"The 'Dry-Goods party,' as by general consent the fusionists have come to be designated, held what they called a 'Union meeting' last night at the Cooper Institute. They did not meet at Tammany Hall, for obvious reasons, though it must have made some of the gentlemen who contributed towards the expense of the entertainment feel a little queer when they found themselves associating politically with a class of men who could not be persuaded to put a foot inside of the old Wigwam. It has been observed that political parties, as they decline in strength, lengthen the list of officers supposed to officiate at their public gatherings, just as the shadows of mountains lengthen as the sun goes down. The Dry-Goods party did not attempt to be an exception; on the contrary, they seem to have made all of their party vice-presidents that they did not make president and secretaries. In looking over the list of gentlemen who figure on this occasion, we could not but be struck with what Clay called the 'mutability of all human opinion.' It seemed as if the milky portion of the old barn-burning party of '48 which had soured from the effects of Republican thunder, had been specially served up for the public entertainment. There was Dix, who ran for Governor with Van Buren in 1848 against Cass, nominated for chairman by Wilson G. Hunt, largely in the dry-goods line, who supported Van Buren and free soil as zealously and liberally as he now supports Breckinridge, Douglas, Bell, Sam & Co.
"Our old friend Tilden, who stood at the wheel during all those troublous times; who was one of the counsel for the Barnburners in the Baltimore convention of 1848, and who helped to lead the Evening Post into all its free-soil heresies without ever showing it any decent way out of them, offered the resolutions and made a short speech. It would have been longer, but the audience wished to hear Wood. Either Wood or a song they must have, and so Mr. Tilden retired with his speech just as good as new, and, as it appeared, too good for his audience, that they might hear a song from a Mr. Cosgrove, Wood being returned by the officer 'not found.' The preference for Wood is explained, perhaps, by the fact that the first vice-president, W. B. Astor, was one of the ten or dozen gentlemen who certified to Mayor Wood's character when a candidate a second time for the 'mayorality'—as Mr. Wood is in the habit of spelling the dignity he at present enjoys—and who recommended him warmly to the suffrages of the people. All the rest of the gentlemen who signed that 'character,' Moses Taylor, M. Aspinwall, the Browns, etc., figure also among the vice-presidents, and it is not strange, therefore, that a meeting thus officered should prefer a speech from Fernando Wood to a speech from Samuel J. Tilden.
"Then there was Henry Grinnell, who paid liberally towards raising the standard of rebellion at the park meeting, held shortly after the nomination of Cass, in 1848, and whose name was freely used by the Barnburners until about the time that the Union-saving steamship companies began to be incorporated and subsidized by Congress. Since then he has had little or no interest in anything North, this side of the Arctic circle.
"John Cochrane, Dan Norris, Henry Eveson, William F. Havemeyer, Stephen Cambreleng, Charles A. Secor, Myndert Van Schaick, whom, to his great disappointment, the Barnburners failed to elect Mayor of the city before the days of fusion, T. B. Tappen, John Van Buren, A. B. Conger, Addison Gardiner, etc., etc., make up the list of distinguished Barnburners of the milky sort who have 'turned,' and now form the cheesy pillars and architrave of the Dry-Goods party.
"The speakers for the evening were James W. Gerard and Charles O'Conor, two of our ablest lawyers, skilled to make the worse appear the better reason, and, from long professional training, about as much at home on one side of a question as another. As neither of these gentlemen were in good standing with the old Democratic party, the first being an old Whig and the other a fractious and crockery-breaking independent, they were listened to with patience by an assembly conspicuously impatient of anything savoring of old-fashioned Democracy.
"What effect the bringing together such a crowd of officers for such a thin display of speakers will have upon the dry-goods market will doubtless appear in the column where such reports are usually chronicled; what effect it will have on the Pennsylvania election will appear by the returns in to-morrow's Evening Post; what effect it will have upon the vote of this State is of no sort of consequence, for we were sure of a large majority before it was held, and of course we may reasonably expect a larger majority now.
"We are sorry about Mr. Tilden's speech. We have no doubt it was a good one, and as we are the friends of free speech we will publish it cheerfully in the Evening Post if he will give us the opportunity. It will reach a great many more of his friends through our columns than stood within the reach of his voice, and they will all be glad to know by what process so clever a man has reasoned himself into such bad company."
