USA > New York > History of the state of New York, political and governmental, Vol. III 1865-1896 > Part 16
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1 Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia, 1879.
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laid the foundation for the later developments of regu- lation.2
The campaign to make Grant President for a third term, which had been reluctantly abandoned in 1876, was in full swing as the new election approached. Cameron in Pennsylvania, Logan in Illinois, and Conk- ling in New York sought to crystallize the movement and paralyze the growing opposition by a series of early conventions. That of New York was held at Utica on February 25, and in preparation to control it Conkling strained every nerve.
John F. Smyth stole a march on his opponents by issuing a call one evening for Albany primaries to be held the next noon. The furore was so great that Charles Emory Smith and five of his associates felt constrained to withdraw from the delegation chosen by such sharp practices. Smith had just retired from the editorship of the Albany Evening Journal, where he had faithfully served Conkling, and was soon to go to the Philadelphia Press, where he was to be one of Blaine's champions. Earlier in his career he had been secretary to Governor Fenton and an editor of the Albany Express. His facile pen and instinct for public opinion made him the recognized writer of Republican State platforms for a decade. His abilities in this line obtained national recognition, and he afterward served as minister to Russia and as Postmaster-General. He now appeared for the last time in New York politics as the chairman of the Utica convention.
1 : 1
2J. Hampden Dougherty, Constitutional History of the State of New York, p. 283 et seq.
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Conkling was in control and dictated resolutions that charged the Democrats with revolutionary efforts to overawe State governments in the south, presented General Grant as the candidate qualified to save the nation, and pledged New York to cast its Elec- toral vote for him. The objection to a third term, the resolution said, applied only to a third consecutive term. A motion to substitute the name of Blaine for Grant and leave off all reference to the third term was voted down. The Blaine leaders, General N. Martin Curtis of St. Lawrence and Senator George H. Forster of New York, challenged the right of the State convention to bind the district delegates by the instruc- tion to use their utmost effort to secure Grant's nomina- tion. Conkling adroitly avoided the issue of a unit rule, which the last national convention had held not to be binding, but made his appeal to the moral sense of the delegates and to pride in the power and influence of the State, which would be destroyed by a divided vote. He asked, "For what is this convention held? Is it merely to listen while the delegates from the several Congressional districts inform the convention who the districts are going to send to the national convention?" He held that the districts nominated but that the convention elected, and that the district delegates owed the same moral obligation to respect the sentiment of the State convention as did the delegates- at-large.
A motion to leave the delegation unpledged was rejected by a vote of 217 to 10, and Roscoe Conkling, Alonzo B. Cornell, Chester A. Arthur, and James D.
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Warren, proprietor of the Buffalo Commercial, were chosen delegates-at-large. Holding in reserve the implied threat not to confirm dissenting district dele- gates, the Conkling forces called upon these delegates as they were reported to pledge obedience, and the pledges were given by Senator Woodin of Cayuga, Senator Loren B. Sessions of Chautauqua, and Senator John Birdsall of Queens, all known as anti-Grant men. The right of the convention to exact any such pledge was promptly challenged by the anti-Grant members, and the law of the party was undoubtedly on their side. But the pledges to abide by the instructions, even though they had been given under the implied threat to override the district recommendations and create Grant delegates out of hand to represent anti-Grant constituencies, left the opposition in an embarrassing position. On May 6 William H. Robertson, a national delegate, who had not been present at the Utica conven- tion and therefore had given no explicit pledge, sent a letter to the Albany Evening Journal3 saying that the unit rule had no binding force, that the State convention could only instruct delegates-at-large, and that he should vote for Blaine. Birdsall and Sessions, who had been present at Utica, followed with similar declara- tions on the floor of the Senate. Woodin, in the Senate, asserted the freedom of the district delegates, but said that he could not reconcile a vote against Grant with his personal pledge at Utica, and so should send his alternate, who was under no such obligation, to the
8Reprinted in the New York Tribune, May 7, 1880.
