SEYMOUR AND HOFFMAN
1868
The fall elections of 1867 made a profound impression in the Empire
State. Pennsylvania gave a small Democratic majority, Ohio defeated a
negro suffrage amendment by 50,000, besides electing a Democratic
legislature, and New York, leading the Democratic column, surprised
the nation with a majority of nearly 48,000. In every county the
Republican vote had fallen off. It was plain that reconstruction and
negro suffrage had seriously disgruntled the country. The policy of
the Republicans, therefore, which had hitherto been one of delay in
admitting Southern States to representation in Congress, now changed
to one of haste to get them in, the party believing that with negro
enfranchisement and white disfranchisement it could control the South.
This sudden change had alarmed conservatives of all parties, and the
Democratic strength shown at the preceding election encouraged the
belief that the radical work of Congress might be overthrown. "The
danger now is," wrote John Sherman, "that the mistakes of the
Republicans may drift the Democratic party into power."[1150]
[Footnote 1150: Sherman's Letters, p. 299.]
The action of Congress after the removal of Edwin M. Stanton, then
secretary of war, did not weaken this prediction. The Senate had
already refused its assent to the Secretary's suspension, and when the
President, exercising what he believed to be his constitutional power,
appointed Adjutant-General Thomas in his place, it brought the contest
to a crisis. Stanton, barricaded in the War Office, refused to leave,
while Thomas, bolder in talk than in deeds, threatened to kick him
out.[1151] In support of Stanton a company of one hundred men, mustered
by John A. Logan, a member of Congress, occupied the basement of the
War Department. Not since the assassination of Lincoln had the country
been in such a state of excitement. Meanwhile former propositions of
impeachment were revived, and although without evidence of guilty
intent, the House, on February 14, resolved that Andrew Johnson be
impeached of high crimes and misdemeanours. This trial, which
continued for nearly three months, kept the country flushed with
passion.
[Footnote 1151: _Impeachment Trial_, Vol. 1, p. 223.]
New York Democrats greatly enjoyed the situation. To them it meant a
division of the Republican party vastly more damaging than the one in
1866. Opposition to Grant's candidacy also threatened to widen the
breach. The Conservatives, led by Thurlow Weed, wishing to break the
intolerant control of the Radicals by securing a candidate free from
factional bias, had pronounced for the Soldier's nomination for
President as early as July, 1867,[1152] and although the current of
Republican journalism as well as the drift of party sentiment tended
to encourage the movement, the Radicals opposed it. Grant's report on
the condition of the South in 1865, and his attendance upon the
President in 1866 during the famous swing-around-the-circle, had
provoked much criticism. Besides, his acceptance of the War Office
after Stanton's suspension indicated marked confidence in the Chief
Executive. Indeed, so displeasing had been his record since the close
of the war that the _Tribune_ ridiculed his pretensions, predicting
that if any man of his type of politics was elected it would be by the
Democrats.[1153] Even after the loss of the elections the _Tribune_
continued its opposition. "We object to the Grant movement," it said.
"It is of the ostrich's simple strategy that deceives only himself.
There are times in which personal preference and personal popularity
go far; but they are not these times. Does any one imagine that
General Grant, supported by the Republicans, would carry Maryland or
Kentucky, under her present Constitution, against Seymour or
Pendleton?"[1154] Many agreed with Greeley. Indeed, a majority of the
Radicals, deeming Grant unsound on reconstruction and the negro,
preferred Chief Justice Chase.
[Footnote 1152: New York _World_, July 25, 1867.]
[Footnote 1153: New York _Tribune_, October 15, 1867.]
[Footnote 1154: New York _Tribune_, November 7, 1867.]
Very unexpectedly, however, conditions changed. Stanton's suspension
in August, 1867, led to Grant's appointment as secretary of war, but
when the Senate, early in the following January, refused to concur in
Johnson's action, Grant locked the door of the War Office and resumed
his post at army headquarters. The President expressed surprise that
he did not hold the office until the question of Stanton's
constitutional right to resume it could be judicially determined. This
criticism, delivered in Johnson's positive style, provoked a long and
heated controversy, involving the veracity of each and leaving them
enemies for life. The quarrel delighted the Radicals. It put Grant
into sympathy with Congress, and Republicans into sympathy with Grant.
