In 1801 President Jefferson appointed Robert R. Livingston, then Chancellor of the State of New York, as Minister to France. On his return, in 1804, Livingston brought with him some sheep from Spain, then the home of the famous Merino breed, developed from races of sheep originally introduced into the peninsula by the Romans. In 1809-10 a flock of 4000 Merino sheep were brought into the United States to meet the demand created by Mr. Livingston's first importation. The following letter from the father of Samuel J. Tilden, written the very season of the larger importation, justifies the presumption that such importation had been made by Mr. Livingston himself or at his behest. The letter of Elam Tilden was sent to his son Samuel by the late Eliphalet Nott Potter in December, 1882, with a note in which he said:

"In looking over a package of Livingston letters I find the enclosed, and thinking that possibly it may be of some slight interest to you, I beg that you will accept it with best wishes of the season and for the New Year."

This letter was written four years before the writer's son Samuel J. was born.

ELAM TILDEN TO HON. ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON

"New Lebanon, March 19, 1810.

"Dear Sir,—I want to get four or five pounds of your best full-blood Merino Wool to manufacture into cloth for a Coat. I applied to you once before for the article for the same purpose, but you informed me that your wool was all previously engaged. I hope, Sir, that you will accommodate me; I can by some means get it forwarded to Hudson, from whence I can get it. I will thank you to drop me an answer by the mail, by which conveyance I will forward you the money, or get it to you by way of my friend, Dr. Younglove, of Hudson, if you accommodate me with the wool.

"I am, Sir, Your
"humble Servant,
"Elam Tilden."

The most disastrous fire with which the city of New York has ever yet been visited is referred to in the following letter. It reduced to ashes pretty much every structure within the area bounded by Wall and Broad streets and the East River, a tract which then embraced nearly, if not quite all the important commission houses in the city; crippled all our insurance companies, and gave to the territory it covered a blow from which, after a lapse of nearly three-quarters of a century, it has but partially recovered. Like the great fire of London in the seventeenth century, it is still referred to as the Great Fire of 1835.

S. J. TILDEN TO ELAM TILDEN

"New York, December 11, 1833. Friday, 2.30 P.M.

"My Dear Father,—The last has been the most calamitous night New York ever saw. The very centre of the commercial part of the city—from Wall Street across William and nearly to Broad, and to Coenties Slip,—all is a mass of smouldering ruins. A concurrence of unfortunate circumstances rendered the fire thus disastrous. The engines had been much disordered, in consequence of the extensive fires on the previous night—the hose, many of them, frozen and unfit for use. The atmosphere was in a state peculiarly calculated to support and extend combustion, the wind blew with great violence, and the weather was so intensely cold as to clog and almost close up with ice the hose. The flames raged through the whole night with uncontrolled violence, impressing every beholder with the utter impotency of human effort to contend with the devouring element. The spectacle was grand and awful beyond conception. I shall not attempt to describe it. All the fires that ever occurred here before were perfectly insignificant in comparison.

"The question is now, not who is injured, but who has escaped? Almost all I know are involved in the common catastrophe. At No. 12, Mr. Hichcock burnt out; Mr. Birch, not even his books and papers saved. Mr. Brown burnt out, and his goods consumed in the street or in the stores to which they were removed. Mr. Starkweather not yet injured, but in imminent danger. Mr. Williams' employees, everything destroyed; and also Mr. Conckling's, I believe. At 14, Mr. Stewart's employees. At 20, Mr. Bronson among the lost; Mr. Soullard, same; Mr. Davis andescaped. Halsted and Baines, $40,000 lost; 20 to 30,000 saved. Hunt and Andrews, Conckling & , &c., &c.

"So vast is the destruction that insurance affords but a very insufficient security. The whole insurance capital of the city will scarce exceed one-half the amount of property consumed in one night! Estimates are very vague and uncertain—the loss, however, can hardly be less than twenty millions of dollars.

"There is not time to write a word more to-day.

"Affectionately yours,
"S. J. Tilden."

"I have business acquaintance with a great many of the sufferers."

Silas Wright took the oath of office as Senator of the United States from the State of New York on the 14th of January, 1833, and in the thirty-seventh year of his age. He is still regarded in his native State as one of the half-dozen wisest statesmen that ever occupied a seat in the Upper House of our national legislature. He was a warm supporter of the administrations of Jackson and Van Buren, and the most eminent victim of New York's successful opposition to the conversion of the Territory of Texas into five more sovereign slave-holding States of the Union. He was also a close friend and constant correspondent of Elam Tilden and of his two elder sons.