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[1880
national convention.4 The guns of the Conkling members were immediately turned on the rebels, and not the least upon Woodin, whose indirection in avoid- ing his pledge, instead of squarely breaking it, was considered sneaking by the New York Times.5
The hope of the Grant forces at the national con- vention at Chicago on June 2 was the establishment of the doctrine of State as against district representation and the reversal of the decision of 1876 against the unit rule. After debate a marked majority of the conven- tion upheld the principle of district representation. This defeat augured ill for Grant, but his friends relied upon Conkling's eloquence to win over those whose opposition was not personal to Grant but direct- ed against machine domination of delegates. They also felt that the rivalries of Blaine and Sherman would prevent union on either, and that they would pick up enough votes to nominate on any break for a dark horse. Conkling presented Grant's name in a speech whose eloquence of eulogy won the admiration of foes as well as friends, but he greatly marred its effect by turning to keen sarcasm at the expense of Blaine and Sherman. His sneering manner in announcing the votes of his opponents in the New York delegation was peculiarly noticeable, until he was ridiculed out of it by an apeing announcement by Campbell, the West Virginia chairman.6
4New York Tribune, May 8, 1880.
5June 8, 1880.
6New York Tribune, June 9, 1880.
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On the first ballot Grant had 304 votes, Blaine 284, Sherman 93, Edmunds 34, Washburne 30, Windom 10. New York gave 51 votes to Grant, 17 to Blaine, and 2 to Sherman, the Sherman delegates being Albert Daggett of Kings and Wells S. Dickinson of St. Law- rence. On the eighteenth ballot, Dennis McCarthy of Syracuse went from Grant to Blaine. The balloting proceeded without much change until on the thirty-fifth ballot 50 votes were suddenly cast for Garfield, and on the next ballot the stampede of the Blaine and Sherman forces gave Garfield 399 votes, or 21 more than was necessary to a choice. Grant had his stalwart 306, Blaine 42, Sherman 3, Washburne 5. On the last ballot New York still gave 50 votes for Grant, while the opposition 20 went to Garfield.
Garfield's friends immediately sought to conciliate the defeated Grant men, and particularly the New Yorkers. Ex-Governor Dennison of Ohio sought Vice- Presidential suggestions from Conkling. They would have been glad to nominate Levi P. Morton, who was understood to be Conkling's favorite in case Grant were nominated. Morton, after consulting Conkling and George S. Boutwell, declined. Stewart L. Wood- ford afterward said7 that Conkling suggested that he might like the nomination, and on being assured that Woodford would accept it if tendered, replied, "I hope no sincere friend of mine will accept it." George H. Sharpe at a meeting of the New York delegates proposed Arthur, and Arthur agreed to run despite
7Statements of Morton and Woodford to D. S. Alexander-Alexander, Political History of the State of New York, II, p. 444.
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Conkling's dogmatic attempts at dissuasion and his refusal to make for Arthur the nominating speech. When California presented the name of Elihu B. Washburne to the convention, Dennis McCarthy, speaking for the anti-Conkling element from New York, seconded it. General Woodford proposed Arthur's name and it was seconded by Governor Den- nison. As the Garfield vote seemed to be going for Arthur, McCarthy withdrew his second of Washburne and moved Arthur's nomination by acclamation. This was voted down and the convention was asked by a seconder of Washburne not to stultify itself after passing resolutions favoring civil service reform. Nevertheless, on the roll-call Arthur received 468 votes to 193 for Washburne and 90 distributed among the minor candidates.
The nomination provoked widespread expressions of dissatisfaction. Arthur had not yet shown his quality. He was known merely as the able leader of the New York City organization, first a follower of Morgan and then of Conkling, brought up in the school of spoils politics and practicing its creed with faithful- ness, albeit with honesty and suavity. He had fine presence, good manners, dressed with extreme care, and was everywhere personally popular; but to the public at large he was the type of the machine politician, and it was only when he was called upon to fill an office that he had never hoped to attain that his instinctive good taste and sound sense and his realization of his responsibility manifested themselves in an administra- tion creditable to himself and the country.
CHAPTER XX THE ECLIPSE OF TILDEN
1880
T HE Democrats approached the Presidential election with a ready-made issue in the Electoral count of 1877. On this issue their natural candidate was Tilden. Though the revelation of the cipher dispatches going to Tilden's own house and the government's prosecution of a claim for income tax not properly declared, which savored of persecution and was finally abandoned in 1880, had somewhat impaired the reform record that had aided his candi- dacy in 1876, the great body of the party still turned to him as the logical embodiment of its cause; and many Republicans who questioned the decision of the Elec- toral commission were inclined now to give him the office that they felt he should have had then. If Tilden had become an outspoken candidate he could have been nominated with little opposition, but, if he did not hesitate, he at least kept silent.
