The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-07-06
SAMUEL J. TILDEN.
From the New York World

tlllES vi 40 BOASChs SllC VI
his ancestors, Nathaniel Tilden, was
Mayor of the city Of Tenterden, Kent,
England, in 1923. He was succeeded
in that Office by his cousin John, as he
had been preceded by his uncle John
in 1856 and 1900. He removed with
his family to Scituate, in the colony
of Massachusetts, in 1884. His bro
Their Joseph was one of the merchant
adventures of London who fitted out
the Mayfower. This Nathaniel Til
den married Hannah Bourne, one of
whose sisters married a brother of
Governor Winslow, and another a son
of Governor Bradford.
Governor Tilden's grandfather,
John Tilden, settled in Columbia
county. The Governors mother was
descended from William Jones, Lieu
tenant-Governor of the colony of New
Haven, who in all the histories of
Connecticut is represented to have
been the son of Colonel John Jones,
one of the regicide judges of Charles
l., who is said to have married sis
ter of Oliver Cromwell and a cousin
of John Hampden. The Governors
father, farmer and merchant of New
Lebanon, was a man of notable judg>
ment and practical sense and the ac-
cepted oracle of the county upon all
matters of public concern, while his
opinion was also eagerly sought and
justly valued by all his neig hbors, but
by none more than by the late Presi>
dent Van Buren,, who till his death
was one of his most cherished intimate
and personal friends.
Young Tilden entered college in
his eighteenth year. The fall of 1882,
when he was to enter college, was
rendered memorable by the second
election of General jackson to the
Presidency and Martin Van Buren, to
the Vice Presidency of the United
States, and of William l.. Marcy to
the Governorship of the State of New
York.
Mr. Tilden had not been long at
Yale College before his health gave
way, and obliged him to leave. After
some rest hewas enabled toresume h s
studies, and in 1884 entered the Uni
versity of New York, where he COM
pleted his academic education. He
then entered the law Office Of the late
John w. Edmunds, in the city of
New York, where he enjoyed peculiar
facilities for the prosecution Of his
favorite studies of law and politics.
Upon his admission to the bar Mr.
Tilden opened an office in Pine street,
in the city of New York.
In 1874, in anticipation and prepae
ration for the election which resulted
in making James X. Polk President
and Silas Wright Governor of the
State of New York, Mr. Tilden, III
connection with John l.. O'Sullivan,
founded the newspaper called the Dali
ly News.
In the fall of 1915 he was sent to
the Assembly from the City of New
York, and while a member of that
body was elected to the convention
for the remodelling of the constitution
of the State, which was to commence
its sessions a few weeks after the Legs
stature adjourned. In both Of the e
bodies Mr. lilden was conspicuous
authority, and left permanent i'm
preston upon the legislation of the
year, and especially upon all the new
constitutional provisions affecting the
finances of the State and the manages
ment of its system of canals. Reg
Till the war came Governor Tilden
made every effort to avert the rebelli-
on. When his efforts, combined with
those of other prominent patriots, had
proved abortive, his convictions Of
duty were perfectly decided and clear.
They were to maintain the integrity
of our territory and the supremacy Of
the constitutional authorities. He had
been educated in the school Of Jacks
son, and had been a diligent student
of the lessons taught by the nullifica-
ton controversy of 1883. He had
studied carefully and profoundly the
relation of the Federal and State gov
ernments. He had thus early formed
perfectly clear and settled opinions,
about which his mind never vacilated.
They were the opinions of jackson, ct
Van Buren,, of Wright and of Marcy,
with whom, during most OF their pub
lie lives, he had been on terms Of pe:-
sonal intimacy.
During the winter of 1S60-61 he
attended a meeting of the leading men
Of both parties in the city of New York,
to consider what measures were ne
cessary and practicable to avert an
armed collision between what were
then termed the free and the slave
States. To the North he urged re-
Cancellation and forbearance, appre-
ciating as lie did more clearly than
most of those around him the fearful
and disastrous consequences of Il civil
war, whatever might prove its ulti-
mate result. To the South he urged
a Difference to the will of the majority
and respect for the provisions Of the
Federal Constitution, within which
they would be sure of adequate pro-
lection for themselves and for their
property; but he warned them that
outside Of the Constitution they could
expect protection for neither.
With the peace came to Mr.. Til
den the most important political la
Dor of his life. With the assistance
Of Charles O'Connor, who followed the
members of that band of conspira-
tors with all his usual vigor and adroit-
ness until it was not only broken up,
but its leading membars scattered to
the four quarters OF the globe, he as
sailed and overthrow the combined
Republican and Democratic Ring
which ruled and ruined New York.
Mr.. Tilden was one the delegates