Volume III Part 31 (1/2)
Tilden was not surprised at the latter's presence. He knew that in the event of his withdrawal, Fenton intended that the Liberals should nominate Church at their convention which a.s.sembled in Albany two days later.[1439] But Tilden, long familiar with the Ring's methods, refused to withdraw. On no theory could they make it appear to be his duty, and the longer they talked the more determined he became. Then John Kelly, in a published interview, gave Church's aspiration its death blow. ”DeWolf of Oswego, Warren of Erie, and Senator Lord of Monroe,”
he said, ”belong to what is called the Ca.n.a.l ring.... It has been their policy to control a majority of the ca.n.a.l board to enable them to control the ca.n.a.l contracts.... They have always been very friendly to Judge Church and of great a.s.sistance to him personally.... There was friends.h.i.+p existing between the old Tammany ring and this Ca.n.a.l ring.”[1440] John Bigelow, the friend of Tilden, subsequently used stronger phrases. ”Tilden knew the Ca.n.a.l ring had no more servile instrument in the State than the candidate they were urging. Church was poor; he was ambitious; he was not content with his place on the bench, and was only too ready at all times to combine with anybody on any terms to secure wealth and power.”[1441] To Kelly's charges the Buffalo _Courier_ retorted that ”Tammany Hall under honest John Kelly is exactly the same as Tammany Hall under dishonest William M.
Tweed.”[1442]
[Footnote 1439: Buffalo _Courier_, September 11; New York _Herald_, September 9.]
[Footnote 1440: New York _World_, September 10, 1874.]
[Footnote 1441: Bigelow, _Life of Tilden_, Vol. 1, p. 226. See also the _Nation_, September 10, 1874.]
[Footnote 1442: September 11. Reprinted from the Rochester _Union_ of September 4.]
When the Democratic State convention met a week later war existed between Kelly and the Ca.n.a.l ring.[1443] Warren intensified it by giving the Syracuse _Standard_ a despatch declaring that Kelly's robberies while sheriff were as criminal as those of Garvey's and Ingersoll's of the Tweed ring.[1444] In the furious a.s.sault upon Tilden no reasons appeared other than the fear of the Ca.n.a.l ring that his administration would lead to its discomfiture. Indeed, the flankers of the reform movement found it difficult to agree upon a candidate, and when Amasa J. Parker finally consented to stand he did so to gratify Church's friends in the middle and western portions of the State, who resented the Kelly interview. That the bad blood between the Warren and Kelly factions did not break out in the convention was probably due to Seymour's conciliatory, tactful remarks. A single ballot, however, banished the thought of setting Tilden aside for some man less obnoxious to the Ring.[1445]
[Footnote 1443: September 16 and 17, at Syracuse.]
[Footnote 1444: New York _World_, September 17.]
[Footnote 1445: Tilden, 252; Parker, 126; Robinson, 6.]
The convention was not less fortunate in its selection of William Dorsheimer of Buffalo for lieutenant-governor. Many delegates, desiring a Democrat who would inspire enthusiasm among the younger men, preferred Smith M. Weed of Clinton, resourceful and brilliant, if unembarra.s.sed by methods; but he succ.u.mbed to the earnest appeals of DeWitt C. Littlejohn in behalf of Liberal recognition.[1446] Dorsheimer possessed almost all the qualities that go to make up success in politics. He had courage and tact, fascination and audacity, rare skill on the platform, creditable a.s.sociations, and marked literary attainments. Moreover, he had given up a United States attorneys.h.i.+p to follow Greeley.[1447] Not less helpful was the platform, drafted by Seymour, which abounded in short, clear, compact statements, without buncombe or the least equivocation. It demanded the payment of the public debt in coin, the resumption of specie payment, taxation for revenue only, local self-government, and State supervision of corporations. It also denounced sumptuary laws and the third term.
[Footnote 1446: William Dorsheimer, 193; Weed, 155; Stephen T. Hoyt of Allegany (Liberal), 34; Edward F. Jones of Broome (Liberal), 15.]