Until then it was not clear to what party he belonged. Before the war
he acted with the Democrats, and very recently the successors of the
old Albany Regency had been quietly preparing for his nomination.[1155]
Now, however, he was in cordial relation with Republicans, whose
convention, held at Syracuse on February 5, 1868, to select delegates
to the National convention, indorsed his candidacy by acclamation. The
Conservatives welcomed this action as their victory. Moreover, it was
the first formal expression of a State convention. Republicans of
other Commonwealths had indicated their readiness to accept Grant as a
candidate, but New York, endorsing him before the termination of his
controversy with the President, anticipated their action and set the
party aflame. Indeed, it looked to Republicans as if this nomination
assured success at a moment when their chances had seemed hopeless.
[Footnote 1155: T.W. Barnes, _Life of Thurlow Weed_, Vol. 2, p. 458.]
In like manner the convention recommended Reuben E. Fenton for
Vice-President. Fenton had made an acceptable governor. Under his
administration projects for lengthening the locks on the Erie Canal
and other plans for extending the facilities of transportation were
presented. Another memorable work was the establishment of Cornell
University, which has aptly been called "the youngest, the largest,
and the richest" of the nearly thirty colleges in the State. Even the
_Times_, the great organ of the Conservatives, admitted that the
Governor's "executive control, in the main, has been a success."[1156]
Opposition to his promotion, however, presented well-defined lines. To
Thurlow Weed he represented the mismanagement which defeated the
party,[1157] and to Conkling he appealed only as one on whom to employ
with effect, when occasion offered, his remarkable resources of
sarcasm and rhetoric. The Governor understood this feeling, and to
avoid its influence delegates were instructed to vote for him as a
unit, while three hundred devoted friends went to Chicago. Daniel E.
Sickles became chairman of the delegation.
[Footnote 1156: New York _Times_, February 4, 1868.]
[Footnote 1157: T.W. Barnes, _Life of Thurlow Weed_, Vol. 2, p. 459.]
The Republican convention convened at Chicago on May 20, and amidst
throat-bursting cheers and salvos of artillery Ulysses S. Grant was
nominated for President by acclamation. For Vice-President a dozen
candidates were presented, including Henry Wilson of Massachusetts,
Reuben E. Fenton of New York, Benjamin Wade of Ohio, and Schuyler
Colfax of Indiana. Fenton's friends, finding the Northern States
pre-empted by other candidates, turned to the South, hoping to benefit
as Wade's strength receded. Here, however, it was manifest that Wilson
would become the Buckeye's residuary legatee. Fenton also suffered
from the over-zeal of friends. In seconding his nomination an Illinois
delegate encountered John A. Logan, who coolly remarked that Fenton
would get three votes and no more from his State. To recover prestige
after this blow Daniel E. Sickles, in a brief speech, deftly included
him with Morton of Indiana, Curtin of Pennsylvania, Andrew of
Massachusetts, and other great war governors. In this company Fenton,
who had served less than four months at the close of the war, seemed
out of place, and Sickles resumed his seat undisturbed by any
demonstration except by the faithful three hundred.[1158] Fenton's
vote, however, was more pronounced than the applause, although his
strength outside of New York came largely from the South, showing that
his popularity centred in a section whose representatives in National
Republican conventions have too often succumbed to influences other
than arguments.[1159]
[Footnote 1158: _Official Proceedings of the Convention_, p. 96.]
[Footnote 1159: BALLOTS
1 2 3 4 5 6
Wade 147 170 178 206 207 38
Colfax 115 145 165 186 226 541
Fenton 126 144 139 144 139 69
Wilson 119 114 101 87 56
Hamlin 28 30 25 25 20
Curtin 51 45 40
Outside of New York Fenton's vote was as follows:
Northern States 23 33 32 32 31 2
Southern States 44 45 42 48 61 1]
The echo of Fenton's defeat seriously disturbed the Syracuse State
convention (July 8). The Conservatives of New York City, many of whom
had now become the followers of Conkling, objected to the Fenton
method of selecting delegates, and after a bitter discussion between
Matthew Hale of Albany and Charles S. Spencer, the Governor's ardent
friend, the convention limited the number of delegates from a city
district to the Republican vote actually cast, and appointed a
committee to investigate the quarrel, with instructions to report at
the next State convention.