When the State convention met at Syracuse on April 20 his friends were in complete control. Kelly had read himself out of the party by his bolt against Robinson, and carried with him many of his friends in the rural counties. By a vote of 295 to 80, resolutions
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[1880
were adopted stating the fraud issue at much length and expressing confidence in Tilden. They did not instruct the delegates, but suggested to the representatives of other States: "The dignity and welfare of the party and nation demand of them that they take such action as shall best present this issue to the people." The Tilden resolution was evidently an afterthought, born of Manning's discovery of the sweeping nature of his control. While the body of the resolutions was printed on slips, the indorsement of Tilden was read in manuscript, and the only strong opposition to its adop- tion came from William C. Ruger of Syracuse. The convention also adopted the unit rule in the strongest possible form, providing that anybody who assumed to act separately, or countenanced any contest, should be deemed to have vacated his seat.1 Lucius Robinson, Justice Calvin E. Pratt of Brooklyn, Rufus W. Peck- ham of Albany, and Lester B. Faulkner, chairman of the State committee, formerly a Kelly man who had been won over by Manning, were chosen delegates-at- large. Kernan, though still United States Senator, had ceased to cooperate with Tilden and was left off the delegation. Seymour, too, had ceased to be particularly friendly. He had even failed to discourage talk of himself as a candidate, though observers knew that he had no idea of reëntering public life. They attributed his attitude to a reluctance to see a contemporary con- tinue in power after his own retirement.
While this convention was in session at The Wieting, Kelly was holding a convention in Shakespeare Hall,
1New York Tribune, April 21, 1880.
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in which delegates from three-fourths of the counties were present. In it with Kelly were Dorsheimer, Erastus Corning, and Amasa J. Parker. It sent a com- mittee headed by John B. Haskin to confer with the regulars "in relation to the best means of promoting harmony and reuniting the Democratic party."
The reception of this committee was almost insulting. When Haskin appeared at The Wieting and tried to present his resolutions, he was told to wait until pending business should be transacted and was kept standing idly until the chair found it convenient to take his communication; then it was referred to committee without the courtesy of being read. Isaac H. Bromley, the brilliant editorial writer of the New York Tribune, wrote to that paper: "There never was anything cooler than the contempt with which these commissioners were treated."2 The regulars in due time answered the overture, saying that they reciprocated every expression of desire for union and adding: "We are persuaded that the deliberative wisdom of the national convention will result in such action as will secure the triumph of the Democratic party in the State of New York and in the Union in the ensuing Presidential election." After this rebuff Kelly complained that Tilden's lack of courage and leadership lost him the Presidency, and in resolutions denounced him as unfit to be President because his career had "been marked with selfishness, treachery, and dishonor, and his name irretrievably connected with the scandals brought to light by the cipher dispatches." He then nominated Electors and
2New York Tribune, April 21, 1880.
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[1880
delegates to Cincinnati. Amasa J. Parker, William Dorsheimer, Jeremiah McGuire of Chemung, and George C. Green of Niagara were his delegates-at- large. Dorsheimer tried to arouse Democratic enthusi- asm for Seymour as a harmonizing candidate, but the possibility of conjuring with that aged statesman's name had passed.
At Cincinnati, where the national convention assembled on June 22, the New Yorkers found them- selves under great embarrassment. Tilden's silence had encouraged a host of candidates, chief of whom were Speaker Randall, Senator Bayard, Justice Stephen J. Field, Thomas A. Hendricks, Allen G. Thurman, and Winfield S. Hancock. Henry B. Payne also was a candidate and was the second choice of many of the New Yorkers, among whom his son-in-law, William C. Whitney, had labored. Though New York was com- mitted to Tilden, the rumors of ill-health, which might lead him to decline, and the doubt expressed in other States of his availability in view of Kelly's hostility, made the delegates restive under their pledge. Man- ning had in his possession a letter from Tilden saying that the task of the Presidency was beyond his strength and, supposing that he alone knew of it, he kept it secret. But Tilden had given a copy of it to his brother Henry, and before the latter's arrival rumor was afloat that he was on the way with a communication from the "Sage of Graystone." The letter was addressed to the New York delegation, and when Henry Tilden reached Cincinnati Manning found it necessary, since they had heard of its existence, to submit it to the assembled
ANDREW DICKSON WHITE
Andrew Dickson White, educator and diplomat; born Homer, N. Y., November 7, 1832; graduated from Yale, 1853 ; attache United States legation at St. Petersburg, 1854-1855; professor of history and English literature, 1857-1863 and lec- turer on history, 1863-1867, University of Michigan; member New York state senate, 1864-1867; first president of Cornell university, 1867-1885; president state republican convention. 1871; presidential elector, 1872; United States minister to Ger- many, 1879-1881; United States minister to Russia, 1892-1894 ; ambassador to Germany, 1897-1902; member of the peace com- mission at The Hague, 1899 and president of the delegation; died at Ithaca, N. Y., November 4, 1918.
