Letters and Literary Memorials of Samuel J. Tilden, v. 1

Chapter M: Van Buren to S. J. Tilden (2)

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"I was not able to send my letter yesterday, and now add a word. I had an interview with the President yesterday. I ran over the case of Van Ness pretty freely. He replied at considerable length, _ascribing the delay in his removal to the improper manner in which it had been demanded_. He did not _say_, but implied that he had never intended not to remove him; made no defence or argument on the question of its propriety; merely excused the delay. Mr. Butler, he said, had written to him that it would do no harm to retain him until the year expired, if it were immediately announced that a particular man would then be appointed. He complained bitterly of the attempts to intimidate and coerce him--talking magnificently about being himself President and the _locum tenen_ for nobody; said that in his own time, perhaps Monday, perhaps afterwards, Van Ness should be removed, but swore with that terrible oath, "if the heavens and the earth come together," by which Ritchie and Green and Barton had successively warned me he might refuse if a mischance word of mine should chafe his angry mood, that he would not appoint Coddington. He should select a man, he said, who would be received with applause throughout the State; on his own judgment, whom he knew and had served with. Who that man was he did not say and I did not inquire, though I did express myself with some freedom as to what the man should do. Probably the question may now be deemed settled; for you remember he employed the same planetary concussion to illustrate the fixed irrevocable fate by which Marcy was to represent New York in the Cabinet. His solemn form of fiat, I suppose, answers as the "By the Eternal" of the younger Hickory, and, being partly of earth and partly of heaven, is undoubtedly of an improved quality of imaginary thunder. Still it did not shake my nerves, as a lady's displeasure might. I took it quietly, and talked occasionally as I had a chance, not so fully on all points as I wished, or mean, if an opportunity comes unsought; but, although I was conscious of having exposed myself to a part of a very respectable performance for the benefit of the rebellious Butler, Dix, and O'Sullivan, in which, perhaps, I might lose a little when it came to be privately repeated to the Cabinet and confidants, I thought that, nevertheless, I should not be justified in converting farce into tragedy. So I behaved well and was myself well treated. I inquired what was the 'intimidation' and 'coercion' referred to, and I believe was not very definitely answered. The only specification I got was letters from three--not more, he said, than three persons, whose names, he said, he would not tell me--who might never know about it themselves, whom he could not answer without getting into a correspondence inconsistent with his dignity, who might not be aware of the expressions they had incautiously and rashly used. Your letter to Bancroft was distinctly alluded to as, among other offences, alleging 'violated pledges.' I expressed great doubts whether its contents had not been exaggerated, and when he said he had not seen it, and it was not intended for him, advised him to get it and read it. The warmth of these communications I vindicated as true representations of public feeling, expressed in honest freedom; though this part of the subject came up when the interview was forced to a close, and I could not do full justice. Some explanations, which it was not prudent to make in the danger of exoneration, I have since made to his intimates with kindness but clearness and coldness, and shall to him if circumstances solicit. Am not I a lucky fellow? Soothed all day by the fiery Southerns, and then sitting quietly, as in a summer shower, when the storm is beating fiercely on those imprudent young men, Butler, Dix, O'Sullivan--even, while refreshing myself, putting up my umbrella to protect them! I only _talked_ treason.

"He felt deeply the warm letter of his old friend Hoffman--an honest man. He would swear by him, live by him, die by him. I added Mr. H. was a true-hearted man--he was the last man almost from whom I parted; I had a long conversation with him. He fully concurred in the indispensable necessity of removing Van Ness--in the earnest and strong convictions expressed by the others on that subject. The Pr. replied not. I think it was he that told me, and then that there had been letters saying that Hoffman would make his own acceptance conditional on V. N.'s removal. No, it was Cave Johnson afterwards.

"The President expressed great sorrow that he could not see Silas Wright for an hour and have his advice. As to what, I did not certainly understand."

