The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1876-11-01
fILDEN AND TWEED.
Tl,e Relations that Existed Be-
tween the Great Fraud Fight
er and the Boss
WE'RE THEY FRIENDS
Prom the Subioincd Record ID Would
Seem that Tiiden was the Nemesis of
Tweed
rL,xtroct f,.,r, a priVofo l<affar

We also hear it said that Gov. Iilden Is q
sham reformer, and was formerly i'm warm
fellowship with Tweed You know / have
been what might be termed a close observer
of political events for the last twelve or fif
teen years, and careful examination of the
history as TO the relations OF
Tilden and Tweed fails to show any fellow
ship whatever. Indeed the opposite is
clearly proven. Gov. Tlden was made
chairman of the Democratic State Central
Committee of New York state in 1866, for
the express purpose of keeping the Tammany
ring from getting control of the state organ
ization, and in this he was successful. In
January. 1868, Boss Tweed first took his seat
i'm the Senate of the state of New York. and
from that moment Gov. Tilden was always
in state of antagonism to Tweed. growing
out of the diStrust he felt towards Tweed,
for il was then well known that
Mayor Opdyke had formed corrupt
combination by which Boss Tweed as deputy
street commissioner. had control of a great
deal of the city patronage. So you see Boss
Tweed was not regarded as a reliable Demo
crat at that time He was more in favor of
plumber than any thing else, and in the
autumn of 1868. in the Democratic state con-
vention in New York. an effort was made
! by Boss Tweed to get control OF the state or
ganization. Gov. Tilden made a square fight
4 with the Tammanyites, and came out yictori-
Gus. Again. in 1863, Boss Tweed and the
Tammany ring organized a movement to
remove Gov. Tilden from the chairmanship
/ of the Democratic State Central Committee
of New York. He accepted the issue, and
| when the convention met, the pressure from
the state outside the city of New York was
| so great that the Tammany delegates with
drew from the fight against GOV. Tilden
And it was from that time on until the pres
ent that Gov. Tilden publicly denounced
the wrongs and abuses OF the Tamnany
ring.
| The crownins act of infamy, however,
| took place in the New York State Legislature
in 1870 in respect to the charter for the city
of New York. The Tweed dynasty got up -
| charter which put the whole power of the
! New York city government for years in the
| possession of IA ring" without any response
! bility to any popular election, and the law
| that had long been in existence giving the
governor the power to remove the mayor
| was repealed. There was no power in exist
ence TO hold any public officer 10 account.
! Ii was at this critical moment that BOSS
/ Tweed" finding himself unable to control
| Tilden and the Democratic party, and since
| the passage of the new charter by Demo
cratic votes, made arrangements to obtain
and did obtain almost the entire Republican
votes of both Houses of the New York Leg
| islature in favor of his stupendous swindle.
| This by the aid of Repub-
| lican votes. and not by the Dem
ocratic votes that Tweed came into
power in the city of New York And here
| the truth of history requires me to state that
| during the tendency of this infamous
measure in Albany New York Mr. Tilden
| appeared and made speech before the COM
| mittee against the measure, exposing the
| whole swindle and denOuncing the bill.
| Again, a fight was made against Tilden by
/ Tweed, but the country was very strongly in
/ favor of Tilden, and ii is fact well known
/ in New York that in that cOntset to depOse
| Tilden from the position of chairman of the
the Democratic State Central Committee, and
destroy his usefulness in the state the
! whole Republican party went in favor of
Boss Tweed" and against Tilden. 1t was
bitter contest in New York city, both par
| ties claimed the result on account of the
! influence of the Citizens Association, which
was thought to be honest at that time, but
| il was afterwards learned and admitted that
| bribery had been employed, and a
| division of the offices agreed upon.
| The Republicans in New York city at that
| time called Tweed great reformer and it
was claimed that whatever credit Mr.. Tweed
was entitled to in procuring the new charter
! for the city, the Republican party was emit
| tied to the same; for it was by the aid of tbe
Republican party that the great measure
| had been passed During the whole contest
! Tilden protested against the infamous meas
ure, but Tweed and Sweeny had the votes
| bought up. Senator Thayer was the only
| Republican senator that voted against the
| Tweed measure. All the rest voted for it.
| And the Democratic members-Tweed ex-
cepted-voted against it. Tweed went down
| from Albany after the passage of the bill to
| New York city, and was hailed as a great re-
former by the Radicals. The subsequent in
| vestigation revealed the fact that at the
| very time the frauds of Tweed 4 Co. were
going ON, and that within month happen
ed the division of about S6,000,000,
! which is the foundation of the various
actiens brought by Mr.. O'Conor and
his associates. Such, it seems were the
facts of the reforms aided and supported by
the Republican party in New York city, and
which Mr.. Tilden opposed. 1t is matter of
history, that in the November election in
| 1871, the Tammany Ring was defeated. Til
den went into the state convention and OPP
| posed the Dill advocated by the ring" Civ
ing the judges of the courts of New York eX-
| traordinary powers as to contempts by the
press in certain cases. There was a time
when this ring seemed almost inyincible
and it would be almost unsafe to oppose it
| in the city of New York, but TiIden made
the fight and carried it into the Democratic
State Convention and then and there de-
clared that he would not support the Tam
manyJominees for the Senate and Assem-
bly. and further if his refusal to do so were
deemed breach of party duty, he would
| resign as chairman of the New
York State Convention and go among
his plundered people and help them
TO work out their deliverance. Is it
not ridiculous to read in Republican papers
that Tilden and Tweed were friends, and that
Iilden did not right him, when 1t is we'll
known fact that the Republicans were on
the side Of Tweed all the time and up to the
very hour he was exposed? The conviction
of Tweed is only a part of the efforts made
by Tilden toprevent the plundering of his
people The fight he made against the
| 'canal ring in the state of New York, re-
covering millions OF money for the state
when his predecessor. Coy. Dix, was afraid
to.niake the fight. is only another exhibition
| of tie nerve of Gov Tilden to tight and de-