Chapter M: Van Buren to S. J. Tilden

"LINDENWALD, _October 18th, '48_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--As you are the man of business, if not the only one in our ranks, you must not complain of the trouble I am about to give you. The enclosed has embarrassed me not a little. Having been pleased with the writer's very successful reply to Mr. Gerrit Smith, which I think we read together, I feel loath to slight him altogether, and yet I can neither do what he suggests without falsifying my position or open a correspondence with him without exposing the act to perversion. I wish, therefore, you would take the trouble to send for him and explain to him my situation upon the said point.

In haste, very truly yours,
"M. VAN BUREN."

TILDEN ON MR. GREELEY, THE LEGISLATOR, AND THE SLAVERY QUESTION[17]

[_From the "Evening Post," Dec. 23, 1848._]

"When we wrote our former articles on the bill of Mr. Douglass we had not seen the letter from Mr. Greeley which was published in Saturday's _Tribune_ (Dec. 16, 1848). The intimation contained in that letter of his sentiments and probable course in regard to that bill if presented in its original form, would not have been allowed to pass without the animadversion which its extraordinary nature calls for, and which we shall now briefly make, not upon the impersonality which edits the _Tribune_, but upon Mr. Greeley, the legislator, who represents in part the people of this city in the highest councils of the nation.

"When, after having professed to consider the extension of slavery to free Territories as the question of questions involved in the late election--after having for months exhorted all to treat it as far above the other objects of party association, and reproached those who did not so treat it as false to freedom--after having at first distrusted the noble band of Democrats who proclaimed their determination to maintain throughout the canvass and at the polls the sentiments which they had before professed, taunted them with the prediction that they would ultimately surrender principles to a slavish subserviency to party, and at length applauded their constancy when it could no longer be disputed; after having stigmatized as recreant to principle and duty all who should support a candidate for the Presidency not avowedly in favor of the Wilmot proviso; after having denounced General Taylor as identified in interest and association with the slave power, and probably unsound in principle on the greatest of issues; when, after having done all this, the editor of the _Tribune_, on the eve of election, announced his intention to support General Taylor, to vote for a man because he was available, whom he had denounced for that very reason when nominated as an available; to vote for a man because he would beat Gen. Cass, whom he had denounced when nominated on that express ground; to vote for a man whom, after three months of nice balancing, he found to be a shade less objectionable than another candidate, because it was necessary to make a choice of evils between the nominees of the two old party organizations, no matter how wrong and dangerous the principles of both might be; thus surrendering the great question of freedom in the Territories, in the same manner and for the same reasons, for which most of the supporters of Taylor and Cass at the North professed to surrender it, and uniting with them in presenting the miserable spectacle of a number of electors sufficient to choose the President, all voting for men not representing their sentiments on a question professedly regarded by them as the most important, because there was _no chance_ of electing one who did represent those sentiments; when, in a word, after all his former professions, Mr. Greeley ended in doing precisely what the original Taylor men and the Cass men of the North did, and for precisely the same reasons, and addressed to others precisely the same arguments which had been so long addressed to him in vain, and which he had been so long refuting, he shook deeply--very deeply--the confidence in his sincerity which his apparent zeal in behalf of freedom had inspired. For our part, we were inclined to take a charitable view of his conduct. We thought we saw him struggling in the meshes of party association, and yielding not until he had half satisfied his own conscience that he could vote for Taylor as not so certainly declared as Cass, and therefore not quite so objectionable on the great issue, and at last reconciled to himself by the general sense that it was a little better that Taylor should be elected than Cass. We thought we saw a painful conflict with his self-respect and his sense of consistency--a consciousness that he had not chosen the nobler, even if the more expedient, part--that he was doing at best a doubtful act against which his better nature revolted. We are disposed always to respect, in silence, such manifestations, and not to reproach.