JOHN A. DIX TO TILDEN

"_Private._

EAST HAMPTON, _June 21, 1845_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I wrote to you some time ago in relation to the N. Y. collectorship. Since then the matter has been disposed of; but in such a way that I naturally feel a curiosity to know, as far as it is proper that I should, the ground taken by the President in declining to appoint Mr. Coddington. I have seen a letter designed as a justification of the Cabinet in the matter; but there is no allusion in it to assurances given to others as well as myself that the appointment would be made in accordance with the wishes of Mr. Wright and his friends.

"My letter, I presume, reached you; but as I have heard nothing from you in relation to your visit to Washington, it has occurred to me that there might have been some mistake about it.

I am, Dr. Sir, Yours truly,
"JOHN A. DIX."

TILDEN TO HON. CHARLES P. BROWN

"NEW YORK, _October 13, 1845_.

"HON. CHARLES P. BROWN.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Contrary to my expectations, I find my name among those from which your convention are about to select candidates for the Assembly. I had so uniformly expressed my strong repugnance to any nomination this fall, and the grounds of it, that I did not suppose any misapprehension could exist on the subject; but I am now compelled to ask you to lay this communication before the body over which you preside.

"If the present were an occasion of peculiar or unusual importance, and if I flattered myself that I was capable of rendering essential service on such an occasion--nothing, in my power and consistent with other obligations, would be withheld, or ever will be withheld, from the interest, the honor, or the wishes of the Democratic party. But I am not able to take any view of the time or of myself which does not allow me, in this political calm, to devote myself to professional and private business on which alone I rely for an independent livelihood, and which the more imperatively claims my attention now from the partial withdrawal of it during the great contest of last year. I, therefore, respectfully decline a nomination.

Truly Y'r Friend,
"S. J. TILDEN."

As Mr. Wright had yielded very reluctantly, and more to Mr. Tilden's solicitations than probably to those of any other person, to leave the Federal Senate to be the Governor of New York, he had a right to insist upon Mr. Tilden's coming to the legislature, where his services were regarded by Mr. Wright as practically indispensable to him in the discharge of his executive duties. Mr. Tilden therefore did not press his objection to the nomination he had declined.

TILDEN TO----

"NEW YORK, _November 4 (1 P.M.), 1845_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I thank you for your two letters, tho' I have not before been able to reply to them.

"My opinion is that our whole Assembly ticket will be elected. Col. Stevenson may be in danger, and if the current opinion were reliable would be, but I think he will succeed. As to myself, the opposition at the country meeting was inconsiderable in point of numbers; but it was the only hostile organization not counteracted by a friendly one, and I am the only candidate left off from any of the pretendedly Democratic ballots. I expect to be scratched by some of those who were hostile to Mr. Van Buren, some of those who are hostile to Mr. Wright--the Tyler rowdies and the Walsh men."

CERTIFICATE OF MR. TILDEN'S ELECTION TO THE ASSEMBLY

"And the said Board of County Canvassers do further certify, determine, and declare that Samuel Osgood, by the greatest number of votes, was duly elected Register of the City and County of New York.

"Dated New York, November 21, 1845.

"B. J. MESEROLE,
"ALEX. H. ROBERTSON, _Chairman_.
"_Deputy County Clerk and Secretary._"

JOHN A. DIX TO TILDEN

"WASHINGTON, _December 19, 1845_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I sent you Fremont's report, which I presume you have ere this received.

"As to matters here, I really know as little as yourself--I mean of the views and intentions of the administration. My intercourse with the President is official; and the Secretary of the Treasury I have not yet seen. I came here with the determination of acquiescing in whatever should be desired in respect to organization. I have acted on this determination. In respect to measures, I consider myself free to act according to the dictates of my judgment. Happily, the President's recommendations I cordially approve, and I shall give them my zealous support. Where we shall land is doubtful. We have an able and adroit opposition; and advantage will be taken of the minutest error in our movements. We had abundant proof of this in the matter of Cass's resolutions. I never saw two cleverer cases of genteel sparring than that of Cass by Crittenden and Allen by Clayton.

