FENTON DEFEATS SEYMOUR
1864
The brilliant victories of Sherman and Farragut had an appreciable
effect upon Republicans. It brought strong hope of political success,
and made delegates to the Syracuse convention (September 7) very
plucky. Weed sought to control, but the Radicals, in the words of
Burke's famous sentence, were lords of the ascendant. They proposed to
nominate Reuben E. Fenton, and although the Chautauquan's popularity
and freedom from the prejudices of Albany politics commended him to
the better judgment of all Republicans, the followers of Greeley
refused to consult the Conservatives respecting him or any part of the
ticket. Resenting such treatment Weed indicated an inclination to
secede, and except that his regard for Fenton steadied him the
historic bolt of the Silver Grays might have been repeated.[1002]
[Footnote 1002: New York _Herald_, September 8.]
Fenton was a well-to-do business man, without oratorical gifts or
statesmanlike qualities, but with a surpassing genius for public life.
He quickly discerned the drift of public sentiment and had seldom made
a glaring mistake. He knew, also, how to enlist other men in his
service and attach them to his fortunes. During his ten years in
Congress he developed a faculty for organisation, being able to
coördinate all his resources and to bring them into their place in the
accomplishment of his purposes. This was conspicuously illustrated in
the Thirty-seventh Congress when he formed a combination that made
Galusha A. Grow speaker of the House. Besides, by careful attention to
the wants of constituents and to the work of the House, backed by the
shrewdness of a typical politician who rarely makes an enemy, he was
recognised as a sagacious counsellor and safe leader. He had
previously been mentioned for governor, and in the preceding winter
Theodore M. Pomeroy, then representing the Auburn district in
Congress, presented him for speaker.[1003] Schuyler Colfax controlled
the caucus, but the compliment expressed the esteem of Fenton's
colleagues.
[Footnote 1003: New York _Tribune_, December 7, 1863.]
He was singularly striking and attractive in person, tall, erect, and
graceful in figure, with regular features and wavy hair slightly
tinged with gray. His sloping forehead, full at the eyebrows,
indicated keen perceptive powers. He was suave in address, so suave,
indeed, that his enemies often charged him with insincerity and even
duplicity, but his gracious manner, exhibited to the plainest woman
and most trifling man, won the hearts of the people as quickly as his
political favours recruited the large and devoted following that
remained steadfast to the end. Perhaps no one in his party presented a
stronger running record. He belonged to the Barnburners, he presided
at the birth of the Republican party, he stood for a vigorous
prosecution of the war regardless of the fate of slavery, and he had
avoided the Weed-Greeley quarrels. If he was not a statesman, he at
least possessed the needed qualities to head the State ticket.
As usual John A. Dix's name came before the convention. It was well
known that party nomenclature did not represent his views, but his
admirers, profoundly impressed with his sterling integrity and weight
of character, insisted, amidst the loudest cheering of the day, that
his name be presented. Nevertheless, an informal ballot quickly
disclosed that Fenton was the choice, and on motion of Elbridge G.
Lapham the nomination became unanimous.[1004] Other nominations fell
to the Radicals.[1005] Not until Greeley was about to capture first
place as a presidential elector-at-large, however, did the
Conservatives fully realise how badly they were being punished. Then
every expedient known to diplomacy was exhausted. Afternoon shaded
into evening and evening into night. Still the contest continued. It
seems never to have occurred to the Weed faction that Horace Greeley,
whom it had so often defeated, could be given an office, even though
its duties covered but a single day, and in its desperation it
discovered a willingness to compromise on any other name. But
Greeley's friends forced the fight, and to their great joy won a most
decisive victory.[1006]
[Footnote 1004: "The informal vote was as follows: Fenton, 247-1/2;
Tremaine, 69; Dix, 35-1/2."--New York _Herald_, September 8, 1864.]
[Footnote 1005: "The ticket is as follows: Governor, Reuben E. Fenton
of Chautauqua; Lieutenant-Governor, Thomas G. Alvord of Onondaga;
Canal Commissioner, Franklin A. Alberger of Erie; Inspector of
Prisons, David P. Forrest of Schenectady."--New York _Tribune_,
September 14, 1864.]
[Footnote 1006: "The following is the vote for presidential
elector-at-large: Horace Greeley, 215; Preston King, 191-1/2; Daniel
S. Dickinson, 143; Richard M. Blatchford, 86; John A. King, 10; Lyman
Tremaine, 13; J.S.T. Stranahan, 27; Thurlow Weed, 1."--_Ibid._,
September 8.]