"But what shall we think, what shall we say, of the spirit exhibited and the sentiments expressed in the following passage of Mr. Greeley's letter, which we have read with astonishment and regret:

"'... And now to revert to the main question--the organization of the new Territories, and the allowance or disallowance of slavery therein--I have been confidently hoping for an _early and peaceful adjustment of the whole vexation_. The bills of which Mr. Douglass, in Senate, gave notice on reaching this city--to provide for the organization of California as a State and New Mexico as a Territory--were _signs of promise_. Upon the basis here suggested, it _seemed to me practicable to settle the whole difficulty without farther excitement or peril_. I thought we should ultimately agree to permit _New Mexico_, as well as California, to take the requisite steps for organizing as a State, and _bring them both into the Union in the course of the next two years_, leaving them _free_ to frame _their own institutions_. This done, the North would be morally certain that slavery would not be tolerated in either State, and the South would _save the point of honor by the almost certain defeat_ (in Senate) _of the Wilmot proviso_, which, to an established and admitted State, is confessedly inapplicable. And thus would _close the grave of agitation_ with regard to slave territory.'

"And the letter then proceeds to say that 'the bright sky has been overcast' by the modification by which it is proposed to annex the portion of New Mexico east of the Rio Grande to Texas, which is _stated as the only objection to the bill_.

"The first remarkable thing in this letter is the spirit in which it speaks of the question of extending slavery to the Territories now free. If the only thing to be done was to get rid of a troublesome question, Mr. Greeley's mind would seem to be directed exactly to the object. If the writer were one of the conservatives of the Syracuse convention of 1847, who laid the Wilmot proviso on the table, or one of the Whig Dough Faces of the Philadelphia convention, who 'kicked it out' of that body, the terms in which the measure is spoken of would be very characteristic. To adjust 'the whole _vexation_'--'to settle the whole difficulty _without farther excitement or peril_'--'to _close the grave_ of the _agitation_,' was precisely what _they_ desired to do. But if there is something more to be done than to evade this great question in order to save party arrangements from embarrassment--if it is of any importance to make freedom in the Territories _certain_ instead of leaving it to chance--if the opinion, which has been so frequently and earnestly maintained by Mr. Greeley, as well as all who profess to be friends of freedom, that for this purpose an express enactment by Congress ought to be made, be not an utter imposture and fraud, then we submit that the spirit manifested in this letter is not that in which this great question should be treated.

"The second remarkable thing in the letter--and by far the most remarkable--is the _mode_ in which it purposes to adjust 'the whole vexation.' A Territory extensive enough to make thirteen States as large as New York has been acquired; it is wholly unoccupied, except by a small population in a few localities. The question is, shall slavery be allowed to be established in it during its territorial condition? Neither party to the controversy regards as of practical moment the territorial condition, except as it will influence and practically control the conditions, in this respect, of the States which are to be formed out of the Territory. And it is gravely proposed at once to declare this Territory, which is in no proper situation to be formed into States, and which nobody would think of forming into a State now except for the purpose of getting rid of the necessity of acting on this subject, to be a State. And this is called by Mr. Greeley '_settling_,' instead of _dodging_, the question!

"Gen. Cass proposed, in his Nicholson letter, to leave to the scattered inhabitants who are to be found in some small portions of this vast region to decide the question by a territorial legislature. Mr. Greeley, in _his_ letter, proposes to leave it to precisely the same individuals 'free to frame their own institutions' by a State legislature.

"What essential difference is there between the two plans, so far as the extension or restriction of slavery is concerned?

"Suppose that on the 3rd of March next, at the close of the session, Mr. Greeley's plan should be adopted; that on the 3rd of July a territorial legislature should be elected; and that on the 3rd of September it should meet and adjust the 'whole vexation.' Or suppose that on the 3rd of March Gen. Cass's plan should be adopted; that on the 3rd of July a State legislature should be elected; and that on the 3rd of September it should meet and decide the question.

"Would it be important whether the government were called 'State' or 'territorial,' so long as it had equal power to act on this subject, and constituents and representatives were the same, assumed their functions at the same time, in the one case as in the other? Would it affect in the slightest degree the actual extension or restriction of slavery which should be decreed by them?

"But Mr. Greeley evidently thinks that this little change of names gets him over the whole difficulty. And he touches what he obviously regards as the point of the case when he adds that 'the Wilmot proviso' is 'to an established and admitted State' confessedly inapplicable.