The letter which follows reached Mr. S. J. Tilden only a few weeks before he was deprived of the Presidency by the 7-to-6 vote of the Electoral Tribunal of 1876. It connotes Senator Wright's first appearance in the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Waddell, to whom Mr. Tilden was indebted for Wright's letter, had been United States marshal during the administration of Mr. Van Buren.

WM. COVENTRY H. WADDELL TO S. J. TILDEN

"Bennett Building, New York, February 26, 1877.

"My dear Governor,—I know that you have the highest appreciation of the writer of the enclosed; but I do not know that you have a special taste to preserve interesting mementos relating to such persons. If you have, and will observe the expressions in this letter, you will perceive that W. notes his 'first appearance' as counsel before the Supreme Court of the United States. I beg your acceptance of it for your collection of interesting memorials, and beg you to believe me to be, with sincere regard,

"Yours very truly,
"Wm. Coventry H. Waddell."

SENATOR WRIGHT, OF NEW YORK, TO THE NEW YORK UNITED STATES MARSHAL

"Senate Chamber, Washington, February 23, 1889.

"My dear Sir,—The motion in the 'Custody' case was made in the Supreme Court this morning, at the opening of the court at 11 o'clock A.M., and counsel were most patiently heard. Mr. Gilpin, for the Collector, and I myself for the Marshal. It was, as you know, my first appearance in that high court, and the decision is yet to come. All I can say to you is that I made just as good an argument in your favor as I hoped to be able to make. I believe the decision will be in conformity to your wishes, but of that I have no knowledge, except that impression which a lawyer always gets from the argument of a cause.

"Your late letter was duly rec'd. It will give me great pleasure to see you here before we leave, but I shall leave on the morning of the 4th of March at 6 o'clock A.M. If I get the decision upon the motion in time, I will send it to you; but if it is not made so that I can send it to you before I expect you will start for this city, I will not send it to you.

"I have been called upon to give six notes since I commenced this short note, and I will stop it now, for I do not believe that you can find out what is already written. Rest satisfied that the motion has been made, has been, as I think, very fairly argued, and will be decided, as I think, in your favor; but decided some way in the due course of time, and as I hope before you come here.

"Very truly yours,
"Silas Wright, Jr."

"New York, July 15, 1839.

"My dear Hetty,—Why don't you answer my letter? If the ring does not suit send it and I can easily change it; if it does, send it that I may have your name put in it—unless, indeed, you conclude to come with Pa, which I much wish you would, and, since you are not in school, I see nothing to prevent....

"I am uncomfortably situated in many respects. I perfectly abhor this mode of life. The social slavery of the family to any scapegrace, man or woman, the latter worse, who may choose to sojourn here is really intolerable. And the whole routine of such an upon-the-town life is opposed to every good habit and in favor of every bad habit. I did hope that when one family left, the burden would be lightened; but it has proved to be only a change of riders. These and other petty annoyances vex me more than they used to; perhaps my temper is at fault; but I assure you they are numerous. And it is unpleasant to me, as you can well understand, to see a disease so full of terror fastening itself gradually but surely upon J.; to see not one thing in the circumstances to which she is subjected that gives the least hope of counteraction; and to feel myself without power, in the slavish routine of the house, to remedy or prevent. I do not often speak of troubles when I have them, and would do so now only to you; so you must preserve my confidence.[1]

"As to myself, it is only the condition of things at home that prevents me, if I could make the necessary arrangements, from going abroad. It is the only thing to which I look with any confidence or much hope to act upon my own constitution; and would separate me from circumstances not calculated to lessen the weight of an inevitable misfortune to which I have been long subject.

"I think that if you are able to come now, your visit will be more pleasant than last year.

"Write to me.

"Aff. y'rs,
"S. J. Tilden."

JOHN M. NILES[2] to ELAM TILDEN

"Washington, December 12, 1840.

"MY DEAR SIR,—I have your letter of the 7th inst., and thank you for the copy of the excellent speech of your son, which for the facts it contains, and sound, practical views, is worth more than all the speeches Daniel Webster has delivered on the currency question. The principal article in the Globe on prices and the wages of labor was from my pen, and I am pleased to learn that it met your approbation.

"That measures will be adopted before Congress closes to reorganize the Democratic party and settle on the course of action for the future is so manifestly proper, not to say indispensable, that I cannot doubt it will be attended to.

"Arrangements should be adopted for obtaining the facts from every country, town, and precinct in the Union, in relation to the foul frauds practised in the late elections. The statements and certificates of these facts should be verified by oath when it could be done; and the whole ought to be published in a volume and put into the hands of every honest elector in the United States. This mass of information would be used by the Democratic papers as they might have occasion.

