EDITED BY
JOHN BIGELOW, LL.D.
VOL. 2
NEW YORK AND LONDON
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
1908
Copyright, 1908, by Harper & Brothers.
——
All rights reserved.
Published February, 1908.
LETTERS AND LITERARY MEMORIALS
OF SAMUEL J. TILDEN
"Norwich, Conn, Jan'y 6th, 1876.
"My dear Governor,—I do not know as I can testifyof my admiration of your message better than by sayingthat I want you to send me an early copy in pamphlet formfor more careful reading and preservation.
"When the novel which Mr. Sherman and I have beenwriting (now in press) comes out, in a week or two, pleasesee how curiously prices worked on our imaginary island,where the people used something for currency which had novalue as a commodity.
"Very truly yours,
"David A. Wells."
Answered January 10, 1876, by the Governor, that he desiredto submit some of the messages to Mr. Wells, but itwas a race against time. The tables were not completeduntil the discussion was in the proof-reading. "Even I wassurprised at the surplus of currency which they evince."
"Fort Washington, Jan'y 12, 1876.
"My dear Governor Tilden,—In this form I will saynothing of the proceedings, surprising to me, as they musthave been to you, which have marked the movements towardtrying the Tweed civil cases. I have neither seen nor heardfrom the present chief of the 'bureau of municipal correction'[396]since the newspapers began to regale us with its recentfortunes.
"My object in addressing you is to submit certain suggestionsfor consideration.
"When the present leading counsel for Tweed fell into aline of practice which, steadily pursued for years as it hasbeen, might well have led to his being dubbed Attorney-Generalfor Rascals, it was my lot to be much in professionalantagonism to him. I found him to be neither wise,learned, nor, properly speaking, able, but essentially atrickster. He seems capable of being very troublesome, andto a negligent or unskilful adversary he may be regarded asdangerous.
"In dealing with his class, one will generally find a centraldevice around which all their series of tricks revolve,and from which all their force and effectiveness are drawn.This man's course and career furnish an admirable illustrationof this fact.
"Our multitude of judges, with equal powers, were perceivedby him to furnish a hopeful quarry. One wicked,weak, or manageable could be found somewhere. The nextitem in his scheme for making judicial proceedings do thework which a bolder thief might seek to accomplish bypiracy, highway robbery, or counterfeiting was to engagehimself in quarrels where an unlimited number of separatesuits by separate plaintiffs might be brought before differentjudges—all aimed at the same substantial object. This enabledhim to make almost at random all sorts of harassingmovements against the same parties. Slap-dash, hit or miss,he poured his shot upon the selected victims, the loss of asuit or failure of a movement troubling him not, the numbero