Chapter M: L. Stearns Governor Commissioner Hot Springs (3)

"We are not certain that this is quite accurate. A good many people will remember that Mr. Hayes gave the country peace and rest for four years, and that, while he did not make the unimpeachably 'clean' administration of which some of his favorites boast, and did continually, and as may be justly said, brazenly violate his repeated pledges for civil service reform, he managed to avoid great scandals. Most of his Southern appointments were disgraceful; they were worse even, for they did great harm, and there is no denying the truth of the accusation that he put, or kept, corrupt and base men in office--not a few, but dozens upon dozens--to reward them for political and personal services of a kind which no decent public man would recognize. But he passed two or three years in the White House in constant terror of threatened disclosures which would compel him to leave the Presidency a disgraced man, and he probably regarded the improper appointments he made as necessary in self-defence.

"The very general contempt and dislike of Mr. Hayes, felt and openly expressed by public men of both parties, rests, we believe, on a sound basis. That he took the Presidency, knowing he was not elected to it, forms but the smaller part of the ground for this feeling; for, after all, he took it on the decision of a high court of arbitration which was final. His real offence is that he took office at the hands of his party, having carefully deceived it up to the last moment as to his purposes when he got what they only could give him. That great and, in a free government, criminal act of deceit has rightly called down on him the lasting dislike and contempt of his party's leaders and of honest men in both parties."

W. R. MARTIN TO TILDEN

"_March 9, 1881._

"HON. S. J. TILDEN.

"DEAR SIR,--In reading this article in the _Herald_, I feel with greater force the duty you owe to yourself, and to all, to gather your materials to fix your place in the history of the country. I once spoke to you of this, and you said you would recur to it.

"If you had filled an administration, the records of it would have marked your influence on the progress of the country, but you did not.

"You must gather them, under your own supervision, collect, select, and arrange them, and give the general outline of your positions and purposes yourself.

"It is what the French call, '_Memoirs pour Servir_.' There are many passages where autobiographical sketches will be very valuable.

"You run this great risk of the future: that, while in one light your action after the election may be regarded as in the highest sense patriotic, in the other it may be said that your failure to be President was because of something you lacked.

"It depends upon who your biographer may be. He must be well supplied with all materials, on your arrangement, and informed with your ideas.

"The time that you may devote to this, will it not be the best use you can make of it?

"Yours very truly,
"WM. R. MARTIN."

STILSON HUTCHINS TO TILDEN

"WASHINGTON, _March 18, 1881_.

"MR. TILDEN,--The article which I wrote and published in the _Post_ on the morning of the 4th of March, the day on which Mr. Hayes took his leave of his usurped office, you may not have seen, and hence I take the pains to cut it out and enclose it to you. I think few persons--not even your most intimate and immediate friends--have pursued the great fraud or denounced it with more consistency and pertinacity than myself. I have never forgotten for a moment, nor have I allowed an opportunity to pass, to remind the beneficiary or his supporters of the great wrong they have inflicted on the people and the country and the institutions which have endeared it to us. And yet, had you taken your seat, I do not suppose there was one of the four millions who worked for you who would have less to ask than myself.

"With great respect and great regret,

"Yours,
"STILSON HUTCHINS."

TILDEN TO HON. STILSON HUTCHINS

"15 GRAMERCY PARK, NEW YORK, _March 26, 1881_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I had seen the article, a slip of which you have kindly sent me, and also another similar article of yours largely copied.

"You are entitled to great credit for your faithful vindication of the rights of the Democratic party, and the interests of the people in respect to the election of 1876.

"I never considered the question as at all personal to myself. It seemed to be a duty cast upon me by events to represent the public grievance until the Democratic party and the people had an opportunity to take the matter into their own hands. That duty was very onerous, and certain to be prolific of nothing but sacrifices; and though I would not retire from it, I was glad when it was completed, and I was discharged of responsibility for all consequences of the violation of the elective principle, whatever they made hereafter prove to be.

Very truly yours,
"S. J. TILDEN."

J. S. BLACK TO TILDEN

"BROCKIE, near YORK, PA., _April 5th, 1881_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--At Washington last week I took a tentative look at the business you wot of. The Attorney-General was made to understand the whole affair. He is anxious to be amiable, and, I think, would stop this dirty persecution at once but for Blatchford's decision, which I cannot help but admit is an embarrassing fact, though seen to be perfectly lawless. He proposes that a memorial or formal application be made which he will refer to the local authorities for their report, and he promises to do whatever he can to accomplish the object. He is, of course, not fool enough to believe that the proceeding against you is justified by law. He thinks you had better give a final judgment for any amount that the District Attorney wants, coupled with a protest, and trust to a writ of error.

