_1039" class="fnanchor">[1039]</a></p> + +<p>In accepting the Democratic nomination Cleveland had the great +advantage of not being obliged to refer to anything of which he was +ashamed. Its tone was simple, sober, and direct, and from the +principles expressed, the measures advocated, or the language +employed, the reader could form<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.497" id="vol3Page_iii.497">iii. 497</a></span> no idea to what party the writer +belonged. He desired primary elections to be "uncontaminated and +fairly conducted"; condemned the interference of "officials of any +degree, State or Federal, for the purpose of thwarting or controlling +the popular wish"; favoured tenure of office in the civil service +being dependent upon "ability and merit"; and denounced the levying of +political assessments, declaring "the expenditure of money to +influence the action of the people at the polls or to secure +legislation is calculated to excite the gravest concern."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1040_1040" id="vol3FNanchor_1040_1040"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1040_1040" class="fnanchor">[1040]</a></p> + +<p>The campaign became historic because it revealed the most serious +disturbance in the Republican party since the war. Little was heard +save apology, indignant protest, and appeal to tradition. Whatever +Republican hope existed was based upon the unworthiness of the +Democratic party. In a letter to an Albany meeting Folger declared, +after highly praising his opponent, that "There is one difference +which goes to the root of the matter when we are brought to view as +public men and put forward to act in public affairs. He is a Democrat. +I am a Republican." Then, becoming an alarmist, he referred to the +shrinkage in the value of stocks on the day after the Democratic +victory in Ohio. "That shrinkage has been going on ever since," he +said. "Do the business interests of the country dread a return of the +Democratic party to power? Will the election of Cleveland increase it? +These are questions for hesitating Republicans to ponder."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1041_1041" id="vol3FNanchor_1041_1041"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1041_1041" class="fnanchor">[1041]</a> This +Stock Exchange view of politics, redolent of the operations of brokers +in Wall Street, did not help the Republican candidate. Curtis thought +it, coming from the Secretary of the Treasury, "most +extraordinary."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1042_1042" id="vol3FNanchor_1042_1042"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1042_1042" class="fnanchor">[1042]</a> Besides, the decline in the stock market began +before the Ohio election, when conditions indicated Republican +success.</p> + +<p>The local campaign in the metropolis assumed more life. In spite of +its avowed purpose to rid the city of dishonest<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.498" id="vol3Page_iii.498">iii. 498</a></span> political tricksters, +the County Democracy made bedfellows of Tammany and Irving Hall, and +nominated Franklin Edson for mayor. This union was the more offensive +because in its accomplishment the Whitney organisation turned its back +upon Allan Campbell, its choice for governor, whom a Citizens' +Committee, with Republican support, afterwards selected for mayor. +Campbell as city-comptroller was familiar with municipal affairs, and +of the highest integrity, independence, and courage. His friends +naturally resented the indignity, and for ten days an effective +canvass deeply stirred New York.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the Republican party was doomed. Managers beckoned hope +by frequent assertions, sometimes in the form of bulletins, that the +indignation was subsiding. Smyth and his State Committee disclaimed +any part in the wrong-doing by expressing, in the form of a +resolution, their "detestation of the forged proxy, and of all the +methods and purposes to which such wretched fraud and treachery +apply."<a name="vol3FNanchor_1043_1043" id="vol3FNanchor_1043_1043"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1043_1043" class="fnanchor">[1043]</a> Even the nominee for lieutenant-governor argued that he +was an honest man. But the people had their own opinion, and a count +of the votes showed that Folger, in spite of his pure and very useful +life, had been sacrificed,<a name="vol3FNanchor_1044_1044" id="vol3FNanchor_1044_1044"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1044_1044" class="fnanchor">[1044]</a> while Cleveland had a majority +greater than was ever known in a contested State election. It was so +astounding that Democrats themselves did not claim it, in the usual +sense, as a Democratic victory.<a name="vol3FNanchor_1045_1045" id="vol3FNanchor_1045_1045"></a><a href="#vol3Footnote_1045_1045" class="fnanchor">[1045]</a> Everybody recognised it as a +rebuke to Executive dictation and corrupt political methods. But no +one denied that Cleveland helped swell<span class="pagenum"><a name="vol3Page_iii.499" id="vol3Page_iii.499">iii. 499</a></span> the majority. He became known +as the "Veto Mayor," and the history of his brief public life was +common knowledge. His professional career, unlike Tilden's, disclosed +no dark spots. He had been an honest lawyer as well as an upright +public official, and the people believed that his stubborn +independence and sturdy integrity would make him a real governor, the +enemy of rings and bosses, and the foe of avarice and revenge.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2>A POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE<br /> +STATE OF NEW YORK</h2> + +<h3>(1774-1861)</h3> + +<p>By D.S. ALEXANDER. Two volumes. 840 pp. 8vo. $5.00 net (carriage +extra).</p> + +<p>This work presents a history of the movements of political parties in +New York State from 1774 to 1861, and embraces a series of brilliant +character studies of the leaders, most of them of national importance, +who, from the days of George Clinton, have drawn the attention of the +nation to New York. The astute methods and sources of power by which +George Clinton, Hamilton, Burr, DeWitt Clinton, Van Buren, Seymour and +Thurlow Weed each successively controlled the political destiny of the +State are clearly and picturesquely set forth.</p> + +<p>"It meets a want widely felt and repeatedly expressed during the past +hundred years.... It would be impossible in a dozen notices to render +any sort of justice to the extensive scope of this work and to the +multiplicity of its interesting details."—From two leading articles, +aggregating over ten columns, in the <i>New York Sun</i>.</p> + +<p>"Will undoubtedly take its place as the authoritative work upon the +subject."—<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p> + +<p>"Without question he has performed ... his task very capably. He +addresses the general reader and takes pains to be entertaining, +dealing with men in preference to measures—and only the most +conspicuous, the most interesting men.... Of these outstanding figures +there are full length portraits—biographies, indeed, in ample detail +strung on a long thread of politics, while very many minor characters +have thumb-nail sketches. Few of the good anecdotes available, it +would seem, have escaped Mr. Alexander, and good stories do not suffer +at his hands."—<i>The New York Globe.</i></p> + +<p>"Will not only repay careful reading, but should be placed among the +permanent reference books of every man who has occasion to know +anything about the politics of this state.... Estimates of the great +men ... are among its most interesting features."—<i>Buffalo Express.</i></p> + +<p>"The most entertaining story of state politics in American +history."—<i>Review of Reviews.</i></p> + +<p>"Will be read with great interest and profit outside the Empire +State."—<i>Cleveland Plain Dealer.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%" /> + +<p class="center"> +<span class="large">Henry Holt and Company</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">29 West 23d Street<span style="margin-left: 2em">New York</span></span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h3>R.M. JOHNSTON’S LEADING AMERICAN SOLDIERS</h3> + +<p>Biographies of Washington, Greene, Taylor, Scott, Andrew Jackson, +Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, McClellan, Meade, Lee, "Stonewall" Jackson, +Joseph E. Johnson. 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He writes of the Filipinos as he found them, and with the +knack of the true investigator, has avoided falling in with the +political views of any party or faction. More valuable still is his +exposition of the Philippine question in its bearings on American life +and politics. A most exhaustive, careful, honest and unbiased review +of every phase of the question."—<i>The Washington Post.</i></p> + +<p>"A keen, exhaustive and merciless criticism of the whole Philippine +experiment.... His unsparing analysis of all the departments of +Philippine government must (however) command respect as able, honest +and sincere ... no other book contains more solid truth, or a greater +section of the truth."—<i>Springfield Republican.</i></p> + + +<h3>AMERICA, ASIA AND THE PACIFIC</h3> + +<h4>By WOLF <span class="smcap">von</span> SCHIERBRAND<i><br /> +Author of “Germany of To-day”</i></h4> + +<p>Considers America's relations to all the countries affected by the +Panama Canal, to those on both coasts of the Pacific, and to the +islands, besides analyzing the strength and weakness of our rivals. 13 +maps, 334 pp. $1.50 net. By mail, $1.62.</p> + +<p>"A most interesting treatise ... having an important bearing upon our +future progress."—<i>Public Opinion.</i></p> + +<p>"His observations on the Panama Canal and the future of the Dutch East +Indies are particularly interesting and suggestive."—<i>Review of +Reviews.</i></p> + +<p>"An interesting ... survey of a broad field ... contains a great +variety of useful information ... especially valuable to American +exporters."—<i>Outlook.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="large">Henry Holt and Company</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">34 W. 33d STREET (v, '06) NEW YORK</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h3>BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS By W.A. 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Historical +biographies of Alfieri, Manzoni, Gioberti, Manin, Mazzini, Cavour, +Garibaldi, and Victor Emmanuel.</p> + +<p>"Popular but not flimsy."—<i>The Nation.</i></p> + + +<h3>THE ITALIANS OF TO-DAY By René Bazin.</h3> + +<p>By the author of "The Nun," etc. Translated by Wm. Marchant. $1.25 +net, by mail $1.35.</p> + +<p>"A most readable book. He touches upon everything."—<i>Boston +Transcript.</i></p> + + +<h3>DARWINISM TO-DAY By V.L. Kellogg.</h3> + +<p>By the author of "American Insects," etc. 8vo. $2.00 net, by mail +$2.12.</p> + +<p>"Can write in English as brightly and as clearly as the old-time +Frenchmen.... In his text he explains the controversy so that the +plain man may understand it, while in the notes he adduces the +evidence that the specialist requires.... A brilliant book that +deserves general attention."—<i>New York Sun.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p class="center">If the reader will send his name and address, the publishers will +send, from time to time, information regarding their new books.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="large">HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY</span><br /> +34 WEST 33d STREET<span style="margin-left: 2em">NEW YORK</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2>FOOTNOTES TO VOLUME III</h2> + + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1_1" id="vol3Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Pleasant A. Stovall, <i>Life of Robert Toombs</i>, p. 226.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_2_2" id="vol3Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Official Records, Vol. 1, p. 297.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_3_3" id="vol3Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 13, 59.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_4_4" id="vol3Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 301. Davis's message to the Confederate +Congress, April 29; Moore's Rebellion Record, Vol. 1, Docs. p. 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_5_5" id="vol3Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Official Records, Vol. 1, pp. 14, 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_6_6" id="vol3Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. 1, p. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_7_7" id="vol3Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> J.E. Cabot, <i>Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson</i>, p. 605.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_8_8" id="vol3Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Life and Speeches of Daniel S. Dickinson</i>, Vol. 1, pp. +700-702.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_9_9" id="vol3Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, March 15, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_10_10" id="vol3Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Letter of John W. Forsyth, MSS. Confederate Diplomatic +Correspondence, April 4, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_11_11" id="vol3Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>Life, Letters, and Speeches of Daniel S. Dickinson</i>. +Vol. 2, pp. 4-7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_12_12" id="vol3Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, April 22, 1861. New York <i>Times</i>, +New York <i>Herald</i>, April 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_13_13" id="vol3Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, April 21, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_14_14" id="vol3Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 21, 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_15_15" id="vol3Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 2, p. 552.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_16_16" id="vol3Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> "He went direct to the President, and asked him, in +proper language, if he approved of the petty intrigues that sought to +defeat his patriotic purpose. 'I know nothing of them, General,' said +the President, 'and have only this to say, that, whatever are the +obstacles thrown in your way, come to me, and I will remove them +promptly. Should you stand in need of my assistance to hasten the +organisation of your brigade, come to me again, and I will give or do +whatever is required. I want your men, General, and you are the man to +lead them. Go to the Secretary of War and get your instructions +immediately.'"—New York <i>Herald</i>, May 17, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_17_17" id="vol3Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Richmond <i>Examiner</i>, April 15, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_18_18" id="vol3Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> April 26, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_19_19" id="vol3Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> April 23, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_20_20" id="vol3Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> April 24, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_21_21" id="vol3Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> April 22, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_22_22" id="vol3Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> April 30, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_23_23" id="vol3Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> June 24, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_24_24" id="vol3Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, June 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_25_25" id="vol3Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> "Do you pretend to know more about military affairs than +General Scott? ask a few knaves, whom a great many simpletons know no +better than to echo. No, Sirs! we know very little of the art of war, +and General Scott a great deal. The real question—which the above is +asked only to shuffle out of sight—is this: Does General Scott +contemplate the same ends, and is he animated by like impulses and +purposes, with the great body of the loyal, liberty-loving people of +this country? Does he want the Rebels routed, or would he prefer to +have them conciliated?"—<i>Ibid.</i>, July 1, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_26_26" id="vol3Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Of 49 regiments engaged, 19 were from New York, and of +the 3,343 killed, wounded, and missing, 1,230 were New +Yorkers.—Official Records, Series 1, Vol. 2, pp. 314, 315, 351, 387, +405, 426.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_27_27" id="vol3Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> See the New York <i>Tribune</i>, <i>Herald</i>, <i>Times</i>, <i>World</i>, +<i>Evening Post</i>, July 22, 23, 25, and later dates.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_28_28" id="vol3Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> New York <i>Journal of Commerce</i>, <i>News</i>, <i>Day-Book</i>, +<i>Freeman's Journal</i>, Brooklyn <i>Eagle</i>.—Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1861, +p. 329.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_29_29" id="vol3Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> "I have had a conversation this morning with a prominent +Democrat, who is entirely devoted to sustaining the government in the +present struggle. He informs me that the leaders of that party are +opposed to the war and sympathise with the South; that they keep quiet +because it will not advance their views to move just now." Letter of +William Gray, dated September 4, to Secretary Chase.—Chase Papers, +MS.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_30_30" id="vol3Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, August 9, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_31_31" id="vol3Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, August 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_32_32" id="vol3Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 5, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_33_33" id="vol3Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> "From what lodge in some vast wilderness, from what lone +mountain in the desert, the convention obtained its Rip Van Winkle +president, we are at a loss to conceive. He evidently has never heard +of the Wilmot Proviso struggle of 1848, the compromise contest of +1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the Lecompton constitution of +1858, nor the presidential election of 1860. It is plain that he has +never even dreamed of the secession ordinances and of the fall of +Sumter."—New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 6, 1861. +</p><p> +"The speech of Mr. Redfield is universally laughed at. He has +completely proven that he does not belong to the present century, or, +at least, that he has been asleep for the last twenty years. Barnum +should deposit it among the curiosities of his shop."—New York +<i>Herald</i>, September 5, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_34_34" id="vol3Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> "Lieber says that <i>habeas corpus</i>, free meetings like +this, and a free press, are the three elements which distinguish +liberty from despotism. All that Saxon blood has gained in the battles +and toils of two hundred years are these three things. But to-day, Mr. +Chairman, every one of them is annihilated in every square mile of the +republic. We live to-day, every one of us, under martial law. The +Secretary of State puts into his bastille, with a warrant as +irresponsible as that of Louis, any man whom he pleases. And you know +that neither press nor lips may venture to arraign the government +without being silenced. At this moment at least one thousand men are +'bastilled' by an authority as despotic as that of Louis, three times +as many as Eldon and George III seized when they trembled for his +throne. For the first time on this continent we have passports, which +even Louis Napoleon pronounces useless and odious. For the first time +in our history government spies frequent our cities."—Lecture of +Wendell Phillips, delivered in New York, December, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_35_35" id="vol3Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> The State ticket was made up as follows: Secretary of +State, David R. Floyd Jones of Queens; Judge of the Court of Appeals, +George F. Comstock of Onondaga; Comptroller, George F. Scott of +Saratoga; Attorney-General, Lyman Tremaine of Albany; Treasurer of +State, Francis C. Brouck of Erie; Canal Commissioners, Jarvis B. Lord +of Monroe, William W. Wright of Ontario; State Prison Director, +William C. Rhodes of New York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_36_36" id="vol3Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> New York <i>Leader</i>, September 9, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_37_37" id="vol3Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 10, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_38_38" id="vol3Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Dickinson's Ithaca speech, delivered the day after the +Democratic convention adjourned, is printed in full in the New York +<i>Tribune</i> of September 10, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_39_39" id="vol3Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> The ticket was as follows: Attorney-general, Daniel S. +Dickinson of Broome; Secretary of State, Horatio Ballard of Cortland; +Comptroller, Lucius Robinson of Chemung; Treasurer, William B. Lewis +of Kings; Court of Appeals, William B. Wright, Sullivan; Canal +Commissioners, Franklin A. Alberger of Erie and Benjamin F. Bruce of +New York; State Engineer, William B. Taylor of Oneida; State Prison +Inspector, Abram B. Tappan of Westchester.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_40_40" id="vol3Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i> (editorial), September 13, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_41_41" id="vol3Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Marshal M. Champlain of Allegany and William Williams of +Erie were substituted for Tremaine and Brouck.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_42_42" id="vol3Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 4, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_43_43" id="vol3Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> November 6, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_44_44" id="vol3Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, October 23, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_45_45" id="vol3Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, October 23, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_46_46" id="vol3Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> "There are sympathisers with the secessionists still +remaining in the Democratic ranks, but they compose a small portion of +the party. Nine-tenths of it is probably strenuous in the +determination that the constitutional authority of the government +shall be maintained and enforced without compromise. This sentiment is +far more prevalent and decided than it was two months ago."—New York +<i>Tribune</i>, November 19, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_47_47" id="vol3Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> "I have now no doubt this causeless and most flagitious +rebellion is to be put down much sooner than many, myself included, +thought practicable."—Edwin Croswell, letter in New York <i>Tribune</i>, +November 25, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_48_48" id="vol3Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Political Essays, p. 94.—<i>North American Review</i>, +April, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_49_49" id="vol3Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Daniel S. Dickinson's <i>Life, Letters, and Speeches</i>, +Vol. 2, pp. 550-551.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_50_50" id="vol3Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> "I have just finished a second reading of your speech in +Wyoming County, and with so much pleasure and admiration that I cannot +refrain from thanking you. It is a speech worthy of an American +statesman, and will command the attention of the country by its high +and generous patriotism, no less than by its eloquence and +power."—Letter of John K. Porter of Albany to D.S. Dickinson, August +23, 1861. <i>Dickinson's Life, Letters, and Speeches</i>, Vol. 2, p. 553. +Similar letters were written by Henry W. Rogers of Buffalo, William H. +Seward, Dr. N. Niles, and others.—<i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 555, 559, 561.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_51_51" id="vol3Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>Public Record of Horatio Seymour</i>, pp. 32-43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_52_52" id="vol3Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>Congressional Globe</i>, January 6, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_53_53" id="vol3Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, May 27, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_54_54" id="vol3Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, September 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_55_55" id="vol3Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Letter of Secretary Chase, dated February 3, 1862.—E.G. +Spaulding, <i>History of the Legal Tender</i>, p. 59.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_56_56" id="vol3Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Spaulding, <i>History of the Legal Tender</i>, p. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_57_57" id="vol3Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> The bill escaped from the committee by one majority.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_58_58" id="vol3Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> On Spaulding's motion to close debate, Conkling demanded +tellers, and the motion was lost,—yeas, 52; nays, 62.—<i>Congressional +Globe</i>, February 5, 1862; <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 618.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_59_59" id="vol3Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 30, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_60_60" id="vol3Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, August 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_61_61" id="vol3Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, July 17, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_62_62" id="vol3Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 19, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_63_63" id="vol3Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, August 20. +</p><p> +Lincoln's reply appeared in the <i>National Intelligencer</i> of +Washington. He said in part: "I would save the Union. If there be +those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time +save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would +not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, +I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to +save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I +could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if +I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I +could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would do +that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I +believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear +because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do +less whenever I believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall +do more when I shall believe doing more will help the +cause."—<i>Lincoln's Works</i>, Vol. 2, p. 227.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_64_64" id="vol3Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, October 15, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_65_65" id="vol3Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> The author is indebted to Henry A. Richmond, son of Dean +Richmond, for this outline of Seymour's interview.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_66_66" id="vol3Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Cook and Knox, <i>Public Record of Horatio Seymour</i>, pp. +45-58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_67_67" id="vol3Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> The ticket nominated was as follows: Governor, Horatio +Seymour of Oneida; Lieutenant-Governor, David E. Floyd Jones of +Queens; Canal Commissioner, William I. Skinner of Herkimer; Prison +Inspector, Gaylord J. Clark of Niagara; Clerk of Appeals, Fred A. +Tallmadge of New York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_68_68" id="vol3Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> Seward to his wife.—F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, +Vol. 2, p. 590.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_69_69" id="vol3Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> Frank B. Carpenter, <i>Six Months at the White House</i>, pp. +22, 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_70_70" id="vol3Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, September 19 and October 15, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_71_71" id="vol3Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, November 6, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_72_72" id="vol3Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> T.W. Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_73_73" id="vol3Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, July 31, 1861.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_74_74" id="vol3Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> "This estimate was afterward verified as correct."—New +York <i>Tribune</i>, September 22, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_75_75" id="vol3Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 22, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_76_76" id="vol3Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, September 25, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_77_77" id="vol3Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> "Though we met Governor Morgan repeatedly during the +summer, he never hinted that he expected or desired to be again a +candidate."—New York <i>Tribune</i>, December 12, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_78_78" id="vol3Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, December 10, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_79_79" id="vol3Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> The vote resulted as follows: Wadsworth, 234; Dix, 110; +Lyman Tremaine, 33; Dickinson, 2. +</p><p> +The ticket was as follows: Governor, James S. Wadsworth of Genesee; +Lieutenant-Governor, Lyman Tremaine of Albany; Canal Commissioner, +Oliver Ladue of Herkimer; Prison Inspector, Andreas Willman of New +York; Clerk of Appeals, Charles Hughes of Washington.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_80_80" id="vol3Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 17, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_81_81" id="vol3Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, Oct. 8, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_82_82" id="vol3Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Oct. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_83_83" id="vol3Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Oct. 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_84_84" id="vol3Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, Oct. 9, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_85_85" id="vol3Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Sept. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_86_86" id="vol3Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Oct. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_87_87" id="vol3Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, October 8 and 9, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_88_88" id="vol3Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> <i>Lincoln's Works</i>, Vol. 2, p. 239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_89_89" id="vol3Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Benjamin E. Curtis, <i>Pamphlet on Executive Power</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_90_90" id="vol3Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, October 4, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_91_91" id="vol3Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, October 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_92_92" id="vol3Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 28, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_93_93" id="vol3Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, October 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_94_94" id="vol3Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, October 29, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_95_95" id="vol3Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, October 15 and 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_96_96" id="vol3Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Morgan Dix, <i>Memoirs of John A. Dix</i>, Vol. 2, pp. +51-52.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_97_97" id="vol3Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 17, 1862. See other views: +New York <i>Herald</i>, October 17, 18, 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_98_98" id="vol3Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Henry B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 216.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_99_99" id="vol3Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 31, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_100_100" id="vol3Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, October 17, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_101_101" id="vol3Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, Nov. 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_102_102" id="vol3Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> "Seymour, 307,063; Wadsworth, 296,492."—<i>Ibid.</i>, +November 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_103_103" id="vol3Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, November 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_104_104" id="vol3Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Henry B. Stanton, <i>Random Recollections</i>, p. 216.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_105_105" id="vol3Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, Nov. 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_106_106" id="vol3Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, Nov. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_107_107" id="vol3Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> Cary, <i>Life of Curtis</i>, p. 161.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_108_108" id="vol3Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 161.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_109_109" id="vol3Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Laws of 1842. Ch. 130, title 6, article 4, sec. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_110_110" id="vol3Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> Horace Bemis of Steuben.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_111_111" id="vol3Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> The writer is indebted to Mr. Depew for the interviews +between himself, Van Buren, and Callicot.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_112_112" id="vol3Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, December 10, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_113_113" id="vol3Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Sedgwick, assailed by damaging charges growing out of +his chairmanship of the Naval Committee, failed to be renominated for +Congress in 1864 after a most bitter contest in which 130 ballots were +taken.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_114_114" id="vol3Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> New York <i>Journal of Commerce</i>, February 3, 1863. +</p><p> +"Informal ballot: Morgan, 25; King, 16; Dickinson, 15; Sedgwick, 11; +Field, 7; Raymond, 6; Hunt, 4; Selden, 1; blank, 1. Whole number, 86. +Necessary to a choice, 44. +</p><p> +"First formal ballot: Morgan, 39; King, 16; Dickinson, 11; Raymond, 8; +Sedgwick, 7; Field, 5. +</p><p> +"Second formal ballot: Morgan, 50; Dickinson, 13; King, 11; Raymond, +9; Field, 2; Sedgwick, 1."—<i>Ibid.</i>, February 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_115_115" id="vol3Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 7, 1863. +</p><p> +The Democratic caucus stood 28 for Erastus Corning, 25 for Fernando +Wood, and scattering 18. +</p><p> +The vote of the Senate stood: Morgan, 23; Erastus Corning, 7; 2 absent +or silent. On the first ballot the Assembly gave Morgan 64, Corning +62, Fernando Wood 1, John A. Dix 1 (cast by Speaker Callicot). On a +second ballot all the Unionists voted with Callicot for Dix, giving +him 65 to 63 for Corning and placing him in nomination. In joint +convention Morgan was elected by 86 votes to 70 for Corning, one +(Callicot's) for Dix, and 1 for Dickinson.—<i>Ibid.</i>, February 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_116_116" id="vol3Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> "My dear Weed: It is difficult for me to express my +personal obligations to you for this renewed evidence of your +friendship, as manifested by the result of yesterday's proceedings at +Albany."—Letter of Edwin D. Morgan, February 3, 1863. Thurlow Weed +Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. 430.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_117_117" id="vol3Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, January 28, 1863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_118_118" id="vol3Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, January 30, 1863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_119_119" id="vol3Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> Thurlow Weed Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. +485.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_120_120" id="vol3Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, January 28, 1863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_121_121" id="vol3Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> "Let it pass whether or not the editor of the <i>Tribune</i> +has been intensely ambitious for office. It would have been a blessed +thing for the country if the editor of the <i>Journal</i> had been impelled +by the same passion. For avarice is more ignoble than ambition, and +the craving for jobs has a more corrupting influence, alike on the +individual and the public, than aspiration to office."—New York +<i>Tribune</i>, December 12, 1862.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_122_122" id="vol3Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> Thurlow Weed, <i>Autobiography</i>, pp. 360-361.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_123_123" id="vol3Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> George S. Boutwell, <i>Sixty Years in Public Affairs</i>, +Vol. 2, p. 207.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_124_124" id="vol3Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> This opprobrious epithet first appeared in the New York +<i>Tribune</i> of January 12, 1863, and in the <i>Times</i> of February 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_125_125" id="vol3Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> The Union League Club of New York was organized +February 6, 1863; its club house, No. 26 E. 17th St., was opened May +12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_126_126" id="vol3Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 3, p. 159.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_127_127" id="vol3Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> Horatio Seymour, <i>Public Record</i>, pp. 85-105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_128_128" id="vol3Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> T.W. Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. 428.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_129_129" id="vol3Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 7, pp. 10, 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_130_130" id="vol3Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, August 18, 1879.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_131_131" id="vol3Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> "Governor Seymour was a patriotic man, after his +fashion, but his hatred of the Lincoln Administration was evidently +deep; and it was also clear that he did not believe that the war for +the Union could be brought to a successful termination."—Andrew D. +White, <i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 1, p. 105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_132_132" id="vol3Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 7, p. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_133_133" id="vol3Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> Horatio Seymour, <i>Public Record</i>, p. 109.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_134_134" id="vol3Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 7, p. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_135_135" id="vol3Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1863, p. 689.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_136_136" id="vol3Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1863, pp. 800-802. Lincoln, +<i>Complete Works</i>, Vol. 2, p. 347.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_137_137" id="vol3Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> 4 Wallace, p. 125.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_138_138" id="vol3Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> Couch's report, <i>Official Records</i>, Vol. 27, Part 2, +214.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_139_139" id="vol3Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> Horatio Seymour, <i>Public Record</i>, pp. 118-124. +</p><p> +Ten days later, in the midst of riot and bloodshed, the <i>World</i> said: +"Will the insensate men at Washington now give ear to our warnings? +Will they now believe that defiance of law in the rulers breeds +defiance of law in the people? Does the doctrine that in war laws are +silent, please them when put in practice in the streets of New +York?"—New York <i>World</i>, July 14, 1863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_140_140" id="vol3Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 15, 1863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_141_141" id="vol3Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 7, p. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_142_142" id="vol3Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_143_143" id="vol3Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> James B. Fry, <i>New York and the Conscription</i>, p. 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_144_144" id="vol3Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, <i>Herald</i>, <i>Times</i>, and <i>World</i>, +July 15; also, <i>Public Record of Horatio Seymour</i>, pp. 127-128.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_145_145" id="vol3Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, <i>Herald</i>, and <i>Times</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_146_146" id="vol3Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> James B. Fry, <i>New York and the Conscription</i>, p. 14. +"Seymour showed his lack of executive ability by not filling up the +quota of New York by volunteers in less than a month after the +Conscription Act was passed. This a clever executive could easily have +done and so avoided all trouble."—New York <i>Herald</i>, September 11, +1863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_147_147" id="vol3Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> James B. Fry, <i>New York and the Conscription</i>, p. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_148_148" id="vol3Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> <i>The Public Record of Horatio Seymour</i>, p. 153.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_149_149" id="vol3Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> The constitutionality of the Conscription Act of March +3, 1863, was affirmed by the United States Circuit Courts of +Pennsylvania and Illinois.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_150_150" id="vol3Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> <i>The Public Record of Horatio Seymour</i>, p. 156.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_151_151" id="vol3Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> Wakeman was postmaster at New York City.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_152_152" id="vol3Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> "Porter received 213 votes to 140 for Depew, who made a +remarkable run under the circumstances."—New York <i>Herald</i>, September +3, 1863. +</p><p> +"Greeley sent for me some weeks before the convention and pressed me +with such vigour to take a position upon the State ticket that I +finally consented. He then secured from practically the whole State an +endorsement of the suggestion on my behalf. On the morning of the +convention he suddenly decided that some one connected with the army +must be chosen and sent around an order for a change of programme just +before the roll was called. It was the most fortunate thing that could +have happened to me, but created widespread distrust of his qualities +as a leader."—Speech of Chauncey M. Depew, April 4, 1902. <i>Addresses +of</i>, November, 1896, to April, 1902, pp. 238-239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_153_153" id="vol3Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> "So far as politics were concerned, Greeley's +affections seemed to be lavished on politicians who flattered and +coddled him. Of this the rise of Governor Fenton was a striking +example."—Andrew D. White, <i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 1, p. 160.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_154_154" id="vol3Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> The State ticket was as follows: Secretary of state, +Chauncey M. Depew of Westchester; Comptroller, Lucius Robinson of +Chemung; Canal Commissioner, Benjamin F. Bruce of Madison; Treasurer, +George W. Schuyler of Tompkins; State Engineer, William B. Taylor of +Oneida; Prison Inspector, James K. Bates of Jefferson; Judge of +Appeals, Henry S. Selden of Monroe; Attorney-General, John Cochrane of +New York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_155_155" id="vol3Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, September 3, 1863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_156_156" id="vol3Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> The Constitutional Union convention, meeting at Albany +on September 8, named candidates for attorney-general and prison +inspector, with the request that the Democratic convention endorse +them; otherwise it would put a full ticket into the field. Among its +State Committee appeared the names of former governor Washington Hunt +and Lorenzo Burrows. It resolved to resist all departures from the +strict letter of the Constitution, whether based upon military +necessity or a usurpation of doubtful powers. +</p><p> +"We tender the Democratic State convention our hearty thanks for their +contemptuous treatment of Jim Brooks & Co.'s one-horse concern, +consisting of fifteen or twenty officers and three or four privates. +That concern is thoroughly bogus—a barefaced imposture which should +be squelched and its annual nuisance abated."—New York <i>Tribune</i>, +September 11, 1863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_157_157" id="vol3Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> "Governor Seymour can talk more without saying +anything, and write more without meaning anything, than any other man +we know.... We consider Seymour not much of a man, and no Governor at +all."—New York <i>Herald</i> (editorial), September 11, 1863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_158_158" id="vol3Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, September 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_159_159" id="vol3Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> The ticket was made up as follows: Secretary of state, +David B. St. John of Otsego; Comptroller, Sanford E. Church of +Orleans; Attorney-General, Marshall B. Champlain of Allegany; State +Engineer, Van R. Richmond of Wayne; Treasurer, William B. Lewis of +Kings; Canal Commissioner, William W. Wright, of Ontario; Inspector of +Prisons, David B. McNeil of Clinton; Judge of Appeals, William F. +Allen, of Oswego.—<i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_160_160" id="vol3Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, September 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_161_161" id="vol3Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_162_162" id="vol3Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 1, 1863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_163_163" id="vol3Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> Seymour spoke at Buffalo, Syracuse, Utica, and New York +City, on October 26, 28, 29, and 31 respectively.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_164_164" id="vol3Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> <i>Record of Horatio Seymour</i>, pp. 168-176.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_165_165" id="vol3Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 2, 1863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_166_166" id="vol3Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, November 6, 1863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_167_167" id="vol3Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> "Depew received 29,405 votes more than St. John for +secretary of state." <i>Ibid.</i>, December 5, 1863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_168_168" id="vol3Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> Delivered November 3, 1863. New York <i>Herald</i>, November +6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_169_169" id="vol3Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 6, p. 266. +Senators Sumner of Massachusetts, Trumbull of Illinois, Grimes of +Iowa, and Pomeroy of Kansas, voted Yes; Collamer of Vermont, Fessenden +of Maine, and Howard of Michigan declined to vote. Wade of Ohio was +absent.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_170_170" id="vol3Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 6, p. 268.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_171_171" id="vol3Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 3, p. 197.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_172_172" id="vol3Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 196.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_173_173" id="vol3Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> T.W. Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. 434.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_174_174" id="vol3Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> Maunsell B. Field, <i>Memories of Many Men</i>, p. 304.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_175_175" id="vol3Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. 440.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_176_176" id="vol3Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 437.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_177_177" id="vol3Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> T.W. Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, pp. +437-439.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_178_178" id="vol3Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, May 24, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_179_179" id="vol3Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, February 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_180_180" id="vol3Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> It was called to meet on June 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_181_181" id="vol3Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1864, p. 785.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_182_182" id="vol3Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, April 25, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_183_183" id="vol3Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> New York <i>Independent</i>, February 25, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_184_184" id="vol3Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, February 23, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_185_185" id="vol3Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 7, p. 389.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_186_186" id="vol3Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 9, p. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_187_187" id="vol3Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1864, p. 786.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_188_188" id="vol3Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, May 10, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_189_189" id="vol3Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, May 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_190_190" id="vol3Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> "Greeley received an almost unanimous call to lead the +party in the State and the first convention which he attended (1862) +bowed absolutely to his will. He thought he was a great political +leader, and he might have been if he had ever been sure of himself; +but he was one of the poorest judges of men, and in that way was often +deceived, often misled, and often led to change his opinions.... In +less than two years his power was gone."—From speech of Chauncey M. +Depew, April 4, 1902. <i>Addresses of</i>, November, 1896, to April, 1902, +pp. 238-239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_191_191" id="vol3Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> Cochrane's speech at Cleveland. McPherson's <i>History of +the Rebellion</i>, p. 411.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_192_192" id="vol3Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_193_193" id="vol3Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 412.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_194_194" id="vol3Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> A singular mistake of the convention was its +nomination, contrary to the requirement of the Constitution, of both +candidates from the same State.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_195_195" id="vol3Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 9, p. 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_196_196" id="vol3Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> T.W. Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. 443.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_197_197" id="vol3Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> See New York <i>Herald</i>, April 25, 27, May 7, 9, 14, 16, +18, 23, 26, 28, 29, 31, June 1, 4; New York <i>Tribune</i>, May 10, 12, 13, +14; New York <i>Times</i>, May 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 19; New York <i>World</i>, +May 2, 11, 12, 13, 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_198_198" id="vol3Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> Edward McPherson, <i>History of the Rebellion</i>, pp. +406-407.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_199_199" id="vol3Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 407.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_200_200" id="vol3Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> Johnson received 200 votes to 108 for Dickinson. After +recording all changes, the ballot stood: Johnson, 494; Dickinson, 17; +Hamlin, 9. McPherson, <i>Hist. of the Rebellion</i>, p. 407.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_201_201" id="vol3Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> Alex. K. McClure, <i>Lincoln and Men of War Times</i>, p. +444.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_202_202" id="vol3Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 9, pp. 72-73.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_203_203" id="vol3Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> Alex. K. McClure, <i>Lincoln and Men of War Times</i>, pp. +425-449.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_204_204" id="vol3Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 9, p. 93.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_205_205" id="vol3Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 93-94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_206_206" id="vol3Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 9, p. 95.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_207_207" id="vol3Footnote_207_207"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> "Simeon Draper was impulsive and demonstrative. With +the advantages of a fine person, good conversational powers, and ready +wit, his genial presence and cheerful voice imparted life and spirit +to the numerous social circles in which he was ever a welcome guest." +<i>Weed's Reminiscences</i>, T.W. Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, +p. 483.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_208_208" id="vol3Footnote_208_208"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> Except certain ones specifically exempted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_209_209" id="vol3Footnote_209_209"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> Lincoln, <i>Complete Works</i>, Vol. 2, p. 443.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_210_210" id="vol3Footnote_210_210"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> <i>Public Record of Horatio Seymour</i>, pp. 198-212.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_211_211" id="vol3Footnote_211_211"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> Horace Greeley, <i>History of the Rebellion</i>, Vol. 2, p. +667.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_212_212" id="vol3Footnote_212_212"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> Motley's <i>Letters</i>, Vol. 2, p. 168.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_213_213" id="vol3Footnote_213_213"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 9, p. 186.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_214_214" id="vol3Footnote_214_214"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 187-188.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_215_215" id="vol3Footnote_215_215"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> J.R. Gilmore (Kirke), <i>Down in Tennessee</i>, pp. +272-280.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_216_216" id="vol3Footnote_216_216"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> "To whom it may concern: Any proposition which embraces +the restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the +abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and with an authority that +can control the armies now at war against the United States will be +received and considered by the executive government of the United +States and will be met by liberal terms on other substantial and +collateral points, and the bearer or bearers thereof shall have safe +conduct both ways. Abraham Lincoln."—Horace Greeley, <i>The American +Conflict</i>, Vol. 2, p. 665; Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1864, p. 780; +Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 9, p. 192.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_217_217" id="vol3Footnote_217_217"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> "The undersigned, citizens of the State of New York and +unconditional supporters of the national government, convinced that a +union of all loyal citizens of the United States upon the basis of a +common patriotism is essential to the safety and honour of the country +in this crisis of its affairs; that the present distraction and apathy +which depress the friends of the Union threaten to throw the +Government into the hands of its enemies; and that a convention of the +people should be assembled to consider the state of the nation and to +concentrate the union strength on some one candidate, who commands the +confidence of the country, even by a new nomination if necessary; do +therefore invite their fellow citizens ... to send delegates ... to a +convention at Cincinnati on Wednesday, September 28, for friendly +consultation, with the purpose above stated."—New York <i>Sun</i>, June +30, 1889.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_218_218" id="vol3Footnote_218_218"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> Under date of Aug. 18, 1864, Greeley wrote Opdyke: "I +must go out of town to-morrow and cannot attend the meeting at your +house. Allow me to say a word. Mr. Lincoln is already beaten. He +cannot be elected. We must have another ticket to save us from utter +overthrow. And such a ticket we ought to have anyhow, with or without +a convention."—<i>Ibid.</i> +</p><p> +On August 26, Dickinson declared that "the cry for a change, whether +wise or ill founded, should be both heard and heeded."—<i>Ibid.</i> +</p><p> +On August 29, Lucius Robinson regretted "that it will be impossible +for me to be present at the meeting at Mr. Field's to-morrow +evening.... McClellan will be the next President unless Lincoln is at +once withdrawn."—<i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_219_219" id="vol3Footnote_219_219"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 9, p. 366.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_220_220" id="vol3Footnote_220_220"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> New York <i>Sun</i>, June 30, 1889.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_221_221" id="vol3Footnote_221_221"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 9, p. 250.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_222_222" id="vol3Footnote_222_222"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 218.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_223_223" id="vol3Footnote_223_223"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> <i>Lincoln's Complete Works</i>, Vol. 2, p. 563.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_224_224" id="vol3Footnote_224_224"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> Nicolay-Hay, <i>Abraham Lincoln</i>, Vol. 9, p. 251.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_225_225" id="vol3Footnote_225_225"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> "The announcement in the Albany <i>Argus</i> that Governor +Seymour was not a candidate was written by Seymour himself, and taken +to the <i>Argus</i> by his private secretary. It is now announced that it +was intended as a feeler. The whole force of the opposition to +McClellan is centred in this move for Seymour."—New York <i>Herald</i> +(Chicago despatch), August 28, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_226_226" id="vol3Footnote_226_226"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> "Dean Richmond remains firm for McClellan, and has cut +loose from the Regency. He is at the present moment closeted with +Seymour, trying to convince him of the fallacy of the move."—New York +<i>Herald</i> (Chicago despatch), August 28, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_227_227" id="vol3Footnote_227_227"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_227_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, September 1, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_228_228" id="vol3Footnote_228_228"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_228_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> Statement to Preston King in 1854. <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, +September 16, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_229_229" id="vol3Footnote_229_229"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_229_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> Letter to William Kent in October, 1860.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_230_230" id="vol3Footnote_230_230"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_230_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> Horace Greeley, <i>The American Conflict</i>, Vol. 1, pp. +388-394. William H. Russell's <i>Diary</i>, entry March 17, 1861, p. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_231_231" id="vol3Footnote_231_231"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_231_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, September 9, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_232_232" id="vol3Footnote_232_232"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_232_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> John Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 1, pp. 173-174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_233_233" id="vol3Footnote_233_233"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_233_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, September 9 and 27, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_234_234" id="vol3Footnote_234_234"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_234_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> "Never did men work harder than Messrs. Guthrie of +Kentucky and Tilden of New York. All they asked finally was that the +platform should not be so strong for peace that it would drive the war +vote from them."—New York <i>Herald</i>, September 5, 1864. +</p><p> +"Vallandigham wrote the second, the material resolution, of the +Chicago platform, and carried it through the sub-committee and the +general committee, in spite of the most desperate and persistent +opposition on the part of Tilden and his friends, Mr. Cassidy himself +in an adjoining room labouring to defeat it."—New York <i>News</i>, +October 22, 1864. +</p><p> +"The platform which declared the war a failure was jointly concocted +by Seymour and Vallandigham."—New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 5, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_235_235" id="vol3Footnote_235_235"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_235_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> "Governor Seymour was an elegant and accomplished +gentleman with a high-bred manner which never unbent, and he was +always faultlessly dressed. He looked the ideal of an aristocrat, and +yet he was and continued to be until his death the idol of the +Democracy."—<i>Speeches of Chauncey M. Depew</i>, November, 1896, to +April, 1902, p. 105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_236_236" id="vol3Footnote_236_236"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_236_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> Horatio Seymour's <i>Public Record</i>, pp. 230-232.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_237_237" id="vol3Footnote_237_237"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_237_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> Edward McPherson, <i>History of the Rebellion</i>, p. 419; +Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1864, p. 793.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_238_238" id="vol3Footnote_238_238"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_238_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> "McClellan's supporters are not scared by any paper +pellets of the brain, wise or otherwise, which ever came from the +midnight sessions of a resolution committee in the hurly-burly of a +national convention."—Speech of Robert C. Winthrop in New York City, +September 17, 1864.—<i>Addresses and Speeches</i>, Vol. 2, p. 598.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_239_239" id="vol3Footnote_239_239"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_239_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> "When the resolution, as reported, had been debated in +the committee, Mr. Tilden, far from protesting, stated in the +convention that there was no dissent among the members. His remarks +were confirmed by Mr. Brown of Delaware, who said there was not the +slightest dissension, and by Mr. Weller of California, who said that +all were in favour of peace."—<i>Harper's Weekly</i>, September 9, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_240_240" id="vol3Footnote_240_240"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_240_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> The first ballot resulted as follows: Seymour of New +York, 12; Seymour of Connecticut, 38; McClellan, 181. In the +adjustment, after the conclusion of the roll-call, McClellan had +202½ and Seymour of Connecticut, 28½. Vallandigham moved to make +the nomination unanimous. George H. Pendleton of Ohio was named for +Vice-President.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_241_241" id="vol3Footnote_241_241"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_241_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> "McClellan's name, associated with a noble struggle for +the national cause, has elicited and will elicit the wildest +enthusiasm; but leagued with propositions for national humiliation, it +is not a name the people will honor. McClellan is not large enough to +cover out of sight the bad points in the Chicago platform."—New York +<i>Herald</i>, September 6, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_242_242" id="vol3Footnote_242_242"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_242_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, September 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_243_243" id="vol3Footnote_243_243"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_243_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, December 7, 1863.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_244_244" id="vol3Footnote_244_244"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_244_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> "The informal vote was as follows: Fenton, 247½; +Tremaine, 69; Dix, 35½."—New York <i>Herald</i>, September 8, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_245_245" id="vol3Footnote_245_245"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_245_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> "The ticket is as follows: Governor, Reuben E. Fenton +of Chautauqua; Lieutenant-Governor, Thomas G. Alvord of Onondaga; +Canal Commissioner, Franklin A. Alberger of Erie; Inspector of +Prisons, David P. Forrest of Schenectady."—New York <i>Tribune</i>, +September 14, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_246_246" id="vol3Footnote_246_246"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_246_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> "The following is the vote for presidential +elector-at-large: Horace Greeley, 215; Preston King, 191½; Daniel +S. Dickinson, 143; Richard M. Blatchford, 86; John A. King, 10; Lyman +Tremaine, 13; J.S.T. Stranahan, 27; Thurlow Weed, 1."—<i>Ibid.</i>, +September 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_247_247" id="vol3Footnote_247_247"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_247_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> "The nomination of Horace Greeley for elector-at-large +is a bitter pill. The Weed men make no secret that Fenton's name is +the only thing that will save the ticket."—New York <i>Herald</i>, +September 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_248_248" id="vol3Footnote_248_248"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_248_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> Held at Albany on September 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_249_249" id="vol3Footnote_249_249"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_249_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, September 14, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_250_250" id="vol3Footnote_250_250"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_250_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, September 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_251_251" id="vol3Footnote_251_251"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_251_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> "Seymour tried to get the nomination at Chicago by the +same tricky means he has secured it at Albany,—by declaring +beforehand that he would not be a candidate. He failed at Chicago +because of the overwhelming popularity of McClellan; he succeeded at +Albany by his friends seizing a moment to nominate him when the +convention was in a delirium of enthusiasm at his apparent +self-sacrifice in persisting to decline."—New York <i>Herald</i> +(editorial), September 17, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_252_252" id="vol3Footnote_252_252"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_252_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> From Chauncey M. Depew's speech, March 23, +1901.—<i>Addresses of</i>, p. 105. +</p><p> +"The ticket nominated is as follows: Governor, Horatio Seymour of +Oneida; Lieutenant-Governor, David R. Floyd Jones of Queens; Canal +Commissioner, Jarvis Lord of Monroe; Prison Inspector, David B. McNeil +of Clinton; electors-at-large, William E. Kelley of Dutchess and +Washington Hunt of Niagara."—New York <i>Herald</i>, September 16, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_253_253" id="vol3Footnote_253_253"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_253_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> Official Records, Vol. 43, Part 1, p. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_254_254" id="vol3Footnote_254_254"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_254_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, September 9, 1864; Appleton's +<i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1864, p. 134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_255_255" id="vol3Footnote_255_255"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_255_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 11, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_256_256" id="vol3Footnote_256_256"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_256_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> Edward Cary, <i>Life of G.W. Curtis</i>, pp. 186-187.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_257_257" id="vol3Footnote_257_257"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_257_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> New York <i>Sun</i>, June 30, 1889.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_258_258" id="vol3Footnote_258_258"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_258_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> <i>Public Record of Horatio Seymour</i>, p. 254.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_259_259" id="vol3Footnote_259_259"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_259_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, September 22, 23, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_260_260" id="vol3Footnote_260_260"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_260_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> "The <i>Journal of Commerce</i> of yesterday indulges in a +general fling against the personal habits of the President and other +members of his family."—New York <i>Herald</i>, October 11, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_261_261" id="vol3Footnote_261_261"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_261_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, November 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_262_262" id="vol3Footnote_262_262"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_262_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> <i>Public Record of Horatio Seymour</i>, p. 257.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_263_263" id="vol3Footnote_263_263"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_263_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1864, pp. 584-8; New York +<i>Herald</i>, November 4 and 5; New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 27, 28, 29, +November 2, 4. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_264_264" id="vol3Footnote_264_264"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_264_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, November 5, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_265_265" id="vol3Footnote_265_265"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_265_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1864, pp. 584-588.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_266_266" id="vol3Footnote_266_266"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_266_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, January 18, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_267_267" id="vol3Footnote_267_267"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_267_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> Apropos of Greeley's desire for office, Waldo M. +Hutchins when in Congress in 1879 told Joseph G. Cannon, now the +distinguished speaker of the House of Representatives, that in +September, 1864, during a call upon Greeley, the latter exhibited a +letter from Lincoln two days old, inviting him to the White House. +Greeley, mindful of his efforts to substitute another candidate for +Lincoln, said he would not reply and should not go, but Hutchins +finally gained consent to represent him. Hutchins reached Washington +very early the next morning, and the President, although clad only in +undershirt and trousers, received him and began enlarging upon the +importance of a re-election, suggesting that in such event Seward +would enjoy being minister to England, and that Greeley would make an +admirable successor to Benjamin Franklin, the first +postmaster-general. Hutchins reported this to Greeley, who immediately +turned the <i>Tribune</i> into a Lincoln organ. In the following April +Greeley recalled Lincoln's statement to Hutchins, who at once left for +the capital. He reached Washington the morning after the President's +assassination.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_268_268" id="vol3Footnote_268_268"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_268_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> Except certain specified classes, the most important of +which were civil or diplomatic officers of the Confederacy, military +officers above the rank of colonel, governors of States, former +members of Congress who had left their seats to aid the rebellion, and +all who owned property to exceed $20,000 in value. But these excepted +persons might make special application to the President for pardon and +to them clemency would be "liberally extended."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_269_269" id="vol3Footnote_269_269"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_269_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, June 14, 15, 20, 26, 28, July 8, +10, 31, August 26, September 20, October 7, 19, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_270_270" id="vol3Footnote_270_270"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_270_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, September 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_271_271" id="vol3Footnote_271_271"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_271_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 9, 1864. +</p><p> +"The ticket nominated was as follows: Secretary of State, Henry W. +Slocum, Onondaga; Comptroller, Lucius Robinson, Chemung; +Attorney-General, John Van Buren, New York; Treasurer, Marsena R. +Patrick, Ontario; State Engineer, Sylvanus H. Sweet, Oneida; Canal +Commissioner, Cornelius W. Armstrong, Albany; Prison Inspector, Andrew +J. McNutt, Allegany; Judges of Appeals, John W. Brown, Orange; Martin +Grover, Allegany; Clerk of Appeals, Edward O. Perkins, Kings."—New +York <i>Herald</i>, September 9, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_272_272" id="vol3Footnote_272_272"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_272_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> The ticket nominated was as follows: Secretary of +State, Francis G. Barlow of New York; Comptroller, Thomas Hillhouse of +Ontario; Attorney-General, John H. Martindale of Monroe; Treasurer, +Joseph Howland of Dutchess; State Engineer, J. Platt Goodsell of +Oneida; Canal Commissioner, Robert C. Dorn of Schenectady; Inspector +of Prisons, Henry W. Barnum of Onondaga; Judges of Court of Appeals, +Ward Hunt of Oneida; John K. Porter of Albany; Clerk of Appeals, Henry +Jones of Cattaraugus.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_273_273" id="vol3Footnote_273_273"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_273_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> Edward L. Pierce, <i>Life of Sumner</i>, Vol. 4, pp. 230, +250.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_274_274" id="vol3Footnote_274_274"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_274_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> <i>Autobiography of Thurlow Weed</i>, p. 475.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_275_275" id="vol3Footnote_275_275"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_275_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> <i>Sumner's Works</i>, Vol. 9, p. 480.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_276_276" id="vol3Footnote_276_276"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_276_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> Edward L. Pierce, <i>Life of Sumner</i>, Vol. 4, p. 480.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_277_277" id="vol3Footnote_277_277"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_277_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 21, 1865.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_278_278" id="vol3Footnote_278_278"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_278_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, September 21, 1865.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_279_279" id="vol3Footnote_279_279"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_279_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 21, 1865.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_280_280" id="vol3Footnote_280_280"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_280_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, October 17, 1865.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_281_281" id="vol3Footnote_281_281"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_281_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, November 2, 1865.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_282_282" id="vol3Footnote_282_282"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_282_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> From letter of Chauncey M. Depew.—Albany <i>Evening +Journal</i>, October 23, 1864.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_283_283" id="vol3Footnote_283_283"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_283_283"><span class="label">[283]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 3, 1865.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_284_284" id="vol3Footnote_284_284"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_284_284"><span class="label">[284]</span></a> For more than a year Van Buren's health had been +impaired, and in the spring of 1866 he went to Europe. But a change of +climate brought no relief, and he died, on the return voyage, at the +age of fifty-six. That the people deeply mourned his loss is the +evidence of those, still living, to whom there was something dashing +and captivating even in his errors.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_285_285" id="vol3Footnote_285_285"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_285_285"><span class="label">[285]</span></a> Senate Ex. Doc. No. 2, 39th Cong., 1st Session.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_286_286" id="vol3Footnote_286_286"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_286_286"><span class="label">[286]</span></a> McPherson, <i>History of Reconstruction</i>, pp. 67-68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_287_287" id="vol3Footnote_287_287"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_287_287"><span class="label">[287]</span></a> <i>Congressional Globe</i>, Vol. 37, Part 1, pp. 73-74.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_288_288" id="vol3Footnote_288_288"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_288_288"><span class="label">[288]</span></a> New York and the New England States except Connecticut, +although New York required a property qualification, but none for the +white.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_289_289" id="vol3Footnote_289_289"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_289_289"><span class="label">[289]</span></a> <i>Congressional Globe</i>, Vol. 37, Part 1, pp. 120-123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_290_290" id="vol3Footnote_290_290"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_290_290"><span class="label">[290]</span></a> <i>Congressional Globe</i>, Vol. 37, Part 2, pp. 1307-1308.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_291_291" id="vol3Footnote_291_291"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_291_291"><span class="label">[291]</span></a> <i>Congressional Globe</i>, p. 474.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_292_292" id="vol3Footnote_292_292"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_292_292"><span class="label">[292]</span></a> <i>Congressional Globe</i>, Appendix, p. 124.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_293_293" id="vol3Footnote_293_293"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_293_293"><span class="label">[293]</span></a> T.W. Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 1, p. 630.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_294_294" id="vol3Footnote_294_294"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_294_294"><span class="label">[294]</span></a> Augustus Maverick, <i>Life of Henry J. Raymond</i>, p. 225. +</p><p> +Apropos of Raymond's fickleness Stevens remarked, when the former +appealed to his friends on the floor to furnish him a pair, that he +saw no reason for it, since he had observed that the gentleman from +New York found no difficulty in pairing with himself.—William M. +Stewart, <i>Reminiscences</i>, pp. 205-206. +</p><p> +At another time when an excited member declared that Stevens commands +us to "go it blind," Hale of New York, with an innocent expression, +asked the meaning of the phrase. Instantly Stevens retorted: "It means +following Raymond." The hit was doubly happy since Hale had followed +Raymond in his support of Johnson.—Boutwell, <i>Reminiscences</i>, Vol. 2, +p. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_295_295" id="vol3Footnote_295_295"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_295_295"><span class="label">[295]</span></a> Edward McPherson, <i>History of the Reconstruction</i>, p. +81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_296_296" id="vol3Footnote_296_296"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_296_296"><span class="label">[296]</span></a> The above statement is based upon the diary of Raymond, +published by his son.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_297_297" id="vol3Footnote_297_297"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_297_297"><span class="label">[297]</span></a> Letter of July 17.—Augustus Maverick, <i>Life of +Raymond</i>, pp. 173-174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_298_298" id="vol3Footnote_298_298"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_298_298"><span class="label">[298]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, August 22, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_299_299" id="vol3Footnote_299_299"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_299_299"><span class="label">[299]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, September 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_300_300" id="vol3Footnote_300_300"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_300_300"><span class="label">[300]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, September 4 and 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_301_301" id="vol3Footnote_301_301"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_301_301"><span class="label">[301]</span></a> Augustus Maverick, <i>Life of Raymond</i>, p. 174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_302_302" id="vol3Footnote_302_302"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_302_302"><span class="label">[302]</span></a> McPherson's <i>Reconstruction</i>, p. 45.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_303_303" id="vol3Footnote_303_303"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_303_303"><span class="label">[303]</span></a> Blaine's <i>Twenty Tears of Congress</i>, Vol. 2, p. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_304_304" id="vol3Footnote_304_304"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_304_304"><span class="label">[304]</span></a> Edward L. Pierce, <i>Life of Sumner</i>, Vol. 4, p. 376; +Sumner's <i>Works</i>, Vol. 11, p. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_305_305" id="vol3Footnote_305_305"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_305_305"><span class="label">[305]</span></a> James G. Blaine, <i>Twenty Years of Congress</i>, Vol. 2, p. +63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_306_306" id="vol3Footnote_306_306"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_306_306"><span class="label">[306]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 4, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_307_307" id="vol3Footnote_307_307"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_307_307"><span class="label">[307]</span></a> Thornton K. Lothrop, <i>Life of Seward</i>, p. 424.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_308_308" id="vol3Footnote_308_308"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_308_308"><span class="label">[308]</span></a> James G. Blaine, <i>Twenty Years of Congress</i>, Vol. 2, p. +115.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_309_309" id="vol3Footnote_309_309"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_309_309"><span class="label">[309]</span></a> This speech does not appear in his <i>Works</i>, but was +published at the time of its delivery in pamphlet form.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_310_310" id="vol3Footnote_310_310"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_310_310"><span class="label">[310]</span></a> New York <i>Independent</i>, May 31, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_311_311" id="vol3Footnote_311_311"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_311_311"><span class="label">[311]</span></a> James Russell Lowell, <i>Political Essays</i>, p. 296.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_312_312" id="vol3Footnote_312_312"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_312_312"><span class="label">[312]</span></a> F.W. Seward, <i>Life of W.H. Seward</i>, Vol. 3, p. 339.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_313_313" id="vol3Footnote_313_313"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_313_313"><span class="label">[313]</span></a> Sherman's Letters, p. 278.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_314_314" id="vol3Footnote_314_314"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_314_314"><span class="label">[314]</span></a> New York <i>Nation</i>, Vol. 3, p. 234.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_315_315" id="vol3Footnote_315_315"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_315_315"><span class="label">[315]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 6, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_316_316" id="vol3Footnote_316_316"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_316_316"><span class="label">[316]</span></a> "There stood Fenton, marking the lowest point in the +choice of a State executive ever reached in our Commonwealth by the +Republican party."—<i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 1, p. 131.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_317_317" id="vol3Footnote_317_317"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_317_317"><span class="label">[317]</span></a> "The Republican ticket was as follows: Governor, Reuben +E. Fenton, Chautauqua; Lieutenant-Governor, Stewart L. Woodford, +Kings; Canal Commissioner, Stephen T. Hoyt, Steuben; Prison Inspector, +John Hammond, Essex."—New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 7, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_318_318" id="vol3Footnote_318_318"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_318_318"><span class="label">[318]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i> (editorial), September 7, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_319_319" id="vol3Footnote_319_319"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_319_319"><span class="label">[319]</span></a> New York <i>Evening Post</i>, August 27, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_320_320" id="vol3Footnote_320_320"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_320_320"><span class="label">[320]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, September 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_321_321" id="vol3Footnote_321_321"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_321_321"><span class="label">[321]</span></a> Letter of Thurlow Weed, New York <i>Times</i>, October 9, +1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_322_322" id="vol3Footnote_322_322"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_322_322"><span class="label">[322]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, September 10, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_323_323" id="vol3Footnote_323_323"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_323_323"><span class="label">[323]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, September 13, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_324_324" id="vol3Footnote_324_324"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_324_324"><span class="label">[324]</span></a> James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. +6, p. 401, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_325_325" id="vol3Footnote_325_325"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_325_325"><span class="label">[325]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, October 5, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_326_326" id="vol3Footnote_326_326"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_326_326"><span class="label">[326]</span></a> The ticket was as follows: Governor, John T. Hoffman, +New York; Lieutenant-Governor, Robert H. Pruyn, Albany; Canal +Commissioner, William W. Wright; Prison Inspector, Frank B. Gallagher, +Erie.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_327_327" id="vol3Footnote_327_327"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_327_327"><span class="label">[327]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, October 9, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_328_328" id="vol3Footnote_328_328"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_328_328"><span class="label">[328]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, September 13, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_329_329" id="vol3Footnote_329_329"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_329_329"><span class="label">[329]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, September 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_330_330" id="vol3Footnote_330_330"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_330_330"><span class="label">[330]</span></a> Buffalo <i>Commercial Advertiser</i>, September 14, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_331_331" id="vol3Footnote_331_331"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_331_331"><span class="label">[331]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, September 27, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_332_332" id="vol3Footnote_332_332"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_332_332"><span class="label">[332]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, October 2, 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_333_333" id="vol3Footnote_333_333"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_333_333"><span class="label">[333]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, September 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_334_334" id="vol3Footnote_334_334"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_334_334"><span class="label">[334]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, October 9, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_335_335" id="vol3Footnote_335_335"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_335_335"><span class="label">[335]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_336_336" id="vol3Footnote_336_336"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_336_336"><span class="label">[336]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, September 6, p. 191; September 27, p. +241.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_337_337" id="vol3Footnote_337_337"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_337_337"><span class="label">[337]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 1, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_338_338" id="vol3Footnote_338_338"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_338_338"><span class="label">[338]</span></a> New York <i>Evening Post</i>, September 11, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_339_339" id="vol3Footnote_339_339"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_339_339"><span class="label">[339]</span></a> Extract from private letter, September 6, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_340_340" id="vol3Footnote_340_340"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_340_340"><span class="label">[340]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 16, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_341_341" id="vol3Footnote_341_341"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_341_341"><span class="label">[341]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, September 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_342_342" id="vol3Footnote_342_342"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_342_342"><span class="label">[342]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, September 13, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_343_343" id="vol3Footnote_343_343"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_343_343"><span class="label">[343]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, September 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_344_344" id="vol3Footnote_344_344"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_344_344"><span class="label">[344]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 1, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_345_345" id="vol3Footnote_345_345"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_345_345"><span class="label">[345]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, Oct. 5, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_346_346" id="vol3Footnote_346_346"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_346_346"><span class="label">[346]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Oct. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_347_347" id="vol3Footnote_347_347"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_347_347"><span class="label">[347]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_348_348" id="vol3Footnote_348_348"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_348_348"><span class="label">[348]</span></a> Gustavus Myers, <i>History of Tammany Hall</i>, p. 250.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_349_349" id="vol3Footnote_349_349"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_349_349"><span class="label">[349]</span></a> Fenton, 366,315; Hoffman, 352,526.—<i>Civil List, State +of New York</i>, 1887, p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_350_350" id="vol3Footnote_350_350"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_350_350"><span class="label">[350]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, January 18, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_351_351" id="vol3Footnote_351_351"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_351_351"><span class="label">[351]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, November 9, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_352_352" id="vol3Footnote_352_352"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_352_352"><span class="label">[352]</span></a> Andrew D. White, <i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 1, p. 134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_353_353" id="vol3Footnote_353_353"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_353_353"><span class="label">[353]</span></a> "As to the gentleman's cruel sarcasm," said Blaine, "I +hope he will not be too severe. The contempt of that large-minded +gentleman is so wilting, his haughty disdain, his grandiloquent swell, +his majestic, supereminent, overpowering, turkey-gobbler strut has +been so crushing to myself and all the members of this House, that I +know it was an act of the greatest temerity for me to venture upon a +controversy with him." Referring to a comparison which had been made +of Conkling to Henry Winter Davis, Blaine continued: "The gentleman +took it seriously, and it has given his strut additional pomposity. +The resemblance is great; it is striking. Hyperion to a Satyr, +Thersites to Hercules, mud to marble, dunghill to diamond, a singed +cat to a Bengal tiger, a whining puppy to a roaring +lion."—<i>Congressional Globe</i>, April 20, 1866, Vol. 37, Part 3, p. +2298. +</p><p> +"I do not think Conkling was the equal in debate with Blaine."—George +F. Hoar, <i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 2, p. 55. "Conkling was the more +dignified and commanding, but Blaine more aggravating and personal. +When Blaine likened Conkling to a strutting turkey-gobbler, the House +slightly hissed. But on the whole that debate was regarded as a +draw."—William M. Stewart, <i>Reminiscences</i>, p. 206.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_354_354" id="vol3Footnote_354_354"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_354_354"><span class="label">[354]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, January 3, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_355_355" id="vol3Footnote_355_355"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_355_355"><span class="label">[355]</span></a> A.R. Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, pp. 286-7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_356_356" id="vol3Footnote_356_356"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_356_356"><span class="label">[356]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 9, 1866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_357_357" id="vol3Footnote_357_357"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_357_357"><span class="label">[357]</span></a> Edward Cary, <i>Life of Curtis</i>, p. 193.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_358_358" id="vol3Footnote_358_358"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_358_358"><span class="label">[358]</span></a> Conkling and Roberts quarrelled in the early +seventies—the former, perhaps, unwilling to have two great men in +Oneida County—and Roberts was defeated for Congress in 1874. After +that the Utica <i>Herald</i> became Conkling's bitterest enemy. See +interviews, New York <i>Herald</i>, November 9, 1877, and New York +<i>Tribune</i>, November 10, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_359_359" id="vol3Footnote_359_359"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_359_359"><span class="label">[359]</span></a> A.R. Conkling, <i>Life of Roscoe Conkling</i>, pp. 286-287.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_360_360" id="vol3Footnote_360_360"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_360_360"><span class="label">[360]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, January 4, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_361_361" id="vol3Footnote_361_361"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_361_361"><span class="label">[361]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, January 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_362_362" id="vol3Footnote_362_362"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_362_362"><span class="label">[362]</span></a> The vote by ballots stood as follows: +</p> + +<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="ballots"> +<tbody> +<tr><td> </td><td class="center">First</td><td class="center">Second</td><td class="center">Third</td><td class="center">Fourth</td><td class="center">Fifth</td></tr> +<tr><td>Conkling</td><td class="right">33</td><td class="right">39</td><td class="right">45</td><td class="right">53</td><td class="right">59</td></tr> +<tr><td>Davis</td><td class="right">30</td><td class="right">41</td><td class="right">44</td><td class="right">50</td><td class="right">49</td></tr> +<tr><td>Harris</td><td class="right">32</td><td class="right">24</td><td class="right">18</td><td class="right">6</td><td class="right">—</td></tr> +<tr><td>Balcom</td><td class="right">7</td><td class="right">4</td><td class="right">2</td><td class="right">—</td><td class="right">—</td></tr> +<tr><td>Greeley</td><td class="right">6</td><td class="right">—</td><td class="right">—</td><td class="right">—</td><td class="right">—</td></tr> +<tr><td>Folger</td><td class="right">1</td><td class="right">1</td><td class="right">—</td><td class="right">—</td><td class="right">1</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p> +The Democratic caucus, held the same evening, nominated Henry C. +Murphy of Brooklyn, who received 25 votes to 21 for A. Oakey Hall of +New York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_363_363" id="vol3Footnote_363_363"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_363_363"><span class="label">[363]</span></a> Washington <i>Chronicle</i>, March 28, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_364_364" id="vol3Footnote_364_364"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_364_364"><span class="label">[364]</span></a> The following were nominated: Secretary of State, James +B. McKean, Saratoga; Comptroller, Calvin T. Hulburd, St. Lawrence; +Treasurer, Theodore B. Gates, Ulster; Attorney-General, Joshua M. Van +Cott, Kings; State Engineer, Archibald C. Powell, Onondaga; Canal +Commissioner, John M. Hammond, Allegany; Prison Inspector, Gilbert De +Lamatyr, Wyoming; Court of Appeals, Charles Mason, Madison. Of those +selected, McKean and Hulburd had served two terms each in Congress.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_365_365" id="vol3Footnote_365_365"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_365_365"><span class="label">[365]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, October 4, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_366_366" id="vol3Footnote_366_366"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_366_366"><span class="label">[366]</span></a> Buffalo <i>Commercial Advertiser</i>, September 25, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_367_367" id="vol3Footnote_367_367"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_367_367"><span class="label">[367]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, September 27, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_368_368" id="vol3Footnote_368_368"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_368_368"><span class="label">[368]</span></a> James G. Blaine, <i>Twenty Years of Congress</i>, Vol. 2, p. +140.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_369_369" id="vol3Footnote_369_369"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_369_369"><span class="label">[369]</span></a> Gustavus Myers, <i>History of Tammany Hall</i>, p. 250.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_370_370" id="vol3Footnote_370_370"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_370_370"><span class="label">[370]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, March 5, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_371_371" id="vol3Footnote_371_371"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_371_371"><span class="label">[371]</span></a> Tweed's testimony, Document No. 8, p. 105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_372_372" id="vol3Footnote_372_372"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_372_372"><span class="label">[372]</span></a> Gustavus Myers, <i>History of Tammany Hall</i>, p. 257.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_373_373" id="vol3Footnote_373_373"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_373_373"><span class="label">[373]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, October 4, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_374_374" id="vol3Footnote_374_374"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_374_374"><span class="label">[374]</span></a> The following persons were nominated: Secretary of +State, Homer A. Nelson, Dutchess; Comptroller, William F. Allen, +Oswego; Treasurer, Wheeler H. Bristol, Tioga; Attorney-General, +Marshal B. Champlain, Allegany; State Engineer, Van R. Richmond, +Wayne; Canal Commissioner, John F. Fay, Monroe; Prison Inspector, +Nicholas B. Scheu, Erie; Court of Appeals, Martin Grover, Allegany.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_375_375" id="vol3Footnote_375_375"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_375_375"><span class="label">[375]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, October 4, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_376_376" id="vol3Footnote_376_376"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_376_376"><span class="label">[376]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, October 4, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_377_377" id="vol3Footnote_377_377"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_377_377"><span class="label">[377]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, September 27, 1867. +</p><p> +The story of these frauds is found in two volumes of testimony +submitted by the Canal Investigation Committee to the Constitutional +Convention of 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_378_378" id="vol3Footnote_378_378"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_378_378"><span class="label">[378]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, September 27, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_379_379" id="vol3Footnote_379_379"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_379_379"><span class="label">[379]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, October 16, 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_380_380" id="vol3Footnote_380_380"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_380_380"><span class="label">[380]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, October 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_381_381" id="vol3Footnote_381_381"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_381_381"><span class="label">[381]</span></a> <i>New York World</i>, October 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_382_382" id="vol3Footnote_382_382"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_382_382"><span class="label">[382]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, October 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_383_383" id="vol3Footnote_383_383"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_383_383"><span class="label">[383]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 26, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_384_384" id="vol3Footnote_384_384"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_384_384"><span class="label">[384]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, September 27, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_385_385" id="vol3Footnote_385_385"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_385_385"><span class="label">[385]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, October 25, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_386_386" id="vol3Footnote_386_386"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_386_386"><span class="label">[386]</span></a> Gustavus Myers, <i>History of Tammany Hall</i>, p. 250.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_387_387" id="vol3Footnote_387_387"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_387_387"><span class="label">[387]</span></a> Buffalo <i>Commercial Advertiser</i>, November 6, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_388_388" id="vol3Footnote_388_388"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_388_388"><span class="label">[388]</span></a> Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, November 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_389_389" id="vol3Footnote_389_389"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_389_389"><span class="label">[389]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_390_390" id="vol3Footnote_390_390"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_390_390"><span class="label">[390]</span></a> Sherman's Letters, p. 299.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_391_391" id="vol3Footnote_391_391"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_391_391"><span class="label">[391]</span></a> <i>Impeachment Trial</i>, Vol. 1, p. 223.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_392_392" id="vol3Footnote_392_392"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_392_392"><span class="label">[392]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, July 25, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_393_393" id="vol3Footnote_393_393"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_393_393"><span class="label">[393]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 15, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_394_394" id="vol3Footnote_394_394"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_394_394"><span class="label">[394]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 7, 1867.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_395_395" id="vol3Footnote_395_395"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_395_395"><span class="label">[395]</span></a> T.W. Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. 458.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_396_396" id="vol3Footnote_396_396"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_396_396"><span class="label">[396]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, February 4, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_397_397" id="vol3Footnote_397_397"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_397_397"><span class="label">[397]</span></a> T.W. Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. 459.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_398_398" id="vol3Footnote_398_398"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_398_398"><span class="label">[398]</span></a> <i>Official Proceedings of the Convention</i>, p. 96.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_399_399" id="vol3Footnote_399_399"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_399_399"><span class="label">[399]</span></a></p> + +<p class="center">BALLOTS</p> + +<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="ballots"> +<tbody> +<tr><td> </td><td class="center">1</td><td class="center">2</td><td class="center">3</td><td class="center">4</td><td class="center">5</td><td class="center">6</td></tr> +<tr><td>Wade</td><td class="right">147</td><td class="right">170</td><td class="right">178</td><td class="right">206</td><td class="right">207</td><td class="right">38</td></tr> +<tr><td>Colfax</td><td class="right">115</td><td class="right">145</td><td class="right">165</td><td class="right">186</td><td class="right">226</td><td class="right">541</td></tr> +<tr><td>Fenton</td><td class="right">126</td><td class="right">144</td><td class="right">139</td><td class="right">144</td><td class="right">139</td><td class="right">69</td></tr> +<tr><td>Wilson</td><td class="right">119</td><td class="right">114</td><td class="right">101</td><td class="right">87</td><td class="right">56</td><td class="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Hamlin</td><td class="right">28</td><td class="right">30</td><td class="right">25</td><td class="right">25</td><td class="right">20</td><td class="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Curtin</td><td class="right">51</td><td class="right">45</td><td class="right">40</td><td class="right"> </td><td class="right"> </td><td class="right"> </td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p>Outside of New York Fenton's vote was as follows:</p> + +<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Fenton's vote"> +<tbody> +<tr><td>Northern States</td><td class="right">23</td><td class="right">33</td><td class="right">32</td><td class="right">32</td><td class="right">31</td><td class="right">2</td></tr> +<tr><td>Southern States</td><td class="right">44</td><td class="right">45</td><td class="right">42</td><td class="right">48</td><td class="right">61</td><td class="right">1</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_400_400" id="vol3Footnote_400_400"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_400_400"><span class="label">[400]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 9, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_401_401" id="vol3Footnote_401_401"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_401_401"><span class="label">[401]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 9, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_402_402" id="vol3Footnote_402_402"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_402_402"><span class="label">[402]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_403_403" id="vol3Footnote_403_403"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_403_403"><span class="label">[403]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_404_404" id="vol3Footnote_404_404"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_404_404"><span class="label">[404]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, July 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_405_405" id="vol3Footnote_405_405"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_405_405"><span class="label">[405]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, July 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_406_406" id="vol3Footnote_406_406"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_406_406"><span class="label">[406]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, July 9, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_407_407" id="vol3Footnote_407_407"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_407_407"><span class="label">[407]</span></a> Conversation with the author. +</p><p> +The ticket nominated was as follows: Governor, John A. Griswold, +Rensselaer; Lieutenant-Governor, Alonzo B. Cornell, Wyoming; Canal +Commissioner, Alexander Barkley, Washington; Prison Inspector, Henry +A. Barnum, Onondaga.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_408_408" id="vol3Footnote_408_408"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_408_408"><span class="label">[408]</span></a> <i>The Nation</i>, November 11, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_409_409" id="vol3Footnote_409_409"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_409_409"><span class="label">[409]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 9, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_410_410" id="vol3Footnote_410_410"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_410_410"><span class="label">[410]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, March 5, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_411_411" id="vol3Footnote_411_411"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_411_411"><span class="label">[411]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, September 4, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_412_412" id="vol3Footnote_412_412"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_412_412"><span class="label">[412]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, July 10, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_413_413" id="vol3Footnote_413_413"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_413_413"><span class="label">[413]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, July 10, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_414_414" id="vol3Footnote_414_414"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_414_414"><span class="label">[414]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, Sept. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_415_415" id="vol3Footnote_415_415"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_415_415"><span class="label">[415]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, July 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_416_416" id="vol3Footnote_416_416"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_416_416"><span class="label">[416]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, Sept. 4, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_417_417" id="vol3Footnote_417_417"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_417_417"><span class="label">[417]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, July 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_418_418" id="vol3Footnote_418_418"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_418_418"><span class="label">[418]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, July 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_419_419" id="vol3Footnote_419_419"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_419_419"><span class="label">[419]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_420_420" id="vol3Footnote_420_420"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_420_420"><span class="label">[420]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, July 10, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_421_421" id="vol3Footnote_421_421"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_421_421"><span class="label">[421]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_422_422" id="vol3Footnote_422_422"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_422_422"><span class="label">[422]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, September 4, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_423_423" id="vol3Footnote_423_423"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_423_423"><span class="label">[423]</span></a> John Bigelow, <i>Life of Samuel J. Tilden</i>, Vol. 1, p. +211.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_424_424" id="vol3Footnote_424_424"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_424_424"><span class="label">[424]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, July 10, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_425_425" id="vol3Footnote_425_425"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_425_425"><span class="label">[425]</span></a> John Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 1, p. 212.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_426_426" id="vol3Footnote_426_426"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_426_426"><span class="label">[426]</span></a> <i>Public Record of Horatio Seymour</i>, p. 343.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_427_427" id="vol3Footnote_427_427"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_427_427"><span class="label">[427]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, August 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_428_428" id="vol3Footnote_428_428"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_428_428"><span class="label">[428]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 5, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_429_429" id="vol3Footnote_429_429"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_429_429"><span class="label">[429]</span></a> "Then we have John T. Hoffman, who is kept by Tammany +Hall as a kind of respectable attaché. His humble work is to wear good +clothes and be always gloved, to be decorous and polite; to be as much +a model of deportment as Mr. Turvydrop; to repeat as often as need be, +in a loud voice, sentences about 'honesty' and 'public welfare,' but +to appoint to rich places such men as Mr. Sweeny. Hoffman is kept for +the edification of the country Democrats, but all he has or ever can +have comes from Tammany Hall."—<i>Ibid.</i>, March 5, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_430_430" id="vol3Footnote_430_430"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_430_430"><span class="label">[430]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, <i>World</i>, and <i>Tribune</i>, September 3, +1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_431_431" id="vol3Footnote_431_431"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_431_431"><span class="label">[431]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, July 10, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_432_432" id="vol3Footnote_432_432"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_432_432"><span class="label">[432]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, March 5. +</p><p> +The ticket nominated was as follows: Governor, John T. Hoffman, New +York; Lieutenant-Governor, Allen C. Beach, Jefferson; Canal +Commissioner, Oliver Bascom, Washington; Inspector of Prisons, David +B. McNeil, Cayuga; Clerk of Court of Appeals, Edward O. Perrin, +Queens.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_433_433" id="vol3Footnote_433_433"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_433_433"><span class="label">[433]</span></a> Report of the Secretary of War, 1868, p. 81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_434_434" id="vol3Footnote_434_434"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_434_434"><span class="label">[434]</span></a> Albert B. Paine, <i>Life of Thomas Nast</i>, p. 130.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_435_435" id="vol3Footnote_435_435"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_435_435"><span class="label">[435]</span></a> McPherson, <i>History of Reconstruction</i>, p. 381.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_436_436" id="vol3Footnote_436_436"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_436_436"><span class="label">[436]</span></a> Horatio Seymour, <i>Public Record</i>, p. 345.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_437_437" id="vol3Footnote_437_437"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_437_437"><span class="label">[437]</span></a> A.R. Conkling, <i>Life of Roscoe Conkling</i>, p. 313.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_438_438" id="vol3Footnote_438_438"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_438_438"><span class="label">[438]</span></a> <i>Seward's Works</i>, Vol. 5, pp. 550-556.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_439_439" id="vol3Footnote_439_439"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_439_439"><span class="label">[439]</span></a> <i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 1, p. 151.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_440_440" id="vol3Footnote_440_440"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_440_440"><span class="label">[440]</span></a> John Bigelow, <i>Life of Samuel J. Tilden</i>, Vol. 1, p. +217.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_441_441" id="vol3Footnote_441_441"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_441_441"><span class="label">[441]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 14, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_442_442" id="vol3Footnote_442_442"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_442_442"><span class="label">[442]</span></a> New York <i>Evening Post</i>, November 4, 1868; <i>Harper's +Weekly</i>, September 30, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_443_443" id="vol3Footnote_443_443"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_443_443"><span class="label">[443]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, November 2, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_444_444" id="vol3Footnote_444_444"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_444_444"><span class="label">[444]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 6, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_445_445" id="vol3Footnote_445_445"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_445_445"><span class="label">[445]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, November 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_446_446" id="vol3Footnote_446_446"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_446_446"><span class="label">[446]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, November 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_447_447" id="vol3Footnote_447_447"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_447_447"><span class="label">[447]</span></a> From speech of Conkling delivered in the U.S. Senate, +April 24, 1879.—Thomas V. Cooper, <i>American Politics</i>, Book 3, p. +180.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_448_448" id="vol3Footnote_448_448"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_448_448"><span class="label">[448]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, October 29, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_449_449" id="vol3Footnote_449_449"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_449_449"><span class="label">[449]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, October 29, 1868.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_450_450" id="vol3Footnote_450_450"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_450_450"><span class="label">[450]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, March 4, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_451_451" id="vol3Footnote_451_451"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_451_451"><span class="label">[451]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, January 13 and 18, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_452_452" id="vol3Footnote_452_452"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_452_452"><span class="label">[452]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, January 12, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_453_453" id="vol3Footnote_453_453"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_453_453"><span class="label">[453]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, January 6, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_454_454" id="vol3Footnote_454_454"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_454_454"><span class="label">[454]</span></a> New York <i>Commercial Advertiser</i>, January 2, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_455_455" id="vol3Footnote_455_455"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_455_455"><span class="label">[455]</span></a> New York <i>Sun</i>, January 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_456_456" id="vol3Footnote_456_456"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_456_456"><span class="label">[456]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, January 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_457_457" id="vol3Footnote_457_457"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_457_457"><span class="label">[457]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, January 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_458_458" id="vol3Footnote_458_458"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_458_458"><span class="label">[458]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, March 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_459_459" id="vol3Footnote_459_459"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_459_459"><span class="label">[459]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, January 9, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_460_460" id="vol3Footnote_460_460"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_460_460"><span class="label">[460]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, January 13, 1881.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_461_461" id="vol3Footnote_461_461"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_461_461"><span class="label">[461]</span></a> T.W. Barnes, <i>Life of Thurlow Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. 462.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_462_462" id="vol3Footnote_462_462"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_462_462"><span class="label">[462]</span></a> New York <i>Nation</i>, September 30, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_463_463" id="vol3Footnote_463_463"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_463_463"><span class="label">[463]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, January 12, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_464_464" id="vol3Footnote_464_464"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_464_464"><span class="label">[464]</span></a> Gustavus Myers, <i>History of Tammany Hall</i>, p. 274.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_465_465" id="vol3Footnote_465_465"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_465_465"><span class="label">[465]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 24, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_466_466" id="vol3Footnote_466_466"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_466_466"><span class="label">[466]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 24, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_467_467" id="vol3Footnote_467_467"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_467_467"><span class="label">[467]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, July 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_468_468" id="vol3Footnote_468_468"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_468_468"><span class="label">[468]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, July 24, and 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_469_469" id="vol3Footnote_469_469"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_469_469"><span class="label">[469]</span></a> The Republican State convention, held at Syracuse on +September 30, 1869, nominated the following ticket: Secretary of +state, George William Curtis, Richmond; Comptroller Thomas Hillhouse, +Ontario; Treasurer, Thomas S. Chatfield, Tioga; Attorney-General, +Martin I. Townsend, Rensselaer; Engineer and Surveyor, John C. +Robinson, Broome; Canal Commissioner, Stephen F. Hoyt, Steuben; Prison +Inspector, Daniel D. Conover, New York; Court of Appeals, Lewis B. +Woodruff, New York; Charles Mason, Madison. +</p><p> +Franz Sigel, Horace Greeley, and William B. Taylor of Oneida were +subsequently substituted for Curtis, Hillhouse, and Robinson.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_470_470" id="vol3Footnote_470_470"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_470_470"><span class="label">[470]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 11, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_471_471" id="vol3Footnote_471_471"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_471_471"><span class="label">[471]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1869, p. 486.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_472_472" id="vol3Footnote_472_472"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_472_472"><span class="label">[472]</span></a> The Democratic ticket was as follows: Secretary of +state, Homer A. Nelson, Dutchess; Comptroller, William F. Allen, +Oswego; Treasurer, Wheeler H. Bristol, Tioga; Attorney-General, +Marshall B. Champlain, Allegany; State Engineer, Van Rensselaer +Richmond, Wayne; Canal Commissioner, William W. Wright; Prison +Inspector, Fordyce Laflin, Ulster; Court of Appeals, John A. Lott, +Kings; Robert Earl, Herkimer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_473_473" id="vol3Footnote_473_473"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_473_473"><span class="label">[473]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 11, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_474_474" id="vol3Footnote_474_474"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_474_474"><span class="label">[474]</span></a> Nelson for secretary of state over Sigel, 22,524; Allen +for comptroller over Greeley, 26,533; Greeley over Sigel in New York +City, 1,774; Sigel over Greeley in the State, 4,938; against the +constitution, 19,759; majority for the judiciary article, 6,006.—New +York <i>Tribune</i>, November 23, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_475_475" id="vol3Footnote_475_475"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_475_475"><span class="label">[475]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, March 25, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_476_476" id="vol3Footnote_476_476"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_476_476"><span class="label">[476]</span></a> The Tweed Case, 1876, Vol. 2, p. 1212.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_477_477" id="vol3Footnote_477_477"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_477_477"><span class="label">[477]</span></a> Document No. 8, pp. 84-92; Gustavus Myers, <i>History of +Tammany Hall</i>, p. 272; James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United +States</i>, Vol. 6, p. 395; New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 17, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_478_478" id="vol3Footnote_478_478"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_478_478"><span class="label">[478]</span></a> Albert B. Paine, <i>Life of Thomas Nast</i>, p. 143.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_479_479" id="vol3Footnote_479_479"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_479_479"><span class="label">[479]</span></a> John Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 2, p. 185.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_480_480" id="vol3Footnote_480_480"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_480_480"><span class="label">[480]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, May 27, 1869.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_481_481" id="vol3Footnote_481_481"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_481_481"><span class="label">[481]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, September 29, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_482_482" id="vol3Footnote_482_482"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_482_482"><span class="label">[482]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_483_483" id="vol3Footnote_483_483"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_483_483"><span class="label">[483]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, October 6. +</p><p> +The following officials were nominated by acclamation: Governor, John +T. Hoffman; Lieutenant-Governor, Allen C. Beach; Comptroller, Asher P. +Nichols; Canal Commissioners, John D. Fay and George W. Chapman; +Prison Inspector, Solomon E. Scheu.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_484_484" id="vol3Footnote_484_484"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_484_484"><span class="label">[484]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, September 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_485_485" id="vol3Footnote_485_485"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_485_485"><span class="label">[485]</span></a> Charles E. Fitch, formerly editor of the Rochester +<i>Democrat-Chronicle</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_486_486" id="vol3Footnote_486_486"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_486_486"><span class="label">[486]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, June 24, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_487_487" id="vol3Footnote_487_487"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_487_487"><span class="label">[487]</span></a> Conkling's speech, New York <i>Times</i>, July 24, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_488_488" id="vol3Footnote_488_488"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_488_488"><span class="label">[488]</span></a> William M. Stewart, <i>Reminiscences</i>, p. 255.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_489_489" id="vol3Footnote_489_489"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_489_489"><span class="label">[489]</span></a> June 17, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_490_490" id="vol3Footnote_490_490"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_490_490"><span class="label">[490]</span></a> September 19, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_491_491" id="vol3Footnote_491_491"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_491_491"><span class="label">[491]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, July 24, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_492_492" id="vol3Footnote_492_492"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_492_492"><span class="label">[492]</span></a> Stewart, <i>Reminiscences</i>, pp. 255-256.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_493_493" id="vol3Footnote_493_493"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_493_493"><span class="label">[493]</span></a> Under the provisions of the new judiciary article of +the Constitution a chief justice and six associate justices of the +Court of Appeals were elected on May 17, 1870, each party being +allowed to put up only four candidates for associate justices. To +complete their ticket the Democrats selected Folger and Andrews, two +of the four Republican candidates. The election resulted in the choice +of the Democratic ticket.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_494_494" id="vol3Footnote_494_494"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_494_494"><span class="label">[494]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, July 12, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_495_495" id="vol3Footnote_495_495"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_495_495"><span class="label">[495]</span></a> Stewart, <i>Reminiscences</i>, pp. 256-7. +</p><p> +"In early life Fenton, having undertaken to carry $12,000 to Albany, +reported the money lost. He was arrested and discharged after much +testimony was taken. Whether accused justly or unjustly (most persons +thought unjustly) it blurred his career. Conkling had a copy of the +proceedings before the criminal court."—<i>Ibid.</i> See also <i>The +Nation</i>, July 14, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_496_496" id="vol3Footnote_496_496"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_496_496"><span class="label">[496]</span></a> A.R. Conkling, <i>Life of Roscoe Conkling</i>, p. 328. New +York <i>World</i>, September 8, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_497_497" id="vol3Footnote_497_497"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_497_497"><span class="label">[497]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, September 15, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_498_498" id="vol3Footnote_498_498"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_498_498"><span class="label">[498]</span></a> "During the vote the delegates commenced a system of +cheering, first for Conkling, then for Fenton. Senator Conkling was +very conspicuous throughout the balloting. His friends gathered around +him, while the other side surrounded Fenton, and whenever either moved +their friends cheered.... Had there been a secret ballot Fenton would +have won in spite of the threats and bribes."—New York <i>World</i>, +September 8, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_499_499" id="vol3Footnote_499_499"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_499_499"><span class="label">[499]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, August 27, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_500_500" id="vol3Footnote_500_500"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_500_500"><span class="label">[500]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, September 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_501_501" id="vol3Footnote_501_501"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_501_501"><span class="label">[501]</span></a> Edward Cary, <i>Life of George William Curtis</i>, p. 230.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_502_502" id="vol3Footnote_502_502"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_502_502"><span class="label">[502]</span></a> Three ballots were cast as follows: +</p> + +<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="ballots"> +<tbody> +<tr><td>Woodford</td><td>153</td><td>170½</td><td>258</td></tr> +<tr><td>Greeley</td><td>143</td><td>139</td><td>105½</td></tr> +<tr><td style="border-bottom: solid black 2px">Curtis</td><td style="border-bottom: solid black 2px">104½</td><td style="border-bottom: solid black 2px">  87½</td><td style="border-bottom: solid black 2px">  20</td></tr> +<tr><td>Total</td><td>390½</td><td>397</td><td>383½</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p> +The following ticket was nominated: Governor, Stewart L. Woodford, +Kings; Lieutenant-Governor, Sigmund Kaufman, Kings; Comptroller, Abiah +W. Palmer, Dutchess; Canal Commissioners, Absalom Nelson, Erie; +Alexander Barkley, Washington; Prison Inspector, John Parkhurst, +Clinton.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_503_503" id="vol3Footnote_503_503"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_503_503"><span class="label">[503]</span></a> September 10 and 14, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_504_504" id="vol3Footnote_504_504"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_504_504"><span class="label">[504]</span></a> From speech of July 23, 1872, New York <i>Times</i>, July +24, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_505_505" id="vol3Footnote_505_505"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_505_505"><span class="label">[505]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 13, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_506_506" id="vol3Footnote_506_506"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_506_506"><span class="label">[506]</span></a> A.R. Conkling, <i>Life of Roscoe Conkling</i>, p. 329.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_507_507" id="vol3Footnote_507_507"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_507_507"><span class="label">[507]</span></a> "Governor Fenton and his friends were lukewarm +throughout the campaign, the Governor absenting himself from the State +much of the time. Late in October he returned from the Western States, +and on the 31st, five days before election, he made a speech." From +Conkling's speech of July 22, 1872. New York <i>Times</i>, July 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_508_508" id="vol3Footnote_508_508"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_508_508"><span class="label">[508]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, November 7, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_509_509" id="vol3Footnote_509_509"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_509_509"><span class="label">[509]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, November 5, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_510_510" id="vol3Footnote_510_510"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_510_510"><span class="label">[510]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, October 29, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_511_511" id="vol3Footnote_511_511"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_511_511"><span class="label">[511]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1870, pp. 543, 544; Frank J. +Goodnow in Bryce's <i>American Commonwealth</i>, Vol. 1, p. 342.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_512_512" id="vol3Footnote_512_512"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_512_512"><span class="label">[512]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, March 29, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_513_513" id="vol3Footnote_513_513"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_513_513"><span class="label">[513]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, June 13, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_514_514" id="vol3Footnote_514_514"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_514_514"><span class="label">[514]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Oct. 28, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_515_515" id="vol3Footnote_515_515"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_515_515"><span class="label">[515]</span></a> Hoffman over Woodford, 33,096. James S. Graham, Labor +Reform candidate, received 1,907 votes, and Myron H. Clark, Temperance +candidate, 1,459 votes. Assembly, 65 Democrats to 63 Republicans; +Senate, 17 Democrats to 14 Republicans. Hall's majority, 23,811. +Hoffman's majority in New York City, 52,037, being 16,000 less than in +1868. Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1870, p. 547.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_516_516" id="vol3Footnote_516_516"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_516_516"><span class="label">[516]</span></a> Myers, <i>History of Tammany</i>, p. 276.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_517_517" id="vol3Footnote_517_517"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_517_517"><span class="label">[517]</span></a> Myers, <i>History of Tammany</i>, p. 276.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_518_518" id="vol3Footnote_518_518"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_518_518"><span class="label">[518]</span></a> Without provocation James Irving of New York assaulted +Smith M. Weed of Clinton.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_519_519" id="vol3Footnote_519_519"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_519_519"><span class="label">[519]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, April 14, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_520_520" id="vol3Footnote_520_520"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_520_520"><span class="label">[520]</span></a> "Winans was unfortunate in his bargain, for after +rendering the service agreed upon Tweed gave him only one-tenth of the +sum promised." Myers' <i>History of Tammany Hall</i>, p. 277. It might be +added that Winans' wife left him, and that the contempt of his +neighbours drove him from home. A rumour that he subsequently +committed suicide remains unverified.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_521_521" id="vol3Footnote_521_521"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_521_521"><span class="label">[521]</span></a> Paine, <i>Life of Nast</i>, p. 153.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_522_522" id="vol3Footnote_522_522"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_522_522"><span class="label">[522]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 182.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_523_523" id="vol3Footnote_523_523"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_523_523"><span class="label">[523]</span></a> Paine, <i>Life of Nast</i>, p. 145.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_524_524" id="vol3Footnote_524_524"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_524_524"><span class="label">[524]</span></a> February 24, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_525_525" id="vol3Footnote_525_525"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_525_525"><span class="label">[525]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, February 22, 1890; Paine, <i>Life of +Nast</i>, p. 170.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_526_526" id="vol3Footnote_526_526"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_526_526"><span class="label">[526]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, July 21, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_527_527" id="vol3Footnote_527_527"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_527_527"><span class="label">[527]</span></a> Subsequently the charred remains of these accounts were +discovered in an ash-heap in the City Hall attic. Myers, <i>History of +Tammany Hall</i>, p. 387.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_528_528" id="vol3Footnote_528_528"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_528_528"><span class="label">[528]</span></a> Hall was indicted and tried, but the jury disagreed. +The second grand jury did not indict.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_529_529" id="vol3Footnote_529_529"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_529_529"><span class="label">[529]</span></a> Sweeny afterwards compromised for $400,000 and returned +to New York. Connolly, who was reported to have taken away $6,000,000, +died abroad.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_530_530" id="vol3Footnote_530_530"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_530_530"><span class="label">[530]</span></a> Myers, <i>History of Tammany Hall</i>, pp. 297-298; New York +<i>Herald</i>, January 13, 1901.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_531_531" id="vol3Footnote_531_531"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_531_531"><span class="label">[531]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 10, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_532_532" id="vol3Footnote_532_532"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_532_532"><span class="label">[532]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, April 4, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_533_533" id="vol3Footnote_533_533"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_533_533"><span class="label">[533]</span></a> "Mr. Murphy's 'weeding out' process is exactly the one +which the devil would use if he were appointed collector of this port, +and that he would perform it on exactly the same principles and with +the same objects and results as Mr. Murphy performs it, we challenge +any one to deny who is familiar with the devil's character and habits +and Mr. Murphy's late doings."—<i>The Nation</i>, January 19, 1871. +</p><p> +"No collector was ever more destitute of fit qualifications for the +office." He made "three hundred and thirty-eight removals every five +days during the eighteen months" he held office. Report of D.B. Eaton, +chairman of the Civil Service Commission, p. 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_534_534" id="vol3Footnote_534_534"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_534_534"><span class="label">[534]</span></a> Stephen Fiske, <i>Off-Hand Portraits</i>, p. 58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_535_535" id="vol3Footnote_535_535"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_535_535"><span class="label">[535]</span></a> "Mr. Conkling had already had much to do with the +appointment of this committee, but it is worthy of note that several +changes in the federal offices were made almost simultaneously with +the vote of the committee for Mr. Murphy's reorganisation, and that +the men who voted for it got the best places. Addison H. Laflin was +made naval officer, Lockwood L. Doty was made pension agent, Richard +Crowley was made United States attorney for the Northern District. It +will be seen that the committee were not disinterested in trying to +please Conkling and Murphy."—New York <i>Evening Post</i>, September 29, +1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_536_536" id="vol3Footnote_536_536"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_536_536"><span class="label">[536]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, March 11, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_537_537" id="vol3Footnote_537_537"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_537_537"><span class="label">[537]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, March 3 and May 2, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_538_538" id="vol3Footnote_538_538"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_538_538"><span class="label">[538]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, January 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_539_539" id="vol3Footnote_539_539"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_539_539"><span class="label">[539]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_540_540" id="vol3Footnote_540_540"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_540_540"><span class="label">[540]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, February 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_541_541" id="vol3Footnote_541_541"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_541_541"><span class="label">[541]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, Feb. 3, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_542_542" id="vol3Footnote_542_542"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_542_542"><span class="label">[542]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Jan. 7, 12, 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_543_543" id="vol3Footnote_543_543"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_543_543"><span class="label">[543]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Jan. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_544_544" id="vol3Footnote_544_544"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_544_544"><span class="label">[544]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 15, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_545_545" id="vol3Footnote_545_545"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_545_545"><span class="label">[545]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, May 9, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_546_546" id="vol3Footnote_546_546"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_546_546"><span class="label">[546]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 4, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_547_547" id="vol3Footnote_547_547"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_547_547"><span class="label">[547]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, April 7, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_548_548" id="vol3Footnote_548_548"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_548_548"><span class="label">[548]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_549_549" id="vol3Footnote_549_549"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_549_549"><span class="label">[549]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, May 6, September 15, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_550_550" id="vol3Footnote_550_550"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_550_550"><span class="label">[550]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i> (editorials), May 19, 20, 25, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_551_551" id="vol3Footnote_551_551"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_551_551"><span class="label">[551]</span></a> White, <i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 1, p. 164.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_552_552" id="vol3Footnote_552_552"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_552_552"><span class="label">[552]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 28, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_553_553" id="vol3Footnote_553_553"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_553_553"><span class="label">[553]</span></a> "In particular they [the Fenton men] felt sure of one +vote not received from Allegany County, two from Broome, three from +Columbia, two from Cortlandt, three from Dutchess, three from +Jefferson, one from Ontario, three from Washington, and three from +Wayne."—<i>Ibid.</i> +</p><p> +"Mr. Murphy's office-holders were numerous and active, and turned the +whole organisation into an instrument for the service of his +[Conkling's] personal ambition. When the State convention was to meet, +Mr. Conkling and Mr. Murphy were among the first at Syracuse. It was +remarked that while they worked hard, they took no thought of the +reform movement. Their sole object was to control the convention. The +confidence which the delegates placed in them was astonishing, but +more astonishing still was the manner in which Andrew D. White lent +himself to this faction and did its work."—New York <i>Evening Post</i>, +September 29, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_554_554" id="vol3Footnote_554_554"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_554_554"><span class="label">[554]</span></a> "Mr. White personally sought the votes of Fenton +members for the temporary chairmanship on the pledge that he would so +act as to promote harmony."—New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 21, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_555_555" id="vol3Footnote_555_555"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_555_555"><span class="label">[555]</span></a> "I received the list of the convention committees from +the State committee with express assurance that the list represented +fairly the two wings of the party. I had no reason then, and have no +reason now, to believe that the State committee abused my +confidence."—White, <i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 1, p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_556_556" id="vol3Footnote_556_556"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_556_556"><span class="label">[556]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 29, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_557_557" id="vol3Footnote_557_557"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_557_557"><span class="label">[557]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 28, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_558_558" id="vol3Footnote_558_558"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_558_558"><span class="label">[558]</span></a> "Such a speech, in its terms, its forcible eloquence, +its overwhelming results, was perhaps never heard in a similar +assemblage. Many of Senator Conkling's friends insist that this was +one of his most remarkable speeches."—Alfred R. Conkling, <i>Life of +Roscoe Conkling</i>, p. 341.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_559_559" id="vol3Footnote_559_559"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_559_559"><span class="label">[559]</span></a> Syracuse <i>Standard</i>, New York <i>Times</i>, September 28, +1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_560_560" id="vol3Footnote_560_560"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_560_560"><span class="label">[560]</span></a> "Just as the whole convention had agreed upon the +compromise, Conkling arose and ordered his office-holders to reject +it."—New York <i>Evening Post</i>, September 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_561_561" id="vol3Footnote_561_561"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_561_561"><span class="label">[561]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, June 1, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_562_562" id="vol3Footnote_562_562"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_562_562"><span class="label">[562]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 29, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_563_563" id="vol3Footnote_563_563"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_563_563"><span class="label">[563]</span></a> The State ticket was as follows: Secretary of State, G. +Hilton Scribner, Westchester; Comptroller, Nelson K. Hopkins, Erie; +Treasurer, Thomas Raines, Monroe; Attorney-General, Francis C. Barlow, +New York; Engineer, William B. Taylor, Oneida; Canal Commissioner, +Alexander Barkley, Washington; Prison Inspector, Thomas Kirkpatrick, +Cayuga.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_564_564" id="vol3Footnote_564_564"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_564_564"><span class="label">[564]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 29, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_565_565" id="vol3Footnote_565_565"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_565_565"><span class="label">[565]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_566_566" id="vol3Footnote_566_566"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_566_566"><span class="label">[566]</span></a> Paine, <i>Life of Nast</i>, p. 194.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_567_567" id="vol3Footnote_567_567"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_567_567"><span class="label">[567]</span></a> This remark was addressed to Henry Richmond, whose +father, Dean Richmond, died in Tilden's home in Gramercy Park. +Richmond succeeded his father as State committeeman.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_568_568" id="vol3Footnote_568_568"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_568_568"><span class="label">[568]</span></a> Tilden's letter to the Democracy, dated September 11, +1871.—New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 22, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_569_569" id="vol3Footnote_569_569"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_569_569"><span class="label">[569]</span></a> Tilden's interview.—<i>Ibid.</i>, Sept 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_570_570" id="vol3Footnote_570_570"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_570_570"><span class="label">[570]</span></a> Tilden's letter, <i>Ibid.</i>, Sept. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_571_571" id="vol3Footnote_571_571"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_571_571"><span class="label">[571]</span></a> Tilden's Speech.—New York <i>Times</i>, November 3, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_572_572" id="vol3Footnote_572_572"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_572_572"><span class="label">[572]</span></a> Tweed's Speech.—<i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_573_573" id="vol3Footnote_573_573"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_573_573"><span class="label">[573]</span></a> The German Democratic General Committee, with 30,000 +votes; the Democratic Union, with 27,000; the Ledwith party, with +10,000; and the Young Democracy, led by ex-Sheriff O'Brien. For five +years Mozart Hall, under Fernando Wood, had not placed a ticket in the +field.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_574_574" id="vol3Footnote_574_574"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_574_574"><span class="label">[574]</span></a> Interview, New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 23, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_575_575" id="vol3Footnote_575_575"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_575_575"><span class="label">[575]</span></a> "Governor Seymour was given to understand that he could +not be president of the convention unless he would forego his +philippic against the Tammany thieves. This he declined to do."—New +York <i>Times</i> (editorial), October 9, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_576_576" id="vol3Footnote_576_576"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_576_576"><span class="label">[576]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 6, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_577_577" id="vol3Footnote_577_577"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_577_577"><span class="label">[577]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 6, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_578_578" id="vol3Footnote_578_578"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_578_578"><span class="label">[578]</span></a> Except the candidate for Secretary of State, the old +Tweed ticket was renominated as follows: Secretary of State, Diedrich +Willers, Seneca; Comptroller, Asher P. Nichols, Erie; Treasurer, +Wheeler H. Bristol, Tioga; Attorney-General, Marshall B. Champlain, +Allegany; Engineer, Van R. Richmond, Wayne; Canal Commissioner, George +W. Chapman; Prison Inspector, David B. McNeil, Cayuga.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_579_579" id="vol3Footnote_579_579"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_579_579"><span class="label">[579]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, November 4, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_580_580" id="vol3Footnote_580_580"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_580_580"><span class="label">[580]</span></a> Paine, <i>Life of Nast</i>, p. 179.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_581_581" id="vol3Footnote_581_581"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_581_581"><span class="label">[581]</span></a> Scribner, 387,107; Willers, 368,204. Legislature: +Senate, 24 Republicans, 8 Democrats. Assembly, 97 Republicans, 31 +Democrats.—New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 27, 1871. +</p><p> +Compared with the returns for 1870, the Democratic vote, outside of +New York and the six counties in its immediate vicinity, fell off +24,167, while the Republican vote fell off 9,235. In New York and +adjoining counties the Republican vote increased 30,338.—<i>Ibid.</i> +</p><p> +In New York City the majority for the Democratic candidate for +secretary of state was 29,189, while the majority for the Republican +or Union Reform candidate for register was 28,117.—<i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_582_582" id="vol3Footnote_582_582"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_582_582"><span class="label">[582]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 5, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_583_583" id="vol3Footnote_583_583"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_583_583"><span class="label">[583]</span></a> <i>Congressional Globe</i>, January 30, 1872, p. 699.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_584_584" id="vol3Footnote_584_584"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_584_584"><span class="label">[584]</span></a> Pierce, <i>Life of Sumner</i>, Vol. 4, p. 477.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_585_585" id="vol3Footnote_585_585"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_585_585"><span class="label">[585]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, April 13, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_586_586" id="vol3Footnote_586_586"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_586_586"><span class="label">[586]</span></a> George F. Hoar, <i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 1, p. 306; Vol. +2, p. 77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_587_587" id="vol3Footnote_587_587"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_587_587"><span class="label">[587]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, April 13, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_588_588" id="vol3Footnote_588_588"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_588_588"><span class="label">[588]</span></a> Cary, <i>Life of Curtis</i>, p. 213.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_589_589" id="vol3Footnote_589_589"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_589_589"><span class="label">[589]</span></a> <i>Letters of</i>, Vol. 2, p. 57. +</p><p> +"There was undoubtedly great corruption and maladministration in the +country in the time of President Grant. Selfish men and ambitious men +got the ear of that simple man and confiding President. They studied +Grant, some of them, as the shoemaker measures the foot of his +customer."—Hoar, <i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 1, p. 197.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_590_590" id="vol3Footnote_590_590"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_590_590"><span class="label">[590]</span></a> Springfield (Mass.) <i>Republican</i>, November 12, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_591_591" id="vol3Footnote_591_591"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_591_591"><span class="label">[591]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, May 31, 1870; February 27, 1871; +May 1, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_592_592" id="vol3Footnote_592_592"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_592_592"><span class="label">[592]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, April 25, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_593_593" id="vol3Footnote_593_593"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_593_593"><span class="label">[593]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_594_594" id="vol3Footnote_594_594"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_594_594"><span class="label">[594]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_595_595" id="vol3Footnote_595_595"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_595_595"><span class="label">[595]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, March 30, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_596_596" id="vol3Footnote_596_596"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_596_596"><span class="label">[596]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, April 14, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_597_597" id="vol3Footnote_597_597"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_597_597"><span class="label">[597]</span></a> Dudley Foulke, <i>Life of Morton</i>, Vol. 2, p. 255.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_598_598" id="vol3Footnote_598_598"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_598_598"><span class="label">[598]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, June 13, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_599_599" id="vol3Footnote_599_599"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_599_599"><span class="label">[599]</span></a> Paine, <i>Life of Nast</i>, p. 162.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_600_600" id="vol3Footnote_600_600"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_600_600"><span class="label">[600]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 223.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_601_601" id="vol3Footnote_601_601"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_601_601"><span class="label">[601]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, May 30, 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_602_602" id="vol3Footnote_602_602"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_602_602"><span class="label">[602]</span></a> New York <i>Post</i>, May 2, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_603_603" id="vol3Footnote_603_603"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_603_603"><span class="label">[603]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, May 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_604_604" id="vol3Footnote_604_604"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_604_604"><span class="label">[604]</span></a> New York <i>Evening Post</i>, May 2, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_605_605" id="vol3Footnote_605_605"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_605_605"><span class="label">[605]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_606_606" id="vol3Footnote_606_606"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_606_606"><span class="label">[606]</span></a> New York <i>Evening Post</i>, May 4, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_607_607" id="vol3Footnote_607_607"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_607_607"><span class="label">[607]</span></a> Southern States, 104; Middle, 96; New England, 15; +Western, 19; Pacific, 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_608_608" id="vol3Footnote_608_608"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_608_608"><span class="label">[608]</span></a> +</p> + +<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="votes"> +<tbody> +<tr><td>Whole number of votes</td><td>714</td></tr> +<tr><td>Necessary to a choice</td><td>358</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p> </p> + +<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="votes"> +<tbody> +<tr><td> </td><td class="center">First</td><td class="center">Second</td><td class="center">Third</td><td class="center">Fourth</td><td class="center">Fifth</td><td class="center">Sixth</td></tr> +<tr><td>Adams</td><td class="right">203</td><td class="right">243</td><td class="right">264</td><td class="right">279</td><td class="right">309</td><td class="right">187</td></tr> +<tr><td>Greeley</td><td class="right">147</td><td class="right">245</td><td class="right">258</td><td class="right">251</td><td class="right">258</td><td class="right">482</td></tr> +<tr><td>Trumbull</td><td class="right">110</td><td class="right">148</td><td class="right">156</td><td class="right">141</td><td class="right">91</td><td class="right">10</td></tr> +<tr><td>Davis</td><td class="right">92½</td><td class="right">75</td><td class="right">44</td><td class="right">51</td><td class="right">30</td><td class="right">6</td></tr> +<tr><td>Brown</td><td class="right">95</td><td class="right">2</td><td class="right">2</td><td class="right">2</td><td class="right"> </td><td class="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Curtin</td><td class="right">62</td><td class="right"> </td><td class="right"> </td><td class="right"> </td><td class="right"> </td><td class="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Chase</td><td class="right">2½</td><td class="right">1</td><td class="right"> </td><td class="right"> </td><td class="right">2</td><td class="right">29</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_609_609" id="vol3Footnote_609_609"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_609_609"><span class="label">[609]</span></a> Merriam, <i>Life of Bowles</i>, Vol. 2, p. 210.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_610_610" id="vol3Footnote_610_610"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_610_610"><span class="label">[610]</span></a> New York <i>Evening Post</i>, May 4, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_611_611" id="vol3Footnote_611_611"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_611_611"><span class="label">[611]</span></a> Warden, <i>Life of Chase</i>, p. 732.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_612_612" id="vol3Footnote_612_612"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_612_612"><span class="label">[612]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1872, p. 779.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_613_613" id="vol3Footnote_613_613"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_613_613"><span class="label">[613]</span></a> July 9, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_614_614" id="vol3Footnote_614_614"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_614_614"><span class="label">[614]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 1, 1871. Cox's election to +Congress from New York occurred in 1870, three years after he became a +resident of the State.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_615_615" id="vol3Footnote_615_615"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_615_615"><span class="label">[615]</span></a> Myers, <i>History of Tammany</i>, pp. 301, 305.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_616_616" id="vol3Footnote_616_616"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_616_616"><span class="label">[616]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 261 and note, 300 and 301.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_617_617" id="vol3Footnote_617_617"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_617_617"><span class="label">[617]</span></a> "About the same time, and in adjoining city districts, +two bosses entered upon public life. While Tweed was learning to make +chairs, Kelly was being taught grate-setting. While Tweed was amusing +himself as a runner with a fire engine, Kelly was captain of the +Carroll Target Guard. Tweed led fire laddies and Kelly dragged about +target-shooters upon the eve of elections. Both entered the Board of +Aldermen about the same time. About the same time, too, they went to +Congress. Within a few years of each other's candidacy they ran for +sheriff. Tweed was defeated. Kelly was elected. While Kelly was making +bills as sheriff, Tweed was auditing them in the Board of Supervisors. +Tweed became the Tammany boss, and Kelly succeeded him. Tweed fell a +victim to his greed, Kelly escaped by the Statute of +Limitations."—New York <i>Times</i>, October 30, 1875.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_618_618" id="vol3Footnote_618_618"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_618_618"><span class="label">[618]</span></a> Of the 46 opposition votes, James A. Bayard received 6 +from Delaware and 9 from New Jersey; Jeremiah S. Black 21 from +Pennsylvania; William S. Groesbeck 2 from Ohio. There were 8 blanks.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_619_619" id="vol3Footnote_619_619"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_619_619"><span class="label">[619]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 11, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_620_620" id="vol3Footnote_620_620"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_620_620"><span class="label">[620]</span></a> July 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_621_621" id="vol3Footnote_621_621"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_621_621"><span class="label">[621]</span></a> Century Dictionary.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_622_622" id="vol3Footnote_622_622"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_622_622"><span class="label">[622]</span></a> Wilson received 364½ votes to 321½ for Colfax of +Indiana, who had declared his intention to retire from public life. +When, later, he changed his mind, Wilson possessed the advantage.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_623_623" id="vol3Footnote_623_623"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_623_623"><span class="label">[623]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, February 15, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_624_624" id="vol3Footnote_624_624"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_624_624"><span class="label">[624]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, April 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_625_625" id="vol3Footnote_625_625"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_625_625"><span class="label">[625]</span></a> For narration of this <i>coup de main</i>, see Morgan Dix, +<i>Life of John A. Dix</i>, Vol. 2, pp. 163-167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_626_626" id="vol3Footnote_626_626"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_626_626"><span class="label">[626]</span></a> <i>The Century</i>, March, 1885, p. 734.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_627_627" id="vol3Footnote_627_627"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_627_627"><span class="label">[627]</span></a> August 21, 1872; New York <i>Tribune</i>, August 22. +</p><p> +"Senator Robertson failed to be governor only from lack of +boldness."—<i>Ibid.</i>, May 8, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_628_628" id="vol3Footnote_628_628"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_628_628"><span class="label">[628]</span></a> Henry Clews, <i>Fifty Years in Wall Street</i>, pp. 307-309; +New York <i>Herald</i>, August 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_629_629" id="vol3Footnote_629_629"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_629_629"><span class="label">[629]</span></a> Bigelow's <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 1, p. 228.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_630_630" id="vol3Footnote_630_630"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_630_630"><span class="label">[630]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 232.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_631_631" id="vol3Footnote_631_631"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_631_631"><span class="label">[631]</span></a> Barnes' <i>Life of Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. 485.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_632_632" id="vol3Footnote_632_632"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_632_632"><span class="label">[632]</span></a> The ticket was as follows: Governor, John A. Dix of New +York; Lieutenant-Governor, John C. Robinson of Broome; Canal +Commissioner, Reuben W. Stroud of Onondaga; Prison Inspector, Ezra +Graves of Herkimer; Congressman-at-large, Lyman Tremaine of Albany; +Thurlow Weed declined to head the electoral ticket, but suggested the +name of Frederick Douglass, who was nominated by acclamation.—Barnes, +<i>Life of Weed</i>, Vol. 2, p. 486.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_633_633" id="vol3Footnote_633_633"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_633_633"><span class="label">[633]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_634_634" id="vol3Footnote_634_634"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_634_634"><span class="label">[634]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, August 23, 1872; New York <i>World</i>, +September 10, 1874; <i>Times</i>, September 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_635_635" id="vol3Footnote_635_635"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_635_635"><span class="label">[635]</span></a> Among them were Augustus Schell of New York, Francis +Kernan of Oneida, Allen C. Beach of Jefferson, then +lieutenant-governor, Homer A. Nelson of Dutchess, formerly secretary +of state, and Lucius Robinson of Chemung, the distinguished +comptroller.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_636_636" id="vol3Footnote_636_636"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_636_636"><span class="label">[636]</span></a> September 6, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_637_637" id="vol3Footnote_637_637"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_637_637"><span class="label">[637]</span></a> Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 1, p. 226.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_638_638" id="vol3Footnote_638_638"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_638_638"><span class="label">[638]</span></a> The first ballot resulted as follows: Kernan, 42½; +Beach, 32; Schell, 24½; Nelson, 10; Church, 11; Robinson, 6; +necessary to a choice, 64. +</p><p> +The ticket nominated by the two conventions was as follows: Governor, +Francis Kernan of Oneida, Democrat; Lieutenant-Governor, Chauncey M. +Depew of Westchester, Liberal; Canal Commissioner, John Hubbard of +Chenango, Democrat; Prison Inspector, Enos C. Brooks of Cattaraugus, +Liberal; 1 Congressman-at-large, Samuel S. Cox of New York, Democrat.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_639_639" id="vol3Footnote_639_639"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_639_639"><span class="label">[639]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 6, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_640_640" id="vol3Footnote_640_640"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_640_640"><span class="label">[640]</span></a> Attorney-General Champlain had publicly announced his +purpose to authorise O'Conor to bring such suits before the Committee +of Seventy had had its interview with the Governor.—Tilden's <i>Public +Writings and Speeches</i>, Vol. 1, p. 590.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_641_641" id="vol3Footnote_641_641"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_641_641"><span class="label">[641]</span></a> James F. Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. +6, p. 401, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_642_642" id="vol3Footnote_642_642"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_642_642"><span class="label">[642]</span></a> Elected in 1844 and 1847. Declined a renomination in +1849.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_643_643" id="vol3Footnote_643_643"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_643_643"><span class="label">[643]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 5, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_644_644" id="vol3Footnote_644_644"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_644_644"><span class="label">[644]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, May 22, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_645_645" id="vol3Footnote_645_645"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_645_645"><span class="label">[645]</span></a> <i>Twenty Years in Congress</i>, Vol. 2, p. 534.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_646_646" id="vol3Footnote_646_646"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_646_646"><span class="label">[646]</span></a> "We asked our contemporary [<i>World</i>] to state frankly +whether the pugilists, blacklegs, thieves, burglars, keepers of dens +of prostitution, etc., etc., who make up so large a share of our +city's inhabitants, were not almost unanimously +Democrats."—<i>Tribune</i>, January 4, 1868. +</p><p> +"So every one who chooses to live by pugilism, or gambling, or +harlotry, with nearly every keeper of a tippling house, is politically +a Democrat.... A purely selfish interest attaches the lewd, ruffianly, +criminal and dangerous class to the Democratic party by the instinct +of self-preservation."—<i>Ibid.</i>, January 7. Conkling quoted these +extracts in his Cooper Institute speech of July 23.—New York <i>Times</i>, +July 24, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_647_647" id="vol3Footnote_647_647"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_647_647"><span class="label">[647]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, Syracuse <i>Herald</i>, and Watertown +<i>Times</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_648_648" id="vol3Footnote_648_648"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_648_648"><span class="label">[648]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, August 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_649_649" id="vol3Footnote_649_649"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_649_649"><span class="label">[649]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, July 24. "The longest and greatest +campaign speech of his life."—Alfred R. Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, +p. 436.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_650_650" id="vol3Footnote_650_650"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_650_650"><span class="label">[650]</span></a> Hollister's <i>Life of Colfax</i>, p. 387, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_651_651" id="vol3Footnote_651_651"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_651_651"><span class="label">[651]</span></a> The same article enumerates some of the charges +published against him: "In Washington he was a briber. In Albany he +was the head of the lobby. In New York he was a partner in the Ring +frauds. He defended the rascalities of Tweed. He sold the influence of +his paper to Tammany Hall. He intrigued to restore the thieves to +power. He was involved in schemes for robbing the national treasury. +He was plotting the payment of the Confederate debt. He had promised +pensions to Rebel soldiers. He was an original Secessionist. He was +once a slave-trader in Memphis. He was the friend of the Ku-Klux and +ballot-box stuffers.... Dix blamed him for expressing ten or twelve +years ago sentiments identical with those of Dix himself."—New York +<i>Tribune</i>, November 22, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_652_652" id="vol3Footnote_652_652"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_652_652"><span class="label">[652]</span></a> <i>Messages and Papers of the Presidents</i>, Richardson, +Vol. 7, p. 223.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_653_653" id="vol3Footnote_653_653"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_653_653"><span class="label">[653]</span></a> After the North Carolina election would-be Liberals +rejoined the Republican party in great numbers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_654_654" id="vol3Footnote_654_654"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_654_654"><span class="label">[654]</span></a> Grant, 440,759; Greeley, 387,279; majority, 53,480. +Dix, 447,801; Kernan, 392,350; majority, 55,451. Robinson, 442,297; +Depew, 397,754; majority, 44,543. Tremaine, 438,456; Cox, 400,697; +majority, 37,759.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_655_655" id="vol3Footnote_655_655"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_655_655"><span class="label">[655]</span></a> Havermeyer, 53,806; Lawrence, 45,398; O'Brien, 31,121.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_656_656" id="vol3Footnote_656_656"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_656_656"><span class="label">[656]</span></a> Seymour (1868), 429,883. Greeley (1872), 387,279. +Kernan (1872), 392,350. Cox (1872), 400,697.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_657_657" id="vol3Footnote_657_657"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_657_657"><span class="label">[657]</span></a> George W. Julian, <i>Political Recollections</i>, p. 348.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_658_658" id="vol3Footnote_658_658"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_658_658"><span class="label">[658]</span></a> He died November 29, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_659_659" id="vol3Footnote_659_659"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_659_659"><span class="label">[659]</span></a> "In the darkest hour my suffering wife left me, none +too soon for she had suffered too deeply and too long. I laid her in +the ground with hard dry eyes. Well, I am used up. I cannot see before +me. I have slept little for weeks and my eyes are still hard to close, +while they soon open again." Letter to his friend, Mason W. Tappan of +New Hampshire.—Hollister's <i>Life of Colfax</i>, p. 387, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_660_660" id="vol3Footnote_660_660"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_660_660"><span class="label">[660]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, December 5, 1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_661_661" id="vol3Footnote_661_661"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_661_661"><span class="label">[661]</span></a> Cornell resigned as surveyor of the port and was +elected to the Assembly.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_662_662" id="vol3Footnote_662_662"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_662_662"><span class="label">[662]</span></a> The Democrats voted for Charles Wheaton of Dutchess, +distinguished locally as a county judge.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_663_663" id="vol3Footnote_663_663"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_663_663"><span class="label">[663]</span></a> Alfred R. Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, p. 451.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_664_664" id="vol3Footnote_664_664"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_664_664"><span class="label">[664]</span></a> Report of Civil Service Commission, 1871, p. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_665_665" id="vol3Footnote_665_665"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_665_665"><span class="label">[665]</span></a> Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, p. 656.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_666_666" id="vol3Footnote_666_666"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_666_666"><span class="label">[666]</span></a> "He who does a thing by the agency of another, does it +himself."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_667_667" id="vol3Footnote_667_667"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_667_667"><span class="label">[667]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, December 4, 1873.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_668_668" id="vol3Footnote_668_668"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_668_668"><span class="label">[668]</span></a> Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 1, p. 245.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_669_669" id="vol3Footnote_669_669"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_669_669"><span class="label">[669]</span></a> This letter, dated September 14, 1874, is published in +nearly all the State papers of September 18. It is given in full in +the New York <i>Herald</i> and <i>Times</i>. +</p><p> +Sanford E. Church, in a published interview, charged that the story of +his connection with the ring originated with Barlow.—New York +<i>Tribune</i>, April 2, 1875.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_670_670" id="vol3Footnote_670_670"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_670_670"><span class="label">[670]</span></a> The ticket presented was as follows: Secretary of +State, Francis S. Thayer, Rensselaer; Comptroller, Nelson K. Hopkins, +Erie; Treasurer, Daniel G. Fort, Oswego; Attorney-General, Benj. D. +Silliman, Kings; Canal Commissioner, Sidney Mead, Cayuga; State +Engineer, William B. Taylor, Oneida; Prison Inspector, Moss K. Platt, +Essex.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_671_671" id="vol3Footnote_671_671"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_671_671"><span class="label">[671]</span></a> The following ticket was nominated: Secretary of State, +Diedrich Willers, Seneca; Comptroller, Asher P. Nichols, Erie; +Treasurer, Thomas Raines, Monroe; Attorney-General, Daniel Pratt, +Onondaga; Canal Commissioner, James Jackson, Niagara; State Engineer, +Sylvanus H. Sweet, Albany; Prison Inspector, George W. Mellspaugh, +Orange.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_672_672" id="vol3Footnote_672_672"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_672_672"><span class="label">[672]</span></a> James Brooks was the only New York congressman +implicated. The committee, finding him guilty of corruption as a +member of the House and as a government director of the Union Pacific +Railroad, recommended his expulsion, but on February 27, 1873, the +House, by a vote of 174 to 32 (34 not voting) changed the sentence to +one of censure. Brooks died on April 30 following.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_673_673" id="vol3Footnote_673_673"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_673_673"><span class="label">[673]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, September 10, 1874.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_674_674" id="vol3Footnote_674_674"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_674_674"><span class="label">[674]</span></a> July 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_675_675" id="vol3Footnote_675_675"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_675_675"><span class="label">[675]</span></a> September 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_676_676" id="vol3Footnote_676_676"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_676_676"><span class="label">[676]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, September 7, 1874. See also Buffalo +<i>Courier</i>, September 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_677_677" id="vol3Footnote_677_677"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_677_677"><span class="label">[677]</span></a> Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 1, pp. 221-222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_678_678" id="vol3Footnote_678_678"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_678_678"><span class="label">[678]</span></a> For copy of this statement see New York <i>World</i>, +September 10, 1874.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_679_679" id="vol3Footnote_679_679"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_679_679"><span class="label">[679]</span></a> Buffalo <i>Courier</i>, September 11; New York <i>Herald</i>, +September 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_680_680" id="vol3Footnote_680_680"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_680_680"><span class="label">[680]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, September 10, 1874.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_681_681" id="vol3Footnote_681_681"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_681_681"><span class="label">[681]</span></a> Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 1, p. 226. See also the +<i>Nation</i>, September 10, 1874.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_682_682" id="vol3Footnote_682_682"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_682_682"><span class="label">[682]</span></a> September 11. Reprinted from the Rochester <i>Union</i> of +September 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_683_683" id="vol3Footnote_683_683"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_683_683"><span class="label">[683]</span></a> September 16 and 17, at Syracuse.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_684_684" id="vol3Footnote_684_684"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_684_684"><span class="label">[684]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, September 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_685_685" id="vol3Footnote_685_685"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_685_685"><span class="label">[685]</span></a> Tilden, 252; Parker, 126; Robinson, 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_686_686" id="vol3Footnote_686_686"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_686_686"><span class="label">[686]</span></a> William Dorsheimer, 193; Weed, 155; Stephen T. Hoyt of +Allegany (Liberal), 34; Edward F. Jones of Broome (Liberal), 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_687_687" id="vol3Footnote_687_687"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_687_687"><span class="label">[687]</span></a> He was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern +District of New York on March 28, 1867. His successor's commission was +dated March 23, 1871.—<i>State Department Records.</i> +</p><p> +The ticket nominated was as follows: Governor, Samuel J. Tilden, New +York; Lieutenant-Governor, William Dorsheimer, Erie; Court of Appeals, +Theodore Miller, Columbia; Canal Commissioner, Adin Thayer, +Rensselaer; Prison Inspector, George Wagner, Yates.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_688_688" id="vol3Footnote_688_688"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_688_688"><span class="label">[688]</span></a> "Wickham has no conception beyond making a pleasant +thing for himself and our friends out of the seat which he occupies." +Letter of Charles O'Conor.—Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 1, p. +245.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_689_689" id="vol3Footnote_689_689"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_689_689"><span class="label">[689]</span></a> Myers, <i>History of Tammany Hall</i>, p. 307.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_690_690" id="vol3Footnote_690_690"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_690_690"><span class="label">[690]</span></a> The convention met at Utica on September 23. The ticket +was as follows: Governor, John A. Dix, New York; Lieutenant-Governor, +John C. Robinson, Broome; Court of Appeals, Alexander S. Johnson, +Oneida; Canal Commissioner, Reuben W. Stroud, Onondaga; Prison +Inspector, Ezra Graves, Herkimer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_691_691" id="vol3Footnote_691_691"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_691_691"><span class="label">[691]</span></a> On June 23 the friends of total abstinence, resenting +Dix's veto of a local option measure passed by the Legislature of +1873, assembled at Auburn, approved the organisation of a Prohibition +party, and nominated a State ticket with Myron H. Clark for governor. +About 350 delegates from twenty-five counties were present.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_692_692" id="vol3Footnote_692_692"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_692_692"><span class="label">[692]</span></a> Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 1, p. 233.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_693_693" id="vol3Footnote_693_693"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_693_693"><span class="label">[693]</span></a> Morgan A. Dix, <i>Life of Dix</i>, Vol. 2, pp. 128, 149.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_694_694" id="vol3Footnote_694_694"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_694_694"><span class="label">[694]</span></a> Morgan A. Dix, <i>Life of Dix</i>, Vol. 2, pp. 195-196.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_695_695" id="vol3Footnote_695_695"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_695_695"><span class="label">[695]</span></a> October 30, 1874.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_696_696" id="vol3Footnote_696_696"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_696_696"><span class="label">[696]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, July 7, 1873.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_697_697" id="vol3Footnote_697_697"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_697_697"><span class="label">[697]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, October 29, 1874.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_698_698" id="vol3Footnote_698_698"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_698_698"><span class="label">[698]</span></a> April 16, 1874.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_699_699" id="vol3Footnote_699_699"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_699_699"><span class="label">[699]</span></a> Until then Croker had been an attaché of Connolly's +office.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_700_700" id="vol3Footnote_700_700"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_700_700"><span class="label">[700]</span></a> "No law authorised Kelly to include convictions in the +Police Courts, yet he did include them, thereby robbing the city of +over thirty thousand dollars. He charged, at one time, double the +rates for conveying prisoners to and from the Island; at another, 133 +per cent. more. He charged for 11,000 vagrants committed to the +work-house, a clear fraud upon the treasury."—New York <i>Times</i>, +October 20, 1875.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_701_701" id="vol3Footnote_701_701"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_701_701"><span class="label">[701]</span></a> New York papers of September 18, 1874.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_702_702" id="vol3Footnote_702_702"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_702_702"><span class="label">[702]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, September 10, 1874.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_703_703" id="vol3Footnote_703_703"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_703_703"><span class="label">[703]</span></a> In 1872 Dix had 55,451.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_704_704" id="vol3Footnote_704_704"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_704_704"><span class="label">[704]</span></a> Tilden, 416,391; Dix, 366,074; Clark, 11,768; +Dorsheimer, 416,714; Robinson, 365,226; Bagg, 11,310. +</p><p> +New York City: Tilden, 87,623; Dix, 44,871; Clark, 160; Wickham, +70,071; Wales, 36,953; Ottendorfer, 24,226. Legislature: Assembly, +Democrats, 75; Republicans, 53. Senate, Democrats, 12; Republicans, +18; Independents, 2. The Senators were elected in 1873.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_705_705" id="vol3Footnote_705_705"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_705_705"><span class="label">[705]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, November 4, 1874. +</p><p> +Eleven amendments to the Constitution were ratified at this election. +Those relating to political matters required thirty days' residence in +an election district; abolished property qualification, thus removing +all distinction between white and coloured voters; fixed the pay of +legislators at $1500 per year, without limiting the length of a +session; changed the terms of governor and lieutenant-governor from +two to three years, with salaries of $10,000 and $5,000, respectively; +required two-thirds of all the members elected to each house to +override the governor's veto; authorised the veto of individual items +in an appropriation act; and prohibited extra compensation being paid +to a canal contractor.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_706_706" id="vol3Footnote_706_706"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_706_706"><span class="label">[706]</span></a> The Republicans voted for ex-Governor Edwin D. Morgan, +the vote standing: Kernan, 87; Morgan, 68; Hoffman, 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_707_707" id="vol3Footnote_707_707"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_707_707"><span class="label">[707]</span></a> Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 1, p. 285.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_708_708" id="vol3Footnote_708_708"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_708_708"><span class="label">[708]</span></a> The Governor plainly illustrated this device. The +engineer having estimated the amount of work and materials, the +bidders added their prices. +</p> + +<p>A bid as follows:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="A's bids"> +<tbody> +<tr><td>100 cubic yards of vertical wall, at $3</td><td>$</td><td class="right">300.00</td></tr> +<tr><td>3,855 cubic yards of slope wall, at $1.50</td><td> </td><td class="right">5,782.50</td></tr> +<tr><td>2,400 feet B.M. white oak, at $50</td><td> </td><td class="right">120.00</td></tr> +<tr><td>60,000 feet B.M. hemlock, at $15</td><td style="border-bottom: solid black 2px"> </td><td class="right" style="border-bottom: solid black 2px">900.00</td></tr> +<tr><td>Total estimate of A</td><td>$</td><td class="right">7,102.50</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p>B bid as follows:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="B's bids"> +<tbody> +<tr><td>100 cubic yards of vertical wall, at $6</td><td>$</td><td class="right">600.00</td></tr> +<tr><td>3,855 cubic yards of slope wall, at 30 cents</td><td> </td><td class="right">1,156.50</td></tr> +<tr><td>2,400 feet B.M. white oak, at $70</td><td> </td><td class="right">168.00</td></tr> +<tr><td>60,000 feet B.M. hemlock, at $3</td><td style="border-bottom: solid black 2px"> </td><td class="right" style="border-bottom: solid black 2px">180.00</td></tr> +<tr><td>Total estimate of B</td><td>$</td><td class="right">2,104.50</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p>B was given the contract as the lowest bidder, after which the work +was changed as follows:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="changes"> +<tbody> +<tr><td>3,955 cubic yards of vertical wall, at $6</td><td>$</td><td class="right">23,730.00</td></tr> +<tr><td>62,400 feet B.M. white oak, at $70</td><td style="border-bottom: solid black 2px"> </td><td class="right" style="border-bottom: solid black 2px">4,368.00</td></tr> +<tr><td>Actually paid B by the State</td><td>$</td><td class="right">28,098.00</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p>On ten of these contracts, originally amounting to $424,735.90 the +State paid $1,560,769.84.—Tilden's <i>Public Writings and Speeches</i>, +Vol. 2, pp. 106-108.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_709_709" id="vol3Footnote_709_709"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_709_709"><span class="label">[709]</span></a> This commission was composed of John Bigelow, Daniel +Magone of Ogdensburg, Alexander E. Orr of Brooklyn, and John D. Van +Buren of New York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_710_710" id="vol3Footnote_710_710"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_710_710"><span class="label">[710]</span></a> Indictments were found against the son of a State +senator, a member of the board of canal appraisers, an ex-canal +commissioner, two ex-superintendents of canals and one division +engineer, besides numerous subordinates and contractors.—See +Bigelow's <i>Life of Tilden</i>, pp. 262-263; for names of the parties, see +Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1875, p. 558.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_711_711" id="vol3Footnote_711_711"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_711_711"><span class="label">[711]</span></a> Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 2, p. 263.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_712_712" id="vol3Footnote_712_712"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_712_712"><span class="label">[712]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, August 28, 1875.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_713_713" id="vol3Footnote_713_713"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_713_713"><span class="label">[713]</span></a> Held at Saratoga on September 8, 1875.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_714_714" id="vol3Footnote_714_714"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_714_714"><span class="label">[714]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1875, p. 560.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_715_715" id="vol3Footnote_715_715"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_715_715"><span class="label">[715]</span></a> The ticket was as follows: Secretary of State, +Frederick W. Seward, New York; Comptroller, Francis E. Spinner, +Herkimer; Treasurer, Edwin A. Merritt, St. Lawrence; Attorney-General, +George F. Danforth, Monroe; Engineer, Oliver H.P. Cornell, Tompkins; +Canal Commissioner, William F. Tinsley, Wayne; Prison Inspector, +Benoni J. Ives, Cayuga.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_716_716" id="vol3Footnote_716_716"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_716_716"><span class="label">[716]</span></a> After James Hayes' defeat for register in 1874, Kelly +deprived Morrissey of his district leadership because he stirred up +disaffection among the working men and sowed seeds of disloyalty. In +their contest the Morrissey and Kelly factions were known as +"Swallow-tails" and "Short-hairs," Morrissey, to rebuke Wickham's +custom of requiring cards of callers in advance of admission to his +office, having called upon the Mayor during business hours in evening +dress, with white kids and patent-leather pumps.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_717_717" id="vol3Footnote_717_717"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_717_717"><span class="label">[717]</span></a> The ticket was as follows: Secretary of State, John +Bigelow, Ulster; Comptroller, Lucius Robinson, Chemung; +Attorney-General, Charles S. Fairchild, New York; Treasurer, Charles +N. Ross, Cayuga; Engineer, John D. Van Buren, New York; Canal +Commissioner, Christopher A. Walruth, Oneida; Prison Inspector, Rodney +R. Crowley, Cattaraugus. +</p><p> +On September 22 the Liberals met at Albany. They eulogised Tilden by +name, favored the Greeley doctrine of a single term for President, +arraigned the Federal administration, and recommended the support of +candidates who would coöperate with the Executive in his work of +reform. +</p><p> +For governor the Prohibitionists nominated George H. Dusenberre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_718_718" id="vol3Footnote_718_718"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_718_718"><span class="label">[718]</span></a> Address at Utica Fair, September 30, 1875.—Tilden's +<i>Public Writings and Speeches</i>, Vol. 2, pp. 229-233.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_719_719" id="vol3Footnote_719_719"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_719_719"><span class="label">[719]</span></a> In the summer of 1875 he made a brief visit to +Europe.—Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, p. 490.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_720_720" id="vol3Footnote_720_720"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_720_720"><span class="label">[720]</span></a> See Rhodes' <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 7, pp. +104-127. Also, Tilden's message to the Legislature, January 12, 1875, +<i>Public Writings and Speeches</i>, Vol. 2, pp. 75-84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_721_721" id="vol3Footnote_721_721"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_721_721"><span class="label">[721]</span></a> Godwin, <i>Life of Bryant</i>, p. 357. This meeting was held +January 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_722_722" id="vol3Footnote_722_722"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_722_722"><span class="label">[722]</span></a> New York <i>Sun</i>, February 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_723_723" id="vol3Footnote_723_723"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_723_723"><span class="label">[723]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1875, p. 743.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_724_724" id="vol3Footnote_724_724"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_724_724"><span class="label">[724]</span></a> See remarks of Forster of Westchester, a delegate to +the Republican State convention of March 22, 1876.—New York +<i>Tribune</i>, March 23, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_725_725" id="vol3Footnote_725_725"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_725_725"><span class="label">[725]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, October 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_726_726" id="vol3Footnote_726_726"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_726_726"><span class="label">[726]</span></a> Bigelow, 390,211; Seward, 375,401. Robinson, 389,699; +Spinner, 376,150. Legislature: Senate: 20 Republicans, 12 Democrats. +Assembly: 71 Republicans, 57 Democrats. Morrissey's majority, 3,377. +Dusenberre, Prohibitionist, total vote, 11,103.—Appleton's +<i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1875, p. 564. +</p><p> +Bigelow's majority in New York City was 17,013.—New York <i>World</i>, +November 7, 1875.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_727_727" id="vol3Footnote_727_727"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_727_727"><span class="label">[727]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, March 23, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_728_728" id="vol3Footnote_728_728"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_728_728"><span class="label">[728]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, June 15, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_729_729" id="vol3Footnote_729_729"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_729_729"><span class="label">[729]</span></a> <i>Official Proceedings of National Republican +Conventions</i>, p. 292.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_730_730" id="vol3Footnote_730_730"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_730_730"><span class="label">[730]</span></a> New York <i>Commercial Advertiser</i>, September 28, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_731_731" id="vol3Footnote_731_731"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_731_731"><span class="label">[731]</span></a> Conkling's votes came from the following States: +California, 1; Florida, 3; Georgia, 8; Michigan, 1; Mississippi, 1; +Missouri, 1; Nevada, 2; New York, 69; North Carolina, 7; Texas, 3; +Virginia, 3. Total, 99. George William Curtis refused to vote for +Conkling.</p> + +<p>Seven ballots were taken, as follows:</p> + +<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="ballots"> +<tbody> +<tr><td>Blaine</td><td class="right">285</td><td class="right">296</td><td class="right">293</td><td class="right">286</td><td class="right">308</td><td class="right">351</td></tr> +<tr><td>Bristow</td><td class="right">113</td><td class="right">114</td><td class="right">121</td><td class="right">126</td><td class="right">111</td><td class="right">21</td></tr> +<tr><td>Morton</td><td class="right">124</td><td class="right">120</td><td class="right">113</td><td class="right">108</td><td class="right">85</td><td class="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Conkling</td><td class="right">99</td><td class="right">93</td><td class="right">90</td><td class="right">84</td><td class="right">81</td><td class="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Hayes</td><td class="right">61</td><td class="right">64</td><td class="right">67</td><td class="right">68</td><td class="right">113</td><td class="right">384</td></tr> +<tr><td>Hartranft</td><td class="right">58</td><td class="right">63</td><td class="right">68</td><td class="right">71</td><td class="right">50</td><td class="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Jewell</td><td class="right">11</td><td class="right"> </td><td class="right"> </td><td class="right"> </td><td class="right"> </td><td class="right"> </td></tr> +<tr><td>Wheeler</td><td class="right">3</td><td class="right">3</td><td class="right">2</td><td class="right">2</td><td class="right">2</td><td class="right">2</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p>On the final ballot the following New York delegates voted for Blaine: +William H. Robertson, Westchester; James W. Husted, Westchester; Jacob +Worth, Kings; John H. Ketcham, Dutchess; Jacob W. Haysradt, Columbia; +James M. Marvin, Saratoga; Stephen Sanford, Montgomery; Amos V. +Smiley, Lewis, and James C. Feeter, Herkimer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_732_732" id="vol3Footnote_732_732"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_732_732"><span class="label">[732]</span></a> John Russell Young, <i>Around the World with General +Grant</i>, Vol. 2, p. 275.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_733_733" id="vol3Footnote_733_733"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_733_733"><span class="label">[733]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, June 17, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_734_734" id="vol3Footnote_734_734"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_734_734"><span class="label">[734]</span></a> Hoar, <i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 1, p. 244.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_735_735" id="vol3Footnote_735_735"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_735_735"><span class="label">[735]</span></a> Wheeler's name was presented by Luke P. Poland of +Vermont, and seconded by S.H. Russell of Texas, and Henry R. James of +New York (Ogdensburg). Thomas C. Platt presented Woodford. +</p><p> +"Wheeler very much disliked Roscoe Conkling and all his ways. Conkling +once said to him: 'If you will join us and act with us, there is +nothing in the gift of the State of New York to which you may not +reasonably aspire.' To which Wheeler replied: 'Mr. Conkling, there is +nothing in the gift of the State which will compensate me for the +forfeiture of my own self-respect.'"—Hoar, <i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 1, +p. 243.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_736_736" id="vol3Footnote_736_736"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_736_736"><span class="label">[736]</span></a> "It was not to the credit of the New York delegation +that Wheeler was obliged to look to other States for his presentation +and support."—Utica <i>Herald</i>, June 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_737_737" id="vol3Footnote_737_737"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_737_737"><span class="label">[737]</span></a> With fifteen States and Territories to be called, the +vote stood as follows: Wheeler, 366; all others, 245.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_738_738" id="vol3Footnote_738_738"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_738_738"><span class="label">[738]</span></a> The Republican State convention met at Saratoga on +August 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_739_739" id="vol3Footnote_739_739"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_739_739"><span class="label">[739]</span></a> Although many prominent Republicans who voted for +Greeley in 1872 had previously renewed their allegiance, the Liberals +as an organisation did not formally coalesce with the Republican party +until August 23, 1876. On that day about 200 delegates, headed by John +Cochrane and Benjamin F. Manierre, met in convention at Saratoga, and +after accepting Hayes and Wheeler as the exponents of their reform +principles, were invited amidst loud applause to seats in the +Republican State convention.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_740_740" id="vol3Footnote_740_740"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_740_740"><span class="label">[740]</span></a> Whole number of votes cast, 410. Necessary to a choice, +206. Morgan received 242; Evarts, 126; Robertson, 24; Martin, 1; +Townsend, 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_741_741" id="vol3Footnote_741_741"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_741_741"><span class="label">[741]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, August 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_742_742" id="vol3Footnote_742_742"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_742_742"><span class="label">[742]</span></a> The ballot resulted: Rogers, 240; Pomeroy, 178. +Necessary to a choice, 210. +</p><p> +The ticket was as follows: Governor, Edwin D. Morgan, New York; +Lieutenant-Governor, Sherman S. Rogers, Erie; Court of Appeals, George +F. Danforth, Monroe; Canal Commissioner, Daniel C. Spencer, +Livingston; Prison Inspector, Charles W. Trowbridge, Kings.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_743_743" id="vol3Footnote_743_743"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_743_743"><span class="label">[743]</span></a> Tilden's policy of pardoning members of the Tweed ring +had become intolerable. "On an average about nine out of ten men who +were confessedly guilty of stealing were accepted as witnesses against +the other one man, until the time came when there was but one man +against whom any testimony could be used, and it was not considered +wise to try him. It was a shameful condition of affairs."—John D. +Townsend, <i>New York in Bondage</i>, p. 141.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_744_744" id="vol3Footnote_744_744"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_744_744"><span class="label">[744]</span></a> Tilden's <i>Public Writings and Speeches</i>, Vol. 2, pp. +237-295.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_745_745" id="vol3Footnote_745_745"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_745_745"><span class="label">[745]</span></a> The Democratic State convention was held at Utica, +April 26, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_746_746" id="vol3Footnote_746_746"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_746_746"><span class="label">[746]</span></a> "It is natural enough that the canal ring and its +followers, Tammany and its adherents, and that sort of Democrats who +are commonly called Bourbons, should labour to defeat the nomination +for high office of the man who represents everything that they oppose, +and opposes everything that they represent; but it will be a most +discouraging thing to every person who hopes for good at the hands of +the Democratic party if such opposition is permitted to prevail in its +councils. He has put his principles in practice in the most fearless +and resolute manner, and has made himself especially obnoxious to his +opponents as their hostility to him clearly shows."—New York <i>Evening +Post</i> (editorial by William Cullen Bryant), May 26, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_747_747" id="vol3Footnote_747_747"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_747_747"><span class="label">[747]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, June 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_748_748" id="vol3Footnote_748_748"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_748_748"><span class="label">[748]</span></a> New York <i>Evening Express</i>, June 23, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_749_749" id="vol3Footnote_749_749"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_749_749"><span class="label">[749]</span></a> The National Democratic convention assembled on June 27 +and 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_750_750" id="vol3Footnote_750_750"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_750_750"><span class="label">[750]</span></a> Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 1, p. 308.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_751_751" id="vol3Footnote_751_751"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_751_751"><span class="label">[751]</span></a> Francis Kernan presented Tilden's name very +effectively.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_752_752" id="vol3Footnote_752_752"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_752_752"><span class="label">[752]</span></a> First ballot. Necessary two-thirds, 492. Samuel J. +Tilden of New York, 404½; Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana, 133½; +Winfield Scott Hancock of Pennsylvania, 75; William Allen of Ohio, 56; +Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware, 27; Joel Parker of New Jersey, 18. +</p><p> +Second ballot: Tilden, 535; Hendricks, 60; Hancock, 59; Allen, 54; +Bayard, 11; Parker, 18; Thurman of Ohio, 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_753_753" id="vol3Footnote_753_753"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_753_753"><span class="label">[753]</span></a> This act terminates as follows: "And the United States +also solemnly pledges its faith to make provision at the earliest +practicable period for the redemption of the United States notes in +coin."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_754_754" id="vol3Footnote_754_754"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_754_754"><span class="label">[754]</span></a> "Tilden's letter was a disappointment to those who had +studied his words and acts as Governor."—Rhodes, <i>History of the +United States</i>, Vol. 7, p. 216.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_755_755" id="vol3Footnote_755_755"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_755_755"><span class="label">[755]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1876, p. 790.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_756_756" id="vol3Footnote_756_756"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_756_756"><span class="label">[756]</span></a> "The public interest in an honest, skilful performance +of official trust must not be sacrificed to the usufruct of the +incumbents."—Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1876, p. 790.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_757_757" id="vol3Footnote_757_757"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_757_757"><span class="label">[757]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 783.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_758_758" id="vol3Footnote_758_758"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_758_758"><span class="label">[758]</span></a> The Democratic State convention convened on August 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_759_759" id="vol3Footnote_759_759"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_759_759"><span class="label">[759]</span></a> Utica <i>Herald</i>, August 31, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_760_760" id="vol3Footnote_760_760"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_760_760"><span class="label">[760]</span></a> For Seymour's letter, see New York papers of September +5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_761_761" id="vol3Footnote_761_761"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_761_761"><span class="label">[761]</span></a> The ballot stood: Potter, 106½; Robinson, 192½; +scattering, 59. Necessary to a choice, 191. Before its announcement +changes gave Robinson 243½. +</p><p> +The ticket was as follows: Governor, Lucius Robinson, Chemung; +Lieutenant-Governor, William Dorsheimer, Erie; Court of Appeals, +Robert Earl, Herkimer; Canal Commissioner, Darius A. Ogden, Yates; +Prison Inspector, Robert H. Anderson, Kings.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_762_762" id="vol3Footnote_762_762"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_762_762"><span class="label">[762]</span></a> On March 15, several disaffected Democrats met at +Syracuse and organised a Greenback party, which opposed the resumption +of specie payment and favoured legal tender notes as the standard of +value. A second convention, held in New York City on June 1, selected +four delegates-at-large to the Democratic national convention, and a +third, meeting at Albany on September 26, nominated Richard M. Griffin +for governor. Other State nominations were made by the +Prohibitionists, Albert J. Groo being selected for governor.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_763_763" id="vol3Footnote_763_763"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_763_763"><span class="label">[763]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1876, pp. 785, 786.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_764_764" id="vol3Footnote_764_764"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_764_764"><span class="label">[764]</span></a> Delivered at Utica, October 3. See New York papers, +October 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_765_765" id="vol3Footnote_765_765"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_765_765"><span class="label">[765]</span></a> It was claimed that in 1862 Tilden had a net income of +$89,000. He made oath to $7,118, and afterward acknowledged receiving +$20,000 in the Terre Haute Railroad case. He alleged that this covered +the work of several years. Moreover, that his income-producing +property was largely in railroad stocks, bonds, and other securities +on which the tax was deducted by the companies before the interest and +dividends were paid.—Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 2, p. 232; see +also, <i>Nation</i>, September 22, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_766_766" id="vol3Footnote_766_766"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_766_766"><span class="label">[766]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, 1876, pp. 828, 885, 906, 907.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_767_767" id="vol3Footnote_767_767"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_767_767"><span class="label">[767]</span></a> "The amount of the State tax for 1876 was +$8,529,174.32, against $14,206,680.61 in 1875, and $15,727,482.08 in +1874." Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1876, p. 598.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_768_768" id="vol3Footnote_768_768"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_768_768"><span class="label">[768]</span></a> Tilden, plurality, 32,742; Robinson, 30,460. Groo, +total vote, 3,412 (Prohibitionist); Griffin, 1,436 (Greenback). +Congress, 17 Republicans, 16 Democrats. Assembly, 71 Republicans, 57 +Democrats. Ely's majority for mayor of New York City, 53,517. Tilden's +majority in New York City, 53,682. +</p><p> +Republican losses occurred chiefly in the Hudson River and western +counties. Elbridge G. Spaulding of Buffalo, and Levi P. Morton of New +York, were defeated for Congress.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_769_769" id="vol3Footnote_769_769"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_769_769"><span class="label">[769]</span></a> Manton Marble visited Florida. On November 22, under +the <i>sobriquet</i> "Moses," he telegraphed in cipher to William T. +Pelton, Tilden's nephew, then domiciled in Tilden's home at 15 +Gramercy Park: "Have just received proposition to hand over a Tilden +decision of Board and certificate of Governor for $200,000." Pelton +thought it too much, and Marble again telegraphed that one Elector +could be secured for $50,000. Pelton replied that he "could not draw +until the vote of the Elector was received." On December 5, Marble +wired: "Proposition failed.... Tell Tilden to saddle Blackstone." +</p><p> +Smith M. Weed visited South Carolina. On November 16, without the use +of cipher or <i>sobriquet</i>, he telegraphed Henry Havermeyer: "Board +demand $75,000 for two or three electors." Later in the day he added: +"Looks now as though $75,000 would secure all seven votes." The next +day he wired: "Press everywhere. No certainty here. Simply a hope." On +November 18, he announced: "Majority of Board secured. Cost $80,000. +Send one parcel of $65,000; one of $10,000; one of $5,000. All to be +in $1000 or $500 bills. Have cash ready to reach Baltimore Sunday +night." Pelton met Weed at Baltimore without the money and both went +to New York to secure it. Meantime, the canvassing board reported in +favour of Hayes. +</p><p> +Pelton also corresponded with one J.N.H. Patrick, who telegraphed from +Oregon: "Must purchase Republican elector to recognise and act with +the Democrat, and secure vote to prevent trouble. Deposit $10,000 to +my credit." Pelton replied: "If you will make obligation contingent on +result in March it will be done." Patrick said fee could not be made +contingent, whereupon $8,000 was deposited on January 1, 1877, to his +credit, but too late to complete the transaction. +</p><p> +When these telegrams, translated by the New York <i>Tribune</i>, were +investigated by the Potter Congressional committee in January, 1879, +Marble testified that he transmitted them simply "as danger signals"; +Weed admitted and attempted to justify; Pelton accepted the full +responsibility, intending, he said, to get the money of Edward Cooper; +Cooper testified that the telegram requesting $80,000 sent to +Baltimore was his first knowledge of Pelton's activity; that he +immediately informed Tilden, who recalled his nephew and put a stop to +negotiations. Tilden swore that "no offer, no negotiation in behalf of +any member of any Returning Board was ever entertained by me, or by my +authority, or with my sanction.... There never was a moment in which I +ever entertained any idea of seeking to obtain those certificates by +any venal inducement, any promise of money or office, to the men who +had them to grant or dispose of. My purpose on that subject was +perfectly distinct, invariable, and it was generally assumed by all my +friends without discussion. It may have sometimes been expressed and +whenever the slightest occasion arose for it to be discussed, it was +expressed. It was never deviated from in word or act."—Testimony in +relation to Cipher Telegraphic Dispatches, pp. 200-274; see also, +Bigelow's <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 2, pp. 180-223.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_770_770" id="vol3Footnote_770_770"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_770_770"><span class="label">[770]</span></a> From an editorial signed by Henry Watterson, January 8, +1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_771_771" id="vol3Footnote_771_771"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_771_771"><span class="label">[771]</span></a> Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 7, p. +243.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_772_772" id="vol3Footnote_772_772"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_772_772"><span class="label">[772]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, June 25, 1885.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_773_773" id="vol3Footnote_773_773"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_773_773"><span class="label">[773]</span></a> Upon this committee Conkling was substituted in place +of Logan, detained at home. Abram S. Hewitt was one of the House +appointees.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_774_774" id="vol3Footnote_774_774"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_774_774"><span class="label">[774]</span></a> Clifford and Field were accounted Democrats, and Miller +and Strong, Republicans.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_775_775" id="vol3Footnote_775_775"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_775_775"><span class="label">[775]</span></a> Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 2, p. 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_776_776" id="vol3Footnote_776_776"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_776_776"><span class="label">[776]</span></a> Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, pp. 67-74.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_777_777" id="vol3Footnote_777_777"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_777_777"><span class="label">[777]</span></a> Manton Marble to the New York <i>Sun</i>, August 5, 1878.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_778_778" id="vol3Footnote_778_778"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_778_778"><span class="label">[778]</span></a> Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 2, p. 76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_779_779" id="vol3Footnote_779_779"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_779_779"><span class="label">[779]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 76, 79, 80.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_780_780" id="vol3Footnote_780_780"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_780_780"><span class="label">[780]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, January 2, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_781_781" id="vol3Footnote_781_781"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_781_781"><span class="label">[781]</span></a> January 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_782_782" id="vol3Footnote_782_782"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_782_782"><span class="label">[782]</span></a> Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 2, p. 74, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_783_783" id="vol3Footnote_783_783"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_783_783"><span class="label">[783]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_784_784" id="vol3Footnote_784_784"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_784_784"><span class="label">[784]</span></a> Blaine, <i>Twenty Tears of Congress</i>, Vol. 2, p. 584. +Morrison of Illinois declared that Davis' "most intimate friends, +among whom I may count myself, don't know to-day whether he favored +Tilden or Hayes. He didn't vote at all."—<i>Century Magazine</i>, October, +1901, p. 928.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_785_785" id="vol3Footnote_785_785"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_785_785"><span class="label">[785]</span></a> Senate: For, 26 Democrats, 21 Republicans; against, 16 +Republicans, 1 Democrat. House: For, 160 Democrats, 31 Republicans; +against, 69 Republicans, 17 Democrats.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_786_786" id="vol3Footnote_786_786"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_786_786"><span class="label">[786]</span></a> <i>Century Magazine</i>, October, 1901, p. 933.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_787_787" id="vol3Footnote_787_787"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_787_787"><span class="label">[787]</span></a> Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 2, p. 64, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_788_788" id="vol3Footnote_788_788"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_788_788"><span class="label">[788]</span></a> "General Grant sent for Senator Conkling, and said with +deep earnestness: 'This matter is a serious one, and the people feel +it very deeply. I think this Electoral Commission ought to be +appointed.' Conkling answered: 'Mr. President, Senator Morton' (who +was then the acknowledged leader of the Senate), 'is opposed to it and +opposed to your efforts; but if you wish the Commission carried, I can +help do it.' Grant said: 'I wish it done.'"