"It is true, as you say, that the battle is not yet really begun; the true issues which divide the Democracy and the Federalists cannot be presented before the country except the latter are in power. They are then forced to come out with their measures and disclose their principles.

"There will be a glorious fight for the next four years, the result of which, I confidently believe, will be highly auspicious to the Democratic cause and the preservation of our popular institutions.

"I am, respectfully,
"Y'r ob't ser't,
"John M. Niles."
"E. Tilden, Esqr.,
"New Lebanon,
"New York."

President Harrison died just one month after his inauguration, a casualty from which the Whig party never fully recovered. To the Congress which convened in extra session May 31, 1841, President Tyler intimated his desire that the members of that body should request a plan for a national bank from Mr. Ewing, then Secretary of the Treasury. In pursuance of the resolutions for this purpose adopted by both Houses, Mr. Ewing sent in a bill for the incorporation of the "Fiscal Bank of the United States," the essential features of which were framed in accordance with the President's suggestions. The bill passed Congress August 6, with a clause concerning branch banks differing from Mr. Ewing's, which was vetoed by the President. The letter from Mr. Tilden which follows was a criticism of this bill, and probably had something to do with its untimely fate.

It does not appear from the copy to whom this letter was addressed by Mr. Tilden, but it was probably to Senator Wright.

Congress subsequently passed another bill intended to meet the objections of President Tyler. He concluded he could not approve it without inconsistency, and therefore vetoed that bill also, by which act he alienated the United States Bank wing of the Whig party to such an extent as to make many friends among the party of the opposition. It is to that phase of that absorbing bank issue at Washington that Mr. Tilden refers in the succeeding letter to Mr. Nelson J. Waterbury, then a very earnest, active, and intelligent Democratic politician, a few years Mr. Tilden's junior.

TO MR NELSON J. WATERBURY

"New Lebanon, September 11, 1841.

"My Dear Waterbury,—On a flying visit of a few hours, which I made to the city some two weeks ago, I received your letter, but I was so busy in running about the country that I did not get a chance to answer it.

"You judge rightly as to my sympathy with your sentiments and action in regard to the veto. Our line of duty is plain. While we render to Tyler liberal credit for every good act he does, and sustain every right measure which he proposes, and defend him against the unjust and unconstitutional attacks of the Whigs, we cannot give his administration an unqualified support, or commit ourselves in favor of his re-election. So far, we agree with him only on the bank question—and there as to act of the veto, not as to its reasons, which are qualified and hesitating, and mingled with crudities and unsoundness; while as to the other questions—some of which are of great, if not equal, importance—we differ from him. If his course had been less objectionable we ought still to keep ourselves uncommitted as to the succession. We cannot enter into a bargain of office for measures. Whatever he does right, he must do spontaneously, and we will freely and heartily support, leaving the future to take care of itself.

"I never regarded Tyler as a man of very high capacity, and his public documents since he has been President have not increased my estimate of him. The last veto—which I have just read over—is better in matter and manner than the former, which was very objectionable in principle, but neither of them is creditable.

"I will confess that at first I was not without apprehensions that Tyler's course might be such as to conciliate a portion of our people, and weaken the efficiency of our action, while it would not be such as we could fully approve or safely support; and that he might construct a half-and-half administration in which real and thorough democratic principles might suffer more than by open hostility. But my fears are diminished. Our people seem to be taking the right ground; and the enthusiasm at first excited will, I believe, settle at about the right point. A gentleman to whose opinion I very much defer thinks that Tyler is not a man to accumulate any political strength around him; and can in no event be dangerous.

"I do not know whether the Whigs will attempt to put in execution any of the desperate means which have been shadowed forth—such as a formal demand by the members of Congress for Tyler's resignation—a rejection of his nominations of official advisers in case the present cabinet shall retire—a systematic clamor to intimidate him to a surrender of his constitutional authorities. If they do, we must stand by him and his official rights to the uttermost.

"I intend to return to the city in about three weeks. Meanwhile I shall be particularly glad to hear from you.

"I thank you for the paper you were so kind as to send me.

"Sincerely y'rs,
"S. J. Tilden."

SILAS WRIGHT, JR., TO ELAM TILDEN

"Washington, December 6, 1841.

"My Dear Sir,—Your favor of the 15th ult., directed to me at my home, came round to me here on this day. I left home on the day of the date of your letter, and when I reached New York found you had left there but a day or two before. I had a very pleasing visit from your son at my room at the City Hotel, but should have been greatly pleased if your visit to the city had been prolonged, as my stay was unusually long and I could have seen more of you than I have been enabled to see for many years.

