unprincipled Grafton, when taunted by James the Second with his personal want of conscience, answered, That is true, but I belong to a party that has a great deal of con

science.'

"Such reasoners forget that the same claim has been made in all ages and countries by the defenders of old wrongs against new reforms. It was alleged by the Tories of the American Revolution against the Patriots of that day. It was repeated against Jefferson and afterwards against Jackson. It is alleged by the Conservatives against those who, in England, are now endeavoring to enlarge the popular suffrage.

"All history shows that reforms in government must not be expected from those who sit serenely on the social mountain-tops enjoying the benefits of the existing order of things. Even the Divine Author of our religion found his followers, not among the self-complacent Pharisees, but among lowly minded fishermen.”:

Of all American statesmen who have risen to eminence Mr. Tilden was probably the least given to sarcastic or personally offensive allusions of any kind to a political opponent. I am not aware that in all his long public life he ever had an unpleasant personal controversy about any words. that fell from his lips or pen. No one knew better than he, nor acted more uniformly upon the knowledge, that "whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from troubles." He would not, therefore, have made the reflections upon some of the unfortunate events in the congressional career of the Republican candidate which is disguised in this paragraph had not Mr. Blaine stimulated the malicious persecutions with which the administration had pursued him so relentlessly from the dawn to the close of his candidature for the presidency, and merely, as Mr. Tilden believed, because Mr. Blaine regarded him as his most formidable rival.

1 Writings and Speeches," Vol. II. p. 533.

CHAPTER IX

Tilden's relations to the new President Senator Garland a suitor Letters to Manning — Tilden's and Jefferson's views of civil service-Harbor defences - Letter to Carlisle - Tilden's friends proscribed at Washington Letter to Watterson George W. Julian Tilden discourages his nephew and namesake from embarking in politicsR. D. Minturn — Manning's illness and retirement from the treasury History of the Monroe Doctrine The Broadway railroad Advice to Governor Hill against the proposed enlargement of the Erie canal Favors the bills for an international park and for the protection of the Adirondack forests.

MR. CLEVELAND'S election was generally and very naturally regarded as a continuation of the Tilden dynasty, and as a consequence his supposed influence with the new President was very extensively solicited by candidates for place under the new administration from all parts of the country. Among the earlier applications of this character. was one from Senator Garland, of Arkansas, who desired the position of attorney-general. To him Mr. Tilden sent a letter evidently intended not entirely to conceal his mistrust that whatever value Mr. Cleveland had professed to attach to his advice in the previous June, the election had seriously impaired. It would have been fortunate for Mr. Garland had he followed the advice which Mr. Tilden, with so much delicacy, tried to convey to him. He left a place where his manifold limitations escaped observation, for one in which they alone were conspicuous.

TILDEN TO GARLAND.

"(Confidential.)

"GRAYSTONE, Dec. 5, 1884. "DEAR SENATOR GARLAND: I have received your letter. I appreciate all the consideration which it so frankly

VOL. II. 19

suggests. Although I have had less personal acquaintance with you since 1868 than I could have wished, I have not been left without the means to form a just estimate of your acquirements as a lawyer, your rank as a Senator, and your high personal character.

"I do not know to what extent, or in what cases, if any, I shall be consulted by Mr. Cleveland in respect to the constitution of his cabinet. I do not intend to intrude upon him any advice unasked, or to volunteer any recommendations or requests. If consulted, I shall not act as a partisan of any of my numerous friends who would like to enter his cabinet, but shall endeavor, with judicial impartiality, to canvass the personal merits and other considerations which ought to influence the choice. I am anxious that he should do the best thing possible for the country and for his administration, and shall desire rather to help him in his difficult task than to add to his embarrassments.

"The formation of a cabinet is a piece of mosaic in which each element may be affected by the size, texture, and color of the others entering into the combination; and it is impossible to foresee how much an individual element may be affected by the cast of the whole.