"'Atlas & Argus' Office.
"Albany, Octr., 1860.
"Dear Tilden,—Newell tells me that you are preparing a reply to the Post's appeal to be 'shown the way out.' Do so; and it will give me a chance to write an editorial, which I intended and postponed till the occasion passed by. I enclose a reply to an assault upon our consistency, the last half of which is apropos to the Post's inquiry. I am afraid your committee of fifteen will do more harm than good—as usual. You recollect how the Castle Garden movement defeated Seymour and elected Church, reversing its intended effect, and how the Fifth Avenue movement of last year paralyzed us? Let it go, however, with the other blunders.
"What I write to you about is to say that I intend to come down to New York on the 7th proxo. and consult you in regard to a project which O—— and I have long discussed—establishing a New York daily. We can readily get $60,000 (or more) for shares, and from a few men. I can name Plumb, DeWolf, Johnson (of Oswego), Ross—besides Richmond, Cagger, Corning, Kelly, etc. We could add what an establishment here is worth, $40,000 or $50,000. The sum could be increased, and all subscribed outside of New York. It is not for help (to ask you 'to go round with a paper,' as your party friends generally do), but simply for advice. Wesley, the banker, once proposed to sell me some of his interest in the Times if I would go in there. This is entre nous, and I allude to it only to explain why I am going to consult him, as well as you.
"If we could buy the World, the Express, or the Post, that would make the best beginning. If we established the New York Argus or The Age we could start with a larger subscription and in better organization than any two other persons. Of course we would have to go to great expense, employ many hands and heads, and meet a fearful competition. But neither of us are without experience, and we have regarded the question on all sides. There must be, and there will be, a Democratic organ in New York. Who is to control it? In the transitive state of politics, 'that is the question.' There's a vast volume of Democratic patronage going to waste in the city, and still more beyond it. We send out 40,000 weekly papers from Albany, and in less than a year could raise it to 200,000 if we were in New York. That is as much as Greeley has for his Tribune, and that is the source of its influence.
"There is plenty of ability in New York that could be called in. What is wanted is conduct—a policy, prudence, independence—for the political part. For the business part we want competent men—an association, if possible, with a great publishing house, in order to avail ourselves of literary talent, not allowing it, however, to be our publisher. Commercial and other reporters, and enough literary talent to supply a daily feuilleton; for we must call on the aid of fiction, as the Paris papers do, and so gratify a taste which is stronger here than anywhere else. I would commence by getting Hawthorne or some writer of equal talent to furnish a novel, which might be republished afterwards in a volume, and which would thus pay. To do this, we should want a paper like the World. We will reverse the wish of Archimedes: give us the World, and we will find the lever to move it.
"But I intend to ask your advice, not to forestall it. Until I see you, which will be after the November triumph, I remain
"Yr. frd. & fellow-sufferer,
"Wm. Cassidy."
"When Wood was elected by Greeley's agency, I made up my mind that he would administer retributive justice upon G. & Co. by some stupendous organization of the canvassers. But you have an honest vote of 100,000. The Republicans are not entitled to more than 30,000 of this. Give us 40,000, and we will carry the State. Organize—make them do it. The registry will facilitate such work."
"October 10, 1860.
"Dear Tilden,—Send on your MS. to-night if you can; that is, what is ready, and the rest as early as possible to-morrow. I will then announce it to-morrow for Saturday. If we undertake to get it up to-morrow it will not be well printed, as all outside matter must be in hand before 10 o'clock. Of course, therefore, the men will have to work on it in the afternoon after the work of to-morrow's paper or to-day's to get it up and properly proved. Besides, I want time myself to read it, for I presume, if you sleep in my bed, I should have the privilege of making it up.[27]
"Yours truly,
"John Bigelow."
"Evg. Post, Oct. 11, 1860.
