Fifty years in Wall Street
April 19, 1872. }
MY DEAR CLEWS:
I have only a moment before the mail closes to say how earnestly
all congratulate you upon the great success of the meeting.
It was glorious and genuine. We read the proceedings in full in
the _Times_ last night. It has created a marked effect in
Congress and elsewhere. Nearly every Republican in the House
would have signed the congratulatory telegrams, but the movement
was started so late in the day that the paper was not presented
to any one.
Yours very truly,
HORACE PORTER.
The following, from the Hon. Roscoe Conkling, is a very flattering
reminiscence, which I highly appreciate:
UNITED STATES SENATE CHAMBER, }
WASHINGTON, April 19, 1872. }
MY DEAR SIR:
As a New Yorker and a Republican, I want to thank you for the
great service you have rendered our country and our cause in
conceiving and carrying forward the great meeting of night
before last.
The effect of it will be wholesome and widefelt; it was most
timely, and its whole management was a success. Our friends all,
I think, know and appreciate the large debt due you in the
premises.
Noting your suggestions as to the future, I lay them to heart.
Yours sincerely,
ROSCOE CONKLING.
HENRY CLEWS, Esq.
The New York _Herald’s_ special from Washington next day after the
meeting said:
“The President, in conversation with Senators who called upon
him this morning, expressed himself as much pleased with the
demonstration in New York last night, which he regards only as
evidence of the popularity of the Republican party. He has been
assured, from reliable sources, that the leading Democratic
merchants and bankers in different parts of the country are
anxious that the Republican party may completely triumph at the
coming Presidential election, as the surest way of maintaining
our credit, and resisting anything like a financial crisis,
which they regard as certain if their own party should succeed.”
Following are the address and resolutions expressed through the
representatives of a grateful people in favor of the hero who had saved
the country:
_Grant Meeting at Cooper Institute, March 17, 1872.—Address and
Resolutions._
ADDRESS.
Hon. E. Delafield Smith, on behalf of the Committee of
Arrangements, read the following address, remarking that it was
prepared by one of the most eminent and substantial of our
business men:
The administration of public affairs under the government of
President Grant has been eminently wise, conservative and
patriotic; our foreign relations have been conducted with a
scrupulous respect for the rights of other nations, a jealous
regard for the honor of our own; the noble aspiration with which
General Grant emphasized his acceptance of his great office,
“Let us have peace,” has been happily realized; the Union has
been completely re-established on such principles of justice and
equity as to insure its perpetuity; the Constitution, with all
its amendments, has been adhered to with rigid fidelity;
domestic tranquility has been restored; a spirit of humanity has
been infused into our Indian policy; the revenues of the country
have been faithfully collected and honestly disbursed, so that,
while the burdens of taxation have been materially lightened,
the public debt has been largely reduced, and the national
credit appreciably strengthened; all branches of industry have
been stimulated to healthy activity; and throughout the length
and breadth of the land security, prosperity and happiness
reward the perils and sacrifices by which the rebellion was
suppressed and the Union preserved.
It is an act of poetic justice that the soldier whose victories
in war, and the statesman whose triumphs of peace have made the
last decade the most glorious in the annals of American history,
should receive an earnest of the gratitude of his countrymen by
his re-election to the Presidency.
It is an auspicious circumstance that the people are evidently
awakening to a higher sense of the duties and responsibilities
of public officials. There is a general disposition to hold men
entrusted with place and power to a strict accountability for
their acts, and to demand that honesty and capability shall be
the inflexible conditions of appointment to office. The
recommendations of the president in favor of the principles
enunciated in the report of the Civil Service Commission, were
timely and apposite, and deserve universal endorsement.
Numerous investigations have been set on foot during the present
session of Congress, having for their object the discovery of
corruption in the public service. Disaffected Republicans and
partisan Democrats have made common cause in the endeavor to
elicit evidence tending to show acts of wrong doing, and to
implicate the President in knowledge or toleration of such acts.