"I wish to open a correspondence with Mr. Kittell. Will you put me in the way of it?

"There are a few measures I have much at heart--the warehouse system and the branch mint at N. Y.; the great measures, of course, take care of themselves.

"You know I shall always be happy to hear from you. I will write when I can. But I am a new member, have everything to learn, and not half time enough to learn it in.

"I cannot yet say whether there is any truth in the report as to Lawrence. His name is not yet before us. Indeed, we were in executive session yesterday for the first time, and I suppose the President has been waiting for us to organize before sending in the great mass of his nominations.

"Yours truly,
"JOHN A. DIX."

TILDEN TO HON. N. P. TALLMAGE

"NEW YORK, _December 25, 1845_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--A few days since I received a note from your brother requesting me to call and see him, and I was distressed to find that in the short interval since I had last met him his health had become so dangerously worse. He is anxious to obtain a consulship or some other place which will give him the benefit of a climate better adapted to a chronic pulmonary disease, and a reasonable support while subjecting himself to its remedial influence. I need not say I felt a strong sympathy for him; but I feel some disability for rendering him useful aid, which I will in part explain and which he and you will appreciate. Although he sustained the Democratic ticket at the late general election, and did service which I understand has been handsomely recognized by the President, his course was so little conspicuous that the impression left by his association with former events will naturally predominate in the minds of the party generals. If, therefore, the administration should regard the case in the light of mere party expediency, I do not think I could in candor towards them say what would be of much avail to him; especially as caution in my expressions being the more necessary lest I should expose myself to be quoted not merely as offering a particular instance in regard to which I should have no hesitation if it stood alone, but as contributing to and thus sanctioning a general distinction of local patronage which is objected to, in part on the same ground on which this might be exposed to unfriendly criticism, and which has prevailed here in the lesser appointments which most interest the mass of the party to an extent that excites very great dissatisfaction. Nor does it seem to me that formal recommendations can at all benefit your brother, nor anything which I might say in his behalf, unless the administration desired affirmatively to do something for him. If such be their real feeling--if they regard his case as one to be controlled by liberal considerations, if they recognize the strong appeal it makes to their humanity, and if they are nevertheless restrained by solicitude as to how the appointment would be received by their political friends here--it is possible that I may be of some little service to him, in the only contingency in which it seems to me any service can be efficient. The object of my letter is to assure you that if the administration take favorable views of the matter, as I hope and trust they may, I shall be ready to do what I can to cause the appointment to be well received by the party here; and that such, I believe, will be the general disposition of those of our friends to whom the circumstances are made known. The only hesitation I have in saying this is lest it may be assuming in me; but if you think it will do your brother any good, you may communicate it for that purpose. I did not venture to write to anybody other than yourself lest, in my ignorance of the state of feeling on which my letter might fall, and however guarded my language might be, I should unwittingly do harm, which, however frankly I may write to you, I shall avoid, even if I fail to do good.

"With the best wishes for the success of this object and your welfare,

Truly y'rs,
"S. J. TILDEN."

The Albany _Argus_, since the election of President Polk, had become the organ and an extreme partisan of the so-called Hunker party and champion of the policy of the Slavery Extensionists. One of the consequences was the establishment of the _Atlas_ at Albany by the friends of Van Buren and Wright. The _Argus_ was conducted by Edwin Croswell, a then veteran journalist, and the _Atlas_ by a Mr. Van Dyke, assisted by a very clever young man of Irish extraction named Cassidy. These two prints registered the stages of the ineffectual struggle of the Van Buren and Wright party with the administration at Washington, a specimen of which is disclosed in the following correspondence between Mr. Croswell, Mr. Tilden, and John Van Buren, a gifted son of the ex-President Van Buren, and then rapidly becoming a conspicuous figure in national politics.

E. CROSWELL TO TILDEN

"ALBANY, _January 26, 1846_.