Impressed as I am with your adaptation to the trust which you have indicated as most agreeable to you, I should feel some regret at your leaving the Senate, both on account of the public interest and the personal distinction and growth which you would surrender. An intelligent and judicious friend, who reads all the reported debates, tells me that you appear to great advantage in the senatorial discussions. The rôle as the confidential representative of the administration in the Senate is greater than any cabinet office. I remember how Thomas H. Benton and Silas Wright felt on that subject. While occupying that relation, Mr. Wright grew to greater prominence than any other Democrat in the country. In 1844 he was nominated against his will for the vice-presidency, and, I happen to know, was informally offered the presidential nomination before it was conferred on Mr. Polk. His transcendant hold upon the country carried the presidential election for the Democracy.

"If it should fall to the lot of Mr. Cleveland to fill several appointments in the Supreme Court, I hope that he will select men, not only of eminent legal capacities and of

pure personal character, and of sounder constitutional ideas than have lately been found in that body, but have something more to give to the country than the dregs of life. Most of the great judges have been taken young, and their character formed on the bench.

"Very truly yours,

"HON. A. H. GARLAND,

Washington, D.C."

"S. J. TILDEN.

In point of fact Mr. Tilden was not consulted about his cabinet by President Cleveland until nearly or quite every place but one had been filled, when his advice about a secretary of the treasury was invited. He recommended Mr. Daniel Manning, of New York. Mr. Manning was reluctantly appointed to that position, but never welcomed to it nor in it.

Whether Mr. Cleveland underrated the value of Mr. Tilden's judgment, or overrated his own, it is quite certain that Mr. Manning did neither, for he appears to have rarely, if ever, taken any important step while he continued in the cabinet without trying to secure Mr. Tilden's approval of it. Some of Mr. Tilden's letters on public questions submitted to him for his views have not yet lost their value. On the 1st of March, and only three days before Manning was to take office, Mr. Tilden wrote to him:

TILDEN TO MANNING.

"GRAYSTONE, YONKERS, N.Y., March 1, 1885. "DEAR Mr. MANNING: The first thing to be done in the treasury is to ascertain how far the redemption fund, as it is called, which is the stock of gold kept in reserve to redeem the greenbacks, has been impaired. I suspect the deficiency is not less than thirty or forty millions. The construction of the laws adopted by Mr. Sherman, late secretary; by Mr. McCulloch, present secretary; and by Mr. Weyman, treasurer, is that there is express legal authority to make good, by sale of United States bonds, such deficiency as may be found from time to time to assist in the

redemption fund. Mr. McCulloch in his letter to me claimed the right to check out, in the discretion of the secretary, from the existing mass of gold in the treasury, if thereby a deficiency was created in the redemption fund, and then to make good that deficiency by the sale of bonds. "If the government pay the interest on the public debt in gold, as it ought, it will take somewhat over four millions a month, beside payments for the sinking-fund and for called bonds, and beside keeping the reserve for the redemption of the greenbacks. If there is no financial alarm, and no export demand for gold, the sale of bonds of twenty to forty millions might, as many think, maintain the gold basis for all the government payments, and lose two millions a month through the rest of the year. That is to say, it would make good the deterioration in the financial condition of the government consequent upon paying two millions a month for silver bullion.

"If the government should be compelled to use silver in its payments, it would have to be considered whether it should not pay the interest on the bonds, the sinking-fund, and the called bonds in gold, and maintain the gold fund for the redemption of greenbacks, and use the silver in common with such surplus of gold as may remain, in the payment of the other expenditures of the government. This would perfectly protect the public honor and faith; but you might have some clamor against two currencies. It could scarcely be said that that made one currency for the government and another for the people, because the greenbacks are really the people's currency. I write in great haste, because there is no time, and can but make imperfect suggestions.

"Mr. Jordan has submitted this morning four statements, of which I send one, as containing some suggestions of detail which might be useful.

"Yours truly,

"S. J. T."

The financial crisis of 1883, which compelled an extra session of Congress, and the repeal of the law requiring large monthly purchases of silver by the treasury, lend a special interest to the following prescient letter to Mr. Manning: