Volume III Part 26 (1/2)

Nevertheless, of the living who heard his explosive exclamation, ”Not yet the question, Mr. President,” and the flaming sentences arraigning the Greeley Republicans as partners of Tammany, it lingers in the memory as a forceful philippic, full of pose and gesture and dramatic action. Its influence, however, is not so clear. The power of patronage had already twice carried the convention, and that this incentive would have done so again had Conkling simply whispered to his lieutenants, must be evident to all who read the story. Ward's motion was lost by 154 to 194, the Conkling vote being eight less than on the preceding roll-call.[1320]

[Footnote 1318: ”Such a speech, in its terms, its forcible eloquence, its overwhelming results, was perhaps never heard in a similar a.s.semblage. Many of Senator Conkling's friends insist that this was one of his most remarkable speeches.”--Alfred R. Conkling, _Life of Roscoe Conkling_, p. 341.]

[Footnote 1319: Syracuse _Standard_, New York _Times_, September 28, 1871.]

[Footnote 1320: ”Just as the whole convention had agreed upon the compromise, Conkling arose and ordered his office-holders to reject it.”--New York _Evening Post_, September 29.]

Conkling desired a solid delegation at the next Republican National Convention, and the recognition of the organisation established by the State committee a.s.sured it, whereas the Ward amendment, by including the Greeley const.i.tuency, inspired the fear of a divided one.[1321]

Perhaps the failure of his friends to appreciate this fear justified Conkling's interference, but a single word of dissent was sufficient to alarm them, while a less arrogant and dominating spirit might easily have avoided making the bitter a.s.sault which provoked a storm of hostile criticism. Greeley's stinging retort illuminated the Senator's insincerity. ”Conkling declared it right,” said the editor, ”to abolish the regular organisation because corrupted and controlled by Tammany money, and then invited its delegates to an equal share in making the platform and selecting a ticket. If he believed what he said, he was guilty of party treason in the offer; if he did not, he added the folly of insult to the crime of foul slander.”[1322] This was the view of the Greeley delegates, and refusing to accept the offered terms, Moses H. Grinnell, Marshall O. Roberts, and their a.s.sociates, amid ironical cheers, withdrew from the convention.

[Footnote 1321: New York _Tribune_, June 1, 1871.]

[Footnote 1322: New York _Tribune_, September 29, 1871.]

After this business progressed smoothly and easily. There were no divisions, no debates, and no questions of importance. Nominations aroused little enthusiasm,[1323] and the platform which Greeley called ”the miracle of clumsiness,”[1324] indorsed the administration of President Grant, denounced the crimes of the Tweed ring, and recommended local option. Meanwhile the seceders, a.s.sembled in Wild's Opera House, gave vent to bitter criticism and the whispered scandal of hotel lobbies.[1325] When this proceeding finally ended they separated with the consciousness that their last performance, at least, had made them ridiculous.

[Footnote 1323: The State ticket was as follows: Secretary of State, G.

Hilton Scribner, Westchester; Comptroller, Nelson K. Hopkins, Erie; Treasurer, Thomas Raines, Monroe; Attorney-General, Francis C. Barlow, New York; Engineer, William B. Taylor, Oneida; Ca.n.a.l Commissioner, Alexander Barkley, Was.h.i.+ngton; Prison Inspector, Thomas Kirkpatrick, Cayuga.]

[Footnote 1324: New York _Tribune_, September 29, 1871.]

[Footnote 1325: _Ibid._]

CHAPTER XXI

TILDEN CRUSHES TAMMANY

1871

While Conkling was disposing of Greeley and the Fenton organisation, Samuel J. Tilden prepared to crush Tammany. Tweed had reason to fear Tilden. In 1869 he accused the Ring of being ”opposed to all good government.”[1326] Afterward, in 1870, the defeat of the Young Democracy's charter added to his bitterness. On the evening of the day on which that vote occurred, Tweed jeered Tilden as the latter pa.s.sed through the hotel corridor, while Tilden, trembling with suppressed emotion, expressed the belief that the Boss would close his career in jail or in exile.[1327] One wonders that Tilden, being a natural detective, should have delayed strenuous action until the _Times'_ exposure, but when, at last, a knowledge of the colossal frauds suddenly opened the way to successful battle, he seized the advantage with the skill and persistency of a master.