The selection of a candidate for governor also unsettled the
Republican mind. Friends of Lyman Tremaine, Charles H. Van Wyck,
Frederick A. Conkling (a brother of the Senator), Stewart L. Woodford,
and John A. Griswold had not neglected to put their favourites into
the field at an early day, but to all appearances Horace Greeley was
the popular man among the delegates. Although Conkling had snuffed out
his senatorial ambition, he had been the directing power of the
February convention, and was still the recognised guide-post of the
party. Besides, the withdrawal of Tremaine, Van Wyck, and Conkling
practically narrowed the rivalry to Greeley and Griswold. Indeed, it
seemed as if the ambition of the editor's life was at last to be
satisfied. Weed was in Europe, Raymond still rested "outside the
breastworks," and the Twenty-third Street organisation, as the
Conservatives were called, sat on back seats without votes and without
influence.
Greeley did not go to Syracuse. But his personal friends appeared in
force, led by Reuben E. Fenton, who controlled the State convention.
Greeley believed the Governor sincerely desired his nomination.
Perhaps he was also deceived in the strength of John A. Griswold. The
people, regarding Griswold's change from McClellan to Lincoln as a
political emancipation, had doubled his majority for Congress in 1864
and again in 1866. The poor loved him, the workmen admired him, and
business men backed him. Though but forty-six years old he had already
made his existence memorable. In their emphasis orators expressed no
fear that the fierce white light which beats upon an aspirant for high
office would disclose in him poor judgment, or any weakness of
character. To these optimistic speeches delegates evinced a
responsiveness that cheered his friends.
But the real noise of the day did not commence until Chauncey M. Depew
began his eulogy of the great editor. The applause then came in drifts
of cheers as appreciative expressions fell from the lips of his
champion. It was admitted that Depew's speech adorned the day's
work.[1160] He referred to Greeley as "the embodiment of the principles
of his party," "the one man towering above all others in intellect,"
who "has contributed more than any other man toward the
enfranchisement of the slaves," and "with his pen and his tongue has
done more for the advancement of the industrial classes." In
conclusion, said the speaker, "he belongs to no county, to no
locality; he belongs to the State and to the whole country, because of
the superiority of his intellect and the purity of his patriotism."[1161]
As the speaker finished, the applause, lasting "many minutes,"[1162]
finally broke into several rounds of cheers, while friends of Griswold
as well as those of Greeley, standing on chairs, swung hats and
umbrellas after the fashion of a modern convention. Surely, Horace
Greeley was the favourite.
[Footnote 1160: New York _Tribune_, July 9, 1868.]
[Footnote 1161: New York _Tribune_, July 9, 1868.]
[Footnote 1162: _Ibid._]
The roll-call, however, gave Griswold 247, Greeley 95, Woodford 36.
For the moment Greeley's friends seemed stunned. It was worse than a
defeat--it was utter rout and confusion. He had been led into an
ambuscade and slaughtered. The _Tribune_, in explaining the affair,
said "it was evident in the morning that Griswold would get the
nomination. His friends had been working so long and there were so
many outstanding pledges." Besides, it continued, "when the fact
developed that he had a majority, it added to his strength
afterward."[1163] Why, then, it was asked, did Greeley's friends put
him into a contest already settled? Did they wish to humiliate him?
"Had Greeley been here in person," said the _Times_, with apparent
sympathy, "the result might have been different."[1164] The _Nation_
thought otherwise. "In public," it said, "few members of conventions
have the courage to deny his fitness for any office, such are the
terrors inspired by his editorial cowskin; but the minute the voting
by ballots begins, the cowardly fellows repudiate him under the veil
of secrecy."[1165] The great disparity between the applause and the
vote for the editor became the subject of much suppressed amusement.
"The highly wrought eulogium pronounced by Depew was applauded to the
echo," wrote a correspondent of the _Times_, "but the enthusiasm
subsided wonderfully when it came to putting him at the head of the
ticket."[1166] Depew himself appreciated the humour of the situation.
"Everybody wondered," said the eulogist, speaking of it in later
years, "how there could be so much smoke and so little fire."[1167] To
those conversant with the situation, however, it was not a mystery.
Among conservative men Greeley suffered discredit because of his
ill-tempered criticisms, while his action in signing Jefferson Davis's
bail-bond was not the least powerful of the many influences that
combined to weaken his authority. It seemed to shatter confidence in
his strength of mind. After that episode the sale of his _American
Conflict_ which had reached the rate of five hundred copies a day,
fell off so rapidly that his publishers lost $50,000.[1168]
[Footnote 1163: _Ibid._]
[Footnote 1164: New York _Times_, July 9.]
