1861-1867

TILDEN TO WYNDHAM ROBERTSON

"New York, Jan. 13, '61.

"My dear Sir,—I read your letter, and the printed one you were kind enough to send me, with much pleasure, and gave them to Mr. Miller, with the stipulation that they should go to Messrs. Hewitt and Cooper in succession. In the main I assent to your views.

"I have no doubt—

"1. That the late election[31] was not a verdict of the Northern States on the theoretic questions urged by the Republicans. Masses went for Lincoln, from habit and association, as a lineal succession from Whiggism. Masses from mere opposition to the Democratic party, and from all the causes which gradually operate to make a revolution between the ins and the outs. The drift created by the disorganization of the Democratic party, and our inability to present any single candidate as a point of union to the conservative sentiment, and the concession from April till October that we must inevitably be beaten; I say this drift alone might fairly be 24,000 out of 675,000 voters, or 3½ per cent., which would have changed the result in N. Y. and in the Union.

"2. That a very important reaction has already taken place.

"3. That, even if we had not had our present difficulties to bring men to consider, Lincoln's administration must necessarily go utterly to pieces when it came either to present affirmative measures or to distribute the patronage.

"4th. That, on the whole, through all these struggles and much apparent increase of the anti-slavery element, there is growing a larger and stronger party, capable of doing the Southern States full justice, than ever has existed for half a century past; I mean, capable of recognizing, on reason and principle, the right and the necessity the Southern States have to grow in the natural expansion of their industrial and social systems. In 1820 the North was unanimous in claiming the right to attack conditions operating after a State should be admitted. That idea is now abandoned by a vast majority of our people. It is natural that when a new question arises, assumed to be within our constitutional jurisdiction, our people should all start to apply to it the ideas on which they have acted at home. To see that it cannot be wisely disposed of by their merely voting in respect to it as if it were a purely domestic question; that they must calculate for the co-existence and expansion of the two systems; that they must partition the Territories—is a later stage in their political education.

"I am of opinion that prevalent errors have, in the main, run their course; and we need only to give our people a fair chance to secure the adoption of a wiser and better system than they have ever before understandingly accepted.

"If the present Congress continues unable to do anything adequate, I think the next best thing will be a convention of all the States to propose amendments to the Constitution, with an arrangement, if practicable, to keep the parties in status quo while those amendments are being perfected and submitted. The convention should be elected in districts on the basis of the House of Rep. The submission should be to conventions.

"That would make two popular elections necessary. The convention would be sure to be conservative. By summer the disintegration of the Republican party would be completed, the reaction perfected, and three-quarters of the States would ratify amendments substantially on the basis of Crittenden's propositions.

"Our people are temporarily misled, but by a vast majority conservative at the bottom. We only need time to bring them to a sound position.

"Excuse the haste with which I am compelled to write, and believe me,

"Very truly, "Your friend, "(sd.) S. J. Tilden. "Hon. Wyndham Robertson, "Richmond, Va."

Dudley Burwell was a prominent lawyer in Albany, a thoughtful and estimable man, and had been an active Democratic partisan of Van Buren in opposition to General Cass in 1848. He shared Mr. Tilden's apprehensions of a civil war as the inevitable result of Mr. Lincoln's election. He held no office himself, and I am not aware that he ever sought any. His letter is valuable as an illustration of the diversity of opinion among leading men of all parties by which Mr. Lincoln's government was perplexed during the three first years of his administration. Advice was in abundance, but no two counsellors entirely agreed about what the government should do or abstain from doing. It was impossible to divine the opinions of the people upon any subject, the succession of new and unfamiliar events was so rapid and surprising.

D. BURWELL TO CASSIDY

"I pray you read this letter immediately!

"Jan'y 29th, 1861.

"My dear Cassidy,—I received your telegraph this evening—and so kind a message would have started me at once for Albany, but one side of my face is badly swollen, and unless it is better to-morrow I must keep within doors.

"From the names of the delegates to the convention, and the disrelish now almost universally expressed against coercion, do not doubt its expression will be strongly against war.

"I hope they will make Gov'r Throop president, and that they will name Mr. Fillmore or Gov'r Hunt, Gov'r Seymour and Mr. Brady or O'Connor and Mr. Belmont to visit Washington and such other places as they shall think advisable for the purpose of persuading all belligerents to defer all hostile demonstrations for a period of 15 months, or until the 4th of July, 1862, in order to give the people time to consider the whole subject and to act upon it in such way as may be agreed upon.

"Time is necessary. It is indispensable. And if the convention will confine itself to that one point and ask time for consideration it cannot very decently be refused.

"Time is wanted—

"1st. That Mr. Lincoln may dispose of his patronage.

"2nd. Until elections can be held in all the Northern States, in most of which the Republicans would be defeated.

"3rd. That the South may try the Southern confederacy, in which they will probably fail to realize the golden advantages, and will be quite willing to resume their places in the Union when they can do so with honor.

"I think Legislatures may be elected next fall in 2/3 of the States, a convention called, good amendments proposed and ratified, so as to bring all the States again into the Union, and that your convention is the proper body to start this project at this time.

"If it takes this course it should appoint an executive or corresponding committee to act and correspond with other States, and should omit expressing any opinion as to the particular amendments now before Congress, so as to be free from all commitments to special and particular projects.

"I think this the only way of preventing war and saving the Union.

"I hope the resolutions will refrain from condemning the seceding States, also from demanding the forts to be reclaimed, and, in fact, everything that can lead to war.

"I had a talk yesterday with Mr. Loomis, and he understands my views, and will, I believe, act in accordance with them, as they seemed to be his also.

"Wednesday Morning.

"The two sides of my face are too unequal to show it in Albany, so I will add a few words which I think the most important I have ever penned, unless there should be some one or more who have by careful reflection come to the same conclusion; and I hope you will not reject them on the first perusal, but weigh them, reflect upon them, suggest them to Richmond, Van Buren, O'Connor, etc.

"To direct the whole action of the convention to initiate a call of a national constitutional convention through a requisition upon Congress by the States, and demand the necessary and indispensable time to effect this object.

"Such action will drive the Republicans to abandon their warlike measures, and will very likely hurry them either to the adoption of some of the measures before Congress or to take the initiative this winter for the call of a national convention while they have the apparent power of controlling it.

"Such a movement would carry every Northern State except Massachusetts and Vermont, would restore the Democracy to power, and revive and invigorate the Union. Start it, I implore you, and do not let the convention exhaust itself on the rubbish now before Congress. We must strike a blow at the overwhelming patronage of the Federal government, and restore it to the States to augment their power. We must place the South in a position where it will feel its equality, and have the means of defending itself in its own hands.

"By taking this course, simple and pure, invigorating it with all the spirit and vehemence of the convention so as to arrest the attention of the whole country, you will open a door for the reunion of all Democrats at home and abroad, and save all that is worth saving in our institutions.

"You recollect Act. 5—Cons. U. S.—that Congress shall, on the call of 2/3 of the States, call a convention.

"You initiate this proceeding, then you have a reason for demanding peace, for you have a constitutional remedy to propose. You have an object always ahead to accomplish, all old, obsolete issues are dead, and you have always hope to influence the masses and the Union to love to incite all men to its restoration to health and vigor.

"If this plan of action is proposed by others, encourage it if you have resolved upon it; be confirmed in your resolution, but do not, I beseech you, reject it because it comes from so humble a source as myself. I fancy I have bestowed as much calm reflection upon all the phases of this state of the country as all the members of the convention. I believe no one can be personally less interested, whether we all go to chaos and confusion, or come out with renewed vigor from the dangers of this dark hour.

"If it shall appear that I am a suggester, then I beg you to place the matter in Van Buren's hands and let him at the first practicable moment lay the subject fairly and squarely before the convention. And as more think upon it they will admit it is the thing to kill the Republican party. If John is obdurate try Seymour and some one else.

"Yours truly, "D. Burwell." "Wm. Cassidy, Esq."

BURWELL TO CASSIDY

"Jan'y 30th, 1861, 11 A.M.

"My dear Cassidy,—I have just put a letter in the post-office explaining why I am here instead of being in the cars on my way to Albany, and now I acknowledge the receipt of yours of last evening. It would have been a most agreeable surprise to me had I seen you and Cagger on Saturday or any other day approaching my domicile through banks of snow. And I hope, as you have conceived the project, you will not abandon it but come at any time.

"The letter I post you this morning is of grave import, as it opens a practical work for the convention to do, and will put you on the right road to save all that is savable of our present Union.

"Do not let the Democratic sink into an Opposition party, but present an attainable object—a work to be accomplished. One that does not bring into discussion any of the questions which have heretofore divided persons possessing the same principles.

"The only fear I have is that, if the convention shall prove unanimous in demanding time until a convention of the States can be called, it will drive Weed and Seward into the same measure, and they will endeavor, through their present legislators, to accomplish the same object; but this is balanced by the consideration that they must then preserve the peace.

"Another fear I have is about the forts p. p. Let this be left in the discretion of the committee you send South. I think no harm could come from surrendering those posts to the States where they are located—during the stay of proceedings; of giving them, the seceding States, the benefit of postal and other benefits on their stipulating to collect the same revenues as are collected in other ports of the United States, until it becomes apparent that the Union cannot be restored.

"In any event, I hope and pray that no harsh, unkind, or reproachful word will be used against the seceded States, and that they may see that there is a real, substantial body of men who can and do look at the matter in its true light.

"Yours truly, "D. Burwell."

G. W. NEWELL TO TILDEN

"Washington, D. C., Feby. 6, 1861.

"Dear Tilden,—I got here Tuesday night. I cannot say I have got any new ideas, except that it is important for such Northern men to be here as can command the ears of our Southern friends—I mean of the border States, for the rest either have none at all or they are very long ones, and are attended by the other peculiarities of the animal whose head they adorn. The bordermen complain of the precipitancy of the South. They, themselves, take time to deliberate, in the presence of such weighty action, though the aggrieved party. How much more time do the people of the North need to determine what to do, dumbfounded, as they are, and slow to see precisely where they are, and what they have done, and how far they may make reparation. It is about out of the question to expect anything from men elected on the Chicago platform, unless from the action of their constituents, in some way. Some bordermen I have seen admit this. Your letter has given you power to influence these men, and it is a moment when you should make a sacrifice to exert it, if a sacrifice is necessary. I think you should come at once.

"I found at Mr. Eames' last evening Mr. Everett, Crosswell, Guthrie, W. B. Lawrence, Col. Berrit, and Count Garowski.

Yours, &c., "G. W. Newell."[32] "S. J. Tilden, Esqr., New York.

"Mr. E. wishes me to be emphatic."

GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT TO WM. H. SEWARD

"Washington, March 3, 1861.

"Dear Sir,—Hoping that in a day or two the new President will have happily passed through all personal dangers and find himself installed an honored successor of the great Washington, with you as the chief of his Cabinet, I beg leave to repeat in writing what I have before said to you orally, this supplement to my printed 'views' (dated in October last) on the highly disordered condition of our (so late) happy and glorious Union.

"To meet the extraordinary exigencies of the times, it seems to me that I am guilty of no arrogance in limiting the President's field of selection to one of the four plans of procedure subjoined:

"1. Throw off the old and assume a new designation—the Union party. Adopt the conciliatory measures proposed by Mr. Crittenden or the peace convention—and my life upon it, we shall have no new case of secession, but, on the contrary, an early return of many, if not of all, the States which have already broken off from the Union. Without some equally benign measure the remaining slave-holding States will probably join the Montgomery Confederacy in less than sixty days, when this city, being included in a foreign country, would require a permanent garrison of at least 35,000 troops to protect the government within it.

"I stop here to call your attention to the fact that Maryland did not join the Montgomery Confederacy, and yet with Maryland on our side to-night, it requires a garrison of 150,000 men to protect Washington.

"2. Collect the duties on foreign goods outside the ports of which this government has lost the command, or close such ports by act of Congress and blockade them.

"3. Conquer the seceded States by invading armies. No doubt this might be done in two or three years by a young and able general—a Wolfe, a Desaix, or a Hoche, with 300,000 disciplined men, estimating a third for garrisons, and the loss of a yet greater number by skirmishes, sieges, battles, and Southern fevers. The destruction of life and property on the other side would be frightful, however perfect the moral discipline of the invaders.

"The conquest completed at that enormous waste of human life to the North and Northwest, with at least $250,000,000 added thereto, and cui bono? Fifteen devastated provinces! not to be brought into harmony with their conquerors, but to be held for generations, by heavy garrisons, at an expense quadruple the net duties or taxes which it would be possible to extort from them, followed by a protector or an emperor.

"4. Say to the seceded States, Wayward sisters, depart in peace!

In haste, I remain, "Very truly yours, "Winfield Scott." "Hon. Wm. H. Seward, &c., &c., &c."

J. L. O'SULLIVAN[33] TO TILDEN

"Lisbon, May 6, 1861.

"My dear Tilden,—The heart-breaking news has just reached us here, first of the attack and capture of Sumter, for which the signal was so madly and wickedly given by the administration (dominated, evidently, by the war portion of that party) in its despatch of reinforcements; and, secondly, of Lincoln's declaration of war by his proclamation for 75,000 volunteers for the recapture of all the Southern forts, that is, for the invasion of the South—an act followed, of course, by secession of Virginia, and soon to be followed, I have no doubt, by that of all or nearly all the border States. Also the telegraph tells of a Massachusetts regiment resisted in an (insane) attempt to force a passage through Baltimore. Gracious God, that we should have lived to see such things! You can better judge, than I could describe, my affliction. At first it drew from me convulsions of tears. I think it is a greater grief than that I passed through a little short of a year ago. What doom is sufficient for the mad authors of all this! By that I mean, for 9/10 of the crime, the ultra portion of the Republican party. The papers say that there is a common enthusiasm of all parties at the North for the support of the admn. I may stand alone, but I do not share this. I am extremely anxious to hear from you. Do write me your views. I chafe terribly under the impossibilities which alone prevent my hastening home. Not only have I not the means, but I cannot leave my debts here, when a short, prolonged stay will probably assure me the means of paying them. Then I shall come, to do my best in the fight at home for peaceful separation if reunion has become indeed impossible. What will New York do? I trust devoutly that if any troops march from our State southward they may consist only of Republicans. My hope now is that the North will at last realize the mad horror of the whole thing, and that a cloud of witnesses will arise to protest against its being carried further. Thus far the country has drifted along, both sides standing obstinate to the consistency of their opposite theories. But surely all should now agree to pause and hold back! But the Republican leaders, I fear, will now move heaven and hell to push and drag forward the North to sustain them in the position to which they have brought things. And I fear much from the fighting character of our people. I dread the next news. If Maryland goes with Virginia there will probably be dreadful fighting for the possession of Washington, unless the wise and patriotic like you can stop it.

"We are exemplifying the fable of the dispute between the head and tail of the snake for the right to lead. The Democratic party is the natural and the only possible government of our Democratic confederation. It alone has ever understood the idea of State rights. The tail has taken its turn of leadership, and you see to what a pass it has brought the country.

"Were it not for the immediate question of the fighting to grow out of the question of the possession of Washington, I should say it were best that the border States should now all go at once, so as to make the North feel the absurdity of further prosecution of war. But reunion is now, I fear, scarcely to be hoped for!

"My wife sends you her affectionate regards.

"Ever yours, "J. L. O'Sullivan."

"The great question for me here of the success of our copper establishment is not yet decided. I had expected to find the works in operation. They will not be ready to begin short of a week or fortnight, and then there may be further delay from changes required in details of machinery. Everything is very encouraging. I have good prospects of a contract for rifles and artillery from this government—it is under consideration now. Could not do anything at present in France, though the plan was recognized as superior to their own or to anything known. But in the present state of Europe they could not introduce a change, their existing armament on their own plan being on so vast a scale. But I was encouraged for a later day.

"In regard to politics, I suppose the North will be too hot to hold me hereafter, if the papers are right in their account of the Northern feeling."

M. VAN BUREN TO MOSES S. TILDEN

"Lindenwald, May 13th, '61.

"Many thanks to you, my dear sir, for the compliment conveyed in your obliging letter.[34]

"But be assured that if the time ever arrives for the consideration of such a work there is another man in this State who could do it far more justice than I could hope for, and that is your brother Samuel. For myself, I shall for the rest of my life have but one thing to tinker on in that way, and how that will fare in these troublesome times is, I fear, very doubtful.

"Do me the favor to present me very kindly to your good sister and all the other members of your family, and to believe me, as ever,

Your friend, "M. Van Buren."

MR. TILDEN'S WAR RECORD

His patriotic address to a regiment in 1861. Published in New York Tribune, November 3, 1874:

"New York, Nov. 2, 1874.

"Sir,—On Saturday afternoon, June 22d, 1861, a stand of regimental colors—the gift of its Democratic friends, merchants and others—was presented to the 37th Regiment, N. Y. S. Volunteers. The colors were presented at the Battery, the regiment then being drawn up in line, and being at the time ready to depart for the scene of war, which it did on the following day.

"There was some ceremony at the presentation of the flags, and several speeches were made. One of the speakers on the occasion was Mr. Samuel J. Tilden, who made a stirring appeal to the officers and men of the regiment—a speech not excelled in patriotism by any public speaker during the War of the Rebellion.

"The writer of this letter knows whereof he affirms, for he was also present and took part in the presentation ceremony.

(Signed) "John T. Agnew."

J. L. O'SULLIVAN TO TILDEN

"Lisbon, June 5, 1861.