—George W. Childs, +<i>Recollections</i>, pp. 79, 80.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_789_789" id="vol3Footnote_789_789"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_789_789"><span class="label">[789]</span></a> Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, p. 521.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_790_790" id="vol3Footnote_790_790"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_790_790"><span class="label">[790]</span></a> Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 7, p. +263.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_791_791" id="vol3Footnote_791_791"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_791_791"><span class="label">[791]</span></a> Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 2, p. 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_792_792" id="vol3Footnote_792_792"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_792_792"><span class="label">[792]</span></a> "In all his political official life the most important +vote which he [Conkling] has been or can be called upon to give—that +upon the Louisiana electoral question—he evaded."—<i>Harper's Weekly</i>, +February 8, 1879.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_793_793" id="vol3Footnote_793_793"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_793_793"><span class="label">[793]</span></a> "He [Conkling] was at the time most suspected by the +Republicans, who feared that his admitted dislike to Hayes would cause +him to favour a bill which would secure the return of Tilden."—Thomas +V. Cooper and Hector T. Fenton, <i>American Politics</i>, p. 230; see also, +Rhodes, <i>History of the United States</i>, Vol. 7, p. 263.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_794_794" id="vol3Footnote_794_794"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_794_794"><span class="label">[794]</span></a> Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 2, p. 84. +</p><p> +"Mr. Conkling felt that neither Mr. Tilden nor Mr. Hayes should be +inaugurated."—Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, p. 528.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_795_795" id="vol3Footnote_795_795"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_795_795"><span class="label">[795]</span></a> Letter of Stanley Matthews and Charles Foster, dated +February 17, 1877.—Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1877, p. 459.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_796_796" id="vol3Footnote_796_796"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_796_796"><span class="label">[796]</span></a> This commission consisted of Charles B. Lawrence, +Joseph B. Hawley, John M. Harlan, John C. Brown, and Wayne +McVeigh.—<i>Ibid.</i>, p. 465.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_797_797" id="vol3Footnote_797_797"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_797_797"><span class="label">[797]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 456-465. Packard became consul to +Liverpool.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_798_798" id="vol3Footnote_798_798"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_798_798"><span class="label">[798]</span></a> The commission reported the Packard government's +insistence that the Legislature of 1870 had the power to create a +Returning Board with all the authority with which the Act clothed it, +and that the Supreme Court of the State had affirmed its +constitutionality. On the other hand, the Nichols government admitted +the Legislature's right to confide to a Returning Board the +appointment of electors for President and Vice-President, but denied +its power to modify the constitutional provision for counting the vote +for governor without first amending the State Constitution, declaring +the Supreme Court's decision to the contrary not to be +authoritative.—Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1877, pp. 403-404.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_799_799" id="vol3Footnote_799_799"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_799_799"><span class="label">[799]</span></a> Durrell, a United States Circuit judge, sustained +Kellogg in his contest with McEnery.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_800_800" id="vol3Footnote_800_800"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_800_800"><span class="label">[800]</span></a> "The President directs me to say that he does not +believe public opinion will longer support the maintenance of the +State government in Louisiana by the use of the military, and he must +concur in this manifest feeling." Grant's telegram to Packard, dated +Mar. 1, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_801_801" id="vol3Footnote_801_801"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_801_801"><span class="label">[801]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 10, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_802_802" id="vol3Footnote_802_802"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_802_802"><span class="label">[802]</span></a> The first step towards a change in the manner of +appointments and removals was a bill introduced in Congress on +December 20, 1865, by Thomas A. Jenckes of Rhode Island "to regulate +the civil service of the United States." A few months later Senator B. +Gratz Brown of Missouri submitted a resolution for "such change in the +civil service as shall secure appointments to the same after previous +examinations by proper Boards, and as shall provide for promotions on +the score of merit or seniority." On March 3, 1871, Congress appended +a section to an appropriation bill, authorising the President to +"prescribe such regulations for the admission of persons into the +civil service as may best promote efficiency therein and ascertain the +fitness of each candidate in respect to age, health, character, +knowledge and ability for the branch of service in which he seeks to +enter; and for this purpose he may employ suitable persons to conduct +such inquiries, prescribe their duties, and establish regulations for +the conduct of persons who may receive appointments." Under this +authority President Grant organised a commission composed of George +William Curtis, Joseph Medill, Alexander C. Cattell, Davidson A. +Walker, E.B. Ellicott, Joseph H. Blackfan, and David C. Cox. This +commission soon found that Congress was indisposed to clothe them with +the requisite power, and although in the three years from 1872 to +1875, they had established the entire soundness of the reform, an +appropriation to continue the work was refused and the labours of the +commission came to an end.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_803_803" id="vol3Footnote_803_803"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_803_803"><span class="label">[803]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, June 25, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_804_804" id="vol3Footnote_804_804"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_804_804"><span class="label">[804]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 28, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_805_805" id="vol3Footnote_805_805"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_805_805"><span class="label">[805]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_806_806" id="vol3Footnote_806_806"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_806_806"><span class="label">[806]</span></a> In his speech at Woodstock, Conn., on July 4, Blaine +disapproved the President's action; a gathering of Republicans in New +Jersey, celebrating the return of Robeson from a foreign tour, +indicated an unfriendly disposition; the Camerons of Pennsylvania, +father and son, exhibited dissent; one branch of the New Hampshire +Legislature tabled a resolution approving the President's course; and +an early Republican State convention in Iowa indirectly condemned it.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_807_807" id="vol3Footnote_807_807"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_807_807"><span class="label">[807]</span></a> In H.R. 45th Cong., 3d Sess., No. 140, p. 48 (Potter +report) is a list of those connected with the Louisiana count +"subsequently appointed to or retained in office."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_808_808" id="vol3Footnote_808_808"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_808_808"><span class="label">[808]</span></a> These conventions occurred as follows: Ohio, August 2; +Maine, August 9; Pennsylvania, September 6; Wisconsin, September 12; +Massachusetts, September 20; New Jersey, September 25. See New York +papers on the day following each.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_809_809" id="vol3Footnote_809_809"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_809_809"><span class="label">[809]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, February 28, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_810_810" id="vol3Footnote_810_810"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_810_810"><span class="label">[810]</span></a> "Platt and I imbibed politics with our earliest +nutriment. I was on the stump the year I became a voter, and so was +he. I was doing the part of a campaign orator and he was chief of the +campaign glee club. The speech amounted to little in those days unless +it was assisted by the glee club. In fact the glee club largely drew +the audience and held it. The favorite song of that day was 'John +Brown's Body,' and the very heights of ecstatic applause were reached +when Brother Platt's fine tenor voice rang through the arches of the +building or the trees of the woodland, carrying the refrain, 'We'll +hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree, while John Brown's soul goes +marching on.'"—Chauncey M. Depew, <i>Speeches</i>, 1896 to 1902, p. 237.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_811_811" id="vol3Footnote_811_811"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_811_811"><span class="label">[811]</span></a> The vote stood 311 to 110 in favour of the motion.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_812_812" id="vol3Footnote_812_812"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_812_812"><span class="label">[812]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1877, pp. 562-563.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_813_813" id="vol3Footnote_813_813"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_813_813"><span class="label">[813]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_814_814" id="vol3Footnote_814_814"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_814_814"><span class="label">[814]</span></a> Curtis declined chiefly from the motive ascribed in +Lowell's lines: +</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p> +"At courts, in senates, who so fit to serve?<br /> +And both invited, but you would not swerve,<br /> +All meaner prizes waiving that you might<br /> +In civic duty spend your heat and light,<br /> +Unpaid, untrammelled, with a sweet disdain.<br /> +Refusing posts men grovel to attain."<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">—<i>Lowell's Poems</i>, Vol. 4, pp. 138-139.</span><br /> +</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_815_815" id="vol3Footnote_815_815"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_815_815"><span class="label">[815]</span></a> See <a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XII">Chapter XII.</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.166">p. 166</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_816_816" id="vol3Footnote_816_816"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_816_816"><span class="label">[816]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 27, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_817_817" id="vol3Footnote_817_817"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_817_817"><span class="label">[817]</span></a> "He [Conkling] never linked his name with any important +principle or policy."—<i>Political Recollections</i>, George W. Julian, p. +359. +</p><p> +"Strictly speaking Senator Conkling was not an originator of +legislative measures. He introduced few bills which became laws. He +was not an originator, but a moulder of legislation.... It may be said +that during his last seven years in the Senate, no other member of +that body has, since the time of Webster and Clay, exercised so much +influence on legislation."—Alfred R. Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, +pp. 645-649.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_818_818" id="vol3Footnote_818_818"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_818_818"><span class="label">[818]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, March 11, 1876. For other editorials +referred to, see February 5; April 8, 15, 29; May 20; June 3, 17, +1876; March 24; April 21; July 21; August 11; September 22, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_819_819" id="vol3Footnote_819_819"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_819_819"><span class="label">[819]</span></a> Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, pp. 538-549; New York +<i>Tribune</i>, October 1, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_820_820" id="vol3Footnote_820_820"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_820_820"><span class="label">[820]</span></a> After the death of Thomas B. Reed of Maine, this speech +was found in his scrap-book among the masterpieces of sarcasm and +invective.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_821_821" id="vol3Footnote_821_821"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_821_821"><span class="label">[821]</span></a> White, <i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 1, p. 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_822_822" id="vol3Footnote_822_822"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_822_822"><span class="label">[822]</span></a> "Because half-a-dozen grasshoppers under a fern make +the field ring with their importunate chink, while thousands of great +cattle beneath the shadow of the British oak chew the cud and are +silent, pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only +inhabitants of the field, that of course they are many in number, or +that, after all, they are other than the little, shrivelled, meagre, +hopping, though loud and troublesome, insects of the hour."—Edmund +Burke. George H. Jennings, <i>Anecdotal History of the British +Parliament</i>, p. 159.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_823_823" id="vol3Footnote_823_823"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_823_823"><span class="label">[823]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i> (correspondence), September 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_824_824" id="vol3Footnote_824_824"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_824_824"><span class="label">[824]</span></a> Alfred R. Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, p. 540.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_825_825" id="vol3Footnote_825_825"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_825_825"><span class="label">[825]</span></a> Edward Cary, <i>Life of Curtis</i>, p. 258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_826_826" id="vol3Footnote_826_826"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_826_826"><span class="label">[826]</span></a> Curtis's amendment was defeated by 311 to 110.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_827_827" id="vol3Footnote_827_827"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_827_827"><span class="label">[827]</span></a> The candidates were: Secretary of State, John C. +Churchill, Oswego; Comptroller, Francis Sylvester, Columbia; +Treasurer, William L. Bostwick, Ithaca; Attorney-General, Grenville +Tremaine, Albany; Engineer, Howard Soule, Onondaga.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_828_828" id="vol3Footnote_828_828"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_828_828"><span class="label">[828]</span></a> The Democratic State convention met at Albany on +October 3, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_829_829" id="vol3Footnote_829_829"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_829_829"><span class="label">[829]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 1, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_830_830" id="vol3Footnote_830_830"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_830_830"><span class="label">[830]</span></a> "The man who has been the most effective organiser of +corruption strikes boldly for release. He is arrayed as an element in +the combination which attacks the Governor and Democratic State +officers, and which seeks to reverse their policy."—Albany <i>Argus</i>, +October 4, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_831_831" id="vol3Footnote_831_831"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_831_831"><span class="label">[831]</span></a> "How the Kelly faction got control of the Democratic +convention and used it for the supposed benefit of Kelly is hardly +worth trying to tell. A description of the intrigues of a parcel of +vulgar tricksters is neither edifying nor entertaining reading."—The +<i>Nation</i>, October 11, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_832_832" id="vol3Footnote_832_832"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_832_832"><span class="label">[832]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 4, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_833_833" id="vol3Footnote_833_833"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_833_833"><span class="label">[833]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 4. +</p><p> +"The defeat of Bigelow and Fairchild will be the triumph of the +reactionists who think that the golden era of the State was in the +days before thieves were chastised and driven out of the Capital and +State House."—Albany <i>Argus</i>, October 4, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_834_834" id="vol3Footnote_834_834"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_834_834"><span class="label">[834]</span></a> Secretary of State, Allen C. Beach, Jefferson; +Comptroller, Frederick P. Olcott, Albany; Treasurer, James Mackin, +Dutchess; Attorney-General, Augustus Schoonmaker, Jr., Ulster; +Engineer, Horatio Seymour, Jr., Oneida. +</p><p> +On October 6, a convention of Labor Reformers, held at Troy, nominated +a State ticket with John J. Junio for Secretary of State. The +Prohibition and Greenback parties also nominated State officers, Henry +Hagner and Francis E. Spinner being their candidates for secretary of +state. The Social Democrats likewise presented a ticket with James +McIntosh at its head.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_835_835" id="vol3Footnote_835_835"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_835_835"><span class="label">[835]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_836_836" id="vol3Footnote_836_836"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_836_836"><span class="label">[836]</span></a> This meeting was held in New York City on October 10. +See New York papers of the 11th.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_837_837" id="vol3Footnote_837_837"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_837_837"><span class="label">[837]</span></a> "The Utica <i>Republican</i> is an aggressive sheet. It +calls George William Curtis 'the Apostle of Swash.'"—New York +<i>Tribune</i>, October 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_838_838" id="vol3Footnote_838_838"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_838_838"><span class="label">[838]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, November 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_839_839" id="vol3Footnote_839_839"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_839_839"><span class="label">[839]</span></a> Democrats elected a governor by 22,520 plurality and +carried the Legislature by forty on joint ballot.—Appleton's +<i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1877, p. 621.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_840_840" id="vol3Footnote_840_840"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_840_840"><span class="label">[840]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 3, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_841_841" id="vol3Footnote_841_841"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_841_841"><span class="label">[841]</span></a> Total vote of John J. Junio (Labour Reformer), 20,282; +Henry Hagner (Prohibitionist), 7,230; John McIntosh (Social Democrat), +1,799; Francis E. Spinner (Greenback), 997.—Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, +1877, p. 566.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_842_842" id="vol3Footnote_842_842"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_842_842"><span class="label">[842]</span></a> "We elected our district attorney by 2,336 majority, +but the candidate for State senator, who was known to represent +Senator Conkling, although personally popular and most deserving, was +beaten by 1,133.... It is fair to say that the unpopularity of the +federal office-holders, who are Mr. Conkling's most zealous +supporters, is in part the cause of this remarkable result." Interview +of Ellis H. Roberts.—New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 10, 1877. +</p><p> +"The energies of all the opposition to me were concentrated upon that +district. I believe Tammany and the lofty coterie of Republican +gentlemen in this city (New York) threw money into my district to +carry it against me.... Had we been sufficiently aroused and sagacious +we could have defeated this manœuvre, but we found out too late. We +sent the tickets to the polls, in the ward in which I live, at +daylight, as did the Democrats. Not one of our tickets was found at +the polls. They were all thrown into the canal." Interview with +Conkling.—New York <i>Herald</i>, November 9, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_843_843" id="vol3Footnote_843_843"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_843_843"><span class="label">[843]</span></a> The Legislature of 1878 had in the Senate: 18 +Republicans, 13 Democrats, 1 Independent; in the Assembly: 66 +Republicans, 61 Democrats, 1 Independent.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_844_844" id="vol3Footnote_844_844"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_844_844"><span class="label">[844]</span></a> Tammany elected its entire county ticket. Its majority +for the State ticket was 30,520.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_845_845" id="vol3Footnote_845_845"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_845_845"><span class="label">[845]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, May 2, 1878.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_846_846" id="vol3Footnote_846_846"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_846_846"><span class="label">[846]</span></a> The Utica <i>Republican</i>, July 1, 1878.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_847_847" id="vol3Footnote_847_847"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_847_847"><span class="label">[847]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i> (correspondence), September 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_848_848" id="vol3Footnote_848_848"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_848_848"><span class="label">[848]</span></a> A single roll-call resulted as follows: George F. +Danforth, Monroe, 226; Joshua M. Van Cott, Kings, 99; George Parsons, +Westchester, 79. The Prohibition State convention, which assembled at +Albany on April 24, had nominated Van Cott.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_849_849" id="vol3Footnote_849_849"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_849_849"><span class="label">[849]</span></a> "The Democratic convention at Syracuse was perhaps the +noisiest, most rowdy, ill-natured, and riotous body of men which ever +represented the ruling party of a great Commonwealth."—The <i>Nation</i>, +October 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_850_850" id="vol3Footnote_850_850"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_850_850"><span class="label">[850]</span></a> Cooper had resigned from Tammany in 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_851_851" id="vol3Footnote_851_851"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_851_851"><span class="label">[851]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1878, p. 624.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_852_852" id="vol3Footnote_852_852"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_852_852"><span class="label">[852]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, October 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_853_853" id="vol3Footnote_853_853"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_853_853"><span class="label">[853]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1878, p. 623.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_854_854" id="vol3Footnote_854_854"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_854_854"><span class="label">[854]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 8 and 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_855_855" id="vol3Footnote_855_855"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_855_855"><span class="label">[855]</span></a> See <a href="#vol3CHAPTER_XXVII">Chapter XXVII.</a>, pp. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.351">351</a>, note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_856_856" id="vol3Footnote_856_856"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_856_856"><span class="label">[856]</span></a> October 24, 1878.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_857_857" id="vol3Footnote_857_857"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_857_857"><span class="label">[857]</span></a> On May 13, 1878, Congressman Potter of New York secured +the appointment of a committee of eleven to investigate alleged frauds +in the Florida and Louisiana Returning Boards, with authority to send +for persons and papers. He refused to widen the scope of the +investigation to include all the States, presumably to avoid the +damaging evidence already known relating to Pelton's effort to secure +a presidential elector in Oregon. The <i>Tribune's</i> timely exposure of +the telegrams turned the investigation into a Democratic boomerang.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_858_858" id="vol3Footnote_858_858"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_858_858"><span class="label">[858]</span></a> In reference to Kelly's despotic rule see speeches of +Anti-Tammany opponents in New York <i>Tribune</i> (first page), October 31, +1878.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_859_859" id="vol3Footnote_859_859"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_859_859"><span class="label">[859]</span></a> Myers, <i>History of Tammany</i>, p. 310.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_860_860" id="vol3Footnote_860_860"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_860_860"><span class="label">[860]</span></a> Danforth, Republican, 391,112; Bradley, Democrat, +356,451; Tucker, National, 75,133; Van Cott, Prohibitionist, 4,294. +Assembly: Republicans, 98; Democrats, 28; Nationals, 2. Congress: +Republicans, 26; Democrats, 7. Cooper over Schell, 19,361.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_861_861" id="vol3Footnote_861_861"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_861_861"><span class="label">[861]</span></a> The following table gave great offense: +</p> + +<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="population"> +<tbody> +<tr><td class="center">Democratic Districts.</td><td class="center">Counties.</td><td class="center">Population.</td><td class="center">Republican Districts.</td><td class="center">Counties.</td><td class="center">Population.</td></tr> +<tr><td>3d</td><td>Kings</td><td class="right">292,258</td><td>20th</td><td>Herkimer, Otsego</td><td class="right">89,338</td></tr> +<tr><td>8th</td><td>New York</td><td class="right">235,482</td><td>18th</td><td>Jefferson, Lewis</td><td class="right">90,596</td></tr> +<tr><td>7th</td><td>New York</td><td class="right">173,225</td><td>26th</td><td>Ontario, Yates, Seneca</td><td class="right">91,064</td></tr> +<tr><td>2d</td><td>Kings</td><td class="right">172,725</td><td>16th</td><td>Clinton, Essex, Warren</td><td class="right">101,327</td></tr> +<tr><td>9th</td><td>New York</td><td class="right">167,530</td><td>27th</td><td>Cayuga, Wayne</td><td class="right">106,120</td></tr> +</tbody> +</table> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_862_862" id="vol3Footnote_862_862"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_862_862"><span class="label">[862]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1879, p. 672.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_863_863" id="vol3Footnote_863_863"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_863_863"><span class="label">[863]</span></a> Sharpe's term having expired he had withdrawn his +application for reappointment.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_864_864" id="vol3Footnote_864_864"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_864_864"><span class="label">[864]</span></a> "You remember, don't you, what Orville Baker told us +about Arthur's two passions, as he heard them discussed at Sam Ward's +dinner in New York? New coats being one, he then having ordered +twenty-five from his tailor since the New Year came in."—Mrs. James +G. Blaine, <i>Letters</i> (January 28, 1882), Vol. 1, p. 294.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_865_865" id="vol3Footnote_865_865"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_865_865"><span class="label">[865]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 22, 1871. See also, +<i>Ibid.</i>, November 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_866_866" id="vol3Footnote_866_866"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_866_866"><span class="label">[866]</span></a> See his letters to the Secretary of the Treasury, New +York <i>Tribune</i>, January 28, 1879.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_867_867" id="vol3Footnote_867_867"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_867_867"><span class="label">[867]</span></a> In his testimony before the Jay Commission, Arthur +spoke of "10,000 applicants," backed and pressed upon him with +unabated energy by the most prominent men "all over the country."—New +York <i>Tribune</i>, July 28, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_868_868" id="vol3Footnote_868_868"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_868_868"><span class="label">[868]</span></a> Arthur was offered an appointment as consul-general to +Paris.—See Theodore E. Burton, <i>Life of John Sherman</i>, p. 294.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_869_869" id="vol3Footnote_869_869"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_869_869"><span class="label">[869]</span></a> New York <i>Herald</i>, November 9, 1877. Respecting this +interview Conkling made a personal explanation in the Senate, in which +he said: "Though some of the remarks in question may at some time have +been made in private casual conversations, others of them never +proceeded from me at any time."—New York <i>Tribune</i>, November 13. It +is assumed that the portions quoted above, taken from a three-column +interview, are substantially correct, since they are corroborated by +several persons now living (1908) who heard the Senator's expressions. +See, also, Alfred R. Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, pp. 552-554. +</p><p> +"Mr. Conkling, in all his conversations, seemed to consider men who +differed from him as enemies of the human race."—White, +<i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 1, p. 188. +</p><p> +"Conkling spoke with great severity of President Hayes, and said he +hoped it would be the last time that any man would attempt to steal +the presidency."—Hoar, <i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 2, p. 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_870_870" id="vol3Footnote_870_870"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_870_870"><span class="label">[870]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, December 8, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_871_871" id="vol3Footnote_871_871"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_871_871"><span class="label">[871]</span></a> Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, p. 373.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_872_872" id="vol3Footnote_872_872"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_872_872"><span class="label">[872]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, December 22, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_873_873" id="vol3Footnote_873_873"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_873_873"><span class="label">[873]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, December 17, 1878.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_874_874" id="vol3Footnote_874_874"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_874_874"><span class="label">[874]</span></a> Theodore Roosevelt died on February 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_875_875" id="vol3Footnote_875_875"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_875_875"><span class="label">[875]</span></a> The strength of the anti-Conkling sentiment was clearly +shown in the contest for speaker of the Assembly. Thomas G. Alvord +received 52 votes to 43 for George B. Sloan of Oswego. Although Sloan +and his supporters declared for Conkling, Alvord was confessedly the +Conkling candidate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_876_876" id="vol3Footnote_876_876"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_876_876"><span class="label">[876]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i> (correspondence), February 1, 1879.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_877_877" id="vol3Footnote_877_877"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_877_877"><span class="label">[877]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, January 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_878_878" id="vol3Footnote_878_878"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_878_878"><span class="label">[878]</span></a> These exhibits made a document of 423 pages, of which +308 were extracts from the testimony taken by the Jay Commission, then +published for the first time.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_879_879" id="vol3Footnote_879_879"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_879_879"><span class="label">[879]</span></a> Cooper, <i>American Politics</i>, Book 3, pp. 176-186.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_880_880" id="vol3Footnote_880_880"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_880_880"><span class="label">[880]</span></a> The extra session of Congress adjourned July 1, 1879.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_881_881" id="vol3Footnote_881_881"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_881_881"><span class="label">[881]</span></a> On August 29, the State convention of Nationals +assembled at Utica, and nominated Harris Lewis of Herkimer, for +governor. The platform opposed National banks and demanded an issue of +greenbacks at the rate of $50 per capita, at least. Lewis, who had +been a member of the Assembly twenty years before, was president of +the Farmers' Alliance. +</p><p> +The State Prohibition convention met at Syracuse, September 3, and +nominated a full State ticket, with John W. Mears of Oneida, for +governor. The platform declared the license system the cornerstone of +the liquor traffic and favoured woman suffrage.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_882_882" id="vol3Footnote_882_882"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_882_882"><span class="label">[882]</span></a> "The only complaint that his friends have ever made of +Mr. Wheeler is that his generous nature forbids him, politically, to +fight. Had he been willing to lead in the State convention in 1879, it +would have had a different result."—<i>Harper's Weekly</i>, March 26, +1881.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_883_883" id="vol3Footnote_883_883"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_883_883"><span class="label">[883]</span></a> Among the more influential Republican editors, who +wrote with rare intelligence, representing both factions of the party, +may be mentioned Charles E. Smith, Albany <i>Journal</i>; Carroll E. Smith, +Syracuse <i>Journal</i>; Ellis H. Roberts, Utica <i>Herald</i>; James N. +Matthews, Buffalo <i>Express</i>; S. Newton Dexter North, Albany <i>Express</i>; +Whitelaw Reid, New York <i>Tribune</i>; John H. Selkreg, Ithaca <i>Journal</i>; +John M. Francis, Troy <i>Times</i>; Beman Brockway, Watertown <i>Times</i>; +Charles E. Fitch, Rochester <i>Democrat-Chronicle</i>; George William +Curtis, <i>Harper's Weekly</i>; Charles G. Fairman, Elmira <i>Advertiser</i>; +William Edward Foster, Buffalo <i>Commercial</i>; George Dawson, Albany +<i>Journal</i>; Lewis J. Jennings, New York <i>Times</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_884_884" id="vol3Footnote_884_884"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_884_884"><span class="label">[884]</span></a> The sale of a condition powder for cattle started +Starin on the road to wealth, which soon discovered itself in the +ownership of canal, river, and harbour boats, until he became known as +High Admiral of the Commerce of New York. Like success attended his +railroad operations.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_885_885" id="vol3Footnote_885_885"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_885_885"><span class="label">[885]</span></a> Pomeroy was district-attorney of his County, 1851-56; +in the Assembly, 1857; in Congress, 1861-69, being elected speaker in +place of Colfax on the day the latter retired to be sworn in as +Vice-President; mayor of Auburn, 1875-76; State Senate, 1878-79.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_886_886" id="vol3Footnote_886_886"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_886_886"><span class="label">[886]</span></a> Whole number of votes cast, 450. Necessary to a choice, +226. Cornell received 234; Robertson, 106; Starin, 40; Pomeroy, 35; +Hiscock, 34; Sloan, 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_887_887" id="vol3Footnote_887_887"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_887_887"><span class="label">[887]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, October 25, 1879.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_888_888" id="vol3Footnote_888_888"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_888_888"><span class="label">[888]</span></a> New York <i>Sun</i>, September 8. +</p><p> +The following candidates were nominated: Governor, Alonzo B. Cornell, +New York; Lieutenant-Governor, George G. Hoskins, Wyoming; Secretary +of State, Joseph B. Carr, Rensselaer; Comptroller, James W. Wadsworth, +Livingston; Attorney-General, Hamilton Ward, Allegany; Treasurer, +Nathan D. Wendell, Albany; Engineer, Howard Soule, Onondaga.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_889_889" id="vol3Footnote_889_889"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_889_889"><span class="label">[889]</span></a> New York <i>Star</i>, Sept. 17, 1879.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_890_890" id="vol3Footnote_890_890"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_890_890"><span class="label">[890]</span></a> New York <i>Sun</i>, Sept. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_891_891" id="vol3Footnote_891_891"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_891_891"><span class="label">[891]</span></a> In the early forties Manning began as an office-boy on +the Albany <i>Atlas</i>, and in 1865, as associate editor of the <i>Argus</i>, +he dominated its policy. Upon the death of James Cassidy, in 1873, he +succeeded to the presidency of the company with which he continued +throughout his life.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_892_892" id="vol3Footnote_892_892"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_892_892"><span class="label">[892]</span></a> After service on the New York <i>World</i>, and the Brooklyn +<i>Eagle</i>, McKelway became chief editor of the <i>Argus</i> in 1878. He +rejoined the <i>Eagle</i> in 1885. Among other accomplished editors who +made their journals conspicuous in party (Democratic) and State from +1865 to 1880, may be mentioned William Cassidy, Albany <i>Argus</i>; Thomas +Kinsella, Brooklyn <i>Eagle</i>; Joseph Warren and David Gray, Buffalo +<i>Courier</i>; Samuel M. Shaw, Cooperstown <i>Freeman's Journal</i>; James and +Erastus Brooks, New York <i>Express</i>; Benjamin Wood, New York <i>News</i>; +Manton Marble and Joseph Pulitzer, New York <i>World</i>; William Purcell, +Rochester <i>Union-Advertiser</i>; Henry A. Reeves, Greenport <i>Republican +Watchman</i>; E. Prentiss Bailey, Utica <i>Observer</i>. Although previously +of Democratic tendencies, the New York <i>Herald</i>, by 1865, had become +wholly independent.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_893_893" id="vol3Footnote_893_893"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_893_893"><span class="label">[893]</span></a> The platform, which dealt mainly with State issues, +repeated the fraud-cry of 1876, advocated hard money, and upheld the +Democratic programme in Congress.—See Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1879, +p. 680.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_894_894" id="vol3Footnote_894_894"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_894_894"><span class="label">[894]</span></a> See New York papers of September 12, 1879.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_895_895" id="vol3Footnote_895_895"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_895_895"><span class="label">[895]</span></a> The ticket presented was as follows: Governor, Lucius +Robinson, Chemung; Lieutenant-Governor, Clarkson N. Potter, New York; +Secretary of State, Allen C. Beach, Jefferson; Comptroller, Frederick +P. Olcott, New York; Treasurer, James Mackin, Dutchess; +Attorney-General, Augustus Schoonmaker, Ulster; State Engineer, +Horatio Seymour, Jr., Oneida.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_896_896" id="vol3Footnote_896_896"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_896_896"><span class="label">[896]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, October 4, 1879.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_897_897" id="vol3Footnote_897_897"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_897_897"><span class="label">[897]</span></a> New York papers, October 10, 1879.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_898_898" id="vol3Footnote_898_898"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_898_898"><span class="label">[898]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, November 8, 1879.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_899_899" id="vol3Footnote_899_899"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_899_899"><span class="label">[899]</span></a> Cooper Union speech, October 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_900_900" id="vol3Footnote_900_900"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_900_900"><span class="label">[900]</span></a> October 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_901_901" id="vol3Footnote_901_901"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_901_901"><span class="label">[901]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, November 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_902_902" id="vol3Footnote_902_902"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_902_902"><span class="label">[902]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, September 25 and October 23, 1879; New +York <i>Times</i>, September 19, 20, 24, 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_903_903" id="vol3Footnote_903_903"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_903_903"><span class="label">[903]</span></a> New York <i>World</i>, October 11, 14, 16, 17. +</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p> +"John Kelly. Oh! John Kelly!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We read you like a book;</span><br /> +We've got plain country common-sense,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Though homely we may look;</span><br /> +And we know each vote you beg, John,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is only begged to sell;</span><br /> +You are but the tool of Conkling,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And bargained to Cornell."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">—New York <i>World</i>, October 17.</span><br /> +</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_904_904" id="vol3Footnote_904_904"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_904_904"><span class="label">[904]</span></a> The election held on November 4, resulted as follows: +Governor, Cornell, 418,567; Robinson, 375,790; Kelly, 77,566; Lewis +(National), 20,286; Mears (Prohibition), 4,437. Lieutenant-Governor, +Hoskins, 435,304; Potter, 435,014. Secretary of State, Carr +(Republican), 436,013; Beach (Democrat), 434,138. Comptroller, +Wadsworth, 438,253; Olcott, 432,325. Treasurer, Wendell, 436,300; +Mackin, 433,485. Attorney-General, Ward, 437,382; Schoonmaker, +433,238. Engineer and Surveyor, Soule, 427,240; Seymour, 439,681. +Legislature: Assembly, Republicans, 92; Democrats, 35; National, 1; +Senate (elected the previous year), Republicans, 25; Democrats, 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_905_905" id="vol3Footnote_905_905"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_905_905"><span class="label">[905]</span></a> To criticisms of his course in taking part in the +campaign, Sherman replied; "We must carry New York next year or see +all the result of the war overthrown and the constitutional amendments +absolutely nullified. We cannot do this if our friends defeat a +Republican candidate for governor, fairly nominated, and against whom +there are no substantial charges affecting his integrity."—Burton, +<i>Life of Sherman</i>, p. 296.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_906_906" id="vol3Footnote_906_906"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_906_906"><span class="label">[906]</span></a> The Albany Club was organised early in January, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_907_907" id="vol3Footnote_907_907"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_907_907"><span class="label">[907]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i> (editorial), February 18, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_908_908" id="vol3Footnote_908_908"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_908_908"><span class="label">[908]</span></a> "The Governor showed his contempt for public opinion by +nominating John F. Smyth, while the Senate had self-respect enough to +refrain from confirming him."—<i>Ibid.</i>, May 28, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_909_909" id="vol3Footnote_909_909"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_909_909"><span class="label">[909]</span></a> "Mr. Smith is one of the happily diminishing class of +amphibious editors, one-third journalist, two-thirds 'worker,' who +consult with the Bosses in hotels all over the State about 'fixing +things,' draw fustian platforms for State conventions, embody the Boss +view of the nation and the world in 'editorials,' and supply the pure +milk of the word to local committees and henchmen, and 'make it hot' +for the Democrats during the canvass."—The <i>Nation</i>, March 4, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_910_910" id="vol3Footnote_910_910"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_910_910"><span class="label">[910]</span></a> Smith was then thirty-eight years of age.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_911_911" id="vol3Footnote_911_911"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_911_911"><span class="label">[911]</span></a> "Mr. Smith's partners in the <i>Journal</i> had become +enraged in the course of a factional controversy over public +appointments, in particular that of Smyth to be the Insurance +Commissioner. At a conference Mr. Smith's partners desired to get +editorial control at once and to terminate his connection with the +<i>Journal</i>."—Philadelphia <i>Press</i>, January 20, 1908. +</p><p> +"The first response of the conscience and courage of the party was the +prompt change of the Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, probably the most +influential party paper in the State, from the position of a +thick-and-thin machine organ to that of an advocate of sound and +independent Republicanism."—<i>Harper's Weekly</i>, March 13, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_912_912" id="vol3Footnote_912_912"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_912_912"><span class="label">[912]</span></a> +</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p> +"Passions are likened best to flowers and streams;<br /> +The shallows murmur but the deeps are dumb."<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">—<i>Works of Sir Walter Raleigh</i>, Vol. 8, p. 716 (Oxford, 1829).</span><br /> +</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_913_913" id="vol3Footnote_913_913"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_913_913"><span class="label">[913]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, February 26, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_914_914" id="vol3Footnote_914_914"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_914_914"><span class="label">[914]</span></a> The vote on the resolution endorsing Grant, stood 216 +to 183.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_915_915" id="vol3Footnote_915_915"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_915_915"><span class="label">[915]</span></a> Roscoe Conkling, Alonzo B. Cornell, Chester A. Arthur, +and James D. Warren, were selected as delegates-at-large.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_916_916" id="vol3Footnote_916_916"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_916_916"><span class="label">[916]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, March 13, 20, April 3, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_917_917" id="vol3Footnote_917_917"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_917_917"><span class="label">[917]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, February 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_918_918" id="vol3Footnote_918_918"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_918_918"><span class="label">[918]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, May 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_919_919" id="vol3Footnote_919_919"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_919_919"><span class="label">[919]</span></a> From speech made in the Senate on May 7.—New York +<i>Tribune</i>, May 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_920_920" id="vol3Footnote_920_920"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_920_920"><span class="label">[920]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, May 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_921_921" id="vol3Footnote_921_921"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_921_921"><span class="label">[921]</span></a> Letter dated May 6.—See Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1880, +p. 575.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_922_922" id="vol3Footnote_922_922"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_922_922"><span class="label">[922]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, May 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_923_923" id="vol3Footnote_923_923"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_923_923"><span class="label">[923]</span></a> Everit Brown, <i>A Dictionary of American Politics</i>, p. +372; <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, February 5, 1881.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_924_924" id="vol3Footnote_924_924"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_924_924"><span class="label">[924]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, May 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_925_925" id="vol3Footnote_925_925"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_925_925"><span class="label">[925]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_926_926" id="vol3Footnote_926_926"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_926_926"><span class="label">[926]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, June 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_927_927" id="vol3Footnote_927_927"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_927_927"><span class="label">[927]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, May 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_928_928" id="vol3Footnote_928_928"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_928_928"><span class="label">[928]</span></a> The minority, representing fourteen States and ably led +by Benjamin F. Tracy, sustained the authority of State conventions to +overrule the choice of the districts.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_929_929" id="vol3Footnote_929_929"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_929_929"><span class="label">[929]</span></a> "Suggestions were made that the substitution of Mr. +Conkling for General Grant would give him the nomination, and there +was a moment when General Garfield apprehended such a result. There +was, however, never a time when it was possible. The 306 would never +have consented unless Grant's name were first withdrawn by his +authority. A firmer obstacle would have been Conkling's sturdy refusal +to allow the use of his name under any circumstances."—Boutwell, +<i>Reminiscences</i>, Vol. 2, p. 269.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_930_930" id="vol3Footnote_930_930"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_930_930"><span class="label">[930]</span></a> +</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p> +"When asked what State he hails from,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our sole reply shall be,</span><br /> +He comes from Appomattox<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And its famous apple-tree."</span><br /> +</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_931_931" id="vol3Footnote_931_931"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_931_931"><span class="label">[931]</span></a> From his speech nominating Elihu B. Washburne.—Chicago +<i>Tribune</i>, June 7, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_932_932" id="vol3Footnote_932_932"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_932_932"><span class="label">[932]</span></a> Chicago <i>Inter-Ocean</i>, June 7, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_933_933" id="vol3Footnote_933_933"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_933_933"><span class="label">[933]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, June 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_934_934" id="vol3Footnote_934_934"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_934_934"><span class="label">[934]</span></a> The first ballot was as follows: Grant, 304; Blaine, +284; Sherman, 93; Edmunds, 34; Washburne, 30; Windom, 10. Whole number +of votes, 755; necessary to a choice, 378.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_935_935" id="vol3Footnote_935_935"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_935_935"><span class="label">[935]</span></a> Thirty-fifth ballot: Grant, 313; Blaine, 257; Sherman, +99; Edmunds, 11; Washburne, 23; Windom, 3; Garfield, 50. Thirty-sixth +ballot: Grant, 306; Blaine, 42; Sherman, 3; Washburne, 5; Garfield, +399. +</p><p> +Conkling's peculiar manner of announcing New York's vote excited +criticism. "Two delegates," he declared, "are said to be for Sherman, +eighteen for Blaine, and fifty are for Grant." The chairman of the +West Virginia delegation, whom the Senator had sought to unseat, +mimicking the latter's emphasis, announced: "One delegate is said to +be for Grant, and eight are known to be for Blaine."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_936_936" id="vol3Footnote_936_936"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_936_936"><span class="label">[936]</span></a> Some months later Chauncey I. Filley, a delegate from +St. Louis, caused the Grant medals to be struck for the 306, on which +was emblazoned "The Old Guard."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_937_937" id="vol3Footnote_937_937"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_937_937"><span class="label">[937]</span></a> "It has been asserted that this nomination was a boon +to Roscoe Conkling to secure his support of Garfield. To deny this is +almost supererogatory. He sternly refused to make any +suggestion."—Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, p. 607-608.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_938_938" id="vol3Footnote_938_938"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_938_938"><span class="label">[938]</span></a> Woodford's interview with the writer, October 4, 1908.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_939_939" id="vol3Footnote_939_939"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_939_939"><span class="label">[939]</span></a> Mr. Morton's letter to the author, dated September 14, +1908.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_940_940" id="vol3Footnote_940_940"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_940_940"><span class="label">[940]</span></a> Letter of Howard Carroll to the author, dated October +15, 1908.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_941_941" id="vol3Footnote_941_941"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_941_941"><span class="label">[941]</span></a> Interview of author with General Woodford.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_942_942" id="vol3Footnote_942_942"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_942_942"><span class="label">[942]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, June 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_943_943" id="vol3Footnote_943_943"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_943_943"><span class="label">[943]</span></a> After the nomination John Sherman wrote to a personal +friend: "The nomination of Arthur is a ridiculous burlesque, inspired, +I fear, by a desire to defeat the ticket. His nomination attaches to +the ticket all the odium of machine politics, and will greatly +endanger the success of Garfield. I cannot but wonder how a +convention, even in the heat and hurry of closing scenes, could make +such a blunder."—Burton, <i>Life of Sherman</i>, p. 296.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_944_944" id="vol3Footnote_944_944"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_944_944"><span class="label">[944]</span></a> "I do not think he [Arthur] knows anything. He can +quote a verse of poetry, or a page from Dickens and Thackeray, but +these are only leaves springing from a root out of dry ground. His +vital forces are not fed, and very soon he has given out his all." +Mrs. James G. Blaine, <i>Letters</i> (February 21, 1882), Vol. 1, p. 309.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_945_945" id="vol3Footnote_945_945"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_945_945"><span class="label">[945]</span></a> Tilden's letter of June 18, 1880.—<i>Public Writings and +Speeches</i>, Vol. 2, pp. 502-506.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_946_946" id="vol3Footnote_946_946"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_946_946"><span class="label">[946]</span></a> "If the Democrats do not nominate Mr. Tilden, they do +relinquish the fraud issue—the strength of their canvass."—New York +<i>Sun</i>, June 22, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_947_947" id="vol3Footnote_947_947"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_947_947"><span class="label">[947]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, April 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_948_948" id="vol3Footnote_948_948"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_948_948"><span class="label">[948]</span></a> See district attorney's letter, Bigelow, <i>Life of +Tilden</i>, Vol. 2, pp. 254-259, 264.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_949_949" id="vol3Footnote_949_949"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_949_949"><span class="label">[949]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_950_950" id="vol3Footnote_950_950"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_950_950"><span class="label">[950]</span></a> Delegates-at-large: Lucius Robinson, Calvin E. Pratt, +Rufus W. Peckham, and Lester B. Faulkner. The last named was chairman +of the Democratic State committee.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_951_951" id="vol3Footnote_951_951"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_951_951"><span class="label">[951]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, April 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_952_952" id="vol3Footnote_952_952"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_952_952"><span class="label">[952]</span></a> New York <i>Sun</i>, April 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_953_953" id="vol3Footnote_953_953"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_953_953"><span class="label">[953]</span></a> Letter to Dr. George L. Miller, New York <i>Tribune</i>, +June 21, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_954_954" id="vol3Footnote_954_954"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_954_954"><span class="label">[954]</span></a> New York <i>Sun</i>, April 21, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_955_955" id="vol3Footnote_955_955"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_955_955"><span class="label">[955]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, April 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_956_956" id="vol3Footnote_956_956"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_956_956"><span class="label">[956]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, April 21. +</p><p> +For delegate-at-large to Cincinnati the convention selected the +following: Amasa J. Parker of Albany, William Dorsheimer of New York, +Jeremiah McGuire of Chemung, George C. Green of Niagara.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_957_957" id="vol3Footnote_957_957"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_957_957"><span class="label">[957]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i> (correspondence), April 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_958_958" id="vol3Footnote_958_958"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_958_958"><span class="label">[958]</span></a> John Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 2, pp. 265, 271.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_959_959" id="vol3Footnote_959_959"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_959_959"><span class="label">[959]</span></a> Tilden's <i>Public Writings and Speeches</i>, Vol. 2, pp. +502-506.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_960_960" id="vol3Footnote_960_960"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_960_960"><span class="label">[960]</span></a> John Bigelow, <i>Life of Tilden</i>, Vol. 2, p. 272.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_961_961" id="vol3Footnote_961_961"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_961_961"><span class="label">[961]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_962_962" id="vol3Footnote_962_962"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_962_962"><span class="label">[962]</span></a> The vote of the delegation stood as follows: Paine, 38; +Tilden, 11; English, 11; Bayard, 6; Hancock, 3; Randall, 1. Under the +unit rule this gave Payne the entire number, 70.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_963_963" id="vol3Footnote_963_963"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_963_963"><span class="label">[963]</span></a> The first ballot gave Hancock, 171; Bayard, 153½; +Payne, 81½; Thurman, 68½; Field, 65; Morrison, 62; Hendricks, +49½; Tilden, 38; with a few votes to minor candidates. Whole number +of votes, 728. Necessary to a choice, 486.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_964_964" id="vol3Footnote_964_964"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_964_964"><span class="label">[964]</span></a> Before changes were made the second ballot gave Hancock +319; Randall, 129½; Bayard, 113; Field, 65½; Thurman, 50; +Hendricks, 31; English, 19; Tilden, 6; scattering, 3. After the +changes the result was as follows: Hancock, 705; Hendricks, 30; +Tilden, 1; Bayard, 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_965_965" id="vol3Footnote_965_965"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_965_965"><span class="label">[965]</span></a> The vote stood, without New York, 205 to 457 in favor +of rejecting the Shakespeare Hall delegation. With New York it would +have been thirty-nine more than a two-thirds majority.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_966_966" id="vol3Footnote_966_966"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_966_966"><span class="label">[966]</span></a> For a copy of this letter, see New York <i>Tribune</i>, +August 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_967_967" id="vol3Footnote_967_967"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_967_967"><span class="label">[967]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, May 15, 1873.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_968_968" id="vol3Footnote_968_968"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_968_968"><span class="label">[968]</span></a> Conkling's speech is printed in full in the New York +<i>Tribune</i> of September 18, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_969_969" id="vol3Footnote_969_969"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_969_969"><span class="label">[969]</span></a> Alfred R. Conkling, <i>Life of Roscoe Conkling</i>, pp. +623-625. +</p><p> +"I was informed by Mr. Conkling that he had not been alone one minute +with General Garfield, intending by that care-taking to avoid the +suggestion that his visit was designed to afford an opportunity for +any personal or party arrangement."—Boutwell, <i>Reminiscences</i>, Vol. +2, p. 272.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_970_970" id="vol3Footnote_970_970"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_970_970"><span class="label">[970]</span></a> Garfield, 555,544; Hancock, 534,511; Weaver +(Greenback), 12,373. Judge of Appeals: Folger, 562,821; Rapallo, +517,661; Armstrong (Greenback), 13,183. Mayor of New York: Grace, +101,760; Dowd, 98,715. Legislature: Assembly, Republicans, 81; +Democrats, 47. Senate (hold over): Republicans, 32; Democrats, 18. +Republican majority on joint ballot, 52.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_971_971" id="vol3Footnote_971_971"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_971_971"><span class="label">[971]</span></a> November 6, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_972_972" id="vol3Footnote_972_972"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_972_972"><span class="label">[972]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i> (editorial), January 3, 1881.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_973_973" id="vol3Footnote_973_973"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_973_973"><span class="label">[973]</span></a> "Senator Woodin spoke of Truman G. Younglove, the only +speaker in the history of the State who had dared to hold back the +committees in order to influence a senatorial caucus, as a 'political +corpse,' and said that Sharpe would share his fate."—New York +<i>Tribune</i>, January 13, 1881.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_974_974" id="vol3Footnote_974_974"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_974_974"><span class="label">[974]</span></a> "Blaine, representing Garfield, came to New York and +asked me to enter the contest for the purpose of securing the election +of a senator who would support the Administration. That was the reason +why I became a candidate."—Interview of Mr. Depew with the author, +February 19, 1909.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_975_975" id="vol3Footnote_975_975"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_975_975"><span class="label">[975]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, February 5, 1881.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_976_976" id="vol3Footnote_976_976"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_976_976"><span class="label">[976]</span></a> Interview of Mr. Depew with the author, March 28, 1909. +See also New York <i>Tribune</i>, January 9, 1882. "Among others present at +the conference," added Depew, "were Webster Wagner, John Birdsall, +Dennis McCarthy, and William H. Robertson of the State Senate, James +W. Husted, and George Dawson of the Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>. Woodin +remarked, 'We can trust Platt, and when he's elected senator we shall +not need a step-ladder to reach his ear.'"</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_977_977" id="vol3Footnote_977_977"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_977_977"><span class="label">[977]</span></a> Total vote in caucus, 105. Necessary to a choice, 53. +Platt, 54; Crowley, 26; Rogers, 10; Wheeler, 10; Lapham, 4; Morton, 1. +</p><p> +The election, which occurred on January 18, resulted: Senate, Platt, +25; Kernan, 6; Assembly, Platt, 79, Kernan, 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_978_978" id="vol3Footnote_978_978"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_978_978"><span class="label">[978]</span></a> Alfred R. Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, p. 634.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_979_979" id="vol3Footnote_979_979"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_979_979"><span class="label">[979]</span></a> Morton declined the navy portfolio, preferring the +mission to France.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_980_980" id="vol3Footnote_980_980"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_980_980"><span class="label">[980]</span></a> Stewart L. Woodford, U.S. attorney, and Louis F. Payn, +U.S. marshal for the Southern District; Asa W. Tenney, U.S. attorney +for the Eastern District; Clinton D. MacDougall, U.S. marshal for the +Northern District; and John Tyler, collector of customs, Buffalo. +These were reappointments.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_981_981" id="vol3Footnote_981_981"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_981_981"><span class="label">[981]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, March 24, 1881.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_982_982" id="vol3Footnote_982_982"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_982_982"><span class="label">[982]</span></a> From Conkling's letter of resignation.—New York +<i>Tribune</i>, May 17, 1881.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_983_983" id="vol3Footnote_983_983"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_983_983"><span class="label">[983]</span></a> Boutwell, <i>Reminiscences of Sixty Years</i>, Vol. 2, p. +274.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_984_984" id="vol3Footnote_984_984"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_984_984"><span class="label">[984]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, January 7, 1882.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_985_985" id="vol3Footnote_985_985"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_985_985"><span class="label">[985]</span></a> Hoar, <i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 2, p. 57.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_986_986" id="vol3Footnote_986_986"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_986_986"><span class="label">[986]</span></a> Boutwell, <i>Reminiscences</i>, Vol. 2, p. 273.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_987_987" id="vol3Footnote_987_987"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_987_987"><span class="label">[987]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 274.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_988_988" id="vol3Footnote_988_988"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_988_988"><span class="label">[988]</span></a> Conversation with the author, December 7, 1908.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_989_989" id="vol3Footnote_989_989"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_989_989"><span class="label">[989]</span></a> Mrs. James G. Blaine, <i>Letters</i> (March 24, 1881), Vol. +1, p. 197.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_990_990" id="vol3Footnote_990_990"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_990_990"><span class="label">[990]</span></a> <i>Reminiscences</i>, Vol. 2, p. 273.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_991_991" id="vol3Footnote_991_991"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_991_991"><span class="label">[991]</span></a> Alfred R. Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, p. 637.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_992_992" id="vol3Footnote_992_992"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_992_992"><span class="label">[992]</span></a> For full text of telegram see New York <i>Tribune</i>, +January 7, 1882. This confidential despatch found its way into the +public press. "It must have been stolen from the wires," wrote Hay. +"Nobody but myself has ever seen it—not even Garfield. I read it to +him. It has been under lock and key ever since."—Mrs. James G. +Blaine, <i>Letters</i>, Vol. 1, p. 286.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_993_993" id="vol3Footnote_993_993"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_993_993"><span class="label">[993]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_994_994" id="vol3Footnote_994_994"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_994_994"><span class="label">[994]</span></a> Conversation with the author, March 28, 1909.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_995_995" id="vol3Footnote_995_995"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_995_995"><span class="label">[995]</span></a> "If any Democratic senator is thinking only of New York +politics, and of the mere party relations of the pending question of +Presidential nominations, the Democrats of New York must frankly tell +him that nothing but injury to the Democracy of New York has come or +can come of coalitions with Senator Conkling. The past is eloquent on +the subject. Whether set on foot by Mr. Tilden in 1873, or by Mr. +Kelly at a later date, Democratic coalitions with Mr. Conkling have +benefited only the Republicans. Mr. Tilden finally came to grief +through them, and so did Mr. Kelly; and, what is more important, so +did the Democratic party.... It is high time that the false lights +which Senator Conkling displayed to certain Democratic senators, and +with the help of whom the nominations of President Hayes were +thwarted, should be understood. The chequered career of Senator +Conkling should compel cautious people to inquire carefully into the +evidence for any declaration which may be made by him as to President +Garfield and his undertaking."—New York <i>World</i>, April 1, 1881.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_996_996" id="vol3Footnote_996_996"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_996_996"><span class="label">[996]</span></a> "I walked over to Conkling and said, 'I shall send my +resignation to Governor Cornell to-night.' Conkling turned to me and +replied: 'Don't be too hasty about this matter, young man.' We then +went to the rear of the Senate Chamber and talked it over. Conkling +insisted that we should wait, and fight it out in Committee. I +replied, 'We have been so humiliated that there is but one thing for +us to do—rebuke the President by immediately turning in our +resignations and then appeal to the Legislature to sustain us.' I +induced Conkling to join me in offering our joint resignations, and +that night the papers were forwarded to Cornell by special messenger." +Platt's Reminiscences.—<i>Cosmopolitan Magazine</i>, April, 1909, p. 516. +</p><p> +It was at this time that Platt's opponents gave him the sobriquet of +"Me Too," meaning that he merely followed Conkling's lead. This was +unjust to the junior Senator, who at least took the lead in suggesting +and insisting upon resigning.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_997_997" id="vol3Footnote_997_997"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_997_997"><span class="label">[997]</span></a> "The sensational resignations of Conkling and Platt +produce no excitement here (Washington), and I have yet to hear one +criticism complimentary of Conkling, though I have seen all sorts of +people and of every shade of cowardice."—Mrs. James G. Blaine, +<i>Letters</i> (May 17, 1881), Vol. 1, p. 199. +</p><p> +Robertson and Merritt were promptly and unanimously confirmed on May +18. Two days afterward the names of the five Stalwarts, which had been +withdrawn, were resubmitted, except those of Payn and Tyler.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_998_998" id="vol3Footnote_998_998"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_998_998"><span class="label">[998]</span></a> "Conkling was unrelenting in his enmities. He used to +get angry with men simply because they voted against him on questions +in which he took an interest. Once he did not for months speak to +Justin S. Morrill, one of the wisest and kindliest of men, because of +his pique at one of Merrill's votes."—George F. Hoar, +<i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 2, p. 55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_999_999" id="vol3Footnote_999_999"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_999_999"><span class="label">[999]</span></a> The full text of the letter is published in the New +York papers of May 17, 1881.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1000_1000" id="vol3Footnote_1000_1000"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1000_1000"><span class="label">[1000]</span></a> "I was very much surprised at Senator Conkling's +action," said Senator Frye of Maine, "because of Judge Robertson's +personal hostility to him and not on account of his lack of fitness. +During President Hayes' administration not an important appointment +was made in Maine to which Senators Blaine and Hamlin were not +bitterly opposed. One man was appointed after Mr. Blaine had stated +that he was probably the only prominent Republican in the State +personally hostile to him. Yet, with a single exception, all were +confirmed, notwithstanding the opposition of the Maine Senators. But +neither of them resigned. They were too good Republicans for +that."—New York <i>Tribune</i>, May 17, 1881.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1001_1001" id="vol3Footnote_1001_1001"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1001_1001"><span class="label">[1001]</span></a> A.R. Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, p. 632.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1002_1002" id="vol3Footnote_1002_1002"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1002_1002"><span class="label">[1002]</span></a> Conkling spoke of Cornell as "The lizard on the +hill."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1003_1003" id="vol3Footnote_1003_1003"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1003_1003"><span class="label">[1003]</span></a> The ballot resulted as follows: To succeed Platt (long +term), Thomas C. Platt, 29; Chauncey M. Depew, 21; Alonzo B. Cornell, +12; Elbridge G. Lapham, 8; Warner Miller, 5; Richard Crowley, 3; +scattering, 25. Francis Kernan (Dem.), 54. Total, 157. +</p><p> +To succeed Conkling (short term), Roscoe Conkling, 39; William A. +Wheeler, 19; Alonzo B. Cornell, 9; Richard Crowley, 5; Warner Miller, +1; scattering 37. John C. Jacobs (Dem.), 53. Total, 159.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1004_1004" id="vol3Footnote_1004_1004"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1004_1004"><span class="label">[1004]</span></a> "Suddenly the adherents of the murdered President saw +the powers of government about to be transferred to the leader of +their defeated adversaries, and that transfer effected by the act of +an assassin. Many of them could not instantly accept the truth that it +was the act solely of a half-crazed and disappointed seeker for +office; many of them questioned whether the men who were to profit by +the act were not the instigators of it."—From address of Elihu Root, +delivered at the unveiling of President Arthur's statue in Madison +Square, New York, June 13, 1899.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1005_1005" id="vol3Footnote_1005_1005"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1005_1005"><span class="label">[1005]</span></a> On June 9, S.H. Bradley of Cattaraugus, made a +personal explanation in the Assembly, charging Loren B. Sessions, of +the Senate, with offering him $2,000 to cast his vote for Depew. +Sessions denied the charge. Investigation proved nothing, and an +indictment, subsequently returned against Sessions, resulted in a +trial and an acquittal.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1006_1006" id="vol3Footnote_1006_1006"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1006_1006"><span class="label">[1006]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 7, 1881.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1007_1007" id="vol3Footnote_1007_1007"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1007_1007"><span class="label">[1007]</span></a> "At a conference held on May 22, at the house of +Chester A. Arthur, No. 123 Lexington Avenue, the following persons +were present: Chester A. Arthur, Thomas C. Platt, Louis F. Payn, +Charles M. Denison, George H. Sharpe, John F. Smyth, A.B. Johnson, and +Roscoe Conkling. Each person was asked to pass judgment upon the +future course of the two Senators. Each one spoke in turn. The sense +of the meeting was that they should proceed to the State +capital."—A.R. Conkling, <i>Life of Conkling</i>, pp. 642-643. +</p><p> +"Payn warned both Conkling and Platt that they would be defeated. +Speaker Sharpe admonished Payn that he was wrong. Payn predicted that +while he and other friends were still battling for the organisation +Sharpe would desert them. Payn proved himself a prophet. Sharpe went +over to the opposition." Platt's Reminiscences.—<i>Cosmopolitan +Magazine</i>, April, 1909, p. 517.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1008_1008" id="vol3Footnote_1008_1008"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1008_1008"><span class="label">[1008]</span></a> New York papers of July 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1009_1009" id="vol3Footnote_1009_1009"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1009_1009"><span class="label">[1009]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, July 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1010_1010" id="vol3Footnote_1010_1010"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1010_1010"><span class="label">[1010]</span></a> The candidacy of John C. Jacobs had been the subject +of some criticism on the part of the Democrats because he was a member +of the Legislature, and on June 22, after the twenty-third ballot, he +withdrew. A caucus then substituted the name of Potter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1011_1011" id="vol3Footnote_1011_1011"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1011_1011"><span class="label">[1011]</span></a> Conkling at once resumed the practice of law in New +York City. The strain and exposure of making his way on foot through +the snowdrifts of the historic blizzard which visited that city in the +spring of 1888, resulted in an abscess in the inner ear, from which he +died on April 18. A bronze statue, erected in his memory, is located +in Madison Square. +</p><p> +"We have followed poor Conkling down to the gates of death and have +been truly sorry to see them close upon him. I have never heard your +father, in all the twenty-two years since he spoke hard words to him, +say a syllable which he need regret, but his deathbed seemed hardly +less inaccessible than his life."—Mrs. James G. Blaine, <i>Letters</i>, +Vol. 2, p. 203. Dated, San Remo, May 1, 1888. Addressed to Walker +Blaine.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1012_1012" id="vol3Footnote_1012_1012"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1012_1012"><span class="label">[1012]</span></a> "He wantonly sacrificed the Hancock ticket to his +unscrupulous quest of local power. The Democracy here and elsewhere +perfectly understand his perfidy, and they only await an opportunity +for a reckoning. They intend to punish him and make an example of him +as a warning to bolting renegades and traitors."—New York <i>Herald</i>, +November 5, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1013_1013" id="vol3Footnote_1013_1013"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1013_1013"><span class="label">[1013]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1881, p. 655. +</p><p> +The State ticket was as follows: Secretary of State, William Purcell, +Monroe; Comptroller, George H. Lapham, Yates; Attorney-General, +Roswell A. Parmenter, Rensselaer; Treasurer, Robert A. Maxwell, +Genesee; Engineer, Thomas Evershed, Orleans; Judge, Court of Appeals, +Augustus Schoonmaker, Ulster.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1014_1014" id="vol3Footnote_1014_1014"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1014_1014"><span class="label">[1014]</span></a> "It was a common saying of that time among those who +knew him best, '"Chet" Arthur, President of the United States! Good +God!'"—White, <i>Autobiography</i>, Vol. 1, p. 193.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1015_1015" id="vol3Footnote_1015_1015"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1015_1015"><span class="label">[1015]</span></a> The ticket was as follows: Secretary of State, Joseph +B. Carr, Rensselaer; Comptroller, Ira Davenport, Steuben; +Attorney-General, Leslie W. Russell, St. Lawrence; Treasurer, James W. +Husted, Westchester; Engineer and Surveyor, Silas Seymour, Saratoga; +Judge of the Court of Appeals, Francis M. Finch, Tompkins.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1016_1016" id="vol3Footnote_1016_1016"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1016_1016"><span class="label">[1016]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, October 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1017_1017" id="vol3Footnote_1017_1017"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1017_1017"><span class="label">[1017]</span></a> "I dined at the President's on Wednesday. The dinner +was extremely elegant, hardly a trace of the old White House taint +being perceptible anywhere, the flowers, the silver, the attendants, +all showing the latest style and an abandon in expense and +taste."—Mrs. James G. Blaine, <i>Letters</i> (March 13, 1882), Vol. 2, pp. +4, 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1018_1018" id="vol3Footnote_1018_1018"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1018_1018"><span class="label">[1018]</span></a> Plurality of Carr, secretary of state, 13,022. Other +Republicans had about the same, except Husted, whom Maxwell, +treasurer, defeated by 20,943. The Legislature stood: Senate, +Democrats, 17; Republicans, 15. Assembly, Democrats, 67; Republicans, +61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1019_1019" id="vol3Footnote_1019_1019"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1019_1019"><span class="label">[1019]</span></a> Kelly demanded the chairmanship of cities in both +Houses, a satisfactory composition of the committees on railroads and +on commerce and navigation, a share in the subordinate offices, and +the exclusion of John C. Jacobs of Kings from the presidency of the +Senate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1020_1020" id="vol3Footnote_1020_1020"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1020_1020"><span class="label">[1020]</span></a> The Greenback-Labour party held its convention at +Albany on July 19, nominating Epenetus Howe of Tompkins, for governor. +It reaffirmed the principles of the party. +</p><p> +A labour convention was held at Buffalo on September 12, but no +nominations were made. It favored abolition of the contract-labour +system in prisons; of cigar factories in tenements; of child labour +under fourteen; enforcement of the compulsory education act; reduction +of labour to ten hours a day, etc. +</p><p> +An anti-monopoly convention assembled at Saratoga on September 13. No +nominations were made. It demanded commissioners to supervise and +control corporation charges; advocated free canals; government +ownership of the telegraph; postal savings banks; discontinuance of +railroad grants; prohibition of combinations to control prices, etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1021_1021" id="vol3Footnote_1021_1021"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1021_1021"><span class="label">[1021]</span></a> There were eight candidates for governor: Erastus +Corning of Albany, Homer A. Nelson of Dutchess, Grover Cleveland of +Erie, Roswell P. Flower of Jefferson, Henry W. Slocum of Kings, and +Allan Campbell, Waldo M. Hutchins, and Perry Belmont of New York.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1022_1022" id="vol3Footnote_1022_1022"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1022_1022"><span class="label">[1022]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, September 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1023_1023" id="vol3Footnote_1023_1023"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1023_1023"><span class="label">[1023]</span></a> Whole number of votes, 385; necessary to a choice, +193. First ballot: Slocum, 98; Flower, 97; Cleveland, 66; Corning, 35; +Campbell, 37; Nelson, 26; Belmont, 12; Hutchins, 13. Second ballot: +Slocum, 123; Flower, 123; Cleveland, 71; Campbell, 33; Nelson, 15; +Belmont, 6; Hutchins, 13. Third ballot: Slocum, 156; Flower, 15; +Cleveland, 211.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1024_1024" id="vol3Footnote_1024_1024"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1024_1024"><span class="label">[1024]</span></a> The candidates were Charles J. Folger, Alonzo B. +Cornell, James W. Wadsworth of Genesee, John H. Starin of New York, +and John C. Robinson of Broome.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1025_1025" id="vol3Footnote_1025_1025"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1025_1025"><span class="label">[1025]</span></a> The bill provided that the elevated railroad companies +of New York should, in lieu of other public charges, pay a tax of four +per cent. on their gross receipts. As first submitted the bill had the +approval of the mayor and comptroller of the city, but after its +modification they withdrew their approval and opposed its passage on +the ground that it unjustly discriminated in favour of these +particular corporations and deprived the city of a large amount of +revenue.—Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1882, p. 600.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1026_1026" id="vol3Footnote_1026_1026"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1026_1026"><span class="label">[1026]</span></a> Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, August 20, 1882.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1027_1027" id="vol3Footnote_1027_1027"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1027_1027"><span class="label">[1027]</span></a> French presented a telegram to the secretary of the +State committee purporting to be sent from New York by Robertson. An +investigation made later showed that the message was written in Albany +on a sender's blank and had not been handled by the telegraph company. +French explained that he had wired Robertson for a proxy, and when +handed the message supposed it to be an answer. It was plain, however, +that the telegram to Robertson and his alleged answer were parts of +the same scheme.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1028_1028" id="vol3Footnote_1028_1028"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1028_1028"><span class="label">[1028]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, September 22; see also the <i>Nation</i>, +October 5; <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, October 14 and 21; New York <i>Sun</i>, +September 22; Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, September 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1029_1029" id="vol3Footnote_1029_1029"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1029_1029"><span class="label">[1029]</span></a> Whole number of votes, 447. Necessary to a choice, +249. First ballot: Folger, 223; Cornell, 180; Wadsworth, 69; Starin, +19; Robinson, 6. Second ballot: Folger, 257; Cornell, 222; Wadsworth, +18. +</p><p> +The ticket was as follows: Governor, Charles J. Folger, Ontario; +Lieutenant-Governor, B. Platt Carpenter, Dutchess; Chief Judge of +Appeals, Charles Andrews, Onondaga; Congressman-at-large, A. Barton +Hepburn, St. Lawrence. Subsequently, Howard Carroll of New York, was +substituted for Hepburn.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1030_1030" id="vol3Footnote_1030_1030"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1030_1030"><span class="label">[1030]</span></a> "Look at John F. Smyth and B. Platt Carpenter. Instead +of being at the head of the whole business, they should be at the tail +or out of sight."—From speech of Theodore F. Pomeroy, the <i>Nation</i>, +October 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1031_1031" id="vol3Footnote_1031_1031"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1031_1031"><span class="label">[1031]</span></a> September 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1032_1032" id="vol3Footnote_1032_1032"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1032_1032"><span class="label">[1032]</span></a> The <i>Nation</i>, October 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1033_1033" id="vol3Footnote_1033_1033"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1033_1033"><span class="label">[1033]</span></a> New York <i>Tribune</i>, October 4. +</p><p> +"By one of those curious blunders to which editorial offices are +liable in the absence of the responsible head, an article by Mr. +Curtis was modified to commit the paper to the support of the +candidate. Curtis resigned the editorship. It was promptly and in the +most manly manner disavowed by the house of Harper & Bros."—Edward +Cary, <i>Life of Curtis</i>, p. 275.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1034_1034" id="vol3Footnote_1034_1034"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1034_1034"><span class="label">[1034]</span></a> September 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1035_1035" id="vol3Footnote_1035_1035"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1035_1035"><span class="label">[1035]</span></a> New York daily papers, October 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1036_1036" id="vol3Footnote_1036_1036"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1036_1036"><span class="label">[1036]</span></a> New York <i>Times</i>, September 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1037_1037" id="vol3Footnote_1037_1037"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1037_1037"><span class="label">[1037]</span></a> Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, October 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1038_1038" id="vol3Footnote_1038_1038"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1038_1038"><span class="label">[1038]</span></a> Folger's letter is found in the daily papers of +October 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1039_1039" id="vol3Footnote_1039_1039"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1039_1039"><span class="label">[1039]</span></a> It was generally known that this influence changed the +votes of two acting State committeemen, who had agreed to act with the +Cornell men.—See the <i>Nation</i> of October 5; also the New York +<i>Tribune</i>, October 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1040_1040" id="vol3Footnote_1040_1040"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1040_1040"><span class="label">[1040]</span></a> Cleveland's letter appears in the press of October +10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1041_1041" id="vol3Footnote_1041_1041"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1041_1041"><span class="label">[1041]</span></a> Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, October 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1042_1042" id="vol3Footnote_1042_1042"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1042_1042"><span class="label">[1042]</span></a> <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, November 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1043_1043" id="vol3Footnote_1043_1043"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1043_1043"><span class="label">[1043]</span></a> Appleton's <i>Cyclopædia</i>, 1882, p. 608.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1044_1044" id="vol3Footnote_1044_1044"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1044_1044"><span class="label">[1044]</span></a> "It will be two weeks to-morrow since I dined with +Judge Howe, the postmaster-general, going out to the table with him, +and here he is dead! Poor Arthur, he will find the Presidency more +gruesome with a favourite cabinet minister gone! If it were Folger +now, I suppose he would not care, for they really do not know what to +do with him."—Mrs. James G. Blaine, <i>Letters</i>, Vol. 2, p. 93.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="vol3Footnote_1045_1045" id="vol3Footnote_1045_1045"></a><a href="#vol3FNanchor_1045_1045"><span class="label">[1045]</span></a> The vote was as follows: Cleveland, 535,318; Folger, +342,464; plurality, 192,854. Hill, 534,636; Carpenter, 337,855; +plurality, 196,781. Ruger, 482,222; Andrews, 409,423; plurality, +72,799. Slocum, 503,954; Carroll, 394,232; plurality, 109,722. +</p><p> +In New York City the vote stood: Cleveland, 124,914; Folger, 47,785; +plurality, 77,129. Edson (mayor), 97,802; Campbell, 76,385; plurality, +21,417. Other candidates for governor received: Howe (Greenback), +11,974; Hopkins (Prohibition), 25,783. +</p><p> +Legislature: Senate, Democrats, 18; Republicans, 14. Assembly, +Democrats, 84; Republicans, 42; Independents, 2. Congress, Democrats, +19; Republicans, 14.</p></div> + + + +<div class="bbox"> +<h1>A POLITICAL HISTORY<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small">OF THE</span><br /> +<br /> +STATE OF NEW YORK</h1> + + +<h2><br /><span class="small">BY</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">DeALVA</span> STANWOOD ALEXANDER, A.M., LL.D.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="small"><i>Member of Congress, Formerly United States Attorney<br /> +for the Northern District of New York</i></span></h2> + +<p class="center"><br /> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="81" height="100" alt="" /></p> + + +<p class="center"><br />NEW YORK<br /> +HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY<br /> +1906 and 1909<br /><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="center"><br /><b>MAIN CONTENTS</b></p> + +<h2><a name="politicalindex"></a>INDEX TO VOLUMES I-III</h2> + +<p><br /> +Abolitionists, denounced by press, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.9">9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by meetings, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.10">10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of, 1838, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1844, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rapidly increasing strength, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unite with Hunkers and Barnburners, 1849, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">separate nominations, 1850, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">election of Smith to Congress, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nomination of Douglass for sec. of state, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favour peaceable secession, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.336">336</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Adams, Charles Francis, choice for President of Lib. Rep. leaders, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.282">282</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.285">285</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Adams-Jackson campaign, resembled that of Blaine-Cleveland, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.367">367-8</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Adams, John, cautioned not to speak of independence, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.2">2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Jay's state constitution, <a href="#vol1Page_i.8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggests council of appointment, <a href="#vol1Page_i.8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anxiety to have his son President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.240">240</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Adams, John Quincy, unpopularity of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.358">358</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an anti-mason, <a href="#vol1Page_i.361">361</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">scene when elected President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.343">343</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">action of Van Rensselaer, <a href="#vol1Page_i.343">343</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Administration Whigs, followers of Fillmore, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.157">157</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unite with Dems. for Seymour's election, 1850, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.157">157</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Albany, political centre, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.375">375</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Albany <i>Argus</i>, on Clinton's loss of canal patronage, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.261">261</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">paper of Edwin Croswell, <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward's "forty million debt," ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on secession, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.346">346</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Albany <i>Evening Journal</i>, established March, 1830, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.374">374</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thurlow Weed its first editor, <a href="#vol1Page_i.374">374</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">salary of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.374">374</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">largest circulation in U.S., <a href="#vol1Page_i.375">375</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Albany Regency, when established, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.293">293-4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original members of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.293">293-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">other members, <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thurlow Weed on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Crawford, 1824, <a href="#vol1Page_i.324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removes Clinton from canal com., <a href="#vol1Page_i.328">328</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence ended, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.53">53</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Albany <i>Register</i>, attacks Burr, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.123">123</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Alberger, Franklin A., candidate for canal com., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.23">23</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.117">117</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Alien and Sedition Acts, overthrow Federal party, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.84">84</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approved by Jay, <a href="#vol1Page_i.85">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adams responsible for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.88">88</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Allen, Peter, treatment of Fellows, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.256">256</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Allen, William F., Richmond's choice for gov., 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.117">117</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for comp., 1869, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Alvord, Thomas G., the Onondaga Chief, Speaker of Assembly, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.22">22</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. People's Union con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to Assembly, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.117">117</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Amens," The, cradle of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.58">58</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<i>American Citizen and Watchtower</i>, controlled by Clinton, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.122">122</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">edited by Cheetham, <a href="#vol1Page_i.122">122</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack on Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.122">122-3</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +American Colonization Society, history of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.7">7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forms republic of Liberia, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.8">8</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +American party, see <a href="#Native">Native American party</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Anderson, Robert H., nominated for prison insp., 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Andrew, John A., gov. of Massachusetts, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.274">274</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tompkins compared to, <a href="#vol1Page_i.274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinion of Brown, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.269">269</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Andrews, Charles, nominated for chief judge Court of Appeals, 1882, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.494">494</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Anti-Federalists, organisation of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.38">38</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in majority, <a href="#vol1Page_i.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elect gov., 1789, <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">also, 1792, <a href="#vol1Page_i.56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, 1795, <a href="#vol1Page_i.65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1798, <a href="#vol1Page_i.82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">become known as Republicans, <a href="#vol1Page_i.80">80</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Anti-Jackson," "Anti-Mortgage," "Anti-Regency" factions unite as Whigs, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.399">399</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<a name="Anti" id="Anti"></a>Anti-Masons, bolted Thompson in 1828, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.363">363</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated Granger, <a href="#vol1Page_i.363">363</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">substituted Southwick, <a href="#vol1Page_i.364">364</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ticket defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.368">368</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">issues of, broadened, <a href="#vol1Page_i.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated Granger, 1830, <a href="#vol1Page_i.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeat of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.377">377</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated Wirt for President, 1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.392">392</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in accord with National Republicans, <a href="#vol1Page_i.392">392</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated Granger, 1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">electoral ticket of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reason for defeat, <a href="#vol1Page_i.396">396</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">party dissolved, <a href="#vol1Page_i.398">398</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">become Whigs, <a href="#vol1Page_i.399">399</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Anti-Masonry, becomes political, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.360">360</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">excitement, <a href="#vol1Page_i.360">360</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confined to western half of state, <a href="#vol1Page_i.360">360</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Van Buren on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.365">365</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">semi-religious, <a href="#vol1Page_i.370">370</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sudden reaction, <a href="#vol1Page_i.398">398</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popularity of Free-Masonry, <a href="#vol1Page_i.398">398</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Anti-Nebraska convention, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.194">194</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prominent men present, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reassembles, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forerunner of Republican party, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.194">194</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Anti-Rent party, organisation of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.82">82-3</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contest over constitutional convention, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.97">97</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">support Young for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.118">118-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of, 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.139">139</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Anti-Tammany organisations, 1871, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.268">268</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">names and strength, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.268">268</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unwilling to accept Kelly, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.299">299</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Apollo Hall, organisation of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.308">308</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">combination with, rejected by Tam., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.308">308</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepted by Reps., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.308">308</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Arbitrary arrests, opposition to, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.19">19</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.20">20</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.47">47</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.58">58</a>.<br /> +<br /> +"Aristides," <i>nom de plume</i> of William P. Van Ness, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.123">123</a>-6.<br /> +<br /> +Armstrong, Cornelius W., nominated for canal com., 1865, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.129">129</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Armstrong, John, author of Newburgh Letters, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.89">89</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Alien-Sedition laws, <a href="#vol1Page_i.89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brother-in-law of Chancellor Livingston, <a href="#vol1Page_i.116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigned, <a href="#vol1Page_i.118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">minister to France, <a href="#vol1Page_i.150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">changed views, <a href="#vol1Page_i.204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tompkins jealous of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sec. of war, <a href="#vol1Page_i.216">216</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spencer, a friend of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plan of Canada campaign, <a href="#vol1Page_i.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">puts Wilkinson in command, <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plans again fail, <a href="#vol1Page_i.224">224-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">promotes Brown and Scott, <a href="#vol1Page_i.225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns in disgrace, <a href="#vol1Page_i.227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madison's dislike of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.238">238</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Arthur, Chester A., early career and character, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.399">399-402</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes collector of port, 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his successor appointed, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.399">399</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.402">402</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">successor defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.404">404-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">President suspends him, 1878, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.406">406</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reason for, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.406">406</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.408">408</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his defence, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.408">408</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">successor confirmed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.409">409</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name suggested for Vice-President, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.444">444</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">will not listen to Conkling's objection, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.444">444</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conkling refuses to present name to Nat. con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.444">444</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Woodford presents it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.444">444</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated on first ballot, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.445">445</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">people's reception of nomination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.445">445</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sherman indignant, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.445">445</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Blaine's opinion of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.446">446</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career a study of evolution of character, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.446">446</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Crowley for U.S. Senate, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tries to compromise Robertson's appointment, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.472">472</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes President, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.485">485</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confidence expressed in, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.485">485</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointments favourably received, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.486">486</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats Cornell's renomination, 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.493">493</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disastrous result, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Assembly, Provincial, refuses to approve proceedings of Congress, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.4">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Assembly, State, original membership of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.9">9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">election of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.9">9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how apportioned, <a href="#vol1Page_i.9">9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">powers of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.9">9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected by, <a href="#vol1Page_i.9">9</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Astor, John Jacob, approves books of Tammany's city comptroller, 1870, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.245">245</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Astor, William B., contribution to fusion ticket, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.332">332</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Auburn, gloom over Seward's defeat, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.290">290-1</a>, note.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Babcock, George R., declines nomination for state comp., 1875, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bacon, Ezekiel, in constitutional convention, 1846, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.103">103</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bacon, Theodore, joins Lib. Rep. movement, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.284">284</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends its Nat. con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.284">284</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounces Fenton's scheme, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.284">284</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bacon, William J., congressman from Oneida district, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.385">385</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports President Hayes, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.385">385</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech for, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.385">385</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bailey, B. Prentiss, Utica <i>Observer</i>, a leading Dem. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bailey, Theodorus, urged for appointment, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.121">121</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clinton's agent, <a href="#vol1Page_i.152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.156">156</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Balcom, Ransom, reputation as a judge, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.166">166</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to U.S. Senate, 1865, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.166">166</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ballard, Horatio, nominated for sec. of state, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.23">23</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Baltimore" id="Baltimore"></a>Baltimore convention, 1860, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.294">294-303</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour strengthened, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New York in control, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.294">294</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">seceding delegations wish to return, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.295">295</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bitter debate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.296">296-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New York admits contestants, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.300">300</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">states secede, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.300">300</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Soule's speech, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.300">300-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Douglas nominated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fitzpatrick nominated for Vice-President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Johnson substituted, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.302">302</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Baltimore Union Convention, 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.93">93-5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its platform and nominees, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.94">94</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Banks, Republicans opposed to, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.186">186</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hamilton secures charters, <a href="#vol1Page_i.186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">clever trick of Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">State Bank of Albany, <a href="#vol1Page_i.187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Merchants' Bank of New York, <a href="#vol1Page_i.189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bank of America, <a href="#vol1Page_i.191">191</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charter granted, <a href="#vol1Page_i.197">197</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bank of Albany, incorporation of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.186">186</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bank of America of New York, incorporation of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.191">191</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inducements for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.191">191</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bank of Columbia at Hudson, incorporation of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.186">186</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bank of New York, incorporation of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.186">186</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Barker, George P., at.-gen., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.52">52</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Barkley, Alexander, nominated for canal com., 1868, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.196">196</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Barlow, Francis C., record as a soldier, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.129">129</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for sec. of state, 1865, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not renominated, 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for atty.-gen., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fine record of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.307">307</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dropped as atty.-gen., 1873, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.307">307</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Barnard, David, popular anti-masonic preacher, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.370">370</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Barnard, George G., Tweed's trusted judge, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">foppish dress, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">begins 1857 as recorder, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advanced to Sup. Court, 1860, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">part in election frauds, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fraudulent naturalisations, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.216">216-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exposure, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.246">246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">impeached, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.248">248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.248">248</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Barnburners" id="Barnburners"></a>Barnburners, Dem. faction, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">why so called, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaders of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostility to Hunkers, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secede from Dem. con., 1847, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraw from Baltimore con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hold Utica con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominate Van Buren for President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">two factions of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leading members, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Buffalo con., 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">indorsed Van Buren for President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.133">133</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Webster's pun, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.133">133</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated Dix for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.133">133</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour unites them with Hunkers, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated Seymour for gov., 1850, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">support Marcy for President, 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.169">169-72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">support Pierce and Seymour, 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.169">169-78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hunkers secede, 1853, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.180">180-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominate separate ticket, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approved canal amendment, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called Softshells or Softs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <a href="#Softs">Softs</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Barney, Hiram C., appointed collector of port of New York, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.390">390</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">choice of Lincoln, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.390">390-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mysterious influence in favour of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.395">395</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">crippled Weed machine, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.395">395-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lincoln plans to transfer him, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.85">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sustained by Chase, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.85">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unsatisfactory collector, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.85">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lincoln promises Weed to remove him, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.87">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Draper appointed in his place, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.97">97</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Barnum, Henry W., record as a soldier, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.129">129</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for prison insp., 1865, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Barstow, Gamaliel H., cand. for lt.-gov., 1836, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.12">12</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.13">13</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state treas., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws from politics, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.38">38</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bascom, Oliver, nominated for canal com., 1868, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.207">207</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bates, James K., nominated for prison insp., 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.76">76</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.83">83</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bayard, James A., cand. in opposition to Greeley, 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.289">289</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward Tilden, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.354">354</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Beach, Allen C., nominated for lt.-gov., 1868, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.207">207</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to be gov., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for sec. of state, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.384">384</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vigorously opposed in campaign, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Beach, John H., Seward's reliance upon, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.34">34</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Beale, Charles L., in Congress, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.339">339</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disapproved Weed's compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.339">339</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Beardsley, Samuel, leads Dem. forces in Congress, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.1">1</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">heads mob against anti-slavery meeting, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.53">53</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Beauregard, Pierre T., at Charleston, S.C., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.2">2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reduces Fort Sumter, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.3">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Bull Run, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.11">11</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Beebe, George M., strong supporter of Tammany, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.383">383</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Beecher's Bibles, Sharpe's rifles, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.224">224</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Beecher, Henry Ward, active against repeal of Missouri compromise, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.193">193</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in campaign, 1860, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">political sermons of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.329">329</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">indifference to secession, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.334">334</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">peaceable secession, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.336">336</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Resents Lincoln's relations with Conservatives, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forsakes Johnson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounces his vicious course, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Rep. ticket, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Cornell's defeat, 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.495">495</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Beekman, John P., ambitious to be gov., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.172">172-3</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Belmont, August, at Charleston convention, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.272">272</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves Weed's compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.338">338</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.341">341</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">del. to Dem. nat. con., 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ch'm. of nat. ex. com., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.287">287</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Belmont, Perry, presented for gov., 1882, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.488">488</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bemis, Horace, threatens to bolt leg. caucus, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.53">53</a>, note.<br /> +<br /> +Bennett, James Gordon, editor of N.Y. <i>Herald</i>, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.36">36</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contest with Greeley, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Dix for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.42">42</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Benson, Egbert, atty.-gen., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.16">16</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Hartford con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.28">28</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Annapolis, <a href="#vol1Page_i.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Legislature, <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">action on Federal Constitution, <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to Congress, <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed to Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.61">61</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Benton, Thomas H., on Van Buren's conscription law, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.232">232</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Van Buren's rejection as minister, <a href="#vol1Page_i.389">389</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Betts, Samuel R., appointed to Supreme Court, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.322">322</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bigelow, John, ch'm. of Tilden's canal com., 1875, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.323">323</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines Rep. nomination for state comp., 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepts Dem. nomination for sec. of state, 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tilden's spokesman at Nat. con., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bitterly opposed for renomination as sec. of state, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.380">380</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.384">384</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Birdsall, John, on Supreme Court, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.348">348</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">induced to leave Anti-Masons, <a href="#vol1Page_i.397">397</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Birdsall, John, State senator, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.437">437</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declares he will vote for Blaine, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.437">437</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Black, Jeremiah S., cand. in opposition to Greeley, 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.289">289</a>, note.<br /> +<br /> +Blaine, James G., oratorical castigation of Conkling, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.168">168</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported by Robertson, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">thought Dems. lacked firmness, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.355">355</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">why Dems. favoured Electoral Com., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.355">355</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Conkling in contest to remove Arthur and Cornell, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.405">405</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a striking tableau, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.405">405-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">again supports Conkling, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.410">410</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name loudly applauded in state con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.433">433</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resented by Conkling, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.433">433</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gets eighteen votes from N.Y., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.441">441</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">part in Robertson's appointment, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469-71</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conkling's lack of confidence in, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.471">471</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence in Cornell's councils, 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.492">492</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Blair, Montgomery, letter to Welles, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.192">192</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Blatchford, Richard M., approved Weed's compromise, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.338">338</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">acts as agent for the Government, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.7">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends Saratoga con., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">thought Morgan's backbone missing, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.222">222</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Blatchford, Samuel, law partner of Seward, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.165">165</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for Supreme Court, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.165">165</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bliss, Archibald M., attended Lib. Rep. state con., 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on com. to confer with Dems., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bostwick, William L., nominated for state treas., 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.377">377</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.387">387</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bouck, William C., compared with Young, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.53">53</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">named for gov., 1840, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1842, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">canal policy, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nepotism of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.57">57</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for renomination, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.77">77-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in constitutional con., 1846, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed sub-treas., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for it, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.119">119</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.123">123</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Boutwell, George S., compliments Weed, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.58">58</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">about Robertson's election, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469-70</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bowles, Samuel J., on Weed as a manager, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.283">283</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bradford, George P., delegate to Lib. Rep. state con., 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bradish, Luther, speaker of Assembly, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.18">18</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for nomination for gov., 1838, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.19">19-21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1842, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.55">55</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bradley, George B., nominated for Court of Appeals, 1878, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.393">393</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.397">397</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Brady, James T., in campaign of 1852, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.178">178</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for atty.-gen. by Hunkers, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov. by Hards, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popularity of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeat of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.333">333</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delegate to seceding states, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.351">351-2</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sympathy with the South, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tendered nomination for mayor, 1861, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loyalty of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">addresses to Union League, 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines state comptrollership, 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">active in campaign, 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.186">186</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bribery, in chartering Albany State Bank, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.186">186-7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Purdy charged with, <a href="#vol1Page_i.190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thomas and Southwick indicted and acquitted, <a href="#vol1Page_i.191">191-4</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bristol, Wheeler H., nominated for state treas., 1869, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Brockway, Beman, Watertown <i>Times</i>, a leading Rep. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bronson, Greene C., appointed atty.-gen., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.383">383</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.383">383-4</a>; ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines to support Softs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed as collector, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.187">187</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov. by Hards, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inconsistency of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at peace congress, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stands with Lincoln, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.15">15</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Brooks, Erastus, nominated for gov., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.238">238</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">N.Y. <i>Express</i>, conspicuous as an editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Brooks, James, founded N.Y. <i>Express</i>, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.238">238</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forces nomination of Seymour, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controls Cons. Union con., 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">connection with Crédit Mobilier, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a leading Dem. editor, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Broome, John, candidate for lt.-gov., 1804, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.129">129</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.180">180</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Brouck, Francis C., nominated for state treas., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.21">21</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declined to accept, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.24">24</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Brown, D.D.S., attended Lib. Rep. state con., 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on com. to confer with Dems., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Brown, Jacob, valour at Sackett's Harbour, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">promoted, <a href="#vol1Page_i.225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Niagara frontier, <a href="#vol1Page_i.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brilliant leadership, <a href="#vol1Page_i.227">227</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Brown, John, raid of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.259">259</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.259">259-60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Douglas on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.260">260</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Emerson on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.260">260</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thoreau on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.260">260</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Longfellow on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.260">260</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lincoln on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.266">266-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Andrew on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.269">269</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Brown, John W., nominated for judge Court of Appeals, 1865, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.129">129</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Brown University, William L. Marcy, graduate of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.292">292</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Bruce, Benjamin F., candidate for canal com., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.23">23</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.76">76</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.83">83</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bryant, William Cullen, in campaign of 1844, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.84">84</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original Barnburner, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Pierce and Seymour, 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">theory of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.177">177</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">active in campaign of 1856, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meets Lincoln, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.266">266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. of Lincoln meeting, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Seward for President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.285">285</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elector-at-large, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.328">328</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Seward for sec. of state, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.394">394</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Favours postponing Nat. Rep. Con., 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resents Lincoln's relations with Seward and Weed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounces expulsion of Louisiana legislators, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.328">328</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Buchanan, James, nominated for President, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.228">228</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported by Hards, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.227">227-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Softs forced to vote for, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.227">227-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised by Southern press, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.10">10</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bucktails, followers of Van Buren, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.251">251</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">origin of name, <a href="#vol1Page_i.251">251</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bucktails and Clintonians, 1820, two opposing parties, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.273">273</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Buel, Jesse, cand. for gov., 1836, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.12">12</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and gifts of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.12">12</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.13">13</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Buffalo, burned by British, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.224">224</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clinton predicts its great growth, <a href="#vol1Page_i.243">243</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Bull Run, battle of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.11">11-12</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scott did not approve, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lincoln favoured it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urged by the N.Y. <i>Tribune</i>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.11">11</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Burr, Aaron, with Arnold at Quebec, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Yates for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">atty.-gen., <a href="#vol1Page_i.45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early career, <a href="#vol1Page_i.45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his character, <a href="#vol1Page_i.45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first meeting with Hamilton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.45">45-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinion of Washington, <a href="#vol1Page_i.46">46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">legend as to Hamilton and, <a href="#vol1Page_i.46">46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">atty.-gen., <a href="#vol1Page_i.46">46-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ambitious to be gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.50">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">checked by Clinton and Hamilton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.50">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">non-attention to public business, <a href="#vol1Page_i.55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">referee in Clinton-Jay contest, <a href="#vol1Page_i.57">57</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">undertakes to carry New York, <a href="#vol1Page_i.89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">skilful methods of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meets Hamilton at the polls, <a href="#vol1Page_i.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">courtesy of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">style of speaking, <a href="#vol1Page_i.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Root's opinion of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">party triumphant, <a href="#vol1Page_i.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cand. for Vice-President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.98">98</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the tie vote, <a href="#vol1Page_i.98">98</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Jefferson's election, <a href="#vol1Page_i.98">98</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported by Federalists, <a href="#vol1Page_i.98">98-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">silent as to result, <a href="#vol1Page_i.102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Van Ness, as a go-between, <a href="#vol1Page_i.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deceived by Edward Livingston, <a href="#vol1Page_i.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected Vice-President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">eulogised by Jefferson, <a href="#vol1Page_i.104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sudden change toward, <a href="#vol1Page_i.105">105</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">personal appearance, <a href="#vol1Page_i.106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">president constitutional con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">helped Clinton's control, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clinton's dislike of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clinton determines to destroy him, <a href="#vol1Page_i.116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friends without an office, <a href="#vol1Page_i.119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">turns against Jefferson and Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.121">121-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">silence under attack, <a href="#vol1Page_i.123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Aristides'" defence of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1804, <a href="#vol1Page_i.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hopeless race from start, <a href="#vol1Page_i.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hamilton's reasons for opposing, <a href="#vol1Page_i.133">133-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leader of secession, <a href="#vol1Page_i.134">134-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lansing's withdrawal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for election, <a href="#vol1Page_i.137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">powerful friends, <a href="#vol1Page_i.138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">challenged Hamilton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.139">139-40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostile meeting, <a href="#vol1Page_i.142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of Hamilton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">indicted for murder, <a href="#vol1Page_i.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">later career, <a href="#vol1Page_i.144">144-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character, <a href="#vol1Page_i.145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unnatural parent, <a href="#vol1Page_i.146">146</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">connection with Tam., <a href="#vol1Page_i.182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">clever trick to charter bank, <a href="#vol1Page_i.187">187</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Burrows, Lorenzo, nominated for gov. by Americans, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.249">249</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">manager Cons. state con., 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.79">79</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Burt, James, in Council of Appointment, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.156">156</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Burt, Silas W., appointed surveyor, port of New York, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.406">406</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confirmed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.409">409</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Butler, Benjamin F., district attorney, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.289">289</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gifts, character, and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.289">289-94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Talcott, <a href="#vol1Page_i.291">291</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">law partner of Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.291">291</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of Albany Regency, <a href="#vol1Page_i.293">293-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sent to Assembly, <a href="#vol1Page_i.358">358</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">U.S. atty.-gen., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.1">1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">practising law, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.53">53</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Baltimore con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.70">70-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines to be sec. of war, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Barnburner, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Utica con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Butler, William Allen, son of Benjamin F., eulogy of Van Buren, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.208">208</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Cady, Daniel, gifts and character of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.169">169</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">father of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assails embargo, <a href="#vol1Page_i.169">169</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cagger, Peter, at Charleston con., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.272">272</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Union State con., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.15">15</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">draft-circular, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.82">82</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Calhoun, John C., resembled John C. Spencer, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.264">264</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clinton on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.386">386</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.387">387</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Callicot, Timothy, proposition to Depew, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.53">53</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected speaker of Assembly, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.54">54</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cambreling, Churchill C., leads Dem. forces in Congress, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.1">1</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in constitutional con., 1846, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">minister to Russia, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Barnburner, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Utica con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Pierce and Seymour, 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.177">177</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cameron, Simon, promised place in Lincoln's cabinet, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.288">288</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Campaign speeches, 1860, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.329">329</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Campbell, Allan, presented for gov., 1882, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.488">488</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ostensible choice of County Democracy, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.489">489</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported by Reps. for mayor of N.Y., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and ability, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Canadian rebellion, history of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.23">23-4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Canal Ring, defeats Barlow for atty.-gen., 1873, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.307">307</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Tilden for gov., 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">members of it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exposed and crushed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.322">322-4</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Canal work and fraud, see <a href="#Erie">Erie Canal</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cannon, Joseph G., respecting Greeley and Lincoln, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.126">126</a>, note.<br /> +<br /> +Cantine, Moses I., brother-in-law of Van Buren, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.251">251</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed Clinton and Erie canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.251">251</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Caroline</i>, steamer in Canadian rebellion, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.24">24</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Carpenter, B. Platt, nominated for lt.-gov., 1882, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.494">494</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Carr, Joseph B., nominated for sec. of state, 1879, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.416">416</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for sec. of state, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.485">485</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.486">486</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Carroll, Howard, named for congressman-at-large, 1882, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.494">494</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Carter, Luther C., in Congress, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.339">339</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disapproves Weed's compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.339">339</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Carver, Joseph, predicts inland waterway in New York, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.241">241</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cassidy, William, Albany <i>Argus</i>, a leading Dem. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Castle Garden meeting, to unite Fillmore Whigs and Democrats, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.157">157</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Champlain, Marshal M., nominated for atty.-gen., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.24">24</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1869, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Chandler, Zachariah, resented Lincoln's relations with Seward and Weed, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.89">89</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chapin, Edwin H., political sermons of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.329">329</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chaplin, William L., nominated for gov. by Abolitionists, 1850, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.156">156</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chapman, George W., nominated for canal com., 1870, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.231">231</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Charleston convention, 1860, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.270">270-9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Softs admitted, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.270">270</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">N.Y. delegation, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.271">271-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Richmond's leadership, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.271">271-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">struggle over platform, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.273">273-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bitter debates, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.273">273-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">states secede, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">South against Douglas and Guthrie, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adjourned to Baltimore, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see<a href="#Baltimore"> Baltimore convention</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Charleston <i>Mercury</i>, resents action of Northern Dems., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.10">10</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Chase, Salmon P., chief of radicals in cabinet, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.14">14</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.84">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">consents to remain, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.84">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">threatens to resign, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.86">86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.96">96</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lincoln's tart acceptance, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.97">97</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leads movement to substitute another cand. for Lincoln, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to be President, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favoured by Seymour, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.198">198</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gets few votes, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">several Lib. Reps. favour him, 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.286">286</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Chatfield, Thomas S., nominated for state treas., 1869, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cheetham, James, editor of <i>American Citizen</i>, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.122">122</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.122">122-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assailed by Van Ness, <a href="#vol1Page_i.126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">challenged Coleman, <a href="#vol1Page_i.128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assailed Burr, 1804, <a href="#vol1Page_i.137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed embargo, <a href="#vol1Page_i.165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">expelled from Tam., <a href="#vol1Page_i.182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.182">182</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cheever, George B., tours England in behalf of the Union, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.90">90</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resents Lincoln's relations with Conservatives, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">signs call for Cleveland con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounces policy of Administration, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.90">90</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Chicago convention, 1860, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.281">281-93</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prototype of modern con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.281">281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.281">281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. and platform of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of cheering, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.288">288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lincoln nominated on third ballot, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Evarts moved to make unanimous, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hamlin nominated for Vice-President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.289">289</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Church, Sanford E., elected to Assembly, 1841, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.47">47</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original Barnburner, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., 1850, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Charleston con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.272">272</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">temp. ch'm. Dem. state peace con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.354">354</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Opposes Union State con., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.15">15</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favoured for gov., 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends Saratoga con., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delegate-at-large, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adjourns con. to defeat Dix, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">audacious act, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abject apology, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected chief judge Ct. of Appeals, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.234">234</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to be gov., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated by Tilden, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.298">298</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ambitious to be gov., 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with canal ring, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.312">312-3</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Churchill, John C., nominated for sec. of state, 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.377">377</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspired to be state comp., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.417">417</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.417">417</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cipher dispatches, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350-1</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">translated by <i>Tribune</i>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.394">394</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">publication of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.395">395</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence on Tilden, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.395">395</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cisco, John J., sympathy with the South, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.4">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Civil service reform, first effort of Fed. Gov., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.360">360</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Curtis heads Com., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.360">360</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hayes' efforts to establish it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.360">360</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposition to, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.361">361</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.365">365</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Civil war, sec. of treas. predicts, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.332">332</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reps. might have prevented, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gov.'s message, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.348">348</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">petitions for peace, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.349">349</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">action of N.Y. Chamber of Commerce, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.349">349</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Legislature, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.349">349</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delegates to peace congress, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">detention of guns, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.351">351</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delegates sent to secession states, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.351">351-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dix's dispatch, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state con. of fusionists, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.354">354-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conkling on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.357">357</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Clark, Gaylord J., nominated for prison insp., 1862, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.41">41</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.51">51</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Clark, Israel W., Albany <i>Register</i>, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.262">262</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friend of Erie canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.262">262</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Clark, Myron H., nom. for gov., 1854, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.199">199</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weed opposed nomination for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not renominated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.234">234</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Temperance cand. for gov., 1870, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.316">316</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.319">319</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Clay, Henry, aids in rejection of Van Buren, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.387">387</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">United States Bank, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeat, 1840, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anger of friends, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.40">40</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Clay party, organised, 1831, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.392">392</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated Henry Clay for President, 1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.392">392</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cleveland convention, 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.92">92</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cleveland, Grover, presented for gov., 1882, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.490">490</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.490">490</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">County Democracy's influence, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.490">490</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated on third ballot, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.491">491</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.492">492</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his sturdy rectitude, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.492">492</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter of acceptance, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.497">497</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enormous majority, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">known as the "Veto Mayor," <a href="#vol3Page_iii.499">499</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Clews, Henry, recommends Murphy's appointment, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.233">233</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presents Dix for gov., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.294">294</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Clinton, DeWitt, forces election of Council of Appointment, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.107">107</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controls it, <a href="#vol1Page_i.107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance and character, <a href="#vol1Page_i.108">108-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breaks with Jay, <a href="#vol1Page_i.110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adds to authority of Council, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prototype of political boss, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">destroys Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.116">116</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patronage to the Livingstons, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, <a href="#vol1Page_i.119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes mayor, <a href="#vol1Page_i.118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Jefferson against Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.121">121</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacks Burr through press, <a href="#vol1Page_i.122">122</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assailed by Van Ness, <a href="#vol1Page_i.125">125-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">challenged by Swartwout, <a href="#vol1Page_i.127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wounds him, <a href="#vol1Page_i.127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">regrets it was not Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">too young for gov., 1804, <a href="#vol1Page_i.136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Lewis' administration, <a href="#vol1Page_i.149">149-51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bargains with the Burrites, <a href="#vol1Page_i.152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostility of Martling Men, <a href="#vol1Page_i.152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">three offices and salaries, <a href="#vol1Page_i.153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by W.W. Van Ness, <a href="#vol1Page_i.153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed from mayoralty, <a href="#vol1Page_i.155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">selects Tompkins for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contrasted to Tompkins, <a href="#vol1Page_i.160">160-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes embargo, <a href="#vol1Page_i.165">165</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.168">168</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.171">171</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">changes opinion, <a href="#vol1Page_i.165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reappointed mayor, <a href="#vol1Page_i.165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urges uncle for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.166">166-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">series of mistakes, <a href="#vol1Page_i.167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves Madison's and Tompkins' administrations, <a href="#vol1Page_i.168">168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assails Federalists, <a href="#vol1Page_i.168">168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed as mayor, <a href="#vol1Page_i.172">172-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reappointed, <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostility of Tam., <a href="#vol1Page_i.180">180-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated lt.-gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.181">181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lavish style of living, <a href="#vol1Page_i.183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wealth of wife, <a href="#vol1Page_i.183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">income as mayor, <a href="#vol1Page_i.183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Irish friends, <a href="#vol1Page_i.183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lack of tact, <a href="#vol1Page_i.184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ready to defeat Tompkins, <a href="#vol1Page_i.184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">desertion of friends, <a href="#vol1Page_i.184">184-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected lt.-gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes charter of Merchants' Bank, <a href="#vol1Page_i.189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">silent as to Bank of America, <a href="#vol1Page_i.196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">estrangement of Spencer, <a href="#vol1Page_i.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks nomination for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fitness for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated by Legislature, <a href="#vol1Page_i.201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposition to, <a href="#vol1Page_i.201">201-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Granger supports, <a href="#vol1Page_i.202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Tompkins, <a href="#vol1Page_i.201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Rufus King, <a href="#vol1Page_i.203">203-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported by Federalists, <a href="#vol1Page_i.204">204-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">campaign managed by Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.206">206-10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">King's election to U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.211">211-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not renominated for lt.-gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacks Tompkins and Taylor, <a href="#vol1Page_i.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retains mayoralty, <a href="#vol1Page_i.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Riker his enemy, <a href="#vol1Page_i.218">218</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused a command in War of 1812, <a href="#vol1Page_i.221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patriotic devotion, <a href="#vol1Page_i.221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed from the mayoralty, <a href="#vol1Page_i.235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">record as mayor, <a href="#vol1Page_i.235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">canal com., <a href="#vol1Page_i.242">242-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early efforts as, <a href="#vol1Page_i.243">243</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in retirement, <a href="#vol1Page_i.243">243</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">begins correspondence with Post, <a href="#vol1Page_i.243">243</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plan for canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">heads new commission, <a href="#vol1Page_i.245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friendship with Spencer renewed, <a href="#vol1Page_i.245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brother-in-law of Spencer, <a href="#vol1Page_i.245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cand. for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reports on cost of canals, <a href="#vol1Page_i.246">246-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported by Federalists for gov., 1817, <a href="#vol1Page_i.247">247-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pictures Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1817, <a href="#vol1Page_i.250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inaugurated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">began work on canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at zenith of fame, <a href="#vol1Page_i.253">253</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lacked politician's art, <a href="#vol1Page_i.254">254</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused reconciliation with Young, <a href="#vol1Page_i.254">254</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">believed Republican party would divide, <a href="#vol1Page_i.254">254-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused to appoint Federalists, <a href="#vol1Page_i.255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dismissed Tam. office holders, <a href="#vol1Page_i.255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rivals of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of messages, <a href="#vol1Page_i.256">256</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bolts party caucus, <a href="#vol1Page_i.257">257-60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not a reformer, <a href="#vol1Page_i.260">260</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">crippled in power, <a href="#vol1Page_i.261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loss of canal patronage, <a href="#vol1Page_i.261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sly methods of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removes Bucktails from office, <a href="#vol1Page_i.273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls Van Buren "arch scoundrel," <a href="#vol1Page_i.273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hesitates to remove him, <a href="#vol1Page_i.274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">without organisation, <a href="#vol1Page_i.279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confident of election, <a href="#vol1Page_i.281">281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.281">281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">protests against Federal patronage, <a href="#vol1Page_i.283">283-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">green-bag message, <a href="#vol1Page_i.285">285</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vituperative allusions to Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.286">286</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to defeat Van Buren for U.S. senator, <a href="#vol1Page_i.287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">trapped into opposing the constitutional con., 1821, <a href="#vol1Page_i.296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friends without influence in con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.298">298</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not renominated for gov., 1822, <a href="#vol1Page_i.312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.314">314-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prophetic letter, <a href="#vol1Page_i.315">315</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deceived as to Yates' popularity, <a href="#vol1Page_i.320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed as canal com., <a href="#vol1Page_i.329">329</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">great excitement, <a href="#vol1Page_i.329">329</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.330">330-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stirring campaign against Young, <a href="#vol1Page_i.332">332</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.333">333</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">about the Presidency, <a href="#vol1Page_i.334">334-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Jackson, <a href="#vol1Page_i.334">334-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a censorious critic, <a href="#vol1Page_i.334">334-5</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">likeness to Jackson, <a href="#vol1Page_i.336">336</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opening of Erie canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.345">345</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ignores old custom, <a href="#vol1Page_i.347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., 1826, <a href="#vol1Page_i.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, 1828, <a href="#vol1Page_i.353">353</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">remarks on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.354">354-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Van Buren on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.354">354</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weed on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.355">355</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Clinton, George, member first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.17">17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">manners of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.19">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ancestry and career, <a href="#vol1Page_i.20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Schuyler on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Washington on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hatred of Tories, <a href="#vol1Page_i.23">23</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves revenue going to Congress, <a href="#vol1Page_i.24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">insists upon its collection by state, <a href="#vol1Page_i.25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to convene Legislature, <a href="#vol1Page_i.25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hamilton opposes, <a href="#vol1Page_i.25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not candid, <a href="#vol1Page_i.28">28</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes revision of Articles of Confederation, <a href="#vol1Page_i.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdrawal of Yates and Lansing, <a href="#vol1Page_i.30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reproves Hamilton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bitterest opponent of Federal Constitution, <a href="#vol1Page_i.32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ignored it in message, <a href="#vol1Page_i.32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed another con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conduct criticised, <a href="#vol1Page_i.36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Washington on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed for re-election as gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.37">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hamilton's encounter with, <a href="#vol1Page_i.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected, 1789, <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a master politician, <a href="#vol1Page_i.45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for appointing Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.46">46-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">helped by the Livingstons, <a href="#vol1Page_i.47">47-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., 1792, <a href="#vol1Page_i.50">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abuse and misrepresentation, <a href="#vol1Page_i.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sales of public lands, <a href="#vol1Page_i.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">known as usurper, <a href="#vol1Page_i.61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused to nominate Benson, <a href="#vol1Page_i.61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">argument of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">action of Council of Appointment, <a href="#vol1Page_i.62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not a spoilsman, <a href="#vol1Page_i.62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declined to stand for re-election, <a href="#vol1Page_i.63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., 1801, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed methods of Council, <a href="#vol1Page_i.119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines re-election, <a href="#vol1Page_i.129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected Vice-President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed embargo, <a href="#vol1Page_i.165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urged for President, 1808, <a href="#vol1Page_i.166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected Vice-President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats United States Bank, <a href="#vol1Page_i.186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death and character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.197">197-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the great war gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plan to connect Hudson with Lake Ontario, <a href="#vol1Page_i.242">242</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Clinton, George W., son of DeWitt Clinton, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.183">183</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated sec. of state by Hunkers, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dem. state peace con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.356">356</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loyal sentiments of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.356">356-7</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Clintonians, followers of DeWitt Clinton, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.251">251</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Clintonians and Bucktails, 1820, two opposing parties, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.273">273</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Clinton, James, in first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brother of George Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">father of DeWitt Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his character, <a href="#vol1Page_i.43">43-4</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cobb, Howell, sec. of treas., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.332">332</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on election of Lincoln, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.332">332</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">predicts panic, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.332">332</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cochrane, John, Barnburners' platform maker, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.197">197</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Charleston con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.272">272</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career, appearance and ability of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.272">272</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sympathy with the South, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech at Richmond, Va., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loyal speech at Union Square meeting, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enters the army, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.9">9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised by Southern press, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.10">10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours freeing and arming slaves, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for atty.-gen., 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.76">76</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">signs call for Cleveland con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resents infringement of rights, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">president of Cleveland con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounces leaders of Rep. party, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for Vice-President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Rep. state con., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins Lib. Rep. movement, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organises its con. for Greeley's nomination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls Lib. Rep. state con. to order, 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Colden, Cadwallader D., ancestry and character, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.56">56</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">district atty., <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prophecy as to inland navigation in New York, <a href="#vol1Page_i.241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed as mayor of New York City, <a href="#vol1Page_i.287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an Anti-Mason, <a href="#vol1Page_i.370">370</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Coleman, William, editor of <i>Evening Post</i>, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">clerk of circuit court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">challenged by Cheetham, <a href="#vol1Page_i.128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">kills Cheetham's friend, <a href="#vol1Page_i.128">128</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Colles, Christopher, navigation of Mohawk River, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.242">242</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Collier, John A., desired to be gov., 1842, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated Fillmore for Vice-President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.145">145</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Columbia College, DeWitt Clinton in its first class, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.108">108</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Committee of Fifty, differences with Committee of Fifty-one, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.2">2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assumed leadership of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.2">2</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Committee of Fifty-one, opposes Committee of Fifty, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.2">2</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Committee of One Hundred, made up of Committees of Fifty and Fifty-one, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.4">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Committee of Seventy, charged with investigating Tweed Ring, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.247">247</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominate Havermeyer for mayor, 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.299">299</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Committee of Sixty, substituted for Committee of Fifty-one, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.4">4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Compromises of 1850, character of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.151">151</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Comstock, George F., nominated for Court of Appeals, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.215">215</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and ability of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.215">215-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for judge, Court of Appeals, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.21">21</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Confederates, the, resent unanimity of the North, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.9">9</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Confederation, pitiable condition of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.28">28</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Confederation, Articles of, impotent to regulate commerce, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.29">29</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hamilton on revision, <a href="#vol1Page_i.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">con. called for revision, <a href="#vol1Page_i.29">29</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Congress, Continental, recommends a war government, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.1">1</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Congress, Provincial, takes place of Provincial Assembly, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.4">4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meets, 1776, <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adopts new name, <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">continues common law of England, <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Conkling, Frederick A., aspires to be gov., 1868, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.193">193</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Conkling, Roscoe, ambitious to be atty.-gen., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.187">187</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated by Ogden Hoffman, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Whig con., 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in campaign, 1858, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ability as speaker, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his muscle, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stigmatises Dem. state peace con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.357">357</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">commends Clinton's loyalty, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.357">357</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lack of tact, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.389">389</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On battle of Ball's Bluff, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes legal tender act, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for Congress, 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to betray Lincoln, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected to Congress, 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tours state, 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cand. for U.S. Senate, 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">service in House, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blaine's attack, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.168">168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his vanity, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.168">168</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strong support by Roberts, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines to use money, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wins because of ability, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.171">171</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. of con., 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.172">172-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tolerant of Johnsonised Reps., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fenton suspicious of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vigorous campaign, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on election frauds, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Grant, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secures Murphy's confirmation, 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bitter contest with Fenton, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.234">234-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resumed at Rep. state con., 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hesitates to attend, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grant requests it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats Fenton, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urges Curtis for gov., 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dodges vote, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">active in campaign, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.241">241-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loses, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley attacks him, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts to crush Fenton-Greeley machine, 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.250">250-64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech at con., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.261">261-63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beats Fenton organisation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeds at the polls, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">upholds Grant's administration, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.278">278-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Robertson's dislike begins, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech in campaign, 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.301">301</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected, 1873, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.305">305</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered place on U.S. Sup. Court, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.305">305</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines law partnership, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.305">305</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zenith of power, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.305">305</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rivalry of Tilden, 1875, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.329">329</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speeches in campaign, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.330">330-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reps. defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to be President, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.332">332</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Curtis' opposition, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.333">333</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mild endorsement, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.333">333</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treatment in Rep. Nat. con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.333">333-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to attend Rep. state con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.338">338</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strong speech in campaign, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ignores Hayes and Wheeler, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Electoral Com., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.356">356</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">excluded from it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.356">356</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Rep. state con., 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Curtis' tart criticism, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.369">369-70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reply to Curtis, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.370">370-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">masterpiece of sarcasm and invective, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.374">374</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack regarded too severe, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">regretted by Rep. press, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Curtis' opinion of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">established newspaper at Utica, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.385">385</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reason for defeat, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.388">388</a> and note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">silent on money question, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.390">390-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Rep. state con., 1878, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.391">391</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at peace with Curtis, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.391">391-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">work in campaign, 1878, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.395">395</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected to Senate, 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">successors to Arthur and Cornell nominated, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dislike of President Hayes, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.402">402-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats Roosevelt and Merritt, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.404">404-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reconciliation with Blaine surmised, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.405">405-6</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.410">410</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Arthur and Cornell suspended, 1878, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.406">406</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to defeat successors, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.408">408-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed adoption of hard-money platform, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.407">407</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resists repeal of election laws, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.411">411-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. Rep. state con., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.412">412</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominates Cornell for gov., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414-18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his ticket elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Grant for third term, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.428">428-30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controls Rep. state con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.432">432</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his speech, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.433">433-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Rep. nat. con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.438">438-46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leader of the Stalwarts, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.438">438</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">remarkable receptions, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.439">439</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brilliant speech, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.439">439-40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticises Blaine, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.440">440</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the faithful, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.306">306</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.441">441</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Stalwarts accepting Vice-Presidency, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.442">442-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stoutly objects to Arthur taking it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.444">444</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to present his name, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.444">444</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostility to Garfield, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.461">461</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">avoids meeting him, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.461">461</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a veiled threat, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.461">461</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits Garfield at Mentor, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.461">461</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">avoids political topics, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.461">461</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">congratulates Platt on election to Senate, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.468">468</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits Mentor, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.468">468</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">works in harmony with President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.468">468</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Robertson appointed, Mar. 23, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a surprise, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469-70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reports and theories, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469-70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Blaine triumph, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.470">470-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to defeat it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.473">473-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">last caucus attended, May 13, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.476">476</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resignation forwarded to Cornell, May 13, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.476">476</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.477">477-78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks a re-election at Albany, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.478">478</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rep. caucus refused, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.479">479</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first ballot gives highest vote, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.479">479</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">successor elected, July 22, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.482">482</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats Cornell's renomination for gov., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.493">493</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.493">493</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Connolly, Richard B., known as "Slippery Dick," iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suave and crafty, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tweed's bookkeeper, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">begins in 1857 as county clerk, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">made city comp., 1865, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his rake-off on bills, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exposure of, 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.246">246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">startling crime of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.246">246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">escapes to Europe with plunder, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.248">248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dies abroad, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.248">248</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Conover, Daniel D., nominated for prison insp., 1869, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Conservative Democrats, first called Hunkers, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.95">95</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Conservatives, faction of the Dem. party, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.52">52</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favoured using surplus for canals, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.52">52</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaders of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.53">53</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called Hunkers, 1845, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <a href="#Hunkers">Hunkers</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Constitution, Federal, con. called, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.29">29</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">draft sent to legislatures, <a href="#vol1Page_i.32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">riots in New York, <a href="#vol1Page_i.32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clinton's opposition, <a href="#vol1Page_i.32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hamilton on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">con. to ratify, <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">held at Poughkeepsie, <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sacrifices of New York, <a href="#vol1Page_i.34">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">people's dislike of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.34">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">date of ratification, <a href="#vol1Page_i.35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vote on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">officially proclaimed, <a href="#vol1Page_i.36">36</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Constitution, State, drafted by Jay, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.8">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Jay's handwriting, <a href="#vol1Page_i.13">13</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">when and how reported, <a href="#vol1Page_i.13">13-15</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approved by New England, <a href="#vol1Page_i.15">15</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conservative, <a href="#vol1Page_i.15">15</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not ratified by people, <a href="#vol1Page_i.15">15</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">amended, 1801, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">new one adopted, 1821, <a href="#vol1Page_i.299">299-310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">broadened suffrage, <a href="#vol1Page_i.299">299-302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popularised the judiciary, <a href="#vol1Page_i.302">302-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elective officers, <a href="#vol1Page_i.307">307-10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">changes made, <a href="#vol1Page_i.311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ratified, <a href="#vol1Page_i.311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">new one adopted, 1846, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.103">103-13</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">known as People's Constitution, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.113">113</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Constitutional Amendments ratified, 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.320">320</a>, note.<br /> +<br /> +Constitutional convention, first one, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5-14</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">men composing it, <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assembles at Kingston, 1777, <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delegates elected by people, <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recess, <a href="#vol1Page_i.6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reassembles, <a href="#vol1Page_i.6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jay drafts constitution, <a href="#vol1Page_i.6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">number of members, <a href="#vol1Page_i.13">13</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leader of radicals, <a href="#vol1Page_i.13">13</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hasty adjournment of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.14">14</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Second one, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assembles at Albany, 1801, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">purpose of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Burr its president, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Third one, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.298">298-311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assembles, 1821, <a href="#vol1Page_i.298">298</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">distinguished delegates, <a href="#vol1Page_i.298">298</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bucktail body, <a href="#vol1Page_i.298">298</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tompkins its president, <a href="#vol1Page_i.299">299</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Van Buren its leader, <a href="#vol1Page_i.298">298</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reforms demanded, <a href="#vol1Page_i.299">299-310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">freehold suffrage, <a href="#vol1Page_i.299">299-302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compromise suffrage, <a href="#vol1Page_i.299">299-302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">negro suffrage, <a href="#vol1Page_i.299">299-300</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suffrage to elect state senators, <a href="#vol1Page_i.300">300-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suffrage settled, <a href="#vol1Page_i.301">301</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Van Buren, speech of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sentiment against old judges, <a href="#vol1Page_i.302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bitter words, <a href="#vol1Page_i.303">303</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Van Buren a peacemaker, <a href="#vol1Page_i.304">304</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">former judges finally abolished, <a href="#vol1Page_i.306">306</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">what con. substituted, <a href="#vol1Page_i.305">305</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">justices of peace, <a href="#vol1Page_i.308">308-10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">constitution ratified, <a href="#vol1Page_i.311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">summary of changes made, <a href="#vol1Page_i.311">311</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fourth one, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.103">103-13</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assembles, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prominent delegates, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.103">103-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absence of Seward, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.104">104-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley failed of election, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.105">105</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popular sovereignty in, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.105">105-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">limited power of property, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rights of negro, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state indebtedness, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.107">107-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elective judiciary, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.109">109-12</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">established Court of Appeals, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ratified, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.113">113</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Constitutional convention, 1867, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.184">184</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">negro suffrage, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recesses until after election, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">result submitted by legislature of 1869, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unrestricted negro suffrage, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Constitutional Union convention, The, 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.79">79</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its platform, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.79">79</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Constitutional Union party, organised, 1860, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.326">326</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bell and Everett, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">platform of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fuses with Softs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">scheme assailed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.327">327</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">composition of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.37">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes emancipation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.37">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its con., 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.37">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated Seymour for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.38">38</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cook, Bates, state comp., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.36">36</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cook, James M., nominated comp. of state, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.188">188</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ambitious to be gov., 1858, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours postponing Rep. nat. con., 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.88">88</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cooper, Edward, figures in cipher dispatches, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.351">351</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">asked for money by Pelton, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.351">351</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">informs Tilden, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.351">351</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for mayor of N.Y., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.393">393-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strengthened by gov.'s appointments, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.418">418</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cooper, Peter, candidate for President, 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.389">389</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Copeland, William, aids in exposure of Tweed ring, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.246">246</a>.<br /> +<br /> +"Copperheads," epithet first used, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.58">58</a>, and note.<br /> +<br /> +Cornell, Alonzo B., nom. for lt.-gov., 1868, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.196">196</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evidences of fraud in election, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.251">251-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">head of Rep. state organisation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts to crush Fenton-Greeley machine, 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.250">250-64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bold ruling, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for nomination for gov. and lt.-gov., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.337">337-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bitter feeling, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.339">339</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his successor as naval officer appointed, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confirmation defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.404">404-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">President suspends him, 1878, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.406">406</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reason for, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.406">406</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">successor confirmed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.409">409</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.416">416</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">alleged alliance with Kelly, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.425">425</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for the story, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.426">426</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aided by Secretary Sherman, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sherman's excuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ran behind the ticket, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">did not attend Rep. nat. con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zenith of power, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations to Stalwart leaders, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Platt for Senate, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">asks Garfield to withdraw Robertson's appointment, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.472">472</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strained relations with Conkling, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.478">478-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused to become cand. against him, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.479">479</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adm. as gov. approved by state con., 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.485">485</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cand. for renomination, 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.492">492</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Arthur, Conkling, and Jay Gould, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.493">493</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">coercion and fraud practiced, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.493">493-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his defeat, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.494">494</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cornell, Oliver H.P., nominated for eng., 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Corning, Erastus, at Charleston con., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.272">272</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at peace congress, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cand. for Senate, 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offices held, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Vallandigham's arrest, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lincoln's letter to, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Tilden, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to be gov., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.488">488</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.489">489</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cornwall, George J., nominated for lt.-gov., 1850, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.154">154</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cotton Whigs, followers of Fillmore, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.165">165</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favourable to South, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.165">165</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Council of Appointment, suggested by Adams, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.8">8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed by Jay, <a href="#vol1Page_i.11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">account of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.11">11</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bungling compromise, <a href="#vol1Page_i.12">12</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a political machine, <a href="#vol1Page_i.61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jay's interpretation of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offices controlled by, <a href="#vol1Page_i.62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clinton controls it, <a href="#vol1Page_i.107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">modified, 1801, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reduced gov. to a figure-head, <a href="#vol1Page_i.119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abolished, 1821, <a href="#vol1Page_i.311">311</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Council of Revision, created by first Constitution, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.10">10</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">membership of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.10">10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure to act, <a href="#vol1Page_i.10">10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">model for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.10">10</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Council of Safety, appointed by first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.16">16</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">orders election of gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.17">17</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +County Democracy, organisation of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.483">483</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delegates admitted to Dem. state con., 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.484">484</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ticket elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.486">486</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sagacity in Dem. state con., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.490">490</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ostensibly for Campbell, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.490">490</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">solid for Cleveland, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.491">491</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unites with Tam. on local ticket, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elects city and state officials, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Court of Appeals, established, 1846, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.111">111</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Court of Errors and Impeachment, created by first Constitution, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.12">12</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">composed of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.12">12</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">model for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.12">12</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Court, Supreme, judges of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.12">12</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">members of Council of Revision, <a href="#vol1Page_i.10">10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how created, <a href="#vol1Page_i.12">12</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cox, Jacob D., leaves Grant's cabinet, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.279">279-80</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins Lib. Reps., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Greeley, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cox, Samuel S., removes from Ohio to New York, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.288">288</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to Congress, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.288">288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised by Greeley, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.288">288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends Dem. nat. con., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Greeley's nomination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.288">288</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Crane, William C., defeated for speaker, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.90">90</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contest over constitutional con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.97">97-9</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Crary, John, nominated for lt.-gov., 1828, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.363">363</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unfaithful, <a href="#vol1Page_i.363">363-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.368">368</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Crawford, William H., favoured for President, 1816, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.237">237</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.237">237</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Crittenden Compromise, similar to Weed's, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.340">340</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not new to Congress, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.341">341</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.341">341</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dix on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.341">341</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Senate Committee of Thirteen, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.341">341-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Republicans opposed it, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its failure led to civil war, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lincoln opposed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">majority of voters favour, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">petitions for, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.349">349</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Crittenden, John J., author of compromise, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.340">340</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">like Weed's, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.340">340</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nestor of U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.340">340</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">weeps when Seward speaks, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.378">378</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Croker, Richard, attaché of Connolly's office, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.318">318</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kelly makes him marshal, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.318">318</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Croswell, Edwin, editor <i>Argus</i>, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lieutenant of Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.345">345</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opens the way for Jackson, <a href="#vol1Page_i.357">357</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gifts and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.374">374</a>; ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.56">56-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">met Weed in boyhood, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.374">374</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rival editors estranged, <a href="#vol1Page_i.375">375</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks Weed's aid in trouble, <a href="#vol1Page_i.375">375</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associates of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.1">1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reappointed state printer, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.56">56-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ability and leadership, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.58">58-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">after Van Buren's defeat, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.74">74</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">slippery-elm editor, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.84">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Seymour for speaker, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats Young, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">election of U.S. senators, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shrewd tactics, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.94">94-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">part in Wright's defeat, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires from active life, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.134">134</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Crowley, Richard, made U.S. atty., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.252">252</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of Conkling machine, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cand. for U.S. Senate, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stalwart leaders divide, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fitness for position, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.466">466</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">handicapped by his supporters, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.466">466</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated in caucus, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.468">468</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Crowley, Rodney R., nominated for prison insp., 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.326">326</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Curtis, Edward, elected to Congress, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.16">16</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Curtis, George William, in campaign, 1856, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.240">240</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refined rhetoric, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Kansas struggle, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Chicago con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">eloquence of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.282">282</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reasons for Rep. defeat, 1862, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">campaign of 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.121">121</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to U.S. Senate, 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not an active cand., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejects a combination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for sec. of state, 1869, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws from ticket, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. of Rep. state con., 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name presented for gov., 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on civil service reform, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.306">306</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">praises Tilden, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. Rep. state con., 1875, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Conkling for President, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.332">332-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">also Cornell for gov. and lt.