"My dear Tilden,—By the Post of to-day you will see that our printers are waiting for copy. I desired to put you in a position to be regarded by the public as a representative of your party, and by your party as their chief and most capable champion and defender. If you prefer to put what you have to say in the form of a letter you need not hesitate to do so in consequence of anything which has passed. Artistically, I can imagine that the letter shape will have some advantages over an undelivered speech, and I would recommend it, though it was my purpose only to say I hoped you would unburden yourself in just the way you find most agreeable.
"If you can let me know, a day or two in advance, when your copy will be ready I shall be more sure to secure a place for it without delay.
"Speaking in your interest, not in our own, I would advise you to be as brief as possible, for I want to have what you write read. If you can get within a couple of columns, so much the better for all concerned.
"Let me suggest that whatever you have to say you will lose nothing by conceding the errors which have brought the Dem. party to its present condition. It becomes you to write as a statesman, and not as a partisan, in this instance, at least, and perhaps we Republicans, as well as those you particularly address, may profit by your teachings.
"Yours truly,
"John Bigelow."
"2 Union Place, Oct. 11, 1860.
"Ev.
"My dear Bigelow,—I thank you for the very kind terms of your note. I entirely agree with you as to the letter form, and the space you suggest is what had occurred to me as proper. I shall keep as nearly as possible to it. I note what you say as to notice. My only real difficulty is the rush of things in which I live.
"Very truly yours,
"S. J. Tilden."
"Oct. 27, 1860.
"My dear Bigelow,—I extremely regret that my letter has reached such unexpected length; and I have condensed it as much as possible, and omitted much which I desired to say, but you did not propose, nor I undertake, to have the thing done too imperfectly. I must, therefore, throw myself upon your indulgence. I assume you will, and that the balance will appear on Monday.
"Very truly yours,
"S. J. Tilden."
"Sat. Morn., Oct. 27, 1860."
"Nov. 6, 1860.
"My dear Sir,—I cannot content myself with a mere formal acknowledgment of your admirable pamphlet, which I have read with extreme pleasure. Nothing which I have met with on the dreadful subject which now convulses the country has seemed to me more clearly or forcibly urged.
"I remain, dear sir, with high respect,
"Very truly yours,
"Edward Everett."
"Selma, Near Winchester, Va., 12th Novr., 1860.
"Dear Sir,—I have just read your pamphlet—'The Union, its dangers, and how they can be averted.' To say only that it is the best which the occasion has called forth, would be to do as little justice to my discrimination as to its merit.
"It is too late now to arrest the catastrophe which it shows impending; but it must, to minds capable of understanding fact and logic, force the people to pause and consider.
"I trust that measures will be taken to give it an extended circulation in the Northern States; in the South its effect only can be to make the people comprehend what they already feel.
"My note, however (which I am obliged to write through an amanuensis), is only to thank you for this great contribution to American thought, and, like the hungry schoolboy, to ask for more. Can you oblige me by sending me some twenty copies, or as many as you can conveniently spare?
"From your obliged
"friend and servant,
"J. M. Mason."
"S. J. Tilden, Esq., New York."
"Boston, Nov. 19, 1860.
"Dear Sir,—I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of, and to thank you for, your letter on the Union. I agree with you heartily in your views: they are sound, wise, and patriotic; but what avails it to proclaim them? Anybody who preaches moderation and forbearance—who endeavors to calm the tempest of excited feeling—is called 'a skulking neutral,' or, at best, an obsolete old fogy, whose proper place is in Noah's ark. We must learn wisdom by the smart of folly, and it looks very much as if the teaching was begun. I look upon Mr. Seward as the most mischievous man now in the public service; and for his incendiary course he has not the apology of a fervid temperament and rash blood. His words are the more dangerous, because so deliberately uttered. But I rejoice that you have written the letter, and that so many patriotic and judicious men have been willing to speak and write as you have done. Always anticipating the election of Lincoln, I have been in the habit of saying to our friends that the value and importance of the Union party would not be fully apparent until after that event. I think I was a true prophet. If the country is to be safely navigated through the shoals which are around and ahead, it will be by the agency and instrumentality of the Union party.
"Yrs. truly,
"G. S. Hillard."
"Samuel J. Tilden, Esq."
(Continued and Concluded.)