"My dear Tilden,—I have not yet a word from you, and should feel more angry than I do at such a cruel silence were it not that I fear you must be sadly harassed and occupied with your private affairs, superadded to the afflictions of the patriot. Since my last letter I have seen in the papers reason for some mitigation of the extreme disgust and indignation I had before felt in regard to the conduct of the Democratic party at the North. I had all but forsworn it, supposing that it had all gone over, bag and baggage, into this worst form of Republicanism, which consists in the support of this insane and wicked war, and that, consequently, no possible place remained for me, even in a corporal's guard, left of it. But I see in the newspaper letter from New York the cheering expression that 'the Daily News, by taking a strong Southern view, has largely increased its circulation, which shows that people like to see what can be said against the war, if they do not agree with the opinions expressed.' This assures me at least that even though I might be myself hung for a traitor in the streets of New York, for my sentiments on the subject, there would still remain somebody willing to cut me down and give me decent burial. I now look with great anxiety for the Democratic State convention called for the 4th of July, though what it can do to resuscitate the suicided body of the old party I do not see. I beg you to go to the office of the News and subscribe for their weekly paper for me, with the back numbers for the period since the beginning of the war. Do the same in regard to the Day Book. Let them be directed to the U. S. Legation, Lisbon, through care of John Miller, U. S. Despatch Agent, 26 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London. Subscribe, also, for the Weekly Post. I must get you to advance the payment for these subscriptions for me, which I will repay. The Herald I see here through another channel. The Post I want only, of course, for the object of seeing the talk of the enemy. Do tell me all your own mind on the subject. I am frankly and decidedly with the South now in their stand of resistance against subjugation and for independence. Whatever antecedents may have led up to it, that stand is now rightful and honorable, and submission would be pusillanimous and base, while in those very antecedents four-fifths of the wrong has been on the Northern side. This war against States constituting nearly half of the Union is an entire violation of the whole spirit of the Constitution, as well as of that of the law of '95, under which it is made. It is the South which is now fighting in defence of all the principles and rights of American liberty, for self-government and the dignity of man, and even though it should be conquered and subjugated the Union of force and military centralization thence to result would be in itself a worse political evil, and more pregnant with future mischief, than would be now a confirmed separation. However, therefore, I may deplore, with heartbroken grief and shame, all the disasters of these fratricidal battle-fields, yet truth and justice and conviction extort from me the avowal that I hope the South will be successful in beating back from their own rightfully defended soil this most fatal and iniquitous invasion; and for this sentiment, though it may be the extreme of treason, I am willing to stand responsible before God and man.

"God bless you, my dear old fellow, whether you now go with me the full length of my opinions, or whether I may have to regret, as a sensible addition to all the rest of my present affliction, that we no longer stand united in our old accord of sentiments. Eadem sentire de re publica. Just as I would have shouldered a Northern rifle to unite in the defence of Washington against menaced invasion from the South, so would I now, were I at home, stand up in aid of the rightful defence of the Southern soil against this equally unjustifiable invasion from the North; and this, were I on that side of the Atlantic, or were it possible for me to get there, I would do, unless I could do better service to the cause of the right by speaking, writing, and acting for it at the North. It is only the foolish and mad co-operation of the deluded Democracy that has enabled the Republican administration to undertake this war, and now enables it to carry it on. In that sense the Democratic party is, though secondarily, as much responsible for it as the Republicans. If it were now to draw back and insist on peace, it has the power to enforce that policy. This is what I would labor for, and it is with a view to this that I have written to urge my views upon you and upon the public, so far as you may have consented to publish my letters, every word of which I should be glad to see in the columns of the News or of the Day Book.

"Ever faithfully Yours, "J. L. O'Sullivan."

J. D. ANDREWS TO TILDEN

"Private. "National Hotel, "Wash'g., Aug. 18, 1861.

"My dear Sir,—The wheel of public events is rolling rapidly, and soon the good men of the country will have to combine outside of President and Cabinet to protect the national honor and save our institutions.

"Seward is premier and President, and under his weak, mischievous rule the ship of state is rapidly approaching the breakers. He nor the rest of the Cabinet have any administrative ability, nor any comprehension of the immensity of the crisis. They are all governed by a narrow policy, and are so intent upon personal objects that the higher duties of the citizens are made subordinate in this emergency of a nation's life to the success of the partisan.

"Seward is the great failure, but he is egotistical, false, flippant, grotesque as usual.

"Chase is equally vain and selfish, but more just, behind a rampart of dogmatic egotism. Of the rest it is unnecessary to speak, but of Blair, who is the weakest and most mischievous of the whole set.

"We are in the presence of mighty events, and under the rule of pigmies.

"Our foreign relations are in a critical condition, while Seward has not the grasp to comprehend nor direct them.

"The maladministration of the War and Navy depts. is in full force, while corrupt odors are continually exhaled.

"The army is in a disaffected, disorganized, discouraged condition, and not in good trim for service, chiefly through the utter incapacity of Cameron.

"The expenses are a million a day, which will not be patiently borne, no matter who the people are, without corresponding results.

"There is a feeling of gloomy dread in the public mind here of coming misfortune, and let me ask you what will be the effect upon the public opinion of the North if this city should be taken. The enemy is in great force, daily increasing, victorious, defiant, and in spirit and condition to be aggressive. If he does not soon attack the capital he will be restrained only by prudential or political considerations.

"The North may as well, however, look that probable event square in the face. Thus, after a rule of five months of this wretched Cabinet, with a great nation supporting it, with imperial resources at command, approved and animated by a self-sacrificing patriotism rarely equalled, we are disgraced, dishonored before the world, and scarcely in a condition to act bravely on the defensive. Soon France and England may interfere, and then, pray, what is our condition?

"You will probably remember what I said at our first meeting at the hotel of the strength and resources of the South, and of the incapacity of this Cabinet to grapple with the palpitating hearts.

"I am no prophet, but it seems as if we are only approaching a mighty revolution.

"I am mortified and humiliated that the great, brave American people have such representatives at the head of their government.

"For what are we fighting? Congress has no voice, except of adulation for political paramours, and this quailing, squirming Cabinet is dumb.

"I have never even seen Lincoln. Mr. S. told the other day that a Western gentleman of distinction said to him: 'Unless you soon change this Cabinet the people will change you, and it—'

"The New York papers are congratulating the country upon the loan. That is well, and I am gratified at the confidence in the honor and resources of the nation, yet regretting that the bankers did not make conditions, knowing that incapacity and rascality sit enthroned at the head of the War and Navy departments. Banks, it is said, has been ordered to advance his lines nearer the Potomac. McClellan is doing as well as he can—has good administrative ability. 'Tis said the lines are widening between him and Scott. Scott is infirm, and falls asleep at a brief talk. Chase is chiefly responsible for placing McDowell in command of the advancing army—and thus of our defeat.

"Please give my kind regards to Judge Pierrepont and Barbour, and with best wishes, I remain,

"Your friend & Servant, "J. D. Andrews." "Saml. J. Tilden, Esq., New York."

GEN. JNO. A. DIX TO TILDEN

"Baltimore, 3 Dec., 1861.

"My dear Sir,—I was much gratified by the receipt of your letter. The proclamation was issued and distributed in Accomac before I sent copies to the President and Genl. McClellan. On a few important occasions in life I have acted without consulting any one. Where my convictions have been so strong as to give me an undoubting assurance that I was right, I have fore-borne to consult others for fear they might differ with me. I do not know that Genl. McClellan approves all I have done. I am not sure as to the President, though I think he regards my policy as the true remedy for the special phase of the malady of secession, which existed on the eastern shore of Virginia. Whether he will regard it as the proper treatment for other phases of the disease I do not know. If our madmen in Congress, when everything is prospering, adopt Sumner's miserable scheme of emancipation or John Cochrane's diabolical project of arming slaves against their masters, all hope of a pacification will be at an end. Kentucky, I fear, will instantly array herself on the side of the Confederates. The conservative men of the country must make themselves felt in Congress and without a moment's delay.

"Ever sincerely yours, John A. Dix." "Hon. Saml. J. Tilden."

"P. S.—When I came here, four months ago, I ordered all my colonels not to allow negroes to come within their encampments. This rule has saved me from all annoyance. The only difficulty I have had grew out of the reception of a fugitive slave against my orders.

"N. B.—I send a correct copy of my proclamation. There were verbal inaccuracies in all the published copies in N. Y."

The proclamation here referred to was dated November 13, 1861, and addressed to the people of Accomac and Northampton counties, Virginia. It ran as follows:

"The military forces of the United States are about to enter your counties as a part of the Union. They will go among you as friends, and with the earnest hope that they may not, by your own acts, be forced to become your enemies. They will invade no rights of person or property. On the contrary, your laws, your institutions, your usages, will be scrupulously respected. There need be no fear that the quietude of any fireside will be disturbed, unless the disturbance is caused by yourselves.

"Special directions have been given not to interfere with the condition of any person held to domestic service; and, in order that there may be no ground for mistake or pretext for misrepresentation, commanders of regiments and corps have been instructed not to permit any such persons to come within their lines."

MEMORANDUM LEFT BY MR. TILDEN

Mr. John Van Buren, who had become an earnest supporter of the war, just before he made a speech at a great Democratic meeting in the city of New York, in October, 1862, called upon Mr. Tilden.

