A Political History of the State of New York Volume III Part 30

To the surprise of Tammany, Havermeyer was elected mayor by over 8,000 plurality, although Greeley carried the city by 23,000 majority.[1415]

A comparison of the vote with that cast for Seymour in 1868 showed that a marked percentage of Democrats refused to support Greeley, and that a larger percentage did not vote at all.[1416] Other slights added to his disappointment. "I was an Abolitionist for years," he said, "when to be one was as much as one's life was worth even here in New York, and the negroes have all voted against me. Whatever of talents and energy I have possessed, I have freely contributed all my life long to Protection; to the cause of our manufactures. And the manufacturers have expended millions to defeat me. I even made myself ridiculous in the opinion of many whose good wishes I desired, by showing fair play and giving a fair field in the _Tribune_ to Woman's Rights; and the women have all gone against me."[1417]

[Footnote 1413: After the North Carolina election would-be Liberals rejoined the Republican party in great numbers.]

[Footnote 1414: Grant, 440,759; Greeley, 387,279; majority, 53,480.

Dix, 447,801; Kernan, 392,350; majority, 55,451. Robinson, 442,297; Depew, 397,754; majority, 44,543. Tremaine, 438,456; c.o.x, 400,697; majority, 37,759.]

[Footnote 1415: Havermeyer, 53,806; Lawrence, 45,398; O'Brien, 31,121.]

[Footnote 1416: Seymour (1868), 429,883. Greeley (1872), 387,279.

Kernan (1872), 392,350. c.o.x (1872), 400,697.]

[Footnote 1417: George W. Julian, _Political Recollections_, p. 348.]

Before the vote of the State was officially canva.s.sed Greeley had gone to his rest.[1418] The campaign had overtaxed his strength, and upon his return from the western speaking tour he watched at the bedside of his wife until her decease on October 30. After the election he resumed editorial charge of the _Tribune_, which he formally relinquished on the 15th of the preceding May, but it was plain that the robust animal spirits which characterised his former days were gone.[1419] The loss of his wife, the mortification of defeat, the financial embarra.s.sment of his paper, and the exhaustion of his physical powers had broken him. The announcement of his death, however, although the public got an early intimation of the cruel work which his troubles were making upon a frame that once seemed to be of iron, came with the shock of sudden calamity. The whole country recognised that in the field of his real conquests the most remarkable man in American history had fallen, and it buried him with the appreciation that attends a conqueror. At the funeral President Grant, Vice-President Colfax, and the Vice-President-elect, Henry Wilson, rode in the same carriage.[1420]

[Footnote 1418: He died November 29, 1872.]

[Footnote 1419: "In the darkest hour my suffering wife left me, none too soon for she had suffered too deeply and too long. I laid her in the ground with hard dry eyes. Well, I am used up. I cannot see before me. I have slept little for weeks and my eyes are still hard to close, while they soon open again." Letter to his friend, Mason W. Tappan of New Hampshire.--Hollister's _Life of Colfax_, p. 387, note.]

[Footnote 1420: New York _Tribune_, December 5, 1872.]

CHAPTER XXIV

TILDEN DESTROYS HIS OPPONENTS

1873-4

The Legislature which convened January 6, 1873, re-elected Roscoe Conkling to the United States Senate. There was no delay and no opposition. Cornell was in the watch-tower as speaker of the a.s.sembly and other lieutenants kept guard in the lobbies.[1421] The Republican caucus nominated on the 8th and the election occurred on the 21st.[1422] A few months later (November 8) the President, in complimentary and generous terms, offered Conkling the place made vacant by the death of Chief Justice Chase (May 7). His industry and legal training admirably fitted him for the position, but for reasons not specified he declined the distinguished preferment just as he had refused in December, 1870, the offer of a law partnership with an annual compensation of fifty thousand dollars. Probably the suggestion that he become a presidential candidate influenced his decision, especially as the President favoured his succession.[1423]

[Footnote 1421: Cornell resigned as surveyor of the port and was elected to the a.s.sembly.]