[Footnote 1165: The _Nation_, July 16.]
[Footnote 1166: New York _Times_, July 9, 1868.]
[Footnote 1167: Conversation with the author.
The ticket nominated was as follows: Governor, John A. Griswold,
Rensselaer; Lieutenant-Governor, Alonzo B. Cornell, Wyoming; Canal
Commissioner, Alexander Barkley, Washington; Prison Inspector, Henry
A. Barnum, Onondaga.]
[Footnote 1168: _The Nation_, November 11, 1869.]
The platform approved the nomination of Grant and Colfax, held
inviolate the payment of the public debt in the spirit as well as the
letter of the law, commended the administration of Fenton, and
demanded absolute honesty in the management and improvement of the
canals; but adopting "the simple tactics of the ostrich" it maintained
the most profound silence in regard to suffrage of any kind--manhood,
universal, impartial, or negro.[1169]
[Footnote 1169: New York _Tribune_, July 9, 1868.]
The day the Syracuse convention avoided Greeley, the National
Democratic convention which had assembled in Tammany's new building on
July 4, accepted a leader under whom victory was impossible. It was an
historic gathering. The West sent able leaders to support its
favourite greenback theory, the South's delegation of Confederate
officers recalled the picturesque scenes at Philadelphia in 1866, and
New England and the Middle States furnished a strong array of their
well-known men. Samuel J. Tilden headed the New York delegation,
Horatio Seymour became permanent president, and in one of the chairs
set apart for vice presidents, William M. Tweed, "fat, oily, and
dripping with the public wealth,"[1170] represented the Empire State.
[Footnote 1170: New York _Tribune_, March 5, 1868.]
The chairmanship of the committee on resolutions fell to Henry C.
Murphy of Brooklyn. Murphy was a brave fighter. In 1832, when barely
in his twenties, he had denounced the policy of chartering banks in
the interest of political favourites and monopolists, and the reform,
soon after established, made him bold to attack other obnoxious fiscal
systems. As mayor of Brooklyn he kept the city's expenditures within
its income, and in the constitutional convention of 1846 he stood with
Michael Hoffman in preserving the public credit and the public faith.
To him who understood the spirit of the Legal Tender Act of 1862, it
seemed rank dishonesty to pay bonds in a depreciated currency, and he
said so in language that did not die in the committee room. But
opposed to him were the extremists who controlled the convention.
These Greenbackers demanded "that all obligations of the government,
not payable by their express terms in coin, ought to be paid in lawful
money," and through them the Ohio heresy became the ruling thought of
the Democratic creed.
Although New York consented to the Pendleton platform, it determined
not to sacrifice everything to the one question of finance by
permitting the nomination of the Ohio statesman. There were other
candidates. Andrew Johnson was deluded into the belief that he had a
chance; Winfield S. Hancock, the hero of the famous Second Army Corps,
who had put himself in training while department commander at New
Orleans, believed in his star; Salmon P. Chase, chief justice of the
United States Supreme Court, having failed to capture the nomination
at Chicago, was willing to lead whenever and by whomsoever called;
while Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana, then a United States senator
and supporter of the "Ohio idea," hoped to succeed if Pendleton
failed. Of these candidates Seymour favoured Chase. If nominated, he
said, the Chief Justice would disintegrate the Republican party, carry
Congress, and by uniting conservative Republicans and Democrats secure
a majority of the Senate. It was known that the sentiments of Chase
harmonised with those of Eastern Democrats except as to negro
suffrage, and although on this issue the Chief Justice declined to
yield, Seymour did not regard it of sufficient importance to quarrel
about. Indeed, it was said that Seymour had approved a platform,
submitted to Chase by Democratic progressionists, which accepted negro
suffrage.[1171]
[Footnote 1171: New York _Times_, September 4, 1868.]
Samuel J. Tilden, appreciating the importance of defeating Pendleton,
at once directed all the resources of a cold, calculating nature to a
solution of the difficult problem. To mask his real purpose he pressed
the name of Sanford E. Church until the eighth ballot, when he
adroitly dropped it for Hendricks. It was a bold move. The Hoosier was
not less offensive than the Buckeye, but it served Tilden's purpose to
dissemble, and, as he apprehended, Hendricks immediately took the
votes of his own and other States from the Ohioan. This proved the end
of Pendleton, whose vote thenceforth steadily declined. On the
thirteenth ballot California cast half a vote for Chase, throwing the
convention into wild applause. For the moment it looked as if the
Chief Justice, still in intimate correspondence with influential
delegates, might capture the nomination. Vallandigham, who preferred
Chase to Hendricks, begged Tilden to cast New York's vote for him, but
the man of sheer intellect was not yet ready to show his hand.