"We must be for the war," said Mr. Van Buren.

"Certainly," replied Mr. Tilden.

Mr. Van Buren showed a letter from General Scott, in which he proposed to "let our erring sisters depart in peace." Mr. Van Buren could not resist the temptation of making an oratorical point upon the letter of the great military chieftain, and read it to the meeting. An audience applauds point more than reason. Mr. Van Buren was an orator who sported with the tumultuous sympathies of a popular assembly, as a daring horseman rides a fiery steed. In the action and reaction between the speaker and the auditors, Mr. Van Buren, contrary to his intention, was carried into some seeming indulgence towards General Scott's idea. The impression was not satisfactory to his friends or to the leaders of the Democratic party.

At a casual meeting, at which were present Mr. Dean Richmond, the chairman of the Democratic State Committee, Mr. Seymour and Mr. Jones, the Democratic candidates for Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Tilden was consulted. He disapproved the aspect in which the last meeting had left the matter, and suggested that, as Mr. Seymour was to speak in Brooklyn on the evening of the next day, he should at the close of his speech make a more correct and an authoritative statement of the Democratic position in respect to the war.

Mr. Tilden was requested to reduce to writing what he suggested should be said. The next morning, on his way down-town, he left with Mr. Seymour a sketch of a peroration for the speech to be made that evening.

It was in the following words:

"And now, if my voice could reach the Southern people, through the journals of our metropolis, I would say to them that in no event can the triumph of the conservative sentiment of New York in the election mean consent to disunion, either now or hereafter. Its true import is restoration, North and South, of that Constitution which had secured every right, and under whose shelter all had been happy and prosperous until you madly fled from its protection. It was your act which began this calamitous civil war. It was your act which disabled us, as we are now disabled, of shaping the policy or limiting the objects of that war. Loyally as we maintained your rights, will we maintain the right of the government. We will not strike down its arm as long as yours is lifted against it. That noblest and greatest work of our wise ancestors is not destined to perish. We intend to rear once more upon the old and firm foundations its shattered columns, and to carry them higher towards the eternal skies. If the old flag waves in the nerveless grasp of a fanatic but feeble faction to whom you and not we abandoned it, we, whose courage you have tried when we stood unmoved between fanaticism and folly from the North and South alike, will once more bear it onward and aloft until it is again planted upon the towers of the Constitution, invincible by domestic as by foreign enemies. Within the Union we will give you 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 ancestry 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!"

JOHN A. DIX TO TILDEN

"Headquarters of the Army Corps, "Fort Monroe, Va., 7 Sept., 1862.

"My dear Sir,—Your letter by some mischance got among those intended to go by flag of truce to Richmond, and I only received it the day before yesterday. Yesterday I wrote to Judge Pierrepont, saying that I cannot relinquish my position in the field. There is only one condition (and that an impossible one)—a call from the people of New York on me to be their Chief Magistrate for the purpose of carrying, if possible, greater vigor into the conduct of the war. I say this is impossible, because I see clearly that the Republicans will not relax their hold on anything they possess, and that the Democrats are taking the field under their old and everlasting office-seekers. I see no good to the country from such a contest, and I cannot go into it.

"Sincerely yours, "John A. Dix." "Saml. J. Tilden, Esq.

"Consider this confidential."

HORATIO SEYMOUR (RECENTLY ELECTED GOVERNOR) TO TILDEN

"Utica, Nov. 10, 1862.

"My dear Sir,—I have a very high opinion of young Mr. Ketcham. I have made partial arrangements about my secretary, but I hope it will be in my power to serve him in some other way. I wish you would so advise him.

"Now that you and others have got me into this scrape, I wish you would tell me what to do. Give me your suggestions. I shall need all the help my friends can furnish. It looks to-day as if the administration intended to push forward without regard to public opinion. If they do, the financial rope will hang them up.

"In haste, "Truly yours, &c., "Horatio Seymour." "Hon. S. J. Tilden."

TILDEN'S INTERNAL REVENUE TAX DURING THE WAR IN 1863

"Collector's Office, 163 5th Av. and "937 Broadway, cor. of 22d St. "U. S. Internal Revenue, "8th District, State of New York. "New York, 1863. "Mr. S. J. Tilden,

No. 2 Union Square. Street.

"Your tax on income $——

and on enumerated articles $2.00

amounting to $——

as returned by the assessor of this district is due, and should be paid at once. Bankable money or checks required. Office hours from 9 A.M. to 3 P.M.

"Please bring this with you.

"Yours respectfully, "G. P. Putnam, "Collector."

AUGUST BELMONT TO TILDEN

"New York, January 27, 1863.

"My dear Sir,—When you have done with the paper which I gave you at Albany will you be kind enough to send it to me at your convenience?

"Don't you think it is high time for the conservatives to go to work and make a powerful demonstration in our city and State in order to compel the administration to a change of measures and men? If nothing is done, I see but ruin and national bankruptcy before us. Could not Gov. Seymour send a strong and determined message to the Legislature, recommending immediate measures for a convention of the centre States, with such others as may favor us?

"Yours very truly, "August Belmont." "New York, January 27, 1863."

R. H. GILLETT TO TILDEN

"Washington, 22 Feby., 1863.

"My dear Sir,—I have just read your letter of 1860 to Judge Kent. It is full of wisdom and accurate prophecy. I wish it could be read by all reflective men of the old Union. Until we act upon the theories there developed, our country must submit to the evils which error has brought upon us. More fatal delusions never led mankind than guide the party in power. Until they give place to reason, sound sense, and honesty there will be no relief.

"In one of the addresses issued by the executive committee here, in 1860, prepared by me, there is a prediction of the fatal consequences of elevating to power a representative of the principles of those who nominated Lincoln. I was, it is true, unwilling to believe what my reason told me was inevitably true. But I felt bound to proclaim the convictions resulting from much reflection. But our countrymen were mad, and like mad men would heed no warning. The fatal error was committed, the consequences of which no one can calculate. But you, at least, are not responsible for the result. You did all that one man could do to direct to the path of safety. I tried to do mine, but met with no success in making converts.

"I fear there is a disposition on the part of many of our friends to take and act upon a mistaken view of our present duty. The 'peace policy' of many will prove fallacious. I would go with the sword in one hand and the most liberal measures of reconciliation in the other, while I would require all, in and out of authority, to observe the Constitution and the rights of all citizens, and punish all infractions where possible to do so without regard to station.

"After our court adjourns I intend to go to Lebanon, and hope to see you when going or returning.

"Yours truly, "R. H. Gillett."[35]

William Chauncey Fowler, a son of Reuben Rose Fowler, was born September 1, 1793. When four years of age his parents removed to Durham, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale College in 1816, became a tutor in 1819; two years later he became pastor of the Congregational Church in Greenfield, Massachusetts. In 1825 he became professor of chemistry and natural philosophy in Middlebury (Vermont) College, whence he resigned to take the chair of rhetoric and oratory in Amherst College in 1843. In 1825 he married the daughter of Noah Webster, and edited for his father-in-law the university edition of Webster's Dictionary. He served in the Legislature of Massachusetts in 1851, and in the Senate of Connecticut in 1864. His English Grammar was extensively used as a text-book in the schools. He was a member and chairman of the school board in Durham for twenty-five years. He died January 15, 1881.

WILLIAM G. FOWLER TO TILDEN

"Durham Centre, Conn., Feb. 23, 1863. "S. J. Tilden, Esq.

"Dear Sir,—I have just risen from the perusal of your letter, addressed in 1860 to Professor William Kent, and published last week in the New York World. The public were and are under obligations to you for this satisfactory and patriotic expression of your sentiments; and, for one, I beg leave to express my thanks. The opinions you expressed have been confirmed, and the prophecies recorded have been accomplished by the thick-coming events of the last two years.

"But, unfortunately, it has been the fate of us 'union-savers' that our prophecies have been disbelieved, as were those of the fabled Cassandra when she foretold the ruin of Troy.

"'Can the North understand the full import of the federation idea?' This question of yours is pregnant with meaning. It did once understand it. But two or three generations since that time have passed off, or are passing off the stage, and this idea has gone with them. Can the country be restored to 'its first love,' and do its 'first works,' and thus preserve the Constitution and the Union?

"I have read the remarks of Prof. Morse and Mr. Curtis and yours with the same satisfaction with which I listened to them at Delmonico's.

"Very truly and respectfully yours, "William C. Fowler."

GEO. A. THURSTON TO TILDEN

"Cumberland, Maryland, Feby. 23, 1863. "Hon. S. J. Tilden.

