USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > A history of the city of San Francisco; and incidentally of the state of California > Part 19
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W. M. GWIN.
The pretext of disgust with federal patronage on account of the ingratitude of his appointees was per- haps the best excuse for making such a bargain. Many of those who had fawned upon him when he was master of the party, did the same to Mr. Brod- erick when he became the dictator, and the motive
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was no worse in one case than in the other. The cus- tom of the spoils doctrine requires that the official appointed by the influence of a patron should be his partisan, under obligations of fidelity to him. The men placed in office by Gwin were guilty of treason when they went over to his enemy.
SEC. 147. Offer to Sell it Again. Mr. Broderick, not content with having such a letter from Dr. Gwin, the next evening, January 11, sent for Mr. Latham, and when they met expressed his preference for him as a colleague among all the senatorial aspirants, and offered the senatorship to him if he would promise not to interfere with the federal patronage. Mr. Latham said he had a few friends to whom he was under ob- ligations, and if he were senator he must recommend them for office. When Mr. Broderick learned their names, he said they were men who had not been his enemies, and he would join in the recommendation; and as they were thus agreed, he would like to have a written memorandum of the agreement, signed by Mr. Latham, promising that he would not try to in- fluence the federal patronage in California. Mr. Latham refused to put his name upon any such paper, and Broderick gave him to understand that he could not have the prize.
What would have occurred if the signature had been given cannot now be known. It is evident that Broderick intended to play a trick upon Gwin or Latham, perhaps upon both. J. M. Estell, who was active in the negotiations as Broderick's intimate
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friend and confidential adviser, said afterwards that if Latham had signed the document demanded, the two letters would have been produced in caucus to ruin the reputation and political influence of both Gwin and Latham. Other friends of Broderick are confident that he meant in good faith to to elect Latham, if they could agree upon the terms.
SEC. 148. Reception of Gwin's Letter. On the evening of the twelfth the democratic caucus nomi- nated Dr. Gwin; the next day he was elected; and on the following day a letter addressed by him "to the people " was published. It was similar in its ideas and expressions to his letter of the tenth, ac- knowledging his indebtedness to Broderick for his election, and declaring that having been betrayed by those whom he had put in office, he should have nothing to do with the federal patronage. A politi- cal tempest followed the publication. The federal officers, who were all Gwin men, finding that they had been deserted, complained bitterly of their leader; the friends of Latham and Weller denounced the let- ter as a sale of the senatorship to the injury of men who were above base bargains; and the independent newspapers cited the transaction as proof of the depth of political corruption. All Dr. Gwin's protests that the renunciation of all claims upon the federal pat- ronage was written without any kind of a bargain, was in harmony with his declarations made freely to his friends before he expected any aid from Mr. Broderick, and was the reasonable results of a most
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humiliating and vexatious experience, were treated as unworthy of serious consideration, however plausible they might appear if looked at from his side only.
To Broderick's great astonishment the people would not see the letter with his eyes. They blamed the seller of the senatorship more than the buyer. The transaction was held up as disgraceful to the nation, and as injurious to the democratic party; and if grave political considerations had not demanded the silence of the majority in the senate, both Gwin and Brod- erick would probably have been expelled. Some of Mr. Gwin's fellow-senators who had long been his in- timato friends, and who had systematically sought and followed his advice, were disposed, when they first heard of the affair, to turn their backs upon him, but they were assured that he submitted to the hu- miliation as the best thing that could be done for the party, and they finally accepted the explanation and received him as before, while they reserved their chief indignation for Mr. Broderick.
SEC. 149. No Patronage to Broderick. That gentleman was not less astonished with his own chill- ing reception at Washington than he had been by the reception of Gwin's letter by the public in San Fran- cisco. President Buchanan, a warm personal friend of Mr. Gwin, regarded the exaction of the letter in the first place, and its publication afterwards, as two separate offenses, each discreditable to the govern- ment, and especially dangerous to the party at a time when it needed all its strength to meet the republican
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excitement which was carrying everything before it in the north, and threatening to soon overwhelm the democracy. As Mr. Broderick seemed to stand alone, the president thought he could safely treat him with neglect.