"Without discussing the authority of Congress to insert a restriction against slavery in the act of admission, which was done with most of the Northwestern States, it is true that _after_ a State has been established and admitted the Federal legislation has no power to apply to that State the 'Wilmot proviso'; and that by the unconditional conversion of a territory into a State Congress divests itself of that power. But it is not easy for anybody--except Mr. Greeley--to see how the reference of the question, even when confessedly within its jurisdiction to a territorial legislature, as proposed by Gen. Cass, is more objectionable in a moral point of view than the voluntary divestment of that jurisdiction for the very purpose of shirking off the question upon the same legislature called by a different name. Gen. Cass's plan has some advantages over that adopted by Mr. Greeley.

"It is less evasive and more manly, frank, and honest.

"It may afford some chance that the fate of the various parts of this immense tract of unsettled lands shall be decided by the people who shall at some future period inhabit them after they shall be organized into distinct Territories, the more densely populated portions having been admitted as States; which might be somewhat better than leaving to a few thousand persons in Santa Fé and San Francisco to fix the destinies of hundreds of thousands of square miles in which not one of these persons ever trod.

"Above all, it would not, in the miserable attempt to avoid the question of slavery in the Territories by admitting a State of boundless dimensions, incur the great and perilous mischiefs which we have pointed out in our two previous articles, to the safety and permanency of the confederacy, and incur these evils without the least necessity or any compensating benefit.

"But Mr. Greeley says that 'the North would be morally certain that slavery would not be tolerated' in the States to be formed. So said Gen. Cass in his Nicholson letter, when he proposed under a little different name to leave the question to be settled by exactly the same persons. So said Mr. Buchanan. So said Mr. Clayton. Yet nobody denounced their contrivances with more indignation than Mr. Greeley. Talk of the Cass 'juggle,' the Buchanan 'compromise,' the Clayton 'trap'--the Greeley and Douglass juggle is worse than any of them."

* * * * *

The prostration of the Democratic party--whether by the defeat of General Cass or by the conditions which procured his nomination, it is inopportune here to discuss--though a great disappointment to Mr. Tilden, was, like most disappointments, good-fortune in disguise. It gave him the opportunity and provocation to devote all his energies and talents for the succeeding quarter of a century to his profession, during which period of its service it rewarded him as the wisest of Israel's kings was rewarded for his obedience--with fame and fortune. In less time than he had spent in making himself a leader of his party in New York, he placed himself in the front rank of the American bar.

It was not until the year 1850 that Mr. Tilden leased his first office for professional purposes after his admission to the bar. It was on the third floor of what was then known as Jauncey Court, now replaced by majestic banking-houses, on the south side of Wall Street, a few doors west of William street. His landlord was Alexander Hamilton, Jr., one of the sons of President Washington's first Minister of Finance. Here is a copy of their agreement, followed by a bill of Tilden's personal taxes for the previous year:

"This is to certify that I have hired and taken from Alexander Hamilton, Jr., the office, consisting of two rooms, on the 3rd floor of the Jauncey Court Building, and marked on a plan of said building No. 1 (it being understood and agreed that if the above premises shall be rendered untenantable by fire, the rent shall cease during the interval occurring from the happening of said fire until the premises shall have been repaired), for the term of three years from the first day of May, 1850, at the yearly rent of four hundred and twenty-five dollars, payable on the usual quarter days.

"And I hereby promise, in consideration thereof, to make punctual payment of the rent in manner aforesaid, and quit and surrender the premises at the expiration of the said term, in as good state and condition as reasonable use and wear thereof will permit, damages by the elements excepted, and not to assign, let or underlet the whole or any part of the said premises, or occupy the same for any business deemed extra-hazardous on account of fire, without the written consent of the landlord, under the penalty of forfeiture and damages. And I do hereby, for the consideration of aforesaid, waive the benefit of the exemption specified in the first section of the act entitled 'An act to extend the exemption of household furniture and working tools from distress for rent and sale under execution,' passed April 11, 1842, and agree that the property thereby exempted shall be liable to distress for said rent; and also, that all property liable to distress for rent shall be so liable, whether on or off the said premises, wheresoever and whensoever the same may be found.

