THE CRIME OF 1868
from A History of Monetary Crimes
by Alexander Del Mar, M. E.
Previous to the Presidential campaign of 1868 the following facts
relative to the position of the New York World were very generally
known or believed.
I. That Mr. Manton Marble was not the sole or even the principle owner of
the paper. This is established among other evidence by his own averment in the
suit of George Opdyke vs. The World.
II. Among those known or believed to own shares in the paper were August
Belmont Senior and S. L. M. Barlow. Samuel J. Tilden was also regarded as
possessing some proprietary interest in it. Mr. Belmont was looked upon as the
principal owner. Between Mr. Belmont and Mr. Marble the strongest ties of
interest and friendship were known to exist. Mr. Belmont was understood to be
the purse and Mr. Marble the brains of the newspaper.
III. Mr. Belmont was and had been for many years the agent for an European
banking Syndicate. This Syndicate was the owner of a large amount in American
War bonds and had acted as the agent and banker of numerous other European
houses interested in the same bonds. These bonds by the terms of their issue (Act
of Feb. 25, 1862), were payable in greenbacks; and, although this view of
the law on the subject was disputed in after years by the holders of the bonds
or their advocates, it was from the legal point of view probably the correct
one. This view is supported by the speeches of Senators Collamer, Wilson and
others during the passage of the Act through the Senate (See Congressional Globe
1861-2); by the speeches of Messrs. Spaulding, Stevens, Pendleton and others in
the House when the bill was before that body; and by the fact that the bonds
when issued were subscribed and paid for in greenbacks, and thus fetched but
half-price in gold coin, while at the same time other American bonds, payable
specifically in gold, or about the terms of the payment of which there was no
dispute, commanded full price. Among these were the 5 per cent bonds of the
State of Massachusetts.
Whatever was the precise legal bearing of the terms in which the
Five-Twenties were made payable it was evidently of the highest importance to
those who had purchased them at half-price to procure them if possible to be
made payable at full price. This was only to be done by an Act of Congress which
should explicitly make the bonds payable in coin and remove all doubt about the
terms of payment. On the other hand, it was, by the same token, against the
interest of the people of the United States to make any alteration in the law
covering the bonds. If there was any doubt about the terms of liquidation, the
country would only increase its burden of payment by removing it; if there was
no doubt, no legislation was needed.
The nominal sum of the Five-Twenty bonds which were in dispute and had been
sold at half-price on account both of the terms of emission and of the doubt as
to their terms of payment, was, as the writer is now informed, about
$550,000,000. The government had received but about $275,000,000 in gold for
them; and the profit (besides the double interest, semi-annually in gold coin,
all along), which the holders might very certainly count upon realizing, in case
they could obtain the legislation they desired, amounted to $275,000,000 more.
It will be admitted that this was a stake worth intriguing for; perhaps the
greatest reward which ever tempted men to conspire and betray.
Down to the winter of 1867-8 Mr. Belmont had exhibited very little interest
in the bond question, or, indeed, any other question that then interested the
Conservative party. He had been appointed Chairman of its National Committee at
a time when the fortunes and prospects of the party were very low and chiefly on
account of the liberality with which he contributed to its beggared finances.
Down to the election of 1868 he is believed to have contributed about $25,000,
of which $10,000 were in one sum. But neither by his own utterances nor through
those of the newspapers, which it was believed he in great measure owned and
controlled, did Mr. Belmont manifest any active interest in politics. It was
quite evident that he regarded the Conservative party, as for the present, quite
dead; and that he had sought its leadership less for any practical results which
it might then promote, than for what such leadership might be worth to him, or
the Syndicate he represented, in the future.
This future came in the Fall of 1867. Down to that period the New York
World, through Mr. Marble, had been specifically pledged to support
Mr. Pendleton for the Presidency. (See letter of "Buckeye" in Cincinnati
Enquirer of about August 20, 1874.) All of a sudden its course was
changed with reference to Pendletonism, the bond question, legal-tenders and
everything else connected with the subject.
Mr. Marble explains his sudden conversion from Pendletonism and the
greenback theory by the fact that he met a Man on a mountain in New Hampshire;
(See New York World August 24, 1874;) but those who know the
circumstances best believe that the Man was in Paris and operated through an
agent in Wall Street, New York.
