USA > New York > Westchester County > Westchester county in history; manual and civil list, past and present. County history: towns, hamlets, villages and cities, Volume II > Part 22
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when the army was encamped at Verplanck's Point, and they, on the occasion, dined at his table; that Williams removed some years ago from Westchester County to the northern part of the State, but where, particularly, the deponent does not know. And the deponent, referring to the affidavit of Van Wart, taken the 28th day of January last, and which he has read, says that the same is in substance true.
" JOHN PAULDING.
" Sworn before me, this 6th
day of May, 1817.
" Charles G. Van Wyck, Master in Chancery.
- AN ESTIMATE OF ARNOLD'S CHARACTER.
Extracts from a letter written, September 27, 1780, by Gen. Anthony Wayne (the brave " Mad " Anthony) to a member of Congress, gives not only the General's opinion of Arnold, but also, doubtless, reflected the sentiments of a large majority of the American Generals. It was Gen. Washington's kindness of heart and hopes of redeeming him, that retained for Arnold his high position in the Continental Army. Gen. Wayne writes as follows :
" I am confident that the perfidy of General Arnold will astonish the public; the high rank he bore, the eclat he had obtained, whether deservedly or not, justified the world in giv- ing it him. But there were a few gentlemen who, at a very early period of this war, became acquainted with his true char- acter. When you asked my opinion of that officer last winter, I gave it freely, and, I believe, you thought it rather strongly shaded.
" I think that I informed you I had the most despicable idea of him, both as a gentleman and a soldier, and that he had pro- duced a conviction to me, in 1776, that honor and true virtue were strangers to his soul; and, however contradictory it might appear, that he never possessed either genuine fortitude or per- sonal bravery, and that he rarely went in the way of danger, but when stimulated by liquor, even to intoxication. (As was the case at the Battle of Saratoga .- Ed.)
" I shall not dwell upon his military character, or the meas- ures he had adopted for the surrender of West Point; the latter have, no doubt, been already fully mentioned by the Comman-
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der-in-Chief in his despatches. But I will give you a small specimen of his peculate talents.
" What think you of his employing sutlers to retail the public liquors for his private emolument, and furnishing his quarters with beds and other furniture, by paying for them with pork, salt, flour, etc., drawn from the magazines; he has not stopped here; he has descended much lower, and defrauded the veteran soldier who has bled for his country in many a well-fought field, during five campaigns; among others, an old sergeant of mine has felt his rapacity. By the industry of this man's wife they had accumulated something handsome to support them- selves in their advanced age, which coming to the knowledge of this cruel spoiler, he borrowed a large sum of money from the poor credulous woman, and left her in the lurch. The dirty, dirty acts which he has been capable of committing, beggar all description; and they are of such a nature as would cause the infernals to blush, were they accused of the invention and exe- cution of them.
" The detached and debilitated state of the garrison on West Point insured success to the assailants; the enemy were all in perfect readiness for the enterprise, and only waited the return of André to carry it into execution. The 26th was the day fixed on for this exploit, and the discovery of Arnold's treachery was not made until late on the 25th. At 12 o'clock of the morning of the 26th an express reached General Green from his Excel- lency, who had fortunately arrived at West Point on his return from Hartford, to push on the nearest and best disciplined troops, with orders to gain the defile or pass over the Dunder- burg before the enemy. The First Pennsylvania Brigade moved immediately, and on the arrival of the second express, I was speedily followed by our gallant friend, General Irvine, with the Second Brigade. Our march of sixteen miles was per- formed in four hours, during a dark night, without a single halt, or a man left behind. When our approach was announced to the General, he thought it fabulous; but when assured of the reality of his Tenth Legion being near him, he expressed great satisfaction and pleasure.
" The protection of this important place is committed to the Division under my command, until a proper garrison arrives. We will dispute the approaches to the works, inch by inch, at the point of the bayonet, and if necessary, decide the fate of the day in the gorge of the defiles at every expense of blood.
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You may rest assured that whatever may be the issue, neither the conduct of myself nor gallant assistant will ever require the palliation of a friend or cause a blush on the cheek of any affectionate acquaintance.