Meanwhile Hancock divided with Hendricks the lost strength of
Pendleton. Amidst applause from Tammany, Nebraska, on the seventeenth
and eighteenth ballots, cast three votes for John T. Hoffman. This
closed the fourth day of the convention, the eighteenth ballot
registering 144-1/2 votes for Hancock, 87 for Hendricks, 56-1/2 for
Pendleton, and 28 scattering.
On the morning of the fifth and last day, the New York delegation,
before entering the convention, decided by a vote of 37 to 24 to
support Chase provided Hendricks could not be nominated. Seymour
favoured the Chief Justice in an elaborate speech, which he intended
delivering on the floor of the convention, and for this purpose had
arranged with a delegate from Missouri to occupy the chair. It was
known, too, that Chase's strength had increased in other delegations.
Eleven Ohio delegates favoured him as their second choice, while
Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Georgia, and Wisconsin could be
depended upon. Indeed, it was in the air that the Chief Justice would
be nominated. When the convention opened, however, a letter several
days old was read from Pendleton withdrawing from the contest. This
quickly pushed Hendricks to 107. On the twenty-first ballot he rose to
132 and Hancock fell off to 135-1/2, while four votes for Chase, given
by Massachusetts, called out hisses[1172] as well as applause,
indicating that the ambitious Justice was not entirely _persona grata_
to all of the Westerners. To the confused delegates, worn out with
loss of sleep and the intense heat, the situation did not excite hopes
of an early settlement. New York could not name Chase since
Pendleton's withdrawal had strengthened Hendricks, while the
nomination of a conservative Union soldier like Hancock, so soon after
the close of the war, would inevitably exasperate the more radical
element of the party. Thus it looked as if the motion to adjourn to
meet at St. Louis in September presented the only escape. Pending a
roll-call, however, this motion was declared out of order, and the
voting continued until the Ohio delegation, having returned from a
conference, boldly proposed the name of Horatio Seymour. The
delegates, hushed into silence by the dominating desire to verify
rumours of an impending change, now gave vent to long, excited
cheering. "The folks were frantic," said an eye-witness; "the delegates
daft. All other enthusiasms were as babbling brooks to the eternal
thunder of Niagara. The whole mass was given over to acclaims that
cannot even be suggested in print."[1173]
[Footnote 1172: New York _World_, July 10, 1868.]
[Footnote 1173: New York _World_, July 10, 1868.]
Seymour had positively declined a score of times. As early as
November, 1867, after the Democratic victories of that month, he had
addressed a letter to the _Union_, a Democratic paper of Oneida,
stating that for personal reasons which he need not give, he was not
and could not be a candidate. Other letters of similar purport had
frequently appeared in the press. To an intimate friend he spoke of
family griefs, domestic troubles, impaired health, and the
impossibility of an election. Besides, if chosen, he said, he would be
as powerless as Johnson, a situation that "would put him in his grave
in less than a year."[1174] In the whole convention there was not a man
who could truthfully say that the Governor, by look, or gesture, or
inflection of voice, had encouraged the hope of a change of mind.
Within forty-eight hours every Democrat of influence had sounded him
and gone away sorrowful. Now, when order was restored, he declined
again. His expressions of gratitude seemed only to make the
declaration stronger. "I do not stand here," he said, "as a man proud
of his opinion or obstinate in his purposes, but upon a question of
duty and of honour I must stand upon my own convictions against the
world. When I said here, at an early day, that honour forbade my
accepting a nomination, I meant it. When I said to my friends I could
not be a candidate, I meant it. And now, after all that has taken
place here, I could not receive the nomination without placing myself
in a false position. Gentlemen, I thank you for your kindness, but
your candidate I cannot be."[1175]
[Footnote 1174: New York _Times_, Sept. 4.]
[Footnote 1175: New York _World_, July 10.]
