DEPOSIT WITH MR. TILDEN TO SECURE A LOAN TO MR. O'SULLIVAN
"New York, Nov. 22, 1850.
"Whereas, I have this day drawn a draft at three months on C. A. Secor in favor of Messrs. Wright & Betts for about sixteen hundred and fifty dollars, and the same has been accepted by said C. A. Secor, I hereby authorize and request you to hold twenty shares given stock in the Balance Dock Company (out of the forty-two shares of which the certificate is in your hands, with my power of attorney to make transfers of the same dated March 14, 1850), as security for the payment of said draft; said twenty shares to be sold for payment of same unless satisfactory provision for its payment be made by me within one week prior to its maturity.
"To S. J. Tilden, by
"J. L. O'Sullivan."
"I hold a certificate of twenty shares of stock in the Balance Dock, with a power of attorney from J. L. O'Sullivan in regard to the same, which have been deposited with me by Messrs. O'S. and Secor, and I accept the trust so far as the said papers may enable me to carry it out.
"S. J. Tilden."
"New York, Nov. 22, 1850."
TILDEN TO MRS. CHASE[18]
"New York, Nov. 29th, 1850.
"My dear Madam,—Your letter of Oct. 13th, and that of Mr. Chase accompanying it, came at the commencement of an illness which disabled me for some time from making the inquiries which yours requested. Since my recovery I have been diligently seeking to learn something of the line of steamers destined to touch periodically at Vera Cruz and Tampico. Mr. Geo. Law, who is the principal man in the Chagres line, and Mr. Wetmore, an associate of his in that enterprise, inform me that nothing of the kind has been connected with their line; and they agree in thinking that, although such a proposition was before Congress, it did not pass. Mr. Brooks, who represents this district in the House of Rep., and who is conversant with such matters, is of the same opinion. Mr. Croswell, of Albany, not of this city, who is interested in the Chagres line, and whom I was fortunate enough to meet a few evenings since, has the same impression, but referred me to young Mr. Worth, of this city, as having something to do with a project for such a line. On inquiry of that gentleman I find that he is not aware of any action of Congress on the subject; that the project is purely commercial, and that it is so very immature that it can scarcely be deemed to have an existence. This was for a line between this city and Vera Cruz. The laws of the last session have not as yet been published, so that I could not examine them. I am thus particular, because one gentleman of whom I inquired had an impression that such a bill did pass. While there seemed to be very little definite knowledge, my conclusion is that no such line has been authorized, but I shall keep an eye to the matter, and communicate to you any information which may seem important.
"I found in a N. O. paper that the steamer Alabama will make trips at intervals of about 20 days from that place to Vera Cruz. The news that reached you may have originated partly in this circumstance and partly in the pendency of a proposition, such as you mention, in Cong.
"It would give me great pleasure to aid Mr. Chase, in the way you desire, so far as I may have power, if such a line should be established; though the thing is as yet so indefinite—and I am inclined to think will remain so—that I cannot estimate my ability to serve him.
"The friends of whom you inquire—Mr. Green, Miss Green, and Miss H.—are well and pursuing happiness ardently in their customary modes: each one pursuing his favorite phantom, the poet hath it, but I will not apply to them the association that rises in my memory. There are objects in life which are not phantoms—tho' little pursued, and not by many. I am tempted to seek for myself the gracious welcome that awaits the bearer of good-tidings by telling you that Miss. H. intends to leave here on a Southern tour in the latter part of Dec., and has some thoughts, even hopes, of persuading her father to prolong the excursion to Tampico. But do not flatter yourself too much. Wind and weather are not less uncertain on the Gulf than elsewhere, and even the steady purpose and persuasive power that characterize our friend may not prevail against every mischance.
