"So many, however, take a different view from mine that it is highly desirable, in the event that M. Van Buren is to be the nominee of the Buffalo convention, to have all doubt on this matter removed, so that he may be received and understood everywhere as a true representative of the movement.
"The uprising in this State exceeds all expectation, and if we only can present a proper ticket at Buffalo we shall have the best chance of carrying the State. But the effect of the movement is different here from its effect in New York. The question in this State will be between the independent nominee and Cass. Taylor is, with us, entirely out of the question. The people reject him, and the politicians support him, when they do at all, doubtingly and without enthusiasm. The Cass men are more active and with better hopes. In conversation with Judge Wood yesterday, or the day before, I remarked to him that I was a little surprised, after reading of the interview between himself, Cass, and the people at Cleveland, to hear of his advocating on the stump the claims of Cass, as a Wilmot proviso man. 'Oh,' says the judge, 'He is for the proviso as much as any of us.' 'Do you mean to say, then, that the Nicholson letter was designed to cheat the South and get the nomination?' I asked. 'D—n them,' said he, 'it is their turn to be cheated.' This is a common argument among the Cass men; and as there is something like retribution in kind indicated by it, it don't take very badly among the people.
"I shall be very glad to hear from you, and to be advised of the views of yourself and others, to whom you may show this, as to what is best to be done and the best mode of doing it.
Yours very truly,
"S. P. Chase."
"P. S.—Did you or Mr. Preston King receive a telegraphic despatch, at Utica, stating the action of our people's convention, which adjourned the day before your session commenced? We, Mr. Vaughan and myself, sent one on the evening of the 21st, and it should have reached you on the morning of the 22d at the latest. We shall be glad to know whether it reached you at all, and, if so, when."
"New York, July, 1848.
"My dear Sir,—Your letter came here in the absence of Mr. J. Van Buren, which still continues, and it has been handed to me by Mr. Bryant, with a request that I would answer it. I desire to do so with perfect candor, and with as much accuracy as I can in regard to questions which depend upon the concurring action of numerous individuals composing a large party.
"As to your inquiry whether the Barnburners of New York will be represented in the Buffalo convention, I can only say that so far as representation consists in the presence of persons who will be asked to consult with the members of that body and inform them of the views of the Democracy, there will be no want of it. But representation of the formal and authoritative character which is usual in the delegated conventions of organized parties will not be possible, either from the nature of the convention itself or the circumstances in which the Democracy of this State are placed. The convention professes to be merely a mass convention, and does not aim at the indispensable characteristics of a delegated body—among which is a proportionate representation of ascertained constituents, whose numbers and relations are already known; but it will be simply a voluntary assemblage of individuals, whose relations to each other are to be for the first time established. Nor is there any person to act authoritatively for the Democracy of this State, as an organized body, until the meeting of the Utica convention on the 13th of Sept.
"But all this is not deemed to be a matter of much consequence. The Buffalo convention must act with spontaneous harmony or it will fail of its objects, and the spirit of the people and the circumstances of the occasion will be likely to make it very independent of forms. If it acts with wisdom, the Utica convention will doubtless concur in its nomination for the Vice-Presidency.
"As to the Presidency, it will not, under any circumstances, be practicable to change the position of the Democracy of this State. Their convictions on this subject would be irresistible, whatever might be the desires of leading men. Nominated, as Mr. Van Buren was, against his wishes, and because he was believed to be the strongest candidate with nearly all to whom they had a right to look for support, and acquiescing, as he did, on the ground that his old companions and their descendants had a right to his name to strengthen them in maintaining their characters and cause amid the perils and difficulties which surrounded them, it would not be decent towards him, now that more than they at first hoped is sure to be accomplished, to seek another representative. A still stronger consideration would be the bad faith of such a procedure towards large numbers of men and influential presses which have been drawn into our support of Mr. V. B.'s name. Another would be the great impolicy of changing front on the eve of battle, when the public mind has adapted itself and individuals have found relations with reference to the candidate. And another would be the conviction that in this State at least his name is far the strongest that can be presented with reference to practicable accessions to the cause. Of course this may be assumed to be the fact among the Democrats from whom our strength must mainly come—and the aid we have derived from it has been very great—while those Whigs who are disposed to go with us prefer him to any other Democrat, if I may judge from their expressions to me and others before the convention of the 22d of June.