"Our victory has been truly great and gratifying, and yet your strong, practical thinking has, in my judgment, brought you, as it almost always does, to a correct conclusion as to consequences. If the Whigs had retained the Senate for this year it would probably have been easier for us to have regained the State completely next year. We must not, however, complain of prosperity, and especially when it comes, as I think it has come now, by the sole energies of "the sober second thought" of an honest people. We must meet the crisis as it meets us. We must show the people the truth as to our finances, and then act as honest men would act, determined to pay their debts and avoid insolvency. Everything hangs upon the action of our Legislature during the coming session. If our friends in that body are bold and frank and honest the people will sustain them, but if they underrate the intelligence and patriotism of the people and continue the attempts to humbug them and to purchase their good-will by their own credit sold in the market at eighty cents for the dollar, we shall as certainly be beaten next fall as we have beaten the Whigs this. These seem to me to be truths so plain that no one can mistake them, and I still tremble with fear lest some of those elected to the legislature as Republicans may, from mistaken views, from apprehensions of local expediency, from selfish interests, or from some other improper or unwise impulse, urge a continuance of our system of extravagance and resist the measures indispensably necessary to a return to health and soundness.

"I have little fear of what may be done here beyond what was done at the extra session. An effort will doubtless be made to rouse the tariff feeling again, but our point, as I think, should be to raise no more revenue in any way, or for any purpose, until the land-distribution bill is repealed and the system of giving away the revenue we have is formally abandoned.

"I have very little hope from President Tyler, except that he may prevent some mischief which his party would otherwise do. I do not think there is enough of him to build upon, or that he has enough of the democratic principles and sympathies left to govern him.

"I have not a moment of time more. Please let me hear often, and believe me,

"Most respectfully,
"And truly yours,
Silas Wright, Jr."
"Elam Tilden, Esq.

SILAS WRIGHT, JR., TO ELAM TILDEN

"Washington, January 29, 1842.

"My dear Sir,—Your letter of the 18th Dec. has remained a long time without an answer, and I cannot now answer it, but a single subject collateral to it.

"Within the last two days I have received two letters concerning your Post-Office matters, which have deserved and received my attention. I cannot do here all my friends ask, and have a right to ask, and from me especially, deserve, but I try to do all I can; and yet unselfishness and indolence may often induce me to think that I do what I can, when I might do much more. I fear I have exhibited myself to you in this way in reference to your Post-Office. But of that I have not time to write, nor do I wish you to think, as I know you give me more credit for faithfulness than I merit, and I give you every possible credit for valuable and faithful friendship. I will, therefore, to the New Lebanon Post-Office.

"Mr. Edmunds and Mr. Bryant, of the Evening Post, are the gentlemen to whose letters I refer. As the Senate did not meet to-day, I have had the day to devote to business of this character, and I have just returned, at 3 o'clock P.M., from a day most pleasantly spent in attention to them.

"Upon a personal call at the Post-Office Department I learned that, in September last, an application was made to have the name of the post-office at the Springs changed from that of 'Columbia Hall' to that of 'New Lebanon Springs,' and to have Mr. Bull removed as postmaster and Mr. Nichols appointed. Both these things were done, and Mr. Fuller, the Assistant Postmaster-General, who has the charge of the appointments, supposed at the time, and now supposes, that the effect of that action was to remove the office from the Springs to Lebanon village, the location of the New Lebanon post-office, when you kept it. I suppose he is wholly mistaken, and as you are a matter-of-fact man, I wish you to send me papers properly signed by such disinterested men as you may see to be the most proper men, showing where the office was kept under Mr. Bull and where it is kept under Mr. Nichols; and in the same papers you may show, if you please, where your office was kept and where the office you formerly held is now kept. Let the papers be directed to the Postmaster-General, and have no political, but a mere local bearing, and make a map which will be plain, and if convenient let the men who vouch the facts be Whigs as well as Democrats.

"You must find my apology for this very hasty and bad-looking letter in the fact that since I began to write it I have heard of the death of a member of our body, Mr. Dixon, of Rhode Island, and have been summoned to attend his remains and participate in arrangements for his funeral, and I have been anxious that this should go to-night and found it would not if I did not enclose it before I left for that solemn duty.

"Most truly yours,
"Silas Wright, Jr.
"Elam Tilden, Esq."

SILAS WRIGHT, JR., TO ELAM TILDEN

"Washington, February 13, 1842.