Vallandigham replied that in times of great public exigency personal
consideration should yield to the public good, and Francis Kernan,
disclaiming any lot or part in Ohio's motion, declared that others
than the New York delegation must overcome the sensitiveness of the
chairman. Still, he said, Horatio Seymour ought to abide the action of
the convention. These speeches over, the roll-call monotonously
continued, each State voting as before until Wisconsin changed from
Doolittle to Seymour. In an instant the chairman of each State
delegation, jumping to his feet, changed its vote to the New Yorker.
The pandemonium was greater than before, in the midst of which
Seymour, apparently overwhelmed by the outcome, retired to a committee
room, where Church, Joseph Warren of the Buffalo _Courier_, and other
friends urged him to yield to the demands of the Democracy of the
country. He was deeply affected. Tears filled his eyes, and he
piteously sought the sympathy of friends.[1176] Soon after he left the
building. Meanwhile Tilden rose to change the vote of the Empire State
from Hendricks to Seymour. "It is fit on this occasion," he said,
"that New York should wait for the voice of all her sister States.
Last evening I did not believe this event possible. There was one
obstacle--Horatio Seymour's earnest, sincere, deep-felt repugnance to
accept this nomination. I did not believe any circumstance would make
it possible except that Ohio, with whom we have been unfortunately
dividing our votes, demanded it. I was anxious that whenever we should
leave this convention there should be no heart-burnings, no jealousy,
no bitter disappointment; and I believe that in this result we have
lifted the convention far above every such consideration. And I
believe further that we have made the nomination most calculated to
give us success."[1177]
[Footnote 1176: New York _Times_, Sept. 4, 1868.]
[Footnote 1177: New York _World_, July 10.]
This did not then seem to be the opinion of many men outside the
convention. The nomination did not arouse even a simulated enthusiasm
upon the streets of the metropolis.[1178] In Washington Democratic
congressmen declared that but one weaker candidate was before the
convention,[1179] while dispatches from Philadelphia and Boston
represented "prominent Democrats disgusted at Seymour and the
artifices of his friends."[1180] Even Tammany, said the _Times_,
"quailed at the prospect of entering upon a canvass with a leader
covered with personal dishonour, as Seymour had said himself he would
be, if he should accept. Men everywhere admit that such a nomination,
conferred under such circumstances, was not only pregnant with
disaster, but if accepted stained the recipient with personal
infamy."[1181]
[Footnote 1178: New York _Times_, July 10.]
[Footnote 1179: _Ibid._]
[Footnote 1180: New York _Times_, July 10, 1868.]
[Footnote 1181: _Ibid._]
Not since the Democratic party began holding national conventions had
the tactics practised at New York been equaled. The convention of 1844
must always be ranked as a masterpiece of manipulation, but its
diplomacy was played to defeat Van Buren rather than nominate a
candidate. In 1852 circumstances combined to prevent the nomination of
the convention's first or second choice, and in the end, as a
ball-player at the bat earns first base through the errors of a
pitcher, Franklin Pierce benefited. But in 1868 nothing was gained by
errors. Although there was a chief candidate to defeat, it was not
done with a bludgeon as in 1844. Nor were delegates allowed to
stampede to a "dark horse" as in 1852. On the contrary, while the
leading candidate suffered slow strangulation, the most conspicuous
man in the party was pushed to the front with a sagacity and firmness
that made men obey the dictates of a superior intelligence, and to
people who studied the ballots it plainly appeared that Samuel J.
Tilden had played the game.
Tilden had not sought prominence in the convention. He seldom spoke,
rarely figured in the meeting of delegates, and except to cast the
vote of the New York delegation did nothing to attract attention. But
the foresight exhibited in changing from Church to Hendricks on the
eighth ballot discovered a mind singularly skilled in controlling the
actions of men. The play appeared the more remarkable after the
revelation of its influence. New York did not want Hendricks. Besides,
up to that time, the Hoosier had received less than forty votes, his
own State refusing to unite in his support. Moreover, since adjoining
States save Michigan warmly advocated Pendleton, all sources of growth
seemed closed to him. Yet Tilden's guiding hand, with infallible
sagacity, placed New York's thirty-three votes on Indiana and
absolutely refused to move them. To dispose of Hendricks, Vallandigham
and other Ohio delegates offered to support Chase, and if the chairman
of the New York delegation had led the way, a formidable coalition
must have carried the convention for the Chief Justice. But the man
whose subtile, mysterious influence was already beginning to be
recognised as a controlling factor in the party desired Seymour, and
to force his nomination he met at Delmonico's, on the evening of the
fourth day, Allen G. Thurman, George E. Pugh, Washington McLean,
George W. McCook, and George W. Morgan, Ohio's most influential
delegates, and there arranged the _coup d'état_ that succeeded so
admirably. This scheme remained a profound secret until the Ohio
delegation retired for consultation after the twenty-first ballot, so
that when Seymour was addressing the New York delegation in behalf of
Chase, Tilden knew of the pending master-stroke. "The artful Tilden,"
said Alexander Long, a well-known politician of the day, "is a
candidate for the United States Senate, and he thinks that with
Seymour the Democrats can carry both branches of the New York
Legislature."[1182]
[Footnote 1182: New York _Times_, September 4, 1868.]