"DEAR SIR,--I am informed by a member of the Legislature, whose veracity I cannot question, that you stated to him that I had made a proposition in relation to a compromise of the questions of difference between the _Argus_ and _Atlas_, which had been accepted by you or your friends, but which I had flown from or violated under the pretence of consulting my friends.

"Allow me to ask whether I am to understand you as having made such a declaration.

"Very respectfully,
"Yr. obt. servt.,
"E. CROSWELL."

TILDEN TO E. CROSWELL

"ALBANY, _January 27, 1846_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--The inquiry which your favor of yesterday contains is so made up of statements and inferences--so very general in some respects, and so imperfect in others--that an answer to it which expresses neither more nor less than the truth must be more specific than you seem to ask.

"I understood from gentlemen whose veracity I could not question that on the Wednesday before the recent caucus you made to them a communication to this effect:

"You said that it would not do for you to make any further proposition relative to the union of the _Argus_ and _Atlas_, but you invited a proposition to be made to you, the terms of which you specified as follows: That the _Argus_ and _Atlas_ should be united, at an appraised valuation; that the joint establishment should be owned by Messrs. French, Cassidy, and Sherman Croswell in three equal parts; that you should withdraw from the concern; that Messrs. Cassidy and Sherman Croswell should be candidates for State printers; and that the emoluments of that office, if it were conferred upon them, should belong to the joint establishment.

"This proposition, you said, would be entirely acceptable to yourself, and you expressed great confidence that you could induce your friends in the Senate to confirm it. In that event, the bill purporting to abolish the office of State Printer, of which you expressed decided disapprobation, would, you hoped, be postponed or greatly modified or defeated, and harmony, as you thought, restored to the Republican party. The result of your efforts was to be communicated to those from whom the proposition was in form to emanate before the assembling of the caucus. Your suggestion was in all respects adopted and followed by them.

"Deriving from these facts, as well as from the interviews which you had sought with me on the subject, strong hopes that an arrangement satisfactory to all parties, consistent with public duty, and conducive to the interests and the honor of the Democratic cause, would be effected; and having reason to believe that more of the radical Democrats of the Assembly and all those of the Senate would assent to the union of the two papers (being first convinced that the advocacy of sound Democratic doctrines would be essentially secured)--of which fact you were, after consultation with them, advised--you may imagine my surprise when, half an hour before the caucus met, I learned that, although twenty-four hours had elapsed, you had not even communicated with several of your prominent friends in the Senate; had not seen your partner and relative, who is a member of your own family; had failed to keep your appointments; and, when sent for, at my instance, who was still unwilling to impute a design to evade, were unprepared to close the negotiation, to make any definite arrangement, or even a proposition. Attended as this failure was by the forcing through the Senate, at an extra session, held in the mean time, by your friends, of the bill you disapproved, and followed, as it has since been by your advocacy in the _Argus_ of that bill, I am forced, in the absence of all explanation, to entertain more distrust than I remember having expressed, or wish to express, of a negotiation in which I engaged at your solicitation.

"In regard to the particular language which your letter ascribes to me, I have no recollection of having used it, nor does it, in the way you have stated it, remind me of any conversation out of which the information you repeat to me may have originated. Nor does it seem to me in substance correct, so far as it may be construed to imply much of a direct personal communication between you and me after the first stage of the negotiation; or any effort to 'compromise the questions of difference between the _Argus_ and _Atlas_,' further than to unite these two papers, which I was sincerely anxious to bring about, and after the intimations from you did actively recommend to my associate Democrats of the Assembly, while I left them and myself at perfect liberty to act according to our individual judgments and consciences on any questions of reform in regard to the office or the functions of the State Printer. But that I may not have adverted to the distinction, if there be any in substance, between your making a proposition and suggesting one to be made to you which you declared beforehand would be entirely acceptable to you, and may have spoken in general terms of the proposition as yours as well as that of those you represent, is very possible; and that I may have casually expressed the sentiments which the facts above stated necessarily excited, in regard to the part you bore in the transaction is possible, though I do not remember having done so, and I am sure if I have not the forbearance is to be imputed solely to reluctance with which I have put an unfavorable construction upon your conduct.