"The Democracy of this State supports the cause and Mr. Van Buren, an organized party having more than fifty presses, many of which are the longest established and most influential in the State, and are organs on which perhaps the contest turns."
"Philadelphia, October 12, 1848.
"My dear Sir,—Your very kind and flattering letter of the first instant would have been sooner acknowledged but for my having had the pleasure of having with me Mr. and Mrs. Singleton and Miss McDuffie, and also your son, the colonel, and Angelica, and since they left me I have been so unwell as to be incapable of writing. And I am still too much indisposed to do much more than to express the gratification I derived from its perusal and to receive your commendation of my letter to Mr. Richards, which gave me the more pleasure, as I found my letter would disappoint him and other friends from its treating on newspaper and common-place topics, accessible to all, instead of giving facts and anecdotes not generally known, and which had become particularly well known to me, from the deep interest I have long taken in the subject, from my residence in Illinois at the period when efforts were made to make it a slave-holding State, and from my intimate acquaintance with most of the great men of the country. But I was sensible of not being able to do justice to the information I possessed, without a reference to documents not accessible to me at Schooleys Mountain.
"Your son John having requested me to send him a copy of a letter written by Mr. Jefferson to me in August, 1814, on the subject of slavery, and also a communication made by me to the National Intelligencer, and published in that paper Feb. 14, 1838, in relation to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, I have since my return home from my summer excursion enclosed them to him to 91 White Street, New York, and hope he has received them, as I think the republication of Mr. Jefferson's letter at this time will do much good.[15]
"In explanation of some parts of Mr. Jefferson's letter, I ought to add that it was written in reply to one from me, informing him of my repugnance to holding slaves, and my determination to leave Virginia unless I could see some prospect of abolishing slavery in the State, and urging him to step forward as the leader in the great work. He showed our correspondence to many persons, and urged them to associate with me and form what he called a phalanx for bringing forward the necessary measures to put an end to slavery. Seeing no prospect of success, I abandoned the State, restored to my slaves their liberty, and removed them to Illinois, where I have had the high gratification of seeing them free, happy, and prosperous.
"I have been too unwell to see and to deliver to our old friend, Mr. Short, your kind message. As soon as I am well enough to walk to his house I will do so. As I am now suffering a good deal from headache I must conclude, after repeating assurances of my great respect and sincere regard.
"Edward Coles.
"Martin Van Buren, ex-President U. S."
"New York, Oct. 16, 1848.
"Hon. Martin Van Buren.
"Respected Sir,—Under ordinary circumstances it would be out of place for such an humble individual as myself to address you, but I consider that a crisis has arrived in this country which calls for the untiring exertions of every good man to check the spread of slavery which threatens the very existence of the institutions of the country, and my apology may be found in the fact that I am identified with this proscribed class. You will recognize me as the conductor of a small newspaper in this city called the Ram's Horn, a few copies of which I have taken the liberty of mailing to your honor.
"The approaching election I look upon as one of considerable importance to the country, and altho my paper is not a political one, yet I have thought right under existing circumstances to advocate the nominees of the Buffalo convention,[16] and try to induce the few hundred of my colored brethren in this vicinity who have votes to cast them in favor of Free Soil. We have had several meetings, and, in fact, done all we could with our limited means, and I have consulted with the Free Soil men here what is our best course to pursue, and the conclusion is to continue publishing and operating as efficiently as we can among ourselves, and if we can obtain a little pecuniary assistance for a short time I think we can do considerable in the right direction. Can you put us in a way to have a little funds at our disposal, and thereby enable us to forward the good cause?
"Respectfully,
"Thos. Van Rensselaer."
"Lindenwald, October 18th, '48.
"My dear Sir,—As you are the man of business, if not the only one in our ranks, you must not complain of the trouble I am about to give you. The enclosed has embarrassed me not a little. Having been pleased with the writer's very successful reply to Mr. Gerrit Smith, which I think we read together, I feel loath to slight him altogether, and yet I can neither do what he suggests without falsifying my position or open a correspondence with him without exposing the act to perversion. I wish, therefore, you would take the trouble to send for him and explain to him my situation upon the said point.
In haste, very truly yours,
"M. Van Buren."
[From the "Evening Post," Dec. 23, 1848.]
"When we wrote our former articles on the bill of Mr. Douglass we had not seen the letter from Mr. Greeley which was published in Saturday's Tribune (Dec. 16, 1848). The intimation contained in that letter of his sentiments and probable course in regard to that bill if presented in its original form, would not have been allowed to pass without the animadversion which its extraordinary nature calls for, and which we shall now briefly make, not upon the impersonality which edits the Tribune, but upon Mr. Greeley, the legislator, who represents in part the people of this city in the highest councils of the nation.
