USA > New York > History of the state of New York, political and governmental, Vol. III 1865-1896 > Part 7
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2Diary, III, p. 509.
3 Alexander, A Political History of the State of New York, III, p. 218.
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toga, whom the Morgan men had agreed to as an accept- able Speaker, proved to be the keystone of the arch that carried him to Washington. Greeley in the Tribune advocated the election of Marshall O. Roberts, but he preferred Fenton to Morgan.
As the fight grew hot, Morgan's friends began to charge Fenton with corruption. The New York Com- mercial Advertiser,4 an organ of the conservatives, which had been edited by Thurlow Weed until his health broke down and was then under the editorship of Hugh J. Hastings, revived an old charge that Hamilton Harris, the Governor's counsel, had received $20,000 for Fenton's signature to the Erie bills. The Hale committee the year before had heard this tale. Henry Thompson, a director of the Erie, had refused to answer the questions about campaign contributions on the ground that they were outside the scope of the com- mittee's inquiry, but Thomas Murphy, one of the leaders of the conservative or Conkling forces in New York, testified that Thompson had told him that he saw money in Harris's possession, and Murphy testified that Jay Gould had refused to give him a campaign contri- bution because he had already contributed $20,000 to the Republican funds. Both Gould and Harris, how- ever, disclaimed all knowledge of the transaction, and the charges, so far as they implied any corruption on Fenton's part, were generally discredited. The Tribune dismissed them as stale slanders, while the Rochester Democrat made them the occasion of an attack on Thur- low Weed, which provoked from Hastings an open
4New York Commercial Advertiser, January 2, 1869.
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letter to Brown, protesting that Weed had had abso- lutely no part in the campaign and no responsibility for the Commercial Advertiser's course.5 John M. Francis in the Troy Times proposed John A. Griswold as a compromise candidate, but Griswold declined on the ground that he ran for Governor on the understanding that Morgan was to succeed himself, and he could not in good faith oppose him.6 Noah Davis, in response to a statement published in the Rochester Democrat that he would use his influence for Fenton, wrote a letter declaring that the friends of Fenton at Albany most certainly knew that he would take no such action and adding, "I have no objection to your showing this note to such of our mutual friends as you think will care to know that I am not altogether wanting in self-respect."7 It was charged that Fenton, after Davis's defeat in 1867, had promised his support two years later and that on the Governor's advice Davis had sought to disarm criticism of him as a Judge in politics by resigning from the Supreme Court and going to Congress.8
On the eve of the caucus, which took place January 16, Morgan's friends and newspaper supporters pre- dicted certain victory. Their opponents were so uncer- tain that there was talk of switching from Fenton to Roberts, and Roberts went to Albany to look over the situation, but finding Fenton unwilling to retire absolutely he abandoned the field. Exaggerated talk
5New York Times, January 14, 1869.
6New York Tribune, January 16, 1869.
7New York Tribune, January 12, 1869.
8New York World, January 6, 1869.
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of bribery was afloat, but a much more powerful argu- ment was held over the Assemblymen by Speaker Younglove, who for ten days had been delaying from session to session the announcement of the committee appointments. The supreme strategy of Fenton had been displayed in lulling the Morgan people into the acceptance of Younglove. When the Speaker appeared in caucus as Fenton's advocate, all the waverers who wanted good committees took notice and the result was the nomination of Fenton by a vote of 52 to 40 for Morgan. The Democratic minority gave their support for Senator to Henry C. Murphy. The vote in the Legislature was: Senate-Fenton, 15; Murphy, 10; H. S. Randall (Democrat), 1. Assembly-Fenton, 72; Murphy, 45.
Governor Hoffman in his first message especially criticised the part taken by State commissions in the government of New York City, and demanded that the local authorities should recover their jurisdiction over parks, police, and the liquor traffic. While professing to favor temperance, he took strong ground for uniform excise laws and also for uniform registry laws. He presented an elaborate defense of Tammany against the charges of naturalization and registration frauds. At the beginning of his term he won popular favor by fol- lowing Fenton's policy and vetoing franchise grabs and bills to give State moneys in aid of railroads. Later he defied reform sentiment by appointing Tweed's Judges, Barnard and Cardozo, to the general term of the Supreme Court, and he signed the bills enabling Gould to maintain his hold on the Erie for five years and fixing
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the swollen tax levy under which Tweed proceeded to loot the city. At that time the city's officials made their estimates and sent them to Albany, where the Legisla- ture levied the taxes. In the session of 1869, $3,000,000 was added to the levy at Albany arbitrarily, and the Tribune charged that twenty Republican Assemblymen had been bought to put through the measure, and it demanded that the party repudiate and retire them.9 On April 14 the Legislature adopted the Fifteenth amendment for negro suffrage by a strict party vote. At the opening of the next session, when the Democrats were in control, Tweed offered a resolution, which was passed by both houses, for the withdrawal of the ratifi- cation if the article had not already become part of the Constitution, but the vote once given was held to be final and New York was counted by the Secretary of State for the amendment.