While the Weed men were nursing their resentment because of the honour
thus suddenly thrust upon the most famous American editor,[1007] a
great surprise convulsed the Democratic State convention.[1008] The
report that Horatio Seymour sought release from official labours
because of ill health and the demands of private business, created the
belief that he would decline a renomination even if tendered by
acclamation. Indeed, the Governor himself, in conversation with Dean
Richmond, reiterated his oft-expressed determination not to accept.
The Regency, believing him sincere, agreed upon William F. Allen of
Oswego, although other candidates, notably William Kelly of Dutchess,
the nominee of the Softs in 1860, and Amasa J. Parker of Albany, were
mentioned. Lucius Robinson, declining to be considered for second
place, urged the nomination of Dix for governor. Of these candidates
Seymour was quoted as favourable to Parker. Still a feeling of unrest
disturbed the hotel lobbies. "There is some talk," said the _Herald_,
"of giving Seymour a complimentary vote, with the understanding that
he will then decline, but this is opposed as a trick to place him in
the field again, although those who pretend to speak for him
positively declare that he will not accept the nomination upon any
contingency."[1009] When told on convention morning that Seymour would
accept if nominated by acclamation, Richmond ridiculed the idea. His
incredulity was strengthened by the statement of two Oneida delegates,
whom the Governor, only a few moments before, had instructed to
withdraw his name if presented. Thus matters stood until the
convention, having enthusiastically applauded an indorsement of
Seymour's administration, quickly and by acclamation carried a motion
for his renomination, the delegates jumping to their feet and giving
cheer after cheer. Immediately a delegate, rising to a question of
privilege, stated that the Governor, in the hearing of gentlemen from
his own county, had positively declined to accept a nomination because
his health and the state of his private affairs forbade it. As this
did not satisfy the delegates, a committee, appointed to notify
Seymour of his selection, reported that the Governor whose temporary
illness prevented his attendance upon the convention, had had much to
say about private affairs, ill health, and excessive labour, but that
since the delegates insisted upon his renomination, he acquiesced in
their choice.[1010]
[Footnote 1007: "The nomination of Horace Greeley for elector-at-large
is a bitter pill. The Weed men make no secret that Fenton's name is
the only thing that will save the ticket."--New York _Herald_,
September 8.]
[Footnote 1008: Held at Albany on September 14.]
[Footnote 1009: New York _Herald_, September 14, 1864.]
[Footnote 1010: _Ibid._, September 16.]
Seymour's action was variously interpreted. Some pronounced it tricky;
others, that he declined because he feared defeat.[1011] But there was
no evidence of insincerity. He wanted the office less in 1864 than he
did in 1862. It had brought labour and anxiety, and no relief from
increasing solicitude was in sight if re-elected. But his friends,
resenting the New York delegation's action in withholding from him its
support for President, determined to be avenged by renominating him
for governor. They knew that Dean Richmond, whose admiration for the
Governor had not been increased by the latter's performance at
Chicago, wanted a candidate of more pronounced views respecting a
vigorous prosecution of the war, and that in his support of Allen he
had the convention well in hand. Wisely distrusting the Regency,
therefore, they worked in secret, talking of the honour and prestige
of a complimentary vote, but always declaring, what Seymour himself
emphasised, that the Governor would not again accept the office. Not a
misstep left its print in the proceedings. Before the chairman put the
motion for his renomination, a delegate from Oneida, rising to
withdraw the name, was quieted by the assurance that it was only
complimentary. An Albany lieutenant of Dean Richmond, obtaining the
floor with the help of a stentorian voice, began to block the
movement, but quickly subsided after hearing the explanation from a
delegate at his side that it was only complimentary. When the motion
had carried, however, and the Oneida gentleman began fulfilling the
Governor's directions, came the cry, "Too late, too late. We have
nominated the candidate!" So perfectly was the _coup d'état_ arranged
that the prime mover of the scheme was appointed chairman of the
committee to wait upon the Governor. Afterwards people recalled, with
a disposition to connect Seymour with this master-stroke in politics,
that he had never declined by letter, and that the reasons given,
like the illness that kept him from facing the convention, were
largely imaginary. "That crowd saw how beautifully they were done,"
said Depew, then secretary of state at Albany, "while Dean Richmond's
language was never printed."[1012]
[Footnote 1011: "Seymour tried to get the nomination at Chicago by the
same tricky means he has secured it at Albany,--by declaring
beforehand that he would not be a candidate. He failed at Chicago
because of the overwhelming popularity of McClellan; he succeeded at
Albany by his friends seizing a moment to nominate him when the
convention was in a delirium of enthusiasm at his apparent
self-sacrifice in persisting to decline."--New York _Herald_
(editorial), September 17, 1864.]