" Most respectfully, your obedient,
"ANTHONY WAYNE."
From Col. A. Scammell's letter to Col. Peabody, we get the following views, relative to Arnold:
" Treason! Treason! Treason ! black as hell! That a man so high on the list of fame should be guilty as Arnold, must be attributed not only to original sin, but actual transgressions.
" Heavens and earth! we were all astonishment, each peep- ing about him; nay, we even descended to a critical examina- tion of ourselves. This surprise soon settled down into a fixed detestation and abhorrence of Arnold, which can receive no addition. His treason has unmasked him the veriest villain of centuries past, and set him in true colors. His conduct and sufferings at the northward, has in the eyes of the army and his country, covered a series of base, grovelling, dirty, scanda- lous and rascally peculations and fraud; and the army and country ever indulgent and partial to an officer who has suffered in the common cause, wished to cover his faults, and we were even afraid to examine too closely, for fear of discovering some of his rascality. Now, after all these indulgences, the par- tiality of his countrymen, the trust and confidence the Com- mander-in-Chief had reposed in him, the prodigious sums he has pilfered from his country, which has been indulgent enough to overlook his malpractices, I say, after all this, it is impossible to paint him in colors sufficiently black. Avarice, cursed avarice, with unbounded ambition, void of principle of honor, honesty, generosity, or gratitude, induced the caitiff to make the first overtures to the enemy, as André declared upon his honor, when on trial before the General officers."
" May Arnold's life be protracted under all the keenest stings and reflections of a guilty conscience ; be hated and abhorred by all the race of mankind; and finally suffer the excruciating tor- tures due to so great a traitor."
ROBERTSON vs. CONKLING AND PLATT.
Westchester County has furnished at least two men of National political fame, William H. Robertson and Chauncey M. Depew, who were, from youth, intimate as well as political friends.
Mr. Depew, an orator as widely known abroad as he is at home, began his political career as an Assemblyman. After- ward became Secretary of State, then County Clerk, a State Regent, and traveled along up the ladder until he reached the United States Senate, where we recently found him representing his native State and nearing his eightieth year, with all his old energy unabated.
Mr. Robertson, though he did not pretend to oratory, was just as forcible in other directions. Like his friend, he adopted law as his profession and his ability was soon recognized in a sub- stantial way. While yet a young man, his capabilities as a leader among men were made use of by those older seeking political preferment. His knowledge of his fellowmen, their peculiarities, their ambitions, strength and weakness, gave him unusual power as a political leader, and in later years brought him honorable distinction. Men of all political faiths were pleased to call him their friend. In politics he never mourned when a political adherent saw fit to shift his allegiance; instead, he sought another, even better, to take the place of "the departed, but not forgotten," as he was accustomed to say.
Mr. Robertson, besides holding minor local offices, was several terms County Judge of this County, was Representative in Con- gress one term, declining a re-election, and was State Senator many terms. He was never defeated when a nominee for an elective office. When chosen to Congress or to the State Senate it was from a district usually Democratic. He was proud to say that he was the only Republican ever elected to either office in the Democratic Westchester district.
The Governorship had been promised and refused to him twice; a Cabinet portfolio was not to his liking, and a United States Senatorship he did not want, but he did want to be
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Customs Collector at Port of New York. This last-named position he finally secured, after the whole country had become aroused over his getting it. His slogan was, " Know just what you want; get it."
The facts relative to the securing of the Collectorship furnish a somewhat interesting, if not startling, story; introducing, as they do, three of the cleverest and most resourceful politicians ever known in the State of New York, if not in the whole United States-Roscoe Conkling, Thomas C. Platt and William H. Robertson.
All, Mr. Conkling, Mr. Robertson and Mr. Platt, are dead. The former dying in 1888, Mr. Robertson ten years later, and Mr. Platt twelve years later than Mr. Robertson.