"My dear Sir,—I have but a moment to say that your favors of the 4th and 8th and the documents in relation to your P.-O. affairs all came to me together on Friday evening. I saw Mr. McClellan yesterday, and we have agreed to make a visit to the Department together on some day this week, when we can both find leisure to do so, and if possible bring the matter to some final termination.

"I consider it now perfectly certain that either Mr. Tyler must submit unconditionally to Mr. Clay, and must place the administration in his hands or that open and desperate war is to be carried on, not against him simply, but against his administration, for the future. And yet he is daily removing from office our best and most worthy men, even those whom the Whigs dare not attempt to remove, under the delusive idea that he is filling their places with Tyler men. When he shall call upon them he will find them where the great body of his party now is to him, missing and enlisted under another leader.

"In haste, I am,
"Most truly yours,
"Silas Wright, Jr."

M. VAN BUREN TO S. J. TILDEN

"Lindenwald, October 24, '42.

"My dear Sir,—As you forgot my former commission, I trouble you by way of revenge with one something like it. I owe the clever editor[3] of the Spirit of the Times the amount of the within check, which I wish to have paid to him, and his paper discontinued. As this, that is, the discontinuance, is at best an ungracious act, I wish to have it performed in the most gracious way, and therefore commit the matter to your hands. I am, doubtless to my shame, not much of a sportsman. I have not, therefore, read his paper as attentively as others, but I have seen enough of it to impress me most favorably, not only in respect to the talents, but the just and honorable bearing of the editor. It would, therefore, afford me pleasure to continue the Times, if the number of political papers which I feel myself bound to take did not render my expenses in that line too heavy for a farmer's income. If there is an objection to discontinuing until the end of the year I will, of course, take it till then.

"Excuse this trouble, and believe me to be

"Very sincerely, your friend,
"M. Van Buren."

RECOMMENDATION OF S. J. TILDEN FOR THE OFFICE OF ATTORNEY FOR THE CITY AND COUNTY OF NEW YORK

"To the Democratic Members of the Com. Council:[4]

"The undersigned, members of the Bar, recommend Samuel J. Tilden for appointment as Attorney to the Corporation. Mr. Tilden's services and qualifications are such that in our opinion his appointment would give the highest satisfaction to the Democratic party, the legal profession, and the public generally.

"New York, April, 1843.

"I sign the above most cheerfully:

• Lewis H. Sandford,
• John R. Livingston, Jr.,
• C. V. S. Kane,
• Chas. B. Moore.,
• L. Robinson,
• Samuel A. Crapo,
• William S. Sears,
• D. D. Field,
• Chs. G. Havens,
• James J. Roosevelt,
• C. McLean,
• Theodore Sedgwick,
• Hawks & Scoville.

"I cheerfully concur in the foregoing recommendation:

• Thos. R. Lee,
• P. Reynolds,
• Lathrop S. Eddy,
• Wm. McMurray."

The nomination, election, and inauguration of Senator Wright as Governor of New York State, in 1844, gave Mr. Tilden a greater influence perhaps than was possessed by any other individual in the dispensation of the patronage of the Executive at this time. His friend, John W. Edmonds, in whose office he had studied his profession, a native of the same county as himself, and a lawyer of considerable ability, was anxious for the appointment of Surrogate of New York city. Though he failed in this effort, he subsequently was appointed one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, largely, not to say entirely, through Mr. Tilden's influence.

By the spring elections of 1844 both the old parties were thrown into confusion and driven from the field by the "Native American" party, so called, which appeared with a suddenness and force of a tropical cyclone and swept the country.

The friends of Mr. Van Buren in New York naturally looked to Mr. Van Buren as their candidate for a renomination to the Presidency. He was defeated, however, in the national convention, and James K. Polk, of Tennessee, received the nomination. The following letter from Mr. Tilden to his brother is the only account we have from his pen of his experiences in that convention to which he was a delegate. Unhappily, the manuscript is incomplete.

S. J. TILDEN TO HIS BROTHER

"Baltimore, May 27, 1844.

"My dear Brother,—Here we are in a state of extraordinary excitement and great uncertainty. There is a deep and almost universal disaffection in the South. Virginia is against us by a large majority, also North Carolina, Ga., Miss., Ark., La., probably Maryland, Indiana; New Jersey, Michigan, Alabama, Ill., Conn. doubtful; N. Y., Missouri, Ohio, N. H., Vermont, R. I. reliable; Penn. instructed and ready to vote with us on the main question, but liable, some of them, to cheat on collaterals.