[Footnote 1012: From Chauncey M. Depew's speech, March 23,
1901.--_Addresses of_, p. 105.
"The ticket nominated is as follows: Governor, Horatio Seymour of
Oneida; Lieutenant-Governor, David R. Floyd Jones of Queens; Canal
Commissioner, Jarvis Lord of Monroe; Prison Inspector, David B. McNeil
of Clinton; electors-at-large, William E. Kelley of Dutchess and
Washington Hunt of Niagara."--New York _Herald_, September 16, 1864.]
Scarcely had the convention adjourned before the brilliant
achievements in the Shenandoah valley thrilled the North from Maine to
California. On September 19, at the battle of Winchester, General
Sheridan defeated General Early, and on the 22d, at Fisher's Hill, put
him to flight. "Only darkness," Sheridan telegraphed Grant, "has saved
the whole of Early's army from total destruction. I do not think there
ever was an army so badly routed."[1013] These victories, recalling
those of Stonewall Jackson in 1862, appealed to the popular
imagination and quickly reassured the country. Besides, on September
21, the withdrawal of Fremont and Cochrane, the Cleveland candidates,
united Radical and Conservative in a vigorous campaign for Lincoln. A
private letter from Grant, who participated in the glory accorded
Sherman and Sheridan, told the true condition of the Confederacy. "The
rebels," he said, "have now in their ranks their last man. They have
robbed the cradle and the grave equally to get their present force.
Besides what they lose in frequent skirmishes and battles, they are
now losing, from desertions and other causes, at least one regiment
per day. With this drain upon them the end is not far distant, if we
only be true to ourselves."[1014]
[Footnote 1013: Official Records, Vol. 43, Part 1, p. 26.]
[Footnote 1014: New York _Times_, September 9, 1864; Appleton's
_Cyclopædia_, 1864, p. 134.]
This story, coupled with recent victories, turned the Democratic
platform into a lie. Instead of being a failure, the war was now
recognised as a grand success, and radical speakers, replying to the
clamour for a cessation of hostilities, maintained that the abolition
of slavery was the only condition that promised a permanent peace.
Brilliant descriptions of Grant's work, aided by his distinguished
lieutenants, were supplemented later in the campaign by the recital of
"Sheridan's Ride," which produced the wildest enthusiasm. Indeed, the
influence of the army's achievements, dissipating the despondency of
the summer months, lifted the campaign into an atmosphere of
patriotism not before experienced since the spring of 1861, and
established the belief that Lincoln's re-election meant the end of
secession and slavery. "There will be peace," said John Cochrane, "but
it will be the peace which the musket gives to a conquered host."[1015]
[Footnote 1015: New York _Tribune_, October 11, 1864.]
Referring to the farewell speech of Alexander H. Stephens upon his
retirement from public life in 1859, George William Curtis, with the
eloquence that adorned his addresses at that period, thrilled his
audience with an exciting war picture: "Listen to Mr. Stephens in the
summer sunshine six years ago. 'There is not now a spot of the public
territory of the United States over which the national flag floats
where slavery is excluded by the law of Congress, and the highest
tribunal of the land has decided that Congress has no power to make
such a law. At this time there is not a ripple upon the surface. The
country was never in a profounder quiet.' Do you comprehend the
terrible significance of those words? He stops; he sits down. The
summer sun sets over the fields of Georgia. Good-night, Mr.
Stephens--a long good-night. Look out from your window--how calm it
is! Upon Missionary Ridge, upon Lookout Mountain, upon the heights of
Dalton, upon the spires of Atlanta, silence and solitude; the peace of
the Southern policy of slavery and death. But look! Hark! Through the
great five years before you a light is shining--a sound is ringing.
It is the gleam of Sherman's bayonets, it is the roar of Grant's guns,
it is the red daybreak and wild morning music of peace indeed, the
peace of national life and liberty."[1016]
[Footnote 1016: Edward Cary, _Life of G.W. Curtis_, pp. 186-187.]