Notwithstanding the coolness in the personal de- meanor of the president towards him, Mr. Broderick made out a list of the friends to whom he proposed to distribute the chief federal offices in California, filed the names in the appropriate departments, and mentioned them to the president and members of the cabinet, who took no notice of them. It was a mat- ter of notoriety that Mr. Gwin was in much higher favor personally than his colleague with the adminis- tration, and before long it began to appear that his advice was sought and followed in reference to polit- ical appointments. The control of the patronage was in the opinion of Mr. Broderick, if not the most valu- able attribute of his senatorship, at least essential to its dignity; without it he could not reward his friends, punish his enemies, or maintain his power. The loss of it was a bitter humiliation to him, and a great dis- appointment to his followers, who accused Gwin of violating his contract. The answer made to this by Gwin's friends was that he had not volunteered advice to the administration; but when solicited for inform- ation or his opinion, he had given it, in compliance with his duty. The accusation, if not the defense, implied the existence of a bargain.
SEC. 150. Insult to Buchanan. When the ques-
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tion of introducing slavery into Kansas came before the senate, Mr. Broderick took the side against the administration, and he could do that without exposing himself to the charge of treason to the party, for he had the example and protection of Senator Douglas, by many considered the ablest politician of the country, and of excellent standing in the organization. Presi- dent Buchanan claimed that the laws of the United States carried slavery with them into the territories, and that it could not be excluded until after the state had been admitted into the Union. Douglas argued that the territorial legislature could prohibit it. He called the doctrine " popular sovereignty," a title well designed to catch the favor of the people. So far from sacrificing such popularity as he had in Cali- fornia, Mr. Broderick really added much to it, by adopting that doctrine, and yet by so doing he wounded Mr. Buchanan and the pro-slavery democrats in a most tender point, for every defection from the administration strengthened the frenzy of the great northern party, which was determined that the exten- sion of slavery should stop. It is highly probable that if even if Mr. Broderick had been on the best terms with the administration, he would have adopted Douglas's views upon the legal rights of the slave- holders in the territories, for the slave party in Cali- fornia had long been and were still his bitter enemies; and his sympathies derived from northern associations in favor of freedom were strengthened by the inter- ests of his personal ambition and the animosities of his political quarrels.
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His control over a majority of the democrats in the legislature of 1854 had been followed within a few months by the overwhelming triumph of the chivalry, and events took a similar course in 1857. The state convention which met in June, was under the con- trol of his enemies, and so was the legislature chosen in that year, as well as in the next one. The major- ity of the people were democrats, but they did not recognize Mr. Broderick as a true representative. In 1859 the democratic legislature adopted resolutions denouncing, as a disgrace to the nation, the language used by him in the United States senate when he said that the policy of the administration towards Kansas should be ascribed to "the fading intellect, the petulant passion, and the trembling dotage of an old man on the verge of the grave." This studied insult wounded the feelings of the president, violated the proprieties of parliamentary debate, and was with- out foundation in fact. Mr. Buchanan was doubtless wrong, at least the people have since decided that he was, but his error was that of his party, and, it may be said, that of his country, for his policy towards Kansas was nothing more than the legitimate devel- opment of the course pursued by the democratic lead- ers and approved by the party in the two preceding presidential elections. He was gentlemanly in his manners, upright in his official position, and entitled to respect in his errors of judgment. On no other occasion has the legislature of California complained that the state had been disgraced by one of its sen- ators.