Tweed completely dominated the Democratic State convention, which met at Syracuse on September 22. The only possible center of opposition was Tilden, who contented himself with saving the State chairmanship, leaving Tweed to make up his ticket without oppo- sition.10 The platform denounced the Fifteenth amendment and demanded the restoration of all the States, the reduction of the standing army, and the
9New York Tribune, July 29, 1869.
10The ticket was: Secretary of State, Homer A. Nelson, Dutchess; Comp- troller, William F. Allen, Oswego; Treasurer, Wheeler H. Bristol, Tioga ; Attorney-General, Marshall B. Champlain, Allegany; State Engineer, Van Rensselaer Richmond, Wayne; Canal Commissioner, William W. Wright, Ontario; Prison Inspector, Fordyce Laflin, Ulster; Judges of the Court of Appeals, John A. Lott, Kings, and Robert Earl, Herkimer.
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abolition of the Freedman's Bureau. It arraigned Grant as false to his pledges of peace, reëchoed the demand for taxation of bonds in its complaint of the "unjust system" by which the monied class was exempt from the burdens of State and municipal governments, called for uniform registration and excise laws, and urged rejection of the proposed State Constitution.
The Republicans met at Syracuse on September 29, urged the adoption of the Fifteenth amendment, denounced repudiation directly or by any device or subterfuge, expressed sympathy with the Cuban insur- rectionists, and favored their recognition as soon as the government thought wise and the annexation of the island when its people wished. The platform indorsed Grant's administration and demanded laws against such frauds as had carried the State against Grant and Gris- wold. A resolution in favor of prohibition of the liquor traffic by local option in towns was tabled by a vote of 123 to 153. George William Curtis was nominated for Secretary of State, Thomas Hillhouse for Comptroller, John C. Robinson for State Engineer, and Martin I. Townsend for Attorney-General. Filled with disgust at the failure of the Republican organization to repudiate the Tammany Republican Assemblymen, Curtis, Hillhouse, and Robinson declined to run and the State central committee filled the vacancies by naming Franz Sigel for Secretary of State, Horace Greeley for Comptroller, and William B. Taylor of Oneida for State Engineer.11 Greeley, who took the
11The ticket was: Secretary of State, Franz Sigel, New York; Comp- troller, Horace Greeley, New York; Treasurer, Thomas S. Chatfield, Tioga;
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position that he would not decline any call to service, let his name be used, although he had been most out- spoken in declaring that a party deserved defeat that would not get rid of its own rascals. The chief issue of the campaign was the new Constitution, and the Republican ticket went down to defeat with it, Nelson receiving 330,974 votes to Sigel's 310,733, a majority of 20,241. The Democrats won both branches of the Legislature, the Senate standing 18 Democrats to 14 Republicans, and the Assembly 72 Democrats to 56 Republicans. William Hitchman was again elected Speaker.
Prohibition as a separate political party movement began to take shape in this year. The New York State Temperance Society had its annual meeting in Roches- ter on January 15, declared in favor of separate action if both parties after a year persisted in favoring the license system, and resolved "that prohibition is a political necessity, and in order to secure such amend- ment to the civil law an independent political organiza- tion is demanded at the present time." On June 1 a State Temperance convention was held in Syracuse, which declared for local option.
Attorney-General, Martin I. Townsend, Rensselaer; State Engineer, William B. Taylor, Oneida; Canal Commissioner, Stephen T. Hayt, Steuben; Prison Inspector, Daniel D. Conover, New York; Judges of the Court of Appeals, Lewis B. Woodruff, New York, and Charles Mason, Madison.