"We have a small fixed majority certain on the first ballotings, but some of the Penn. delegates and probably some others may be and probably will be inclined very soon to desert. But the plan of the disaffected is to require a two-third vote to make a nomination. This, they think, and probably with correctness, that Mr. V. B. cannot get, and then they may bargain with those who vote with us but are not hearty in our cause. Some of the Penn. men who are instructed and are therefore obliged to vote for V. B. would prefer Buchanan—have been approached by propositions from the South to bargain with them, with what effect we cannot know."

SILAS WRIGHT TO S. J. TILDEN

"Washington, May 10, 1844.
"Private.

"My dear Sir,—Your letter came safely, but you will have conjectured, from the public appearance of things here, that some of us have been rather busy for some days past. I have but a single moment now to say that if you shall have occasion to send papers here for distribution, Mr. Stevenson will do the labor, so far as you shall direct addresses, and we will see that others are obtained here, but we cannot send you franks.

"I have only completed the speech to-day, and it certainly is not better for having been written out amidst the unexampled excitement of the last two weeks. A part of it will appear to-morrow, and the residue on Monday evening, and I will take a pamphlet copy, when I get one, and mark it off as you suggest, by proper heads to the divisions.

"Please inform me, as soon as you receive this, if Mr. Butler has returned. I want to communicate to him on the subject of the convention as soon as he reaches, if he is not yet home.

"A letter from Cambreling received to-day tells me that he is off for Carolina only to return to the Convention. He ought to be at hand to meet the delegates in New York when they should have a meeting.

"In very great haste,
"I am, truly yours,
"Silas Wright."
"Saml. J. Tilden, Esq."

The triumph of the Native American party and the election of Mr. Harper for Mayor led to a general and prompt change of all movable officers of the municipal administration. Mr. Tilden tried to anticipate the party proscription, but by some mistake, the nature of which is illegible in the following letter, he had to undergo the proscription of the victors, which, however, neither politically nor financially involved any personal sacrifice.

SAMUEL J. TILDEN TO R. L. SHIEFFELEN, ESQ., PRESIDENT OF THE COMMON COUNCIL

"New York, May 25, 1844.

"I have expected at each of your meetings to be removed, but have been disappointed. In case my successor as Attorney to the Corporation shall not be selected this evening, I respectfully present to you my resignation, to take effect on the day after your next joint meeting, until which time the public interests entrusted to my care shall not be embarrassed.

"I am, respectfully, your, &c.,
"Samuel J. Tilden."

Comparatively recent note in pencil in Mr. Tilden's handwriting:

Senator Wright yielded very reluctantly to the irresistible pressure of both divisions of his party that he should accept the nomination tendered him for Governor at the fall election of 1844. It was apparent to the friends of Mr. Polk that he could not carry the State of New York without the support of the friends of Mr. Van Buren and Wright, and no less of a sacrifice than the transfer of Mr. Wright from the Senate to the Governorship could make the State reasonably secure for the Presidential ticket. How reluctantly Mr. Wright yielded to this pressure is not to be measured solely by his far-sighted doubt of its policy and of the advantages of a victory for the Slavery-Extension party at that time. He had other reasons of a domestic nature presented some three years before in a most pathetic and touching letter addressed to Mr. Tilden's father.[5]

The logic of the situation presented by Mr. Wright's nomination for Governor in 1844 required that he should by his election save the Presidential ticket and then "succeed President Polk in 1848 or retire from public life," and Mr. Marcy to defeat Mr. Wright's re-election as Governor, or himself retire from public life. It was practically to engage in such a duel that Mr. Wright went to Albany and took the oath of office on the 1st of January, 1845. He had in his favor a great parliamentary reputation, and a character for wisdom, probity, and political sagacity, enjoyed in a superior degree by no other American statesman of his generation.

On the other hand, he had to contend with an administration in whose eyes all these virtues, when enlisted against slavery, were regarded only as so many additional reasons for crushing their possessor. He had also to contend with a very considerable number who still called themselves Democrats, but who had deserted the party from mistrust of the success of its financial policy, and who were impatient to recover some sort of party standing.

Mr. Tilden engaged in this canvass for President Polk with more zeal than in any other except, perhaps, the last, in which he was himself a candidate, and in both instances was betrayed by his party.

Not the least efficient of his services in this campaign was the establishment of the Daily News in connection with John L. O'Sullivan.

O'SULLIVAN'S PLAN AND ESTIMATE IN REGARD TO THE "MORNING NEWS."

"July 13, 1844.

"Outline of plan of arrangement for the paper between S. J. Tilden and J. L. O'S.—proposed by me.

"J. L. O'S.

"1. The entire concern to be owned in equal halves by S. J. T. and J. L. O'S.

"2. Any disagreement of opinion ever arising, if requiring a decision, and irreconcilable by discussion, to be determined by reference to B. F. B. or some other friend, unprejudiced in the matter.