Thomas Collier Platt, who represented this State as one of its delegation in the United States Senate, was for several years the colleague of " Westchester's Favorite Son," Senator Chauncey M. Depew. Mr. Platt retired from the Senate on March 4, 1909, having rounded out fifty-two years of political activity. For a score of years he was the undisputed " Boss " of the Republican party in the State of New York and a power in National politics. From the time of the Fremont campaign in 1856, until the day of his retirement from the Senate, his life had been a stormy one, though he was nick-named the " Easy Boss." On every political battlefield, in State or Nation, in the last two decades, could be seen his standard in the thickest of the fight.
Mr. Platt is not of this County, though at one time numbered among its residents. His prominence as an opponent vanquished by the County's most illustrious representative, William H. Robertson, gains for him a place in this review.
The magnetism with which Mr. Platt was said to be liberally endowed, evidently failed in its efficiency when it came to con- trolling Judge Robertson, who possessed a mind equally as strong as that of Mr. Platt and who was as clever as a political tactician. Mr. Platt was fully equipped to play the game of politics as an expert, but with all his acuteness he found in Judge Robertson one who could play the game with equal skill; frequently to the former's great disadvantage.
It was Thomas C. Platt, allied with United States Senator Roscoe Conkling, who prevented the nomination of William H. Robertson as the Republican candidate for Governor in 1879, if not previously in 1872; and later it was he, still in alliance
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with Conkling, who entered in a fight on President Garfield to prevent the nomination and confirmation of William H. Rob- ertson as Collector of the Port of New York.
The objection Messrs. Conkling and Platt had to Judge Rob- ertson was purely political. He did not prove as pliable as desired for the realization of their political ambitions.
The writer of this recalls a conversation he had with Judge Robertson in the Capitol building in Albany, early in the winter of 1880. The Judge related certain facts attending the proceedings of the Republican State Convention (held in the preceding fall), accounting for his not receiving the Guberna- torial nomination. He had been promised this in good faith by men whom he believed he could trust without stultifying himself. He told how Platt, Conkling and their allies turned from him at the last moment and brought about the nomination of Alonzo B. Cornell in his stead, for no other reason than that he would not sacrifice self-respect and subject himself to their absolute control; in other words, act as a figure-head in the office of Governor. During this conversation, a well-known Republican State leader, in passing, stopped, and offering to the Judge a hand of greeting, said in tones most sympathetic : " Senator, I am very sorry, very sorry, indeed, that you did not receive the nomination for Governor by our Convention." To this the Judge replied, coolly: "Thank you;" and the interview, quite brief on the Judge's side, was closed. After the " well-wisher " had passed on, the Judge commented on the hypocrisy of some men, adding: "The fellow who just addressed me so blandly was one of those who deliberately planned my defeat by that convention." " Such is politics, young man," sighed the Judge.
Above all things, Judge Robertson's ambition was to round out a long and successful political career by being elected Gov- ernor of the State of New York. That such desire be fulfilled was the sincere wish of his many loyal friends. But there were some things Judge Robertson would not do even to attain his ambition.
In return for services rendered, Governor Cornell, as soon as possible after being installed in office, appointed Mr. Platt a member of the Quarantine Commission, an office he held until 1888, when Governor Hill removed him.
The two memorable fights of Mr. Platt's life were, first, when he, in 1880, following the lead of Senator Conkling, went
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down to defeat with that famous band of " three hundred and six stalwarts " who tried to force the nomination of General Grant for a third term; and second, when Conkling and he failed to be re-elected by the Legislature as United States Sena- tors a short time later.
It is an old saying, and one quite true, that a time-a day of reckoning-comes when one can "settle the score " with another in the game of politics. The time was at hand, at this Republican National Convention, when Messrs. Conkling and Platt and their allies would be brought to realize that their mis- deeds, leading to the betrayal of Judge Robertson, had not been forgotten. That the old admonition to forget in politics one year that which happened in the year before, would not for this occasion be observed.