11.
CHARLES JAMES FOLGER
Charles James Folger, jurist; born in Nantucket, Mass., April 16, 1818; graduated at Geneva (now Hobart) college, 1836; studied law in Canandaigua; admitted to the bar in Albany in 1839; settled in Geneva, 1840; judge of the court of common pleas, Ontario county, 1843; master and examiner in chancery which offices were abolished by the constitutional con- vention of 1846; judge of Ontario county, 1852-1856; joined republican party in 1854; state senator, 1862-1869, acting for four years as president pro tem; delegate to constitutional con- vention of 1867; appointed by President Grant assistant treas- urer in New York City, 1867-1870; elected associate judge of the court of appeals, 1870 and designated chief judge by Gov- ernor Cornell in 1880 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Sanford E. Church; elected chief judge for full term in November, 1880 but resigned in 1881 when he was named by President Arthur as secretary of the treasury; nominated for governor of New York state in 1882 but was defeated by Grover Cleveland; died at Geneva, N. Y., September 4, 1884.
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THE ECLIPSE OF TILDEN
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delegates. It was long and inconclusive. Tilden reviewed his services in overthrowing the Tweed ring and the canal ring, accused Congress of abdicating its duty in referring the count to the Electoral commis- sion, and ended with the declaration that four years more of ceaseless toil was, he feared, beyond his strength. John Bigelow, Tilden's biographer, says : "This was not such a letter as Mr. Tilden would probably have written had he desired to render his renomination impossible."3 His theory is that Tilden intended to leave the door open for a nomination, that he might later decline and allow the substitution of another candidate after he had made the most of the fraud issue. A part of the delegation, however, under the leadership of Whitney, was ready to take him at his word. To bring the Payne men back into line, Manning telegraphed to Tilden asking him if he might yield to the pressure for nomination that the letter had stimulated. This indiscretion placed Til- den where, as Bigelow points out, he could no longer equivocate. "My action is irrevocable," he replied ; "no friend must cast a doubt on my sincerity."
The indecision concerning Tilden having thus been resolved, the New Yorkers voted on second choice. The Brooklyn delegates in their efforts to stop the Payne movement began to talk of a New York candi- date in the person of Justice Calvin E. Pratt, and finally turned to James E. English of Connecticut. The dele- gation voted : Payne, 38; Tilden, 11; English, 11;
3Life of Samuel J. Tilden, II, p. 270.
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Bayard, 6; Hancock, 3; Randall, 1. Under the unit rule the entire 70 went to Payne.