"Given _under my hand and seal this_ day of February, 1850,
in the presence of

"SAMUEL J. TILDEN." [Seal.]

This lease was renewed on the 12th of February, 1853, for three years, to end May 1, 1856, for $550 a year, an increase of $125 a year.

The rent paid for these two rooms by Mr. Tilden does not contrast more violently with the price of equal accommodations now, than his charges for his professional service during his first year contrasts with the rewards for similar work expected by his profession a half-century later, as appears by some of his bills, which follow, at that period:

THE DAUPHIN AND SUSQUEHANNA COAL COMPANY,

To S. J. TILDEN, Dr.

1850.

Jan. 12th. To drawing bill to amend the charter of
said company, and attending at various
consultations and advising in reference
thereto $150

CHESTNUT HILL IRON ORE COMPANY,

To S. J. TILDEN, Dr.

1850.

Oct. 18-24. Going to Lancaster, Pa., to attend sheriff's
sale and attending negotiations
in Philadelphia (6-1/2) $350

Dec. 12. Drawing articles of association for the
company 100

" 15. Drawing conveyance from Mr. Sander
to Mr. Pyne 10

Drawing trust deed from Mr. Pyne to
the trustees of the company 25

Jan. 8. Examining and preparing 50

Aug. 1. Drawing conveyance for P. R. Pyne to
the corporation 10

Release and conveyance of the trustees. 10
----
$555

THE PEQUA RAIL ROAD & IMPROVEMENT CO.,

To S. J. TILDEN, Dr.

1851.

Jan. 1. Drawing articles of agreement for a union
of the business of the Dauphin & Sus.
Coal Co. and sundry consultations in respect
thereto--proportion of Pequa Co. $125

Drawing bill for a union of the two companies
and consultations in respect thereto--proportion
of Pequa Co. 50
----
$175

THE DAUPHIN & SUSQUEHANNA COAL CO.,

To S. J. TILDEN, Dr.

1851.

Jan. 1. Drawing articles of agreement for a union
of the business of this company with that
of the Pequa Co. and sundry consultations
in reference thereto--proportion of
the D. & S. C. Co. $125

Drawing bill for a union of the two companies
and consultations in reference
thereto--proportion of the D. & S. C. Co. 50
----
$175

THE PENNSYLVANIA COAL CO.,

To S. J. TILDEN, Dr.

1851.

June 17. To preparing another draft of the assignment
of contract to obviate objections
made to executing same $15

" 28. To preparing another draft of an assignment 20

To preparing another draft of a new
contract (36 folio) 25

Apr. 7. To going to Albany in respect to water
grants 100

Mar. 19. To drawing power of attorney and agreement
for the masters of the Wyoming
Coal Association to accept stock of the
Penn. C. C. 20

" 17. To consultation in reference to 10

" 18. Certain Coal contracts 10
To advising in respect to the mode of
transferring the property of the W.
C. A. to the Penn. Coal Co., and attending
numerous consultations in respect
thereto, as well as the meeting of the
stockholders 100

To examining and revising conveyance
of the Wyoming Coal Association to
the Penn. C. C. 10

1851.

June 20. To advising in respect to power to contract
the same $100

" 27. To going to Philadelphia and conferring
with Judge Malloy in respect to your
loan 250

July 1. To drawing resolutions and proceedings
to be adopted by the board authorizing
the loan of $600,000

To drawing the trust mortgage to secure
its repayments--the form of the bond
and other necessary papers, and advising
in respect to the various proceedings
until the transaction was consummated 250

Sept. 3. To attending and advising in respect to
rights of company in purchase of
water right at Williamsburg 10

" 5. Ditto 10

General counsel fee 250
-----
$1780

"OFFICE OF RECEIVER OF TAXES, NEW CITY HALL, PARK.

"NEW YORK, _Dec. 1849_.

"_To the Supervisors of the City and County of New York, for
Taxes, 1849._

"MR. SAML. J. TILDEN.

"To tax on personal estate, 11 Fifth Avenue.
"Valuation, 2000.
"Rate, 118.32.
"Tax, 23.66."

Mr. Tilden had already become interested in a small way in the establishment of the first balance dock ever provided for the New York harbor. His friends, O'Sullivan, Waterbury, and Secor, were also among the number interested with him. The following contract shows the nature and extent of Mr. O'Sullivan's interest. The venture did not prove very profitable to them, nor to have received much attention from Mr. Tilden.

DEPOSIT WITH MR. TILDEN TO SECURE A LOAN TO MR. O'SULLIVAN

"NEW YORK, _Nov. 22, 1850_.

"Whereas, I have this day drawn a draft at three months on C. A. Secor in favor of Messrs. Wright & Betts for about sixteen hundred and fifty dollars, and the same has been accepted by said C. A. Secor, I hereby authorize and request you to hold twenty shares given stock in the Balance Dock Company (out of the forty-two shares of which the certificate is in your hands, with my power of attorney to make transfers of the same dated March 14, 1850), as security for the payment of said draft; said twenty shares to be sold for payment of same unless satisfactory provision for its payment be made by me within one week prior to its maturity.

"_To S. J. Tilden, by_

"J. L. O'SULLIVAN."

"I hold a certificate of twenty shares of stock in the Balance Dock, with a power of attorney from J. L. O'Sullivan in regard to the same, which have been deposited with me by Messrs. O'S. and Secor, and I accept the trust so far as the said papers may enable me to carry it out.

"S. J. TILDEN."

"NEW YORK, _Nov. 22, 1850_."

TILDEN TO MRS. CHASE[18]

"NEW YORK, _Nov. 29th, 1850_.

"MY DEAR MADAM,--Your letter of Oct. 13th, and that of Mr. Chase accompanying it, came at the commencement of an illness which disabled me for some time from making the inquiries which yours requested. Since my recovery I have been diligently seeking to learn something of the line of steamers destined to touch periodically at Vera Cruz and Tampico. Mr. Geo. Law, who is the principal man in the Chagres line, and Mr. Wetmore, an associate of his in that enterprise, inform me that nothing of the kind has been connected with their line; and they agree in thinking that, although such a proposition was before Congress, it did not pass. Mr. Brooks, who represents this district in the House of Rep., and who is conversant with such matters, is of the same opinion. Mr. Croswell, of Albany, _not_ of this city, who is interested in the Chagres line, and whom I was fortunate enough to meet a few evenings since, has the same impression, but referred me to young Mr. Worth, of this city, as having something to do with a project for such a line. On inquiry of that gentleman I find that he is not aware of any action of Congress on the subject; that the project is purely commercial, and that it is so very immature that it can scarcely be deemed to have an existence. This was for a line between this city and Vera Cruz. The laws of the last session have not as yet been published, so that I could not examine them. I am thus particular, because one gentleman of whom I inquired had an impression that such a bill did pass. While there seemed to be very little definite knowledge, my conclusion is that no such line has been authorized, but I shall keep an eye to the matter, and communicate to you any information which may seem important.

"I found in a N. O. paper that the steamer _Alabama_ will make trips at intervals of about 20 days from that place to Vera Cruz. The news that reached you may have originated partly in this circumstance and partly in the pendency of a proposition, such as you mention, in Cong.

"It would give me great pleasure to aid Mr. Chase, in the way you desire, so far as I may have power, if such a line should be established; though the thing is as yet so indefinite--and I am inclined to think will remain so--that I cannot estimate my ability to serve him.

"The friends of whom you inquire--Mr. Green, Miss Green, and Miss H.--are well and pursuing happiness ardently in their customary modes: each one pursuing his favorite phantom, the poet hath it, but I will not apply to them the association that rises in my memory. There are objects in life which are not phantoms--tho' little pursued, and not by many. I am tempted to seek for myself the gracious welcome that awaits the bearer of good-tidings by telling you that Miss. H. intends to leave here on a Southern tour in the latter part of Dec., and has some thoughts, even hopes, of persuading her father to prolong the excursion to Tampico. But do not flatter yourself too much. Wind and weather are not less uncertain on the Gulf than elsewhere, and even the steady purpose and persuasive power that characterize our friend may not prevail against every mischance.