"When, after having professed to consider the extension of slavery to free Territories as the question of questions involved in the late election—after having for months exhorted all to treat it as far above the other objects of party association, and reproached those who did not so treat it as false to freedom—after having at first distrusted the noble band of Democrats who proclaimed their determination to maintain throughout the canvass and at the polls the sentiments which they had before professed, taunted them with the prediction that they would ultimately surrender principles to a slavish subserviency to party, and at length applauded their constancy when it could no longer be disputed; after having stigmatized as recreant to principle and duty all who should support a candidate for the Presidency not avowedly in favor of the Wilmot proviso; after having denounced General Taylor as identified in interest and association with the slave power, and probably unsound in principle on the greatest of issues; when, after having done all this, the editor of the Tribune, on the eve of election, announced his intention to support General Taylor, to vote for a man because he was available, whom he had denounced for that very reason when nominated as an available; to vote for a man because he would beat Gen. Cass, whom he had denounced when nominated on that express ground; to vote for a man whom, after three months of nice balancing, he found to be a shade less objectionable than another candidate, because it was necessary to make a choice of evils between the nominees of the two old party organizations, no matter how wrong and dangerous the principles of both might be; thus surrendering the great question of freedom in the Territories, in the same manner and for the same reasons, for which most of the supporters of Taylor and Cass at the North professed to surrender it, and uniting with them in presenting the miserable spectacle of a number of electors sufficient to choose the President, all voting for men not representing their sentiments on a question professedly regarded by them as the most important, because there was no chance of electing one who did represent those sentiments; when, in a word, after all his former professions, Mr. Greeley ended in doing precisely what the original Taylor men and the Cass men of the North did, and for precisely the same reasons, and addressed to others precisely the same arguments which had been so long addressed to him in vain, and which he had been so long refuting, he shook deeply—very deeply—the confidence in his sincerity which his apparent zeal in behalf of freedom had inspired. For our part, we were inclined to take a charitable view of his conduct. We thought we saw him struggling in the meshes of party association, and yielding not until he had half satisfied his own conscience that he could vote for Taylor as not so certainly declared as Cass, and therefore not quite so objectionable on the great issue, and at last reconciled to himself by the general sense that it was a little better that Taylor should be elected than Cass. We thought we saw a painful conflict with his self-respect and his sense of consistency—a consciousness that he had not chosen the nobler, even if the more expedient, part—that he was doing at best a doubtful act against which his better nature revolted. We are disposed always to respect, in silence, such manifestations, and not to reproach.
"But what shall we think, what shall we say, of the spirit exhibited and the sentiments expressed in the following passage of Mr. Greeley's letter, which we have read with astonishment and regret:
"'... And now to revert to the main question—the organization of the new Territories, and the allowance or disallowance of slavery therein—I have been confidently hoping for an early and peaceful adjustment of the whole vexation. The bills of which Mr. Douglass, in Senate, gave notice on reaching this city—to provide for the organization of California as a State and New Mexico as a Territory—were signs of promise. Upon the basis here suggested, it seemed to me practicable to settle the whole difficulty without farther excitement or peril. I thought we should ultimately agree to permit New Mexico, as well as California, to take the requisite steps for organizing as a State, and bring them both into the Union in the course of the next two years, leaving them free to frame their own institutions. This done, the North would be morally certain that slavery would not be tolerated in either State, and the South would save the point of honor by the almost certain defeat (in Senate) of the Wilmot proviso, which, to an established and admitted State, is confessedly inapplicable. And thus would close the grave of agitation with regard to slave territory.'
"And the letter then proceeds to say that 'the bright sky has been overcast' by the modification by which it is proposed to annex the portion of New Mexico east of the Rio Grande to Texas, which is stated as the only objection to the bill.