The New Yorkers had their own way in the early stages of the convention. George Hoadly of Ohio, a Tilden man, was temporary chairman. Kelly was rejected by substantially a two-thirds vote, and was not even allowed to address the convention. But when it came to the vote on candidates, the failure of the Tilden men to get any considerable support for Payne deprived them of their prestige. Even in the New York delegation the minority talked openly against Payne. Randall had expected New York's support, though he was unable to hold Pennsylvania, which swung to Hancock. On the first ballot in the conven- tion Hancock had 171, Bayard 15312, Payne 811/2, Thurman 6812, Field 65, William R. Morrison of Illinois 62, Hendricks 4912, Tilden 38, with a few scattering votes. For a choice 486 votes were necessary. On the second ballot New York swung to Randall, Payne having withdrawn, but it was then too late. The vote was: Hancock 319, Randall 1291/2, Bayard 113, Field 651/2, Thurman 50, Hendricks 31, English 19, Tilden 6, scattering 3. Before the result of the ballot was announced the swing to Hancock began and the New Yorkers most unwillingly joined in, giving Hancock 705 votes to 30 for Hendricks, 1 for Tilden, and 2 for Bayard. Hancock was the last man among the prominent candidates whom Tilden wanted. Even Bayard, whose course in the Presidential count was resented, would have been preferred. Tilden's manœuvering had overreached itself. Kelly was
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delighted and after the nomination appeared on the platform, where he was vociferously greeted, made a speech of harmony, and gave an exhibition of effusive hand-shaking with John R. Fellows, representing the Tilden delegates, who was called to the platform to endure as patiently as he could Kelly's calm offer to forgive and take back the regulars into the party.4
The Greenbackers nominated James B. Weaver of Iowa for President and B. J. Chambers of Texas for Vice-President. The Prohibitionist candidates were Neal Dow of Maine and A. M. Thompson of Ohio.
As the only State officer to be elected was the Chief- Judge of the Court of Appeals, the Republican State committee on August 24 decided not to call a conven- tion, but itself nominated Charles J. Folger. The Democrats intended to follow the same program, but under the threats of Kelly to make a separate nomination5 they held a convention at Saratoga on September 28, in which both factions united. Kelly dominated it and nominated Charles A. Rapallo for Chief-Judge. The friends of several other candidates urged that the advancement of a sitting Judge would make a vacancy for a Republican Governor to fill, and drew from Rufus W. Peckham a denunciation of any such petty view of the court. David B. Hill presented George B. Bradley. Rapallo was named by an up-State delegate, but received Tammany's support through Dorsheimer, though Kelly himself, with a group of fol- lowers, voted for William C. Ruger, who had stood
4New York Tribune, June 25, 1880.
5New York Tribune, August 28, 1880.
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against Tilden at Syracuse, perhaps because he remem- bered past favors, perhaps to lure anti-Tammany votes to Rapallo. Before the vote was announced, however, they all changed to Rapallo.6
The impulse for unity so far dominated the Demo- crats that Irving Hall combined with Tammany for the election of a Mayor. Kelly shrewdly induced Irving Hall to give him the choice from a list submitted by it. One of the names included was that of William R. Grace, whom Irving Hall suggested after the word had been passed that Kelly would under no conditions take him. Once on the list, however, Kelly snapped him up, and many of the adherents of Irving Hall, finding that they had been tricked into giving Kelly his own favorite candidate, turned to the support of William Dowd, who had been nominated by the Republicans.
The Democrats placed emphasis in the campaign upon the issue of the disputed election of 1876. Han cock did not prove a strong candidate. Though a man of eminent military and personal reputation he was not versed in statecraft; his indiscretion in alluding to the tariff as a "local question" doubtless lost him many votes. Yet the Republicans had little confidence in the early part of the campaign, and they had to meet and reply to persistent personal accusations against Garfield. Late in the canvass much was made by the Democrats of the notorious "Morey" letter, alleged to have been written by Garfield, in which the policy of Chinese
6New York Times, September 29, 1880.
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exclusion was opposed. The document was promptly shown to be a pure fabrication.
Conkling, after many caustic remarks on the nomi- nation and predictions of defeat, went on the stump and visited Garfield's home at Mentor, though he was careful to avoid any charges of having sought a deal by not seeing the candidate alone.7 With General Grant he made a series of speeches in the principal cities of New York State.
The vote resulted in the election of Garfield and Arthur. New York gave them its Electoral vote, casting 555,544 for the Republican ticket, 534,511 for the Democratic, 12,373 for the Greenback, and 1,517 for the Prohibition ticket. Folger was elected Chief- Judge, receiving 562,821 votes to 517,661 for Rapallo and 13,183 for Thomas C. Armstrong, the Greenback candidate. William R. Grace was elected Mayor of New York by 3,045 plurality over Dowd. An amendment to the Constitution was ratified by 110,678 majority, providing additional Judges for the Court of Common Pleas of New York City and establishing a system of judicial retirement pensions. The Repub- licans won 20 of the 33 Congress districts and carried the Legislature, electing 81 of the 128 Assem- blymen. As the Senate of 25 Republicans and 7 Demo- crats held over, a Republican successor to Kernan as United States Senator was assured.
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