The attempt to vote the New York State delegation in the Convention as a unit, as was the desire nearest to the hearts of Messrs. Conkling and Platt, proved impossible owing to the opposition of many in the delegation, under the lead of Judge Robertson, who was a delegate. Promises and threats were alike equally unavailing. Judge Robertson and his friends stood firm in their determination not to be delivered in bulk for any candidate not their individual choice. After a stub- born and hard-fought fight, it was decided by the Convention that each member of the New York delegation be permitted to vote in the Convention as an individual, announcing his vote as his name was called. Accordingly, the New York State dele- gation did not vote unanimously for General Grant's nomina- tion. The action of Judge Robertson led to the nomination of James A. Garfield for President.
Conkling and Platt, as after events proved, never forgave Judge Robertson for being the cause of their great humiliation before representatives of the Nation. They had to admit that they had been cutgeneraled by a man from their own State; that their pet scheme, to bring about what was considered the impossible, to overcome the prejudice of the people against a third term for a President of the United States, had met with a telling defeat.
In speaking later of the proceedings of that Convention, Mr. Platt said: "I remember that Conkling was a colossal figure in that convention. I never appreciated him more than when I saw his tall, majestic, panther-like figure and his historic Hyperion lock, and listened to his matchless oratory, his marvel-
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ous power of invective and satire, as he concluded his speech placing Grant in nomination."
Grant's nomination was defeated; Judge Robertson had sprung suddenly into National prominence, owing to his deter- mination of purpose. Though his action had increased the bitterness of his political foes, his independence had secured for him many loyal friends.
The action of Judge Robertson in the Republican National Convention was fully approved by those of his party in West- chester County who had elected him as their delegate to such Convention. Resolutions were adopted in various sections of the State commending the course Judge Robertson, and other delegates acting with him, had pursued.
According to published report, Messrs. Conkling and Platt returned from the Convention to New York much dejected. They feared for their political future. They understood what it meant to be discredited by one's party administration, the loss of power uplifted by the disposal of patronage. The Repub- lican organization was in chaos; the leaders received the news of Garfield's nomination resentfully. They feared that Gar- field, if elected, would give ear only to Judge Robertson and his friends in New York State, and the present Republican organi- zation in the State would be succeeded by another organization that might prove detrimental to the interests of Conkling, Platt and their allies.
To head off any influence Judge Robertson might have with Garfield, it was suggested that Senator Conkling visit candi- date Garfield at his home in Mentor, Ohio. Before Conkling, as proud as ever, could decide to pay this visit, he received a request from Mr. Garfield, that he visit him at his home. Of this visit Mr. Platt, in a recent interview, spoke as follows: " When Garfield heard of the defection in New York he sent for Senator Conkling. Upon Conkling's return from the con- ference at the home of the Presidential nominee, Conkling told me that Garfield had promised to recognize the New York organ- ization, if elected. I said: 'Do you believe him?' to which Conkling replied, ' No, but we will try him out.' We did, and the war Garfield made on us after election is a matter of history."
In 1881 Mr. Platt was elected a United States Senator from this State, as an associate with his friend Senator Conkling. His election was accomplished after a most bitter contest in the
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New York Legislature, between factions in the party. One fac- tion, known as the " Stalwarts," those affiliating with the Conk- ling-Platt organization, being arraigned against the " Half- Breeds," as the anti-organization men were designated. Dur- ing this fight in the Legislature these terms, distinguishing factions, were first used.
Relative to this election of Mr. Platt to the Senatorship, Mr. Chauncey M. Depew, who was a candidate before the State Leg- islature for that office as one of the opponents of Mr. Platt, has this to say: " It was found that those who supported Gar- field were in a minority in the Legislature. Some of his friends could get five votes, some four, and some six. It was found that I could get twenty-six. I did not want to run for Senator, for private business reasons. But Judge Robertson, with authority of Garfield and Blaine, said: 'Chauncey, you have got to run for Senator,' and I ran. The contest went on and Mr. Platt received a certain number of votes and State Senator Crowley, whom Roscoe Conkling favored, received a certain number of votes, and I received a certain number, about equally divided. To all appearances Senator Conkling and Mr. Platt were not allied at the commencement of this contest; Mr. Platt was carrying on a campaign for himself. The Judge and I were whooping it up for Westchester. One day Mr. Platt came to me and said: ' You can never be elected.' 'Yes, I know that.' ' Well, suppose you elect me.' ' Well,' I said, ' we have been crushed in this State for twelve years under the tyranny of the Conkling machine. Every effort has been made to drive me out of politics and Judge Robertson and his friends out of public life. We have made our fight, we have got our rights and don't propose to be crushed. Suppose you are elected, will you support President Garfield ?' ' Yes,' promptly replied Mr. Platt. We went at once to Judge Robertson's room and other members of the Legislature, who were supporting me, to the number of twenty-six, came in. To Judge Robertson and his fellow-members of the Legislature, Mr. Platt made the same frank statement relative to his determination to give hearty and loyal support to President Garfield. The day following, Mr. Platt was elected United States Senator. A few days later President Garfield sent to the Senate the nomination of Judge Robertson for Collector of the Port of New York."
