Chapter M: W. Fuller29 to W. H. Barnum, Chairman of National Democratic

COMMITTEE

[29] Present Chief Justice of the United States; appointed in April,
1888.

"CHICAGO, _December 23, 1883_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--It is clear to demonstration that Mr. Tilden should be our nominee, and if he would consent to run, that he would be again elected, this time by an overwhelming electoral as well as popular majority. From the moment of the nomination to the close of the polls, the canvass would be a triumphal progress. We should be obliged to do some hard fighting, but always under the influence of assured victory by fighting. The nomination and election would not simply vindicate Mr. Tilden, but the right of the people to elect their own officers. Nor is this all. If Mr. Tilden would accept the nomination, that would relieve the Democracy of all jealousy and heart-burning--all controversy between rival candidates, all difficulty in the convention or after the convention. Again, the platform could be carefully drawn before the meeting of the convention, and ought to be by Mr. Tilden himself. Since the days of Jefferson and Franklin, this country has not had a statesman whose pen could delineate so accurately and so simply a principle, a policy, or a line of conduct. What the people need is somebody who can tell them with accuracy and simplicity just what they themselves think. This is the secret of Mr. Tilden's great popularity with the masses, the existence of which eminent jackasses in our party have often denied, and do not seem to comprehend now that they are beginning to be driven to concede it. There are always political prophets (I don't mean to speak irreverently) looking for power in the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire, instead of the still, small voice. Now, the question of Mr. Tilden's health presents itself about which I know absolutely nothing. His age is no objection. Cato learned Greek at eighty, and Goethe completed 'Faust' after he had passed eighty. Taney and Shaw delivered judgments when nearly ninety. Look at John Quincy Adams and Gladstone and 'old Palm.' Why, Lord Palmerston at the age of eighty saved his administration by a masterly practical speech delivered without a note in the early hours of the morning. And, speaking of him, McCarthy, in his _History of Our Own Times_, commences the chapter on the death of Lord Palmerston with the quotation, 'Unarm, Eros, the long day's task is done and we must sleep.' Mr. Tilden's day has not been so long by eleven years. Is his task done? The unfinished window in Aladdin's tower must not remain unfinished. The art of prolonging life lies in an object to be attained. I admit that various things are to be taken into consideration as assisting in sustaining health, and in that way prolonging mere existence; but all these, while mere adjuncts to vegetation, really amount to nothing if there be not a sufficient object for living outside of keeping one's self on this side of the river. I can conceive of no higher object than the attainment of the Chief Magistracy with the view of benefiting the people of this Republic. Here I do Mr. Tilden justice. He is now at an age when he doubtless feels that merely being President is in itself vanity. That doll is stuffed with saw-dust, just as all other dolls are found to be by all men, children of a larger growth. But if he can, by being President, benefit this people by saving their institutions, now in utmost peril, by reforming the methods of administration, by teaching both the great parties, and, in an especial degree, his own, that adherence to principle is as desirable in a party as in an individual, &c., &c., is that not an object worthy the attainment of any man? And is it not an object that would prolong life, and not bring it to termination? I am very much mistaken if renomination, and election, and administration would not do Mr. Tilden good. Of course, as the returns came pouring in, there might be some hours of excitement which possibly would lead to a reaction; but I think not, as what is to be done would still lie ahead. The election would simply give him the certificate, but his duty would commence after the 4th of March. And here consider that what hurried Harrison into his grave was probably office-seeking; but that a man who could lug Roman consuls into his inaugural address probably thought it necessary to listen to every tide-waiter--a kindly but fatal error. I have seen a suggestion in the papers which, by the way, might have come from Mr. Tilden himself, which assigned to others selected by the President the burden of administrative detail. Certainly, in such particulars, my opinion is that Mr. Tilden knows who to choose to carry out his ideas. The difference between one man and another lies a good deal in the ability to do work through others, and the sagacity to select them. So far as the canvass or the administration is concerned, Mr. Tilden would be benefited by both, and injured by neither. As to the second place on the ticket, I think it should be given Governor Hendricks. Napoleon said, 'Imagination rules the world,' and you may depend upon it that sentiment cuts no inconsiderable part in all elections. It must be taken in solution, it is true, but it is a necessary ingredient. Apart from the necessity of the 'old ticket,' it has great strength because it _is_ the old ticket. There is a certain sense of justice that has gone unsatisfied since March, 1877, and you blunt its edge if you change the ticket. Undoubtedly Mr. Hendricks made a great mistake in 1880, but such mistakes are often inevitable, and ought never to be irretrievable. That he should now be in favor of the old ticket simply shows that he wishes to reattain his old position in politics. His error threw him out of the line, as everybody knew it would. That he should desire to get back again is natural enough. I thought yesterday you were entirely wrong in attributing another motive entirely foreign to his character. Assuming that the old ticket is to be nominated, and by acclamation, as it would be, this would as readily happen at Chicago as anywhere else. It is much better to have it done here than in any Eastern city. The only doubt is, would it not be better, partly as a matter of sentiment, to select St. Louis, and have the same temporary chairman, committees, and so on, as in 1876, and the same platform, corrected by Mr. Tilden so as to adapt it to the changes produced by lapse of time, and to shape it on the subject of the defeat of the people's will in 1876-7? So far as any other ticket is concerned, Chicago is the place, and so far as the old ticket is concerned, it is the place, except upon the ground above indicated.

"I have but little doubt that Mr. Tilden could carry this State. It would need a good State ticket to ensure it. But if it were known that the old ticket was to run, I think we should get a good local ticket.