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SEC. 151. Campaign of 1859. The democrats had now divided into two wings, the Lecompton, Buchan- an or pro-slavery on one side, and the anti-Lecomp- ton, Douglas or popular sovereignty faction on the other. Each nominated its ticket, and the republi- cans had theirs also, so there were three tickets in the field. The campaign was bitter; Broderick, for the first time in his life, made speeches before mass meetings, and in these spoke abusively of Gwin, accusing him of having been bribed by the Pacific Mail company, and by the owners of Lime Point, on the northern shore of the Golden Gate (they de- manded and came near getting an outrageous price for a piece of land valuable only for military purposes), and denouncing his " utter worthlessness of character," his " unreliability of word," and his " sneaking man- ner of acting " He also claimed that a letter had been stolen from him by the connivance of Latham. Both gentlemen denied these accusations, and repaid them with interest. Latham declared that Broderick's speeches were written for him, and that he had not ability to make one of his own. Gwin said that Brod- erick intended to use his senatorial power to compen- sate his friends for money loaned to him. Before the day of election a fusion was agreed upon between the leading republicans and anti-Lecomptonites as to the candidates for congress, so that instead of two anti- administration tickets, with two congressional candi- dates on each, there was only one, so far as congress was concerned, with one candidate for each party.
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Even this did not avail. The Lecomptonites elected their congressmen, as well as their governor. Thus Broderick was again rejected by the people.
And now came the tragic end of his checkered career. In June, David S. Terry, chief justice of the supreme court of the state, in a speech to a conven- tion before which he was a candidate for renomina- tion, said that Broderick's claim of having followed the lead of Douglas, needed the explanation that it was the lead, not of Stephen A. Douglas, the statesman, but of Frederick Douglass, the mulatto. Broderick was at the breakfast-table in the International Hotel when he read the report of this speech, and speaking to a friend so loud that others could hear, said he had spoken of Terry as the only honest man on the bench, but now he took it back. D. W. Perley, a friend of Terry, happening to be present, spoke up showing his intention to take Broderick's remark seriously, left the table, where some ladies were seated, and soon afterwards sent a challenge. Broderick refused to accept it, and in a note to the challenger, said he could not fight with an alien-Perley was a British subject-who had no political rights to be affected by taking part in a duel, and then added the following :
For many years, and up to the time of my elevation to the position that I now occupy, it was well known that I would not have avoided any issue of the character proposed. If compelled to accept a challenge it could only be with a gentleman holding a position equally elevated and responsible; and there are no circumstances which could induce me even to do this during the pendency of the present canvass. When I authorized the
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announcement that I would address the people of California during the campaign, it was suggested that efforts would be made to force me into difficulties, and I determined to take no notice of attacks from any source during the canvass. If I were to accept your challenge, there are probably many other gen- tlemen who would seek similar opportunities for hostile meet- ings, for the purpose of accomplishing a political object or to obtain public notoriety. I cannot afford, at the present time to descend to a violation of the constitution and the state laws to subserve either their or your purposes.
The note was one that could not be justified by any code. The penalties affixed to duelling in the laws of California, never having been enforced, were practically void; and the principle that the rights of gentlemen were limited by citizenship had never been accepted. The challenge might with entire propriety have been refused on the ground that the remark about Terry was none of Mr. Perley's business; and when it was declined there was no need of inserting the indirect invitation for a challenge from a gentle- man holding a position equally elevated and respon- sible.
SEC. 152. Deadly Duel. Mr. Broderick did not write thus without a purpose, which was "to kill old Gwin," as he freely expressed it in conversation. When he suggested his desire to fight with a gentle- man holding a position equally elevated and responsi- ble, he thought only of his senatorial colleague, who might choose between shunning a duel and facing a practiced pistol. But Mr. Broderick was caught in his own trap. David S. Terry was not the man to abandon his friend Perley or to let Gwin assume his
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quarrel. As he could not fight a duel while on the bench without violating his oath of office, he resigned on the day after the election and immediately sent the challenge. Broderick was astonished and chagrined. Without any thought of Terry he had invited his challenge. The remark made at the breakfast table was a serious public insult; the letter to Perley was a declaration that he was ready to accept a challenge from a high official. No excuse could be found in Terry's character or position for avoiding his polite invitation to slaughter. Instead, however, of giving a simple acceptance, he explained that when com- menting on Terry's speech he said that "during Judge Terry's incarceration by the vigilance committee, I paid two hundred dollars a week to support a news- paper in his defense." This attempt to conciliate Terry failed, for it was never a rule in "the code of honor " that a favor at one time was a justification for an insult at another, but the assertion itself was untrue, for though Broderick and his friends did maintain a newspaper while Terry was incarcerated, yet it was not supported for the purpose of defending Terry. Its defense of him was merely an incident of its general policy of hostility to the vigilance com- mittee.