The sulkers now came out of their tents. Daniel S. Dickinson, no
longer peddling his griefs in private ears, declared "there was no
doubt of the President's triumphant election;"[1017] the tone of Bryant
and the _Evening Post_ changed; Beecher renewed hope through the
_Independent_ and preached a political sermon every Sunday evening;
Weed and Raymond discontinued their starless letters to Lincoln;
George Opdyke cancelled the call for a second national convention and
another candidate for President; and Horace Greeley, silent as to his
part in the recent conspiracy, joined the army of Union orators.
Catching again the spirit of the great moral impulse and that lofty
enthusiasm which had aroused the people of the North to the decisive
struggle against slavery, these leaders sprang to the work of
advancing the cause of liberty and human rights.
[Footnote 1017: New York _Sun_, June 30, 1889.]
The Democrats sought to evade Vallandigham's words of despair, written
into the Chicago platform, by eulogising McClellan, but as the glory
of Antietam paled in the presence of Sherman's and Sheridan's
victories, they declared that success in the field did not mean peace.
"Armed opposition is driven from the fields of Kentucky, Missouri,
Maryland, and parts of Louisiana," said Horatio Seymour, "and yet this
portion of country, already conquered, requires more troops to hold it
under military rule than are demanded for our armies to fight the
embattled forces of the Confederacy. You will find that more men will
be needed to keep the South in subjection to the arbitrary projects of
the Administration than are required to drive the armies of rebellion
from the field. The peace you are promised is no peace, but is a
condition which will perpetuate and make enduring all the worst
features of this war."[1018]
[Footnote 1018: _Public Record of Horatio Seymour_, p. 254.]
In their eagerness Democratic speakers, encouraged by the New York
_World_, then the ablest and most influential journal of its party,
turned with bitterness, first upon Lincoln's administration, and
finally upon Lincoln himself. "Is Mr. Lincoln honest?" asked the
_World_. "That he has succumbed to the opportunities and temptations
of his present place is capable of the easiest proof."[1019] This was
sufficient for the stump orator and less influential journal to base
angry and extravagant charges of wrong-doing, which became frequent
and noisy.[1020] John Van Buren called Lincoln a "twenty-second-rate
man," and declared the country "irretrievably gone" if McClellan was
defeated.[1021] Seymour did not charge Lincoln with personal
dishonesty, but he thought his administration had rendered itself a
partner in fraud and corruption. "I do not mean to say," he declared,
"that the Administration is to be condemned because, under
circumstances so unusual as those which have existed during this war,
bad men have taken advantage of the confusion in affairs to do wrong.
But I do complain that when these wrongs are done, the Government
deliberately passes laws that protect the doer, and thus make
wrong-doing its own act. Moreover, in an election like this, when the
Government is spending such an enormous amount of money, and the
liability to peculation is so great, the Administration that will say
to contractors, as has been openly said in circulars, 'You have had a
good contract, out of which you have made money, and we expect you to
use a part of that money to assist to replace us in power,' renders
itself a partner in fraud and corruption."[1022]
[Footnote 1019: New York _World_, September 22, 23, 1864.]
[Footnote 1020: "The _Journal of Commerce_ of yesterday indulges in a
general fling against the personal habits of the President and other
members of his family."--New York _Herald_, October 11, 1864.]
[Footnote 1021: _Ibid._, November 5.]
[Footnote 1022: _Public Record of Horatio Seymour_, p. 257.]
After Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana swung into line on October 10 no
doubt remained as to the general result. But Republican confidence in
New York was greatly shaken by the disclosure of a conspiracy to use
the soldier vote for fraudulent purposes. Under an amendment to the
Constitution, ratified in March, 1864, soldiers in the field were
allowed to vote, provided properly executed proxies were delivered to
election inspectors in their home districts within sixty days next
previous to the election, and to facilitate the transmission of such
proxies agents for the State were appointed at Baltimore, Washington,
and other points. Several of these agents, charged with forgery, were
arrested by the military authorities, one of whom confessed that
enough forged proxies had been forwarded from Washington "to fill a
dry-goods box." Of these spurious ballots several hundred were seized,
and two of the forgers committed to the penitentiary.[1023] "We are
informed," said the _Tribune_, "that Oswego county is flooded with
spurious McClellan votes of every description. There are forged votes
from living as well as from dead soldiers; fictitious votes from
soldiers whose genuine votes and powers of attorney are in the hands
of their friends. These packages correspond with the work described in
the recent Baltimore investigation."[1024] Meantime Governor Seymour,
uneasy lest the liberties of his agents be limited, directed Amasa J.