Mr. Depew, and other friends of Judge Robertson, believed that when Judge Robertson was willing to forget the way he
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had been misused heretofore by both Conkling and Platt, and returned good for evil, by furnishing votes necessary for Platt's election to the Senate, Senator Platt would show appreciation by faithfulness to the pledge guaranteeing his support to Presi- dent Garfield, as the least return he could make.
What happened to the nomination of Judge Robertson for Collector of the Port? What Senator Platt did in support of President Garfield, and how he repaid Judge Robertson for aid- ing his election, is told in an interview with which Senator Platt favored us, just prior to his death. Senator Conkling's connection is also told, and all is now matter of political history of this State.
On the announcement of Mr. Platt's election to the Senator- ship, Senator Conkling sent a telegram to Platt saying that it rejoiced his heart to know that so thorough and loyal a " Stal- wart " had won the victory. Evidently Conkling was confi- dent that the old alliance would be continued, and the " Organi- zation " Republicans in New York would continue to be under the rule of a " most tyrannical politician," as Conkling was classified by Mr. Depew. After events prove that he was not a victim of misplaced confidence, so far as Senator Platt was concerned.
Mr. Platt took his seat in the Senate on the last day of Presi- dent Hayes's administration, and on the day Mr. Garfield was inaugurated, March 4, 1881, he and Senator Conkling called upon the new President.
" We were received with cordialty," said Senator Platt, " and departed from the White House convinced that the contract made at Mentor would be fulfilled."
President Garfield later admitted to a friend that he never was so much embarrassed by anything as he was by the political situation in New York immediately following his inauguration. He did not want to make a breach between the Administration and the two New York Senators, yet he could not ignore the claims Judge Robertson and friends in New York had upon him. He recognized the fact that the action of Judge Robert- son, and those he led in the National Convention, made possible his nomination for President.
Judge Robertson made it known that a membership in the President's Cabinet was not desired by him.
The Collectorship of the Port of New York, then considered the most coveted Federal position in the State, was suggested
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as a gift that might prove acceptable to the Judge. The Presi- dent knew it would be useless to attempt to get the two Senators from New York to consent to the confirmation of Judge Robert- son for any office. After mature consideration, the President decided to act independently, as his friend Robertson had, and send the nomination of William H. Robertson, for Customs Collector at Port of New York, to the Senate. This he did.
Concerted action on the part of both Senators, Conkling and Platt, " held up " the confirmation. What happened next is a matter of history, a thrice told tale.
" Why," said Senator Platt, " the President, instead of doing as he promised for the organization, has picked out Conkling's worst enemy and named him for the most lucrative office in the State of New York." Senator Conkling was furious; he said that the pledge was broken and it was open war on the organization.
Senators Conkling and Platt felt that they had been insulted, and rather than remain in the Senate that was sure to confirm a nomination so distasteful to them, as a quiet canvass of the Senate had proven, they would resign forthwith, and go back to the New York Legislature, then in session, and ask for re-election and vindication. They figured that their friends con- trolled a majority of the Legislature and no time would be lost in making it plain to the President that a mistake had been made in his not having first consulted the New York Senators as to appointments for that State, and that it would be found advis- able to withdraw Judge Robertson's nomination.
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