Tilden disclaimed all instrumentality in bringing about the
nomination. "I had no agency," he wrote, "in getting Governor Seymour
into his present scrape."[1183] He likewise professed ignorance as to
what the convention would do. "I did not believe the event possible,"
he said, "unless Ohio demanded it."[1184] This admission, frankly
conceding the necessity of Ohio's action which he had himself forced,
shattered the sincerity of Tilden's disclaimer.
[Footnote 1183: John Bigelow, _Life of Samuel J. Tilden_, Vol. 1, p.
211.]
[Footnote 1184: New York _World_, July 10, 1868.]
Seymour also had difficulty in preserving the appearance of sincerity.
The press claimed that when he saw the nomination coming to him with
the approval of Pendleton's supporters he quickly retired instead of
further insisting upon his declination. This insinuation allied his
dramatic performance with Tilden's tactics, and he hesitated to expose
himself to such a compromising taunt. In this emergency Tilden
endeavoured very adroitly to ease his mind. "My judgment is," he wrote
a mutual friend, "that acceptance under present circumstances would
not compromise his repute for sincerity or be really misunderstood by
the people; that the case is not analogous to the former instances
which have made criticism possible; that the true nature of the
sacrifice should be appreciated, while on the other hand the opposite
course would be more likely to incite animadversion; that, on the
whole, acceptance is the best thing. I think a decision is necessary,
for it is not possible to go through a canvass with a candidate
declining. I am sincerely willing to accept such action as will be
most for the honour of our friend; at the same time my personal wish
is acceptance. You may express for me so much on the subject as you
find necessary and think proper."[1185]
[Footnote 1185: John Bigelow, _Life of Tilden_, Vol. 1, p. 212.]
On August 4, when Seymour finally accepted, he neither apologised nor
explained. "The nomination," he wrote, "was unsought and unexpected. I
have been caught up by the overwhelming tide which is bearing us on to
a great political change, and I find myself unable to resist its
pressure."[1186] Those who recalled the Governor's alleged tortuous
course at Chicago and again at Albany in 1864 did not credit him with
the candour that excites admiration. "Such men did not believe in the
sincerity of Seymour's repeated declinations," said Henry J. Raymond,
"and therefore accepted the final result with the significant remark,
'I told you so.'"[1187] Horace Greeley was more severe. "The means by
which Horatio Seymour obtained his nomination," he wrote, "are
characteristic of that political cunning which has marked his career.
The whole affair was an adroit specimen of political hypocrisy, by
which the actual favourite of the majority was not only sold, but was
induced to nominate the trickster who had defeated him."[1188]
[Footnote 1186: _Public Record of Horatio Seymour_, p. 343.]
[Footnote 1187: New York _Times_, August 10.]
[Footnote 1188: New York _Tribune_, November 5, 1868.]
After Seymour's nomination the first expression of the campaign
occurred in Vermont. Although largely Republican the Democrats made an
unusually animated contest, sending their best speakers and furnishing
the needed funds. Nevertheless, the Republicans added 7,000 to their
majority of the preceding year. This decisive victory, celebrated in
Albany on September 2, had a depressing influence upon the Democratic
State convention then in session, ending among other things the
candidacy of Henry C. Murphy for governor. The up-State opponents of
the Tweed ring, joined by the Kings County delegation, hoped to make a
winning combination against John T. Hoffman, and for several days
Murphy stood up against the attacks of Tammany, defying its threats
and refusing to withdraw. But he wilted under the news from Vermont.