"Excuse the length of this letter and, if you can write me, I wish you would.

"The compliments of the season to you and yours.

"Very truly yours,
"M. W. FULLER."

CYRUS H. McCORMICK TO TILDEN

"CHICAGO, ILL., _April 7th, 1884_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I had a meeting of a few friends at dinner at my house last Friday, some mention of which, I trust, may not be entirely without interest to you. The gentlemen present were Senator McDonald, of Indiana; Mr. W. C. Goudy (member of National Democratic Committee); Mr. F. H. Winston; Mr. Henry G. Miller; Mr. Commissioner Mattocks; Mr. Perry H. Smith, Jr., and my son, all of this city. Judge Shepard, Mr. C. C. Copeland, and Mr. Melville Fuller were invited but could not attend.

"My letter of the 27th of March addressed to yourself was read to the gentlemen present and unanimously approved. I had had a call from Senator McDonald the day before, and had shown him a copy of my letter to you and discussed the subject with him to some extent. He seemed to think that 'the old ticket' (Tilden and Hendricks) would take better in this State than _Tilden and McDonald_, seeming, himself, not inclined to antagonize Hendricks on a ticket headed by yourself; but, at the same time, he stated unhesitatingly that, as a politician, in the ranks of the Democracy, he felt himself subject to the orders of the party.

"There was a striking unanimity of sentiment between the gentlemen present (except Senator McDonald) as to the contents of my letter referred to, while our family physician (a prominent Republican) remarked to me that the ticket mentioned would suit him precisely, and that it would give him pleasure to vote for it. An editorial article in the _Chicago Times_, in speaking of the prospective Democratic candidates, remarked that 'nobody wanted Mr. Hendricks.'

"Since the date of my letter to you, I have observed in the papers very favorable comments by Horatio Seymour on the subject of your health and ability to stand for a Presidential nomination; and I have also observed sundry reviews, by other parties, of the same character--perhaps in all which it may be said that, while you are disinclined to deprive yourself of your home comforts and enjoyments, you have in no case been found to say positively that, if nominated by the convention, you would not accept.

"I may add that Senator McDonald agreed heartily with the other gentlemen present at our dinner party that _no other name could command the support of the Democrats of the country that yours would_.

"Under the circumstances, I beg to ask whether it would be agreeable to your feelings or wishes that I should say anything publicly in regard to the momentous issues briefly referred to in this correspondence.

"I remain, my dear sir,

"Your friend and servant,
"CYRUS H. MCCORMICK."

HENRY C. SEMPLE TO TILDEN

"GILSEY HOUSE, NEW YORK, _April 23d, 1884_.

"DEAR SIR,--I regret that your business engagements make it inconvenient for you to receive me for a few minutes, as I am obliged to set out for home on Thursday evening, and came on from Washington (where I have been in attendance on the Sup. Ct.) principally to see you.

"You must be aware that the Democratic party will not even consider the question of selecting among candidates for the Presidency, unless satisfied that you will be incapable of entering on the discharge of the duties of the office when elected.

"Sensible men in the party will not ask that you _consent_ to be a candidate, nor will they regard the fact that you decline to become a candidate.

"Those who wish to see the Republican party maintained in power till we shall cease to have a Republican _government_ try to persuade the people that your health renders it _impossible_ for you to discharge the duties of the office. Those in our own party, who look to their own interests rather than to the good of the people, would also have us believe this.

"Though comparatively a young man, I acted in 1848 as secretary of a meeting of distinguished men in the Senate who, indignant at Cass' answer in the question of slavery in the territories, proposed to bring out another Democratic candidate, so as to insure his defeat and teach the majority of the party a lesson.

"They selected Littleton Waller Tazewell, of Virginia, and addressed him a letter, asking that he should become a candidate. I, as secretary, preceded this letter to him with a private letter, assuring him that in addition to the names of Yancey and others composing the committee, that the movement would be supported by Jefferson Davis and other leaders who would also write to him to urge his candidacy.

"Mr. Tazewell replied at once, saying substantially that, while entertaining the same opinions, and cherishing the same hopes expressed by the committee, he must decline to allow the use of his name as a candidate, and that no additional numbers, however respectable, would alter his views.

"He advised them to select a candidate from another class; that the Priams of the party said that he could only hope to last _telum imbellisim ictu_, etc., etc.

"In his private letter to me he said that, recognizing me as the son of an old friend, he would say that, while old and infirm (upwards of eighty, I think), he regarded it as the duty of the citizen to serve the State when called on. That Coriolanus had admitted this. That any man could say he would not become a _candidate_, but no one could say he would not _serve_ the State.

"I am one of the few survivors of the patriotic but mistaken associates who addressed that letter to Tazewell thirty-six years ago. On his declination no further steps were taken, and the matter was kept quiet. Some of them have since filled high offices--one was afterwards a justice of Supreme Court, New York, others Senators in Congress--places which they would never have filled had this affair become public. Had it become public it is possible that Yancey's influence would have been so far impaired that he would not have possessed the power, in 1860, to 'precipitate the South into a revolution.'

"I thought that a history of this matter might be interesting to you, and that I might draw some inferences from its discussion with you which might enable me to render a valuable service to the country. I believe that Hon. John A. Campbell is the only man now living who could be compromised in any manner by what I have said as to the correspondence with Mr. Tazewell in 1848; but can rely, of course, on your discretion for the preservation of a curious bit of political history.

"Resp'y and truly yours,
"HENRY C. SEMPLE."