Shortly after this and acting probably in pursuance of instructions from
the Man in Paris Mr. Belmont went to Washington, where he entertained at a
banquet the Members of the Democratic Congressional Committee and other leading
Democrats in and out of Congress; and availed himself of the occasion to
persuade them to change the place of holding the National Convention from some
Southern or Western city, which they had previously expressed a decided
preference for, to New York.
The first steps in the Conspiracy were taken none too soon. The
Conservative party, which had previously been drifting about in search of an
anchorage not too near the dangerous and wreck-bestrewn coast of Africa, had
come upon the promising island of Greenbacks and after much careful
reconnoitering determined to land there and intrench itself. This situation
became so popular that vast numbers of the people adopted it, until at length
and for the first time in many years it seemed possible for the Conservative
party to succeed in a general contest with its great Republican adversary. To
induce the Conservatives to abandon this position before it grew too strong and
to persuade it to choose a battle-ground on other territory, was obviously the
first move of the Conspirators. From this time forth the World
became a "hard money" paper.
On the 13th of March, 1868, Baron James Rothschild of Paris wrote to Mr.
Belmont a letter which was exhibited by the latter to several gentlemen in New
York. This letter had evidently been prepared for the purpose of being shown to
leading members of the party, in order to influence their opinion on the bond
question. It contained a long argument against the then pending proposition to
make the Five-Twenties refundable for 50-year 4 per cent bonds without changing
the original terms of payment, declared this a compulsory measure tinctured with
"repudiation" and concluded with warnings of ruin to those who might oppose the
payment of the bonds in coin, or who might advocate their liquidation in
greenbacks.
On July 4, 1868, the Democratic National Convention met at Tammany Hall,
New York, with Mr. Belmont as chairman. On the 7th of July and to the complete
chagrin of the conspirators it passed the following resolution: "Where the
obligations of the Government do not expressly state upon their face, or the law
under which they were issued does not provide that they shall be paid in coin,
they ought in right and in justice, be paid in the lawful money of the United
States."
It will be seen from this resolution that, notwithstanding the efforts of
Belmont and Marble during the Winter of 1867-8 and the following spring, to
influence the opinion of the Conservative party on this subject, it had
deliberately followed its own course, heedless of these intriguants. Further
than this it showed an evident determination to nominate a candidate for the
Presidency who was especially the exponent of the views expressed in the above
plank of the party platform. This was George H. Pendleton. He was nominated on
the first ballot, receiving 105 votes, which were increased to 1561/2
(2111/2 or 2/3 of 317 being
necessary to a choice), a number not exceeded by any candidate, until, on the
22nd ballot and with Pendleton's own previously written permission to warrant
the act, Gen. McCook of Ohio suddenly withdrew Pendleton's name, in its place
nominated that of Horatio Seymour, an advocate of coin payments and elected the
latter as the Candidate of the Convention on a single ballot.
It was rumored at the time that the use by McCook of Pendleton's generous
"permission" in the form of a "request" and the unexpected nomination of
Seymour, were the fruits of the intrigue of which Belmont and Marble were even
then suspected. But the writer's purpose is not to repeat rumors. He intends to
confine himself to what he knows about the betrayal of the
Conservative party in 1868; and what he knows relates not to the Convention nor
to its proceedings, but to what occurred before the Convention met and after it
adjourned.
This last mentioned event occurred on the 9th of July. On the 4th of August
Mr. Seymour's letter of acceptance appeared and the campaign began. It has been
stated that Mr. Seymour was an advocate of coin payments. So he was. In
accepting him for its candidate the leaders had indeed changed the party flag,
but the masses had not left their Island; nor were they inclined to do so. It
soon became evident that, Pendleton or no Pendleton, the Conservative party were
determined to stand by greenbacks; and the most popular badge of the campaign
was an imitation greenback dollar-note with the portrait of Seymour on its face
and the legend "This note is a legal tender," etc. on the back. It is true that
in the event of a Conservative victory the conspirators had counted upon Mr.
Seymour to approve of a bill providing coin payments for the Five-Twenty bonds
and greenbacks; but the position of the Convention was that but few Conservative
members of Congress would be likely to vote for such a measure so long as the
constituencies were manifestly opposed to it. In short the conspirators were
baffled.