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PETER COOPER
Peter Cooper, philanthropist; born, New York City, Febru- ary 12, 1791; in 1808 he was apprenticed to a carriage maker and invented a machine for morticing the hubs of carriage wheels which was of much value; later he manufactured ma- chines for shearing cloth; he built iron works and brass foundries and amassed an immense fortune; he backed Cyrus Field in his efforts to make the Atlantic cable a success; in 1858 he founded the Cooper Union for the advancement of arts and sciences which is still fulfilling the mission for which it was established ; died in New York City, April 4, 1883.
CHAPTER VIII TWEED IN THE SADDLE 1870
T HE election of 1869 placed Tweed in practical control at Albany. He had been widening his influence by successive stages. In 1867, while holding seventeen city offices, he had taken on a State Senatorship and secured a place on the finance com- mittee, where he could look after his own tax levies, and on the committee on internal affairs, where he could overlook general legislation and do favors for Repub- lican Senators that would be returned in kind. The same year he had won the minor State offices and the Assembly and made William Hitchman Speaker. In 1868 he had elected Hoffman, but Hoffman was handi- capped by an opposition Legislature, which had to be conciliated. Tweed's connection with the Erie now served him in good stead. As Drew had gone up the line of the road for judicial aid in his fight with Van- derbilt, so Tweed went through the Southern Tier and with the railroad influence captured members of the Legislature, who enabled him, with Hoffman's aid, to carry out his well-matured plan to secure unchecked control of New York City by the famous charter of 1870.
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The Young Democracy, an organization of professed reformers, really dominated by such rivals of Tweed as James O'Brien, John Fox, John Morrissey, and Sena- tors Henry W. Genet, Thomas J. Creamer, and Michael Norton,1 proposed a charter transferring the functions of the State commissions to officers elected by the Board of Aldermen. Tweed's charter centralized the appoint- ing power in the Mayor and abolished all the State commissions. The Street and Aqueduct departments were consolidated into a Department of Public Works, over which Tweed was destined to rule. Many public- spirited citizens opposed this centralization of power in the hands of the Tammany Mayor. Greeley on behalf of the Union League Club appeared as a critic before a Senate committee, and on the same occasion Tilden, with disclaimers of any unkind feeling toward Tweed, expressed his dissent.2 But Tweed was able to get the support of reputable men, and, with the indorsement of an impressive Citizens' Association, the charter passed with only two negative votes in the Senate and five in the Assembly. To forestall any opposition of the Young Democracy, Tweed secured Republican votes in the Senate. This was alleged to have been accomplished by an arrangement for liberal payments made through Hugh J. Hastings.3 Five Republican Senators, it was charged, received $40,000 each for their votes, and six others $10,000 each, while $600,000 went to a lobbyist to purchase votes in the Assembly over
1John D. Townsend, New York in Bondage, p. 30.
2New York Times, April 5, 1870.
3John D. Townsend, New York in Bondage, p. 31.
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which Hitchman ruled in Tweed's interest.4 With such prevailing tinsel did Tweed lord it that even the Times came to see virtue in the charter and when, a few days after its passage, Tweed proposed to supplement the charter and the new election law with the abolition of the Supervisors, the Times declared: "Senator Tweed is in a fair way to distinguish himself as a reformer.
He has put the people of Manhattan under great obligations."5 Hoffman signed the charter and the Mayor appointed Tweed Commissioner of Public Works. Richard B. Connolly was made Comptroller and Peter B. Sweeney head of the Park department. Nast was already carrying on his pictorial warfare against the ring in Harper's Weekly, but, confident of the helplessness of its critics, it proceeded to steal not less than $8,000,000 from the city treasury within a year.
In addition to getting his charter through, Tweed secured from the Legislature a new Excise law provid- ing for local Boards of Excise in cities, towns, and incorporated villages, who should fix the license fees locally within the limits of from $30 to $150. The Registry law was repealed, except as it applied to New York City. The Canal Contracting law was abolished and the canal tolls on many important commodities were reduced by 50 per cent. A bill was passed for the construction of an arcade railroad under Broadway in New York City, but on account of the extraordinary powers granted over streets and adjoining property the
4Gustavus Myers, History of Tammany Hall, p. 227.
5New York Times, April 8, 1870; see also Works of Samuel J. Tilden, I, p. 606.
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Governor vetoed it, as he did bills granting $5,000,000 of State aid to various railroads.