[Footnote 1422: The Democrats voted for Charles Wheaton of Dutchess, distinguished locally as a county judge.]

[Footnote 1423: Alfred R. Conkling, _Life of Conkling_, p. 451.]

At this time Conkling, then forty-four years old, may be said to have reached the height of his power, if not of his fame. His opponents were under his feet. Greeley was dead, Fenton's long and successful career had closed in the gloom of defeat and the permanent eclipse of his influence in public affairs, and others were weakened if not destroyed by their party desertion. Moreover, the re-election of a President whom he had supported and defended with an opulent vocabulary that made his studied addresses models of speech, continued his political control. About half a dozen able lieutenants, holding fat offices in the great patronage centres, revolved with the fidelity of planets, while in every custom-house and federal office in the State trained politicians performed the function of satellites. To harness the party more securely hundreds of young men, selected from the various counties because of their partisan zeal, filled the great departments at Washington. "In obedience to this system," said George William Curtis, "the whole machinery of the government is pulled to pieces every four years. Political caucuses, primary meetings, and conventions are controlled by the promise and expectation of patronage. Political candidates for the lowest or highest positions are directly or indirectly pledged. The pledge is the price of the nomination, and when the election is determined, the pledges must be redeemed. The business of the nation, the legislation of Congress, the duties of the departments, are all subordinated to the distribution of what is well called spoils."[1424]

[Footnote 1424: Report of Civil Service Commission, 1871, p. 18.]

President Grant is quoted as declaring that the Senator never sought an appointment from him.[1425] This statement is probably true, but not on the theory of the Latin maxim, _Qui facit per alium, facit per se_.[1426] No occasion existed for him to make requests since his agents, well known to the President, cabinet, and collectors, could obtain the necessary appointments without the Senator's partic.i.p.ation or even knowledge. Nevertheless, he relied upon public patronage as an instrument of party and factional success, and uniformly employed it throughout his career. The princ.i.p.al objection of the independent press to his appointment as chief justice implied his devotion to practical politics and an absence of the quality of true statesmanship.[1427] Indeed, in spite of his transcendent gifts, his hold upon party and people was never stronger than the machine's, since the influence of his control tended to transform political action into such subserviency that men of spirit, though loving their party, frequently held aloof from its service.

[Footnote 1425: Conkling, _Life of Conkling_, p. 656.]

[Footnote 1426: "He who does a thing by the agency of another, does it himself."]

[Footnote 1427: The _Nation_, December 4, 1873.]

But Conkling used only the methods inherited with his leadership, and to all appearances the grasp of the Republican party in New York in January, 1873, was as firm as the most ardent partisan could desire.

This feeling controlled the State convention at Utica on September 24 to such a degree that its action resembled the partisan narrowness of a ward caucus. Conkling did not attend, but his lieutenants, evidently considering the party vote as a force which only needed exhortation or intimidation to bring out, dropped Barlow, the attorney-general, without the slightest regard to public sentiment, and visited the penalty of party treason upon Thomas Raines, the State treasurer, for his support of Greeley. From a party viewpoint perhaps Raines deserved such treatment, but Francis C. Barlow's conduct of his office had been characterised by the superb daring with which he met the dangers and difficulties of many battlefields, making him the connecting link between his party and the Reform movement. He had prosecuted the Erie spoilers, and was then engaged in securing the punishment of the Tammany ring. O'Conor spoke of his "austere integrity" in refusing to accept millions as a compromise.[1428] Moreover it was conceded that Barlow, with the possible exception of Tilden and O'Conor, knew more of the ca.n.a.l frauds than any one in the State. The list of suits brought by him showed the rottenness of the whole system of ca.n.a.l management, while a recent letter, denouncing a leader of the Ring, did not veil his hostility to its individual members.[1429] This attack, boldly directed against a prominent Republican, aroused the fierce opposition of the contract manipulators, whose influence sufficed not only to defeat him, but to nominate the very man he had accused.

[Footnote 1428: Bigelow, _Life of Tilden_, Vol. 1, p. 245.]