-gov., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.338">338</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Rep. state con., 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.366">366</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">insists on Hayes' endorsement, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.366">366</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and early career, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.366">366</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered choice of foreign missions, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.366">366</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defence of President, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.368">368</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticism of Conkling, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.368">368-70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Curtis and Conkling contrasted, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.370">370</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conkling's attack upon, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.371">371-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his opinion of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Rep. state con., 1878, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.391">391</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at peace with Conkling, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.391">391</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">votes against Cornell, 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.416">416</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called a "scratcher," <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sharp retort, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.425">425</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">answers Conkling's speech, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.434">434</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed uniting with Stalwarts, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.467">467</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stigmatises method of Folger's nomination for gov., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.495">495</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns editorship of <i>Harper's Weekly</i>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.495">495</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mistake disavowed by publishers, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.495">495</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Curtis, Newton M., at Rep. state con., 1880, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.434">434</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">views as to independence of delegates, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.434">434</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports instructions of state con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.434">434</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Curtis, William E., activity in reform, 1871, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.268">268</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Dem. state con., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.272">272</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Cutting, Francis B., attends Saratoga con., 1866, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Cuyler, Theodore L., on Cornell's defeat for renomination, 1882, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.495">495</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Danforth, George F., nominated for atty.-gen., 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for judge Court of Appeals, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.339">339</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1878, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.392">392</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.397">397</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Davenport, Ira, supports Rogers for U.S. Senate, 1881, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.466">466</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for state comp., 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.485">485</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.486">486</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Davis, David, Lincoln's manager at Chicago con., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.288">288</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Vallandigham's arrest, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favoured for President, 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected U.S. senator, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.356">356</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to go upon Electoral Com., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.356">356</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">blow to the Dems., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.356">356</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Davis, Jefferson, sharp controversy with Douglas, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.279">279-80</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for secession, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.375">375-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conditions on which he would accept peace, 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.102">102-3</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Davis, Matthew L., urged for appointment by Burr, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.121">121</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">literary executor of Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leader of the Burrites, <a href="#vol1Page_i.152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bitter opponent of DeWitt Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.181">181</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Davis, Noah, cand. for U.S. Senate, 1867, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.166">166</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and ability, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fenton not helpful, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.171">171</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated by Conkling, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.171">171</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dawson, George, Albany <i>Journal</i>, a leading Rep. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dayton, Jonathan, member Council of Appointment, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.231">231</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dayton, William L., nominated for Vice-President, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.229">229</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dearborn, Henry, in command on Canadian border, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.221">221</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plan of campaign, <a href="#vol1Page_i.221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers to resign, <a href="#vol1Page_i.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">further failures, <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires, <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +De Lamatyr, Gilbert, nominated for prison inspector, 1867, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.174">174</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.188">188</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Delegate conventions, beginning of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.250">250</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prototype of modern con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.327">327</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.331">331</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Democratic national conventions, Chicago, 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.107">107-9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New York City, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.196">196-201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Baltimore, 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.287">287-90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Louis, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cincinnati, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.455">455-9</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Democratic party, organised by Van Buren, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.349">349</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.350">350</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.365">365</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its first national con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.391">391</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes U.S. Bank, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">triumph of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.396">396</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sweeps state, 1834, <a href="#vol1Page_i.404">404</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Again in 1836, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.13">13-14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first defeat, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeat, 1840, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recovers state, 1841, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">divided into Radicals and Conservatives, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.52">52</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaders of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.53">53</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Radicals called Barnburners, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conservatives called Hunkers, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour unites two factions, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated Seymour for gov., 1850, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">united, 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.169">169-78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">carried state, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">again splits into Hunkers and Barnburners, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.180">180-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">factions called Hards and Softs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated by split, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">split continued by repeal of Missouri Compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">united again, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wood captures state con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hards yield to Softs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.258">258</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">indorses Buchanan and popular sovereignty, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.258">258</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Democratic peace convention, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.354">354-8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">met at Albany, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.354">354</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.354">354</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">utterances of Seymour, Parker, Clinton, and others, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.355">355-8</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Democratic state conventions, 1861, Syracuse, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.16">16</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1862, Albany, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1863, Albany, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1864, Albany, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.101">101</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1865, Albany, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1866, Albany, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1867, Albany, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1868, Albany, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1869, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1870, Rochester, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1871, Rochester, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.269">269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1872, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1873, Utica, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.308">308</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1874, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.313">313</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1875, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1876, Saratoga, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.345">345-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1877, Albany, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.378">378-84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1878, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.392">392-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1879, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.418">418-24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1880, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.449">449-50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">also Saratoga, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.460">460</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1881, Albany, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.484">484-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1882, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.487">487-91</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Denio, Hiram, nominated for Court of Appeals, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.184">184</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.189">189</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dennison, Robert, report on canal, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.60">60-1</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Depew, Chauncey M., nominated for speaker of Assembly, 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.53">53</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdrawn, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for sec. of state, 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.75">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.75">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beaten for ch'm. of Rep. state con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">places Greeley in nomination for gov., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Rep. state con., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.258">258-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">president Lib. Rep. state con., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cand. for U.S. Senate, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.466">466</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Blaine's request, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.466">466</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">choice of majority of Half-breeds, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.466">466</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">throws his votes to Platt, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.468">468</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Platt's promise, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.468">468</a> and note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sees President about Robertson's appointment, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.473">473</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cand. for U.S. Senate in Platt's place, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.479">479</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.480">480</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.480">480</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">president Rep. state con., 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.485">485</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +DeWitt, Simeon, surveys route for canal, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.242">242</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">estimated cost, <a href="#vol1Page_i.242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">long career as surveyor-general, <a href="#vol1Page_i.321">321</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dickinson, Andrew B., career of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.399">399</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed by Seward, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.400">400</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised by Greeley, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.401">401</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gratitude to Seward, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.401">401</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dickinson, Daniel S., leading Conservative, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.53">53</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ability of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.53">53</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., 1840, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Baltimore con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declined renomination for lt.-gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves compromise of 1850, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wishes to be President, 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.169">169-72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Seymour's candidacy for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.172">172-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">afterward supports him, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">indorsed by Hunkers, 1853, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ambitious to be President, 1860, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.256">256</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called "Scripture Dick," <a href="#vol2Page_ii.257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">yields to the Softs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.258">258</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Charleston con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.276">276</a> and note, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.278">278</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacks Richmond, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.302">302-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">record as to slavery, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.303">303-4</a> and note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hallucination, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.304">304</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech at state con. of Hards, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.324">324-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes fusion with Softs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.331">331</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sympathy with the South, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech at Pine street meeting, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patriotic speech at Union Square meeting, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.5">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised by Southern press, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.10">10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">entertaining speaker, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for atty.-gen., 1861, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.23">23</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in campaign, 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cand. for U.S. Senate, 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delegate-at-large to Rep. nat. con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ambitious to be Vice-President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Conservatives, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prefers another to Lincoln for President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.104">104</a> and note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">falls into line, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.122">122</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dillingham, William H., classmate of Talcott, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.290">290</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Talcott's eloquence, <a href="#vol1Page_i.290">290</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Diven, Alexander S., delegate to People's Union con., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.22">22</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">colonel 107th N.Y. regiment, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.22">22</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dix, John A., member of Albany Regency, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sec. of state, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.1">1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in war of 1812, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns from army, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gifts of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">writes for <i>Argus</i>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his books, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.3">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">where educated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.3">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with Butler, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.3">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">superintendent of schools, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Barnburner, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.133">133</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.139">139</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">regret of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.133">133</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward succeeds him in U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Pierce, 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.177">177</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.178">178</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pierce offers him secretaryship of state, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.181">181</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">substitutes it for mission to France, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.182">182</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beaten by intrigue, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.182">182</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favoured Crittenden Compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.341">341</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">postmaster at New York City, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secretary of treasury, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.352">352-3</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">historic despatch, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favoured peaceable secession, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.353">353</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resided at White House, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.354">354</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sympathy with the South, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">acts as agent of President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.7">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">commissioned major-general, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised by Southern press, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.10">10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested for gov., 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.37">37</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">one vote for U.S. Senate, 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.56">56</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested for gov., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. Philadelphia con., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for nomination for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.293">293</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tortuous political course, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour's criticism, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.295">295</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weed's confidence in, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.295">295</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.315">315</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour charges nepotism, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.316">316</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">apathetic managers, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.317">317</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for mayor of New York, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dodge, William E., at peace congress, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delivers peace petition, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.381">381</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dorn, Robert C., nominated for canal com., 1865, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.130">130</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dorsheimer, Philip, on Softs' con., 1854, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.198">198</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dorsheimer, William, delegate to Lib. Rep. state con., 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.313">313</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and ability, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.314">314</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tilden's spokesman at Dem. nat. con., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cand. for gov., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.345">345</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for lt.-gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cand. for U.S. Senate, 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Dem. state con., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.421">421</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">begs delegates to reject Robinson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.421">421</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">announces Tarn, will bolt, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.422">422</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. of Kelly's con., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominates Kelly for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. of Kelly's state con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.451">451</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">named as del.-at-large to nat. con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.452">452</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delegation rejected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.458">458</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Douglas-Bell-Breckenridge fusion, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.331">331</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aided by money, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.331">331-2</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Douglas, Stephen A., denounces Kansas immigrants, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.224">224</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Harriet Beecher Stowe on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breaks with Buchanan, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.246">246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley favours him for U.S. senator, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested by Republicans for President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sharp controversy with Davis, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.279">279-80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.301">301</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fusion of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.333">333</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised by Southern press, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.10">10</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Douglass, Frederick, nominated for sec. of state, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.216">216</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated to head Rep. electoral ticket, 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.302">302</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dowd, William, nominated for mayor of N.Y., 1880, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.462">462</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bitter contest, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported by Irving Hall, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.463">463</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Draper, Simeon, unavailable to stand for gov., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.247">247</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urges Lincoln's renomination, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes collector of customs, 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.97">97</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">successor appointed, 1865, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.131">131</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Duane, James, in first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Poughkeepsie con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">campaign of 1789, <a href="#vol1Page_i.42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career, <a href="#vol1Page_i.42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed U.S. judge, <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Dudley, Charles E., member of Albany Regency, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.383">383</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.383">383</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Duer, William, in campaign, 1789, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.42">42</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in campaign, 1792, <a href="#vol1Page_i.54">54</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Duer, William A., son of William, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.42">42</a>, note<br /> +<br /> +Duer, William A., son of William A., friend of President Fillmore, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.155">155</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Dusenberre, George H., nominated for gov., 1875, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.326">326</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Earl, Robert, nominated for judge of Court of Appeals, 1869, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Editors, leading Democratic, 1865-80, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Editors, leading Republican, 1880, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.413">413-4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Edson, Franklin, nominated for mayor of N.Y., 1882, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Election frauds, 1866, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.175">175</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sudden increase in naturalization, 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.175">175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state carried by fraud, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">practised in 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.187">187-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.242">242</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Election of U.S. senators, influence of money, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.221">221</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conkling's testimony, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.170">170</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Electoral Commission, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.352">352</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preceded by civil war spirit, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.351">351-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rule insisted upon by two parties, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">com. made up, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.353">353</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bill passed by Dem. votes, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.355">355</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ellicott, Joseph, resigns as canal commissioner, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.261">261</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Elmendorff, Lucas, removed Clinton from mayoralty, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.231">231</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ely, Alfred, in Congress, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.339">339</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disapproves Weed's compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.339">339</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ely, Smith, nominated for mayor of N.Y., 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Emancipation, opposition to, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.17">17</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.18">18</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.34">34</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.37">37</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.76">76</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Embargo, ordered by Jefferson, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.163">163</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by the Clintons, <a href="#vol1Page_i.165">165</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.168">168</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.171">171</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Van Vechten and Cady, <a href="#vol1Page_i.169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defended by German and Sanford, <a href="#vol1Page_i.170">170-1</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">repeal of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Emerson, Ralph Waldo, influence of attack on Fort Sumter, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.3">3</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Emmet, Robert, son of Thomas Addis Emmet, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.357">357</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sent to Assembly 1827, <a href="#vol1Page_i.357">357</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. Rep. nat. con., 1856, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Seward, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.232">232</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Emmet, Thomas Addis, brother of Robert Emmet, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.183">183</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his coming to America, <a href="#vol1Page_i.183">183-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attorney-general, <a href="#vol1Page_i.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed, <a href="#vol1Page_i.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">request in Clinton's behalf, <a href="#vol1Page_i.221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resents Clinton's removal as canal commissioner, <a href="#vol1Page_i.329">329</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +England, cause of trouble with America, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.2">2</a>.<br /> +<br /> +English, William H., nominated for Vice President, 1880, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.457">457</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.463">463</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Equal Rights party, history of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.16">16</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<a name="Erie" id="Erie"></a>Erie canal, early views and surveys of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.241">241-3</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">discouragements, <a href="#vol1Page_i.242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">no help from Congress, <a href="#vol1Page_i.243">243</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tompkins does not favour, <a href="#vol1Page_i.246">246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Tammany, <a href="#vol1Page_i.251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported by Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bill passed, <a href="#vol1Page_i.251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sentiment in its favour, <a href="#vol1Page_i.252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">work on, began, <a href="#vol1Page_i.252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its progress, <a href="#vol1Page_i.253">253</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tammany's opposition silenced, <a href="#vol1Page_i.261">261-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opened between Utica and Rome, <a href="#vol1Page_i.327">327</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Utica and Montezuma, <a href="#vol1Page_i.327">327</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opening of in 1825, <a href="#vol1Page_i.345">345</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward on, ii. 34-5-6;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cost of, 1862, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">policy of enlargement, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.49">49-50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dems. divided, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stop and tax law of 1842, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">estimated and actual cost of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.60">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour's prophecy, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.63">63-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how affected by constitution of 1846, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.107">107-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nine million loan unconstitutional, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">constitution amended, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loan of ten and one-half millions, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.183">183-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">boast of Whigs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.188">188</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Disclosures of fraud, 1867, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.174">174</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.182">182-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aids defeats of Rep. party, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tilden's message against canal ring, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.321">321</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">colossal frauds, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.322">322</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">investigating com. appointed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.323">323</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prosecutions, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.323">323</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Evarts, William M., at Chicago con., 1861, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.283">283</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presents Seward's name, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.288">288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">moved to make Lincoln's nomination unanimous, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">witty remark to Curtis, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to Lincoln, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.349">349</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.361">361</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and gifts of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.361">361-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">work at Chicago, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contest for senator, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.363">363-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forces went to Harris, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.363">363-5</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Acts as agent of the President, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.7">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed for gov., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.336">336</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in campaign of 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.425">425</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.425">425</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Evershed, Thomas, nominated for state eng., 1881, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.484">484</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.486">486</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Fairchild, Charles S., nominated for atty.-gen., 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.326">326</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fine record, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.380">380</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed for renomination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.380">380</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.384">384</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fairman, Charles G., Elmira <i>Advertiser</i>, a leading Rep. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Farrington, Thomas, defeated for atty.-gen., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.92">92</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fay, John D., nominated for canal com., 1870, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.231">231</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Featherhead," title applied to Half-breeds, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.482">482</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Federalists, "high-minded," who composed them, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.273">273</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">oppose Clinton's re-election, 1820, <a href="#vol1Page_i.279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declared Federal party dissolved, <a href="#vol1Page_i.279">279</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>Federalist</i>, The, written largely by Hamilton, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.32">32</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its influence, <a href="#vol1Page_i.32">32</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Federalists, The, alarmed at delay of ratification of Federal Constitution, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.35">35</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organisation of party, <a href="#vol1Page_i.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominate Yates for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">counted out, <a href="#vol1Page_i.56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anger of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.59">59-60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elect Jay gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elect him, <a href="#vol1Page_i.82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lose New York, 1800, <a href="#vol1Page_i.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">indorse Burr for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuse to read the Declaration of Independence, <a href="#vol1Page_i.176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">support Clinton for President, 1812, <a href="#vol1Page_i.202">202-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">oppose war of 1812, <a href="#vol1Page_i.219">219-30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favour a New England confederacy, <a href="#vol1Page_i.227">227-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">support Clinton for gov., 1817, <a href="#vol1Page_i.247">247</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">get no appointments, <a href="#vol1Page_i.255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aid Clinton's choice for speaker, <a href="#vol1Page_i.258">258</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">King predicts party split, <a href="#vol1Page_i.259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controlled by Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sons of Hamilton and King declare party dissolved, <a href="#vol1Page_i.279">279-80</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fellows, Henry, dishonest treatment of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.256">256</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fellows, John R., early career, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.459">459</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">eloquent speaker, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.459">459</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">follower of Tilden, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.459">459</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Dem. nat. con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.459">459</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">part in spectacular reconciliation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.459">459</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fenton, Reuben E., at birth of Rep. party, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.211">211</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected to Congress, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.242">242</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Character and appearance, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.115">115-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">record and service, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.115">115-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conducts strong campaign, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by formidable combination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward predicted his defeat, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">acceptability of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.192">192</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to vice presidency, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.192">192</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for U.S. Senate, 1869, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strength and popularity, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charged with graft, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence with Grant, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations severed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Murphy's confirmation, 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contest with Conkling, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.234">234-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renewed at Rep. state con., 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">overconfident, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inactive in campaign, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his organisation crushed, 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.250">250-63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its representatives secede from con., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assemble as a separate body, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins Lib. Rep. movement, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first to appear at nat. con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organises for Greeley's nomination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attended Lib. Rep. state con., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on com. to confer with Dems., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ready to support Church for gov., 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.312">312</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Field, David D., a Barnburner, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Utica con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">family of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">code of civil procedure, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delegate to peace congress, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on com. on res., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.358">358</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed change in constitution, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.359">359</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy over, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.359">359</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Support for U.S. Senate, 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prefers another candidate than Lincoln for President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.104">104</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Field, Maunsell B., Chase desires him for asst. U.S. treas., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.95">95</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leads to Chase's resignation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.96">96</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fillmore, Millard, youth and career of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.371">371</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Weed lieutenant, <a href="#vol1Page_i.372">372</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">less faithful than Seward to Weed, <a href="#vol1Page_i.379">379</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Defeated for U.S. Senate, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1844, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.79">79-80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with Wright, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.80">80-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confident of election, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected state comp., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for Vice President, 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.137">137-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breaks with Weed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves the fugitive slave law, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.151">151-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Seward's indorsement, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fish on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not nominated for President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.166">166-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career after defeat, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.168">168-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for President by Americans, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">indorsed by old-line Whigs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">condemned Rep. party, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">helped Buchanan's election, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised by Southern press, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.10">10</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Financial crisis, cause of, 1837, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.16">16-20</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Finch, Francis M., nominated judge of Court of Appeals, 1881, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.485">485</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.486">486</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fish, Hamilton, nominated for lt.-gov., 1846, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.118">118</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected lt.-gov., 1847, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.139">139</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popularity of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.139">139</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.140">140</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected U.S. senator, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Fillmore, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Conkling, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.243">243</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not returned to U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.243">243</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves Weed's compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.338">338</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends Saratoga con., 1866, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fish, Nicholas, nominated for lt.-gov., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.173">173</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">father of Hamilton Fish, <a href="#vol1Page_i.173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popularity of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for lt.-gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.185">185</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fitch, Charles E., editor of Rochester <i>Democrat-Chronicle</i>, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.376">376</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character as a writer, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deprecates Conkling's attack on Curtis, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conkling's retort, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a leading Rep. editor, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Flagg, Azariah, member of Albany Regency, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of Assembly, <a href="#vol1Page_i.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance, <a href="#vol1Page_i.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes election of presidential electors, <a href="#vol1Page_i.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">insists on Yates' renomination, <a href="#vol1Page_i.326">326</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Comp. of state, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leader of Radicals, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.58">58</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">against Seymour for speaker, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected comp., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.92">92</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Flower, Roswell P., presented for gov., 1882, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.488">488</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early career, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.488">488-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported by anti-Tilden leaders, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.489">489</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">distrusted by Manning, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.489">489</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Jay Gould, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.489">489</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contest with Slocum, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.491">491</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.496">496</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Folger, Charles G., character of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.77">77</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves emancipation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours postponing Rep. nat. con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to the U.S. Senate, 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for chief judge of Court of Appeals, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.460">460</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed sec. of treas., 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.486">486</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.494">494</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bad methods used, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.495">495</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not suspected of complicity, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.496">496</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advised to decline, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.496">496</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dissuaded by Stalwarts, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.496">496</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pathetic appeal, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.497">497</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pure and useful life crushed by defeat, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Foote, Ebenezer, resents methods of Council, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.120">120-1</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ambrose Spencer on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.120">120</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ford, Elijah, nominated for lt.-gov. by the Hards, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.203">203</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ran ahead of ticket, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.203">203</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Forrest, David P., nominated for prison insp., 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.117">117</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fort Niagara, captured by British, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.224">224</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Morgan left in magazine of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.359">359</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fort, Daniel G., nominated for state treas., 1873, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.308">308</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fort Sumter, relief of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.1">1</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bombardment, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">surrender of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.3">3</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Foster, Henry A., character of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.53">53</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leading conservative, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">president of State Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">formidable in debate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.63">63</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Foster, John W., opinion of Jay's treaty of 1795, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.67">67</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Foster, William Edward, Buffalo <i>Commercial</i>, a leading Rep. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Fowler, Isaac V., defalcation as postmaster, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.352">352</a>, note.<br /> +<br /> +Fowler, John Walker, brother of Isaac V., absconds with trust funds, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.352">352</a>, note.<br /> +<br /> +France, threatens war, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.81">81-2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preparations to resist by the United States, <a href="#vol1Page_i.83">83-4</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Francis, John M., Troy <i>Times</i>, a leading Rep. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Franklin, Walter, father of DeWitt Clinton's wife, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.183">183</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Free-soil Movement, principles proclaimed, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.127">127</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <a href="#Barnburners">Barnburners</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fremont, John C., nominated for President, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.228">228-9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for President at Cleveland con., 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.120">120</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +French, Stephen B., a friend of Arthur, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.493">493</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts to defeat Cornell's renomination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.493">493</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">obtains proxy by unmoral methods, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.493">493</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">principal cause of Folger's defeat, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fry, James B., account of New York draft-riot, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.69">69</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of Seymour, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dilatoriness of Seymour, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">draft completed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.71">71</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Frye, William P., U.S. senator from Maine, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.471">471</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Robertson's appointment, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.471">471</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Conkling's resignation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.478">478</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fuller, Philo C., career and character of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.371">371</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Weed lieutenant, <a href="#vol1Page_i.371">371</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">clerk in Wadsworth's office, <a href="#vol1Page_i.371">371</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fulton, Robert, history of steam navigation, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.74">74-7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with R.R. Livingston, <a href="#vol1Page_i.77">77</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Furman, Gabriel, nominated for lt.-gov., 1842, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.52">52</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.55">55</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Fusion ticket, 1860, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.331">331-2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">money given for it, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.332">332-3</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Gallagher, Frank B., nominated for prison insp., 1866, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.159">159</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.165">165</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ganson, John, delegate to Dem. nat. con., 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.108">108</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gardiner, Addison, nominated for lt.-gov., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.78">78</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.78">78</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weed's friendship for, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for lt.-gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Court of Appeals, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gave way to Parker for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.233">233-4</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Garfield, James A., nominated for President, 1880, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.441">441</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ignored by Nast, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.461">461</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brands "Morey letter" a forgery, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.463">463</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">invites Conkling to Mentor, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.468">468</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominates five Stalwarts, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">also Robertson for collector, Mar. 23, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reports and theories, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469-71</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts to defeat it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.473">473-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resignation of Conkling and Platt, May 13, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.476">476</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assassin's act, July 2, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.480">480</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death deplored, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.485">485</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Garrison, Cornelius K., delegate to seceding states, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.351">351-2</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Garrison, William Lloyd, meets Lundy, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.5">5-10</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Gates, Theodore B., nominated for state treas., 1867, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.174">174</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.188">188</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +German, Obadiah, leader of Assembly, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.149">149</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charges Purdy with bribery, <a href="#vol1Page_i.149">149</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gifts and character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defends embargo, <a href="#vol1Page_i.170">170</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Clinton for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes speaker, <a href="#vol1Page_i.258">258-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resents attacks on Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.266">266</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">manner of speaking, <a href="#vol1Page_i.266">266</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Gerrymander of legislature, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.397">397-8</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Gettysburg, battle of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.66">66</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour sends troops, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.66">66</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Godkin, E.L., a vice president of Lib. Rep. meeting, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.282">282</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Greeley's nomination and supports Grant, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.286">286</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Godwin, Parke, presents platform to Rep. state con., 1862, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.45">45</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preferred Lincoln's withdrawal, 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a vice president at Lib. Rep. meeting, 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Greeley's nomination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Grant, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.286">286</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Goodsell, J. Platt, nominated for State eng., 1865, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.130">130</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Gould, Jay, bondsman for Tweed, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.247">247</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aids in Cornell's defeat, 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.493">493</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Governor, candidates for,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">George Clinton, 1777, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1780, 1783, 1786, <a href="#vol1Page_i.37">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1789, <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1792, <a href="#vol1Page_i.50">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1801, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Robert Yates, 1789, <a href="#vol1Page_i.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1795, <a href="#vol1Page_i.64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Jay, 1792, <a href="#vol1Page_i.50">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1795, <a href="#vol1Page_i.64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1798, <a href="#vol1Page_i.82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stephen Van Rensselaer, 1801, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aaron Burr, 1804, <a href="#vol1Page_i.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Morgan Lewis, 1804, <a href="#vol1Page_i.136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1807, <a href="#vol1Page_i.161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Daniel D. Tompkins, 1807, <a href="#vol1Page_i.155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1810, <a href="#vol1Page_i.173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1813, <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1816, <a href="#vol1Page_i.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1820, <a href="#vol1Page_i.274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jonas Platt, 1810, <a href="#vol1Page_i.173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stephen Van Rensselaer, 1813, <a href="#vol1Page_i.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rufus King, 1816, <a href="#vol1Page_i.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">DeWitt Clinton, 1817, <a href="#vol1Page_i.250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1820, <a href="#vol1Page_i.279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1824, <a href="#vol1Page_i.330">330</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1826, <a href="#vol1Page_i.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Peter B. Porter, 1817, <a href="#vol1Page_i.251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Joseph G. Yates, 1822, <a href="#vol1Page_i.312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Solomon Southwick, 1822, <a href="#vol1Page_i.316">316</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1828, <a href="#vol1Page_i.364">364</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samuel Young 1824, <a href="#vol1Page_i.327">327</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William B. Rochester, 1826, <a href="#vol1Page_i.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Martin Van Buren, 1828, <a href="#vol1Page_i.364">364</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Smith Thompson, 1828, <a href="#vol1Page_i.362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Enos T. Throop, 1830, <a href="#vol1Page_i.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Francis Granger, 1830, <a href="#vol1Page_i.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William L. Marcy, 1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.394">394</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1834, <a href="#vol1Page_i.403">403</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William L. Marcy, 1836, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1838, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William H. Seward, 1834, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.402">402</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1838, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.19">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1840, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jesse Buel, 1836, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.12">12</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William C. Bouck, 1840, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1842, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Luther Bradish, 1842, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Silas Wright, 1844, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1846, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Millard Fillmore, 1844, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alvan Stewart, 1844, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Young, 1846, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hamilton Fish, 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.139">139</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John A. Dix, 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.133">133</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reuben H. Walworth, 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William L. Chaplin, 1850, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Horatio Seymour, 1850, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Washington Hunt, 1850, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Myron H. Clark, 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greene C. Bronson, 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Daniel Ullman, 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Amasa J. Parker, 1856, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1858, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Erastus Brooks, 1856, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John A. King, 1856, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Edwin D. Morgan, 1858, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.248">248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">1860, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.328">328</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lorenzo Burrows, 1858, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William Kelley, 1860, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">James T. Brady, 1860, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.325">325</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Horatio Seymour, Dem., 1862, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">James S. Wadsworth, Rep., 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Horatio Seymour, Dem., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reuben E. Fenton, Rep., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reuben E. Fenton, Rep., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John T. Hoffman, Dem., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John T. Hoffman, Dem., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.206">206</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John A. Griswold, Rep., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John T. Hoffman, Dem., 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stewart L. Woodford, Rep., 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John A. Dix, Rep., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.293">293</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Francis Kernan, Dem., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samuel J. Tilden, Dem., 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.313">313</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John A. Dix, Rep., 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.315">315</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Myron H. Clark, Pro., 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.316">316</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lucius Robinson, Dem., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Edwin D. Morgan, Rep., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.338">338</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Richard M. Griffin, Greenback, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Albert J. Groo, Pro., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Harris Lewis, Nat., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.412">412</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John W. Mears, Pro., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.412">412</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alonzo B. Cornell, Rep., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.416">416</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lucius Robinson, Dem., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Kelly, Tam., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grover Cleveland, Dem., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.491">491</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Charles J. Folger, Rep., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.494">494</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Governor, stepping stone to President, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.80">80</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with United States senator, <a href="#vol1Page_i.364">364</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Governor, powers under Constitution of 1777, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.10">10</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Governors, names and service of,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">George Clinton, 1777-95, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.21">21</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.37">37</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Jay, 1795-1801, <a href="#vol1Page_i.64">64</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">George Clinton, 1801-4, <a href="#vol1Page_i.60">60</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Morgan Lewis, 1804-7, <a href="#vol1Page_i.136">136</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Daniel D. Tompkins, 1807-17, <a href="#vol1Page_i.155">155</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.173">173</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">DeWitt Clinton, 1817-23, <a href="#vol1Page_i.250">250</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Joseph G. Yates, 1823-5, <a href="#vol1Page_i.312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">DeWitt Clinton, 1825-8, <a href="#vol1Page_i.330">330-350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nathaniel Pitcher (acting), 1828-9, <a href="#vol1Page_i.366">366</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Martin Van Buren, 1829, <a href="#vol1Page_i.364">364</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Enos T. Throop, 1829-33, <a href="#vol1Page_i.366">366</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William L. Marcy, 1833-9, <a href="#vol1Page_i.394">394</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.403">403</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William L. Marcy, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William H. Seward, 1839-43, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.19">19</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William C. Bouck, 1843-5, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Silas Wright, 1845-7, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Young, 1847-9, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hamilton Fish, 1849-51, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.139">139</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Washington Hunt, 1851-3, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Horatio Seymour, 1853-5, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Myron H. Clark, 1855-7, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John A. King, 1857-9, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Edwin D. Morgan, 1859-63, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.248">248</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.328">328</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Horatio Seymour, 1863-5, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reuben E. Fenton, 1865-9, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.116">116</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John T. Hoffman, 1869-1873, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.205">205-7</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.230">230-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John A. Dix, 1873-5, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.293">293</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samuel J. Tilden, 1875-7, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.313">313</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lucius Robinson, 1877-9, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.345">345-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alonzo B. Cornell, 1880-3, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.412">412-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grover Cleveland, 1883-5, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.488">488-91</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Grace, William Russell, character of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.460">460</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for mayor of N.Y., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.461">461</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.463">463</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Graham, Theodore V.W., removed as recorder, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Granger, Francis, nominated for Assembly, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.358">358</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weed on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.361">361</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.361">361</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.361">361</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opponent of John C. Spencer, <a href="#vol1Page_i.361">361</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dress, appearance, and manners of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.361">361</a>, and note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for nomination for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.368">368</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated lt.-gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.368">368</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.368">368</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov. by Anti-Masons, 1830, <a href="#vol1Page_i.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">indorsed by Nat. Reps., <a href="#vol1Page_i.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a great mistake, <a href="#vol1Page_i.377">377</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.377">377</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reason for defeat, <a href="#vol1Page_i.396">396</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to Congress, 1834, <a href="#vol1Page_i.402">402</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.404">404</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.404">404</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Defeated for nomination for gov., 1838, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.19">19-21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">continued in Congress, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">postmaster-general, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">left Congress, 1843, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Utica con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ally of Fillmore, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leads Silver-Grays' secession, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delegate to peace congress, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friendship with Weed renewed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Granger, Gideon, member of Madison cabinet, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.202">202</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports DeWitt Clinton for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">father of Francis, <a href="#vol1Page_i.360">360</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Grant, Ulysses S., favoured for President, 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.93">93</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives no encouragement, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Lincoln's election, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reports upon Southern sentiment, 1865, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unpopularity with radical Reps., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with Johnson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.191">191</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taken up by Reps., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.191">191</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">endorsed by Rep. state con. 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.191">191</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.192">192</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to carry New York, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evidences of fraud in election, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adm. criticised, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.276">276-81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.292">292</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">severely criticised, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.317">317</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">talk of a third term, 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.317">317</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his letter ends it, 1875, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.329">329</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renewed on his return from abroad, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.428">428</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an active candidate, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.428">428</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gets fifty votes from N.Y., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.441">441</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.442">442</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the faithful, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.306">306</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.442">442</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Graves, Ezra, nominated for prison insp., 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.315">315</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.319">319</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Gray, David, Buffalo <i>Courier</i>, a leading Dem. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Greeley, Horace, edits the <i>Jeffersonian</i>, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.26">26</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">came to N.Y., 1821, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">political conditions, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.27">27</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first meeting with Weed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.28">28</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gifts of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Weed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failed of election to constitutional con., 1846, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.105">105</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chafes under Weed's control, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to Congress, 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assails Castle Garden meeting, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Anti-Nebraska con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wants to be gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.198">198</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appeals to Weed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.198">198</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offended at Raymond's nomination, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.199">199</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favoured a Rep. party, 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at birth of Rep. party, 1855, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">active in 1856, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Douglas for U.S. senator, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dislike of Seward, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Chicago con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward and Weed think him faithful, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.284">284</a>, note, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.286">286</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for Bates for President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">jubilant over Seward's defeat, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.289">289-90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reply to Raymond, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.308">308-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">demands his letter of 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">publishes it, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.311">311-17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of campaign, 1860, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.332">332</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">peaceable secession, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.335">335-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"no compromise" theory, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.343">343</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.363">363-5</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.365">365</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Tribune</i> on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.366">366</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">persistent office-seeker, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.366">366</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charges Seward with favouring Weed's compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.380">380</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.382">382</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised Seward's appointments, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as to Dickinson, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.398">398</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.401">401</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Lincoln not cordial, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.402">402-3</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Scott's insincerity, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.11">11</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">heads radical anti-slavery sentiment, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prayer of twenty millions, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his force, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contest with Bennett, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Wadsworth, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ambition for U.S. Senate, 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tries to defeat Morgan, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour's complicity in draft-riot, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Rep. state con., 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.75">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">qualities as a party leader, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.75">75</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">susceptible to flattery, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.75">75</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours postponing Rep. nat. con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preferred Chase, Fremont, or Grant to Lincoln, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure of his leadership, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.91">91</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">yearns for peace, 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits Confederates at Niagara Falls, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">authority from Lincoln, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">encourages substitution of another candidate for Lincoln, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for elector-at-large, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">yields to an offer of office, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours negro suffrage, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lion of Rep. state con., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to U.S. Senate, 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wants to be gov., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">way seems to be open, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">great applause when presented, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">received small vote, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">named for state comp., 1869, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wants to be gov., 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed as in 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for defeat, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">laments removal of Fenton men, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resents efforts to crush his machine, 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.251">251-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacks Conkling, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">replies to Conkling's con. speech, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.263">263-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his organisation defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for joining Lib. Reps., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.281">281-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested for President, 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposition to, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">writes platform of party, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.284">284</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.285">285</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">endorsed by Dems., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pathetic ending of his life, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.303">303</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">buried like a conqueror, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.304">304</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Green, Andrew H., appointed deputy city comp., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.247">247</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">estimate of Tweed Ring's plunder, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.248">248</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Green, Beriah, early abolitionist, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.7">7</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Green, George C., del. to Kelly's state con., 1880, and named as del.-at-large to Dem. nat. con., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.452">452</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused admission, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.457">457</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">part in spectacular reconciliation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.458">458</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Greenback Party, organization of, 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meet at Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">second con., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">con. of, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.384">384</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">smallness of its vote, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.389">389</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">united with labor reform party, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.389">389</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">issues call for a Nat. con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.389">389</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <a href="#National">Nat. Green.-Lab. Reform party</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Greenback Labour party, state con., Albany, 1882, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.487">487</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Griffin, Richard M., nominated for gov., 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Grinnell, Moses H., at Anti-Nebraska con., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.194">194</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declined nomination for gov., 1856, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.234">234</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.234">234-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves Weed's compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.338">338</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Acts as agent of the President, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.7">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urges Lincoln's renomination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secedes from Rep. state con., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meets with a separate body, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.264">264</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Griswold, John A., elected to Congress, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and services of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">changes his party, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evidences of fraud in election, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines to oppose Morgan for U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.220">220</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Groesbeck, William S., candidate in opposition to Greeley, 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.289">289</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Groo, Albert J., nominated for gov., 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Gross, Ezra C., gifts of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.358">358</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">eloquence of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.358">358</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.358">358</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Grover, Martin, nominated for judge court of Appeals, 1865, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.129">129</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.187">187</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Gumbleton, Henry A., clerk of N.Y. county, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.418">418</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed from office, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.418">418</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Habeas corpus, suspension of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.16">16</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.24">24</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.27">27</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.58">58</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hagner, Henry, nominated for sec. of state, 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.384">384</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.387">387</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Haight, Jacob, treas. of state, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.36">36</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hale, Daniel, removed as sec. of state, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hale, Matthew, bitterly opposed third-term, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.429">429</a>.<br /> +<br /> +"Half-breeds," title of faction in Rep. party, 1880, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.437">437</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hall, A. Oakey, known as "elegant Oakey," iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"without ballast," <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">good speaker, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">versifier, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tortuous political career, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeds Hoffman as mayor, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tried and not convicted, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.247">247</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">served his term as mayor, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.247">247</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hall, Willis, atty.-gen., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.36">36</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.37">37</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Halleck, Fitz-Greene, Tam. song, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.182">182</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hamilton, early life of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.3">3</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech at age of seventeen, <a href="#vol1Page_i.3">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with William Pitt, <a href="#vol1Page_i.3">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">association with Washington, <a href="#vol1Page_i.25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Yorktown, <a href="#vol1Page_i.26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Washington on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">admitted to the bar, <a href="#vol1Page_i.26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defends Tories, <a href="#vol1Page_i.26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">collection of duties by Congress, <a href="#vol1Page_i.27">27-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Annapolis, <a href="#vol1Page_i.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revision of Articles of Confederation, <a href="#vol1Page_i.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for Clinton's opposition, <a href="#vol1Page_i.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">del. to amend Articles, <a href="#vol1Page_i.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his plan, <a href="#vol1Page_i.31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Madison's plan, <a href="#vol1Page_i.31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">signs Federal Constitution, <a href="#vol1Page_i.31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clinton reproves him, <a href="#vol1Page_i.31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ratification of Constitution, <a href="#vol1Page_i.31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">eloquence and influence of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.31">31-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fear of disunion, <a href="#vol1Page_i.35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hears from Virginia and New Hampshire, <a href="#vol1Page_i.35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticism of Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Robert Yates for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.38">38-40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure of coalition, <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">control of Federal patronage, <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sec. of the treasury, <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first meeting with Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinion of Washington, <a href="#vol1Page_i.46">46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">legend as to Burr and, <a href="#vol1Page_i.46">46</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by R.R. Livingston, <a href="#vol1Page_i.48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for it, <a href="#vol1Page_i.48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeat of Schuyler, <a href="#vol1Page_i.49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jay's nomination for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.50">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assumption of state debts, <a href="#vol1Page_i.53">53</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jay's renomination for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jay's treaty with England, <a href="#vol1Page_i.65">65-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assaulted by a mob, <a href="#vol1Page_i.65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">election of Apr., 1800, <a href="#vol1Page_i.90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alien-Sedition laws, <a href="#vol1Page_i.90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meets Burr at the polls, <a href="#vol1Page_i.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">courtesy of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">style of oratory, <a href="#vol1Page_i.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Root's opinion of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">party defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">election of presidential electors, <a href="#vol1Page_i.92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breaks with Adams, <a href="#vol1Page_i.94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reason for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ugly letter opposing Adams, <a href="#vol1Page_i.96">96</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prefers Jefferson to Adams, <a href="#vol1Page_i.96">96</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">great mistake, <a href="#vol1Page_i.97">97</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urges Federalists to oppose Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.99">99-101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hoped DeWitt Clinton would become a Federalist, <a href="#vol1Page_i.108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">earnings as a lawyer, <a href="#vol1Page_i.132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spencer's estimate of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Root's estimate of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">argues Croswell case, <a href="#vol1Page_i.132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kent's opinion of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.132">132-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prefers Lansing to Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.133">133-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Burr, a leader of secession, <a href="#vol1Page_i.134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disapproves disunion, <a href="#vol1Page_i.134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lansing's withdrawal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Burr's challenge, <a href="#vol1Page_i.139">139-40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an imperious custom, <a href="#vol1Page_i.140">140-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his defence for fighting, <a href="#vol1Page_i.141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">duel and death, <a href="#vol1Page_i.142">142-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">profound sorrow, <a href="#vol1Page_i.143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his career had he lived, <a href="#vol1Page_i.143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charters United States Bank, <a href="#vol1Page_i.186">186</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hammond, John, nominated for prison insp., 1866, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.152">152</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.165">165</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hammond, John M., nominated for canal com., 1867, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.174">174</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.188">188</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hampton, Wade, in command at Plattsburgh, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.224">224</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and fitness of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, <a href="#vol1Page_i.224">224</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hancock, Winfield S., aspires to be President, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.197">197</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his training, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for President, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.457">457</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.463">463</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Hards" id="Hards"></a>Hards, name of Dem. faction, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.185">185</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">successors to the Hunkers, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">why so called, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ticket defeated, 1853, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">repeal of the Missouri Compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominate Bronson for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused to rejoin Softs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.209">209</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stand with South, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">welcomed at Nat. con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.226">226-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unite with Softs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hold a separate state con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brady nominated for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.333">333</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hard times of 1837, cause and result of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.16">16-20</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Van Buren's statesmanship, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.41">41</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Harris, Ira, career and character of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.117">117</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.390">390</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Supreme Court, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Assembly, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in constitutional con., 1846, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported Young for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected U.S. senator, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.365">365</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance and ability of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.390">390</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associates of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.390">390</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Sumner and Collamer, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.390">390</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">question of patronage, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.390">390</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.396">396</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sustains Seward, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.84">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks re-election to U.S. Senate, 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wise and safe legislator, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lincoln's joke, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated by Conkling, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.171">171</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resents removal of Sumner, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.278">278</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Harrison, Richard, member of Poughkeepsie con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">U.S. atty., <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ability of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Harrison, William Henry, candidate of northern Whigs, 1836, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.11">11</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for President, 1840, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.45">45</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hart, Ephraim, friend of DeWitt Clinton, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.261">261</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for canal com., <a href="#vol1Page_i.261">261</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Harvard University, Rufus King a graduate of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.270">270</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Haskin, John B., in Congress, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.339">339</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disapproves Weed's compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.339">339</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">del. to Kelly's state con., 1880, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.451">451</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposes plank on Tilden, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.452">452</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hatch, Roswell D., member of Com. of Seventy, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.268">268</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">activity in reform, 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.268">268</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Havermeyer, Henry, dispatches to, sent by Marble, 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Havermeyer, William F., served two terms as mayor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.299">299</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.299">299</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.299">299</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.314">314</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a good record, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.318">318</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hawley, Gideon, state supt. of schools, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.288">288</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">record of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.288">288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dismissal of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.288">288</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hayes, Rutherford B., nominated for President, 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.334">334</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter of acceptance, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declared elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts to reform civil service, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.360">360</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposition, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.361">361</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates hard money, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.391">391</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominates successors to Arthur and Cornell, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.399">399</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.402">402</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conkling's criticism of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.402">402-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointees defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.404">404-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suspends Arthur and Cornell, 1878, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.406">406</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reason for, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.406">406</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their successors confirmed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.409">409</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Headley, Joel T., career and character of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.215">215</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">writer of biography, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for sec. of state, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.218">218</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Heenan, John C., "the Benicia Boy," ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.257">257</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">backs Wood in his capture of state con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.257">257</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Henry, John V., removed from comptrollership, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resents methods of Council, <a href="#vol1Page_i.119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.119">119</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hepburn, A. Barton, nominated for congressman-at-large, 1882, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.494">494</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declined to accept, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.495">495</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hewitt, Abram S., ch'm. Dem. nat. con., 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.349">349</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">management of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.349">349</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">informs Tilden of Electoral Com., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.354">354</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relied upon Davis being fifth judge, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.356">356</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">uses "Morey letter," 1880, with great force, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an organiser of the County Democracy, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.484">484</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Higgins, Frank W., promoted from lt.