A special election was held on May 17 for the Court of Appeals, as reconstituted by the Judiciary article of the Constitution, which had just been accepted. The Constitution allowed each elector to vote for only four of the Associate-Judges. The Republicans nominated Henry R. Selden for Chief-Judge, and Charles J. Folger, Charles Andrews, Charles Mason, and Robert S. Hale for associates. The Democrats nominated Sanford E. Church for Chief-Judge, and William F. Allen, Martin Grover, Rufus W. Peckham, and Charles A. Rapallo for associates. The Democrats carried the election for Chief-Judge by 87,897 majority, Church receiving 239,685 votes to Selden's 151,788. All the Democratic associates were elected, together with Folger and Andrews.
The Democratic State convention met at Rochester on September 21. Tilden was there as chairman of the State committee, but the gathering was harmoniously dominated by Tweed. It renominated Hoffman by acclamation.6 The platform largely ignored State questions, but condemned the Federal administration on almost every item of its policy, foreign and domestic. It opposed protection and inquisitorial internal taxes. It declared: "Prohibition, whether by State or local legislation, is in violation of personal rights." It made
6The ticket was: Governor, John T. Hoffman, New York; Lieutenant- Governor, Allen C. Beach, Jefferson; Comptroller, Asher P. Nichols, Erie; Canal Commissioners, John D. Fay, Monroe, and Charles W. Chapman, Saratoga; Prison Inspector, Solomon Scheu, Erie.
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a bid for the German vote; while rejoicing in the down- fall of the imperial dynasty in France, it expressed the hope that the Germans would "establish on an enduring basis their own unity, under one nationality, maintaining in central Europe the cause of civilization and progress." It expressed sympathy for Ireland and Cuba, condemned the Federal government for with- holding support from the Cuban insurgents, declared against the importation of Asiatics, and prayed for the pardon of the Fenians who had been convicted of violating our neutrality laws.
While Tweed had been marshaling the Democrats into a harmonious army, the Republicans had been assiduously fomenting their factional differences. The two Senators were incompatible. Conkling looked on his colleague with antipathy and was jealous of his power, while Fenton, who had no antipathies, was firm for the maintenance of his organization. Conkling at first felt neglected by Grant and held himself proudly aloof, but gradually the President took him more and more into favor and deprived Fenton of patronage. Perhaps Fenton was too assiduous ; for Grant, writing to John Russell Young, said : "Fentonism in New York means simply a yielding of the Executive to Mr. Fenton for the punishment of all who do not agree that the Republican party has no higher mission than to place him in control of it." But if that was his real feeling he showed strange inconsistency in the use of patronage to build up the rival machine and in the merciless pro- scription of every Fenton man. The differences
7Letter of November 15, 1870, Young, Men and Memories, p. 165.
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between the two Senators came to a head in the summer of 1870, when the President nominated Thomas Murphy to be Collector of the Port of New York. Murphy's record was unsavory, but Grant had been drawn to him by their common interest in horses. The Tribune declared that the objection to him was not so much that he was the creature of one faction, as that his political record was "one of treachery, well rewarded."8 Nevertheless, he had indorsements from some of the most reputable adherents of the Conkling faction, including Judge Folger. The fight on confirmation came up in the Senate on July 11. Fenton hit out squarely against Murphy and his backers, charging that Folger had been elected to the Court of Appeals by Tammany favor and that Chester A. Arthur, who had been one of Morgan's and was now one of Conkling's lieutenants, was taken care of by Tammany as counsel to the New York City Tax commission. Conkling's reply was less a defense of Murphy, who indeed had not been his original choice, than a personal attack on Fenton, whom he sought to humiliate by reference to an incident in his rival's early life. Fenton when a young man had undertaken to carry $12,000 to Albany and lost it on the way. He was arrested, accused of theft, and was, after inquiry, discharged, justly as most people believed. The scene created by Conkling's taunts was most painful.º
Murphy was confirmed by a vote of 48 to 3, and the factional contest was carried to the State convention at
8New York Tribune, September 19, 1871.
9William M. Stewart, Reminiscences, p. 257.