"The change in the nat. adn. was as sudden and remarkable as you regard it. The policy of the gov. was a little modified by it, but on the whole it was most striking as illustrating how quietly our political machine works, even while the hands that seem--and seem only--to guide it are shifted. I do not share, to any considerable extent, the apprehensions entertained or professed by many as to a dissolution of our federative union. I would not needlessly put its bonds to the test. But I think they would prove stronger than is generally supposed; that danger would bring upon the theatre of public affairs a higher class of men than the holiday patriots who figure there in a season of peace--men who would represent the actual sentiments of the masses of our citizens, the serious, earnest purposes, now applied to private objects, that would be turned to the preservation of the Union as an important, practical means to great public ends. The idea of American nationality--progress and destiny--is the master-thought in the minds of our people, and creates a tendency to unity in the govt. quite strong enough. I have, too, a feeling--for it may be that, rather than a conclusion of reason--on this subject, which some may call superstitious. I believe that the gradual amelioration and culture of our race is in the inevitable order of Providence. I see elements which have been and are preparing our country to act a grander part than any has hitherto done in this great plan. That part is to be wrought out, not by an indolent repose on what our ancestors have ordained for us, but by trials and sacrifices and earnest efforts to solve the great social and civil questions which necessarily arise in the experiences of a nation. It seems to me--but here I may read the sacred oracles not aright--that the Union is an essential condition to the destiny we appear appointed to fulfil; and I believe it firm enough and strong enough to endure the conflict of social and political forces which is going on within its bosom. It will survive them all, working out what it can, and as far as it can, and casting off to a future period what it cannot now entirely work out.

"I resume my letter which has been in my portfolio unfinished for more than a week. A current of affairs suddenly struck me, and swept me on so incessantly that I have not before been able to return to it. You must not infer, however, that I affect any special industry, or that I am ordinarily so busy. My life has vibrated between a leisure in which I amused myself with books, and the greatest activity in pubic and private affairs; and, if the last few months have been as engrossingly occupied as any part of it with professional and personal business, I do not expect or desire it to be generally so hereafter. What has most exacted attention was temporary and occasional, and has, as yet, produced, and may produce nothing to me or to others, though lest such a confession excite too much pity for me I will add that in the mean time what has cost me comparatively little trouble has been sufficiently fruitful. My disposition is not to permit merely private business to engross me, nor to be in any of an unprofessional nature which creates anxiety. I have never been accustomed to surrender to it my inner life, or to allow its cares to fill those little interstices between actual occupation which are instinctively given to, and which characterize our ruling habits of thought and feeling. There no doubt is danger, as the relations of business multiply around us and our enthusiasm for public objects is qualified or weakened and our sympathies often come back upon us as the chilled blood returns from the extremities to the heart, that what furnishes occupation to our activity without the trouble of seeking it and without making us inquire whether we choose it, will grow too much upon our attention. But I desire to reserve something to better purpose--something to friends and to myself, and possibly, if hereafter I can recall the enthusiasm of early years, with a share of its former strength and steadiness, something to consecrate life by a sense that it has not been wholly given to objects so selfishly egotistical as are most of those which we pursue. It is time for me to stop; for I am moralizing, when I began merely to exclude a possible inference that I have not leisure to care for the wishes and interests of my friends, and to assure you that I am always happier if I can serve them, and glad to talk with them, as I now do, even if it be at such a frightful distance as, in this age of ocean steamers, railways, and telegraphs, to put a quarter of a year between question and answer.

"I wrote you a very long letter--I tremble to think I ever addressed such a missive to a lady--all full of finances and figures, on about the first of October. I mention it lest it may have miscarried. I should regret if you have failed to get the answer it attempted to your inquiries. I have hoped, and do hope, to hear from you in respect to it and its subject, if I can at all aid you. As a whole, it was not intended to be answered--as somebody said of his own speech--but I do look for a reply; I hope it may be an early and favorable reply--to some parts of it--as, for instance, that you are rapidly maturing your plan of changing your residence to this country, and that, at all events, you are coming over here next spring. If you should say that, you may take your own time for the statistics of the money-market and of money-making. Waiting patiently as I can for such an answer, and begging you to present my best respects to Mr. Chase, I remain,

"Very truly, your friend,
"S. J. TILDEN."

