M. VAN BUREN TO TILDEN
"Fishkill Landing, October 14, '59.
"My dear Mr. Tilden,—I am here on a visit to Judge Kent; intend to remain till Monday, then go to Mr. Kemble's, remain there till Wednesday or Thursday, and then go home. I left John at Lindenwald, suffering from a slight attack of the liver, which I thought required attention, and with considerable difficulty extracted a promise from him to remain till Monday of next week, and avail himself of Mr. Pruyn's advice; as an inducement, I promised him to ask you to come up and spend a day or two with us the latter end of next week. Can't you come? Take the whole the week after Thursday, or, if necessary, Wednesday to Friday. Perhaps Saturday would be the least inconvenient to you, and to come down with John on the Monday following. I am particularly desirous to see you, as I wish to have some conversation with you on a subject in which my feelings are deeply enlisted. Drop me a line here, if you can, and if not, at Coldspring, informing me of what you can do. The sooner the better, as I would like to inform John so as to assure his inducement to remain.
"As ever,
"Truly Yours,
"M. Van Buren."
TILDEN TO M. VAN BUREN
THE MAYORALTY ELECTION OF 1859
"New York, Dec. 25, '59.
"My Dear Sir,—I wish you a 'merry Christmas!' It is the first opportunity I have had to acknowledge your kind letter of condolence. I take it up first of a bundle of letters which have waited for me to get out of the ice-pack of engagements which collected around me in ten-days' career in politics. I am just ill enough to be justified in declining all dinners, and am having a quiet time to-day.
"If your curiosity to know the 'whys and wherefores' of our defeat is not displaced by some later topic, I will drop you a hint or two towards a theory.
"A modern invention practised in Tammany Hall is for the genl. Committee to dispense with primary elections. It was introduced by Wood and has continued since he was driven out. The effect of two or three years' practice under the system has been to break off relations between that body and the masses in the wards. It was no longer necessary for the one committeeman and his four dummies, who represented a ward in the committee, to keep up a vital party in his ward. The ward committees fell into disuse, and in some cases what remained of them were in hostile hands. Meanwhile the outsiders felt that they had no chance, and antagonisms were multiplied in all the captains of tens and fifties—the new men, the active elements of fresh ambition. The chiefs of the general committee became totally bankrupt, were split into two parties—about equal—had been occupied for months in a scuffle for the assets, the real value of which they did not see till the last moment. In a party twice as large as any it had to contend with, and therefore tending to division—with its central organization in this condition, and its ward all run out—Wood hung up his sign over the outsiders. He made local organizations among them; worked at it assiduously for two years. When I stepped inside the ring and took a view I thought that in some wards, each having once and half as many people as your county contains, we should scarcely have machinery enough to run our ticket with—the 11th, for instance. We had less than two weeks to get up our organization, beginning anew—in a bad state of local nominations, many of the candidates running on both tickets and being really against us. Wood had gained the lower stratum of the Irish, combined many special interests, and at last had the aid of the jobbing Republicans, two of whom voted for him to every one of the other class for Havemeyer. Then the Tribune, in bad faith, and the Post in good faith, succeeded in making the impression that the way to beat Wood was to vote for Opdyke; and not only kept the moderate Republicans to him, but drew many quiet citizens who preferred Havemeyer, but were most anxious to beat Wood.
"In truth, the leaders of the Republican party and Wood were in perfect concert, as they are partners in the gigantic schemes of plunder, which will presently appear.
"Mr. Havemeyer polled a prodigious vote of the business classes and of the silent people, but not enough to supply the defects of the organization which, in my judgment, did not by its own strength give him 15,000 votes.
"Enough of this. I should not have gone over the ground except for the curiosity you expressed—that what appeared to be an immense public opinion was ineffectual. It is a public opinion with a party, and not without, that sweeps the stakes.
"For myself, while I am quite aware how different is the prestige of success from defeat, and how great was the part which might have been attempted in reconstructing the administration of the government of the city, I cannot but feel more comfortable as I am. The proper duties of the office are one thing. A joint tenancy in the administration of a city like this (if you really attempt to do anything); a reconstruction of its government, which must be made from the very foundation, in order even to palliate existing evils, is a different matter. Overworn as I am with some heavy engagements, from which I cannot retire, yet uncompleted—and some heavy cares unrelieved—I could not help seeing the burden more than anything else. This may have been morbid. A little more strength and health might have dispelled it. But it enables me to accept the result with a sense that a great trouble is off my mind, and leaves no personal regret to mingle with the disgust I feel at Wood's election, and the disappointment and injury to our friends. At present, I am content to live from hand to mouth, and take no thought for the morrow.
"Notwithstanding your invitation to discuss the matter, I feel some excuse necessary for a letter that has grown so long and so personal.
"With my best wishes for your continued health and comfort and progress in the work which enlivens your retirement, and my kind remembrances to Mrs. and Miss Van Buren,
"I am, very truly, your friend,
"S. J. Tilden."
"P.S.—I had almost forgot to mention that the prospect now is that you will get your end paid in full. I should take the money."
The two succeeding communications to N. H. Swayne, afterwards one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, are interesting from their giving a sketch of the preliminary but comprehensive preparations for the rescue and reorganization of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad during the early days of the Civil War, and transforming it from a bankrupt corporation into one of the most prosperous highways on this continent. It is doing injustice to no one to say that it was mainly through Mr. Tilden's devotion, sagacity, professional ability, and foresight that this transformation was so successfully accomplished.