"The thing looks badly. An appeal to the magnanimity of these people will be so humiliating that I don't see how you can go through it. It will have to be discussed officially and unofficially by the inside and the outside of the administration--in public and in private, and I do not know when it will be ended. Speeding to-day, it may be put back to-morrow, and be lost at last. On the other hand, if you give a _pro forma_ judgment, your chances of reversal will be in inverse proportion to the amount of it for certain reasons which I need not now give.

"I think Blaine would have manhood enough to do right, disregarding all other considerations, and sense enough to see that he would make more politically than he would lose, if the responsibility rested entirely upon him, but he is not in a situation to force his advice upon the others.

"The President is not at all equal to such an occasion. He will probably think it a kind of duty to repeat wrongs upon a man whom he has already injured.

"Please to think over all this at your leisure, and decide whether it is not best to defy these devils to their worst.

"I am, yours truly,
"J. S. BLACK."

TILDEN TO DAVID DOWS

"_Personal and confidential._

"NO. 15 GRAMERCY PARK, NEW YORK, _April 22, 1881_.

"DEAR MR. DOWS,--I recollect that some time ago you casually mentioned that you were a considerable holder of N. Y. Elevated R. R. bonds, and I replied that I held all I ever had; whereupon you reminded me that you knew how many I collected interest on in January.

"It seems to me appropriate to the cordial friendship existing between us that I should tell you that my situation in respect to that investment has changed. I desired before I should go into the country, and especially if I should decide to go abroad, to revise my knowledge in respect to that investment; and before I had completed my investigation it seemed prudent to reduce my interest or dispose of it altogether. I have substantially done the latter.

"I called at your home last evening, but not finding you, and not liking to leave word asking you to call upon me this morning, I send you this note.

"Very truly yours,
"S. J. TILDEN."

DAVID DOWS TO TILDEN

"_April 22d, 1881._

"DEAR GOVERNOR,--Your note of this date rec'd. I am very much obliged to you for it.

"I think you have acted judiciously, not that I think the bonds unsafe, but I think the chances are that they will decline in price.

"Your note will be regarded as you request and again thanking you for it,

"I am, y'r friend,
"DAVID DOWS."

S. J. TILDEN TO GEORGE BANCROFT

"GREYSTONE, YONKERS, N. Y., _July 11, 1881_.

"DEAR MR. BANCROFT,--I thank you for your kind attention to Mrs. Rummel's[25] request. She is the same lady whom you knew in Berlin.

[25] A daughter of S. F. B. Morse, who is credited with having
established the first telegraphic line of communication in America.

"I presume that you read other things in preference to the newspapers. That is often the taste of retired statesmen and men of letters. Notably it was of Mr. Jefferson. To mention little things with large, it is my own.

"You remind me that it is five years since I have had the pleasure of seeing you. I hope the interval may not be so long hereafter. In the mean time, I am always glad to hear of your health and happiness.

"With remembrances to your family, and with assurances of cordial esteem for yourself, I remain,

"Very truly yours,
"S. J. TILDEN."

RESOLUTIONS DRAWN BY MR. TILDEN FOR A MEETING OF THE CITIZENS OF YONKERS ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD

"_September, 1881._

"The citizens of Yonkers, convened in public meeting, on the invitation of the Mayor and Aldermen of the city, and presided over by the civic authorities, resolve:

"_First_--That the death of the President of the United States by the individual crime of a private assassin is a deplorable event in our national history; that the evil example is intensified by the occurrence of such an event a second time within about sixteen years; that such treason against the elective sovereignty of the people tends to encourage future attempts to subvert the Chief Magistracy of the Republic by criminal violence, under the influence of progressively increasing temptations to personal resentments and private malignity, which are incident to the ever-growing power and patronage of the executive office; and that all good citizens ought to join in every wise measure for limiting these temptations, and for restoring and strengthening every moral security which heretofore surrounded the First Citizen of the Republic as he moved without guards among the people.

"_Secondly_--That to Mrs. Garfield and the other members of the bereaved family of the heroic sufferer and illustrious victim is given our heart-felt sympathy and condolence."

S. J. TILDEN TO HON. WILLIAM PURCELL

"GREYSTONE, _October 3, 1881_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I have received your letter stating you intended to call on me and your inability to do so.

"I should have written to you earlier except for an illness, and the pressure of claims upon my attention during my convalescence.

"It would have been agreeable to me to have seen you, and to have treated you with that frankness and courtesy you have always experienced from me.