There was but one way for them out of this dilemma and that way was to
treacherously destroy Mr. Seymour's chance of being elected, by suddenly
creating a panic on the eve of the contest.
The successive steps of the conspiracy now began to appear, 1st. The sudden
abandonment by the World of the support of Mr. Pendleton and
Pendletonism. 2nd. Its attempts to persuade the party to commit itself to the
policy of coin payments. 3rd. Mr. Belmont's cajolement of the Washington leaders
into changing the seat of the National Convention to New York, in order to bring
its members and proceedings under the more immediate influence of himself, the
World and the other instrumentalities of the conspiracy. 4th. The
snap election in the Convention of its presiding officer and against his own
wishes. 5th. The delegation by the National Convention of its entire power and
authority and that of the Executive Committee, the State Committee and the
Auxiliary Committee, acting directly or indirectly under it, into the single
hand of Mr. Belmont, the agent of a colossal banking Syndicate, with ample
experience in court and state intrigues. 6th. The foisting of the World,
one of Mr. Belmont's instrumentalities, upon the party, as the acknowledged and
accepted organ and exponent of its policy and views; and 7th, The use of the
World for the purpose of suddenly and on the eve of Election (and
when it was too late to put up other candidates) betraying and abandoning the
ticket, throwing the party into confusion and converting a victory into defeat.
Four of these steps have been already described. The writer now proceeds to
relate the history of the remaining three.
The withdrawal of Pendleton, who was a candidate of enthusiasm. and the
substitution of Seymour, who, distrusting his nominators, had evinced but little
warmth in the contest, had weakened the prospects of the ticket; but the
unexpected impeachment of the Radicals, made in my official Finance Letter of
September, 1868, had so improved these prospects that in the early part of
October the election was generally conceded to the Conservatives. The Radical
party had been successfully arraigned as violators of the Constitution, corrupt,
extravagant and responsible for a condition of the finances which had
demoralized the public and exposed the country to the gravest dangers. The
fortunes of the Radical party had never appeared so low as at this juncture; and
already suggestions were being made for the cabinet which President Seymour
would soon find it necessary to call to his aid in the administration of the
Federal Government.
In the midst of this promise of success to the Conservatives and appearance
of defeat to the Radicals, quite unexpectedly, without previous warning or
intimation of any kind, and like a bolt shot from a summer sky, the New York
World of Thursday, October 15, 1868, published a brief but portentous
editorial article, in which, falsely and basely promising that success could not
possibly await the Conservative party with Horatio Seymour at its head, it
treacherously and perfidiously advised that the name of this honored statesman
should be withdrawn and some other substituted in its place for President of the
United States.
Remember that the World had claimed to be and had been fully
trusted as the organ and mouthpiece of the party; that it was believed to be
owned and controlled by men presumed to be interested in the success of the
party; that the prospects of the party had not for many years seemed so
brilliant; that not a word from any quarter had been intimated against Mr.
Seymour; that the Convention had been dissolved for over three months; that it
could not be reorganized in less than one or two months; that no provision had
been made to organize it again that year; that without it, no one had authority
to change the Presidential Candidate or withdraw his name from the ticket; and
that it was now within a fortnight of Election day.
The treason of Dumouriez, who plotted with the enemy to overthrow the
French Republic, which had placed him in supreme command of its armies; the
treason of Burr "who permitted himself to be used by his political opponents in
order to defeat the candidate of his own party whom he himself had supported"
and who then attempted the subversion of his country through a secret alliance
with Mexico—these treasonable attempts were petty in comparison with that of
Marble. Dumouriez and Burr were both suspected men and the confidence reposed in
them was by no means unlimited; in regard to Marble there was no suspicion
whatever. Dumouriez was fired upon by his own soldiers; Burr exposed himself to
capital punishment in a trial for high treason. Marble ran the risk of no
penalty save the execrations of his betrayed countrymen. The law protects his
life as it does that of any other man and his skin is as safe today as its
triple covering of brass can render it. Dumouriez and Burr betrayed their
countries for the sake of ambitions which could be gratified with nothing less
than absolute and ungoverned control; a passion which has at least the merit of
greatness about it. Marble's motive for betraying the party will appear as we
proceed. Dumouriez and Burr both failed in their treachery; Marble not only
succeeded, but has since had the unparalleled audacity to demand and accept a
position of trust from the party that he betrayed.
