The Portland daily press., 1895-06-04
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

JOuu OlSolOW l. WO NoiuIueS. tNeW
York: Harper & Brothers Portland
Loring, Short & Harmony. Mr. Bigelow
sustained to Mr.. Tilden during the lat
ter's lifetime the most intimate personal
relations and therefore he was preemi-
nently qualified for writing the life of the
everything that might thrown light on
the character and career of his subject and
has used his material with skill and gen
orally good Judgment. During his active
career which was a very long one Mr.. Til
den was closely identified with the politi-
cal history of New York, and biography
of him is almost history of the state
during his career. Mr.. Tilden also en-
joyed the unique distinction of being the
only man for whom the claim was ever
set up that he had been elected to the
Presidency but had not been permitted to
take his seat, and some of the most inter
esting chapters in the book relate to the
electoral contest of 1876. Mr. Tilden al
ways kept copies of everything he wrote,
whether of public or private nature and
this habit has enabled Mr. Bigelow to
throw much light upon his early life, of
which comparatively little is generally
known, and without which many of the
incidents of his subsequent career are de-
ficient Tof information. These volumes
also contain an elaborate genealogical
record of the Tilden family reaching back
to the sixteenth century, which Mr.. Til
den completed only week or two before
his death. Speaking of the result of the
Electoral commission Mr.. Bigelow says he
| was at Mr.. Tilden's house when it was
received and he quotes from contem-
poraneous entry in his diary to show how
it affected Mr. Tilden.
t'It was impossible to remark any
change in his manner except, perhaps,
that he was less absorbed than usual, and
more interested in current affairs.
spent week at this time a guest in his
house, and could not see that he was as
much disappointed as most OF the people
about him. He has not been so cheerful
at any time in the last three years as
this is satisfactory to me. His notion OF
being President meant life of care, re-
sponsibility and effort such as none of his
predecessors ever encountered. He never
contemplated the presidency except as q
fearful struggle. When his election was
out Of the question he was naturally more
sensible of his escape from the giants
which he had seen in his path than of the
honors which might have been his, but
were to be worn by another This sense
of relief and the opportunity it offers Of
looking after his health, which is daily
improving in consequence, have rather
made him happier than otherwise When
the giants shall have entirely disappeared
and his freedom from care and anxiety
that he will feel more keenly the loss hi
has sustained. He regards tThurman an6
Bayard as chiefly responsible for this
miscarriage.
"There have been occasional criticisms
of Mr.. Tilden, not only by those wh(
wished an excuse for their own disloyalty
to their party OF for their personal pusill-
animity, but also by some of his faithful
friends, that he did not take the oath o.
office and go to Washington and claim th'
J presidency at all hazard and regardless O
the title conferred by congressional au
thority upon another. l believe Mr.
Charles O'Conor was one of these friends
and also remember how signally failet
in an effort in 1877 to make Victor Hug
comprehend Mr. Tilden's submission t.
the decision of the electoral tribunal H
shook his head at the close of my exposi
ton, as if to say, That is not the wa.
we do things here in France, which wa
very true. )"
Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Edited by Ernest Hartley Coleridge. Il
two volumes. (Boston: Houghton
Miffiin & Co. Portland: Loring, Shor
q Harmony This is the first attemp
made to publish a collection of Coler
idge's letters, though good many of then
} have appeared from time to time in vari
Gus Biographical works. But the presen
: volumes contain by no means complet
} edition of his letters, but simply selec
tion of some of the more important ones
, The letters are arranged in chronological
order and ARE intended" the author tell
us rather to illustrate the story of TIN
} writer's life, than to embody his critica
opinions, or to record the development O
his phil 'nhical and theological specula