"The people of the United States voted yesterday upon the questions at issue between the Republicans and their adversaries, as represented by Lincoln and Hamlin, candidates of the former, and by Douglas and Johnson, Breckinridge and Lane, and Bell and Everett, representing the latter, with the following result:"
| LINCOLN AND HAMLIN. | |
|---|---|
| Connecticut | 6 |
| Illinois | 11 |
| Indiana | 13 |
| Iowa | 4 |
| Maine | 8 |
| Massachusetts | 13 |
| Michigan | 6 |
| Minnesota | 4 |
| New Hampshire | 5 |
| New York | 35 |
| Ohio | 23 |
| Pennsylvania | 27 |
| Rhode Island | 4 |
| Vermont | 5 |
| Wisconsin | 5 |
| Total | 169 |
| DOUGLAS AND JOHNSON. | |
| Missouri | 9 |
| Total | 9 |
| DOUBTFUL. | |
| Oregon | 3 |
| California | 4 |
| Total | 7 |
| BRECKINRIDGE AND LANE. | |
| Alabama | 9 |
| Arkansas | 4 |
| Florida | 3 |
| Georgia | 10 |
| Louisiana | 6 |
| Mississippi | 7 |
| North Carolina | 10 |
| South Carolina | 8 |
| Texas | 4 |
| Total | 61 |
| BELL AND EVERETT AND FUSION. | |
| Delaware | 3 |
| New Jersey | 7 |
| Kentucky | 12 |
| Maryland | 8 |
| Tennessee | 12 |
| Virginia | 15 |
| Total | 57 |
| Electoral Votes. | |
|---|---|
| For Lincoln and Hamlin | 169 |
| For Breckinridge and Lane | 61 |
| For Bell and Everett | 57 |
| For Douglas and Johnson | 9 |
| For Doubtful | 7 |
| Whole electoral vote | 303 |
| Lincoln's majority over all, certain | 35 |
| If Oregon and California vote for Lincoln it will add to his majority | 7 |
| Total | 42 |
"Dec. 6, 1860.
"My dear Sir,—Two modes of investing the future owners of the P. F. W. H. R.[29] with a corporate character within the State of Ohio have been suggested.
"1. One is to make them a corporation of the State of Ohio—by creating them a new corporation, or by continuing to them the old corporate franchise.
"I understand Mr. Stanbery and Mr. Hunter to propose the latter method. By providing for the transfer of the existing franchise to be a corporation by a general law, they avoid the constitutional provision that 'the general assembly shall pass no special act conferring corporate powers.' They think, also, that by preserving the identity of the existing franchise they can avoid the operation of the constitutional provision 'that in all cases each stockholder shall be liable over and above the stock by him or her owned, and any amount unpaid thereon, to a further sum, at least equal in amount to such stock,' upon the ground that the provision is not retractive, and was established subsequently to existence of this corporation. They think, also, that although the identity of the corporation will be preserved, it can be discharged from liability for the debts and contracts which it has made. If it should be found to be liable for those debts and contracts, the main object of the reorganization would fail.
"2. The other mode is to make the future owners a corporation of Pennsylvania or Illinois, and to enable that corporation to hold, maintain, and operate the part of the road which is situate in Ohio, without being a corporation of the State of Ohio.
"To enable a Pennsylvania corporation, for instance, to hold, maintain, and operate the part of the road situate in Ohio two things are necessary:
"First, that it should be endowed by the law of its creation (which would be the act of Pennsylvania creating it), with capacity to hold, maintain, and operate the part of the said road which is situate within Ohio.
"Secondly, that it should have the consent, implied or expressed, of the State of Ohio to the exercise within that State of its powers to hold, maintain, and operate the part of the railroad situate within that State.
"Such consent in this case will be implied, unless the implication is negatived by express legislative declaration of the public policy of the State.
"As the laws of Ohio allow an individual purchaser to hold, maintain, and operate the railroad—which individual might be a non-resident—and as there is no policy established by legislation or by a judicial construction to disable a corporation of another State having the requisite capacity from doing so, the case comes clearly within the principle on which nearly all the acts of corporations in other States than those of their creation are sustained by the courts as lawful.