Parker, William F. Allen, and William Kelly to proceed to Washington
and "vindicate the laws of the State" and "expose all attempts to
prevent soldiers from voting, or to detain or alter the votes already
cast." These commissioners, after a hurried investigation, reported
that "although there may have been irregularities, they have found no
evidence that any frauds have been committed by any person connected
with the New York agency."[1025] Nevertheless, the sequel showed that
this plot, if not discovered, would probably have changed the result
in the State.
[Footnote 1023: Appleton's _Cyclopædia_, 1864, pp. 584-8; New York
_Herald_, November 4 and 5; New York _Tribune_, October 27, 28, 29,
November 2, 4. 5.]
[Footnote 1024: _Ibid._, November 5, 1864.]
[Footnote 1025: Appleton's _Cyclopædia_, 1864, pp. 584-588.]
During the last month of the campaign the interest of the whole
country centred in New York. Next to the election of Lincoln,
Republicans everywhere desired the defeat of Seymour. To them his
speech at Chicago had been a malignant indictment of the Government,
and his one address in the campaign, while it did not impute personal
dishonesty to the President, had branded his administration as a party
to fraud. Lincoln regarded the contest in New York as somewhat
personal to himself, and from day to day sought information with the
anxious persistency that characterised his inquiries during the
canvass in 1860. Fenton fully appreciated the importance of
vindicating the President, and for the admirable thoroughness of the
campaign he received great credit.
After the polls had closed on November 8 it soon became known that
although the President had 179 electoral votes to 21 for McClellan,
New York was in grave doubt. On Wednesday approximated returns put
Republicans 1,400 ahead. Finally it developed that in a total vote of
730,821, Lincoln had 6,749 more than McClellan, and Fenton 8,293 more
than Seymour. Fenton's vote exceeded Lincoln's by 1,544. "We believe
this the only instance," said the _Tribune_, "in which a Republican
candidate for governor polled a heavier vote than that cast for our
candidate for President at the same election."[1026] The Legislature
was largely Republican, and the twenty congressmen, a gain of five,
included Roscoe Conkling and John A. Griswold, an intrepid, energetic
spirit--the very incarnation of keen good sense. Like Erastus Corning,
whom he succeeded in Congress, Griswold was a business man, whose
intelligent interest in public affairs made him mayor of Troy at the
age of twenty-eight. In 1862 he carried his district as a Democrat by
over 2,000 majority, but developing more political independence than
friend or foe had anticipated, he refused to follow his party in war
legislation, and with Moses F. Odell, a Democratic colleague from
Brooklyn, boldly supported the Thirteenth Amendment. This made him a
Republican.
[Footnote 1026: New York _Tribune_, January 18, 1869.]
To this galaxy also belonged Henry J. Raymond. He had come into
possession of great fame. His graceful and vigorous work on the
_Times_, supplemented by his incisive speeches and rare intelligence
in conventions, had won many evidences of his party's esteem, but with
a desire for office not less pronounced than Greeley's[1027] he coveted
a seat in Congress from a district which gave a Tammany majority of
2,000 in 1862. To the surprise of his friends he won by a plurality of
386. It was the greatest victory of the year, and, in the end, led to
the saddest event of his life.
[Footnote 1027: Apropos of Greeley's desire for office, Waldo M.
Hutchins when in Congress in 1879 told Joseph G. Cannon, now the
distinguished speaker of the House of Representatives, that in
September, 1864, during a call upon Greeley, the latter exhibited a
letter from Lincoln two days old, inviting him to the White House.
Greeley, mindful of his efforts to substitute another candidate for
Lincoln, said he would not reply and should not go, but Hutchins
finally gained consent to represent him. Hutchins reached Washington
very early the next morning, and the President, although clad only in
undershirt and trousers, received him and began enlarging upon the
importance of a re-election, suggesting that in such event Seward
would enjoy being minister to England, and that Greeley would make an
admirable successor to Benjamin Franklin, the first postmaster-general.
Hutchins reported this to Greeley, who immediately turned the
_Tribune_ into a Lincoln organ. In the following April Greeley
recalled Lincoln's statement to Hutchins, who at once left for the
capital. He reached Washington the morning after the President's
assassination.]