"Dear Sir,—I received, and have read most carefully and with great interest, your 1860 letter to the Hon. Judge Kent, which recalled to me some views you expressed at Mr. Stoughton's dinner-table during the conversation that ensued between Mr. Stoughton, Mr. Collector Schell, yourself, and myself. I must confess your predictions, both in the letter and what fell from you in that conversation, which have since been fulfilled, astonish me, and compel reluctant admissions of your superior political sagacity. Still, the worst, that is, most injurious consequences foretold by you have not yet occurred; and though I hesitate somewhat in my views and hopes from perceiving how much I did not expect, nor even apprehend, and which you asserted would happen, have resulted as you predicted, I am yet sanguine enough to believe what is still unfulfilled will remain so during our day at least; and then, after us, 'the deluge.' Allow me to subscribe myself,

Faithfully and truly Y'rs, "Geo. A. Thurston."

TILDEN TO J. J. TAYLOR[36]

"New York, Feb. 26, '63.

"My dear Sir,—The truth is that the plan of the Society for the Diffusion of Political Information is not completely matured. It had not become a movement of much importance or definiteness of aim when it was brought into sudden notoriety by the attacks of the extreme Republican press.

"I send you a copy of the Constitution, with Mr. Curtis's introductory address. Your suggestions as to the character of the publication are good, and, I think, in accordance with the intentions of the society.

"I do, indeed, feel strengthened in the general views of public affairs which I take by the concurrence of a thoughtful and instructed mind like yours. The calamity of our times is that the people have outgrown their knowledge of their own civil institutions—in some sections of our country.

"I add a copy of the letter to Mr. Kent, which has been drawn into some renewed notoriety by the attacks on the Delmonico meeting.

"Very truly, "Your friend, "S. J. Tilden."

H. HOGEBOOM TO S. J. TILDEN

"Private and confidential. "Hudson, June 18, 1863. "S. J. Tilden, Esq.

"My dear Sir,—It has occurred to me that it would do no hurt if it did no good to make some further suggestions on a topic which we discussed a little in New York—to wit., the expediency of my changing my residence to that city, or of connecting myself in a business way with some gentleman there, continuing my present official position or not till the expiration of my term as should be thought advisable. I have so much confidence in your good judgment, as well as command of large business interests, that it has occurred to me whether some sort of professional connection could not be established between us to our mutual advantage. You must have at times more than you can attend to, and, besides, will find it necessary to consult your health and allow yourself more leisure. On the other hand, my health is pretty firm, and my disposition to labor unabated. I make the suggestion for your consideration, and shall accept in the best feeling any suggestions you make, whether I suppose them to tend to my interest or not. I should be desirous if I went to New York to connect myself with large interests, if possible, and am persuaded no one in that respect is more advantageously situated than yourself. And I am convinced that with the close of this unhappy war (if it ever does terminate) those interests with which your business is more directly connected will receive a decided impulse, leading to a large and lucrative increase of professional interests connected with them. Besides, such connections must place one at times in a position to make profitable investments, and in many other respects are to be desired. If such an arrangement could be made, I would be disposed to do what was, on the whole, thought advisable as to the time to enter into it. And if a business connection would not strike you as favorable to the interests of either of us or of yourself, I think you might make useful suggestions in regard to the matters here hinted at, as you already have done. I pray you to have no delicacy on the subject in saying what occurs to you as proper. Nor let the pendency of the case before me, in which you are counsel, have any influence to deter you. In such matters I profess entire independence, and while I never suspect the slightest attempt on the part of a friend to influence me, often disappoint my best friends in the conclusions at which I arrive. In that matter at present I have positively no decided opinion whatsoever. May I hear from you at your convenience, and ask you to treat this as confidential?

Truly Yours, "H. Hogeboom."[37]

---- TO TILDEN

"50 & 52 Howard St., New York City, July, 1863.

"Dear Sir,—The Legislature of this State, at its last session, made a liberal appropriation for the protection and relief of soldiers returning from the war. Under this appropriation, the New York State Soldiers' Depot has been established and located at Nos. 50 and 52 Howard Street, New York, and we beg to call your attention to the objects of the institution, and to solicit your co-operation in carrying them into effect.

"The board of managers consists of the Adjutant-General of the State, the Inspector-General, the Surgeon-General, and the Quartermaster-General, and their action is subject to the supervision of the Governor.

"The depot is a spacious building, containing every convenience for the accommodation, health, and comfort of the inmates. Food and lodgings are furnished to them free of charge; they are washed and cleansed, and provided with clean underclothing and with transportation to their homes.

"The sick and wounded enter the hospital department and receive careful medical treatment until in a condition to be forwarded to their residences. If any die at the depot, their remains are transmitted to their friends. The system of station agents and train couriers adopted by the board effectually protects the returning soldiers from robbery, imposition and vice.

"It is unnecessary to dwell upon the advantages of such an institution.

"It secures immediate relief to the suffering and needy men who return sick, wounded, and penniless from the war. It removes those who possess health and money out of the reach of the temptations of the city, and protects them from the impositions so generally practised upon returning soldiers, who are specially marked as the prey of the dishonest. Its effect will be to induce re-enlistments, for it will prove to the volunteer that the State will not forget or neglect those who fight in defence of their country.

"The board of managers, being desirous of having the advice of some of their fellow-citizens in the prosecution of their work, have concluded to form an advisory committee. You have been selected and are invited to act as one of that committee.

"You will always be welcome at the rooms of the depot.

"Very truly Yours, "——."

GEO. T. CURTIS TO TILDEN

"Rockaway, Friday, 17th July (1863).

"My dear Sir,—I was obliged to leave town suddenly on Tuesday, as my family were expecting me by a certain train, and were in a little cottage here without any other male protector. I do not expect to go to the city again before Monday. I have read the city ordinance. After much reflection, it seems to me that there are two or three modes of raising the legal question; and I take it for granted that the State authorities, if the draft is pressed, will act only in support of their own judicial process. Does not the jurisdiction of our Supreme Court, in General Term, admit of a writ of prohibition, to be applied for on the ground that certain persons, etc., are about to enroll, summon, and subject to martial law A. B. and C. D., citizens of New York and members of its militia, etc., etc.? This would avoid all difficulty about the hab. corpus. If it be said that a prohibition out of a State court cannot control a Federal officer, I think it is sufficiently answered if the prohibition is founded on the allegation that the Federal officer is undertaking to act under color of a law constitutionally invalid. The process and the case may be afterwards drawn into the Federal judicial power for revision. But it may issue and may be served, and then there is a legal process and not a mere forcible resistance.

"The Federal court, too, has probably the same jurisdiction, although I have not the means here of looking at that. I should think Judge Nelson would come to town if requested.

"It will, of course, be understood that I am prepared to discuss the question in any court, if my services are needed.

"Y's very truly, "Geo. T. Curtis."[38]

F. W. HUGHES TO TILDEN

"Phila., July 21, '63.

"Dear Sir,—The suspense here to have the adjudication of your courts upon the constitutionality of the conscription act is painful. If the courts shall hold that this enactment is outside of and overrides the Constitution, our people in Penn'a will sustain that position. On the other hand, if the courts shall hold the act constitutional, rather than resist law and invoke anarchy, I do not think there will be any other opposition than sporadic outbreaks and a general fleeing to avoid the compulsory service. I write to ask you that for the sake of the public peace, and I may well add for the sake of republican liberty on this continent, you give your best efforts to obtain a speedy decision on this subject. I take the liberty of thus addressing you because of our former (to myself) very pleasant personal acquaintance, and because of my knowledge of your professional and political position. I feel confident you will agree with me that unless sufficient courage combines with patriotism and a comprehensive appreciation of pending movements to overthrow constitutional liberty in this sorely afflicted country, we will soon have to mourn the establishment of the most absolute despotism.

"Yours Very Truly, "F. W. Hughes." "Phila., July 21/63.

"Please address me at Pottsville, Pa."

GEO. T. CURTIS TO TILDEN

"Nassau St., July 24 (1863).

"My dear Sir,—I have revised the opinion wh. I gave to the Governor last March on the conscription act, and have since thought of publishing it as an opinion given to the Governor at that time. He has been bitterly assailed for having spoken of the 'rights of the people.' I want the public to see the grounds for the opinion that the people have rights, which have been violated. I should not, however, print this opinion if the state of things, in the negotiations with the govt., makes it inexpedient at the present moment. But I mean to get it fully ready, and to let it be known what I think of this law as soon as there is a fitting time for it. Will you mention this to the Governor? I shall be in town again on Monday.

"Y'rs truly, "Geo. T. Curtis."

The National Intelligencer was the organ of the old Federal and Whig parties almost from the foundation of the government. It was a faithful champion of the slave-holding interests of the South until its representatives in Congress withdrew from the Union. The demise of the Whig party by the incorporation of the Northern portion of it into the Republican party and the separation of the slave States from the Union, left the Intelligencer no longer any constituency, and after a few struggles like the one of which we read in the following letter from Mr. Kennedy, and a brief, precarious existence which Mr. Tilden contributed financially to prolong its publication was discontinued.

J. C. G. KENNEDY TO MR. POND

"Washington, July 25, 1863.

"Dear Pond,—I have been credibly informed to-day that unless they shall be so fortunate as to receive immediate relief from some friendly source, the Intelligencer will actually be suspended in the course of the coming week.