-gov. to gov., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.180">180</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hildreth, Matthias B., appointed atty.-gen., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.213">213</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hill, David B., promoted from lt.-gov. to gov., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.180">180</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. state con., 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.380">380</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early career, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.381">381</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and ability, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.381">381</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aids Tilden, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.381">381</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hesitates to rule against Kelly, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.382">382</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in con., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected lt.-gov., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hill, Nicholas, ability of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.390">390</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hillhouse, Thomas, nominated for state comp., 1865, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.130">130</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1869, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws from ticket, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.225">225</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hiscock, Frank, attended Lib. Rep. state con., 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on com. to confer with Dems., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested for gov., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early career and character, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.415">415</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hitchman, William, elected speaker of Assembly, 1869, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.224">224</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controlled by Tweed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected, 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.228">228</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hoadley, George, joins Lib. Rep. movement, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Greeley's nomination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hobart, John Sloss, member first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">judge Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Hartford con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.28">28</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member Poughkeepsie con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retired from Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hoffman, James O., recorder of N.Y., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hoffman, John T., life and character of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.156">156</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.157">157</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.164">164</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offices held, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.157">157</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">active in campaign, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes good impression, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loyalty impeached, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. Dem. state con., 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours U.S. bonds paid in gold, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.180">180</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives complimentary votes for President, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.198">198</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nast's cartoons, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proclamation as mayor, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evidence of fraud, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves Tweed charter, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">also Erie railroad legislation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appoints Tweed judges to general term, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised severely, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nast's cartoon on repeaters, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.242">242</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacks resented, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.243">243</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">del.-at-large to Dem. nat. con., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines to be candidate for gov., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">con. approves his administration, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.298">298</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in retirement, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.299">299</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.299">299</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hoffman, Josiah Ogden, leads Federalists, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.61">61</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed as atty.-gen., <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hoffman, Michael, leading Radical, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.52">52</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.52">52-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for speaker, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">power in debate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">constitutional con., 1846, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.97">97-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in constitutional con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state indebtedness, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.107">107-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weed on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.108">108</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hoffman, Ogden, son of Josiah Ogden Hoffman, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.357">357</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">eloquence of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.357">357</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sent to Assembly, <a href="#vol1Page_i.358">358</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criminal lawyer, <a href="#vol1Page_i.358">358</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for atty.-gen., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.187">187</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gifts of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.188">188</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Holley, Orville L., surveyor-general, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.18">18</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.36">36</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hopkins, Nelson K., nominated for state comp., 1871, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.264">264</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1873, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.308">308</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">endorsed by Liberals, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hoskins, George G., nominated for lt.-gov., 1879, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.416">416</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Howe, Epenetus, nominated for gov., 1882, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.487">487</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Howland, Joseph, nominated for state treas., 1865, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.130">130</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hoyt, Stephen T., nominated for canal com., 1866, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.152">152</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1869, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hubbard, Ruggles, member of Council, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.231">231</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attachment for Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.234">234</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.235">235</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hudson River Valley, attracts New Englanders, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.81">81</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hughes, Charles, nominated for clerk of Court of Appeals, 1862, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.45">45</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.51">51</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hulburd, Calvin T., nominated for state comp., 1867, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.174">174</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.188">188</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Humphrey, James, congressman, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.338">338</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacks Weed's compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.338">338</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Hunkers" id="Hunkers"></a>Hunkers, Democratic faction so called, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaders of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barnburners secede from, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lose the state, 1847, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour unites them with Barnburners, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominate Seymour for gov., 1850, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">support Dickinson for President, 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.169">169-72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">support Pierce and Seymour, 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.169">169-78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secede from Barnburners, 1853, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.180">180-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominate separate ticket, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approve canal constitutional amendment, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called Hardshells or Hards, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <a href="#Hards">Hards</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hunt, Alvah, elected state treas., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.127">127-8</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Hunt, Ward, candidate for U.S. Senate, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.244">244</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brilliant career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.244">244</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Supported for U.S. Senate, 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech at Rep. state con., 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for judge of Court of Appeals, 1865, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hunt, Washington, on Clay's Alabama letter, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.88">88</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected state comp., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1850, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">endorsed by Silver-Grays, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls extra session of legislature, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inclined to Fillmore, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours union of Rep. and American parties, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">president of Constitutional Union party, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fuses party with Softs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised by Greeley, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.326">326-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">impaired value of fusion, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.327">327</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declares intention, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.327">327</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Manager, of Cons. Union con., 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.79">79</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">del. to Dem. nat. con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">demands armistice and con. of states, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for elector-at-large, 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Huntington, George, nominated for lt.-gov., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.213">213</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Husted, James W., character and ability, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.258">258</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">choice of his party for speaker of Assembly, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.258">258</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for state treas., 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.485">485</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.486">486</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hutchins, Waldo M., visits Lincoln for Greeley, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.126">126</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">head of Fenton machine, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Rep. state con., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins Lib. Rep. party, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organises Nat. con. for Greeley's nomination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attended Lib. Rep. state con., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on com. to confer with Dems., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name presented for gov., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.488">488</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Hyer, Tom, noted pugilist, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.281">281</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Chicago con. for Seward, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.281">281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leads street parade, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.281">281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to get into Wigwam, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.288">288</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Independence, not thought of, 1774, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.2">2</a>.<br /> +<br /> +"Infected district," of anti-Masonry, western half of state, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.360">360</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ingersoll, Charles Jared, statement of, after war of 1812, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.230">230</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on annexation of Texas, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.67">67</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Irving Hall Democracy, organised by Morrissey, 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its ticket elected, 1875, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dels. yield to Tam., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.421">421</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">seated after Kelly's bolt, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.423">423</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fooled by Tam. in candidate for mayor, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.460">460-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unites with Tam. and County Democracy, 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">local ticket elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.499">499</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Irving, Peter, publisher of N.Y. <i>Chronicle</i>, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.123">123</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.123">123</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.152">152</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ives, Benoni J., nominated for prison insp., 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Jackson, Andrew, battle of New Orleans, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.229">229</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favoured by Clinton for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.334">334-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">eulogises Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.336">336</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">likeness to Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.336">336</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Van Buren joins Clinton in support of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popularity of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.358">358</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Free Mason, <a href="#vol1Page_i.361">361</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offer to United States Bank, 1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused by Clay and Webster, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vetoed its charter, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the issue, 1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.368">368</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes Van Buren sec. of state, <a href="#vol1Page_i.383">383</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appoints Van Buren to England, <a href="#vol1Page_i.387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compels Van Buren's nomination for Vice President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.391">391</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Compels Van Buren's nomination for President, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.4">4</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.5">5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confidence in Van Buren, 1844, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.69">69</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Jackson, James, nominated for canal com., 1873, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.308">308</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Jacobs, John C., senator from Kings county, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.421">421</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. Dem. con., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.421">421</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">named for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.422">422</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.422">422</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for U.S. Senate, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.482">482</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.482">482</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +James, Amaziah B., at peace congress, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patriotism of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.359">359</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +James, Thomas L., appointed postmaster-general, 1881, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.468">468</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confirmed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.468">468</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tries to compromise Robertson's appointment, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.472">472</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Jay, John, in first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed to draft a state constitution, <a href="#vol1Page_i.6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">age, <a href="#vol1Page_i.6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">family of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Committee of Fifty-one, <a href="#vol1Page_i.6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">del. to first Continental Congress, <a href="#vol1Page_i.7">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">author of famous papers, <a href="#vol1Page_i.7">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jefferson on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.7">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drafts constitution, <a href="#vol1Page_i.7">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed Council of Appointment, <a href="#vol1Page_i.12">12</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">account of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.11">11</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abolition of slavery, <a href="#vol1Page_i.14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws from con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chief justice of State Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.17">17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed Schuyler and Clinton for gov. and lt.-gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extreme modesty of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for del. to constitutional con. of 1787, <a href="#vol1Page_i.30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of Poughkeepsie con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.37">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chief justice U.S. Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1792, <a href="#vol1Page_i.50">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">previous refusals, <a href="#vol1Page_i.51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">buzz of presidential bee, <a href="#vol1Page_i.51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounced as an aristocrat, <a href="#vol1Page_i.53">53</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">campaign abuse, <a href="#vol1Page_i.53">53-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by the Livingstons, <a href="#vol1Page_i.55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">counted out, <a href="#vol1Page_i.56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anger of Federalists, <a href="#vol1Page_i.59">59-60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dignified conduct, <a href="#vol1Page_i.60">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treaty with England, <a href="#vol1Page_i.65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposition to, <a href="#vol1Page_i.65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">burned in effigy, <a href="#vol1Page_i.65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first term as gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.67">67</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dodges the slavery question, <a href="#vol1Page_i.68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appoints Kent and Radcliff to Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed for re-election by Livingston, <a href="#vol1Page_i.78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves Alien-Sedition laws, <a href="#vol1Page_i.85">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hamilton's plan for electing Presidential electors, <a href="#vol1Page_i.92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes DeWitt Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to reconvene Council of Appointment, <a href="#vol1Page_i.110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to recommend abolition of slavery, <a href="#vol1Page_i.111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">close of career, <a href="#vol1Page_i.111">111-14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.112">112</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">crowning act of his life, <a href="#vol1Page_i.112">112</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Canada in peace treaty of 1783, <a href="#vol1Page_i.112">112-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines reappointment as chief justice of U.S., <a href="#vol1Page_i.114">114</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires to his farm, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours DeWitt Clinton for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.203">203-5</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Jay, Peter A., eldest son of John Jay, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.273">273</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recorder of New York City, <a href="#vol1Page_i.273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a thrust at high-minded Federalists, <a href="#vol1Page_i.273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed from office, <a href="#vol1Page_i.287">287</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Jefferson, Thomas, compliments Jay, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.101">101</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinion of Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.105">105</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">swift removals from office, <a href="#vol1Page_i.120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rewards the Livingstons, <a href="#vol1Page_i.121">121</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">acts with Clinton in crushing Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.121">121</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed Burr, 1804, <a href="#vol1Page_i.137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on <i>Chesapeake</i> affair, <a href="#vol1Page_i.163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">orders embargo, <a href="#vol1Page_i.163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">repeals it, <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinion of Stephen Van Rensselaer, <a href="#vol1Page_i.214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Erie canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.244">244</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Jenkins, Elisha, reappointed sec. of state, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Jenkins, Timothy, career of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.247">247</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ambitious to be gov., 1858, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.247">247</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Jennings, Lewis J., N.Y. <i>Times</i>, a leading Rep. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Johnson, Alexander S., nominated for judge of Court of Appeals, 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.315">315</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.319">319</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Johnson, Andrew, becomes President, 1865, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.127">127</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plan of reconstruction, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejects negro suffrage, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">endorsed by Dems., 1865, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and by Reps., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of Weed and Raymond, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.131">131-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">radical Reps. hostile, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stevens opposes his policy, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Raymond replies, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vetoes civil rights bill, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bad traits, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ill-tempered speech, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Civil Rights bill passed over veto, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Philadelphia con., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">swing around the circle, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removal of Rep. officials, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his party defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dems. drop him, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">impeachment of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for President at Dem. nat. con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.197">197</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Johnson, William S., opposes Seward, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.147">147</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Johnston, Joseph E., at battle of Bull Run, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.12">12</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Jones, David R. Floyd, nominated for sec. of state, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.21">21</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for lt.-gov., 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.41">41</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Jones, George, of N.Y. <i>Times</i>, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.95">95</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves Raymond's support of Johnson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejects Tweed's enormous bribe, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.246">246</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Jones, Henry, nominated for clerk of Court of Appeals, 1865, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.130">130</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Jones, Samuel, member of Poughkeepsie con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Clinton for gov., 1789, <a href="#vol1Page_i.43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kent on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.43">43</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first state comp., <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Jones, Samuel, son of the preceding, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.347">347</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed chancellor, <a href="#vol1Page_i.347">347</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Jordan, Ambrose L., in constitutional con., 1846, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.109">109</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on elective judiciary, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gifts of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">atty.-gen., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.128">128</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Junio, John J., nominated for sec. of state, 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.384">384</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.387">387</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="Kansas" id="Kansas"></a>Kansas, efforts in behalf of slavery, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.208">208</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rifles from the North, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">border ruffians withdraw, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward's bill to admit as State, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">more hostilities, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beecher's Bibles, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">against Lecompton constitution, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.246">246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">action of freestate men, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.262">262</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wyandotte constitution, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.262">262</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Kaufman, Sigmund, nominated for lt.-gov., 1870, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.238">238</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Kelley, William, nominated for gov. by Softs, 1860, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.326">326</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.333">333</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Dem. state peace con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.354">354</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Kelly, John, succeeds Tweed as leader of Tam., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.288">288</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.288">288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early career, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.288">288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.288">288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganises Tam., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours nomination of Greeley, 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urges Schell for gov., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominates Lawrence for mayor, 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.299">299</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declares for Tilden for gov., 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">blow at canal ring, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">selects men of Tweed ring for city offices, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.314">314</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Havermeyer charges graft, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.318">318</a> and note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elects Tam. ticket, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breaks with Morrissey, 1875, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his faction known as "Short-hairs," <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ticket defeated, 1875, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Tilden, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.341">341-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reunites with Morrissey, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his ticket elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breaks with Morrissey, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.386">386</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Morrissey elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.389">389</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controls state con., 1878, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.392">392</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominates Schell for mayor, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.394">394</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">badly punished by defeat, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.396">396</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gov. removes his best friend, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.418">418</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declares war on Robinson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.418">418</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charges against, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">threatens to bolt con., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.421">421</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exhausts argument and trickery, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.422">422-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves the con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.423">423-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">holds one of his own, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepts nomination for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">alliance with Cornell, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.426">426</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for charge, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.426">426</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">crushed by defeat, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused admission to state con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.451">451</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">holds con. of his own, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.451">451</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fierce speech against Tilden, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.452">452</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused admission to Nat. con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.457">457</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cool treatment of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.458">458</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">spectacular reconciliation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.458">458</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forces a state con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.460">460</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controls it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.460">460</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fools Irving Hall, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.460">460</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">held responsible for Hancock's defeat, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.483">483</a> and note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opponents organise County Democracy, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.483">483-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dels. excluded from state con., 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.484">484</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">holds balance of power in legislature, 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.487">487</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his demands, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.487">487</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">affiliates with Reps., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.487">487</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forces way into state con., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.488">488</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">divides vote among four candidates for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.490">490</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Cleveland in stampede, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.491">491</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins County Democracy in local nominations, 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">city and state tickets elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Kelly, William E., aspirant for gov., 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.117">117</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for elector-at-large, 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Kent, James, on Schuyler, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.18">18</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Jay, 1792, <a href="#vol1Page_i.55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">personal appearance of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reforms of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Hamilton in Croswell case, <a href="#vol1Page_i.132">132-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Hamilton's future had he lived, <a href="#vol1Page_i.143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on privateering, <a href="#vol1Page_i.265">265</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">answered by Young, <a href="#vol1Page_i.265">265-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">asked to stand for U.S. senator, <a href="#vol1Page_i.268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in constitutional con., 1821, <a href="#vol1Page_i.298">298</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">freehold franchise, <a href="#vol1Page_i.299">299-300</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">heads electoral ticket, 1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">law lectures, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.125">125</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Kent, William, son of the chancellor, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.31">31</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls Weed the "Dictator," <a href="#vol2Page_ii.31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for lt.-gov., 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.173">173-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elector on fusion Dem. ticket, 1860, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised by <i>Tribune</i>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.327">327</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Kernan, Francis, ch'm. Dem. state con., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.17">17</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">views on emancipation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.17">17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses nomination for atty.-gen., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offices held, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to Congress, 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">del. to Dem. nat. con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends Saratoga con., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Nat. Dem. con., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advises Seymour to accept presidency, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shabby treatment of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.270">270-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to U.S. Senate, 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.321">321</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates gold standard, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.396">396</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for re-election, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.468">468</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Keyser, Abraham, state treas., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.1">1</a>.<br /> +<br /> +King, John A., son of Rufus, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.259">259</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on German's election as speaker, <a href="#vol1Page_i.259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">predicts division of Federal party, <a href="#vol1Page_i.259">259</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resents Clinton's control of Federalists, <a href="#vol1Page_i.267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charges Van Ness with hypocrisy, <a href="#vol1Page_i.268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">president of Anti-Nebraska con., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at birth of Rep. party, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.236">236-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at peace congress, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +King Park, Long Island, old home of Rufus King, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.271">271</a>.<br /> +<br /> +King, Preston, supports Wilmot Proviso, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.102">102</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Barnburner, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Utica con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Pierce and Seymour, 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws from con. of Softs, 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at birth of Rep. party, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for sec. of state, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected U.S. senator, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.243">243-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disapproves Weed's compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.339">339</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">question of patronage, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.390">390</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.396">396</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Defeated for U.S. senate, 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">creditable service, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deserted by Seward and Weed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">del.-at-large to Rep. nat. con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported Johnson for Vice-President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approved Seward's removal from Cabinet, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early friend of President Johnson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepts collectorship of New York, 1865, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reconciliation with Seward, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suicide, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for act, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.131">131</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +King, Rufus, U.S. senator, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">referee in Clinton-Jay contest, <a href="#vol1Page_i.57">57</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">minister to England, <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disapproves disunion, <a href="#vol1Page_i.134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">spoken of for gov., 1804, <a href="#vol1Page_i.137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for Vice-President, 1804, <a href="#vol1Page_i.147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for Vice-President, 1808, <a href="#vol1Page_i.166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes DeWitt Clinton for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.202">202-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected U.S. senator, <a href="#vol1Page_i.211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charged with bargain, <a href="#vol1Page_i.211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1816, <a href="#vol1Page_i.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strength of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">doubts feasibility of Erie canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">votes cast for re-election to U.S. senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resents Clinton's control of Federalists, <a href="#vol1Page_i.267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected to U.S. senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.269">269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">courageous stand of Van Buren for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.268">268-70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gifts, character, and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.270">270-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported war of 1812, <a href="#vol1Page_i.270">270</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed Missouri Compromise of 1820, <a href="#vol1Page_i.272">272</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">known as champion of freedom, <a href="#vol1Page_i.272">272</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.272">272</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines to join Bucktail party, <a href="#vol1Page_i.272">272</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effort to prevent Tompkins' nomination, <a href="#vol1Page_i.277">277-9</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +King's (Columbia) College, Gouverneur Morris a graduate of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.73">73</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Kinsella, Thomas, Brooklyn <i>Eagle</i>, a leading Dem. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Kirkland, Charles S., in constitutional con., 1846, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.103">103</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on elective judiciary, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.109">109</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Kirkpatrick, Thomas, nominated for prison insp., 1871, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.264">264</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Knower, Benjamin, state treas., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member Albany Regency, <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">go-between of Van Buren and Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.346">346</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.348">348</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Know-Nothing party, see <a href="#Native">Native American party</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Labor Reform party, state con. of, 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.384">384</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its principles, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.389">389</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">coalesces with Greenback party, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.389">389</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">issues call for Nat. con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.389">389</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <a href="#National">Nat.-Green.-Lab.-Reform party</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Labor Reform vote, 1870, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>, note.<br /> +<br /> +Ladue, Oliver, nominated for canal comr., 1862, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.45">45</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.51">51</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Laflin, Fordyce, nominated for prison insp., 1866, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Laning, Albert P., character of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.20">20</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patriotic sentiments, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.20">20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presents resolutions, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">del. to Nat. Dem. con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for nomination for lt.-gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. state con., 1878, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.392">392</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rules in favour of Kelly, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.393">393</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lansing, Abraham G., removed as state treas., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.165">165</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">restored as treas., <a href="#vol1Page_i.172">172</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lansing, Garrett T., son of preceding, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.165">165</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed as master in chancery, <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lansing, John, Jr., del. to amend Articles of Confederation, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.29">29</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fitness for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws from con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to sign Federal Constitution, <a href="#vol1Page_i.31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of Poughkeepsie con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Clinton for gov., 1789, <a href="#vol1Page_i.43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed to Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">story of his career, <a href="#vol1Page_i.129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">made chancellor, <a href="#vol1Page_i.129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his murder, <a href="#vol1Page_i.130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">selected for gov., 1804, <a href="#vol1Page_i.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws, <a href="#vol1Page_i.136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.152">152-3</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lapham, Elbridge G., nominated for U.S. senator, 1881, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.481">481</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.482">482</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lapham, George H., nominated for state comp., 1881, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.484">484</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.486">486</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lawrence, Cornelius V.R., candidate for mayor of N.Y., 1834, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.400">400</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first year mayor was elective, <a href="#vol1Page_i.400">400</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">spirited contest, <a href="#vol1Page_i.400">400</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.401">401</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lawrence, John, elected to U.S. senate, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prosecuted Major André, <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lawrence, Lewis, editor of Utica <i>Republican</i>, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.385">385</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Leavenworth, Elias W., nominated for sec. of state, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.258">258</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lecompton constitution, character of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.246">246</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Douglas on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.246">246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <a href="#Kansas">Kansas</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ledyard, Isaac, supports Burr for gov., 1792, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.50">50</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lester, Albert, in canal debate, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.63">63</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lewis, Harris, nominated for gov., 1879, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.412">412</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lewis, Morgan, brother-in-law of Chancellor Livingston, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.49">49</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">atty.-gen., <a href="#vol1Page_i.49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chief justice Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1804, <a href="#vol1Page_i.136">136</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for it, <a href="#vol1Page_i.137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.136">136-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">powerful support, <a href="#vol1Page_i.137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">practices nepotism, <a href="#vol1Page_i.147">147</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.155">155</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Merchants' Bank, <a href="#vol1Page_i.148">148</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clinton opposed to, <a href="#vol1Page_i.149">149-50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secures Council, <a href="#vol1Page_i.154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removes Clinton from mayoralty, <a href="#vol1Page_i.154">154-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Tompkins, <a href="#vol1Page_i.155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of Council, <a href="#vol1Page_i.217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Riker for Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in war of 1812, <a href="#vol1Page_i.221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character as a soldier, <a href="#vol1Page_i.221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires in disgrace, <a href="#vol1Page_i.225">225</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lewis, William B., candidate for state treas., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.23">23</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +L'Hommedieu, Ezra, in first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ridicules Livingston's steamboat, <a href="#vol1Page_i.76">76</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Liberal Republican party, organisation, 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.280">280</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls Nat. con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prominent Reps. aid movement, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley's reasons for joining it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.281">281-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominate Greeley for President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ticket endorsed by Dems., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaders in N.Y. return to Rep. party, 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.315">315</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Liberal Republican state conventions, 1872, Syracuse, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1874, Albany, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.315">315-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1875, Albany, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1876, Saratoga, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.337">337</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unites with Rep. state con., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.337">337</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lieutenant-governorship, not necessarily stepping stone to gov., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.180">180</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Lincoln, Abraham, first meeting with Seward, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.143">143</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for nomination for Vice-President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lectures in New York City, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.262">262-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.263">263-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats Crittenden compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley's relations with, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.402">402-3</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Orders relief of Fort Sumter, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.1">1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">call for troops, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.3">3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reply to Greeley, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to Seymour, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to Erastus Corning on Vallandigham, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.65">65-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to Seymour about draft, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.71">71</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to Rep. state con., 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.77">77-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its influence, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.79">79-80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Seward, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.84">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Weed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.85">85-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">veiled opposition to, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.87">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effort to postpone Rep. nat. con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.88">88-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Radicals resent his relations with Weed and Seward, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">did he suggest Johnson for Vice-President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ignores Weed's wishes, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.97">97</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">message, Dec. 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.98">98</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plan for restoration of Southern states, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.98">98</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">longs for peace, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">authority to Greeley, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sends Hay to Niagara Falls, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">insists on abolition of slavery, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unpopularity of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">movement to substitute another candidate, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.103">103-4</a> and note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weed and Raymond hopeless of his election, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.104">104-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his iron nerve, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.105">105</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interest in N.Y. election, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assassination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.127">127</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lindenwald, Van Buren's home, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.45">45-6</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Litchfield, Elisha, speaker of Assembly, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.59">59</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.59">59</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Littlejohn, DeWitt C., speaker of Assembly, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.207">207</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declares for Seward, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Greeley for U.S. senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.364">364</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Livingston, Brockholst, brother-in-law of Jay, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.6">6</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.79">79</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on U.S. Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostility to Jay, <a href="#vol1Page_i.79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cousin of Chancellor, <a href="#vol1Page_i.116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed to state Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.116">116</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Livingston, Charles L., speaker of Assembly, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.1">1</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Livingston, Edward, resents Alien-Sedition laws, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.84">84</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advised to give up Jefferson for Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Burr thought him friendly, <a href="#vol1Page_i.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">practises deception, <a href="#vol1Page_i.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">U.S. atty., <a href="#vol1Page_i.104">104</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.121">121</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defaulter, <a href="#vol1Page_i.104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mayor of New York, <a href="#vol1Page_i.116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goes to New Orleans to reside, <a href="#vol1Page_i.150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sec. of state, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.1">1</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Livingston, Edward P., nominated for lt.-gov., 1830, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.376">376</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unpopular manners, <a href="#vol1Page_i.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.377">377</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for renomination for lt.-gov., 1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.395">395</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Livingston, Gilbert, supports Clinton for gov., 1789, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.43">43</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his eloquence, <a href="#vol1Page_i.43">43</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Livingston, Maturin, son-in-law of Morgan Lewis, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.147">147</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed to office, <a href="#vol1Page_i.147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.147">147-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed from office, <a href="#vol1Page_i.151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">restored, <a href="#vol1Page_i.154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed from office, <a href="#vol1Page_i.165">165</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Livingston, Peter R., hostility to DeWitt Clinton, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.251">251</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes war on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and gifts of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.402">402</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins Whig party, 1834, <a href="#vol1Page_i.402">402</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. of its first con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.402">402</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Livingston, Philip, in first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Livingston, Robert R., member first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed chancellor, <a href="#vol1Page_i.16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of Poughkeepsie con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in campaign, 1789, <a href="#vol1Page_i.42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostile to Hamilton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strengthens Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">left out in division of offices, <a href="#vol1Page_i.48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ceased to be a Federalist, <a href="#vol1Page_i.48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats Schuyler for U.S. senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Jay, 1792, <a href="#vol1Page_i.55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">steam navigation, <a href="#vol1Page_i.75">75-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with Fulton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.78">78</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostility to Jay, <a href="#vol1Page_i.79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance and character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">desires to be President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.80">80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mistakes signs of times, <a href="#vol1Page_i.81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for it, <a href="#vol1Page_i.83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his disposition, <a href="#vol1Page_i.83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">minister to France, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assailed by Van Ness, <a href="#vol1Page_i.125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">without ambition for further political honours, <a href="#vol1Page_i.150">150</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lockwood, Daniel N., at Dem. state con., 1882, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.490">490</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forceful presentation of Cleveland's name for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.490">490</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Locofocos, origin of title, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.16">16</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">applied to Dem. party, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.16">16</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Loomis, Arphaxed, in constitutional con., 1846, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.109">109</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and gifts of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resents war methods, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.18">18</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.19">19</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lord, Jarvis B., nominated for canal com., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.21">21</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Tilden for gov., 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exults over downfall of Tilden régime, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.383">383</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lott, John A., nominated for judge of Court of Appeals, 1869, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lowell, James Russell, declares people long for peace, 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.101">101</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ludlow, William B., opposes Union state con., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.15">15</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ludlow, William H., chairman of Softs' con., 1854, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.197">197</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.203">203</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Lundy, Benjamin, original abolitionist, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.5">5-7</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +McCarthy, Dennis, presents Washburne's name for Vice-President, 1880, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.444">444</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">moves Arthur's nomination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.445">445</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Robertson's appointment, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +McClellan, George B., succeeds Scott, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.31">31</a>.<br /> +<br /> +McComb, Alexander, charged with corrupt conduct, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.54">54</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friend of George Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.54">54</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +McDougal, Alexander, in first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +McGuire, Jeremiah, named as del.-at-large to Dem. nat. con., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.452">452</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delegation rejected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.458">458</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +McIntosh, James, nominated for sec. of state, 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.384">384</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.387">387</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +McIntyre, Archibald, becomes comp., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.151">151</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with Tompkins, <a href="#vol1Page_i.276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removal of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.287">287-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected state senator, <a href="#vol1Page_i.289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">agent for state lotteries, <a href="#vol1Page_i.289">289</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +McKean, James B., congressman, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.338">338</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disapproves Weed's compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.338">338</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Del. to People's Union con., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">colonel 67th N.Y. regiment, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for sec. of state, 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.188">188</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +McKelway, St. Clair, brilliant editor of Albany <i>Argus</i>, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.419">419</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.419">419</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">returns to Brooklyn <i>Eagle</i>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.419">419</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +McKenzie, William L., connected with Canadian rebellion, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.23">23-4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +McKnown, James, recorder at Albany, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.347">347</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forced upon Regency, <a href="#vol1Page_i.347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aids Van Buren's conciliatory policy, <a href="#vol1Page_i.347">347</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +McLaughlin, Hugh, leader of Kings County Democracy, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.421">421</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Robinson for gov., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.421">421</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +McNeil, David B., nominated for prison insp., 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.120">120</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +McNutt, Andrew J., nominated for prison insp., 1865, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.129">129</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Mackin, James, nominated for state treas., 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.384">384</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Madison, James, renominated for president, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.197">197</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.201">201</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.199">199</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers Tompkins place of sec. of state, <a href="#vol1Page_i.237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dislike of Armstrong, <a href="#vol1Page_i.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dislike of Monroe, <a href="#vol1Page_i.239">239</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Magone, Daniel, member of Tilden's canal commission, 1875, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.323">323</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Maine Liquor law, introduced by Clark, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.199">199</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vetoed by Seymour, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.199">199</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Manhattan Bank, clever trick of Burr to charter, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.187">187</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Manning, Daniel B., early career, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.419">419</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">genius for political leadership, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.419">419</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">successor of Richmond, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.419">419</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controls Robinson's candidacy, 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his rare tactics, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.421">421</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ticket defeated by Kelly's bolt, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controls Dem. state con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.449">449</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">iron-clad unit rule, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.450">450</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">endorses Tilden for President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.450">450</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">action at Dem. nat. con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.454">454-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an indefinite letter, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.454">454</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a definite telegram, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.456">456</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delegation's loss of prestige, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.456">456</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controls Dem. state con., 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.484">484</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">great victory, 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Marble, Manton, writes Dem. platform, 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.344">344</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cipher dispatches, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a leading Dem. editor, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Marey, William L., favours King's re-election to U.S. senate, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.269">269</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adjutant-general, <a href="#vol1Page_i.289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career, character, and appearance of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.289">289-94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">capture of St. Regis, <a href="#vol1Page_i.293">293</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original member of Albany Regency, <a href="#vol1Page_i.293">293-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">highest mountain in state named for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes comp., 1823, <a href="#vol1Page_i.321">321</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed to Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.360">360</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">investigates death of Morgan, <a href="#vol1Page_i.360">360</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in U.S. senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.385">385</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">record as comp. and judge, <a href="#vol1Page_i.386">386</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure as senator, <a href="#vol1Page_i.386">386-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to victors belong the spoils, <a href="#vol1Page_i.389">389</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">injures Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.389">389</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.394">394</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"the Marcy patch," <a href="#vol1Page_i.395">395</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.396">396</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Marcy's mortgage," <a href="#vol1Page_i.400">400</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., 1834, <a href="#vol1Page_i.403">403</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hot campaign, <a href="#vol1Page_i.403">403-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.404">404</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Member of a powerful group, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.1">1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">writes for <i>Argus</i>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward slavery, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.10">10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1836, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">signs bank charters, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., 1838, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">review of his administration, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.23">23-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.28">28</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed to Mexican Claims Commission, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">canal policy, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sec. of war, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Hunker, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes a Barnburner, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for President, 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.169">169-72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour favours, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.169">169-72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sec. of state, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.181">181-2</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Martindale, John H., record as a soldier, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.130">130</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for atty.-gen., 1865, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Martling Men, forerunners of Tammany Hall, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.132">132</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.170">170</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charge Clinton with duplicity, <a href="#vol1Page_i.352">352</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Mason, Charles, nominated for judge of Court of Appeals, 1867, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.174">174</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1869, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Matthews, James N., Buffalo <i>Express</i>, a leading Rep. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Matthews, Stanley, joins Lib. Rep. movement, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Greeley's nomination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Maxwell, Hugh, collector port of New York City, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.153">153</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Seward's endorsement, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.153">153-4</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Maxwell, Robert A., nominated for state treas., 1881, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.484">484</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.486">486</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +May, Samuel J., rescues a fugitive slave, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.165">165</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mead, Sidney, nominated for canal com., 1873, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.308">308</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Mears, John W., nominated for gov., 1879, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.412">412</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Meigs, Henry, member of Congress, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.285">285</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">correspondence with Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.285">285</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Mellspaugh, George W., nominated for prison insp., 1873, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Merritt, Edwin A., attended Lib. Rep. state con., 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on com. to confer with Dems., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for state treas., 1875, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for surveyor of port of New York, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confirmation defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.404">404-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed collector of customs, 1878, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.406">406</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.406">406</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">able administrator, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.406">406</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confirmed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.409">409</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for con.-gen. to London, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confirmed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.477">477</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Miller, Elijah, father-in-law of Seward, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.318">318</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early friend of Weed, <a href="#vol1Page_i.318">318</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Miller, Jedediah, opposes Tompkins' accounts, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.276">276</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Miller, Theodore, nominated for judge of Court of Appeals, 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.314">314</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.319">319</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Miller, Warner, early career, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.467">467</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and ability, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.467">467</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aids election of Platt to U.S. senate, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.468">468</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for U.S. senator, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.480">480</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.481">481</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. state Rep. con., 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.485">485</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Minthorne, Mangle, daughter married Tompkins, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.161">161</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leader of Martling Men, <a href="#vol1Page_i.161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bitter opponent of Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.161">161</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.181">181</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Missouri Compromise of 1820, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.272">272</a>, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.190">190</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">repeal of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.190">190-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.191">191</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">excitement over, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.192">192-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposition to, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.193">193-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Van Buren on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marcy on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.195">195</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Mitchell, Samuel Latham, character of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.74">74</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friend of Priestly, <a href="#vol1Page_i.74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attainments of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.75">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of Assembly, <a href="#vol1Page_i.75">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">steam navigation, <a href="#vol1Page_i.75">75</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">associated with R.R. Livingston, <a href="#vol1Page_i.77">77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friend of DeWitt Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in U.S. senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.170">170</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Mohawk River, early schemes for its navigation, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.242">242</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mohawk River Valley, attracts New Englanders, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.81">81</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Monroe, James, disliked by Madison, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.239">239</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">helped by Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.240">240</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Mooers, Benjamin, deserts DeWitt Clinton, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.279">279</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Moore, Sir Henry, projects canal around Little Falls, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.242">242</a>.<br /> +<br /> +"Morey letter," in campaign, 1880, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.462">462</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Garfield brands it a forgery, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fictitious character made clear, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.462">462</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">used by Dems. with great force, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.462">462</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Morgan, Christopher, sec. of state, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.127">127</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Morgan, Edwin D., at birth of Rep. party, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.213">213</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1858, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.248">248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.248">248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Chicago con., 1860, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., 1860, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.328">328</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.333">333</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conservative appeal to Legislature, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.348">348</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forwards troops promptly, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.7">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">acts as agent of President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.7">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">thinks Wadsworth available for gov., 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines renomination, 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">creditable record, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to U.S. senate, 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taste for political life, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.54">54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Rep. state con., 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bitter feeling against, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urges Lincoln's renomination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.87">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Johnson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">votes to override veto, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks re-election to U.S. senate, 1869, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">weakened by association with Johnson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported by Conkling's followers, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated by Fenton, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Rep. nat. con., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.333">333</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.338">338</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines secretaryship of treasury, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.486">486</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Morgan, William, career of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.359">359</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disclosure of Free Masonry, <a href="#vol1Page_i.359">359</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abduction of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.359">359</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">left at Fort Niagara, <a href="#vol1Page_i.359">359</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drowned in Lake Ontario, <a href="#vol1Page_i.360">360</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">excitement over crime, <a href="#vol1Page_i.359">359-60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">investigation of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.360">360</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">punishment of conspirators, <a href="#vol1Page_i.360">360</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <a href="#Anti">Anti-Masons</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Morris, Gouverneur, elected to U.S. senate, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.71">71</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">family of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.71">71-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">association with Hamilton and Jay, <a href="#vol1Page_i.73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conservatism of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">life in Paris, <a href="#vol1Page_i.74">74</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports DeWitt Clinton for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.202">202-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours disunion, <a href="#vol1Page_i.228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">predicts construction of Erie canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">canal commissioner, <a href="#vol1Page_i.243">243</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Morris, Lewis, member first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">served in Continental Congress, <a href="#vol1Page_i.72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">family of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.71">71-4</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Morris, Richard, in first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nomination as gov. desired, <a href="#vol1Page_i.39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Hamilton's speech at Poughkeepsie, <a href="#vol1Page_i.40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treatment of Gouverneur, his half brother, <a href="#vol1Page_i.72">72</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Morris, Robert, member of Poughkeepsie con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Morris, Staats Long, served in Parliament, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.73">73</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">family of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.71">71-4</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Morrissey, John, opposes Dix for gov., 1866, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.158">158</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breaks with Kelly, 1875, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">faction known as "Swallow-tails," <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delegation rejected by Dem. state con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organises Irving Hall, 1875, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">runs for state senator, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">endorsed by Reps., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reunites with Kelly, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Kelly, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.382">382-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">runs for state senator against Schell, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.386">386</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fierce fight, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.386">386</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">great victory, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.388">388</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.388">388</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Morton, Levi P., defeated for Congress, 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, 1878, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines to become a candidate for Vice-President, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.444">444</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">acts upon Conkling's advice, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.444">444</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">choice of Conkling for U.S. senator, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested for sec. of treas. and navy, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.468">468</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines secretaryship of navy, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes ambassador to France, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Morton, Oliver P., speaks in New York, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.282">282</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prophecy as to Lib. Rep. nat. con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.282">282</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Mosely, Daniel, appointed to Supreme Court, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.366">366</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Mozart Hall, organisation of, 1858, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.30">30</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">represents Fernando Wood, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominates Wood for mayor, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">after 1866 failed to present a ticket, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.268">268</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Mulligan, John W., appointed surrogate of New York, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Murphy, Henry C., character of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.156">156</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspirant for gov., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">active in campaign, 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Dem. nat. con., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">heads com. on res., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspirant for gov., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.205">205</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Murphy, Thomas, charges Fenton with graft, 1869, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.221">221</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed collector of New York, 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bitter criticism of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by whom recommended, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conkling secures his confirmation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contest with Fenton, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.234">234-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">changes made in custom-house, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.251">251</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts to crush Fenton machine, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.250">250-63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">severely criticised, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Crowley for U.S. senate, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.465">465</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Myers, Charles G., presents Dix's name for gov., 1862, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.44">44</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Nast, Thomas, cartoons Tweed ring, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.245">245</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejects enormous bribe, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">startling cartoon, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tweed proposes to stop the paper, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.274">274</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>National Advocate</i>, edited by Noah, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.262">262</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposition to Erie canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.262">262</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">silenced, <a href="#vol1Page_i.262">262</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="National" id="National"></a>National Greenback Labor Reform party, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.389">389</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hist. of its organisation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.389">389</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">con. Syracuse, 1878, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.389">389</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its principles, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.389">389</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">represents large vote, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its influence on Dem. party, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">holds state con., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.412">412</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +National Republicans, followers of Adams, 1828, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.361">361</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adopt ticket of Anti-Masons, 1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reason for defeat, <a href="#vol1Page_i.396">396</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">party, 1834, becomes Whig, <a href="#vol1Page_i.399">399</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +National Union state convention, 1866, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.154">154</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">substitute for Dem. state con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attended by Reps. and Dems., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dix defeated by Hoffman for gov., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">platform for home rule, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.160">160</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Native" id="Native"></a>Native American party, organised, 1844, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.82">82</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed foreigners voting or holding office, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confined to New York City, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected a mayor, 1844, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in constitutional con., 1846, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.97">97-100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revived, 1854, as Know-Nothings, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secret methods of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward opposed to, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.201">201-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unknown strength of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.202">202-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Silver-Grays partial to, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominations, 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its con., 1855, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected its ticket, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, 1858, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">endorse Reps. and Dems., 1859, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.258">258-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wilson on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.259">259</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Negro suffrage, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.299">299-300</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Left it to Southern state, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley advocates it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weed and Raymond oppose it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rep. state con., 1865, dodges it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.133">133</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not squarely met, 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.153">153</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aids to defeat Rep. party, 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.185">185-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats Constitution of 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Nelson, Absolom, nominated for canal com., 1870, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.238">238</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Nelson, Homer A., nominated for sec. of state, 1869, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to be gov., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">again an aspirant for gov., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.488">488</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Nelson, Samuel, member of constitutional con., 1821, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.298">298</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.298">298</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">investigates death of Morgan, <a href="#vol1Page_i.360">360</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">made justice of U.S. Supreme Court, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.97">97</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in constitutional con., 1846, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.103">103</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Nepotism, practised by DeWitt Clinton, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.347">347</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gov. Lewis, <a href="#vol1Page_i.147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gov. Yates, <a href="#vol1Page_i.321">321</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gov. Bouck, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.57">57</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gov. Seymour, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.80">80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gov. Dix, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.316">316</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Newspapers, leading Rep. journals in state, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.413">413-4</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leading Dem. journals in state, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +New York City merchants, their losses, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.31">31</a>.<br /> +<br /> +New York City, work of radicals in, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.1">1</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">census of, 1820, <a href="#vol1Page_i.295">295</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +New York, Colony of, tainted with Toryism, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.23">23</a>.<br /> +<br /> +New York draft-riot, 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.68">68</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.69">69</a>.<br /> +<br /> +New York <i>Evening Post</i>, established by Hamilton and Jay, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">edited by William Coleman, <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +New York Legislature, gerrymander of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.397">397-8</a>.<br /> +<br /> +New York troops, promptly forwarded after Lincoln's call, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.7">7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">engaged at battle of Bull Run, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.12">12</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Nicholas, John, member of Council of Appointment, 1807, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.156">156</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Nichols, Asher P., nominated for state comp., 1870, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.231">231</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.308">308</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Noah, Mordecai Manesseh, editor <i>National Advocate</i>, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.262">262</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.262">262</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.351">351</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed to Erie canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.262">262</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposition silenced by Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.262">262</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Clinton for gov., 1826, <a href="#vol1Page_i.351">351</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +North, S. Newton Dexter, Albany <i>Express</i>, a leading Rep. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a>.<br /> +<br /> +North, William, elected to U.S. senate, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">service and character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.71">71</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on staff of Baron Steuben, <a href="#vol1Page_i.71">71</a> and note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speaker of Assembly, <a href="#vol1Page_i.171">171</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Nott, Eliphalet, President Union College, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.34">34</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Noyes, William Curtis, at peace congress, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Presents letter from Morgan, 1862, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">would welcome Lincoln's withdrawal, 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.104">104</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +O'Conor, Charles, in constitutional con., 1846, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.104">104</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes negro suffrage, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on elective judiciary, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.109">109</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed constitution of 1846, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.112">112</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conservatism of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.112">112</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.134">134-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in campaign, 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines to support the Softs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.186">186</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sympathy with the South, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports' Tilden's attack upon the Tweed ring, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to Dem. state con., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.272">272</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">credits Tilden with impeachment of Tweed judges, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.293">293</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +O'Rourke, Matthew J., aids in exposure of Tweed ring, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.246">246</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">estimated aggregate of sum stolen, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.248">248-9</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Oakley, Thomas J., surrogate of Dutchess County, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.171">171</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed, <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friend of Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.254">254</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">displaces Van Buren as atty.-gen., <a href="#vol1Page_i.273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Tompkins' accounts, <a href="#vol1Page_i.276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed as atty.-gen., <a href="#vol1Page_i.287">287</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Oaksmith, Appleton, del. to seceding states, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.351">351-2</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Office-seekers, number and persistence of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.388">388-9</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ogden, Darius A., nominated for canal com., 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.347">347</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.351">351</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Ohio Idea," The, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.179">179-181</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Olcott, Frederick P., nominated for state comp., 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.384">384</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Olcott, Thomas W., financier of Albany Regency, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.20">20</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses nomination for state comp., 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.74">74</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Opdyke, George, acts as agent of U.S. Government, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.7">7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected mayor of N.Y., 1861, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Rep. state con., 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loses place on state com., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours new candidate in place of Lincoln, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.104">104</a>, and note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Orr, Alexander E., member of Tilden's canal commission, 1875, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.323">323</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ostrander, Catherine, wife of Weed, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.318">318</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">true love match, <a href="#vol1Page_i.319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">waited for him three years, <a href="#vol1Page_i.319">319</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ottendorfer, Oswald, editor N.Y. <i>Staats-zeitung</i>, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.268">268</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts at reform, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Dem. state con., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.272">272</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.272">272</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Palmer, Abiah W., nominated for state comp., 1870, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.238">238</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Parker, Amasa J., nominated for gov., 1856, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.232">232-3</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and ability of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.233">233-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.241">241</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1858, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Dem. state peace con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.354">354</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">president of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.354">354</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of Dem. state con., 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.79">79</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspirant for gov., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presented for gov., 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.313">313</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">president of Kelly's state con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.451">451</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">named as del.-at-large to Nat. con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.452">452</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delegation refused admission, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.457">457</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">part in spectacular reconciliation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.458">458</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Parkhurst, John, nominated for prison insp., 1870, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.238">238</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Parmenter, Roswell A., nominated for atty.