"3. In case of either party ever desiring to withdraw, the other to have the refusal of the purchase of his interest, on equal terms with those offered by any one side, or of any portion of the same at proportional rate.

"4. In case of failure of the enterprise and both desiring to give it up, the materials purchased to be vested in trust in (query—the Chairman of the Gen. Committee—or Young Men's Gen. Committee?—or B. F. B.?)—for the benefit of the Democratic Party. This is to be determined within six months. If one desires to give it up and the other does not, at the end of six months, or before, the whole property then to become absolute in the one remaining.

"5. Neither to place the firm under any debt or obligation without the consent of the other.

"6. The business machinery to be managed by a Chief Clerk (Guion), at a salary of $—, and 1/10 of profits.

"7. The estimate of profits of the concern to be made after the allowance of editorial salaries. S. J. T. and J. L. O'S. to be entitled to draw a sum not exceeding $30 a week apiece, for editorial labor and time. Each to do this at his own discretion, and according to his own estimate of a reasonable compensation for his labor and time. If hereafter, from regard to health or other cause, either should desire to withdraw for longer or shorter period from active participation in editorial charge, the other remaining in charge to be entitled to an editorial salary of $2500 per annum. In case of death of either, the other to inherit his share, subject to an annuity for ten years, according to direction of the deceased, amounting to one-third of that portion of the general profits which would otherwise have been divisible between the two—the salary of $2500 in that case being allowed to survivor for editorship.

"No other points now occur to me requiring provision.

"J. L. O'S.

"It is possible that Mr. Waterbury may desire to have some connection with the paper, which will be in that case perfectly agreeable to me. The amount to be allowed him for his services in it, in that event, whether in the form of a certain proportion of profits, or part salary and part proportion of profits, I leave to be fixed by you. I should like also myself to employ my brother in it, if as clerk and general aid his services should appear desirable, his compensation being fixed between us, ranging above a certain small minimum, according to his services and the ability of the concern.

"J. L. O'S."

TILDEN TO——

"New York, April 25, 1844.

"My dear Sir,—I returned three days since, and have been trying to get an opportunity to write to you without success until now. The prospect of overcoming the pecuniary obstacle appears favorable. A few days will decide the question, when I will write to you more particularly.

"A modification of the plan is meanwhile being attempted, which, if successful, must greatly increase its usefulness. It is, if possible, to get the $5000 absolutely; with a condition that if we cannot get a subscription of 25,000 or deem it wise to publish a less number, we shall have the same value in such printed matter as we may choose, and additional matter at cost; which we can circulate in what way we may think best. My own opinion is that, as a general rule, it should be sold, at or below cost, which will itself be very low if the quantity is large and the work managed economically. It seems to me that in this mode we could circulate 2, 3, 4, or 5 times our actual capital; that we should tempt purchases from every part of the country, and make the most extensive and efficient use of our money.

"Of course there are a great many details to be contemplated in arranging so large a machine: I cannot now state them sufficiently even to explain my suggestions, but hope to be able to speak more definitely in a few days.

"Mr. V. B. was perhaps less impressed with the importance of the paper than yourself, and circumstances of delicacy prevented my taking that view of the subject. Nevertheless, he was anxious to have it undertaken, and, since my return, tho I have in no measure availed myself of the aid which he was willing to render, our people seem better inclined than I expected. Still, the experiment cannot be regarded as tested."

SENATOR SILAS WRIGHT TO TILDEN

"Senate Chamber, Washington, April 11, 1844.

"My dear Sir,—Having labored in vain during the whole of yesterday to find time to write to you my promised letter, and not having approached the probability of such leisure between 8 o'clock A.M. and 12 o'clock P.M., I now take my seat for the purpose.

"I have conversed as extensively as I could with our Western friends upon the subject of the paper of which we take,[6] and all I can say, as to the result of my conferences, is that no dependence can be made upon them, beyond a reasonable effort to extend the subscription, in case we shall conclude to take the hazard of making the attempt to establish the paper. The same feeling of which I spoke to you has produced the influences I supposed it would, and it, together with the efforts we are making here to distribute documents, has cooled the anxiety formerly expressed for such a paper, and especially so when a suspicion arises that the man's own pocket may be connected with the effort to establish the paper.