"If there is any explanation to be offered I should be glad to hear it, and to learn if I have even in thought done you the least injustice.

"With great respect, your obdt. servt.,
"S. J. TILDEN."

JOHN VAN BUREN TO EDWIN CROSWELL

"(_Circa January 21, 1846._)

"DEAR SIR,--I have recd. your favor of the 26th inst. making certain inquiries of me, and I very cheerfully state my recollections in regard to them.

"On Wednesday, before the late caucus, I learned from gentlemen of undoubted veracity that you had made to them the following communication: You said that you would make no further propositions in reference to the union of the _Argus_ and _Atlas_, but you invited a proposition to be made to you, which you said would be entirely acceptable to yourself, and expressed great confidence that your friends in the Senate would be induced by you to confirm it. In that event the bill to abolish the office of State Printer, pending in the Senate, of which you expressed your decided disapprobation, you hoped would be postponed and greatly modified or defeated, and harmony restored to the Republican party. The result of your efforts was to be communicated to those who were to make the proposition prior to the assembling of the caucus. The precise offer that you invited was made to you on Wedy. aftn.

"Hearing these facts, and having strong hopes that an amicable arrangement satisfactory to all parties would be brought about thro' your exertions, and having reason to believe that the great mass of the radical Democrats of the Assembly and all those in the Senate approved of the union of the two papers on the terms now suggested, which they thought secured the advocacy of sound principles, you may imagine my surprise on being informed, a half-hour before the caucus met, that altho' more than 24 hours had intervened, you had not even communicated with several of your personal friends in the Senate, had not been able to see your own partner and cousin, who is a member of your family, failed to keep yr. appointments, was found with difficulty, and was not prepared when found to make any definite arrangement or even proposition. Attended as this failure on your part was by the forcing thro' the Senate by your friends of the bill you disapproved, and followed by strong and indignant denunciations the next morning in the columns of the _Argus_ of several leading Democrats in the Senate, and warm advocacy of the same bill, I was forced, in the absence of all explanation, to conclude that if you had not acted in bad faith you had certainly trifled in a most extraordinary manner with a subject I considered of great importance.

"Under these circumstances, I claim credit for myself in speaking of your conduct with great forbearance, and have no recollection of using the language you attribute to me in your note, tho', as I did not advert to the distinction (if there be any in substance) between your making a proposition and inviting one to be made to you, which you declared beforehand would be acceptable to you, I have doubtless spoken freely of the part you bore in the transaction as inexplicable and censurable.

"I shall be happy to hear any explanation you have to make, and glad to know if I have unintentionally, even in thought, done you injustice."

CERTIFICATE OF THE ELECTION OF MR. TILDEN AND OTHERS TO THE CONVENTION ORDERED TO REVISE THE CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK IN 1846

"The Board of County Canvassers of the City and County of New York, having canvassed and estimated the votes given in the several election districts of said city and county at a general election held the 14th day of April, 1846, do hereby certify, determine, and declare that Charles O'Connor, Henry Nicoll, _Samuel J. Tilden_, Benjamin F. Cornell, Campbell P. White, Alexander F. Vache, Lorenzo B. Shepard, John A. Kennedy, John L. Stephens, Robert H. Morris, William S. Conely, David R. Floyd Jones, Solomon Townsend, John H. Hunt, Stephen Allen, and George S. Mann, by the greatest number of votes, were duly elected 'Delegates to meet in convention for the purpose of considering the Constitution of this State, and to make such alterations in the same as the rights of the people demand and as they may deem proper, under an act of the Legislature of the State of New York, entitled, "An act recommending a convention of the people of this State." Passed May 13, 1845.'

"Dated May 11, 1846.

