The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
LETTERS
AND
LITERARY MEMORIALS
OF
SAMUEL J. TILDEN
EDITED BY
JOHN BIGELOW, LL.D.
VOL. 1
NEW YORK AND LONDON
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
1908
Copyright, 1908, by Harper & Brothers.
All rights reserved.Published February, 1908.
[Pg iii]Shortly before the death of the late Samuel J. Tilden,and in compliance with his wishes, a selection was madeby our senior colleague from such of Mr. Tilden's publicwritings and speeches as were then conveniently accessibleand seemed then responsive to a popular demand. Thisselection was edited and published in 1885.
The forty-second section of the will of Mr. Tilden, whodied in the following year, provided as follows:
"I also authorize my said Executors and Trustees tocollect and publish in such form as they may deem propermy speeches and public documents, and such other writingsand papers as they may think expedient to include with thesame, which shall be done under their direction. The expensesthereof shall be paid out of my estate. My Trusteesand Executors are authorized and empowered to burn anddestroy any of my letters, papers or other documents,whether printed or in manuscript, which in their judgmentwill answer no useful purpose to preserve."
In discharge of the duty imposed on us by this clause ofthe testator's will, we have selected such portions of a vastcorrespondence with, or relating to, the testator as givepromise of answering a useful purpose; and at our solicitationMr. Bigelow has undertaken to edit and publish themin a form that shall harmonize with, and be complementaryto, the volume of "Speeches and Writings of Mr. Tilden,"already in print.
John Bigelow, } Executors
George W. Smith, } and
L. V. F. Randolph. } Trustees.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE OF THE EDITOR
MR. TILDEN AN APPRECIATION, BY JAMES C. CARTER
1810-1844
1845-1850
1851-1860
1861-1867
1868-1871
1871-1872
Transcriber's Notes
PREFACE OF THE EDITOR
At an early period of his life Samuel J. Tilden seemsto have had a sense of its importance not ordinarily felt byyouth of his age. This may be accounted for in part by thecircumstance that while barely out of his teens, both