"The change in the nat. adn. was as sudden and remarkable as you regard it. The policy of the gov. was a little modified by it, but on the whole it was most striking as illustrating how quietly our political machine works, even while the hands that seem—and seem only—to guide it are shifted. I do not share, to any considerable extent, the apprehensions entertained or professed by many as to a dissolution of our federative union. I would not needlessly put its bonds to the test. But I think they would prove stronger than is generally supposed; that danger would bring upon the theatre of public affairs a higher class of men than the holiday patriots who figure there in a season of peace—men who would represent the actual sentiments of the masses of our citizens, the serious, earnest purposes, now applied to private objects, that would be turned to the preservation of the Union as an important, practical means to great public ends. The idea of American nationality—progress and destiny—is the master-thought in the minds of our people, and creates a tendency to unity in the govt. quite strong enough. I have, too, a feeling—for it may be that, rather than a conclusion of reason—on this subject, which some may call superstitious. I believe that the gradual amelioration and culture of our race is in the inevitable order of Providence. I see elements which have been and are preparing our country to act a grander part than any has hitherto done in this great plan. That part is to be wrought out, not by an indolent repose on what our ancestors have ordained for us, but by trials and sacrifices and earnest efforts to solve the great social and civil questions which necessarily arise in the experiences of a nation. It seems to me—but here I may read the sacred oracles not aright—that the Union is an essential condition to the destiny we appear appointed to fulfil; and I believe it firm enough and strong enough to endure the conflict of social and political forces which is going on within its bosom. It will survive them all, working out what it can, and as far as it can, and casting off to a future period what it cannot now entirely work out.
"I resume my letter which has been in my portfolio unfinished for more than a week. A current of affairs suddenly struck me, and swept me on so incessantly that I have not before been able to return to it. You must not infer, however, that I affect any special industry, or that I am ordinarily so busy. My life has vibrated between a leisure in which I amused myself with books, and the greatest activity in pubic and private affairs; and, if the last few months have been as engrossingly occupied as any part of it with professional and personal business, I do not expect or desire it to be generally so hereafter. What has most exacted attention was temporary and occasional, and has, as yet, produced, and may produce nothing to me or to others, though lest such a confession excite too much pity for me I will add that in the mean time what has cost me comparatively little trouble has been sufficiently fruitful. My disposition is not to permit merely private business to engross me, nor to be in any of an unprofessional nature which creates anxiety. I have never been accustomed to surrender to it my inner life, or to allow its cares to fill those little interstices between actual occupation which are instinctively given to, and which characterize our ruling habits of thought and feeling. There no doubt is danger, as the relations of business multiply around us and our enthusiasm for public objects is qualified or weakened and our sympathies often come back upon us as the chilled blood returns from the extremities to the heart, that what furnishes occupation to our activity without the trouble of seeking it and without making us inquire whether we choose it, will grow too much upon our attention. But I desire to reserve something to better purpose—something to friends and to myself, and possibly, if hereafter I can recall the enthusiasm of early years, with a share of its former strength and steadiness, something to consecrate life by a sense that it has not been wholly given to objects so selfishly egotistical as are most of those which we pursue. It is time for me to stop; for I am moralizing, when I began merely to exclude a possible inference that I have not leisure to care for the wishes and interests of my friends, and to assure you that I am always happier if I can serve them, and glad to talk with them, as I now do, even if it be at such a frightful distance as, in this age of ocean steamers, railways, and telegraphs, to put a quarter of a year between question and answer.
"I wrote you a very long letter—I tremble to think I ever addressed such a missive to a lady—all full of finances and figures, on about the first of October. I mention it lest it may have miscarried. I should regret if you have failed to get the answer it attempted to your inquiries. I have hoped, and do hope, to hear from you in respect to it and its subject, if I can at all aid you. As a whole, it was not intended to be answered—as somebody said of his own speech—but I do look for a reply; I hope it may be an early and favorable reply—to some parts of it—as, for instance, that you are rapidly maturing your plan of changing your residence to this country, and that, at all events, you are coming over here next spring. If you should say that, you may take your own time for the statistics of the money-market and of money-making. Waiting patiently as I can for such an answer, and begging you to present my best respects to Mr. Chase, I remain,
"Very truly, your friend,
"S. J. Tilden."