"EGBERT BENSON,
"_Chairman_.
"JAMES CONNER,
"_County Clerk, Secretary_."

N. J. WATERBURY TO TILDEN

"NEW YORK, _August 28, 1846_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Mr. Guion[11] visits Albany at my request to see you and Kennedy, and through you to consult with others for the purpose of finally ascertaining whether anything is to be done to sustain the _News_. If anything is to be done it has got to be made available for Monday. Unless some money is then obtained, that will be the last number of the paper issued. I have the same opinion as before expressed in relation to the great importance of sustaining the paper until after the election at least; and I have stated to you the only plan I know of for doing so. Gen. Spinner suggests that John G. Floyd be induced to take the paper. With $3000 we can sustain the paper until January 1st. With $2000 until November. If it should go down before the election it will injure us greatly. Mr. Guion goes up at my earnest request, and not that he has any further personal solicitude about the matter than you and me and all our friends feel.

"In haste, yours very truly,
"N. J. WATERBURY."

"NEW YORK, _Sep. 8, 1846.
"6 1/2 O'clk. P.M._

"DEAR TILDEN,--The long agony is over--the _Morning News_ is dead--dead; no time to say more.

"Truly y'rs,
"CLEMENT GUION."

The public interest in the history of the _Morning News_, of which Mr. Tilden and John L. O'Sullivan were joint proprietors, may be said to have terminated with the execution of the document of which the following is a draft, found among Mr. Tilden's papers.

CONDITIONS ON WHICH TILDEN RETIRED FROM THE "MORNING NEWS"

"S. J. T. retires--surrenders all his interest--is indemnified against its outstanding liabilities.

"J. L. O'S. and H. G. L. (H. G. Langley) rearrange their proportion of ownership. Hereafter to own equally. The difference of capital to be equalled by credits to H. G. L., the necessary amount on his advances, existing or prospective.

"H. G. L. contracts to devote himself faithfully to the business and interests of the paper--to conduct with the utmost energy and fidelity the procuring of advertisers.

"Failing to do this, he is to retire, giving O'S. all reasonable facility to substitute some other persons on reasonable terms of sale. All disputes and differences of opinion as to these stipulations to be left to the decision of----"

The triumph of the pro-slavery party in the election of Mr. Polk resulted in the revolt of Texas from Mexico, her annexation to the United States, and a war with Mexico.

At the expiration of his term, Governor Wright was renominated almost unanimously. If elected, nothing in the future appeared more certain than that he would have been Mr. Polk's successor in the Presidency. The reversion of the Chief Magistracy to such a formidable opponent of slavery extension as Governor Wright, who could neither be corrupted nor cajoled, was then regarded at Washington as a peril, to avoid which no sacrifice was too great. The magnitude of the sacrifice of Mr. Wright was as correctly appreciated at Washington, and by the very men who were to offer it up as a propitiation to the demon of slavery, as at Albany; but to the short-sighted vision of the statesmen then in the ascendant at the national capital the political supremacy of the slave-holding States was to be maintained at any price.

The influence of the Federal government was, therefore, all turned against Mr. Wright at the Gubernatorial election in 1847, and it proved to be sufficient to give a majority of some eleven thousand to John Young, the candidate of the Whigs.

Mr. Wright, at the expiration of his term, returned to his home in St. Lawrence County, consoled by the reflection that the evil consequences of taking him from the Senate and making him a party to the faction fights in New York had resulted as he had predicted--in disaster to the party and in his own political destruction. He died within nine months from his retirement.

The annexation of Texas and the war with Mexico which ensued resulted in the acquisition of vast territories, sooner or later to be organized into States, to be consecrated to freedom or to slavery. To open these States to slavery and reinforce the slave representation in Congress, it had become necessary to paralyze the Democratic party in New York.

The first steps towards this end had been taken in the defeat of Mr. Van Buren's renomination for the Presidency, and putting a Southern man in his place. The second had been taken in the defeat of Governor Wright's re-election in 1847; the third, yet to be taken, was to deprive the Democracy of New York of its legitimate influence in Congress and the next Democratic national convention.