"The first remarkable thing in this letter is the spirit in which it speaks of the question of extending slavery to the Territories now free. If the only thing to be done was to get rid of a troublesome question, Mr. Greeley's mind would seem to be directed exactly to the object. If the writer were one of the conservatives of the Syracuse convention of 1847, who laid the Wilmot proviso on the table, or one of the Whig Dough Faces of the Philadelphia convention, who 'kicked it out' of that body, the terms in which the measure is spoken of would be very characteristic. To adjust 'the whole vexation'—'to settle the whole difficulty without farther excitement or peril'—'to close the grave of the agitation,' was precisely what they desired to do. But if there is something more to be done than to evade this great question in order to save party arrangements from embarrassment—if it is of any importance to make freedom in the Territories certain instead of leaving it to chance—if the opinion, which has been so frequently and earnestly maintained by Mr. Greeley, as well as all who profess to be friends of freedom, that for this purpose an express enactment by Congress ought to be made, be not an utter imposture and fraud, then we submit that the spirit manifested in this letter is not that in which this great question should be treated.
"The second remarkable thing in the letter—and by far the most remarkable—is the mode in which it purposes to adjust 'the whole vexation.' A Territory extensive enough to make thirteen States as large as New York has been acquired; it is wholly unoccupied, except by a small population in a few localities. The question is, shall slavery be allowed to be established in it during its territorial condition? Neither party to the controversy regards as of practical moment the territorial condition, except as it will influence and practically control the conditions, in this respect, of the States which are to be formed out of the Territory. And it is gravely proposed at once to declare this Territory, which is in no proper situation to be formed into States, and which nobody would think of forming into a State now except for the purpose of getting rid of the necessity of acting on this subject, to be a State. And this is called by Mr. Greeley 'settling,' instead of dodging, the question!
"Gen. Cass proposed, in his Nicholson letter, to leave to the scattered inhabitants who are to be found in some small portions of this vast region to decide the question by a territorial legislature. Mr. Greeley, in his letter, proposes to leave it to precisely the same individuals 'free to frame their own institutions' by a State legislature.
"What essential difference is there between the two plans, so far as the extension or restriction of slavery is concerned?
"Suppose that on the 3rd of March next, at the close of the session, Mr. Greeley's plan should be adopted; that on the 3rd of July a territorial legislature should be elected; and that on the 3rd of September it should meet and adjust the 'whole vexation.' Or suppose that on the 3rd of March Gen. Cass's plan should be adopted; that on the 3rd of July a State legislature should be elected; and that on the 3rd of September it should meet and decide the question.
"Would it be important whether the government were called 'State' or 'territorial,' so long as it had equal power to act on this subject, and constituents and representatives were the same, assumed their functions at the same time, in the one case as in the other? Would it affect in the slightest degree the actual extension or restriction of slavery which should be decreed by them?
"But Mr. Greeley evidently thinks that this little change of names gets him over the whole difficulty. And he touches what he obviously regards as the point of the case when he adds that 'the Wilmot proviso' is 'to an established and admitted State' confessedly inapplicable.
"Without discussing the authority of Congress to insert a restriction against slavery in the act of admission, which was done with most of the Northwestern States, it is true that after a State has been established and admitted the Federal legislation has no power to apply to that State the 'Wilmot proviso'; and that by the unconditional conversion of a territory into a State Congress divests itself of that power. But it is not easy for anybody—except Mr. Greeley—to see how the reference of the question, even when confessedly within its jurisdiction to a territorial legislature, as proposed by Gen. Cass, is more objectionable in a moral point of view than the voluntary divestment of that jurisdiction for the very purpose of shirking off the question upon the same legislature called by a different name. Gen. Cass's plan has some advantages over that adopted by Mr. Greeley.
"It is less evasive and more manly, frank, and honest.
"It may afford some chance that the fate of the various parts of this immense tract of unsettled lands shall be decided by the people who shall at some future period inhabit them after they shall be organized into distinct Territories, the more densely populated portions having been admitted as States; which might be somewhat better than leaving to a few thousand persons in Santa Fé and San Francisco to fix the destinies of hundreds of thousands of square miles in which not one of these persons ever trod.
"Above all, it would not, in the miserable attempt to avoid the question of slavery in the Territories by admitting a State of boundless dimensions, incur the great and perilous mischiefs which we have pointed out in our two previous articles, to the safety and permanency of the confederacy, and incur these evils without the least necessity or any compensating benefit.
"But Mr. Greeley says that 'the North would be morally certain that slavery would not be tolerated' in the States to be formed. So said Gen. Cass in his Nicholson letter, when he proposed under a little different name to leave the question to be settled by exactly the same persons. So said Mr. Buchanan. So said Mr. Clayton. Yet nobody denounced their contrivances with more indignation than Mr. Greeley. Talk of the Cass 'juggle,' the Buchanan 'compromise,' the Clayton 'trap'—the Greeley and Douglass juggle is worse than any of them."