[Footnote 1429: This letter, dated September 14, 1874, is published in nearly all the State papers of September 18. It is given in full in the New York _Herald_ and _Times_.

Sanford E. Church, in a published interview, charged that the story of his connection with the ring originated with Barlow.--New York _Tribune_, April 2, 1875.]

To add to its shame the party in New York City made a bargain with Apollo Hall, an organisation gotten up by James...o...b..ien, the ex-sheriff, for the purpose of selling to the highest bidder. In 1871 by skilful manoeuvres the party freed itself from any suspicion of an alliance with this faction, and had thus to a very great extent obtained the direction of the Reform movement; but now, by dropping Barlow, ignoring his disclosures, and accepting O'Brien's offer, already rejected by Tammany with contempt, it sacrificed its hold upon the solid part of the community which had been taught that a vote for the Republican ticket was the only way to obtain the fruits of reform.[1430]

[Footnote 1430: The ticket presented was as follows: Secretary of State, Francis S. Thayer, Rensselaer; Comptroller, Nelson K. Hopkins, Erie; Treasurer, Daniel G. Fort, Oswego; Attorney-General, Benj. D.

Silliman, Kings; Ca.n.a.l Commissioner, Sidney Mead, Cayuga; State Engineer, William B. Taylor, Oneida; Prison Inspector, Moss K. Platt, Ess.e.x.]

At the Democratic convention which met in Utica on October 1, Thomas Raines, whose adhesion to Greeley had made him a martyr, was nominated by acclamation. Here, however, the enthusiasm ended. The overwhelming defeat of the previous year had sapped the party of confidence, and candidates whom the convention desired refused to accept, while those it nominated brought neither prominence nor strength.[1431] The platform denounced the "salary grab," pa.s.sed in the closing hours of the last Congress, and condemned the Credit Mobilier disclosures which had recently startled the country and disgraced Congress.[1432] Through its executive committee the Liberal party indorsed the Democratic nominees except for comptroller and prison inspector. For these offices it preferred the Republicans' choice of Hopkins and Platt.

[Footnote 1431: The following ticket was nominated: Secretary of State, Diedrich Willers, Seneca; Comptroller, Asher P. Nichols, Erie; Treasurer, Thomas Raines, Monroe; Attorney-General, Daniel Pratt, Onondaga; Ca.n.a.l Commissioner, James Jackson, Niagara; State Engineer, Sylva.n.u.s H. Sweet, Albany; Prison Inspector, George W. Mellspaugh, Orange.]

[Footnote 1432: James Brooks was the only New York congressman implicated. The committee, finding him guilty of corruption as a member of the House and as a government director of the Union Pacific Railroad, recommended his expulsion, but on February 27, 1873, the House, by a vote of 174 to 32 (34 not voting) changed the sentence to one of censure. Brooks died on April 30 following.]

Meanwhile the financial crash which began on September 18 by the failure of Jay Cooke & Co., spread an intense gloom over the State as well as the country, and although by the middle of October the panic, properly defined, had ended, a commercial crisis continued. By November 1 several railroads had defaulted in the payment of interest on their bonds, cotton and iron mills had closed, and many labourers were thrown out of employment. Criticism of the Administration's financial policy naturally followed, and men whose purchasing power had ceased turned against the Republicans, giving the State to the Democrats by 10,000 majority. With the aid of the Liberals, Hopkins and Platt received about 4,000 majority. On the question of electing or appointing judges, the people by an overwhelming vote p.r.o.nounced in favour of election.

As in other "off years" the result of this contest indicated a general drift of political opinion. Ever since the Republican party came into power ebbs and flows had occurred at alternating biennial periods. A Democratic revival in 1862 followed Lincoln's election in 1860; his re-election in 1864 saw a similar revival in 1865; and Grant's decisive vote in 1868 brought a conservative reaction in 1870. It was perhaps natural to expect that after the President's re-election in 1872 something of the kind would happen in 1873. Nevertheless, Samuel J. Tilden saw in the result something more than the usual reaction. He believed the failure of the Republicans to a.s.sociate themselves intimately with reformers and to manifest a loathing for all corrupt alliances, had added greatly to their burden, and early in the summer of 1874 he determined to run for governor.