In this scheme the administration was entirely successful. At the commencement of President's Polk's administration the Democratic party was completely in the ascendant in New York. It had elected its Governor and Lieutenant-Governor; it had a majority in both branches of the Legislature, and a majority of the delegation in Congress. At the expiration of two years its Chief Magistrate was a Whig, and its Congressional delegation was reduced to a meagre minority. The following year the whole legislative power of the State was transferred to the Whigs by an overwhelming majority, and the schism in the party, encouraged by the bestowal of all the patronage of the Federal government upon the "Hunkers," had become irreparable.[12]

JOHN A. Dix[13] TO S. J. TILDEN

"WASHINGTON, _January 2_, _1847_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Yours is received. I do not know whether I can have any influence in the matter referred to, but will bear your wishes in mind.

"Everything here is in miserable condition. I do not know whether Mexico will make peace, but I am sure she would not if she knew what a state we are in. Still I hope for the best. Mr. Polk is in a minority in both Houses. His most disinterested and reliable supporters are the friends of those he has treated worst. I am sick of the whole concern, and, most of all, of the miserable manoeuvring for high place, which is beginning to show itself.

"If we had a discreet and energetic leader in Mexico, I think we might bring the war to a close. But the lieutenant-general has been slain, and with him I think dies all prospect of success by arms or diplomacy. Our only chance is in luck, and Mr. Polk is so fortunate in getting out of scrapes just when he is most straitened that I am inclined to bet on him yet.

"Yours in haste,
"JOHN A. DIX."

THE FIRST GUN FOR FREE SOIL

"_April, 1848._

At the threshold of the Free-soil revolt of 1848, ex-President Van Buren, who was spending the winter in lodgings at Julian's Hotel in Washington Place, New York, said one day to Mr. Tilden, as he handed him a roll of manuscript: "If you wish to be immortal, take this home with you, complete it, revise it, put it into proper shape, and give it to the public."

Mr. Tilden replied that he had not the slightest wish to be immortal by any process that would impose upon him at that time any more labor; but he consented to take the manuscript down to the residence of the ex-President's son, John Van Buren, who then resided in White Street, and he agreed that if John would do half of the work he would do the other half. John did agree, and a few days after the interview referred to, Tilden and John met at the ex-President's lodgings to report.

Mr. Van Buren opened the subject by asking what they had done with Niagara Falls. This referred to a somewhat ambiguous metaphor which had found its way into the ex-President's manuscript. "We have struck that out," was the reply. He laughed, as if rather relieved at having an unpleasant duty discharged by other hands, while they went on to read the result of their joint labors.

After the address had received the combined approval of each party to its composition, the next question was how to get it before the public. After discussing various plans, they finally decided to issue it as an address of the Democratic members of the Legislature. Accordingly, on the 12th of April, Senator John G. Floyd, from the committee of Democratic members of the Legislature to prepare and report an address, read the paper to his colleagues, by whom it was unanimously adopted. This memorable and epochal document was given at length in the _Public Writings and Speeches of Tilden_, Vol. II., page 537. This address deserves to be regarded as the corner-stone of the "Free-soil" party, as distinguished from the party of unconditional abolition.

S. P. CHASE[14] TO JOHN VAN BUREN

"COLUMBUS, _June 19, 1848_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Many of our Free-Territory men in this quarter are in doubt as to the course which the New York Democracy intend to pursue in reference to the Buffalo convention. Will they be represented in it? Will they concur in the nominations made by it? If Judge McLean can be induced to accept a nomination for the Vice-Presidency, in connection with Mr. Van Buren for the Presidency, will they cordially accept it? If the convention, on mature deliberation, should think it expedient to nominate Judge McLean for the Presidency and Col. Samuel Young or Bradford R. Wood or yourself for the Vice-Presidency, would the New York Democracy concur in that nomination? There is a strong disposition, also, in the West to drop the older politicians altogether and take younger men, who better represent the spirit of the time. One of the best and ablest Democrats in the State, I mean Edwin M. Stanton, said to me to-day that if John Van Buren should be the nominee of the Buffalo convention he would roll up his sleeves and go to work till the election for the ticket; and I am sure that to all the young Democrats and all the young Whigs in the State your name would be more acceptable than your father's. Suppose the convention should be animated by this spirit and nominate men of this generation, would the New York Democracy concur?