"The paper, it is generally known, became embarrassed by the entire loss of its large Southern circulation, consequent on the rebellion, which loss has been followed now by the withdrawal of the official advertisements of the govt. departments, which they have hitherto enjoyed under almost every administration, thus cutting off resources by which they have managed to meet their expenditures, and rendering imminent an event which of all others will gratify the ultra party of the country and bring mortification on the conservatives which they will deplore when too late to be remedied. Its fall will exhilarate the abolitionists by the assurance it will appear to justify, of the opposition to extreme measures, and the inability of the conservatives of the country to sustain a journal at the seat of government opposed to radicalism, and practically confirm the standing and increase the influence of the radical press here, while it will deprive the country of a tried and faithful watchman on the walls of the citadel whose very presence intimidates from a surrender of the bulwarks of the Constitution and the constitutional union. Shall this be? Will the wealthy, patriotic, conservative men of New York quietly permit such an advantage to be gained by their destructive adversaries, and suffer to be lost what holds out such a prospect and guarantee of usefulness and necessity to them when a comparatively small effort may avert such a catastrophe? In view of the depressing effect which the stoppage of such a paper at this juncture will produce on National men North and South and their cause, and the advantages which will inure therefrom to the sectionalists, cannot some good men of New York make up a loan to the establishment of a few thousand dollars, which will give it stability and independence thro' the rest of this year, when it is to be hoped a new era will open, thereby maintaining an important element of power for good, in bringing about a reasonable and happy settlement of our difficulties when the force of arms shall have accomplished its work. Will these good people of New York allow this old and influential journal of more than half a century's standing to go down for defending their cause against the destructive policy of the radicals, and when, if it go down, the conservatives will have to make greater sacrifices in establishing another in its stead which must be long in acquiring the same confidence and power of usefulness? These are questions which must be determined in a few days, or the capital be left without a paper representing and upholding national views and the country be deprived of a faithful journal, which can be relied on, regardless of government favor, and continue to do its duty to the people unawed by power though it perish in the struggle.

"The amount, if supplied, may be deemed and made a lien on the establishment and apply as a credit on its purchase hereafter, or may be a loan to be secured by deed of trust thereon.

"I have stated facts, with no personal interest to advance other than as my welfare is identified with the honor and prosperity of the country and the integrity of the Union and the preservation of law and order. I have made suggestions, and can conceive of no act more patriotic or more demanded by the highest interest of the country than the object of my note.

"I have advised that a confidential agent go to your city, and I am writing to ask you to aid him by your counsel in putting him in the way to avert an impending calamity. What I write you are at liberty to use according to your discretion, but please keep my letter in your sole possession. My engagements preclude my leaving home at present, and I write as I would speak and would wish to say to men who will readily be suggested to your mind. Can you say it for the country's sake, and at once?

"Yours faithfully, "Jos. C. G. Kennedy."

WILLIAM B. REED TO TILDEN

"Philad., July 28, 1863.

"My dear Sir,—Our proposed litigation here, as to the conscription law, has thus far failed—from want of courage on the part of the litigant, whose chance of success, within the law, was not very encouraging, and whose doom, in the event of failure, was very certain. The form which was adopted by Mr. Ingersoll and Mr. Wharton was that of an injunction bill against the enrolling and drafting officers, and the hearing hoped for was before the court in banc. I now very much doubt if it will be resorted to. A habeas corpus before a single judge on the receipt of notice, which constitutes a technical custody, seems to me preferable.

"The draft, in the mean time, is going on and, I confess, I am puzzled by the apathy with which it is received, especially in connection with the admitted fact that New York and probably New Jersey are to be exempt. Still, I think there will be an outbreak whenever the actual kidnapping begins.

"Of course you see or think you see the dangers which threaten you more clearly than we at a distance do. But the apprehension is very prevalent here that Gov. Seymour is in danger at any moment of secret arrest. Things of that kind have been hinted at, and certainly I saw nothing in New York to make such an outrage practically difficult. There is inducement enough, for his removal puts the whole Democratic North under the heel of the radicals. My theory about arrests is that they are always fatal. No public man ever recovered from the stain they seem to inflict. I doubt very much if Mr. Vallandigham will ever recuperate. Gov. Seymour is the only public man who at this moment stands in the way of a centralized despotism, and him a small guard of Federal soldiers could easily and secretly remove.

"I am, no doubt, very nervous and very suspicious, but, I assure you, these facts are not confined to my own bosom.

"Very Truly Y'rs, "William B. Reed." "S. J. Tilden, Esq., New York."

TILDEN TO HENRY HOGEBOOM

"New Lebanon, July 28th, 1863.

"My dear Sir,—I have been peculiarly unlucky in the attempt to answer your letter of June 18th. It came on my return from an absence from the city, followed immediately by another; and then by an illness which wholly disabled me for a week, and from which I emerged only after the commencement of the riot, and that brought upon me many demands for attention and counsel amid ten days of excitement and bustle. I turn to it as actually the first real business of my own to which I have had a chance to attend for some weeks, indeed, since the 4th of July, when I had begun an answer, until now. I came here Saturday evening, and expect to return to-morrow morning.

"How swiftly events move, and how greatly they change! I am reminded, as I see by what I began to write, how deeply a few weeks ago I was involved in solicitude for the results of the military operations then reaching their crisis. At no time since this war commenced have I been so disturbed as before the battle of Gettysburg; a different issue of which might, in my judgment, have put us on our defence even as far as Phila. and New York, and brought a revolution in our thoughts and occupations, and since that New York has been upon the verge of a social peril, at that time wholly unexpected.

"I appreciate the frank and cordial spirit of your letter, and shall state my own impressions in the same confidence which you express that our long knowledge of each other will, at least, secure us a perfect mutual understanding. I say impressions, for I am conscious that all my views of the future, for myself, and for all others in whom I take interest, may be colored by the peculiar uncertainties which now enshroud our horizon.

"1. While I think it proper for you to keep your eye upon the opportunity of forming a future business in New York, I doubt if you can prudently abandon your present sure and honorable position, or can count with sufficient certainty upon events to enter at present into definite engagements of so much importance to your interests and happiness. I think you will remember in all our conversations a disposition on my part (arising, perhaps, from the habitual caution which my views of public events inspire) to contemplate such a change in your affairs as taking effect after the close of your present term of official service.

"I think, if the battle of Gettysburg had happened to be such a disaster to us as is always possible in the vicissitudes of war, business in New York would have been for the time, and how long a time I know not, suspended. Who can compute the consequences of the loss of Washington, Baltimore, and, perhaps, Philadelphia? Nor can I be insensible to the social disorders to which great cities are exposed during such civil convulsions as our country is now undergoing.

"You are at present sure of a livelihood by a tenure and in a geographical position which are not affected by the military, political, or financial vicissitudes to which all business in the city of New York is exposed, and which might fall with peculiar severity upon a newly formed enterprise—undertaken in reliance upon profits which any of these causes might render illusory, and amid expenses which city life and city business inevitably involve. Under these circumstances I hope you will not consider it officious if I express the opinion that it would be wiser for you, holding to your present certainty, to await events which can scarcely fail to shift greatly, if not frequently, before a decision can be practically forced upon you.

"2. I agree with you that after the war shall have closed the city of New York will afford scope for business corresponding to the revivified interests of the country; but I agree with this qualification—that it can hardly be that the transition can be made, changing, as it will, the application of labor and enterprise from one set of objects to another, without a shock of more or less duration, and that the retirement by any process of the paper issues may be expected to produce a period of constantly increasing depression. It will be after this that, with its metropolitan character more than ever assured, New York will return to a state of healthy prosperity, if its position as the trade centre of all the States be preserved.

"3. In respect to myself. I am not sure that the advantages of a professional connection with me would be as great as might naturally be expected. It has been the general opinion of the profession that a mere counsel business, of large extent and income, could not be permanently kept up. So far as I have succeeded in doing this, my experience may have been exceptional. I have years ago abandoned all ideas of regular clientage, and could scarcely see any reason why my business should not much diminish, perhaps almost dry up, with the completion of that pending at the time. The substitution of mere business—easy to be deputed, regular in its flow, and almost formal in its nature, which is the basis of large profits in the general experience of the bar—I have not had, possibly because I had not the organization in my office to do it, and could not do it myself without abandoning the part to which I have devoted myself. If ten years ago I had provided for it what it might have grown to is a matter of conjecture. It is now too late for me to undertake the labor, care or responsibility, or even to acquire the disposition to construct such a business. How far, in lessening my active connection with affairs of the peculiar nature mine has become, I could transfer would be doubtful. Indeed, it would seem to me that some species which have occupied half of my attention for five years past are likely to disappear.

"4. Some years ago I had two suggestions of what seemed to be very flattering connections. One of them was of several intimate friends, who thought we could combine and build up a larger concern than ever existed in this city. I assented to that opinion, but shrank from assuming obligations and necessities which could not be practically terminable at my own choice. Uncertain how long health would permit or necessity require the efforts I was then making, or how long a disposition to continue them would survive the immediate occasion for them, I felt that I should unavoidably part with the perfect freedom of my choice if I allowed friends to build their calculations upon me—that no reservation I could make would exempt me from a sense that what I might prefer to do would disappoint or damage those with whom I had entered into the joint undertaking.