The prostration of the Democratic party—whether by the defeat of General Cass or by the conditions which procured his nomination, it is inopportune here to discuss—though a great disappointment to Mr. Tilden, was, like most disappointments, good-fortune in disguise. It gave him the opportunity and provocation to devote all his energies and talents for the succeeding quarter of a century to his profession, during which period of its service it rewarded him as the wisest of Israel's kings was rewarded for his obedience—with fame and fortune. In less time than he had spent in making himself a leader of his party in New York, he placed himself in the front rank of the American bar.
It was not until the year 1850 that Mr. Tilden leased his first office for professional purposes after his admission to the bar. It was on the third floor of what was then known as Jauncey Court, now replaced by majestic banking-houses, on the south side of Wall Street, a few doors west of William street. His landlord was Alexander Hamilton, Jr., one of the sons of President Washington's first Minister of Finance. Here is a copy of their agreement, followed by a bill of Tilden's personal taxes for the previous year:
"This is to certify that I have hired and taken from Alexander Hamilton, Jr., the office, consisting of two rooms, on the 3rd floor of the Jauncey Court Building, and marked on a plan of said building No. 1 (it being understood and agreed that if the above premises shall be rendered untenantable by fire, the rent shall cease during the interval occurring from the happening of said fire until the premises shall have been repaired), for the term of three years from the first day of May, 1850, at the yearly rent of four hundred and twenty-five dollars, payable on the usual quarter days.
"And I hereby promise, in consideration thereof, to make punctual payment of the rent in manner aforesaid, and quit and surrender the premises at the expiration of the said term, in as good state and condition as reasonable use and wear thereof will permit, damages by the elements excepted, and not to assign, let or underlet the whole or any part of the said premises, or occupy the same for any business deemed extra-hazardous on account of fire, without the written consent of the landlord, under the penalty of forfeiture and damages. And I do hereby, for the consideration of aforesaid, waive the benefit of the exemption specified in the first section of the act entitled 'An act to extend the exemption of household furniture and working tools from distress for rent and sale under execution,' passed April 11, 1842, and agree that the property thereby exempted shall be liable to distress for said rent; and also, that all property liable to distress for rent shall be so liable, whether on or off the said premises, wheresoever and whensoever the same may be found.
"Given under my hand and seal this day of February, 1850,
in the presence of
"Samuel J. Tilden." [Seal.]
This lease was renewed on the 12th of February, 1853, for three years, to end May 1, 1856, for $550 a year, an increase of $125 a year.
The rent paid for these two rooms by Mr. Tilden does not contrast more violently with the price of equal accommodations now, than his charges for his professional service during his first year contrasts with the rewards for similar work expected by his profession a half-century later, as appears by some of his bills, which follow, at that period:
"New York, Dec. 1849.
"To the Supervisors of the City and County of New York, for Taxes, 1849.
"Mr. Saml. J. Tilden.
"To tax on personal estate, 11 Fifth Avenue.
"Valuation, 2000.
"Rate, 118.32.
"Tax, 23.66."
Mr. Tilden had already become interested in a small way in the establishment of the first balance dock ever provided for the New York harbor. His friends, O'Sullivan, Waterbury, and Secor, were also among the number interested with him. The following contract shows the nature and extent of Mr. O'Sullivan's interest. The venture did not prove very profitable to them, nor to have received much attention from Mr. Tilden.
"New York, Nov. 22, 1850.
"Whereas, I have this day drawn a draft at three months on C. A. Secor in favor of Messrs. Wright & Betts for about sixteen hundred and fifty dollars, and the same has been accepted by said C. A. Secor, I hereby authorize and request you to hold twenty shares given stock in the Balance Dock Company (out of the forty-two shares of which the certificate is in your hands, with my power of attorney to make transfers of the same dated March 14, 1850), as security for the payment of said draft; said twenty shares to be sold for payment of same unless satisfactory provision for its payment be made by me within one week prior to its maturity.
"To S. J. Tilden, by
"J. L. O'Sullivan."
"I hold a certificate of twenty shares of stock in the Balance Dock, with a power of attorney from J. L. O'Sullivan in regard to the same, which have been deposited with me by Messrs. O'S. and Secor, and I accept the trust so far as the said papers may enable me to carry it out.
"S. J. Tilden."