Nothing could exceed the consternation produced by the World
article of October 15, 1868. It was as though the general of a division had gone
over to the enemy on the eve of an assured victory. The article was telegraphed
all over the country on the morning of its appearance and by noon of the same
day it was believed, in all the principal cities and towns throughout the
country, that the Conservative party had been betrayed and abandoned by its
chosen leaders, Belmont, Tilden, Schell and Marble: for no one supposed for a
moment that Marble would have dared to publish such an article without authority
from the chief representatives of the party in New York.
Such at least was the impression produced in Washington, where the writer
resided at the time; and the Washington leaders of the Conservative party were
experienced men and not likely to draw an erroneous inference from any writing
in plain English.
The famous article was received in Washington at about 10 o'clock on the
morning of its publication in New York. It was seen at noon by Mr. Jonah D.
Hoover, chairman of the Congressional Committee and publisher of the
Express, an afternoon Conservative newspaper. Mr. Hoover was astounded
with the appearance of the article and hesitated about republishing it in the
Express. The graver question, though, was with regard to the
Committee of which he was chairman. What action should the Committee take in the
matter? Should it ignore or repudiate the newspaper article and endeavor to
rally the party around the ticket? Yet if the article was the deliberate act of
the party leaders in New York, this course might prove to be the merest folly,
and what chance had any such provincial rally against a desertion so open and
public, done at the radiating point of a thousand printing-presses and telegraph
wires, done at the seat of the party convention, at the residence of the
chairman of the Convention, in the State whence the Presidential Candidate had
been chosen, and by the trusted newspaper organ of the party and mouthpiece of
the party owned wholly or for the most part by its leaders?
Mr. Hoover decided upon calling a meeting of the Congressional Committee
and party chiefs that night at the office of the National Intelligencer,
the principal conservative newspaper of the District; and the writer hereof was
one of those who were invited to attend.
Meanwhile Mr. Hoover telegraphed to Mr. Belmont at New York demanding to
know the meaning of the World article, and whether the National
Committee was responsible for it.
It is necessary to explain here that the Democratic Convention, when it
adjourned, adjourned sine die, and left in charge of its affairs a
National Committee composed of one member from each state of the Union. Of this
National Committee, whose headquarters were in New York, Mr. Belmont was
Chairman. This National Committee appointed an Executive Committee of ten
members, with Mr. Belmont as Chairman and a Washington Congressional Committee
of eleven members (who afterward added three adherents to their number) with Mr.
Hoover as Chairman. There was also in New York a State Committee, of which
Belmont, Tilden, Schell and others were members and an Auxiliary Committee
composed of Belmont, Tilden, Schell and others who were members of one or more
of the other committees, and still others who were not. Thus the business of the
Convention was entrusted to the National Committee; that of the National
Committee to the Executive Committee; that of the Executive Committee to the
Auxiliary Committee, and that of the Auxiliary Committee to Belmont, who left
the formal and clerical portion of it to Tilden and Schell, and kept the vital
and important portion of it to himself.
Tilden and Schell opened an office for the distribution of documents and
like business, at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Seventeenth Street. Belmont
went to New York, where he remained all summer, with the National Convention and
all its Committees in his breeches pocket; and there sat down with his friend
and faithful follower Marble to exchange cable telegrams with the Man in Paris
and plot the betrayal and defeat of the Conservative party.
The meeting at the Intelligencer office was appointed for 9
P. M. of the same day on which the World article was published.
Down to the hour of meeting no reply had been received to Mr. Hoover's telegram.
There were present at the meeting Hon. Alex. W. Randall, Postmaster General;
Hon. Richard T. Merrick; Hon. Alex. Del Mar, Director of Statistics; John F.
Coyle, Esq., one of the proprietors of the Intelligencer, and his
partner Mr. Snow; Mr. W. W. Warden, one of President Johnson's private
secretaries, Colonel Whitely, Marshall Hoover and several others.