"The rights of the State of Ohio are not violated; for it is by her consent that these powers will be exercised within her dominion. That consent could have been withheld. I do not say that it might not be withdrawn by legislation, not so as to divest rights of property which accrued while it existed, but so as to produce inconvenient consequences to the tenure of the corporators: nor will I advert to the fact that a vast number of transactions are daily carried on in some of the States by corporations of other States, subject to the same possibility, or that in some States, as in New York, most corporations exist subject to full legislative power to repeal the act conferring the franchise.
"For I have not doubted—I have uniformly expressed the opinion that in a case of the peculiar nature and vast importance of the present it is wise to obtain an express consent.
"Shall that consent be given by special act or general law? Would it have any effect on the extent of the liability of the corporations?
"The essence of the corporate character is that several individuals are united in one body—enabled to exist and act as an artificial person created by law, the members of which can change without impairing the identity of that body of person.
"The code of regulations, according to which it exists and acts, which fix its modus is incidental to that creation.
"Its other powers, which may be and often are possessed and exercised by natural persons, are not, strictly speaking, corporate powers, such, for instance, as making discounts, granting insurances, operating railroads; there is nothing in the nature of these powers which necessarily confines them to corporations. They are not of the essence or of the incidents of the corporate character. I think the prohibition of the Ohio Constitution that 'the general assembly shall pass no special act conferring corporate powers' is a mere paraphrase of the prohibition of the New York Constitution, contained in the following provision: Corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by special act, etc. The next clause of the Ohio Constitution provides that 'corporations' may be formed under general laws.
"The provision was, in the main, copied from the Constitution of New York. The modification of details accounts for the change in the collocation.
"In a cursory review of the discussions in the Ohio convention I see no trace that anything further was intended by the prohibition than to interdict the creation of corporations by special acts.
"That construction accords with the true meaning of the words 'corporate powers,' which is powers essential or incident to the nature of the artificial being created by law—such as the power to take a common name, to have corporate succession, to contract and be contracted with, and to sue and be sued as one person, etc. These are properly corporate powers. It is true the words are sometimes used to include all the powers which the particular corporation possesses; but that is a loose and inaccurate use.
"I think that the correct interpretation of the publication is that it simply forbids the creation of a corporation by a special act of incorporation—nothing more. It does not forbid an act operating to enlarge, modify, or restrict the rights of an existing corporation, any more than it does a similar act in respect to a natural person in a like case. Still less does it forbid such legislation in respect to a foreign corporation. It is enough for the present case to say that the clause does not prohibit a legislative recognition or an express sanction of an existing comity of the State in favor of an existing corporation of another State.
"1. I am, therefore, of opinion that a special act declaring the assent of the State of Ohio to the exercise within that State of all the powers necessary for a beneficial use of the Pittsburg, F. W. & Chicago Railroad by a corporation of Pennsylvania or Illinois, which should have become the owner of the part of such railroad situate within the State of Ohio, would be valid and effectual.
"A general law would, of course, be somewhat preferable, as it would avoid this question. If it is certainly attainable, I would seek our legislation in that form.
"But I foresee the possibility that it might excite more jealousy than a special act, because its full application and use cannot be certainly anticipated. I foresee, also, the possibility that it may affect special cases of existing interest, prejudice, or passion, of which I am ignorant.
"In the first section of a draft of a general law which I have hastily made at a suggestion, I have tried to avoid the first of these two objections by limiting the cases to which the law applies.
"1. An existing railroad.
"2. Partly situate in Ohio and partly in some adjacent State.
"3. Sold under an existing lien.
"4. Acquired by a corporation of another State in which another part of the same railroad is situate.
"5. Such corporation acquiring the part of the railroad situate in that other State.
"6. Of course, such corporation having the capacity to take and operate the part situate in Ohio.
"Perhaps I may have put in more limitations than are necessary.
"Whether the measure will run foul of any other interest can be better judged of by men conversant with the state of affairs in Ohio and in its legislation.
"The general law, as proposed, is not more liberal than the existing consolidation act of Ohio. We ought to be able to obtain it. If there is a strong probability that we cannot, we ought to obtain a special act of a similar nature, applicable only to our particular railroad.
"2. The advantage of not making the corporation a creation of the State of Ohio is that it certainly and unquestionably avoids this double liability of the corporators imposed by the Constitution of that State.