"New York, Nov. 22, 1850."
"New York, Nov. 29th, 1850.
"My dear Madam,—Your letter of Oct. 13th, and that of Mr. Chase accompanying it, came at the commencement of an illness which disabled me for some time from making the inquiries which yours requested. Since my recovery I have been diligently seeking to learn something of the line of steamers destined to touch periodically at Vera Cruz and Tampico. Mr. Geo. Law, who is the principal man in the Chagres line, and Mr. Wetmore, an associate of his in that enterprise, inform me that nothing of the kind has been connected with their line; and they agree in thinking that, although such a proposition was before Congress, it did not pass. Mr. Brooks, who represents this district in the House of Rep., and who is conversant with such matters, is of the same opinion. Mr. Croswell, of Albany, not of this city, who is interested in the Chagres line, and whom I was fortunate enough to meet a few evenings since, has the same impression, but referred me to young Mr. Worth, of this city, as having something to do with a project for such a line. On inquiry of that gentleman I find that he is not aware of any action of Congress on the subject; that the project is purely commercial, and that it is so very immature that it can scarcely be deemed to have an existence. This was for a line between this city and Vera Cruz. The laws of the last session have not as yet been published, so that I could not examine them. I am thus particular, because one gentleman of whom I inquired had an impression that such a bill did pass. While there seemed to be very little definite knowledge, my conclusion is that no such line has been authorized, but I shall keep an eye to the matter, and communicate to you any information which may seem important.
"I found in a N. O. paper that the steamer Alabama will make trips at intervals of about 20 days from that place to Vera Cruz. The news that reached you may have originated partly in this circumstance and partly in the pendency of a proposition, such as you mention, in Cong.
"It would give me great pleasure to aid Mr. Chase, in the way you desire, so far as I may have power, if such a line should be established; though the thing is as yet so indefinite—and I am inclined to think will remain so—that I cannot estimate my ability to serve him.
"The friends of whom you inquire—Mr. Green, Miss Green, and Miss H.—are well and pursuing happiness ardently in their customary modes: each one pursuing his favorite phantom, the poet hath it, but I will not apply to them the association that rises in my memory. There are objects in life which are not phantoms—tho' little pursued, and not by many. I am tempted to seek for myself the gracious welcome that awaits the bearer of good-tidings by telling you that Miss. H. intends to leave here on a Southern tour in the latter part of Dec., and has some thoughts, even hopes, of persuading her father to prolong the excursion to Tampico. But do not flatter yourself too much. Wind and weather are not less uncertain on the Gulf than elsewhere, and even the steady purpose and persuasive power that characterize our friend may not prevail against every mischance.
"The change in the nat. adn. was as sudden and remarkable as you regard it. The policy of the gov. was a little modified by it, but on the whole it was most striking as illustrating how quietly our political machine works, even while the hands that seem—and seem only—to guide it are shifted. I do not share, to any considerable extent, the apprehensions entertained or professed by many as to a dissolution of our federative union. I would not needlessly put its bonds to the test. But I think they would prove stronger than is generally supposed; that danger would bring upon the theatre of public affairs a higher class of men than the holiday patriots who figure there in a season of peace—men who would represent the actual sentiments of the masses of our citizens, the serious, earnest purposes, now applied to private objects, that would be turned to the preservation of the Union as an important, practical means to great public ends. The idea of American nationality—progress and destiny—is the master-thought in the minds of our people, and creates a tendency to unity in the govt. quite strong enough. I have, too, a feeling—for it may be that, rather than a conclusion of reason—on this subject, which some may call superstitious. I believe that the gradual amelioration and culture of our race is in the inevitable order of Providence. I see elements which have been and are preparing our country to act a grander part than any has hitherto done in this great plan. That part is to be wrought out, not by an indolent repose on what our ancestors have ordained for us, but by trials and sacrifices and earnest efforts to solve the great social and civil questions which necessarily arise in the experiences of a nation. It seems to me—but here I may read the sacred oracles not aright—that the Union is an essential condition to the destiny we appear appointed to fulfil; and I believe it firm enough and strong enough to endure the conflict of social and political forces which is going on within its bosom. It will survive them all, working out what it can, and as far as it can, and casting off to a future period what it cannot now entirely work out.