COPY OF DRAFT-LETTER, FULL OF "FINANCE AND FIGURES," REFERRED TO IN THE PRECEDING LETTER

"There are, of course, the U. S. sixes, if you are content with so low a rate of interest. The New York stocks are about the same. There are others which are lower. If put to the choice myself, I should prefer bonds secured by mortgages on real estate, or, as we familiarly call them, b. and m. at 7 p. c., which, with care, can be had, even in the present plethora of money. There are also many varieties of bonds of private companies paying 6 or 7 p. c.; but, as a general rule, I should decidedly prefer bonds and mortgages on real estate.

"There are also stocks of private companies. Many of the banks are earning 7, 8, 10, or even more per cent. But these stocks are at considerable premiums, and have risen much recently. They cannot be always continuing on the ascending series. When a commercial depression shall occur these bonds will feel it more promptly and more deeply than that of most corporations; their dividends will be reduced, the premiums (which are equivalents for future, unearned, dividends) will fall off; and you may lose more by this decline than you have realized in the excess of the dividends over a fair interest. The same remark is applicable to the few railways which pay very large dividends, although they are not so sensitive to the fluctuations of commerce as the banks--in this as in the other case. The Delaware & Hudson Canal Company--whose business is to produce and bring to market anthracite coal--has declared about 16 per cent. for the last four or five years. The premium on its stock is now 50 p. c. That is lower than it has been, because of special circumstances, while I think that the next year's business will be better. The dividend is over 10 p. c. on premium and all. I would rather risk the continuance of its high premium than in any other case of a railroad. I may say, any other similar case. There is a similar company which has just come into operation--a very solid concern--which we think will be at least as good; its stock at a premium of 15 p. c. It is not so well known or so promptly marketable, and its stock is in a rather complex form, which it is expected to simplify next winter. It would be idle to say that I have not great confidence in it, since I have transferred what I had in the other to it, and have put in it more than the sum you mention in your letter; but I should not like to have another person invest in it or any similar thing merely on my judgment; and, to do so on his own, he ought to have more detailed knowledge than could be communicated in this hasty letter. The claim is that its stock will not advance much for the next 3 months--perhaps not for the next 6 or 8 months.

"There are also classes of ins., to some of which I have great objection, but it would be futile now to discuss their merit.

"With respect to investments in private companies generally, I have some observations to make. A very large proportion of one's means should not be concentrated in one institution, especially without the most thorough familiarity with its affairs. A wise selection between them requires at any time special knowledge and individual judgment; and more so now than usually. The abundance of capital and low rates of interest causes high premiums to be given for the most productive stocks as well as the most ____ so that it is scarcely possible to get them at prices [half a page is here utterly undecipherable] unless in special cases where the enterprise is comparatively new and unknown, or its real merits are not fully appreciated by the public, in which cases you rely upon what you suppose to be superior information or judgment.

"I ought to add, in qualification of those general views, that I do not mean that the market has reached its highest elevation. I think it probably has not; nor can I now see the particular time when, or the particular event by which a change is to take place. We are not in a state of high speculative excitement; we appear to be tending to such a state, though causes may occur to check the tendency. But we do know that--whether the present abundance of capital and prosperity of business shall, temporarily, increase or not--we cannot expect them to continue for a very long period, _even to the present degree_. It is desirable to make your investment at as low prices as possible, in order to enhance your interest and have greater security against possible contingencies; but even this consideration may be so modified by peculiar circumstances that it is difficult to state an absolute rule applicable to all cases.