The duel was fought in San Mateo county, ten miles from San Francisco, on the thirteenth of Sep- tember, with dueling pistols, at a distance of ten yards. Both men were excellent marksmen, familiar with the weapons and brave ; but Broderick, suffering
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with diarrhea and the piles, was nervous, while Terry was cool. When the signal was given, both began instantly to raise their pistols, but before Broderick had brought his near to a level his finger pressed the trigger, and his bullet struck the ground near the feet of his enemy who fired a second later, the ball striking the right breast and passing into the left lung, where it lodged. Terry was so cool that he saw the dust fly and the cloth bend under the bullet. He immedi- ately said, " The shot is not mortal; I have struck two inches to the right." Broderick lingered for five days, much of the time under the influence of narcotics, given to protect him against the acute pain of his wound. It was reported that while upon his death- bed he said, " They have killed me because I was op- posed to the extension of slavery and a corrupt admin- istration;" but he said nothing of the kind.
SEC. 153. Conversion into a Hero. After his death Broderick was converted into a hero. The general sentiment in San Francisco, especially among the most intelligent men, was strongly adverse to Buchanan's administration, and a political purpose was to be gained by treating him as a martyr to the cause of liberty. To praise the dead senator was an excellent bait for his followers. Thus in the city where Brod- erick while alive was generally regarded as an un- scrupulous politician, after his death he was praised as the greatest of her citizens. In Lone Mountain cemetery his tomb has the best place, and his monu- ment is the most prominent and is the only one there
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to which the state contributed funds, and in laying the corner-stone of which a governor participated. The funeral of Broderick was one of the most imposing public demonstrations ever seen in San Francisco, and E. D. Baker delivered an eloquent oration on the occasion.
SEC. 154. Trading Capital. Mr. Broderick's res- idence in San Francisco was a source of great political strength to him. The majority of the ward politi- cians of the city were from New York, and they recognized him as their leader. Through them he controled the democratic conventions from 1851 to 1856 inclusive. He did not dictate all the nomina- tions, but they were generally submitted to him and accepted by him before they were formally announced. He allowed considerable liberty of action to his fol- lowers, so long as they did nothing to obstruct his plans. As he had control of the city and state offices in the city so long as the democrats had power, all the ruffians who wanted to make money out of politics on the Tammany side, sought his favor, and were ready to do what they supposed would please him. They were the friends of his friends and the enemies of his enemies. Whoever in that class had taken his money and betrayed him was treated by his former associates as an outcast.
San Francisco was the chief center of political power. It was the point where all the inland lines of travel converged, where the politicians of the in- terior met to arrange their plans. There was not so
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much communication between Mokelumne Hill and Placerville, though only thirty miles apart, as there was between either town and San Francisco, which was two hundred miles from each. In this metro- politan situation, Broderick and Gwin were the lead- ers of the two rival factions, but the latter was in the city, the weaker of the two. He had not the same talent for partisan discipline, not so much experience in it, nor, on account of his duties as senator at Wash- ington, could he devote so much time to it; and what was more important than all, the southern people, who were his reliance, were in a decided minority in the city, where the northern men, who sympathized with Broderick's policy, even when they disliked him personally, were numerous, especially among the classes who had most influence in the partisan organ- ization. Having control of the San Francisco nomi- nations, and of the delegations sent by San Francisco to the democratic state conventions, Broderick pos- sessed in them a large capital for partisan traffic, while Gwin had no such strength to trade with.