Marshall Hoover stated the object of the meeting. The World
article, evidently inspired by the leaders of the party at New York, had
virtually deprived the party of its Chieftain on the very eve of election and
the moment of success. He had telegraphed to Belmont and Tilden, but had
received no answer. The abandonment of the ticket was being telegraphed all over
the country and every moment was precious. What was to be done? Accept the
situation and endeavor to keep the party together by at once nominating another
candidate on their own responsibility, relying upon the urgency of the occasion
and the influence of the Intelligencer and the Southern press
(which would probably endorse its action), to ratify their nomination; or, wait
another twenty-four hours, until demoralization and defection had spread far and
wide, and unity of action was no longer possible. Knowing that in such an
emergency every hour was precious, he said that Messrs. Belmont and Tilden's
delay in responding to his telegram was in the highest degree censurable.
Another gentleman said that he took it for granted that nobody present
doubted that the World article was authorized. (No sign of dissent
from anybody present.) If it was authorized, there was no use in telegraphing to
Belmont about it or in awaiting an answer from him. It was quite plain that the
party leaders in New York had determined to abandon the ticket; though what
their motive was, consistent with any regard for their honor or probity, or what
they expected to effect by it, exceeded his comprehension. He feared that there
was foul work beneath it. But the country must not be allowed to suffer from
this great act of treachery. The blow that had been struck was a base, but not a
fatal one. Seymour was now out of the field, but he thought that with prompt
action the party might be induced to unite upon another candidate; and as every
hour's delay urged it further upon the rocks of anarchy and ruin, he had
consulted Chief Justice Chase with the view of obtaining his consent to run.
Judge Chase had replied that it was too late; that such a movement was
impracticable and useless; that no one had authority to act; that the National
Convention must be called together again. The speaker had, however, inferred
from Judge Chase's remarks that in case the party made an authoritative demand
for it, the Chief Justice would allow his own name to be used on the ticket,
provided Mr. Seymour and all parties assented. In the hope that this measure
could be effected the speaker had prepared an article for insertion in the
Intelligencer, proof-slips of which he then handed around.
The writer has one of these slips now. It rehearses the World article,
accepts the situation, and nominates Chase for President, with Hancock, Adams,
Hendricks, Ewing or Franklin for Vice President.
Another gentleman then got up and remarked that although there could be
little doubt that the World article was authorized by the party
leaders in New York; although the crisis was momentous and every hour of delay
fraught with new danger; yet they could not be sure that the World
article was authorized. They had better wait until next day before putting
forward Judge Chase's name. The suggestion as to the omission of Judge Chase's
name prevailed.
Another speaker contended that the Intelligencer could not
ignore the subject. In deserting Mr. Seymour the World had
abandoned the political principles which Mr. Seymour represented. If the
Intelligencer accepted the situation it would also desert those
principles; and unless it substituted other principles in their stead, the party
would be left without a rallying cry; and not only would the party fall in the
election, it would disintegrate and break up entirely.
This suggestion also prevailed and the proposed article was modified, not
only by omitting Judge Chase's name, it exhorted the party to rally around the
Constitution of 1789, and insisted upon the preservation of the Union under its
organic law: mere generalities. Proof-slips of the article, as revised, were
then handed to Mr. Warden for the Associated Press and in a quarter of an hour's
time it had flown to the four quarters of the Continent.
The meeting broke up at 11 o'clock, and everybody felt that the campaign
was over and lost. Too much power had been delegated to Belmont and he had
shamefully and fatally abused it.
After midnight Marshall Hoover received the following dispatch from Mr.
Samuel J. Tilden.
NEW YORK, October 16, 1868.
JONAH D. HOOVER, Esq., Washington,
D. C.
No authority or possibility to change front. All friends consider it
totally impracticable and equivalent to disbanding our forces. We in New York
are not panic-stricken.
S. J. TILDEN,
AUGUST BELMONT,
AUGUSTUS SCHELL.
This dispatch was put upon the wires in New
York nearly twenty-four hours after the World article appeared;
whereas, if the World article was unauthorized, it should have
been given to the country instantly upon the appearance of the article. The
dispatch merely said that a change of front was impracticable and omitted to
state with sufficient explicitness whether any consultation had been held with
the World in reference to the publication of its treasonable
editorial. It was therefore still more uncertain whether the World
article emanated from the Committee or not. At all events the telegram was
received in Washington too late to change the course of the Intelligencer.
The article which the Congressional Committee had concluded to print had already
flown all over the country and it therefore had to be printed in the morning
issue of the paper.
