"Without discussing the authority of Congress to insert a restriction against slavery in the act of admission, which was done with most of the Northwestern States, it is true that after a State has been established and admitted the Federal legislation has no power to apply to that State the 'Wilmot proviso'; and that by the unconditional conversion of a territory into a State Congress divests itself of that power. But it is not easy for anybody—except Mr. Greeley—to see how the reference of the question, even when confessedly within its jurisdiction to a territorial legislature, as proposed by Gen. Cass, is more objectionable in a moral point of view than the voluntary divestment of that jurisdiction for the very purpose of shirking off the question upon the same legislature called by a different name. Gen. Cass's plan has some advantages over that adopted by Mr. Greeley.
"It is less evasive and more manly, frank, and honest.
"It may afford some chance that the fate of the various parts of this immense tract of unsettled lands shall be decided by the people who shall at some future period inhabit them after they shall be organized into distinct Territories, the more densely populated portions having been admitted as States; which might be somewhat better than leaving to a few thousand persons in Santa Fé and San Francisco to fix the destinies of hundreds of thousands of square miles in which not one of these persons ever trod.
"Above all, it would not, in the miserable attempt to avoid the question of slavery in the Territories by admitting a State of boundless dimensions, incur the great and perilous mischiefs which we have pointed out in our two previous articles, to the safety and permanency of the confederacy, and incur these evils without the least necessity or any compensating benefit.
"But Mr. Greeley says that 'the North would be morally certain that slavery would not be tolerated' in the States to be formed. So said Gen. Cass in his Nicholson letter, when he proposed under a little different name to leave the question to be settled by exactly the same persons. So said Mr. Buchanan. So said Mr. Clayton. Yet nobody denounced their contrivances with more indignation than Mr. Greeley. Talk of the Cass 'juggle,' the Buchanan 'compromise,' the Clayton 'trap'—the Greeley and Douglass juggle is worse than any of them."
The prostration of the Democratic party—whether by the defeat of General Cass or by the conditions which procured his nomination, it is inopportune here to discuss—though a great disappointment to Mr. Tilden, was, like most disappointments, good-fortune in disguise. It gave him the opportunity and provocation to devote all his energies and talents for the succeeding quarter of a century to his profession, during which period of its service it rewarded him as the wisest of Israel's kings was rewarded for his obedience—with fame and fortune. In less time than he had spent in making himself a leader of his party in New York, he placed himself in the front rank of the American bar.
It was not until the year 1850 that Mr. Tilden leased his first office for professional purposes after his admission to the bar. It was on the third floor of what was then known as Jauncey Court, now replaced by majestic banking-houses, on the south side of Wall Street, a few doors west of William street. His landlord was Alexander Hamilton, Jr., one of the sons of President Washington's first Minister of Finance. Here is a copy of their agreement, followed by a bill of Tilden's personal taxes for the previous year:
"This is to certify that I have hired and taken from Alexander Hamilton, Jr., the office, consisting of two rooms, on the 3rd floor of the Jauncey Court Building, and marked on a plan of said building No. 1 (it being understood and agreed that if the above premises shall be rendered untenantable by fire, the rent shall cease during the interval occurring from the happening of said fire until the premises shall have been repaired), for the term of three years from the first day of May, 1850, at the yearly rent of four hundred and twenty-five dollars, payable on the usual quarter days.
"And I hereby promise, in consideration thereof, to make punctual payment of the rent in manner aforesaid, and quit and surrender the premises at the expiration of the said term, in as good state and condition as reasonable use and wear thereof will permit, damages by the elements excepted, and not to assign, let or underlet the whole or any part of the said premises, or occupy the same for any business deemed extra-hazardous on account of fire, without the written consent of the landlord, under the penalty of forfeiture and damages. And I do hereby, for the consideration of aforesaid, waive the benefit of the exemption specified in the first section of the act entitled 'An act to extend the exemption of household furniture and working tools from distress for rent and sale under execution,' passed April 11, 1842, and agree that the property thereby exempted shall be liable to distress for said rent; and also, that all property liable to distress for rent shall be so liable, whether on or off the said premises, wheresoever and whensoever the same may be found.