-gen., 1881, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.484">484</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.486">486</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Parrish, Daniel, state senator, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.178">178</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Patrick, J.N.H., dispatches to Pelton from Oregon, 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.351">351</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Patrick, Marsena R., nominated for state treas., 1865, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.129">129</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Patterson, George W., to Weed about Fillmore, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.79">79</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in constitutional con., 1846, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on elective judiciary, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.109">109</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.140">140</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.140">140</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for state comp., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.165">165-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ambitious to be gov., 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.173">173</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Payn, Louis P., renominated for U.S. marshal, 1881, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nomination withdrawn, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.475">475</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">warns Conkling and Platt of defeat, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.481">481</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chided by Sharpe, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.481">481</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prophecy fulfilled, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.481">481</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Peace congress, 1861, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested by Virginia, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adopted by Legislature of New York, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dels. to, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">convened at Washington, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.358">358</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its work and results, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.358">358-60</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Peaceable secession, Greeley advocates, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.335">335-6</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">also Abolitionists, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.336">336</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preferable to civil war, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.347">347</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.355">355</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Peck, Jedediah, opposed Alien-Sedition laws, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.89">89</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arrested, <a href="#vol1Page_i.89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">creates great excitement, <a href="#vol1Page_i.89">89</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Peckham, Rufus H., a supporter of Tilden, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.422">422</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cool and determined, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.422">422</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Dem. state con., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.422">422</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Dem. nat. con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.457">457</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Peckham, Rufus W., opposes repeal of Missouri Compromise, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.195">195</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Pelton, William T., nephew of Tilden, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lived in Tilden's house, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cipher dispatches, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350-1</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +People's party, supports Adams, 1824, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.324">324</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stood for popular election of Presidential electors, <a href="#vol1Page_i.324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resented defeat of the measure, <a href="#vol1Page_i.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tallmadge and Wheaton lead it, <a href="#vol1Page_i.324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secedes from Utica con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.331">331-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Clinton, 1826, <a href="#vol1Page_i.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins Nat. Rep. party, 1828, <a href="#vol1Page_i.361">361</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +People's Union convention, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.21">21</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.22">22</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Perkins, Edward O., nominated for clerk of Court of Appeals, 1865, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.129">129</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Perrin, Edward O., nominated for clerk of Court of Appeals, 1868, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.207">207</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Perry, Oliver H., victory on Lake Erie, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.225">225</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Phelps, Oliver, nominated for lt.-gov. with Burr, 1804, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.131">131</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.138">138</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Philadelphia Union convention, 1866, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dix the ch'm., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Richmond and Weed managers, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Raymond heads resolution committee, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">picturesque features, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Phillips, Wendell, opposition to arbitrary arrests, 1862, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.19">19</a>, note.<br /> +<br /> +Pierce, Franklin, nominated for President, 1852, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.169">169-72</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">humiliated Dix, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.182">182</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appoints Marcy sec. of state, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.182">182</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Pierrepont, Edwards, life and character of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.155">155</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favoured Dix for gov., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sudden change to Hoffman, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weed's surprise, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.159">159</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Pitcher, Nathaniel, elected lt.-gov., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.352">352</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.366">366</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.366">366</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">acting gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.366">366</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointments of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.366">366</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for renomination by Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.366">366</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ceases to act with Jackson party, <a href="#vol1Page_i.367">367</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Pitt, William, compared with Hamilton, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.3">3</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Platt, Jonas, defeated for Supreme Court, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.156">156</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.156">156</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.173">173-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assails embargo, <a href="#vol1Page_i.174">174</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">betrayed by prejudices, <a href="#vol1Page_i.176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Clinton for mayor, <a href="#vol1Page_i.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and for gov., 1817, <a href="#vol1Page_i.248">248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires from Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.323">323</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">later career and death of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.323">323</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Platt, Moss K., nominated for prison insp., 1873, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.308">308</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">endorsed by Liberals, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Platt, Thomas C., early career, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.363">363</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and ability, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.364">364</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. Rep. state con., 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.364">364</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for U.S. senate, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stalwart leaders divide, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported by Cornell, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Arthur, Sharpe, Murphy, and Smyth, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">promise made to Half-breeds, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.468">468</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with their aid nominated in caucus, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.468">468</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.468">468</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Robertson's appointment, Mar. 23, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure of his efforts to have it withdrawn, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.475">475</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tenders resignation, May 16, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.476">476</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.477">477-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">seeks re-election at Albany, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.478">478</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rep. caucus refused, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.479">479</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first ballot gives highest vote, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.479">479</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws as a candidate, July 1, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.480">480</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">successor elected, July 16, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.481">481</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Platt, Zephaniah, father of Jonas Platt, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.156">156</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">founded Plattsburgh, <a href="#vol1Page_i.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">served in Legislature and in Congress, <a href="#vol1Page_i.156">156</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Plumb, Joseph, nominated for lt.-gov. by Abolitionists, 1850, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.156">156</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Political campaigns, begin 1789, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abusive, 1792, <a href="#vol1Page_i.52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">young men in, <a href="#vol1Page_i.56">56</a> and note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">modern methods introduced, <a href="#vol1Page_i.90">90</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Pomeroy, Theodore M., at Rep. nat. con., 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.334">334</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to be gov., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a> and note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Porter, John K., in constitutional con., 1846, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.104">104</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for judge of Court of Appeals, 1865, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Porter, Peter B., supports Burr, 1804, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.138">138</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed as county clerk, <a href="#vol1Page_i.147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of Congress, <a href="#vol1Page_i.148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secretary of war, <a href="#vol1Page_i.148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed sec. of state, <a href="#vol1Page_i.233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">canal com., <a href="#vol1Page_i.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed Clinton for gov., 1817, <a href="#vol1Page_i.249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brilliant war record, <a href="#vol1Page_i.249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">eloquence of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov. by Tam., <a href="#vol1Page_i.251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspirant for gov., 1822, <a href="#vol1Page_i.318">318</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Clay, 1824, <a href="#vol1Page_i.324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for Assembly, 1827, <a href="#vol1Page_i.358">358</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Porter, Peter A., declines nomination for sec. of state, 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.75">75</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prefers military to civil office, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.75">75</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Post, Henry, confidential correspondent of DeWitt Clinton, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.243">243</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Potter, Clarkson N., aspires to be gov., 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.345">345</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">president of Dem. state con., 1777, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.384">384</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure of fraud investigation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.395">395</a> and note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for U.S. senate, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.482">482</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.482">482</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Poughkeepsie convention, ratifies Federal Constitution, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">number of dels., <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">champions of Constitution, <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opponents of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">date of ratification, <a href="#vol1Page_i.35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vote on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.36">36</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Powell, Archibald C., nominated for state eng., 1867, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.174">174</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.188">188</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Pratt, Daniel, nominated for atty.-gen., 1873, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.308">308</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Prince, L. Bradford, nominated for naval officer, 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.399">399</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not confirmed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.405">405</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Privateers in war of 1812, Samuel Young's description of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.266">266</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Prohibition, issue, 1854, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.203">203</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">law passed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declared unconstitutional, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.210">210</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Prohibition party organised, 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.316">316</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated Clark for gov., 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.316">316</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">total vote, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state con., 1875, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state con., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state con., 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.384">384</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state con., 1878, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.392">392</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state con., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.412">412</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">principles of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.412">412</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Pruyn, Robert H., aspirant for gov., 1866, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.156">156</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">services of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.165">165</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Pulitzer, Joseph, N.Y. <i>World</i>, a leading Dem. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Purcell, William, supporter of Tam., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.383">383</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">editor Rochester <i>Union Advertiser</i>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a leading journalist, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for sec. of state, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.484">484</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.486">486</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Purdy, Ebenezer, state senator, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.149">149</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charged with bribery, <a href="#vol1Page_i.149">149</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns to escape expulsion, <a href="#vol1Page_i.191">191</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Putnam, James O., a Silver-Gray, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.156">156</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">eloquence of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">votes for Babcock for U.S. senator, 1855, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours union of American and Rep. parties, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elector-at-large, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.328">328</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Americans follow him into Rep. party, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.332">332</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +"Quids," nickname for Gov. Lewis' followers, 1806, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.152">152</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Radcliff, Jacob, appointed on Supreme Court, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.68">68</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">life of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and appearance of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes mayor of New York City, <a href="#vol1Page_i.172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed, <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Radical and Conservative Democrats, difference in canal policy, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.53">53</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Radicals, faction of Dem. party, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.52">52</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed state debt to construct canal, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.52">52</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaders of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.53">53</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called Barnburners after supporting the Wilmot Proviso, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see<a href="#Barnburners"> Barnburners</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Raines, Thomas, nominated for state treas., 1871, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.264">264</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins Lib. Rep. party, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.307">307</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dropped by Reps., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.307">307</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated by Dems., 1873, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.308">308</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Randall, Henry S., biographer of Jefferson, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.324">324</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barnburner, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. of Hards' state con., 1860, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.324">324</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Randolph, John, teller when J.Q. Adams was elected President, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.343">343</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rapallo, Charles J., nominated for judge of Court of Appeals, 1880, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.460">460</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.463">463</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Raymond, Henry Jarvis, in Assembly, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.159">159</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speaker, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and gifts of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.159">159-61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">editor of N.Y. <i>Courier</i>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.160">160</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">established N.Y. <i>Times</i>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.160">160</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with Webb, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Fish for U.S. senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ambition to be gov., 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Anti-Nebraska con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deep offence to Greeley, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.199">199-200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at birth of Rep. party, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">active, 1856, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Douglas for U.S. senator, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Chicago con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls Greeley a disappointed office-seeker, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.306">306-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley's letter to Seward, 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.307">307</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">endorses Weed's compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.337">337</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Elected to Assembly, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">upholds Lincoln's policy, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Dix, 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. Rep. state con., 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">replies to Seymour, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for U.S. senate, 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">del.-at-large to Rep. nat. con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reports the platform, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Johnson for Vice-President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">zenith of his influence, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">why he supported Johnson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.95">95</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">did Lincoln whisper to him, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.96">96</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">writes Lincoln of hopeless situation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.105">105-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to Congress, 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">great victory, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.126">126</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports President Johnson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enters Congress, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prestige of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his maiden speech, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sustains veto, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his fickleness, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.142">142</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">satirised by Stevens, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.142">142</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hesitates to attend Philadelphia con., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward urges him on, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extreme views, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed from Rep. Nat. Ex. Com., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Congress added no fame, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.145">145</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mental weariness, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.146">146</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to support Hoffman for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">returns to Rep. party, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Fenton with loyalty, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines to run for Congress, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sincerity of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brilliant life cut short, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.175">175</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Redfield, Herman J., kept out of office, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.348">348</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ch'm. Dem. state con., 1861, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.17">17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his views on the war, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prophecy of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.18">18</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Reed, Thomas B., Conkling's attack on Curtis found in scrap-book, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.374">374</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">listed among masterpieces of sarcasm and invective, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.374">374</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Reeves, Henry A., Greenport <i>Republican Watchman</i>, a leading Dem. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Reid, Whitelaw, N.Y. <i>Tribune</i>, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leading Rep. editor, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">telegram about Robertson's appointment, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.472">472-3</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Renwick, James, characteristics of Tompkins, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.215">215</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Republican national conventions,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Baltimore, 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chicago, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.192">192</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Philadelphia, 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.291">291-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cincinnati, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.333">333-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chicago, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.438">438-46</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Republican" id="Republican"></a>Republican party, Anti-Nebraska con., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.194">194</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley favoured its organisation, 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weed and Seward opposed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley named it, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Executive Committee appointed, 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">formal organisation, 1855, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.211">211-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its platform, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward's speech for, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.217">217-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Silver-Grays defeat it, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weed and Seward criticised, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.219">219-20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">carried state for Fremont and King, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.241">241-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elect gov., 1858, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">made up of young men, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.328">328-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elect Lincoln and Morgan, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.333">333</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">desired peace, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.360">360</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Republican State Committee, proposes a Union state con., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.15">15</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Republican state conventions, 1861, Syracuse, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.21">21</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1862, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1863, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1864, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.90">90</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1865, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1866, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1867, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1868, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1869, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1870, Saratoga, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1871, Syracuse, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1872, Utica, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.292">292</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1873, Utica, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.307">307</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1874, Utica, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.315">315</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1875, Saratoga, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1876, Saratoga, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.336">336-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1877, Rochester, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.362">362-77</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1878, Saratoga, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.301">301</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1879, Saratoga, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.412">412-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1880, Utica, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.429">429-34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1881, Saratoga, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.485">485</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1882, Saratoga, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.492">492</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Reynolds, Marcus T., wit of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.390">390</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Rhodes, William C., nominated for prison director, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.21">21</a>, note.<br /> +<br /> +Richmond, Dean, original Barnburner, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leadership at Charleston con., 1860, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.270">270-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.271">271-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">believed to be for Seymour, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.276">276</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.298">298</a>, note, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.299">299</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sustains two-thirds rule, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.277">277</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats Douglas' nomination under rule, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.277">277-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sustains admission of contestants, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.300">300</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickinson's attack on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.302">302-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intentions of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.303">303</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls Dem. state peace con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.354">354</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Opposes a Union state con., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.15">15</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons therefor, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appeal to Seymour, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.38">38</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">draft circular, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">del. to Dem. nat. con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Seymour for President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports McClellan, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Johnson, and manages Saratoga and Philadelphia conventions, 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Dix for gov., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sudden death, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first unofficial man in America, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dies in home of Tilden, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.265">265</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Richmond <i>Enquirer</i>, resents unanimity of the North, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.9">9</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.10">10</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Richmond <i>Examiner</i>, resents Unionism in New York, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.9">9</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.10">10</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Richmond, Henry A., son of Dean, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.39">39</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeds father on state committee, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.265">265</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Richmond, Van Rensselaer, nominated for state eng., 1869, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Riker, Richard, dist.-atty., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assailed by Van Ness, <a href="#vol1Page_i.124">124</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">acts as second for DeWitt Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clinton fails to support him for Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.218">218</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">affection for Clinton turned into hate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.218">218</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clinton removed him as recorder, <a href="#vol1Page_i.273">273</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Roberts, Ellis H., character and services of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.169">169</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aids Conkling's election to U.S. senate, 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats Conkling's candidate for state senate, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.388">388</a> and note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Roberts, Marshall O., attends Saratoga con., 1866, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to be gov., 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fenton's candidate, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves books of Tweed's comp., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secedes from Rep. state con., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meets with a separate body, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among supporters of Greeley, 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Robertson, William H., early career, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.293">293</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and ability, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.293">293</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to be gov., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.293">293</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposition, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.293">293</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated by Dix, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.293">293</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beginning of dislike of Conkling, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines nomination for state comp., 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">votes for Blaine at Rep. nat. con., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspirant for gov., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.337">337</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested for gov., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decides to vote for Blaine, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.436">436</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his letter, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.437">437</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">other Half-breeds follow, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.437">437</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">votes for Blaine at Rep. nat. con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.441">441</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for collector of customs, Mar. 23, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a surprise, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reports and theories, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469-70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Blaine triumph, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.470">470-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">endorsed by Legislature, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.472">472</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts at compromise, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.472">472</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confirmed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.476">476</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Robinson, John C., nominated for state eng., 1869, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws from ticket, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.315">315</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name presented for gov., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.492">492</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Robinson, Lucius, candidate for state comp., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.23">23</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">valuable services, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">signs call for Cleveland con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resents infringement of rights of individuals and states, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to Cleveland con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declares Administration guilty of mistakes, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggests nomination of Grant, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prefers a candidate other than Lincoln, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.104">104</a> and note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dems. renominate him for state comp., 1865, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a political somersault, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">kind words by Reps., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a faithful official, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to be gov., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for state comp., 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.340">340</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of administration, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.379">379</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leadership at Dem. state con., 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.379">379</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kelly opposes old ticket, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.382">382</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relies upon Hill's ruling, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.382">382</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tilden régime routed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.383">383</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounces Rep. gerrymander, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.397">397-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removes Kelly's henchman, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.418">418</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepted as declaration of war, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.418">418</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kelly's charges, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kelly bolts, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Rochester, William B., character and career of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.350">350</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1826, <a href="#vol1Page_i.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proved strong candidate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.351">351</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">believed Van Buren's support insincere, <a href="#vol1Page_i.352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed for U.S. senator, <a href="#vol1Page_i.352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lost at sea, <a href="#vol1Page_i.352">352</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Rogers, Sherman S., nominated for lt.-gov., 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.338">338-39</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for U.S. senate, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.467">467</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Roosevelt, Theodore, nominated for collector of customs, 1878, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.399">399</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not confirmed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.405">405</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">died, 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.406">406</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Root, Erastus, gifts and character of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.85">85</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.86">86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friend of Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.86">86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Alien-Sedition laws, <a href="#vol1Page_i.86">86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strikes at nullification, <a href="#vol1Page_i.87">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his opinion of Burr and Hamilton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Burr, 1804, <a href="#vol1Page_i.138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defence of methods used by State Bank, <a href="#vol1Page_i.188">188-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">changes views in case of Merchants' Bank, <a href="#vol1Page_i.191">191</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Bank of America, <a href="#vol1Page_i.196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes war on Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unfriendly to Erie canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposition silenced, <a href="#vol1Page_i.262">262</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours settlement of Tompkins' accounts, <a href="#vol1Page_i.276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conspicuous work in constitutional con., 1821, <a href="#vol1Page_i.299">299-310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspirant for gov., 1822, <a href="#vol1Page_i.313">313</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sent to Assembly, 1827, <a href="#vol1Page_i.357">357</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sought nomination for gov., 1830, <a href="#vol1Page_i.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves Jackson party, 1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.394">394</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.104">104</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Roseboom, Robert, member of Council of Appointment, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.107">107</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controlled by DeWitt Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.107">107</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ross, Charles N., nominated for state treas., 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.326">326</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Rouse, Caspar M., accused David Thomas of bribery, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.193">193</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ruger, William C., elected chief judge of Court of Appeals, 1882, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.499">499</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Ruggles, Charles H., in constitutional con., 1846, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.109">109</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chairman judiciary com., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.109">109</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for Court of Appeals, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.189">189</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ruggles, Samuel B., Seward's reliance upon, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.34">34</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Russell, Leslie W., nominated for atty.-gen., 1881, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.485">485</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.486">486</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Sage, Russell, in Congress, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.195">195</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes repeal of Missouri Compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.195">195</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sanders, John, member of Council of Appointment, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.107">107</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sanford, Nathan, career and character of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.170">170</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defends embargo, <a href="#vol1Page_i.170">170-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes DeWitt Clinton for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected U.S. senator, <a href="#vol1Page_i.233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeded by Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeded by Jones for chancellor, <a href="#vol1Page_i.347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected U.S. senator, <a href="#vol1Page_i.347">347</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Saratoga Union convention, 1866, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attended by Reps. and Dems., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appoints dels. to Johnson's Philadelphia con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Savage, Edward, member Council of Appointment, 1807, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.156">156</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Savage, John, appointed Supreme Court judge, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.322">322</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Schell, Augustus, at Charleston con., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.272">272</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to be gov., 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Tilden, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for state senator, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.386">386</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Morrissey, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.386">386</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fierce fight, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.386">386</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.388">388</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for mayor by Tam., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.394">394</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.396">396</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leads the Tam. bolt, 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.423">423</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused admission to Dem. nat. con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.457">457</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">part in spectacular reconciliation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.458">458</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Scheu, Solomon B., nominated for prison insp., 1870, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.231">231</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Schoonmaker, Augustus, nominated for atty.-gen., 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.384">384</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for judge of Court of Appeals, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.484">484</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.486">486</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Schurz, Carl, reports upon Southern sentiment, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.136">136</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Ku Klux Act, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours universal amnesty, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.277">277</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticism of Grant's administration, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.278">278</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organises Lib. Rep. movement, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.280">280</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. of Lib. Rep. con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Greeley for President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Schuyler, George W., nominated for state treas., 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.76">76</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.83">83</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Schuyler, Philip, member first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.17">17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">public career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.17">17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kent on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.17">17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Webster on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characteristics of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called "Great Eye," <a href="#vol1Page_i.18">18</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">surprised by Clinton's election as gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.21">21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected U.S. senator, <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for re-election, <a href="#vol1Page_i.49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">combination against him, <a href="#vol1Page_i.49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of Council of Appointment, <a href="#vol1Page_i.61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominates Benson, <a href="#vol1Page_i.61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">claims concurrent right with gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">justification of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected to U.S. senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns, <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">example in Council followed by DeWitt Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.110">110</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Scott, George F., nominated for state comp., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.21">21</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Scott, John Morin, member first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leads radicals in, <a href="#vol1Page_i.13">13</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. Council of Safety, <a href="#vol1Page_i.16">16</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.17">17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Adams on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jones on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ancestry of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.19">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.19">19</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Scott, Winfield, valour at Queenstown Heights, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinion of Wilkinson, <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">promoted, <a href="#vol1Page_i.225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bravery at Lundy's Lane, <a href="#vol1Page_i.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brilliant leadership, <a href="#vol1Page_i.227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for President, 1852, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.166">166-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tour through New York, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">regarded as Seward's candidate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.175">175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confident of election, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.179">179</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Disapproves relief of Fort Sumter, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.1">1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disapproves battle of Bull Run, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.11">11</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Scratchers," a faction of Rep. party, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">origin of name, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Scribner, G. Hilton, defeated for ch'm. of Rep. state con., 1871, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.258">258-9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for sec. of state, 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Seceders, Barnburners from Hunkers, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.127">127</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Silver-Grays from Seward Whigs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dem. senators from state senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.163">163</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hunkers from Barnburners, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.180">180</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anti-slavery members from Softs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wood delegation from Dem. state con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.249">249</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Secretary of state, stepping stone to Presidency, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.364">364</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sedgwick, Charles B., character of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.55">55</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for U.S. senate, 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.55">55</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Selden, Henry S., nominated for lt.-gov., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.237">237</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">family of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.236">236-7</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Suggested for U.S. senate, 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for judge of Court of Appeals, 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.76">76</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins Lib. Rep. party, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.284">284</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends its Nat. con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.284">284</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes scheme of Fenton, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.284">284</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Selden, Samuel L., nominated for Court of Appeals, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.211">211</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brother of Henry R., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.237">237-8</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Selkreg, John H., Ithaca <i>Journal</i>, a leading Rep. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Senate, state, number of members in first, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.9">9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">election of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.9">9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how apportioned, <a href="#vol1Page_i.9">9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">powers of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.9">9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">model of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.9">9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">who could vote for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.9">9</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Senate" id="Senate"></a>Senate, United States, its enormous power, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.118">118</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">membership in it preferred to the governorship, <a href="#vol1Page_i.364">364</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">years of its greatness, <a href="#vol1Page_i.386">386</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<a name="Senators" id="Senators"></a>Senators, United States, service of Rufus King, 1789-96, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Philip Schuyler, 1789-91, <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aaron Burr, 1791-7, <a href="#vol1Page_i.49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Lawrence, 1796-1801, <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Philip Schuyler, 1797-8, <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Sloss Hobart, 1798, <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William North, 1798, <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">James Watson, 1798-1800, <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gouverneur Morris, 1800-3, <a href="#vol1Page_i.71">71</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Armstrong, 1801-2, <a href="#vol1Page_i.118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">DeWitt Clinton, 1802-3, <a href="#vol1Page_i.118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Armstrong, 1803-4, <a href="#vol1Page_i.118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theodorus Bailey, 1804, <a href="#vol1Page_i.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Samuel L. Mitchell, 1804-9, <a href="#vol1Page_i.170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Smith, 1804-15, <a href="#vol1Page_i.170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Obadiah German, 1809-15, <a href="#vol1Page_i.170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rufus King, 1815-27, <a href="#vol1Page_i.211">211</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.269">269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nathan Sanford, 1815-21, <a href="#vol1Page_i.233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Martin Van Buren, 1821-8, <a href="#vol1Page_i.286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Charles B. Dudley, 1829-33, <a href="#vol1Page_i.383">383</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nathan Sanford, 1827-31, <a href="#vol1Page_i.347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William L. Marcy, 1831-2, <a href="#vol1Page_i.385">385</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Silas Wright, 1833-44, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.1">1</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, 1833-44, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Daniel S. Dickinson, 1845-51, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Henry A. Foster, 1844-5, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John A. Dix, 1845-9, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">William H. Seward, 1849-61, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.145">145</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hamilton Fish, 1851-7, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Preston King, 1857-63, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.243">243</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ira Harris, 1861-7, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.365">365</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Edwin D. Morgan, 1863-9, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.55">55</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Roscoe Conkling, 1867-81, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.171">171</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.305">305</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reuben E. Fenton, 1869-75, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Francis Kernan, 1875-81, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.321">321</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thomas C. Platt, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.468">468</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Warner Miller, 1881-7, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.481">481</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Elbridge G. Lapham, 1881-5, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.482">482</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sessions, Loren B., a state senator, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.437">437</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decides to vote for Blaine, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.437">437</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">severely criticised, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.437">437</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charged with bribery, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.480">480</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">acquitted, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.480">480</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Seward, Frederick W., nominated for sec. of state, 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Seward, William H., elected state senator, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.377">377</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.377">377</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.378">378</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his boyhood, <a href="#vol1Page_i.378">378</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gifts, <a href="#vol1Page_i.378">378</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an active Clintonian, <a href="#vol1Page_i.379">379</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first meeting with Weed, <a href="#vol1Page_i.379">379</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weed on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.380">380</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joined Anti-Masons, <a href="#vol1Page_i.380">380</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits John Quincy Adams, <a href="#vol1Page_i.380">380</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whigs nominate for gov., 1834, <a href="#vol1Page_i.402">402</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fitness and red hair, <a href="#vol1Page_i.402">402-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bright prospects of election, <a href="#vol1Page_i.402">402-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.404">404</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">indifference of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.405">405</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nominated for gov., 1838, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.19">19-21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepts Weed's dictatorship, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.31">31-3</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.36">36-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first message of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.34">34-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tribute to DeWitt Clinton, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prophetic of Erie canal, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1840, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">weakness of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.48">48-50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines renomination, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.50">50-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unhappy, 1844, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.84">84-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">predicts disunion, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.86">86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clay's Alabama letter, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.87">87-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Wilmot Proviso, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absence of, from constitutional con., 1846, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.104">104-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">picture of candidates, 1846, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.121">121</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the stump, 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.141">141-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first meeting with Lincoln, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected U.S. senator, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.145">145-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gratitude to Weed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes compromises, 1850, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">higher law speech, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whigs approve his course, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.153">153-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes repeal of Missouri Compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.190">190-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blair on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.192">192-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed a Rep. party, 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected to U.S. senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.205">205-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Raymond on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Evening Post</i> on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Know-Nothings, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.205">205-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gratitude to Weed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech for Rep. party, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.217">217-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.219">219-20</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech on Kansas, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.225">225-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declined nomination for President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.229">229-32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hinted Weed betrayed him, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">grouty, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suspicions of trimming, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">irrepressible conflict speech, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.252">252-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticism of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.254">254</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goes to Europe, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.260">260-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bill to admit Kansas, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.265">265-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised as bid for Presidency, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.267">267-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Phillips, Garrison, and Greeley on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confident of nomination for President, 1860, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.283">283-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Greeley's fidelity, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.284">284</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of opposition, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.285">285</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated on third ballot, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sorrow of friends, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.290">290</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">personal bearing of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.291">291-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter to wife, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.292">292</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to Weed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.291">291-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley's letter, 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.311">311-17</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its effect upon him, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.317">317</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">admits Greeley should have had an office, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.323">323</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vindictiveness of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.323">323</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.386">386</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in New England, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.328">328</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the West, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.329">329</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">climax of career, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.329">329</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">predicted Alaska purchase, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.330">330</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on threats of disunion, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.334">334</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as to Weed's compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.368">368</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.380">380</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">waiting to hear from Lincoln, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.368">368-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Buchanan's message, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.369">369-70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered secretaryship of state, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.370">370</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">generally anticipated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.370">370</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weed saw Lincoln for, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.371">371</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Astor House speech, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.371">371-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Crittenden Compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.373">373-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">answers Jefferson Davis, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.376">376-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">non-committalism, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.377">377-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">purpose of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.377">377-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whittier's poem on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.378">378</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech criticised, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.379">379</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secession in White House, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.379">379</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy with Mason of Virginia, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.381">381-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brilliant and resourceful, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.383">383</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">modifies Lincoln's inaugural address, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.384">384-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a blow at Curtin, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.386">386</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Chase, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.386">386</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines to enter Cabinet, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.386">386</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tenacious as to patronage, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.390">390</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conference with Harris and President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.390">390</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.396">396</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barney's appointment, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.390">390-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">President or Premier, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secures all important offices, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.398">398</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickinson's appointment, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.399">399-401</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Disapproves relief of Fort Sumter, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.1">1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">orders arrests, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.19">19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Dix for gov., 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position in Cabinet, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">views on emancipation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Wadsworth, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.50">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticism of Seymour, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Lincoln, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.84">84-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">humorous illustration of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.84">84</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Radicals resent his influence with Lincoln, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence in state lessened, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Johnson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Philadelphia con., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shares Raymond's unpopularity, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.146">146</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence with the President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.146">146</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">writes veto messages, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech of May 22, 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a leader without a party, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised in Rep. state con., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his home speech, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.212">212</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Seymour, David L., character and career of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.232">232-3</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Charleston con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.272">272</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Seymour, Henry, elected canal commissioner, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.261">261</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deprives Clinton of patronage, <a href="#vol1Page_i.261">261</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Seymour, Horatio, leading Conservative, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.53">53</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of Assembly, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.60">60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">report on canal, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">legislative skill and influence, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hoffman and, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected speaker of Assembly, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.91">91-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">poise and gifts, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beginning of leadership, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controls in election of U.S. senators, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fight over fourth constitutional con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.99">99</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">harmonises Hunkers and Barnburners, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.149">149</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Van Buren, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1850, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Marcy for President, 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.169">169-72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.172">172-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conkling on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secures canal constitutional amendment, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.183">183-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approved by Barnburners, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vetoes Maine liquor law, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pleads for Softs at Nat. con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.226">226-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leader of united party, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">condemns Rep. party, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.239">239</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines nomination for gov., 1858, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Richmond's choice for President at Charleston, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.276">276</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.298">298</a>, note, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.299">299</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name withdrawn at Baltimore, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.301">301</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Softs' state con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Dem. state peace con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.354">354</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sentiments of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.355">355-6</a>, and note.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">View on war issues, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.27">27-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes a Union state con., 1861, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.15">15</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prefers another, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Richmond's appeal to, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his influence, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech of acceptance, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.44">44</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speaks in campaign, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resents Raymond's attack, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not a member of the Union league, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inaugural address, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.61">61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">views about the war, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lincoln's letter to, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his opinion of President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.63">63</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to write Lincoln, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vetoes bill allowing soldiers to vote, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticises arrest of Vallandigham, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sends troops to Gettysburg, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to reply to Lincoln's thanks, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.67">67</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fourth of July speech, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.67">67</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">draft-riot, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech to rioters, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls them "friends," <a href="#vol3Page_iii.68">68</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">no complicity, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of his speech, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his use of the word "friends," <a href="#vol3Page_iii.69">69</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cause of embarrassment, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">views about the draft, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dilatoriness of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his letter to Lincoln, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.71">71</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dreary speech, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.79">79</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">severely criticised, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.80">80-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charged with nepotism, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.80">80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speeches in reply, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.81">81-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">message of, 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.98">98-100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a bid for the presidency, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">heads delegation to Dem. nat. con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">war depression favours, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his journey to Chicago, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidacy for President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Richmond, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dislike of McClellan, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delegation supports him until defeat is certain, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to vote for McClellan, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. of con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his speech, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.110">110-12</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delivery of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.117">117-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Richmond fooled, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticises Lincoln, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports President Johnson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.133">133</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. Dem. state con., 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on payment of U.S. bonds, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.181">181</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drops Johnson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.182">182</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on canal frauds, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.183">183</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on negro suffrage, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.186">186-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">president of Nat. Dem. con., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Chase for President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.198">198</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approved platform with negro suffrage, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.198">198</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to be candidate for President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">much affected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepts, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticism, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">high character of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tours the West, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">but carries New York, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evidences of fraud in election, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Dem. state con., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.270">270</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shabbily treated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.270">270</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absent from Dem. state con., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">also from Dem. Nat. con., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advises Tilden not to run for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">writes platform, 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.314">314</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tam. urges him for President, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.451">451</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preferred a funeral to a nomination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.451">451</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Seymour, Horatio, Jr., nominated for state eng., 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.384">384</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Seymour, Silas, nominated for state eng., 1882, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.485">485</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.486">486</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sharpe, George H., holds office of surveyor of port of New York, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.399">399</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">successor appointed, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggests Arthur for Vice President, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.444">444</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Conkling objects to it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.444">444</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to get Conkling to present Arthur's name, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.444">444</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secures Woodford to do it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.444">444</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and services, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.464">464</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected speaker of the Assembly, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.464">464</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Crowley for U.S. Senate, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urges Conkling to seek re-election at Albany, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.481">481</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prophecy of Payn, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.481">481</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aids election of Miller for U.S. senator, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.481">481</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sharpe, Peter B., speaker of Assembly, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.262">262</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unfriendly to canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.261">261-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposition silenced, <a href="#vol1Page_i.262">262</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves Tompkins' war accounts, <a href="#vol1Page_i.276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Jackson, <a href="#vol1Page_i.357">357</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for Assembly, 1827, <a href="#vol1Page_i.358">358</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Shaw, Samuel M., Cooperstown <i>Freeman's Journal</i>, a leading Dem. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sheldon, Alexander, speaker of Assembly, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.194">194</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charges Southwick with bribery, <a href="#vol1Page_i.194">194</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sherman, John, aids Cornell's election as gov., 1879, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reply to criticisms, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">indignant over Arthur's nomination for Vice President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.445">445</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sherwood, Henry, nominated for speaker of Assembly, 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.53">53</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.53">53</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Short-hairs," faction of Tam., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>, note.<br /> +<br /> +Sickles, Daniel E., member of the Hards, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.209">209</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">represented Tam., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.249">249</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Early life of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers services to Government, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interview with President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.9">9</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">del. to Rep. nat. con., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.192">192</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. of New York delegation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.192">192</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Fenton, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">destroys the Erie-Gould ring, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.293">293</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sigel, Franz, named for sec. of state, 1869, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Silliman, Benjamin D., nominated for atty.-gen., 1873, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.308">308</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Silver-Grays, faction of Whig party, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.155">155</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">origin of name, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secede from Whig con., 1850, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hold con. at Utica, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.155">155-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">indorse Hunt for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">become Know-Nothings, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.202">202</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">also Hards, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated Reps., 1855, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">finally absorbed by other parties, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.332">332</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Skinner, Roger, member of Council, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.288">288</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">U.S. judge, <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of Albany Regency, <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Skinner, William I., nominated for canal com., 1862, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.41">41</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.51">51</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Slavery, Jay fails to recommend abolition of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.68">68</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.111">111</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abolished by Legislature of New York, <a href="#vol1Page_i.111">111</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">agitation against, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.5">5-10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beardsley heads a mob, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state anti-slavery society formed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Van Buren's attitude toward, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.10">10-12</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wilmot Proviso, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.102">102</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Free-soil movement, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126-44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prohibition of, in Territories, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">platform of Rep. party, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.282">282</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sloan, George B., career and character, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.417">417</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected speaker of Assembly, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.417">417</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for speaker, 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.407">407</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.417">417</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">votes for Cornell, 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.417">417</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resented, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.417">417</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Slocum, Henry W., record of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.128">128</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for sec. of state, 1865, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to be gov., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.421">421</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated by Robinson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.423">423</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presented for gov., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.488">488</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favoured by Manning, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.489">489</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charges against, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.489">489</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contest with Flower, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.491">491</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected congressman-at-large, 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Smith, Alexander, brigadier-general, relieves Stephen Van Rensselaer on Niagara frontier, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.222">222</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and failure of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.222">222</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Smith, Carroll E., Syracuse <i>Journal</i>, a leading Rep. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.413">413-4</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Smith, Charles E., Albany <i>Journal</i>, a leading Rep. editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.413">413</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. of Rep. state con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.430">430</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.430">430-2</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Smith, Gerrit, career and gifts of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.7">7-8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weed on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.7">7-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wealth of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.7">7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes an Abolitionist, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">generosity of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organises state anti-slavery society, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence, 1838, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.25">25</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">1844, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rescues a fugitive, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to Congress, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.179">179</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Del. to Rep. nat. con., 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.291">291</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">boasts that delegation is without an office-holder, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.291">291</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Smith, Henry, known as "Hank," iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.250">250</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leader of Tam. Reps., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controversy over, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.255">255-63</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Smith, James C., at peace congress, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Smith, Melancthon, member of Poughkeepsie con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ablest opponent of Federal Constitution, <a href="#vol1Page_i.34">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fiske on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.34">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wisdom of suggestions, <a href="#vol1Page_i.34">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">change of mind, <a href="#vol1Page_i.35">35</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Clinton for gov., 1789, <a href="#vol1Page_i.43">43</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Smith, Peter, father of Gerrit, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.7">7</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">large landowner, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.7">7</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Smith, William S., appointed U.S. marshal, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Smyth, John F., forsakes Pomeroy, 1879, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.416">416</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls a snap con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.429">429</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.429">429-30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Crowley for U.S. Senate, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.465">465</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. Rep. state com., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.494">494</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disclaimed any part in fraud and treachery, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">overwhelmingly defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Social Democratic party, state con., 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.384">384</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<a name="Softs" id="Softs"></a>Softs, name of Dem. faction, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.185">185</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">successors to Barnburners, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">why so called, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ticket defeated, 1853, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strained position as to repeal of Missouri Compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdrawal of anti-slavery leaders, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour renominated for gov. by, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.197">197-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disapproved extension of slavery, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.210">210</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">became pro-slavery, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">humiliated at Nat. con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.226">226-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour pleads for, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.226">226-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unite with Hards, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">support Buchanan and Parker, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wood captures their state con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dickinson yields to, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.258">258</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">control at Charleston and Baltimore, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.270">270-9</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.294">294-303</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hold separate state con., 1860, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.325">325-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated Kelley for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fuse with Constitutional Union party, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.326">326-7</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Soldiers' vote, scheme to defraud, 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.124">124</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Soule, Howard, nominated for state eng., 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.377">377</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.416">416</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Southern fire-eaters, threats of disunion, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.261">261</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reward for heads of Rep. leaders, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.264">264-5</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Southern press, criticism of New York City, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.10">10</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Southwick, Solomon, character and gifts of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.154">154</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career, <a href="#vol1Page_i.154">154</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.192">192-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">connection with Bank of America, <a href="#vol1Page_i.191">191</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.193">193-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">indicted and acquitted, <a href="#vol1Page_i.194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes postmaster, <a href="#vol1Page_i.239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Tompkins for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">runs for gov., 1822, <a href="#vol1Page_i.316">316</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strange career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.316">316-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">without support, <a href="#vol1Page_i.319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">without votes, <a href="#vol1Page_i.320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1828, <a href="#vol1Page_i.364">364</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.368">368</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Spaulding, Elbridge G., career of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.188">188</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated treas. of state, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"father of the greenback," <a href="#vol2Page_ii.188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected state treas., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at birth of Rep. party, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presents petition for peace, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Member of Ways and Means com., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drafts legal tender act, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Conkling, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.32">32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aided by sec. of treas., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bill becomes a law, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for Congress, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Spencer, Ambrose, appearance of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.55">55-6</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">asst. atty.-gen., <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">changes his politics, <a href="#vol1Page_i.87">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relative of Chancellor Livingston, <a href="#vol1Page_i.88">88</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of Council of Appointment, <a href="#vol1Page_i.107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">atty.-gen., <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointment alarms Federalists, <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack on Foote, <a href="#vol1Page_i.120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assailed by Van Ness, <a href="#vol1Page_i.125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes the Merchants' Bank, <a href="#vol1Page_i.148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">votes for Clinton for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.167">167</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes charter of Merchants' Bank, <a href="#vol1Page_i.189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Bank of America, <a href="#vol1Page_i.195">195</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breaks with DeWitt Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes him for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.202">202-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounced by Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friend of Armstrong, <a href="#vol1Page_i.216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">distrusted by Tompkins, <a href="#vol1Page_i.216">216-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Van Buren for atty.-gen., <a href="#vol1Page_i.232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Tompkins strained, <a href="#vol1Page_i.233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Armstrong for U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes a candidate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beaten by Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breaks with Tompkins, <a href="#vol1Page_i.237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations renewed with Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brother-in-law of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declares for him for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.246">246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forces a broader party caucus, <a href="#vol1Page_i.250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">work in constitutional con., 1821, <a href="#vol1Page_i.299">299-310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yates' treatment of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.322">322</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">later career and death, <a href="#vol1Page_i.322">322-3</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Spencer, Daniel C., nominated for canal com., 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.339">339</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Spencer, John C., son of Ambrose Spencer, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.263">263</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gifts, character, and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.263">263-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">likeness to Calhoun, <a href="#vol1Page_i.264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">home at Canandaigua, <a href="#vol1Page_i.264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">DeWitt Clinton's opinion of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.266">266-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to become atty.-gen., <a href="#vol1Page_i.274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speaker of Assembly, <a href="#vol1Page_i.276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Tompkins' accounts, <a href="#vol1Page_i.276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">headed electoral ticket, 1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward's reliance upon, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.34">34</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sec. of state, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ambitious to go to U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sec. of war, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breaks with Weed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Scott at Albany, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.176">176</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Spencer, Joshua A., defeated for U.S. Senate, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.38">38</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Spinner, Francis B., nominated for state comp., 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for sec. of state, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.384">384</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.387">387</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Stalwarts," title of faction in Rep. party, 1880, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.429">429</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">use of regretted, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.482">482</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, daughter of Daniel Cady, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.169">169</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gifts of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.169">169</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Starin, John H., aspires to be gov., 1879, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.414">414</a> and note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name presented for gov., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.492">492</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.494">494</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +State debt, Hoffman's estimate of, 1846, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.108">108-9</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Steam navigation, history of its inception, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.75">75-6</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Stephens, Alexander H., predicts civil war, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.279">279</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Stevens, Samuel, ancestry and career of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.376">376</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.377">377</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">energy of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.390">390</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for lt.-gov., 1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Stevens, Thaddeus, approves legal tender act, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.32">32</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dislike of Johnson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.132">132</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes his policy, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats Raymond, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.141">141</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Stewart, Alvan, nominated for gov., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.82">82</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.82">82-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">increasing strength, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.89">89</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Stewart, William, brother-in-law of George Clinton, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">made asst. atty.-gen., <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Stillwell, Silas M., nominated for lt.-gov., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.402">402</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.402">402</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.404">404</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Stranahan, Ferrand, member of Council, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.231">231</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Stroud, Reuben W., nominated for canal com., 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.302">302</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.315">315</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.319">319</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Suffrage, restrictions of under first constitution, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.9">9</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Sumner, Charles, assaulted by Brooks, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.225">225</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">excitement in North, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leads radicals in U.S. Senate, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes President Johnson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed from Com. on Foreign Affairs, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.278">278</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sutherland, Jacob, appointed Supreme Court judge, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.322">322</a>.<br /> +<br /> +"Swallow-tails," faction of Tam., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of name, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Swartwout, John, dist.-atty., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.121">121</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">challenges DeWitt Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wounded twice, <a href="#vol1Page_i.127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leader of Burrites, <a href="#vol1Page_i.152">152</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sweeny, Peter B., known as Peter Brains Sweeny, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tweed's reliance upon, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">begins, 1857, as dist.-atty., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Mephistopheles of Tam., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hidden from sight, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">city chamberlain, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cost of confirmation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">author of Tweed charter, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes position of most lucre, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exposure of startling crime, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.246">246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns from office, 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">escapes to Europe with plunder, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.248">248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compromises and returns, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.248">248</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sweet, Sylvanus H., nominated for state eng., 1865, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.129">129</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1873, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Sylvester, Francis, nominated for state comp., 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.377">377</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.387">387</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Talcott, Samuel A., atty.-gen., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.289">289</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and appearance of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.289">289-94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">genius of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.290">290</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared to Hamilton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.290">290</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chief Justice Marshall on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.290">290</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed Webster in Snug Harbour case, <a href="#vol1Page_i.290">290</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">close relations with Butler, <a href="#vol1Page_i.291">291</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">original member of Albany Regency, <a href="#vol1Page_i.293">293-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tallmadge, Fred A., elected to state senate, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.16">16</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for clerk to Court of Appeals, 1862, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.41">41</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.51">51</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tallmadge, James, opposition to Missouri Compromise, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.274">274</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">applicant for atty.