[Footnote 1326: Paine, _Life of Nast_, p. 194.]

[Footnote 1327: This remark was addressed to Henry Richmond, whose father, Dean Richmond, died in Tilden's home in Gramercy Park.

Richmond succeeded his father as State committeeman.]

In his crusade he did not unite with Republicans, for whom he had no liking. He was not only an intense partisan, but he had a positive genius for saying bitter things in the bitterest way. To him the quarter of a century covered by Van Buren, Marcy, and Wright, shone as an era of honour and truth, while the twenty-four years spanned by the Republicans and the party from whence they sprung brought shame and disgrace upon the State. ”The Republicans made the morals of the legislative bodies what they have recently become. When Seward and Weed took the place of Wright, Marcy, and Flagg, public and official morality fell in the twinkling of an eye. Even our city government, until 1870, was exactly what a Republican legislature made it. The league between corrupt Republicans and corrupt Democrats, which was formed during Republican ascendency, proved too strong for honest men.

The charter of 1870 which I denounced in a public speech, had the votes of nearly all the Republicans and Democrats.”[1328] Still, he admitted that Tammany was synonymous with Democracy, and that its corruption, especially since its blighting influence had become so notorious and oppressive, impeded and dishonoured the party. Under its rule primaries had been absurdities and elections a farce. Without being thoroughly reorganised, therefore, the party, in his opinion, could not exist.[1329]

[Footnote 1328: Tilden's letter to the Democracy, dated September 11, 1871.--New York _Tribune_, September 22, 1871.]

[Footnote 1329: Tilden's interview.--_Ibid._, Sept 23.]

In this spirit Tilden entered upon the great work of his life. Two cla.s.ses of Democrats faced him--the more clamorous reformers and the enemies of all reform. To the latter reorganisation seemed a reckless step. It argued that the loss of the Tammany vote meant the dissolution of the party, and that a great organisation ought not to be destroyed for the wrong of a few individuals, since the party was not responsible for them. Besides, the executive power of the State, with its vast official patronage scattered throughout all the counties, would oppose such a policy. On the other hand, the first cla.s.s, possessing little faith in the party's ability to purge itself, threatened to turn reform into political revolution. It desired a new party. Nevertheless, Tilden did not hesitate. He issued letters to thousands of Democrats, declaring that ”wherever the gangrene of corruption has reached the Democratic party we must take a knife and cut it out by the roots;”[1330] he counselled with Horatio Seymour and Charles O'Conor; he originated the movement that ultimately sent a reform delegation to the State convention; he consented to stand for the a.s.sembly; and finally, to secure the fruit of three months' work, he raised one-half the funds expended by the Democratic reform organisation.

[Footnote 1330: Tilden's letter, _Ibid._, Sept. 22.]

The Ring had not been an indifferent observer of these efforts. While it cared little for the control of a State convention without a governor to nominate, its continued existence absolutely depended upon a majority in the Senate. Tweed planned to carry the five senatorial districts in the city, and to re-elect if possible the eight Republican senators whom he had used the year before.[1331] This would insure him control. To achieve his purpose word was sent to Tilden early in August that he could name the delegates to the State convention and the candidates upon the State ticket if he would not interfere with Tammany's legislative nominations. If Tilden had not before distrusted Tweed, such a proposition must have aroused his suspicion. But Tilden, conscious of the need of an anti-Tweed legislature, had surmised the Ring's plan as early as Tweed devised it, and he replied with firmness that everything beside the legislative ticket was of minor importance to him. Similar propositions, presented by powerful men from all parts of the State with the plea that a compromise would ”save the party,” received the same answer.[1332] Meanwhile, he laboured to shorten the life of the Ring. To him Richard Connolly appealed for protection against Tweed's treachery, and at Tilden's suggestion the comptroller turned over his office to Andrew H. Green, thus a.s.suring the protection of the records which subsequently formed the basis of all civil and criminal actions.

Tilden's sagacity in procuring the opinion of Charles O'Conor also secured the Mayor's acquiescence in Green's possession of the office, while his patient investigation of the Broadway Bank accounts discovered the judicial proofs that opened the prison doors.