[Footnote 1447: He was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York on March 28, 1867. His successor's commission was dated March 23, 1871.--_State Department Records._
The ticket nominated was as follows: Governor, Samuel J. Tilden, New York; Lieutenant-Governor, William Dorsheimer, Erie; Court of Appeals, Theodore Miller, Columbia; Ca.n.a.l Commissioner, Adin Thayer, Rensselaer; Prison Inspector, George Wagner, Yates.]
Although John Kelly aided in nominating Tilden, his desire for anti-ring candidates did not extend to the metropolis. William F.
Havermeyer's sudden death in November made necessary the election of a mayor, and Kelly, to keep up appearances, selected William H. Wickham, his neighbour, an easy-going diamond merchant, whose members.h.i.+p on the Committee of Seventy const.i.tuted his only claim to such preferment.[1448] But here all semblance of reform disappeared. James Hayes, charged with making half a million dollars during the Tweed regime, became the candidate for register, and of fifteen persons selected for aldermen nine belonged to the old Ring, two of whom were under indictment for fraud.[1449] Evidently Warren did not betray ignorance when he p.r.o.nounced the new Tammany no better than the old.
The Republicans presented Salem H. Wales for mayor, while the Germans, declining to act with Kelly, selected Oswald Ottendorfer, the editor, a most able and upright citizen who had proven his fidelity to the reform movement.
[Footnote 1448: ”Wickham has no conception beyond making a pleasant thing for himself and our friends out of the seat which he occupies.”
Letter of Charles O'Conor.--Bigelow, _Life of Tilden_, Vol. 1, p.
245.]
[Footnote 1449: Myers, _History of Tammany Hall_, p. 307.]
The Republicans renominated John A. Dix with other State officials elected in 1872,[1450] and had the Custom-house sincerely desired the Governor's re-election, the expediency of a coalition with Ottendorfer's supporters must have appealed to it as highly important.
Dix had made an admirable executive. His decisions of questions regardless of men and of the next election excited popular confidence, and the power of public opinion had forced his renomination by acclamation. But his independence could not be forgiven. Moreover, the platform gave him little a.s.sistance. It neither denounced corruption, demanded relief from predatory rings, nor disapproved a third term.
Except as to resumption and the payment of the public debt in coin, it followed the beaten track of its predecessors, spending itself over Southern outrages. Although several delegates had prepared resolutions in opposition to a third term, no one dared present them after Conkling had finished his eulogy of the President.
[Footnote 1450: The convention met at Utica on September 23. The ticket was as follows: Governor, John A. Dix, New York; Lieutenant-Governor, John C. Robinson, Broome; Court of Appeals, Alexander S. Johnson, Oneida; Ca.n.a.l Commissioner, Reuben W. Stroud, Onondaga; Prison Inspector, Ezra Graves, Herkimer.]
The Liberals who a.s.sembled at Albany on September 10 had about finished their course as a separate party. Their creed, so far as it represented practical, well-meditated reform, was a respectable, healthy faith, but the magnet which attracted the coterie of Republicans whose leaders.h.i.+p gave it whatever influence it exerted in the Empire State was Horace Greeley. When he died their activity ceased. Besides, the renomination of Dix, who had little liking for the organisation and no sympathy with a third term, now afforded them good opportunity to return to the fold. The Albany convention, therefore, represented only a small fraction of the original dissenters, and these adjourned without action until the 29th. On reconvening a long, acrimonious discussion indicated a strong disposition to run to cover. Some favoured Tilden, others Dix, but finally, under the lead of George W. Palmer, the convention, deciding to endorse no one, resolved to support men of approved honesty, who represented the principles of the Cincinnati convention and opposed a third term.[1451]
[Footnote 1451: On June 23 the friends of total abstinence, resenting Dix's veto of a local option measure pa.s.sed by the Legislature of 1873, a.s.sembled at Auburn, approved the organisation of a Prohibition party, and nominated a State ticket with Myron H. Clark for governor.
About 350 delegates from twenty-five counties were present.]