If not beaten in convention, he argued, defeat is likely to come in
the election, and so, amidst the noise of booming cannon and parading
Republicans, he allowed Hoffman to be nominated by acclamation.[1189]
[Footnote 1189: "Then we have John T. Hoffman, who is kept by Tammany
Hall as a kind of respectable attaché. His humble work is to wear good
clothes and be always gloved, to be decorous and polite; to be as much
a model of deportment as Mr. Turvydrop; to repeat as often as need be,
in a loud voice, sentences about 'honesty' and 'public welfare,' but
to appoint to rich places such men as Mr. Sweeny. Hoffman is kept for
the edification of the country Democrats, but all he has or ever can
have comes from Tammany Hall."--_Ibid._, March 5, 1868.]
In the selection of a lieutenant-governor Tammany did not fare so
well. Boss Tweed, in return for Western support of Hoffman, had
declared for Albert P. Laning of Buffalo, and until District Attorney
Morris of Brooklyn seconded the nomination of another, Laning's
friends had boasted a large majority. Morris said he had no objection
to Laning personally. He simply opposed him as a conspirator who had
combined with Tammany to carry out the programme of a grasping clique.
He wished the country delegates who had unconsciously aided its
wire-pulling schemes to understand that it sought only its own
aggrandisement. It cared nothing for the Democratic party except as it
contributed to its selfish ends. This corrupt oligarchy, continued the
orator, his face flushed and his eyes flashing with anger, intends
through Hoffman to control the entire patronage of the State, and if
Seymour is elected it will grasp that of the whole country. Suppose
this offensive ring, with its unfinished courthouse and its thousand
other schemes of robbery and plunder, controls the political power of
the State and nation as it now dominates the metropolis, what honest
Democrat can charge corruption to the opposite party? Did men from the
interior of the State understand that Hoffman for governor means a
ring magnate for United Sates senator? That is the game, and if it
cannot be played by fair means, trickery and corruption will
accomplish it. Kings County, which understands the methods of this
clique, has not now and he hoped never would have anything in common
with it, and he warned the country members not to extend its wicked
sway.[1190]
[Footnote 1190: New York _Times_, _World_, and _Tribune_, September 3,
1868.]
Morris' speech anticipated the startling disclosures of 1871, and as
the orator raised his voice to a pitch that could easily be heard
throughout the hall, the up-State delegates became deeply interested
in his words. He did not deal in glittering generalities. He was a
prosecuting officer in a county adjoining Tammany, and when he
referred to the courthouse robbery he touched the spot that reeked
with corruption. The Ring winced, but remained speechless. Tweed and
his associate plunderers, who had spent three millions on the
courthouse and charged on their books an expenditure of eleven, had
no desire to stir up discussion on such a topic and be pilloried by a
cross-examination on the floor of the convention. A majority of the
delegates, however, convinced that Tammany must not control the
lieutenant-governor, nominated Allen C. Beach of Jefferson, giving him
77 votes to 47 for Laning.[1191]
[Footnote 1191: New York _World_, July 10, 1868.]
In the light of this result Murphy's friends seriously regretted his
hasty withdrawal from the contest. Morris intended arraigning Tammany
in his speech, nominating the Brooklyn Senator for governor, and the
latter's supporters believed that Hoffman, whom they recognised as the
personal representative of the Tweed ring, must have gone down under
the disclosures of the District Attorney quite as easily as did
Laning. This hasty opinion, however, did not have the support of
truth. Hoffman's campaign in 1866 strengthened him with the people of
the up-counties. To them he had a value of his own. In his speeches he
had denounced wrongs and rebuked corruption, and his record as mayor
displayed no disposition to enrich himself at the expense of his
reputation. He was careful at least to observe surface proprieties.
Besides, at this time, Tammany had not been convicted of crime.
Vitriolic attacks upon the Tweed Ring were frequent, but they came
from men whom it had hurt. Even Greeley's historic philippic, as
famous for its style as for its deadly venom, came in revenge for
Tweed's supposed part in defeating him for Congress in 1866.[1192]
[Footnote 1192: New York _Tribune_, March 5.
The ticket nominated was as follows: Governor, John T. Hoffman, New
York; Lieutenant-Governor, Allen C. Beach, Jefferson; Canal
Commissioner, Oliver Bascom, Washington; Inspector of Prisons, David
B. McNeil, Cayuga; Clerk of Court of Appeals, Edward O. Perrin,
Queens.]