"The degree of liability to which the individual corporators shall be subject is a part of the code of regulations specifying the mode and conditions of the existence and action of the artificial being. Sometimes it is nothing beyond the stock paid in. Sometimes, as by the Ohio Constitution, it is a limited amount beyond the stock paid in; sometimes it is absolute, as in the case of partners. It is not of the essence of corporations—it is a regulation imposed by the sovereign who creates the artificial being an incident to the particular corporation. Nobody but that creator could impose such a regulation. The most any other State could do would be to refuse its comity to a corporation until it should get the regulation imposed by the lawful authority of the State of its creation.
"Besides, the provisions of the Constitution of Ohio applies only to corporations created by or under the laws of that State. It does not purport to operate on corporations of other States transacting business in Ohio under the comity of its sovereign.
"3. In respect to the general act proposed by Mr. Stanbery and Mr. Hunter, I think they should prepare it and that we should co-operate in procuring its passage. It would be open to our choice if on consultation we should prefer to act under it; and it would be useful in other cases. My idea originally was to have that general law and a special act for the Pittsburg, F. W., C. R. R. If we change the latter to a general law, it makes two of that character; but I do not see any objection if we can get them both passed.
"I should like to have a copy of the draft of such an act as Mr. Stanbery and Mr. Hunter propose.
"The draft of a general act which I send contains provisions which ought to be considered as consulted upon. I have prepared them without, perhaps, sufficient study of your laws on the subject, and without knowing the temper of your Legislature.
"In some particulars they must be regarded as mere suggestions. Consider—
"1. The clause of Sec. 1, subjecting the company in respect to its management of the part of the railroad to the duties and regulations imposed by your general laws—whether there is any provision which should be accepted, whether this clause ought to be made more stringent in order to be satisfactory to your Legislature. But care should be taken not to use expressions which could include the personal liability provisions of the Ohio Constitution and laws.
"2. The clause of the same section subjects it to be—
"Section 2 is intended to give the same power as to mortgaging the rolling stock, etc., which is contained in the Pennsylvania act. I do not think this ought to be objected to.
"Section 3 is an adaptation of a clause proposed last summer.
"I cannot send a fair copy of the special act without losing a mail. The general one is sufficient as a basis of consideration and consultation.
"I would like to have you consider the matter, and must contrive some way to meet in consultation.
"I address this letter to you, though its contents are for Mr. Stanbery, Mr. Hunter, and Judge Sherman, to whom I pray you to offer my best respects.
"Yours truly,
"S. J. Tilden."
"W. H. Swayne, Esq.,
"New York, Dec. 6, 1860."
"New York, Dec. 17, 1860.
"My dear Sir,—As you leave in the morning to return to Chicago, I seize a few moments this evening to submit to you some suggestions as to the present crisis in the affairs of our country. I know you have no personal aspirations; that you are exempt from the blinding and misleading influence of active partisanship; that your disposition is equitable; that you have no motive but the public good—no interest except in common with all patriotic citizens; and that, far better than most men, you understand that there is usually another side to a controversy than 'our side.'
"Your situation may enable you to be of great service to your country and to mankind, and of not less service to a gentleman who to-day occupies a more important and responsible position than has been the fortune of any other of his generation. Of course I allude to Mr. Lincoln. His patriotism I do not doubt. The impression he made on me, upon two occasions when I casually met him, was that of a frank, genial, warm-hearted man. In the actual duties of the Presidency he cannot but take conservative views. No man can have a motive so strong and yet so noble to prevent his own name from closing, amid public sorrow and shame, the illustrious roll of American Presidents which began with Washington.
"It must be his renown or his calamity to decide whether he shall be the Chief Magistrate of a whole country or of half a country. Providence has cast upon him that immense responsibility. In saying this I do not touch the question, What has caused the mischief? I speak only as to the question, Who has the power to save the country?
"1. The reality of the danger of disunion, I think, cannot be doubted. The cotton States are far more unanimous for secession than our fathers were when they made our revolution despite of the royalist majority. Practically, their people are unanimous. We can only hope for an effective minority forming itself in some qualified position within the current of popular opinion. A statesmanlike policy would be to aid the formation of that minority—to strengthen it that it may become a majority, to create, to hasten, to swell the reaction for which we hope.