"In the interval these motives for keeping free from all connections have strengthened, while all motives to form them have nearly ceased. The necessities of that day have been fulfilled. My health requires an exemption for a time of more or less duration, from the cares which would attend any new engagements, or, indeed, the thought whether or not business is to continue. Everything that I could endeavor to foresee, whether personal, as health, taste, my remaining here or travelling to Europe or to the far West, or whether public, as financial or political events amid the civil commotions of our country—everything, in a word, which could ordinarily form the subject of calculation, seems to be more uncertain than ever before. My habit, therefore, in all things—I scarcely know whether it comes of disposition or of judgment—is to make no plans at present, except such as are inevitable; to await events, and to keep myself as prepared as possible to act, free from engagements and even from predeterminations of my own mind, according to the changing phases of affairs.

"I have thus, my dear sir, unveiled to you more of my private affairs and thoughts than, perhaps, are known to any other person; for I have written them as if we were talking together, writing my ideas as they arose, without much method or care.

"Please consider them as confidential, and excuse the haste with which they are expressed and the length to which my letter has grown. Accept the frankness of my revelations and suggestions as an evidence of my cordial interest in your views, and be assured that whatever I can do by way of information, advice, or suggestion towards your purpose, if you continue to entertain it, will be at all times at your service.

"Very truly, "Your friend, "S. J. Tilden." "Hon. Henry Hogeboom."

HORATIO SEYMOUR TO TILDEN

"Albany, Aug. 6, 1863.

"My dear Sir,—I have been doing all that one overburdened man can do to adjust matters with the general government. I am satisfied it means to go on in a spirit of hostility to this State; that it is governed by a spirit of malice in all things small and great. I do not believe they will accept volunteers on account of the draft. Let it be so. I am willing to accept results. This conscription will make the administration odious and contemptible. It will fail as a measure to raise men. I do not take into account forcible resistance which will aid rather than embarrass government. It will break down because it is impossible to coerce a people. Some will commute, some will run away; many will prove disabilities, and a few will go, enough, perhaps, to demoralize the army. I have sent a communication to the President, written in calm and respectful terms, objecting:

"1. To the fairness of the movement.

"2. To the policy of conscription.

"3. Asking for a test of the constitutionality of the measure.

"It will do no good, except making up a record. I look for nothing but hostility, but I shall do my duty, and demand my rights, and let consequences take care of themselves. I feel no uneasiness.

"Truly y'rs, &c., "Horatio Seymour." "Hon. S. J. Tilden."

J. VAN BUREN TO TILDEN

"Private. "Lindenwald, Sept. 4th, 1863.

"My dear Tilden,—My father left to the col's son Martin a bust of himself by Powers; Smith and I have ordered two copies, or as they are to be executed by Powers, they will in effect be originals. The cost will be about $500; something under. They should arrive in October or November. The value of a bust by Powers as a work of art exceeds the sum named. It would be more convenient for me, I am sorry to say, not to take this bust, and I know nobody to whom I would offer it except yourself, or who would prize it so highly. Please drop me a line to let me know if it would be agreeable to you to take it. I need hardly add that this is a confidential matter between us.

"What have you been doing this summer, and why have you not looked in upon me? Thanks to a good farmer, I am promised fair crops and, thanks to the war, they should command fair prices; but I find I have upon my hands an establishment very much beyond the strength of Anna and myself, and so distant from my office as to cut me off from my profession. I shall be obliged, therefore, to change my arrangements.

"I was glad to see you helped the Tammany Democrats to keep the 4th of July, and trust you united in the sound war spirit that seemed to animate their proceedings. We hope to be back in 4th Ave. by or before the 1st. Novr., and shall be glad to see you there if you do not look in on us here before.

"Truly y'rs, "J. Van Buren."[39] "Lindenwald, Sept. 4th, 1863."

HIRAM KETCHUM TO TILDEN

"29 William St., Sept. 9, 1863.

"My dear Sir,—I spent some time last evg. with Mr. Reverdy Johnson at the 5th Avenue Hotel, where he will remain two or three days. He would be gratified to see you. The object which he seeks to accomplish—the continuance of the Nat. Intelligencer until after the close of the next Presidential election—is one, in my judgment, of great importance. Should that paper be permitted to go down there will be a very large number of respectable and influential persons in this country left as sheep without a shepherd. They will have lost the leader which they have been accustomed to follow, and whose voice they know, for many years.

"I pray you put forth vigorous and prompt efforts to prevent such a result. I like the views you are reported to have expressed the other day, of uniting all the opposition to the present administration in selecting our candidates for the next Presidency.

"Yours very truly, "Hiram Ketchum."

TILDEN TO JOSEPH S. FAY

"New York, March 24, 1864.

"My dear Sir,—An absence from the city and the occupations preparatory to it have deferred my acknowledgment of your letter longer than I intended.

"In respect to the first topic of your letter, although we both agree in considering it practically past, the desire I have that the real state of facts should be completely understood by you induces me to add a word to our former discussions.

"As nearly as I can now recollect, the misunderstanding occurred about the time, I think even before, my action in respect to the Peninsula was decided. The false relation between Mr. Ogden and you with the impressions which such of our friends as occasionally met Mr. Parsons derived from him repelled overtures to you. Mr. O. always said that he thought he could satisfy you, but doubted and deferred.

"There never was a moment when I did not desire to communicate with you; but my acquaintance was so slight that I thought it necessary to wait for others, until at last I forced a breaking of the ice, and our interview took place.

"But enough of this. I should not recur to the topic if I had not a great respect for you. The past is gone. We can deal only with the present. That is within our powers. I do not think that, on the whole, we cannot now do nearly as well as if we had done what was best at first. For myself, I have so often felt your reproach for having omitted to promote our understanding, so capable of benefits to both sides, that I am determined as to the present and the future, which alone are in our power—that the boot shall be on the other leg.

"Coming now to what is the really important part of your letter—put after the fashion of the ladies in the P. S.—it must be admitted that if you should meditate anything more than a mere sale on the best security—anything approaching in part to a sharing of the common joys and sorrows of the adventure—the future policy of Peninsular company, in the particulars mentioned by you, would be an important matter.

"I think that policy will be, whether in your society or out of it, conservative to your heart's content.

"It would, no doubt, be very desirable to have the terminus of the Peninsular at Escanaba or Sand Point connected with Green Bay by rail. What we can do on that point, and what we cannot, has been definitely announced to Mr. Ogden and others by me assuming to speak for the very solid gentlemen who are the principal owners of the Peninsular.

"If the Northwestern will build that road we shall be glad. We do not believe the difficulty of operating it in the winter is any more real than it was supposed to be from Boston to Albany or from Piermont to Dunkirk twenty years ago; or as much so as on the Chicago and St. Louis in 1856. There will be a telegraph to Marquette in a few months. An all-rail line to that point would revolutionize the region.

"If the N. W. needs the privileges of our charter or the land grant which attaches to the portion of the line from Escanaba to the Menominee, we ought to accord them so that we incur no pecuniary liability for the construction or operation of the line.

"If the N. W. needs that we consent to a modification of the drawback which it is to allow us on its whole 242 miles for joint business that comes to or from the Peninsula—we may do that.

"But we cannot dilute our present investment by what will be inferior, though incidentally very desirable to us; or enlarge our undertaking from what we know to be completely within our means, of which we have measured the cost, and except to a very subordinate extent fixed it by purchases and contracts. If any of us aid the line south by taking an interest in it, it will be as a separate adventure.

"Not only has this been our uniform answer to such suggestions, but our present mortgage expressly excludes any extensions south from its provisions in favor of extensions north.

"Now as to extensions north, our policy would be not less provident. We must feel our way, accepting only what will surely be remunerative and not diluting our investment.

"So much in answer to your letter.

"Now a few words in addition on the general subject.

"1. Separately, our charges can scarcely fail to be affected 25 cents by the mutual fear of competition, alleviated as much as possible. That all comes from the profits on 300,000 tons; it is the interest on a million.

"2. In a state of paper-money prices, advancing constantly because of increasing issues, we can protect ourselves only by making rates correspond with daily increasing expenses.

"This is not apt to be done with sufficient promptitude and boldness.

"You will be and we shall be timid and laggard in meeting the exigencies which are before us—from fear of competition and from the delay which always attends arrangements between independent parties.

"3. We should better our condition as to our land grants if our efforts were joined. We could do so at the present session of Congress.

"There are other considerations which I have not time to discuss.

"It is necessary to arrive at results as soon as possible.

"1. Some important construction we have deferred to await the negotiations.

"2. We shall soon have to decide important questions which would be affected very materially by the junction of our interests. Of course, we are not so improvident as to act now on the hypothesis of successful negotiations between us.