Broderick was determined to do everything that was necessary to secure his election to the federal sen- ate with the help of the democratic party. It appeared indispensable that he should use many very disreputa- ble men, like Mulligan, Sullivan and Casey, but he refused to associate with them. Some of them he paid with money and some with minor offices. With other men, against whom much was said in the com- munity, in some cases perhaps more on account of the
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company in which they were seen than for any other reason, he was on terms of familiar friendship, and he considered them his lieutenants, to be called into ser- vice whenever their several capacities were adapted to the work to be done. Among them were J. M. Estell, A. J. Butler, Leonidas Haskell, Reuben Ma- loney, and Judge McGowan. Another class, com- posed of men of excellent repute, was employed in work suited to their tastes, and under circumstances when their respectability would reflect credit on him. He had friends also among his political enemies; but most of the men with whom he associated familiarly were political tricksters of low character.
SEC. 155. Reward for Service. These people did not serve him for nothing. Many of them received high pay, usually out of the public treasury. It was not his policy to let those who had been his friends go without reward, some with office, some otherwise. When the county supervisors and city council, in 1852 (the city had then one government, and the county another), united to buy the Jenny Lind theater from his friend, Thomas Maguire, for twice as much as the property was worth, he favored the transaction. It was consummated in defiance of a strong outburst of popular indignation, but not long afterwards the value of land advanced so much that the property was worth more than had been paid for it.
When Broderick sought to secure the senatorship in 1854, he felt the want of support by some respect- able newspaper in San Francisco, and he secured that
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of the " Alta California," which had previously been his enemy. As it depended for its support mainly on the merchants, with whom as a class he was very un- popular, the paper incurred serious risks by advocating his cause, but a cash consideration was paid, and sub- sequently the county supervisors purchased the Alta building on the south-west corner of Washington street and Brenham place for a hall of records, pay- ing about fifty thousand dollars in warrants, or the equivalent of forty thousand dollars in gold for it- considerably more than it was worth.
The extension bill of 1853 was one of the great political frauds of California. It provided that the water front of San Francisco should be moved six hundred feet into the bay beyond the line fixed as a permanent water front by law in 1851, and the inter- vening strip should be conveyed to individuals; at least one third of the value to go into the state treas- ury, and the remainder to those persons who had bought the land at the Peter Smith sale several years before. That sale purported to grant the interest of the city in the land, but as the city had not the least interest there, the deed was void. It served, how- ever, as a basis for a vast scheme of plunder, which was to be carried out with the help of the legislature. The property was valued at six, million dollars. It was expected that the state would get two million, and the holders of deeds for the extension land four million, which latter sum was to be stolen indirectly from the state treasury. Of course the
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advocates of the measure did not confess that it was theft; they pretended that purchasers at the Peter Smith sale had equities which the state should recognize; and they argued, though the argument de- served no respect, that the extension would benefit the city and commerce. Some of the younger, or more ignorant, members of the legislature doubtless believed that the measure was right; others voted to please friends and without demanding any valuable consideration, but many sold their votes. It was a matter of common notoriety that deeds had been dis- tributed freely among legislators while the bill was pending.
In San Francisco, the leading journals denounced the measure in the most emphatic terms; the mer- chants held meetings to condemn it; its fraudulent features were fully explained and proved; it was a violation of the contract made in the statute fixing the water front line in 1851; it would require the raising of the grade on Montgomery street from Jack- son to Sutter street eight or ten feet, and a corre- sponding increase of elevation further east, thus im- posing upon the citizens an expense far beyond the amount that would be paid into the state treasury. Those San Francisco assemblymen opposed to the bill resigned for the purpose of getting an expression of opinion from their constituents, and they were tri- umphantly re-elected by five sixths of all the votes cast. There was no doubt about the feeling in San Francisco.
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