On his return from Europe in the early fall of 1873 Tilden had found thoughtful men of both parties talking of him as a successor to Dix.

To them the trials of Tweed and his confederates made it plain that substantial reform must begin at Albany, and they wanted a man whose experience and success in dealing with one Ring rendered it certain that he would a.s.sault and carry the works of the other. But Tilden was cunning. He betrayed no evidence of his desire until others confessed their unwillingness to take the nomination. To the average office-seeker running against Dix and his plurality of 55,000 was not an attractive race. Meanwhile John Kelly, realising the value of appearing honest, indicated a preference for Tilden.

There was something magnetic about the suggestion. Tilden was able, rich, and known to everybody as the foe of the Tweed ring. Besides he was capable, notwithstanding his infirmity, of making a forceful speech, full of fire, logic and facts, his quick, retentive memory enabling him to enter easily into political controversy. As a powerful reasoner it was admitted that he had few equals at the bar. Indeed, the press, crediting him with courage, perseverance, and indomitable industry, had pictured him as a successful leader and an ideal reformer. Tilden himself believed in his destiny, and when, at last, the time seemed ripe to avow his candidacy he carried on a canva.s.s which for skill, knowledge of human nature, and of the ins and outs of politics, had rarely been approached by any preceding master. The press of the State soon reflected the growing sentiment in his favour.

"In selecting him," said George William Curtis, "the party will designate one of its most reputable members."[1433] The New York _Times_ spoke of him as a "man of unsullied honour,"[1434] and the _Tribune_ declared that "his career in office, should he be elected, would be distinguished alike by integrity, decorum, administrative ability, and shrewd political management."[1435]

[Footnote 1433: _Harper's Weekly_, September 10, 1874.]

[Footnote 1434: July 24.]

[Footnote 1435: September 18.]

As one county after another instructed its delegates for Tilden, professional politicians exhibited much astonishment. To the Ca.n.a.l ring the trend of public sentiment toward a man of his record and independence was especially ominous. Suddenly, such violent opposition appeared that the New York _Herald_, studying the Democratic papers in the State, declared that outside of New York City only the Utica _Observer_, which was influenced by Kernan, favoured his nomination.[1436] It was openly charged that selfish ambition prompted his prosecution of the Tweed frauds, and that he was a cunning schemer, cold, reticent, and severe. Then men began to dissuade him.

Friends counselled him not to take the risk of a nominating convention. Even Seymour, moved perhaps by ambitions of his own, discouraged him. If nominated, he wrote, you must expect the martyr's crown. "There has been a widespread plan to carry the convention against you. It was started last winter, and it shaped laws and appointments. The State officers are against you.... You will find the same combination at Syracuse that controlled at Rochester in 1871....

Our people want men in office who will not steal, but who will not interfere with those who do."[1437] Coupled with this opposition was the suggestion that Sanford E. Church, being in no wise identified with the Ring prosecutions, would make a more available candidate.

[Footnote 1436: New York _Herald_, September 7, 1874. See also Buffalo _Courier_, September 14.]

[Footnote 1437: Bigelow, _Life of Tilden_, Vol. 1, pp. 221-222.]

Earlier in the year Church, in an interview with Tilden, had declined to become a candidate, but afterward, as in 1872, he grew anxious for the honour, and finally gave Joseph Warren of the Buffalo _Courier_ a written consent to accept if nominated with the concurrence of other candidates.[1438] Armed with this statement and with letters of withdrawal from others a.s.sociated with the gubernatorial nomination, Warren sought Tilden with confidence. By prearrangement their meeting occurred on September 8 at the Delavan House in Albany. Several were present--Jarvis Lord, a senator from Rochester and an extensive ca.n.a.l contractor, DeWolf of Oswego, and other ca.n.a.l men. In the room adjoining Reuben E. Fenton waited.

[Footnote 1438: For copy of this statement see New York _World_, September 10, 1874.]