"Still, I confess, I have not been able to diminish, to my own mind, the importance of such a paper to our cause. I think our State press, as a general remark, in a very bad state for the pending contest. The country press has been, time immemorial, accustomed to look to the Argus for lead and tone in these great fights, but the Argus, during the whole time we have been here, appears to me to have been insensible of the pendency of the contest, as perfectly unaware of what appears to me to be its true character. It is not my object to complain of the Argus, and I doubt not that the singular and very unfortunate state of things at Albany has embarrassed its cause, and perhaps presented reasons for its silence upon national questions, of which I am ignorant. In any event, the Argus furnishes no lead to the country press; we have no weekly general paper, and the Whigs, through the showers of the Tribune which they are pouring over the State, are doing much to get the start of us and to turn the current of feeling with the impulsive and unthinking against us. At least these are my fears, and it seems to me that these must be the natural consequences of constant effort and allegation and falsehood on the one side, and comparative silence upon the other. Of this, however, our friends at home can judge much better than I can, and I therefore renew the advice I gave you before we parted here, to go and make Mr. Van Buren a leisurely visit, and take his counsel and advice about the whole matter, and act as he shall think best.

"You will not be surprised when I tell you that the news from your charter election[7] has thrown everything here, for this morning, into that state of excitement and confusion which renders it troublesome for one to keep cool and good-natured both. After some months of constant session, the atmosphere becomes so thoroughly tainted here, and the members of Congress themselves become either so far corrupted, or so lost in their remembrances of home and what the people really are, that they are really more childish and more excitable than so many children, and it takes more patience than I can command to bear up against their whims. In the result of your charter election I have experienced little disappointment, and see no great cause of alarm. If our press would improve the advantages it presents, it appears to me it could not fail to fix the Irish and other emigrant vote throughout the country; but in this, as in other things, I fear we shall feel the want of some paper which is recognized as having a lead and giving the facts and the aims of the whole party. The Post is well edited for its place and circulation, but its exchange-list, I suppose, is not the broadest, and it never has been looked to for the party lead. I say this in no disparagement to Mr. Bryant, for no one holds him in higher estimation than I do, and it is our own fault and not his that his paper has not held the leading place.

"But I must return to the subject of my letter, and writing, as I do, in my seat, and in the hearing of an excited debate, I can say little more, even upon that. You can tell Mr. V. B. all our views about the proposed establishment of a paper as fully as I could repeat them to you as to him if I had the time, and if he shall think that we overestimate our need, or the utility of such a paper, if established, I shall be perfectly content that any farther movement be abandoned. If he thinks it best for you to consult any of our friends at Albany he will tell you who and how. You will let him know, too, that the reason we did not think of Albany, rather than New York, was that we supposed the state of things and state of feeling there to be such, and the relations to our two papers there, those which would be likely to defeat any movement made there with this view, or compel it to be made either against active opposition from our own friends or under dissatisfied feeling on the part of those connected with one of those papers.

"It appears to me that if anything is to be done it should be done quietly, so that the paper may commence with the nominations. I do not doubt, if subscribers are sent here to be distributed, that many, very many, subscribers will be obtained from without the State, and especially from Indiana and Illinois, and probably from Ohio and Michigan, but to that end all the time which can be given will be desirable.

"I must close, for I have been listening to speeches, while writing, until I do not know what I have said or what I wanted to say. After your return let me know the result of your mission as soon as you shall find leisure.

"I am, most truly, yours,
"Silas Wright."

"Private.

"N. B.—I shall write to Mr. V. B. upon this subject by this mail, and I think it not best for you to go up until after my letter can reach him. May it not be best for you to drop him a note, saying that you propose to make him a visit, naming the day, and telling him the subject is that of a paper, about which you suppose I have written to him?

"S. W."

SILAS WRIGHT TO S. J. TILDEN

"Washington, April 30, 1844.

"My dear Sir,—Your letter has come, and I have read it with deep interest, but have not time to give you any answer beyond a mere note. Events follow so thickly upon us now that I cannot promise when I shall have another hour at command. The speech has been made, but it will never be written, if I am overrun as I have been ever since it was spoken.

"Mr. V. B.'s Texas letter is producing the fever and fury which I expected, but I hope feeling will, bye and bye, settle down to a better state. There is great talk now of another candidate, as a third candidate, but the members who join in the movement are, as far as I can learn, much less in number than was expected, being, as is said to-day, only about 20. I think the number will grow less.

"A single word about your effort. Do not involve yourself pecuniarily. If you cannot see your way clear without that, let it go, for it is not your duty to ruin yourself, even for such an object. Your views of the indispensable necessity for minute organization are perfectly sound.

"All I can send to you is some copies of the Philadelphia Club preparation, as I cannot get time to draw out in detail what I have suggested for my own and other counties. You will do that better than I can. I am called.

"In great haste,
"Most truly yours,
"Silas Wright."

---