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Rochester on September 28. Fenton had expected to make Charles H. VanWyck temporary and himself permanent chairman. Conkling proposed George William Curtis, and by clever work among the rural delegates, representing to place-seekers and place- holders that opposition to Curtis was opposition to the national administration, he turned the convention in favor of Curtis by a vote of 220 to 150, though Fenton had gone to Rochester supremely confident of his own control and according to the New York World would have won, despite threats, on a secret ballot.10 Conkling then held out the olive branch by making Van Wyck permanent chairman. The platform rejoiced in the achievements of the Grant administration, especially its reduction of the debt. It went the Democrats one better in congratulating Germany on its "righteous victories" and expressing the fond "trust that the brave people who have given a republic to France may soon establish free institutions in their own country." It also expressed sympathy with Cuba. While the Democrats had sought to ignore State issues, the Republicans emphasized them, condemning the State administration "because it has put itself into the hands of the gross and irresponsible political corporation which has so long ruled the city of New York" and "is now seeking to make the State itself a wider field for abuses and cor- ruptions." They condemned the Democrats for mis- managing the canals, increasing expenses, and decreas- ing revenues, so that deficits had taken the place of the usual surplus of $2,000,000; and for reducing tolls,
10September 8, 1870.
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chiefly on products of other States, thus putting the bur- den of the canal debt on the taxpayers of the State while depriving them of the benefits of cheaper transporta- tion. The platform declared that so long as local communities had the right to license the liquor traffic they should also by a majority vote have the right to prohibit it.
In the nomination of a candidate for Governor, Conkling played a deep game. He encouraged talk of Horace Greeley to prevent consolidation on Marshall O. Roberts, who was Fenton's real choice. Then when it looked as if Greeley might be nominated, he brought Curtis into the field without openly supporting him. DeWitt C. Littlejohn had been mentioned, but would not oppose Greeley, and Stewart L. Woodford stood ready to withdraw for the editor.11 The Curtis diversion, however, threw the nomination to Wood- ford,12 who on the first ballot received 153 votes against 143 for Greeley and 1041/2 for Curtis, and on the third ballot 258 votes against 10512 for Greeley and 20 for Curtis. Conkling privately spoke for Curtis, failed to vote on the first ballot, and voted for Greeley on the second. Greeley acquitted him of bad faith, as he had not sought or been promised Conkling's support. Conkling's friends tried to throw the blame on Fenton, but with no justification, for Fenton heartily supported
11New York Tribune, September 8, 1870.
12The ticket was: Governor, Stewart L. Woodford, Kings; Lieutenant- Governor, Sigismund Kaufmann, Kings; Comptroller, Abiah W. Palmer, Dutchess; Canal Commissioners, Absalom Nelson, Erie, and Alexander Barkley, Washington; Prison Inspector, John Parkhurst, Clinton.
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Greeley from first to last.13 The same feeling of admiration for Greeley's powers and distrust of his leadership that defeated him two years before was probably the chief cause of his second humiliation. Curtis, on the other hand, had good ground to complain that he had been deliberately betrayed by Conkling. Littlejohn was named for Lieutenant-Governor but declined, and then Kaufmann was nominated. The Republicans made a vigorous campaign based on the widely believed but not yet demonstrated charges of Tammany corruption, but Hoffman was reelected by 33,096 plurality, receiving 399,532 against 366,436 for Woodford. James S. Graham, the Labor Reform can- didate, received 1,907, and ex-Governor Myron H. Clark, who appeared again as the champion of his old temperance principles, received 1,459 votes. The Democrats elected 16 and the Republicans 15 Congress- men. Sixty-five Democrats and 63 Republicans were chosen to the Assembly.
13New York Tribune, September 13, 1870.
CHAPTER IX TWEED'S DOWNFALL
1871
W ITH the reelection of Hoffman, Tweed reached the height of his power. He held both branches of the Legislature and again made Hitchman Speaker. He had reelected A. Oakey Hall Mayor of New York and through his new charter was in complete and seemingly permanent control of its government. The courts were fixed to do his bid- ding. He dominated the Democratic organization. Although Tilden and Seymour disliked his rule, they nevertheless supported his ticket and at the final Tam- many rally in the campaign of 1870 Seymour had been the guest of honor and Tilden had been one of the vice- presidents. Rioting in prosperity, Tweed had moved from his house in Henry Street to a Fifth Avenue mansion. He entertained lavishly and gave thousands of dollars to the poor. The newspapers, particularly the New York Times and Harper's Weekly, kept up a continual fire on the ring, but in November, 1870, he secured from a committee of leading citizens, including John Jacob Astor, Marshall O. Roberts, and Moses Taylor, a certificate that after examining the Comp- troller's books they found the financial affairs of the city
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