"In respect to your assurance that you would not be a candidate for nomination, if your nomination 'would be disagreeable to me and be discountenanced by me,' I have to say that I cannot assume any such position. I have neither the right nor the wish to exclude you from a legitimate and honorable competition for any public trust. My practice, when I was at the head of the party organization, was not to become a partisan of any particular candidate, but to confine myself to such advisory suggestions as might seem fit and useful during the deliberations of the convention; to defer largely to the judgment of the best men of the counties, formed at the convention, in view of immediate action on the complex considerations which enter into the formation of a collective ticket. I need not say that I have not undertaken any such function on the present occasion, and have not possessed myself of the information to make me competent to such a work. I assume that you have not given credit to the idle fictions of Republican and other newspapers which ascribe to me a desire to control the nominations and canvass for the present year with a view to becoming a candidate for Governor next year. The truth is, I ran for Governor in 1874 simply for the purpose of sustaining the reform movement to which I had given the three preceding years, and I should not have continued in the office for a second term in any possible event; nor would I now entertain the idea of returning to it, even if I flattered myself that I would receive a unanimous vote of the people.

"All I desire for the Democratic party in the coming canvass is, that it shall make the best possible choice of candidates, and do everything to advance the principles of administration to which I have devoted so many efforts and sacrifices.

"With cordial good wishes, very truly yours,
"(Signed) S. J. TILDEN.[26]

"_Hon Wm. Purcell._"

[26] This was in reply to a note of the 9th September, 1881, from
Mr. Purcell, the editor of the Rochester _Union and Advertiser_,
stating that he had been "mentioned" as a candidate for the office
of Secretary of State, and wishing to know if the nomination would
be disagreeable to him and be discountenanced by him: in which case
he would prefer not to be considered a candidate.

TILDEN TO GEORGE W. SMITH

"GREYSTONE, _October 26, 1881_.

"DEAR MR. SMITH,--Will you see Mr. Cooper and communicate to him the following:

"The view which I took of the matter talked about between Mr. Cooper and myself yesterday is unchanged. If nothing can be raised in New York for the State committee, the best way is frankly to communicate the fact. It could scarcely be expected to foray on one man for the whole supplies desired. I am subject to a continual running fire of contributions. To deal with them, and with the applications now before me, or sure to come, will be as much as ought to be expected from me.

"When I was at the head of the committee I stopped the practice of distributing funds from the State committee to the localities; and nothing of the kind was done in any campaign which I directed, or in which I was a candidate. I doubted the system, and can scarcely be expected to renew it single-handed on my individual account.

"Of course, nobody will give or take any trouble to collect money, if all that is necessary is to ask one man for it.

"I do not just now feel very affluent. I have given away so much this year, and have been led into such large expenses that I am trenching upon my capital, and do not feel as indifferent to unnecessary extravagance as I might under other circumstances.

S. J. T."

HARRIET F. TYLDEN TO TILDEN

"CUMBERLAND HOUSE, CHILHAM, N. CANTERBURY, KENT,
"_3d Decr. 1881_.

"MY DEAR GOVERNOR,--In looking through the books in the library at Chilham Castle yesterday I came across four ponderous volumes of Halsted's _History of Kent_, published about one hundred years ago. In referring to the index of the second and third volumes, I found several entries of the name of _Tilden_ as holding possession of manors in the reign of King Henry the Second. There was a parish called Tilden also, but, in the reign of Charles the First, the names of Tilden and Tylden seem to be used indiscriminately to designate the same individual. This carries out my husband's often-disputed assertion that there were family records in existence when he was a child proving that Tilden was the original name; but that, in the reign of Charles the First, the family divided into two branches, one following the fortunes of King Charles, calling themselves Tylden, and the other who sided with Cromwell, keeping to the old spelling, _Tilden_. And it seems to me that the Puritan names in your family, 'Samuel,' 'Solomon,' goes far towards proving the truth of the statement. We, while adopting the 'Y' in the surname, have kept fast to the Christian names of Richard and of John, but especially Richard. Nearly every Tilden in Halsted's History for centuries past has borne this Christian name. I think it likely you may have seen the book or have had extracts from it made for you. Should such _not_ to be the case, I shall be _only too pleased_ to copy out everything relating to your ancestors from the history at Chilham Castle. A lady in Kent is busy on a genealogy of the Tyldens, but as yet I have not seen it, and no doubt she differs from my husband in thinking the Tildens dropped the 'y' and inserted an 'i' in the time of Cromwell when they are supposed to have emigrated to America.

"I hope you continue in good health. We have seen your name prominently brought forward during the elections. The weather was dreadfully rough here after your nieces sailed. I hope they got safely back.

"I expect Dick to spend his Christmas with me. Katie is staying with a friend, but I expect her home next week. Mr. Parnell has done great harm in Ireland: six hundred ladies are in the Unions (parish work-houses), owing to non-payment of rent.

"Believe me to be,

"Always sincerely yours,
"HARRIET F. TYLDEN."