"Our construction is advancing well. We have sent up 400 additional men since Feb. 1. We still strain every nerve for completion June 1. None of our managers in the West fear that it will be much later. I assure you that in this respect and in all respects our affairs were never so promising as now. I express my strong desire to form a junction of our interests as frankly as if you did not represent the other party to the negotiation; for, while attending carefully to everything necessary to our independent existence, I see that it can still be bettered by the measure contemplated. There is no mistake so common among business men as to suppose that what one gains another loses. I have just had an illustration of this in making in behalf of the bondholders of the Fort Wayne a counter proposition to that of the stockholders under which the stock rose 40 per cent.

"It is important to all interests that a conclusion be arrived at as soon as possible. When you are in a situation to negotiate definitely, with full powers, I shall be glad to discuss and also to submit suggestions, and shall be ready to conclude arrangements, if any be found practicable.

"Please excuse the rambling haste in which I write.

"I remain, "Very truly, "Your friend, "S. J. Tilden." "Joseph S. Fay, Esqr., Boston, Mass."

TILDEN TO JOS. S. FAY

"New York, April 8th, 1864.

"My dear Sir,—Your letter of the 4th was duly received.

"In reference to your conclusion that there is 'no difficulty in arranging some mode of sale but price,' I agree that it is justified by the general correspondence of our views as to the utility of uniting the two lines and as to the policy which should govern the management of the joint concern. Doubtless your mind has truly fixed the precise point at which divergence of sentiments would be natural, and where alone it is likely to exist.

"But is such divergence inevitable even there? Is there not some solution which will give us what we agree in desiring—the unity of works and interests, and will yet allow scope enough for the favorable view by each party of the relative value of its own property?

"Financial expedients are so capable of adaptation, and I have so often been fortunate in bringing into accord interests and opinions which seemed to the parties to clash, that, seeing an object desirable to us both obstructed or delayed, I am disposed at once to analyze the elements of difference, and try if there be not some solution equally advantageous and equally agreeable to the parties whom we respectively represent.

"I know I shall bring to the attempt candor in considering what I may not at first accept, and an entire freedom from the huckstering spirit which seeks to appropriate all benefits of a concord which ought to be founded upon mutual interests. I do not doubt that you will meet me in the same dispositions.

"I mentioned in my former letter some of the evils of delay—the loss of the present session of Congress in respect to our land grants (we should want Mr. Morgan as our regular attorney to join his efforts to our special and temporary agent if we were together), the tendency to reduce or keep down the prices for our transportation services, from the natural operation of divided action, to be aggravated perhaps when our agents come to seek business, the probability of some unnecessary construction.

"You have justly added the inconvenience of extending over the region a diversity of gauges, every day becoming more difficult to change.

"And I now add still another consideration. The delay—perhaps indefinite postponement of the construction of the link from Green Bay to the place, lately Sand Point, which we have christened Escanaba. That construction would connect the mineral regions of Lake Superior with the entire railroad system of the country.

"Now, in these times so favorable to get money for new enterprises, if the opportunity is seized and wisely used, I think if we were united, our joint strength would induce the Northwestern to put in that link this year if the question could be determined within the next 30 days. There are auxiliary influences, potent at this moment, which may be lost and the result postponed for an indefinite period.

"I am confident that such a construction would enlist the warmest sympathies of yourself, of Mr. Ely, and of all who have investments in the Lake Superior region. It would probably create, likewise, new opportunities for investments, capable of surviving the financial shock to which all property will be subjected by the present condition of the country.

"But I wander into discussions, when the object with which I began my hasty letter was simply to say to you that I think we ought to have a personal conference without unnecessary delay—that we ought to be possessed of the purposes of our respective parties, and armed with full powers to act, if not for all, at least for a majority in interest of our respective companies.

"I will meet you in Boston or in this city at your earliest convenience, having a little notice to arrange my engagements. My situation would make me prefer New York, if your convenience would allow or you could be induced into a visit to your friends here.

"Very truly, "Your Friend, "S. J. Tilden." "Jos. S. Fay, Esq."

TILDEN TO MR. KENT

"N. Y., Mar. 26th, 1864.

"My dear Sir,—I send some specimens from various locations in Lake Superior country on which I desire information and your judgment.

"No. 1. Hematite is claimed to give 61 1/3 per cent. of iron. They call it granular hematite. I should like to know whether it will produce so much in order to judge whether it will bear very distant transportation. I should like your judgment of it in all respects.

"2 and 3 are of the same general character.

"Next. I want to know whether No. 6 has any admixtures which may affect its value in working. It is called specular and slate iron.

"Next. I want to know about No. 4. The analysis given me is 41.885 metallic.

"31. ox iron manganese.

"It is called massive hematite pyrotistic.

"I should like to know about its working character and its availability.

"5, I believe, is similar. 7 and 8 are specimens of slate iron.

"8 claims to be 43 per cent.

"7 claims to be 57 per cent., with traces of manganese. It feels too light. I should like a test of it.

"I should be glad of your ideas on the subject at as early a day as practicable. Send me results as they can be obtained without waiting to complete all.

"Truly, "S. J. Tilden." "Mr. Kent."

C. EAMES[40] TO TILDEN

"Thursday 10th, ½ past 11, "May 10, '64.

"My dear Tilden,—I want you, as a very great favor to Mrs. Eames and myself, to give me your time from ½ past two to-morrow, sharp, at which moment I will be here to take you up to 84th St. to look at some lots and houses, and see how they can be divided in four equal or nearly equal parts and values—differences of value to be settled by payment or receipt of money—so that division of same among the co-heirs may take place by agreement without the fuss of partition suit. Your help in this will have a great weight of authority with us all and will carry the thing through. Fanny has set her heart upon it. Please do not refuse. I fix day and hour so sharp because I must go back to Washington Thursday, and am told not to come till this is done. The brothers will go with us to look at the property.

"Yours very truly, "C. Eames." "Thursday 10th, ½ past 11. "May 10/64."

J. VAN BUREN TO TILDEN

"39 Nassau, N. Y., May 20th, 1864.

"My dear Tilden,—I have had no opportunity to inquire about the Kaska William Coal Co. stock, but have such confidence in your knowledge and judgment that I will take of you the 200 shares at $4250, and feel obliged by your letting me have them.

"Please let me know when you require the money.

"Take care of your health, and believe me,

"Truly y'rs, "J. Van Buren." "Mr. Tilden."

GENERAL J. S. WHITNEY TO TILDEN

"79 State Street, "Boston, Sept. 27, 1864. "Hon. S. J. Tilden.

"Dear Sir,—I desire to introduce to your acquaintance my son, the bearer, Mr. William C. Whitney. My son wishes to complete, in your city, his preparation for practice in the law. I have taken the liberty of advising my son to call upon you for the reason that I believe a few words of friendly advice from yourself would be of great value to him in fixing upon his selection of an office for further preparation. Any advice or act of courtesy you may please to extend to my son, I need not say, will ever be regarded as a great personal favor to

"Your obt. Servt., "James S. Whitney."

General James E. Whitney was the father of the late William C. Whitney. At his behest, Governor Tilden was instrumental in securing for the son, then recently graduated from the Harvard Law School, the appointment of counsel for the corporation of the city and county of New York. The son subsequently became—through Mr. Tilden's aid, I believe—a very large proprietor of stock in the metropolitan railways, and later was a member of President Cleveland's Cabinet as Secretary of the Navy during that President's first term. He died in 1904.

TILDEN TO S. C. BALDWIN

"New York, Nov. 17, 1864.

"My dear Sir,—There are so many topics about which I desire to write you that I must touch them rapidly.

"1. You and Wetmore are elected directors of the Iron Cliff. You will be entitled to the information, advice, and aid which Wetmore shall be able to give.

"You must represent the company and act in all cases where it is necessary.

"2. Information. We need direct and frequent communications with the Cliff Co.

"Mr. Curtis will have more time than the rest, and his occupations will be more regular. He should write twice a week, giving information as to all matters concerning the operations of the co., the no. of men, the preparations to accommodate them, the work going on, etc.

"From you I should like to hear as often as you are able.

"Communications should be addressed S. J. Tilden, 12 Wall St., New York City.

"3. Col. Foster left Mr. Ray in charge of the Tilden and Foster mines; Mr. Foote in charge of the Ogden; Mr. Curtis managing the accounts and finances, and Mr. Whitehead conducting explorations; and these gentlemen, all in the main, independent of each other.

"I shall be surprised if disorganization does not develop the want of a head to enforce accountability and to govern and direct.

"For the time being you must assume and exercise whatever powers seem to be necessary in order to keep harmony between all these different authorities, and to see that all are working well.

"☞ Whether we shall need a mining head, independently of these gentlemen, is a question upon which, after you have studied them, and the working of the business, I should like your opinion. It may be that a general business head will be all that will be required, and that Mr. Ray and Mr. Foote will get along well in their respective departments. Or it may be that some man like Mr. Merry or Mr. Ferguson will be required.