"I resume my letter which has been in my portfolio unfinished for more than a week. A current of affairs suddenly struck me, and swept me on so incessantly that I have not before been able to return to it. You must not infer, however, that I affect any special industry, or that I am ordinarily so busy. My life has vibrated between a leisure in which I amused myself with books, and the greatest activity in pubic and private affairs; and, if the last few months have been as engrossingly occupied as any part of it with professional and personal business, I do not expect or desire it to be generally so hereafter. What has most exacted attention was temporary and occasional, and has, as yet, produced, and may produce nothing to me or to others, though lest such a confession excite too much pity for me I will add that in the mean time what has cost me comparatively little trouble has been sufficiently fruitful. My disposition is not to permit merely private business to engross me, nor to be in any of an unprofessional nature which creates anxiety. I have never been accustomed to surrender to it my inner life, or to allow its cares to fill those little interstices between actual occupation which are instinctively given to, and which characterize our ruling habits of thought and feeling. There no doubt is danger, as the relations of business multiply around us and our enthusiasm for public objects is qualified or weakened and our sympathies often come back upon us as the chilled blood returns from the extremities to the heart, that what furnishes occupation to our activity without the trouble of seeking it and without making us inquire whether we choose it, will grow too much upon our attention. But I desire to reserve something to better purpose—something to friends and to myself, and possibly, if hereafter I can recall the enthusiasm of early years, with a share of its former strength and steadiness, something to consecrate life by a sense that it has not been wholly given to objects so selfishly egotistical as are most of those which we pursue. It is time for me to stop; for I am moralizing, when I began merely to exclude a possible inference that I have not leisure to care for the wishes and interests of my friends, and to assure you that I am always happier if I can serve them, and glad to talk with them, as I now do, even if it be at such a frightful distance as, in this age of ocean steamers, railways, and telegraphs, to put a quarter of a year between question and answer.
"I wrote you a very long letter—I tremble to think I ever addressed such a missive to a lady—all full of finances and figures, on about the first of October. I mention it lest it may have miscarried. I should regret if you have failed to get the answer it attempted to your inquiries. I have hoped, and do hope, to hear from you in respect to it and its subject, if I can at all aid you. As a whole, it was not intended to be answered—as somebody said of his own speech—but I do look for a reply; I hope it may be an early and favorable reply—to some parts of it—as, for instance, that you are rapidly maturing your plan of changing your residence to this country, and that, at all events, you are coming over here next spring. If you should say that, you may take your own time for the statistics of the money-market and of money-making. Waiting patiently as I can for such an answer, and begging you to present my best respects to Mr. Chase, I remain,
"Very truly, your friend,
"S. J. Tilden."
"There are, of course, the U. S. sixes, if you are content with so low a rate of interest. The New York stocks are about the same. There are others which are lower. If put to the choice myself, I should prefer bonds secured by mortgages on real estate, or, as we familiarly call them, b. and m. at 7 p. c., which, with care, can be had, even in the present plethora of money. There are also many varieties of bonds of private companies paying 6 or 7 p. c.; but, as a general rule, I should decidedly prefer bonds and mortgages on real estate.
"There are also stocks of private companies. Many of the banks are earning 7, 8, 10, or even more per cent. But these stocks are at considerable premiums, and have risen much recently. They cannot be always continuing on the ascending series. When a commercial depression shall occur these bonds will feel it more promptly and more deeply than that of most corporations; their dividends will be reduced, the premiums (which are equivalents for future, unearned, dividends) will fall off; and you may lose more by this decline than you have realized in the excess of the dividends over a fair interest. The same remark is applicable to the few railways which pay very large dividends, although they are not so sensitive to the fluctuations of commerce as the banks—in this as in the other case. The Delaware & Hudson Canal Company—whose business is to produce and bring to market anthracite coal—has declared about 16 per cent. for the last four or five years. The premium on its stock is now 50 p. c. That is lower than it has been, because of special circumstances, while I think that the next year's business will be better. The dividend is over 10 p. c. on premium and all. I would rather risk the continuance of its high premium than in any other case of a railroad. I may say, any other similar case. There is a similar company which has just come into operation—a very solid concern—which we think will be at least as good; its stock at a premium of 15 p. c. It is not so well known or so promptly marketable, and its stock is in a rather complex form, which it is expected to simplify next winter. It would be idle to say that I have not great confidence in it, since I have transferred what I had in the other to it, and have put in it more than the sum you mention in your letter; but I should not like to have another person invest in it or any similar thing merely on my judgment; and, to do so on his own, he ought to have more detailed knowledge than could be communicated in this hasty letter. The claim is that its stock will not advance much for the next 3 months—perhaps not for the next 6 or 8 months.