"2. Our first necessity is to comprehend the crisis. That is difficult. A man on one side of a question cannot easily turn out the set of ideas which fill his mind and admit the opposite set, even for an experiment. Nothing is so difficult in ordinary experience as to see both sides of a question. For us who have been educated with Northern ideas or in party controversies, we must be almost more than mortal to be able to take a perfectly candid and impartial view of the position of our adversaries. It is necessary to do more—to imagine ourselves in their position, in order to form a policy adapted to their case."
"Philadelphia, Dec. 19, 1860.
"Dear Sir,—Last evening, at Mrs. Gilpin's, I met Mr. Ogden, who kindly gave me a copy of your letter to Mr. Kent.[30] It is so well calculated to do good that I want to obtain copies for distribution. Can you have your publisher send me fifty, with a line stating the cost, which I will remit? Years, perhaps, of the dreary labor of reconstruction of our empire are before us, and it will not do for us who foresaw the storm to desert the wreck while a single plank of hope remains.
"I send you a copy of a pamphlet by a Mr. John R. White, of this city. It has some good points.
"Very Respectfully,
"Townsend Ward,
"204 S. 5th St.
"Samuel J. Tilden, Esq."
"New York, Dec. 1860.
"My dear Sir,—Immediately on receiving your note I caused 50 copies of my letter to Judge Kent to be sent to your address. I acknowledge a deep sense of the favorable estimate you express of that effort, on a sudden occasion, amid the toils which fell upon me as one of the Union committee, to recall our Northern people to the duty of justice and fraternity towards our Southern fellow-countrymen. I have delayed writing to you to say so until I could seize a moment in which to add a suggestion as to the future; and, in the mean time, how rapidly, how fearfully, have events been hurrying forward!
"It seems, too, that these events cast largely upon the Virginia statesmen of this generation the momentous duty of saving from destruction a political system which we and the world owe mainly to the Virginia statesmen of the golden era of the Republic."
"Private.
"New York, Wednesday.
"My dear Tilden,—I understand that you are to be consulted this evg. as to the propriety of assuming control of the Pres't and his adm'n from this time forward on his promise to surrender everything to the Democrats. This plan assumes that Church and yourself will enter heartily into this movement, and that one of you will go into the Cabinet.
"Whoever does so will, in my judgment, run a very serious risk of damaging his own record; the adoption of the plan will hasten rather than retard impeachment; it is not unlikely that the finances may be deranged, which will be chargeable to us, and with Johnson's sins of omission and commission on our backs, we stand a fair chance of defeat, when otherwise we might win in the coming Presidential fight. I see nothing to be gained except a few places, very few, too, with Congress against us, for a few men who want position. I hope, if you agree with me, you will not countenance the plan in any form.
"Y'rs,
S. L. M. Barlow."
"S. J. Tilden, Esq."
[19] To whom this letter was addressed does not appear, but there is every reason to believe it went also to Mr. Newell, through whom he conducted most of his correspondence with the Pierce administration.
[20] Mr. Campbell was a member of the Catholic communion.
[21] Mr. Grover had acted with the Free-soilers in 1848. He was now suggested by Van Buren's friends to succeed Judge Bronson as Collector of the Port of New York.
[22] John Van Buren.
[23] For the history of Mr. Tilden's nomination to the office of Attorney-General, and of his correspondence with Mr. Sutherland, his "Hardshell" competitor, see Bigelow's Life of Tilden, Vol. I, p. 127-130.
[24] Governor Tilden's eldest brother.
[25] Who had been Atty.-General under Van Buren when President.
[26] This is no doubt the subject referred to in Mr. Van Buren's letter of October 14, 1859, in which his feelings were deeply interested.
[27] For further particulars of this memorable and very able letter, see Life of Tilden, Harper & Brothers, 1895.
[28] The following year Commissioner of the Confederate States to London.
[29] The Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad.
[30] The letter here referred to will be found in the Writings and Speeches of Samuel J. Tilden. Harper & Brothers, 1885.
"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.
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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."