On the next day (Friday) one of the Washington conclave was requested by
the Committee and also by President Johnson to call upon the members of the
Auxiliary Committee at New York and clear up all doubts as to the real position
of affairs.
At this juncture the disorder was intense and the Washingtonian's ride to
New York was, like Phil. Sheridan's ride from Winchester, to retrieve a lost
battle.
The Washingtonian arrived in New York on Saturday morning. He at once went
to Mr. Belmont's. Mr. Belmont was out of town—at Newport, it was stated. He then
went to Mr. Tilden's office, 12 Wall Street, then to his house in East Twentieth
Street. Mr. Tilden had gone out of town—not known whither—supposed northward. He
then went to Mr. Augustus Schell's in West Twentieth or Twenty-first Street and
saw Mrs. Schell. Mr. Schell had gone out of town—did not know where—perhaps
north—perhaps to Utica.
The Washingtonian then sought Mr. John T. Hoffman, who was the mayor of New
York. Mr. Hoffman was in his office. He said he knew nothing about the
World article or its origin, deemed it very unfortunate for the party,
and could hardly believe that the Committee had authorized its publication.
The Washingtonian then telegraphed the result of his enquiries and
researches to Washington and went to see Mr. Benjamin Wood and other Democratic
leaders in New York, from none of whom, however, could he learn the origin of
the World article. Then, assuming that Tilden and Schell were with
Mr. Seymour at Utica, he telegraphed to them there, requesting an interview on
the morrow (Sunday) at Mr. Tilden's residence. Finally, as a last resource, he
concluded to call upon Mr. Marble and ask him, point blank, what had induced him
to adopt the course he had taken. He called at the World office on
Saturday, October 17th, at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and saw Mr. Marble,
when the following interview took place:
Washingtonian—"At the request of President Johnson and Marshal Hoover I
have visited you for the purpose of asking you some questions with reference to
the leading article in Thursday's World. Of course you are aware of the
unfortunate disorder it has created. We deem it of the utmost importance to know
in the first place whether that article was authorized or suggested by the
Democratic National Committee, or any of its representative committees, or any
member thereof."
Mr. Marble (flushed and nervous)—"I do not admit the right of the President
or the Chairman of the Congressional Committee, or yourself, or anybody else, to
put any questions to me regarding the course of the World. Respect
for them and you, however, induces me to say this much: that the Committee had
nothing whatever to do with the publication of the article."
This was in some measure avoiding the question. The Washingtonian, without
noticing this fact, proceeded:
Washingtonian—"Then let me ask you what was your motive in publishing so
extraordinary, uncalled-for, and disastrous an article?"
Marble (getting excited)—"Sir! This newspaper is my property
and is not amenable to any man or set of men for the course it may choose to
pursue."
Washingtonian—"Your declaration surprises me. It was generally understood
that Mr. Belmont and others of the party owned a controlling interest in the
paper and that it was the organ of the Democratic party. It was certainly
trusted as such, and it certainly invited such trust. In view of these facts, I
think I have a right to ask you for an explanation of the course
of the paper."
Marble (thoroughly excited)—"I tell you this paper is my
property; my property, do you understand? It has been my property since
the first of this month, and I have neither partners nor shareholders.
The World is not the organ of the Democratic party nor of any
other party. It is an independent sheet, and is entirely at liberty to pursue
any course, or print any article it pleases."
Washingtonian (persistently)—"Such may be the position of the World
now; but it certainly was not its position a short time ago. No intimation was
given of the change; and the public was permitted to regard it as still the
organ of the party. Such being the case, I again ask you why you printed that
article?"
Marble (lashed into fury and losing control of himself)—"Do you want to
know why I printed it? Well, you shall know. I printed it to please myself. I
printed it as a sensation article, to give eclat to the paper and increase its
circulation all over the country. Already, the sale of the paper has doubled."
Washingtonian—"That will do, Mr. Marble. No further explanation is needed.
What you have already said satisfies my inquiry." And with this the
Washingtonian walked away.
To abandon and betray a great political party, that is to say the political
principles upon which may rest the fate of a State, for the profits of a
newspaper sensation! The motive confessed was worse than any which had been
imputed or suspected.