"There are also classes of ins., to some of which I have great objection, but it would be futile now to discuss their merit.
"With respect to investments in private companies generally, I have some observations to make. A very large proportion of one's means should not be concentrated in one institution, especially without the most thorough familiarity with its affairs. A wise selection between them requires at any time special knowledge and individual judgment; and more so now than usually. The abundance of capital and low rates of interest causes high premiums to be given for the most productive stocks as well as the most so that it is scarcely possible to get them at prices [half a page is here utterly undecipherable] unless in special cases where the enterprise is comparatively new and unknown, or its real merits are not fully appreciated by the public, in which cases you rely upon what you suppose to be superior information or judgment.
"I ought to add, in qualification of those general views, that I do not mean that the market has reached its highest elevation. I think it probably has not; nor can I now see the particular time when, or the particular event by which a change is to take place. We are not in a state of high speculative excitement; we appear to be tending to such a state, though causes may occur to check the tendency. But we do know that—whether the present abundance of capital and prosperity of business shall, temporarily, increase or not—we cannot expect them to continue for a very long period, even to the present degree. It is desirable to make your investment at as low prices as possible, in order to enhance your interest and have greater security against possible contingencies; but even this consideration may be so modified by peculiar circumstances that it is difficult to state an absolute rule applicable to all cases.
"On the whole, your main interest is to find your money safe and available when you come here, and are able to make a permanent disposition of it on your own judgment. I am gratified to be able to believe that you have already secured an ample provision for the future—its reasonable tastes as well as its necessities—at a rate of productiveness which will give the greatest safety. Anything that you can hereafter add to your income or capital would be really of very slight importance to you, compared with what you now have. I do not undervalue your fortitude and energy, or concede to own to the impertinent advances of time, when I say that your chief care should be to avoid even the possibility of being compelled to begin anew the work of life—so far as the providing for its material wants can be called such—when, if the period most fitted for that purpose have not passed, the years which have been allotted to it cannot be recalled. The advantages of such skilful disposition of your means as are consistent with safety—and such advantages there are—will be to be enjoyed by you when you shall become—as I hope you soon may—a resident in our country. In the mean time, a deposit with the trust company seems to be as good a temporary arrangement as you can make at your distance from the scene or as I can suggest in my ignorance of your particular affairs, wishes, and future movements. I need not add that any aid which I can give you in making this or any other disposition of your remittances which you may prefer will be very cordially rendered. I shall be happy also to answer further inquiries and convey additional information, as far as can be done by correspondence; and shall hope to do so more promptly than I have been able this time, and more briefly; for without purpose to be very I happen to have been visited by unusual concourse of people talking to me about all sorts of things and by a necessity of my talk with you very rambling and diffuse. I have had the to read it over—with something of dismay that I should ever have written such a letter to a lady, and I must beg that it be communicated to Mr. Chase, to whom, in truth, it seems mainly to be addressed—and to all eyes but his remain forever a sealed book. It might ruin all my prospects with less forbearing fair ones if it were supposed there could be any risk of a similar epistle.
"If you should place a deposit, or otherwise temporarily dispose of such remittances as you may make through the winter, would not the true policy be for Mr. and Mrs. C. to come on here for a short time, next spring or summer, to make more permanent arrangements? The journey is not much, and might be more than repaid by the business results. If you could leave your affairs at home the trip might be useful in all respects. I have left myself little space for other topics. But I must find room to say, in reply to the friendly message of Mr. Chase, that I consider myself already, in some sort, acquainted with him, and to beg that he will not measure the little attentions I had the pleasure of rendering to a lady who interested me, as well by her personal qualities as by the situation in which I met her, by the disproportionate sense of them which she entertains.
"I fear the probability of my being able to visit Tampico at present is not sufficiently substantial to fabricate a dream of. My consolation must be the hope of meeting you here, in which I trust you will not disappoint me. The authority with which you commission me to 'say many kind things' to certain of your friends—if intended to be general—is too flattering in its conferment and too agreeable in its exercise to be renounced. And yet I fear I should not be the 'faithful agent' you hope if I did not candidly admit how little, in this respect, you need, or can be aided, by any service of mine.
"Hoping to hear from you shortly, and to see you at an early period, and wishing Mr. C. and you every prosperity and happiness, I remain,
"Very truly, your friend,
"——."