New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-10-04
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
WRITINGS OF Mr.. TILDEN.


Mr.. Bigelow believes that the two handsome vol
nmes which he has edited with both care and tact
q embodv the politcal opinions and public teach
fnrs of one of the most profound and sagacious OF
modern statesmen upon the most important PROD
iems of American politics for the last haf century
We are not sure that even the most ardent OF Nir,
Tilden's party followers will rise from the study Oh
his writings with so high an estimate OF MS proper
Mace among public men as that expressed by MS
eotbns;astic and accomplished friend; and yet the
publication was well worth making. MI lhueh
hoe heen for many years the foremost man IN inc
Democratic party. He stands first in ability. III
character in services and in popular regard. we
do NOT mean that he has ever enjoyed what Is
commonly called popularity for ms IS noe .no
temperament which attracts the ancciloh VI 'n0
multitude: but for at least fifteen years Ee has o'0
looked upon by the common consent OF MS parry "'
their safest and shrewdest leader. III Is many 4"
long year since they have produced sla'eSi' q,
When they surrendered their orgallZa@on "
support and extension of slavery, states mahSnip
.na democracy became necessarily incompatlDie'
for there was 40 high political principle upon wich
tbe great conspiracy could be sustained But IN tno
5a.rt, of broad ideas the Democratic party s'ili
hod certain things which old parties always nave
i; THAR decline 1t kept up an inherited aplituuo '
nolitical management and tradltiohai Sono0i
polltical department. In both THESE Draho"11 ~
ridden has been distin gushed practitohei' n"O
a,so bo NAV bave been the world can now Judge
from his published remains :.
The napers are printed by Mr.. Bigelow Ill
chronological order, with brief Introductory ho'oS
IN explain the circumstances under winch 'noS
were composed. Many of them nave ohiy
biographical interest. That is the case WIN .ho
newspaper articles some of them written peiore MI
I'D xrltip
clever productions, and for so young poiitieian
..,,orlablv clever. but are not worth preserving
ovoon, ne cnriosities Arguments and lnvectlves
,vh;cb have been useful in the heat OF an election
oo,rnoign do not always look well after nifty
YEARS, seasoning There is one passage however
among these early essays in controversy 10 WHICH
Mr. Bipelow asks our particular attehVloh "' I"
specimen of literary skill. 1t is an ATTACK upo"
William Leggett, we'll known from his connection
With The Epeaipg Post and other Journals ana IL
sketches the class of no-party men VINO Vlnuicate
their claim TO that character by doing iuJustice 10
nil even without the excuse OF bias, 80 iorcioiS
and humorously that the writer wOnid almost sceu'
To have had a prophetic foreEnG|iouSe Oh tno
journalism of the prescott year OF grace. le"
naners on currency and banking snow that MI
Tiiden began while still young to famlharize MILL
self with the larger aspects of finance, but they are
closed that time has greatly impaired their interest
if not their value. MI lllden Always "ioVo Aoi /"
present political purpose.
He was an adherent of Mr.. Van Buren, IN the free
Soil revolt of ls4S, aud had some share in the
nreparaton of the elaborate Address IN whlch
the principles of the new organization were set
forth. That document is printed by Mr. BigelOw as
nm appendix, and the authorship OF the seVera por
tions is indicated. Most of 1t was written by
Martin and Johu Van BureD, Mr.. Tilden contrib
rtino only two paragraphs. But tue whole was re-
v;sed and edited by Tildcn and John Van Buren, to-
pether: and the doctrine that Congress has con-
stitutiona right to prevent or prohibit slavery IN
INV territory which is or may come wlthih tne
jurisdiction Of the Federal Government" Is nowhere
more alphabetically proclaimed than IN the page
attributed to Mr.. Tildens own pen. Nothihg
could be stronger than his reputation of the new
theory repugnant to the spirit of the constitution
and abhorrent to the principles aud convictions ol
the Industrious men who framed it," that wher-
over the flag of the Union goes it carries slavery
with it, The pout is interesting because n few
years later Mr. Tildens subtle mind drew dlstlnc-
tion upon lust this question, and would have al
lowed the flag of tho United States to carry
slavery with it so long as 1t moved IN INC patn ol
soutbern expansion toward the west ana SOUTH
west. but to carry freedom while 1T accompanied
The emiprants of the North. No doubt he has the
hest right to say how far he meant to go IN 1895,
and what his purpose was; and when lie atteihPtea
in 1860 to bettle his own Free Soil movement
md to describe it as nero passing protest whlch
,yo,d mayer have been made except for what was
deemed to be violation of the right OF representa-
tion in a National Convention" there was perhaps
nobody who had any business to contradict him SO
far as he confined his remarks to the history OF his
own oninions The Address of 1S4S, however, did in
the most positive and unmistakablc terms, demand
that slavery should be excluded from all territory
then belonging to the United States or which might
afterward be ACQUIRED, and it certainly recognized
no difference between the Southern ana the
Northern track 1t is characteristic OF nit. IlIden
that he afterward came to refer slightngly to the
demand for exclusion as an abstract IDEA when
he never wished TO push beyond its true practical
character AS mere protest" For abstract ideas
in politics lie cared very little.
The document in which he stated his maturer
estimate of the Free Soil movement was Letter
70 William KENT published in The Erening Post On
the 3Oth of October 1850, as last appeal against
the election of Abraham Lincoln. In this letter he
advocated removal of all Federal restrictions upon
slavery. leaving the South and the North to follow
their respective tracks they pleased, and offer
ing TO one side the prospect OF indefinite acqulsl-
tions in Cuba and elsewhere as counterpart to the
inevitable expansion of the other toward the North
west. The Limitation of slavery to the States in
which it then existed he held to be an injustice and
n social and political blunder. He made it one OF
the charges in his indictment against the Republi-
can party that il it obtained the necessary
majority of States it would establish emancipation
by a constitutional amendment. lie was careful
TO refer to our Government not as National Union
Int as a confederation of independent States; and
with their view of the Federal relation he founded
his principal argument upon the assumption that
the success of purely Northern party would be
nm attempt to establish "a foreign government
over fifteen sovereign States. That he did not
understand the true character of the secession con-
spiracy did not suspect how long it had been pre-
pared or how extensively las Mr. Bigelow points out
in motel it had already assured itsolf of financial