On the following day (Sunday) the Washingtonian repaired to Mr. Tilden's
residence and there found assembled Messrs. Tilden, Schell, Church, Hoffman,
Seymour, Jr. (a nephew of Horatio) and Col. North, a gentleman to whom had been
committed the distribution of campaign documents issued by the Committees.
The Washingtonian explained his mission. It was to obtain from the
Democratic National Committee, or their representatives, an explicit and
unequivocal declaration with reference to the World article.
Members of the party throughout the country were at this moment uncertain
whether the committee and leaders of the party had authorized or connived at the
article, or whether they had determined to abandon the ticket or not. If the
Committee were not responsible for the article they should say so unequivocally,
and at once.
Mr. Tilden remarked that the Hoover dispatch signed by himself and Messrs.
Belmont and Schell was supposed to be explicit enough.
The Washingtonian replied that it was not; the leaders of the party at
Washington still believed that the World would not have ventured
to publish such an article without consulting with the Committee; that the
dispatch had been sent too late, and that the Committee should end all doubt
upon the matter by explicitly repudiating the World article.
Mr. Tilden intimated that he did not like to make an enemy of the
World.
Whereupon Mr. Hoffman got up and said very emphatically that that was not
the point. The point was that the party throughout the country needed to be
unequivocally assured about the origin of that article so that it might be
guided in the course it was to pursue. The gentleman from Washington was quite
correct in his views and fully justified in his demands. Messrs. Tilden and
Schell, who were the representatives of the Committee, should draw up and sign
such a paper as the gentleman had suggested.
After some further objection on the part of Mr. Tilden, who gave way to the
Washingtonian's suggestion with evident reluctance, it was agreed that the
latter should draw up a dispatch addressed to Mr. W. F. Storey, representative
of the Democratic National Committee in Illinois, setting forth unequivocally
that the World article was without authority or knowledge of the
National Committee, or any of its members or representatives; that a change of
front was out of the question; and that Victory was still assured if the party
held together.
The Washingtonian sat down to draw the paper. As he did so, Col. North
whispered to him, "I'll venture to say that you will never carry that paper out
of this room." To which the Washingtonian replied with confidence: "Oh, yes, I
shall get it, and when I do get it, I shall at once put it on the wires."
The Washingtonian completed the paper and handed it to Mr. Tilden, who made
some trifling alterations in its diction and passed it to Mr. Schell. It met
with the latter's concurrence. Mr. Tilden then signed it; then Mr. Schell signed
it. Then the Washingtonian took it up and with a look of triumph at Col. North
started toward the door saying: "Gentlemen, I'll just put this on the wires and
return." His hand was on the door knob and he was in the act of turning it when
Mr. Tilden, running hastily around the table, (this was in the front reception
room at the house in East Twentieth Street), seized him by the arm and declared
the dispatch ought not to go out without Mr. Belmont's name being attached to
it. Mr. Belmont, he explained, was Chairman of the Committee, and it would be
slighting him to send the dispatch forth without his signature. He knew that Mr.
Belmont would sign it. Mr. Belmont was in Newport. He (Mr. Tilden) would agree
to procure his signature to the dispatch and send it to Mr. Storey. It really
must be left in his hands until he could see Mr. Belmont.
What could the Washingtonian do? Mr. Tilden was not a stranger to him. He
knew him well and confided in him. He laid the paper upon the table and shortly
afterward the meeting broke up, with the express understanding that Mr.
Belmont's signature should be procured to the dispatch by Mr. Tilden and that it
should be immediately afterward made public by transmitting it to Mr. Storey in
the form of an official message.
That paper never was signed by Mr. Belmont; never was
published; and to this day the Conservative party has nothing to show that the
World article of October 15, 1868, was unauthorized by the
Committee. The leaders of the party and the masses throughout the country felt
that they had been betrayed, but by whom, whether Belmont, Tilden or Marble,
they could not feel sure. In this state of uncertainty and confusion the party
went to the polls, leaderless and demoralized. Even in this condition it polled
2,648,830 votes for Seymour against 2,985,031 polled by the Radicals for Grant;
and it only failed of a majority vote by 337,000 or less than 6 per cent. of the
whole number of votes cast. This 6 per cent. was the reward of Marble's
treachery.