"On the whole, your main interest is to find your money safe and available when you come here, and are able to make a permanent disposition of it on your own judgment. I am gratified to be able to believe that you have already secured an ample provision for the future--its reasonable tastes as well as its necessities--at a rate of productiveness which will give the greatest safety. Anything that you can hereafter add to your income or capital would be really of very slight importance to you, compared with what you now have. I do not undervalue your fortitude and energy, or concede to own to the impertinent advances of time, when I say that your chief care should be to avoid even the possibility of being compelled to begin anew the work of life--so far as the providing for its material wants can be called such--when, if the period most fitted for that purpose have not passed, the years which have been allotted to it cannot be recalled. The advantages of such skilful disposition of your means as are consistent with safety--and such advantages there are--will be to be enjoyed by you when you shall become--as I hope you soon may--a resident in our country. In the mean time, a deposit with the trust company seems to be as good a temporary arrangement as you can make at your distance from the scene or as I can suggest in my ignorance of your particular affairs, wishes, and future movements. I need not add that any aid which I can give you in making this or any other disposition _of your remittances_ which you may prefer will be very cordially rendered. I shall be happy also to answer further inquiries and convey additional information, as far as can be done by correspondence; and shall hope to do so more promptly than I have been able this time, and more briefly; for without purpose to be very ____ I happen to have been visited by unusual concourse of people talking to me about all sorts of things and by a necessity of ____ my talk with you ____ very rambling and diffuse. I have had the ____ to read it over--with something of dismay that I should ever have written such a letter to a lady, and I must beg that it be communicated to Mr. Chase, to whom, in truth, it seems mainly to be addressed--and to all eyes but his remain forever a sealed book. It might ruin all my prospects with less forbearing fair ones if it were supposed there could be any risk of a similar epistle.

"If you should place a deposit, or otherwise temporarily dispose of such remittances as you may make through the winter, would not the true policy be for Mr. and Mrs. C. to come on here for a short time, next spring or summer, to make more permanent arrangements? The journey is not much, and might be more than repaid by the business results. If you could leave your affairs at home the trip might be useful in all respects. I have left myself little space for other topics. But I must find room to say, in reply to the friendly message of Mr. Chase, that I consider myself already, in some sort, acquainted with him, and to beg that he will not measure the little attentions I had the pleasure of rendering to a lady who interested me, as well by her personal qualities as by the situation in which I met her, by the disproportionate sense of them which she entertains.

"I fear the probability of my being able to visit Tampico at present is not sufficiently substantial to fabricate a dream of. My consolation must be the hope of meeting you here, in which I trust you will not disappoint me. The authority with which you commission me to 'say many kind things' to certain of your friends--if intended to be general--is too flattering in its conferment and too agreeable in its exercise to be renounced. And yet I fear I should not be the 'faithful agent' you hope if I did not candidly admit how little, in this respect, you need, or can be aided, by any service of mine.

"Hoping to hear from you shortly, and to see you at an early period, and wishing Mr. C. and you every prosperity and happiness, I remain,

"Very truly, your friend,
"----."

FOOTNOTES:

[8] Letters from Tilden intended for Marcy were commonly addressed to Marcy's brother-in-law, Mr. Newell, who resided in Washington during Marcy's war ministry.

[9] Twice Mayor of New York City.

[10] Mr. Tilden on _Saturday_, after seeing Mr. Polk and delivering my letters, and perceiving a disposition to make the appointment finally made, _wrote to me to come on to advise_. This I declined, believing the matter disposed of, as proved to be the fact. The letter to Gov. M. was mailed at Washn. on Saturday P.M. W. H. H.

[11] The business manager of the Daily News.

[12] _Life of Tilden_, Vol. I., p. 116-117.

[13] At this time a member of the United States Senate from New York.

[14] A resident of Ohio, the following year was elected to the United States Senate, subsequently became War Secretary of the Treasury under Lincoln, and died Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

[15] The letter here referred to was brought to me by John Van Buren about the date of the letter here given; was published by me promptly in the New York _Evening Post_, and was republished by the late Paul S. Ford in his edition of the _Works of Jefferson_.--Editor.

[16] At this convention Martin Van Buren had been nominated by the Free-soil party for President, and Charles Francis Adams for Vice-President.

[17] Mr. Greeley was at the time this article appeared in the N. Y. _Evening Post_ a member of Congress from New York city.

[18] This letter was addressed to Mrs. Franklin Chase, whose husband was U. S. Consul at Tampico.

1851-1860