"I put these questions to indicate the various phases which the movement may assume. My own opinion is that, under existing circumstances, the best possible nomination for the Presidency has been made at Utica, provided the name of John McLean can be associated with it. Whether it can be is, as yet, in doubt, though I fear the doubt will be resolved against my wish. If it cannot be, we have no man in the West whose name on the ticket would be altogether unexceptionable. If Judge McLean should consent to allow his name to be used, the ticket would undoubtedly sweep Ohio, and would gain immense accessions of strength throughout the West. I firmly believe that the nominees may, in that event, be elected this year. It would be, to be sure, sacrificing a good deal on the part of Judge McLean, so long prominent in the regards of the people as a candidate for the first office, to accept a nomination for the second; and the bitterness with which he could be assailed by the slaveholders and their allies would exceed greatly that which is now manifested towards your father. Nothing but a strong sense of personal duty, and a deep interest in the success of the movement (and he avows that interest openly), will prevail on him to consent, and, I fear, he will not feel that duty absolutely requires the step. It is probable that he would regard an offer of a nomination for the first office differently. He would then be the recognized head or representative of the movement, and would feel the abuse directed against him, as levelled chiefly at the cause. And I think he would represent the movement almost exactly as Silas Wright would have done if living. I regard him as more nearly resembling Silas Wright in the general character of his views on public questions than any living public man. While, therefore, I repeat that if we can have Judge McLean's name for the Vice-Presidency I would rather take the ticket as it would then stand--Martin Van Buren and John McLean--than any other, you will not wonder that I regret that the action of the convention at Utica has interposed an obstacle to a different arrangement. Whether the obstacle is insuperable you are a far better judge than I am. If it be, then, we must take the Utica nomination, supply the Vice-Presidential vacancy and make the best fight we can.

"You will have observed the difficulty suggested by the _National Era_ growing out of the expressions in your father's letter, in relation to slavery in the District of Columbia; and you are doubtless aware that all that part of the letter in reference to the course of his administration on the subject of slavery is very distasteful to almost all anti-slavery men, whether Whig, Democratic, or Liberty.

"I wish that part of the letter could have been omitted. It does no good to revive the past. Our business is with the present and the future. Your remarks in your speech at Genesee on the 20th of June are full of truth. The Free-Territories question, in discussion, must bring up the whole slavery question inevitably. Our contest is with the slave power, and it will break us down unless we break it down. The people will not stop with the exclusion of slavery from Territories: they will demand its complete denationalization. Now many understand Mr. Van Buren's letter, so far as it touches upon slavery in the District, as a reiteration of his pledge to veto a bill for the abolition of slavery there if enacted by Congress. I do not myself so understand it. I cannot believe that at the present day and under present circumstances, when a strong anti-slavery sentiment exists in Maryland and Virginia, which would be vastly strengthened by such a measure--so strengthened, indeed, that those States would by it be converted into free Territory States--that he would interpose the slightest obstacle to its adoption. I cannot doubt that, on the contrary, he would give it every favor consistent with the proper discharge of his function as President.

"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."

TILDEN TO S. P. CHASE

"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."

GOVERNOR COLES TO M. VAN BUREN

"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._"

THOMAS VAN RENSSELAER TO MARTIN VAN BUREN

"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."

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Letters and Literary Memorials of Samuel J. Tilden, v. 1Chapter M: Van Buren to S. J. Tilden (2)

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