Such is the story of the Crime of 1868, so far as the writer knows it of
his own knowledge. The connection between its various members is too obvious to
need further comment, and the advantages which the European Syndicate derived
from it are to be measured by the following entirely gratuitous act of
legislation:
"In order to remove any doubt as to the purpose of the government to
discharge all just obligations to the public creditors, and to settle
conflicting questions and interpretations of the laws by virtue of which such
obligations have been contracted, it is hereby provided and declared that the
faith of the United States is solemnly pledged to the payment in coin, or its
equivalent, of all the obligations of the United States not bearing interest,
known as United States notes, and of all the interest-bearing obligations of the
United States, except in cases where the law authorizing the issue of any such
obligation has expressly provided that the same may be paid in lawful money or
other currency than gold or silver. But none of said interest-bearing
obligations not already due shall be redeemed or paid before maturity, unless at
such time United States notes shall be convertible into coin at the option of
the holder, or unless at such time bonds of the United States bearing a lower
rate of interest than the bonds to be redeemed can be sold at par in coin. And
the United States also solemnly pledges its faith to make provision at the
earliest practicable period for the redemption of the United States notes in
coin."
Act of March 18, 1869.
This was the so-called Credit Strengthening Act of March 18, 1869. It was
passed immediately upon the assembling of the new Congress elected in the Fall
of 1868, and was the first act passed by that body and signed by the new
President, Grant. By virtue of this act the government of the United States,
without any consideration whatever, improved and enhanced the value of the bonds
it had issued under the Act of February 25, 1862, and its sequels, which bonds
it had sold at half price because of their sale and redeemability in greenbacks.
It also, and likewise without any consideration, improved and enhanced the value
of the greenbacks, by promising to redeem the same in coin, whereas when they
were issued they were sold at half price for war supplies largely on account of
their irredeemability in coin.
The passage of this act was equivalent to the payment to various European
banking houses, holders of the Five-Twenty bonds, of at least two hundred and
seventy-five million dollars, over and above what they would otherwise have
received in the form of interest and principal for the bonds which they held or
controlled. It really amounted to more than twice as much.
The issues settled by this treacherously procured legislation can never be
raised again. The Five-Twenty bonds, whose terms of payment it altered and
enhanced in value, without any consideration paid to the government, are now
all, or nearly all, paid off. But the men who promoted this measure and who in
order to do so cajoled and betrayed a great party which had generously confided
its interests to their charge, are not beyond the reach of public censure and
reproach.
Mr. Marble in his issue of the World dated August 24, 1874,
said of himself: "As the editor of a journal which he established, has long
owned, and always conducted to maintain Democratic doctrines in government and
which, without the assistance of National or State Democratic Committees, has
nevertheless come to be everywhere esteemed as in some sense a leading organ of
the Democratic party, he has not believed it to be consistent with that implied
trust." etc. He here refers with pride to his ownership of the World
as of long standing. The readers of this treatise will know how long that
standing had been; for according to Mr. Marble's own confession it only began
about the 1st of October, 1868. He also refers to its independence of Democratic
Committees. The only Democratic Committee which had any "support" to contribute
until within recent years was the Tammany Committee of New York, an organization
which cared little for the Democratic party, so long as it could retain its hold
upon the profits of the municipal government of that city. From this
organization, as appears from the bills and receipts for advertisments, on file
with the Comptroller of New York, the World received an ample
remuneration. As to the National Democratic Committee it had no largess to
bestow upon the World, which had betrayed and sold it and the
party to foreigners. This is the sort of independence of which it boasted.
But the most important of Mr. Marble's statements above quoted is that one
wherein he says that the World had come to be everywhere esteemed
as in some sense "a leading organ of the Democratic party," and admits that
there was an "implied trust" in the avowal and acceptance of such a position. It
will be remembered that in the interview of October 17, 1868, Mr. Marble denied
that the World was a Democratic organ, in any sense of the word,
and that it was under no sort of trust or obligation to support the doctrines or
candidates of the party. Afterwards, when he hoped his treachery would not
transpire, or had been forgotten, he held that the World was a
Democratic organ and as such was under an "implied trust" with reference to the
doctrines and candidates of the party. And not only in his issue of August 24,
1874, but in many subsequent issues, he sought, and unfortunately obtained, the
support and confidence of the party, as he had sought and obtained it previous
to his treacherous act of October 15, 1868.