-gen., <a href="#vol1Page_i.274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostility to DeWitt Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">work in constitutional con., 1821, <a href="#vol1Page_i.299">299-310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">applicant for state comp., <a href="#vol1Page_i.321">321</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beaten by Marcy, <a href="#vol1Page_i.321">321</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported Adams, 1824, <a href="#vol1Page_i.324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">voted for Clinton's removal as canal com., <a href="#vol1Page_i.328">328-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">great mistake, <a href="#vol1Page_i.329">329</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in constitutional con., 1846, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.103">103</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tallmadge, Nathaniel P., opponent of Regency, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.358">358</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sent to Assembly, <a href="#vol1Page_i.358">358</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in U.S. Senate, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.1">1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward slavery, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">endorsed Seward for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.24">24-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes gov. of Wisconsin, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.92">92</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tammany Society, early history of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.181">181-5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostility to DeWitt Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.181">181-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Erie canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed Clinton for gov., 1817, <a href="#vol1Page_i.251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.252">252</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clinton dismisses its office-holders, <a href="#vol1Page_i.255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Van Buren silences its opposition to canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.261">261-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence in securing the constitutional con., 1821, <a href="#vol1Page_i.296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Jackson for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.357">357</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">trains with the Softs, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats Wood, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.257">257</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tammany Hall, defeated, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tweed begins his career, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">boss of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his lieutenants, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forces Hoffman's nomination, 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fraudulent naturalisations, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.175">175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its new building, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">again nominates Hoffman, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominates Hoffman, 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">startling disclosures of Tweed ring, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.246">246-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controls state con., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.269">269-73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dismayed by result of election, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kelly succeeds Tweed as its leader, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.288">288</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganises it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.289">289</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">divided into two factions, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Morrissey faction rejected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kelly's ticket defeated, 1875, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Morrissey and Kelly factions unite, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ticket elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">factions divide, 1877, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.378">378</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kelly wins, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.383">383</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">but Morrissey elected to Senate, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.388">388</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">it controls Dem. state con., 1878, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.392">392</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated in election, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bolts Dem. state con., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.423">423</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">holds con. of its own, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominates Kelly for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.424">424</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">crushed by defeat, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused admission to Dem. state con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.451">451</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">holds con. of its own, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.451">451</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">platform stigmatises Tilden, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.452">452</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused admission to Dem. nat. con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.457">457</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">spectacular reconciliation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.458">458</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forces a Dem. state con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.460">460</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">has its own way, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.460">460</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fools Irving Hall on mayoralty, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.460">460</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opponents organise County Democracy, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.483">483</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dels. excluded from Dem. state con., 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.484">484</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">local ticket defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.483">483</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forces way into Dem. state con., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.488">488</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">divides its vote for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.490">490</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">finally supports Cleveland, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.491">491</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins County Democracy on local ticket, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elect state and city officials, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.498">498</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Tammany-Republicans," history of title, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.250">250</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.254">254</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.255">255</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tappan, Abraham B., candidate prison insp., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.23">23</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tappan, Arthur, early Abolitionist, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.6">6</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">requisition for, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.6">6</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tappan, Lewis, early Abolitionist, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.6">6</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">home mobbed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for state comp., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.216">216</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Taylor, John, career and character of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.177">177-8</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech against Platt, <a href="#vol1Page_i.178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Bank of America, <a href="#vol1Page_i.196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.196">196</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for lt.-gov. with Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.279">279</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Taylor, John J., nominated for lt.-gov., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.249">249-50</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.250">250</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Taylor, John W., congressman from Saratoga, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.312">312</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brilliant leader, <a href="#vol1Page_i.312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">twice speaker of national House of Representatives, <a href="#vol1Page_i.312">312</a>, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses nomination for lt.-gov., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.331">331</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for speaker in Twentieth Congress, <a href="#vol1Page_i.359">359</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Champion opponent of Missouri Compromise, 1820, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lived to see principles adopted, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">longer continuous service than any successor, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of speeches, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.204">204</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Taylor, Moses, urges Lincoln's renomination, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.88">88</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends Saratoga con., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves books of Tweed's city comp., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.245">245</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Taylor, William B., candidate for state eng., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.23">23</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1863, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.76">76</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.83">83</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1869, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.264">264</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1873, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.308">308</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Temperance vote, 1870, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>, note.<br /> +<br /> +Thayer, Adin, nominated for canal com., 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.314">314</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.319">319</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Thayer, Francis S., nominated for sec. of state, 1873, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.308">308</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Third term, talk of it, 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.317">317</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grant's letter ends it, 1875, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.329">329</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rep. state con., 1875, declares against it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grant becomes an active candidate, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.428">428</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts of Stalwarts to nominate him, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.429">429-42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposition to, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.429">429-42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.442">442</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Thomas, David, career and character of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.191">191-2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charged with bribery, <a href="#vol1Page_i.193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">indicted and acquitted, <a href="#vol1Page_i.194">194</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Thomas, Thomas, member of Council of Appointment, 1807, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.156">156</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Thompson, Herbert O., appointed clerk of N.Y. county, 1879, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.418">418</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an organiser of the County Democracy, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.483">483</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Thompson, Smith, related to Livingstons, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.155">155</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Supreme bench, <a href="#vol1Page_i.155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused mayoralty of New York, <a href="#vol1Page_i.155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">learning of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sec. of navy under Munroe, <a href="#vol1Page_i.362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on bench twenty-five years, <a href="#vol1Page_i.362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">justice of U.S. Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1828, <a href="#vol1Page_i.362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused to withdraw, <a href="#vol1Page_i.363">363</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.368">368</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Thompson, William, caucus nominee for speaker, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.257">257</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated by a bolt, <a href="#vol1Page_i.258">258-9</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Thorn, Stephen, an assemblyman, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.149">149</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charged Purdy with bribery, <a href="#vol1Page_i.149">149</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.190">190</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Throop, Enos T., criticised Morgan's abductors, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.365">365</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">home on Lake Owasco, <a href="#vol1Page_i.365">365</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.366">366-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bargain with Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.366">366</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigned from Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.366">366</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected lt.-gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.368">368</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes acting gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1830, <a href="#vol1Page_i.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unpopular manners, <a href="#vol1Page_i.376">376</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.377">377</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for renomination, 1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.394">394</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nicknamed "Small-light," <a href="#vol1Page_i.394">394</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.394">394</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Thurman, Allen G., attitude toward Tilden, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.354">354</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tilden, Samuel J., in constitutional con., 1846, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.104">104</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes negro suffrage, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.107">107</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">writes address of Barnburners, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for atty.-gen., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.211">211</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.218">218</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Del. to Dem. nat. con., 1864, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">age and appearance of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.108">108</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ability, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.109">109</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">war record, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.109">109</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes wealthy, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepted leader at Chicago, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member com. on res., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declares war a failure, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.110">110</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised for his timidity, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.113">113</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends Saratoga con., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">del.-at-large to Philadelphia, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">active in campaign, 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attends Dem. nat. con., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. New York delegation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forces nomination of Seymour, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">study of his methods, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disclaims any agency, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his artfulness, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urges Seymour to accept, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.204">204</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">certain of success, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">denies signing infamous circular, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to denounce forgers, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls Dem. state con. to order, 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">has his pocket picked, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">severely criticised, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.231">231</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prophesies Tweed will die in jail or exile, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.265">265</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">no liking for Rep. party, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.265">265-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">begins reform in Dem. party, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.266">266-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejects Tweed's proposals, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">labours to punish Ring, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unites anti-Tam. organisations, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Dem. state con., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.269">269-74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">though defeated, proves its master, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tweed arrested on his affidavit, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absent from Dem. nat con., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secures impeachment of Tweed judges, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.293">293</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Dem. state con., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Tweed influence, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.297">297</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominates Kernan for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.298">298</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decides to run for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supported by Kelly, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.310">310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">praised by Rep. journals, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by canal ring, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dissuaded by friends, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour advises against it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">insists upon making race, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.313">313</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">message against canal ring, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.321">321-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prosecutions, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.323">323</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tour of the state, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.323">323</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rep. press criticises, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech at Utica, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.327">327</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">message of, 1876, a bid for presidency, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.340">340</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Kelly, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.341">341-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strength of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confidence of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.343">343</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a critical moment, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.343">343</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.343">343</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter of acceptance, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to nominate Dorsheimer for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.345">345</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">severe criticism of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.348">348-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">denies complicity in cipher dispatches, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.351">351</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward Electoral Com., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.354">354-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relied upon Davis' vote, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.356">356</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hurt by Conkling's exclusion, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.356">356</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prestige weakened, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.378">378</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">publication of cipher dispatches, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.394">394-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence upon, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.395">395</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">party talks of his nomination, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.447">447</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">embodiment of fraud issue, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.448">448</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposition of Kelly, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.448">448</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dem. state con., 1880, endorses him for President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.449">449</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">would he accept nomination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.453">453</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his health, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.453">453-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gives Manning a letter, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.454">454</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">regarded as indefinite, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.455">455-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">settles question in telegram, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.456">456</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">did not know himself, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.456">456</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an opportunist, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.456">456</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tillotson, Thomas, brother-in-law of Chancellor Livingston, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.113">113</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sec. of state, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assailed by Van Ness, <a href="#vol1Page_i.125">125</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed as sec., <a href="#vol1Page_i.151">151</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">restored, <a href="#vol1Page_i.154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed, <a href="#vol1Page_i.165">165</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tinsley, William F., nominated for canal com., 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.325">325</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tompkins, Daniel D., nominated for gov., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.155">155</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.158">158-61</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.160">160-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.161">161-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an issue dividing parties, <a href="#vol1Page_i.162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sustains embargo, <a href="#vol1Page_i.164">164</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes George Clinton for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.166">166-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.173">173</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes banks, <a href="#vol1Page_i.194">194-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ambitious to be President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.197">197</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.232">232</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prorogues Legislature, <a href="#vol1Page_i.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes DeWitt Clinton for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacked by Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at zenith of popularity, <a href="#vol1Page_i.215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">jealous of Armstrong, <a href="#vol1Page_i.216">216</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">distrusts Spencer, <a href="#vol1Page_i.217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">called the great war gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.219">219</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to give Clinton active service in field, <a href="#vol1Page_i.220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts paralysed by Federalists, <a href="#vol1Page_i.219">219-30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeat of Federalists, <a href="#vol1Page_i.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls extra session of Legislature, <a href="#vol1Page_i.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vigorous prosecution of war, <a href="#vol1Page_i.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed Spencer, <a href="#vol1Page_i.233">233-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Spencer strained, <a href="#vol1Page_i.233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favoured Sanford for U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Legislature endorses him for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed for President by Spencer, <a href="#vol1Page_i.237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered place in Madison's cabinet, <a href="#vol1Page_i.237">237</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for declining, <a href="#vol1Page_i.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virginians create opposition to, <a href="#vol1Page_i.239">239</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Van Buren's sly methods, <a href="#vol1Page_i.240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated and elected Vice President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">did not favour Erie canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.246">246</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated to beat Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">majorities in prior elections, <a href="#vol1Page_i.275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shortage in war accounts, <a href="#vol1Page_i.275">275-82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effort to prevent nomination of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.275">275-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yates on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">insisted on fifth race, <a href="#vol1Page_i.279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">handicapped by canal record, <a href="#vol1Page_i.279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.281">281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sad closing of his life, <a href="#vol1Page_i.282">282</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">president constitutional con., 1821, <a href="#vol1Page_i.299">299</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">willing to run for gov., 1822, <a href="#vol1Page_i.318">318</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Toombs, Robert, opposes attack on Fort Sumter, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.2">2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prophecy fulfilled, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.3">3</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tories, treatment of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.23">23</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their flight to Nova Scotia, <a href="#vol1Page_i.26">26</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tousey, Sinclair, joins Lib. Rep. movement, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organises its con. for Greeley's nomination, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">del. to Lib. Rep. state con., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Townsend, Henry A., character and career of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.217">217</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of Council, <a href="#vol1Page_i.217">217</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Clinton for mayor, <a href="#vol1Page_i.217">217</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Townsend, John D., strong supporter of Tam., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.383">383</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Townsend, Martin I., as an orator, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.80">80-1</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">arraigns Seymour, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.81">81</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for atty.-gen., 1869, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tracy, Albert H., gifts and career of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.372">372</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Congress, <a href="#vol1Page_i.372">372</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned for U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.372">372</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ambitious for public life, <a href="#vol1Page_i.372">372</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">easy principles, <a href="#vol1Page_i.372">372</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">like Jefferson in appearance, <a href="#vol1Page_i.372">372-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for state Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.373">373</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">faithful to Weed, <a href="#vol1Page_i.379">379</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presides at anti-masonic con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">weakens after defeat, <a href="#vol1Page_i.397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weed on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.397">397</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.397">397</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves Anti-Masons, <a href="#vol1Page_i.398">398</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">others follow, <a href="#vol1Page_i.399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws from politics, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loses chance of being Vice President and President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.40">40</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tracy, John, nominated for lt.-gov., 1832, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.395">395</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1836, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1838, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.23">23</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.29">29</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Treaty with England, 1795, excitement over, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.65">65</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jay's opinion of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">what it accomplished, <a href="#vol1Page_i.67">67</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tremaine, Grenville, nominated for atty.-gen., 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.377">377</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.387">387</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tremaine, Lyman, Dems. nominate him for atty.-gen., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.21">21</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused to accept, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.24">24</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">addresses a Union meeting, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated by Reps. for lt.-gov., 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.45">45</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. Rep. state con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his leadership, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on death of Wadsworth, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">del.-at-large to Rep. nat. con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">president of Rep. state con., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspirant for gov., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for congressman-at-large, 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.302">302</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Troup, Robert, in campaign, 1789, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.42">42</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Trowbridge, Charles W., nominated for prison insp., 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.339">339</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tweed Ring, begins its career, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.176">176</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its leading members, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first frauds in elections, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.175">175</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its character exposed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.206">206</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley characterises it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secures new city charter, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">members take places of power, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loot the city treasury, startling disclosures, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.246">246-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">punishment of its members, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.247">247-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aggregate sum stolen, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">amount recovered, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.249">249</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tweed's judges, Barnard, Cardozo, and McCunn, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.248">248</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cardozo resigns, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.248">248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">others impeached, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.248">248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">McCunn dies soon after sentenced, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.248">248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barnard soon follows, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.248">248</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Tweed, William M., favours repeal of Missouri Compromise, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.195">195</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Early career of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a recognised boss, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">manners and character, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.176">176</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">officials selected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">signs of wealth, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">political ambition, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">demands at Dem. state con., 1867, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.178">178</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vice president of Dem. nat. con., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.197">197</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">forces Hoffman's renomination for gov., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.205">205</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his frauds, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.206">206</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley's attack, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.207">207</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his infamous circular, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evidences of his fraud in election, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to state Senate, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">important committees, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plunders through tax-levies, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reps. aid him, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gets majority in Senate, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controls the state, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leader of state Democracy, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his city charter passed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its character, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.228">228-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enormous bribery, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes position of most power, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loots the city treasury, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controls Dem. state con., 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.230">230</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nast's cartoons, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.242">242</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lavish campaign expenses, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.243">243</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">personal extravagance, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">purchases control of Assembly, 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">scheme to widen Broadway, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">viaduct railway, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers bribes to prevent exposure, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.245">245</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">punishment and death, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.246">246-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controls Dem. state con., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.269">269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Let's stop those damned pictures," <a href="#vol3Page_iii.274">274</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Twombly, Horatio N., del. to Lib. Rep. state con., 1872, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Tyler, John nominated for Vice President, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.40">40</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nobody else would take it, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.47">47</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">turns against the Whigs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.47">47-8</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Ullman, Daniel, nominated for gov., 1854, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.202">202</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.202">202</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.204">204</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Union College, founded by Joseph C. Yates, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.249">249</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward, an alumnus of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.379">379</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Union League Clubs, organisation, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.59">59</a> and note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward's praise of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brady's work in, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Van Buren's loyalty exhibited, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour not a member of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.61">61</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Union League Club of New York, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.59">59</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">when organised, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.59">59</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">investigates fraud, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Union Square war meeting, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.5">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +United States Bank, incorporation of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.186">186</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clinton defeats extension of charter, <a href="#vol1Page_i.186">186</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the great issue, 1832, <a href="#vol1Page_i.392">392</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preferred to compromise than fight Jackson, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Webster and Clay objected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Congress extends charter, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jackson vetoes it, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">creates fear of panic, <a href="#vol1Page_i.400">400</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +United States Senate. See <a href="#Senate">Senate, United States</a>.<br /> +<br /> +United States senators. See <a href="#Senators">Senators, United States</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Utica <i>Republican</i>, established by Conkling, 1877, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.385">385</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its aggressive character, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.385">385</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">publication discontinued, 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.397">397</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Vallandigham, Clement L., arrest of, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.64">64</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">banished to Southern Confederacy, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lincoln's letter, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.66">66</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dangerous precedent, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.66">66</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Van Buren, John, son of Martin Van Buren, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.128">128</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and gifts of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.128">128-30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leading Free-soiler, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.128">128</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.129">129</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reason for, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lord on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.128">128</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wilson on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour afraid of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">style of oratory, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Utica con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.141">141</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">avenged his father's wrongs, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared to Seymour, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed Seymour for nomination, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.172">172-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports him for gov., 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates popular sovereignty, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opens way for Douglas, 1860, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.250">250</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Favours Dix for gov., 1862, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.37">37</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Seymour, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">humour of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Tribune</i> criticises, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.48">48</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.49">49</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loyalty exhibited, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.59">59</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in campaign, 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.123">123</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for atty.-gen., 1865, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.129">129</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stigmatises Seymour, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.135">135</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Van Buren, John D., member of Tilden's canal com., 1875, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.323">323</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for state eng., 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.326">326</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Van Buren, Martin, supports DeWitt Clinton for President, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.206">206</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.208">208</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career, gifts, and character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.206">206-10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.208">208</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deserts Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.212">212</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">energy in war of 1812, <a href="#vol1Page_i.232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">made atty.-gen., <a href="#vol1Page_i.232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Spencer, <a href="#vol1Page_i.232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Spencer, <a href="#vol1Page_i.233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cunning support of Tompkins, <a href="#vol1Page_i.240">240</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disturbed over Clinton's action, <a href="#vol1Page_i.247">247</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adroit opposition, <a href="#vol1Page_i.248">248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">outwitted by Spencer, <a href="#vol1Page_i.250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ludicrous picture of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.250">250</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urges building of canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.251">251</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes war on Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sneers of Elisha Williams, <a href="#vol1Page_i.255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fellows-Allen case, <a href="#vol1Page_i.256">256</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drives Clinton to bolt, <a href="#vol1Page_i.257">257-60</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deprives Clinton of patronage, <a href="#vol1Page_i.260">260-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">silences opposition to canal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.261">261-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prevents Spencer's nomination to U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.266">266-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours re-election of King, <a href="#vol1Page_i.268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reason for bold stand, <a href="#vol1Page_i.268">268-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed as atty.-gen., <a href="#vol1Page_i.273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an "arch scoundrel," <a href="#vol1Page_i.273">273</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls Clintonians "political blacklegs," <a href="#vol1Page_i.274">274</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effort to prevent Tompkins' nomination, <a href="#vol1Page_i.275">275-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tompkins' war accounts, <a href="#vol1Page_i.276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confident of Tompkins' election, <a href="#vol1Page_i.281">281</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dismissal of postmasters, <a href="#vol1Page_i.285">285</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the "prince of villains," <a href="#vol1Page_i.286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.286">286</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clinton's vituperative allusions to, <a href="#vol1Page_i.286">286</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">selects Talcott, Marcy, and Butler, <a href="#vol1Page_i.291">291-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conspicuous work in constitutional con., 1821, <a href="#vol1Page_i.299">299-310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crawford for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">outwitted by Weed, <a href="#vol1Page_i.339">339-40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">weakened by Young's and Crawford's defeat, <a href="#vol1Page_i.344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">non-committalism, <a href="#vol1Page_i.345">345-6</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">methods of Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">joins Clinton in support of Jackson, <a href="#vol1Page_i.346">346</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conciliatory policy toward Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.347">347</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Adams' administration, <a href="#vol1Page_i.348">348</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a leader in U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.349">349</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">parliamentary debates, <a href="#vol1Page_i.349">349-50</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.365">365</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organiser of modern Dem. party, <a href="#vol1Page_i.350">350</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.365">365</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">John Q. Adams on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">equivocal support of Rochester, <a href="#vol1Page_i.352">352</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected to U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.353">353</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Parton on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.353">353</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jackson on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.353">353</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1828, <a href="#vol1Page_i.364">364</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.367">367</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cleverly divides opponents, <a href="#vol1Page_i.364">364-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance at church, <a href="#vol1Page_i.365">365</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">puts Throop on ticket, <a href="#vol1Page_i.365">365</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">acting gov. Pitcher, <a href="#vol1Page_i.366">366</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strong friends, <a href="#vol1Page_i.367">367</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.368">368</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">seventy days a gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.383">383</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">insincerity of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.383">383</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sec. of state, <a href="#vol1Page_i.383">383</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a politician's face, <a href="#vol1Page_i.384">384</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns from Cabinet, <a href="#vol1Page_i.387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">minister to England, <a href="#vol1Page_i.387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejected by Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.387">387-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">spoilsman, <a href="#vol1Page_i.389">389</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on his rejection, <a href="#vol1Page_i.389">389-90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friends indignant, <a href="#vol1Page_i.390">390</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for Vice President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.391">391</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tendered reception, <a href="#vol1Page_i.391">391</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.397">397</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dix's devotion to, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crockett's life of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opponents of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Calhoun on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.4">4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.4">4-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward slavery, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.5">5</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.10">10</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">moral courage of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fearless statesman, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sub-treasury scheme, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.41">41-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeat of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.43">43-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retirement to Lindenwald, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.46">46</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.74">74</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Texas question, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.65">65-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hammet letter, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.66">66-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Southern hostility, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">two-thirds rule, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.71">71</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated at Baltimore, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.71">71-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friends proscribed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Barnburner, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for President at Utica, 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">endorsed by Buffalo con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.133">133</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Webster's pun, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.133">133</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sumner on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.133">133</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.143">143-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Pierce and Seymour, 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.177">177</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised by Southern press, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.10">10</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Van Cortlandt, James, in first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Van Cortlandt, John, in first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Van Cortlandt, Philip, in first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Van Cortlandt, Pierre, renominated for lt.-gov., 1792, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.51">51</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports DeWitt Clinton for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.202">202</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Van Cott, Joshua M., nominated for atty.-gen., 1867, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.174">174</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for judge of Court of Appeals, 1878, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.392">392</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.397">397</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Van Ness, William P., on Livingston's defeat, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.83">83</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Burr in Albany, <a href="#vol1Page_i.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">practises deception, <a href="#vol1Page_i.103">103</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Ambrose Spencer, <a href="#vol1Page_i.117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the Council's treatment of Burr, <a href="#vol1Page_i.119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as "Aristides," <a href="#vol1Page_i.123">123-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">law teacher of Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.207">207</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Van Ness, William W., gifts and character of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.153">153</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leads Federalists against Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected judge of Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Clinton for gov., 1817, <a href="#vol1Page_i.248">248</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">asks Kent to stand for U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charged with hypocrisy, <a href="#vol1Page_i.268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires from Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.323">323</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early death of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.323">323</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Van Rensselaer, Jacob R., character and career of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.248">248</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Clinton for gov., 1817, <a href="#vol1Page_i.248">248</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Van Rensselaer, Jeremiah, lt.-gov., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.180">180</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Van Rensselaer, Solomon, adj.-gen., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.287">287</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">summary removal from office, <a href="#vol1Page_i.287">287</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">service at Queenstown Heights, <a href="#vol1Page_i.293">293</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Van Rensselaer, Stephen, candidate for lt.-gov., 1798, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.82">82</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and family of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.82">82</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for gov., 1801, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.115">115</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov. by Federalists, <a href="#vol1Page_i.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">record as a soldier, <a href="#vol1Page_i.214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jefferson's opinion of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.214">214</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in command at Queenstown Heights, <a href="#vol1Page_i.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resigns command, <a href="#vol1Page_i.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">family and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.341">341</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brother-in-law of Hamilton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">established Troy Polytechnical Institute, <a href="#vol1Page_i.342">342</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in election of John Quincy Adams, <a href="#vol1Page_i.343">343</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance of his action, <a href="#vol1Page_i.343">343</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Van Vechten, Abraham, gifts and character of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.168">168-9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused a Supreme Court judgeship, <a href="#vol1Page_i.169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assails embargo, <a href="#vol1Page_i.169">169</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes atty.-gen., <a href="#vol1Page_i.172">172</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed, <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes State Bank, <a href="#vol1Page_i.188">188</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">work in constitutional con. of 1821, <a href="#vol1Page_i.303">303</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Van Wyck, Charles H., ch'm. Rep. state con., 1866, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.150">150</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speech censored, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspires to be gov., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. Rep. state con., 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.235">235</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Verplanck, Gulian C., gifts and career of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.400">400</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whig candidate for mayor of New York, 1834, <a href="#vol1Page_i.400">400</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.401">401</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Wadsworth, James, native of Connecticut, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.235">235</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">graduate of Yale, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early settler in Genesee Valley, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">duel with Kane, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.235">235-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interested in schools, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wealthy and generous, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.235">235</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">averse to holding public office, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.235">235</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wadsworth, James S., son of James, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.236">236</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">graduate of Yale, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">studied law with Webster, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gifts of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Barnburner, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ambitious to be gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.236">236</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beaten by Weed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.235">235-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at peace congress, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Member of Union Defence com., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aide on McDowell's staff, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">made brigadier-general, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.8">8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">thought available for gov., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">war service, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">duties as a major-general, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">generosity, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">political strength, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Weed, Seward, and Raymond, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.46">46</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.48">48</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes one speech, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.50">50</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for it, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.51">51</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">killed in battle of Wilderness, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his defeat for gov. resented, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his supporters control Rep. state con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.91">91</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wadsworth, James W., nominated for state comp., 1879, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.416">416</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name presented for gov., 1882, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.492">492</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his alleged dels. used to defeat Cornell, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.494">494</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wagner, George, nominated for prison insp., 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.314">314</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.319">319</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wakeman, Abraham, president Rep. state con., 1863, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.74">74</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">postmaster at New York, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.74">74</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wales, Salem H., nominated for mayor of New York, 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.314">314</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.319">319</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Walruth, Christopher A., nominated for canal com., 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.326">326</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.331">331</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Walworth, Reuben H., appointed chancellor, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.366">366</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.134">134</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Democratic state peace con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.355">355</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ward, Hamilton, at Rep. state con., 1871, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.261">261</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">services and character, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposes a compromise, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.261">261</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">crushed by Conkling, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for atty.-gen., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.416">416</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Ward, Henry Dana, editor <i>Anti-Masonic-Review</i>, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.370">370</a>.<br /> +<br /> +War of 1812, declared, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.221">221</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Federalists refused to support, <a href="#vol1Page_i.220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">soldiers poorly equipped, <a href="#vol1Page_i.220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dearborn commands on Canadian border, <a href="#vol1Page_i.221">221</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failure of plans, <a href="#vol1Page_i.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offers to resign, <a href="#vol1Page_i.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cowardice and loss at Queenstown Heights, <a href="#vol1Page_i.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">valour of Scott, <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Armstrong's plans, <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">valour of Jacob Brown, <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">battle at York, <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dismal failures, <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wilkinson relieves Dearborn, <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hampton ordered to Plattsburgh, <a href="#vol1Page_i.224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">complete failure of plans, <a href="#vol1Page_i.224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Buffalo burned and Fort Niagara captured, <a href="#vol1Page_i.224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels of generals and secretary of war, <a href="#vol1Page_i.224">224</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Perry's victory, <a href="#vol1Page_i.225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brown in command, <a href="#vol1Page_i.225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.225">225-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scott promoted, <a href="#vol1Page_i.225">225</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">battles at Chippewa, Lundy's Lane, Fort Erie, and Plattsburgh, <a href="#vol1Page_i.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brilliant leadership, <a href="#vol1Page_i.227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Federalists talk of disunion, <a href="#vol1Page_i.227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Washington captured and banks suspend specie payments, <a href="#vol1Page_i.227">227</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hartford con. favours New England confederacy, <a href="#vol1Page_i.228">228</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">alarming condition of affairs, <a href="#vol1Page_i.229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">battle of New Orleans, <a href="#vol1Page_i.229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treaty of peace, <a href="#vol1Page_i.229">229</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">valour of troops, <a href="#vol1Page_i.230">230</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Warren, Joseph, Buffalo <i>Courier</i>, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.201">201</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">urges Seymour to accept nomination, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.201">201</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secures Church's consent to run for gov., 1874, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.312">312</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hot shot at Kelly, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.313">313</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a leading Dem. editor, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Washington, George, on independence, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.2">2</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not desired, <a href="#vol1Page_i.2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Schuyler, <a href="#vol1Page_i.18">18</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on George Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.22">22</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.36">36</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Hamilton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.26">26</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inauguration of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appoints Jay chief justice of U.S. Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.114">114</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on inland navigation in New York, <a href="#vol1Page_i.241">241</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Watson, James, supports Burr for gov., 1792, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.50">50</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected to U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.70">70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">service and character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.71">71</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Webb, James Watson, leaves Jackson party, 1832, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">editor of <i>Courier and Enquirer</i>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Career of, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.161">161-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">duel with Marshall, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">challenges Cilley, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unites <i>Courier</i> with <i>Enquirer</i>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports the Silver-Grays, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for minister to Austria, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.161">161-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">endorses Weed's compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.337">337</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Webster, Daniel, on Philip Schuyler, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.18">18</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">teller at John Q. Adams' election, <a href="#vol1Page_i.343">343</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.387">387</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">United States Bank, <a href="#vol1Page_i.393">393</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Weed, Joel, father of Thurlow, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.317">317</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">could not make a living, <a href="#vol1Page_i.317">317</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">moved five times in ten years, <a href="#vol1Page_i.317">317</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Weed, Smith M., dispatches sent from South Carolina, 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.351">351</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Weed, Thurlow, on Albany Regency, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career, character, and gifts of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.317">317-19</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">precocious, <a href="#vol1Page_i.318">318</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friends of best people, <a href="#vol1Page_i.318">318</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">love match, <a href="#vol1Page_i.319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">slow in getting established, <a href="#vol1Page_i.319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">helped Southwick, 1822, <a href="#vol1Page_i.319">319</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Adams, 1824, <a href="#vol1Page_i.324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Clinton's removal, <a href="#vol1Page_i.328">328</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sleepless and tireless worker, <a href="#vol1Page_i.338">338</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">united friends of Clay and Adams, <a href="#vol1Page_i.338">338-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">well kept secret, <a href="#vol1Page_i.339">339</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Van Buren hit, <a href="#vol1Page_i.340">340</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">kept faith, <a href="#vol1Page_i.340">340-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">predicts Granger's defeat, <a href="#vol1Page_i.368">368</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepted leader against Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.369">369-70</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">founded <i>Anti-Masonic Enquirer</i>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.370">370</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a born fighter, <a href="#vol1Page_i.371">371</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">investigates crime of 1826, <a href="#vol1Page_i.370">370</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">selects able lieutenants, <a href="#vol1Page_i.371">371</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">incident of his poverty, <a href="#vol1Page_i.373">373</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">founds <i>Evening Journal</i>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.374">374</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pungent paragraphs, <a href="#vol1Page_i.374">374</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">met Croswell in boyhood, <a href="#vol1Page_i.374">374</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rival editors estranged, <a href="#vol1Page_i.375">375</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Croswell seeks aid of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.375">375</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth of the <i>Journal</i>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.375">375</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"the Marcy patch," <a href="#vol1Page_i.395">395</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed to the United States Bank, <a href="#vol1Page_i.396">396</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">organisation of Whig party, <a href="#vol1Page_i.394">394-401</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Seward for gov., 1834, <a href="#vol1Page_i.401">401</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On Democratic organisation, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward for gov., 1838, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.19">19-21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fellows-Allen case, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.22">22</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward's election, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dictator, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.31">31-3</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.36">36-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">creates trouble, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.38">38-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">carries state Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">made state printer, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.39">39</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Harrison, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unhappy, 1844, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.84">84-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clay's Alabama letter, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.87">87-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed to Young for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">for Taylor, 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.135">135-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breaks with Fillmore, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assails Castle Garden meeting, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeats Fillmore, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.166">166-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Scott, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.166">166-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scott's defeat, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.178">178-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley's appeal to, for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.198">198</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed to a Rep. party, 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.200">200</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at birth of party, 1855, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticised for delaying it, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.219">219-21</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward and the Presidency, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.229">229-32</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controlled election of U.S. senator, 1857, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.243">243-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Chicago con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bowles on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.283">283</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">offered Lane money to carry Indiana, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.287">287</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">weeps over Seward's defeat, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.291">291</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">returns Greeley's letter of 1854, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.311">311</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">denies seeing it, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.318">318</a>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.323">323</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">replies to it, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.318">318-23</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">predicts Lincoln's election, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.332">332</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed compromise, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.336">336-44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley opposed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.343">343</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lincoln opposed, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.344">344</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">work as a boss, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with Lincoln, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.362">362</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed Greeley for U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.363">363-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strained relations with Harris, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.366">366</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barney's appointment, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.390">390-7</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Criticised by Southern press, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.10">10</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed conduct of the war, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.14">14</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">names Dix for gov., 1862, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.37">37</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return from London, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.41">41</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">view of emancipation, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.42">42</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pushes Morgan for U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">controls canal patronage, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws from <i>Evening Journal</i>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.56">56</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">did not return to Rochester, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.57">57</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No. 12 Astor House, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.58">58</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his services, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.58">58</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his patriotism, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.58">58</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cradle of "Amens," <a href="#vol3Page_iii.58">58</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes message from Lincoln to Seymour, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.62">62</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">resents retention of Barney, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.85">85</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lincoln sends for him, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.86">86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plan for peace, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.86">86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">continues slavery, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.86">86</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejected by Lincoln, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.87">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barney to be removed, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.87">87</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence lessened, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.89">89</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.90">90</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beaten in Rep. state con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.91">91</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours nomination of Grant, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.93">93</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fickle support of the Vice President, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.94">94</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lincoln ignores his wishes, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.97">97</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">writes Seward of hopeless outlook, 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to defeat Greeley, 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.117">117</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Johnson, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.130">130</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">manages Saratoga con., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">also Philadelphia con., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.144">144</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Dix for gov., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">surprised by Pierrepont's change, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Hoffman, 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.161">161</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">complains of President's action, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.162">162</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours Grant, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.190">190</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Fenton, 1869, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.192">192</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of his absence, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines to head electoral ticket, 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggests name of Douglass, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours greenbacks, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.390">390</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to attend Rep. state con., 1878, because of feebleness, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.412">412</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wendell, Nathan D., nominated for state treas., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.416">416</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.427">427</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +West, DeWitt C., strong supporter of Tam., iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.383">383</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Wheaton, Henry, supports Adams, 1824, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.324">324</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gifts and career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.324">324-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">edited <i>National Advocate</i>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leader in People's party, <a href="#vol1Page_i.324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clinton's dislike of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.330">330</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wheeler, William A., career and character, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.335">335</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for Vice President, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.335">335-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declared elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.350">350</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declined to run for ch'm. of Rep. state con., 1879, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.413">413</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not a fighter, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.413">413</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presented for U.S. senator, 1881, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.467">467</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Whig party, formed, 1834, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.399">399</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">name first used, <a href="#vol1Page_i.399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opponents of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.399">399</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Webster on, <a href="#vol1Page_i.401">401</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its first campaign, <a href="#vol1Page_i.399">399-401</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first state con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.401">401</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward its first candidate for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.401">401</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hot campaign, <a href="#vol1Page_i.402">402-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.404">404</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Without a national platform, 1840, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.40">40</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">log cabin campaign, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.43">43-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its humiliation, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.47">47-54</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated by Clay's letter, 1844, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">divided into Radicals and Conservatives, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elects Young gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">carries state, 1847, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.127">127</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">without platform, 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">carries state, 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.143">143</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elects Seward U.S. senator, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.145">145-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elects state officers, 1849, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.150">150</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves higher law speech, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.153">153-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated Hunt for gov., 1850, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.154">154</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Silver-Grays secede, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hunt elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.158">158</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">avoids slavery issue, 1851, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.163">163-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loses state, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.165">165-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fish on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.166">166</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, 1852, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.179">179</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">carries state, 1853, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.189">189</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clark nominated for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.199">199</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.203">203</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unites with Anti-Nebraska Dems., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.194">194</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <a href="#Republican">Rep. party</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Whig platform, 1852, Greeley on, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.175">175</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seward on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.175">175</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Whigs, during Revolution, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.24">24</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">moderate and ultra, <a href="#vol1Page_i.24">24</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +White, Andrew D., about Ira Harris, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.166">166</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presents Conkling's name for U.S. senator, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.170">170</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">about Seward, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.213">213</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">writes of election frauds, 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.215">215</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. Rep. state con., 1871, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.258">258-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">criticism of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.239">239-60</a> and note.</span><br /> +<br /> +White, Hugh L., candidate of Southern Whigs, 1836, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.11">11</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Whitney, William C., an organiser of County Democracy, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.483">483</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Whittlesey, Frederick, editor, Rochester <i>Republican</i>, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.370">370</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strong Anti-Mason, <a href="#vol1Page_i.370">370</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confidence in Weed, <a href="#vol1Page_i.375">375</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wickham, William H., nominated for mayor of New York, 1874, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.314">314</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.314">314</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.319">319</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wide-awakes, marching body of young men, 1860, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.328">328</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their great number, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.328">328</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wilkin, James W., defeated for U.S. senator, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.211">211</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">result of a bargain, <a href="#vol1Page_i.211">211-2</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wilkin, Samuel J., nominated for lt.-gov., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.80">80</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character and career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.80">80</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.89">89</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wilkinson, James, commands on Canadian border, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.223">223-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails, quarrels, and retires in disgrace, <a href="#vol1Page_i.225">225</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Willers, Diedrich, nominated for sec. of state, 1871, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.273">273</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.275">275</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1873, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.308">308</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.309">309</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Willet, Marinus, member first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Burr, 1804, <a href="#vol1Page_i.138">138</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed mayor New York, <a href="#vol1Page_i.155">155</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">army service, <a href="#vol1Page_i.155">155</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.184">184-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed from mayoralty, <a href="#vol1Page_i.165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.184">184</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.185">185</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed Jackson for President, <a href="#vol1Page_i.357">357</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presides at meeting, <a href="#vol1Page_i.357">357</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Williams, Elisha, gifts and career of, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.207">207</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sneers at Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes Tompkins' accounts, <a href="#vol1Page_i.276">276</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">member of constitutional con., 1821, <a href="#vol1Page_i.298">298</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for Assembly, 1827, <a href="#vol1Page_i.358">358</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Williams, Robert, in Council, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.171">171</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">known as Judas Iscariot, <a href="#vol1Page_i.172">172</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Williams, William, nominated for State treasurer, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.24">24</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Willman, Andreas, nominated for prison insp., 1862, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.45">45</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.51">51</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wilmot, David, ch'm. Chicago con., 1860, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.282">282</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Wilmot Proviso, supported by Preston King, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.102">102</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the issue presented, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.126">126</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">voted down by Whig Nat. con., 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.138">138</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Winans, Orange S., votes with Tweed, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.245">245</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unfortunate bargain, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.245">245</a>, note.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wirt, William, Anti-Mason candidate for President, 1832, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.398">398</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Wood, Benjamin, N.Y. <i>News</i>, conspicuous as an editor, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.420">420</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Wood, Fernando, ambitious to be candidate for gov., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.223">223</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.323">323-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early career of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.233">233</a>, note;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws from Dem. state con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">captures state con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a bold trick, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Charleston con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.270">270</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">goes with South, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.270">270</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates secession of New York City, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.348">348</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.348">348-9</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech at Union Square meeting, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.6">6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for mayor, 1861, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused admission to Dem. state con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls a peace con., 1864, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Richmond humiliates, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.106">106</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.107">107</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wood, Julius, tells Seward of Greeley's hostility, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.284">284</a>, note.<br /> +<br /> +Woodford, Stewart L., character and services, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.152">152</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his eloquence, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for lt.-gov., 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.152">152</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suggested for gov., 1868, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.193">193</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1870, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.238">238</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.244">244</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presents Conkling's name for President, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brilliant speech, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New York presents him for Vice-President, 1876, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.335">335</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.336">336</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">work in campaign, 1878, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.396">396</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interview with Conkling, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.443">443</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presents Arthur for Vice-President, 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.444">444</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reappointed U.S. atty., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.469">469</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Woodin, William B., opposes Cornell for lt.-gov., 1876, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.338">338</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Rep. state con., 1880, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.434">434</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">advocates independence of dels., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.434">434</a>, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.436">436</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">agreed to support instructions of state con., <a href="#vol3Page_iii.434">434</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance and character, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.436">436</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">avoids obeying instructions, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.437">437</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">severely criticised, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.437">437</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Woodruff, Lewis B., nominated for judge of Court of Appeals, 1869, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Woodworth, John, defeated for Supreme Court, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.156">156</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for U.S. senator, <a href="#vol1Page_i.156">156</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">removed as atty.-gen., <a href="#vol1Page_i.165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spencer favours restoration, <a href="#vol1Page_i.232">232</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Tompkins, <a href="#vol1Page_i.232">232</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wool, John E., at peace congress, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.350">350</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Worth, Gorham A., banker, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.318">318</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early friend of Weed, <a href="#vol1Page_i.318">318</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.318">318</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wortman, Teunis, bitter opponent of DeWitt Clinton, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.181">181</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Wright, Silas, member of Albany Regency, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.294">294</a>, <a href="#vol1Page_i.384">384</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed comp., <a href="#vol1Page_i.383">383</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance and gifts of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.384">384</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.384">384-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">holder of many offices, <a href="#vol1Page_i.385">385</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">knowledge of the tariff, <a href="#vol1Page_i.385">385</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In U.S. Senate, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.1">1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">writes for <i>Argus</i>, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.2">2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attitude toward slavery, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.11">11</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-elected to U.S. Senate, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.65">65</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">declines nomination for Vice-President, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.73">73</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.76">76-8</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with Fillmore, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.80">80-1</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.89">89</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">approves constitutional con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vetoes canal appropriation, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.101">101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bitterness against, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.114">114-5</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated for gov., 1846, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.116">116</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refused to pardon Anti-Renters, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons for, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.121">121-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retirement to farm, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.123">123-4</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.124">124</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wright, William B., candidate for judge of Court of Appeals, 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.23">23</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wright, William W., nominated for canal com., 1861, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.21">21</a>, note;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1866, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.159">159</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.165">165</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">renominated, 1869, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.226">226</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.227">227</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Wyandotte constitution, see <a href="#Kansas">Kansas</a>.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Yancey, William L., at Charleston con., ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.273">273</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Yates, Abraham, in first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Yates, John Van Ness, appointed recorder at Albany, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.179">179</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gifts and character, <a href="#vol1Page_i.257">257</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sec. of state, <a href="#vol1Page_i.321">321</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nephew of gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.321">321</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on election of presidential electors, <a href="#vol1Page_i.325">325</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Yates, Joseph G., family, career, and character, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.248">248-9</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">founder of Union College, <a href="#vol1Page_i.249">249</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">asked to stand for U.S. senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.268">268</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Tompkins, <a href="#vol1Page_i.279">279</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1822, <a href="#vol1Page_i.312">312-3</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposed by Southwick, <a href="#vol1Page_i.316">316</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected, <a href="#vol1Page_i.320">320</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nepotism and ingratitude of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.321">321-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opposes election of presidential electors, <a href="#vol1Page_i.323">323</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a political dodge, <a href="#vol1Page_i.325">325</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beaten by the Regency, <a href="#vol1Page_i.327">327</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">revenge of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.330">330</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retirement of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.331">331</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Yates, Richard, in first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>.<br /> +<br /> +Yates, Robert, member first constitutional con., i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.5">5</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delegate to amend Articles of Confederation, <a href="#vol1Page_i.29">29</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his fitness, <a href="#vol1Page_i.30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first choice of Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">withdraws from con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.30">30</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses to sign Federal Constitution, <a href="#vol1Page_i.31">31</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Poughkeepsie con., <a href="#vol1Page_i.33">33</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.38">38</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hamilton on nomination of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.38">38-9</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his character, career, and ability, <a href="#vol1Page_i.40">40-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Burr's friendship for, <a href="#vol1Page_i.43">43</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.44">44</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed chief justice, <a href="#vol1Page_i.45">45</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., <a href="#vol1Page_i.64">64</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires from Supreme Court, <a href="#vol1Page_i.68">68</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Young, John, member of Assembly, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.95">95</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">career and character, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.95">95-6</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gifts of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.96">96-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sudden rise to power, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.96">96-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contest over fourth constitutional con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.97">97-101</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seymour and, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.99">99</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">triumph of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.99">99-100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">carries canal appropriation, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.100">100</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1846, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weed unfriendly to, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">agreed to pardon Anti-Renters, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.118">118</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">course on Mexican war, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.119">119</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elected gov., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.120">120</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">aspirant for Vice-Presidency, 1848, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.137">137</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loss of prestige, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.139">139</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.139">139</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Young, Samuel, speaker of Assembly, i. <a href="#vol1Page_i.232">232</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failed to become sec. of state, <a href="#vol1Page_i.233">233</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dislike of Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.251">251-2</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with Van Buren, <a href="#vol1Page_i.254">254</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clinton refuses to recognise, <a href="#vol1Page_i.254">254</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes war on Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.255">255</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">candidate for U.S. senate, <a href="#vol1Page_i.263">263</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gifts and eloquence of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.265">265</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">failed in caucus, <a href="#vol1Page_i.266">266-7</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">number of votes received, <a href="#vol1Page_i.267">267</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in constitutional con., 1821, <a href="#vol1Page_i.299">299-310</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ambitious to be gov., 1822, <a href="#vol1Page_i.313">313</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bitterness over Yates' nomination, <a href="#vol1Page_i.314">314</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supports Clay, 1824, <a href="#vol1Page_i.324">324</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nominated for gov., 1824, <a href="#vol1Page_i.327">327</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">great fight with Clinton, <a href="#vol1Page_i.332">332</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated, <a href="#vol1Page_i.333">333</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">later career of, <a href="#vol1Page_i.333">333</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adheres to Jackson party, <a href="#vol1Page_i.394">394</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sec. of state, ii. <a href="#vol2Page_ii.52">52</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Baltimore con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.72">72</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">defeated for sec. of state, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.92">92</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack on Hunkers, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.104">104</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Utica con., <a href="#vol2Page_ii.131">131</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.157">157</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Greeley on, <a href="#vol2Page_ii.158">158</a>.</span><br /> +<br /> +Younglove, Truman G., elected speaker of Assembly, iii. <a href="#vol3Page_iii.220">220</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a Fenton lieutenant, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.220">220</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fails to announce committees, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes "a political corpse," <a href="#vol3Page_iii.222">222</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ch'm. Lib. Rep. state con., 1872, <a href="#vol3Page_iii.296">296</a>.</span><br /> +</p> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ +concept and trademark. 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