As in the days of Daniel, “they sought to find occasion against
him.” But, like the enemies of Daniel, “_they could find none
occasion nor fault, forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was
there any error or fault found with him_.”
The more incisive the scrutiny, the more palpable the
demonstration of his purity. The cost of pursuing these
investigations has exceeded the aggregate loss incurred by the
Government through the dishonesty of its subordinates since the
administration came into power.
A record so clear and honorable challenges the admiration, and
compels the approval of citizens whose only aim is to secure a
stable and beneficent Government—to preserve inviolate the faith
of the nation—to give security to capital, adequate reward to
labor, and equal rights to all.
With the grievances of disappointed office seekers, the masses
who thrive by their own toil, cannot be expected to find time or
patience to sympathize. Whether this Senator has had more or
that Senator less than his share of patronage, are insignificant
questions compared with the grave issues involved in a
Presidential canvass. It is the constitutional prerogative of
the President to make appointments to office. That he has not
exercised these functions unwisely, the success of his
administration abundantly proves.
Believing that General Grant’s civic career fitly supplements
his military greatness, that he has brought to the discharge of
his duties to the State the same energy, foresight and judgment
which marked his achievements in the field, and made his
campaigns from Donelson to Appomatox for ever illustrious; and
that he possesses and deserves the confidence of the American
people, we pledge to him our united and hearty support as a
candidate for re-election.
RESOLUTIONS.
Hon. E. Delafield Smith, Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions,
presented the following:
_First._ That the merchants and mechanics, the bankers and
business men of New York, represented in this meeting and in the
call under which it is assembled, are satisfied with the wisdom,
ability, moderation and fidelity with which the national
government is administered, and in common with the bulk of our
brethren throughout the Union favor the continuance of its
distinguished head in the office which he holds with usefulness
and honor.
_Second._ That the practical result of the coalition movement,
if successful, would be to restore the Democratic party to
power.
_Third._ That such a restoration, after the late glorious
triumph over rebellion, would read in history like the record of
a Tory resurrection at the close of our revolutionary war.
_Fourth._ That Republicans elected to office mainly by those who
assailed the Union at the South and at the North embarrassed its
defenders, would inevitably become serviceable to the powers
that sustain them, like those northern presidents who were
chosen by the South and did its bidding better than its own
statesmen.
_Fifth._ That the patriotism that made Grant President of the
Republic he saved, is akin to that which placed Washington at
the head of the nation he created. The trust was accepted by
each at a manifest sacrifice of interest and inclination, with
modest misgiving as to civic experience and qualification. But
having been well and wisely administered, the confidence implied
in a re-election is an appropriate reward for faithful services,
and accords with the broadest views of public policy.
_Sixth._ That against hostile criticisms and unfounded
imputations, against alluring promises and prismatic
theories,—we array the practical reforms constantly inaugurated
and the substantial results already achieved by the present
administration. The chronic vices of existing systems, unfairly
paraded to its injury, have been placed in a course of
amelioration or removal. The reduction of the national debt has
elicited the admiration of the world. Our diplomacy has made
peace the ally of national honor. And our President has been in
deed as in name a kind and “great father” to the Indian tribes
still lingering within our borders.
_Seventh._ That while honorable opposition is entitled to
respect, every effort to blacken, for political purposes, the
character of President Grant, is a crime against truth which
vindicates him, and an insult to the American people who honor
and exalt him. Pure in private as irreproachable in public life,
with strong convictions yet deferential to the popular will,
patient under attack, more ready to listen than to speak, with
no display and no ostentation—those who know him best bear
testimony to the sense, the sagacity, and the power of analysis
by which his utterances are characterized and impressed.
_Eighth._ That in the judgment of this meeting a majority of the
people of the country expect, desire, and decree the
renomination and re-election of Ulysses S. Grant.
SPEECH OF HON. E. DELAFIELD SMITH.
Mr. E. Delafield Smith said:—Fellow Citizens:—It is manifest to
us all that President Grant will be renominated at the
Convention in Philadelphia. It is equally clear that such is the
wish of the American people. This is due to a confidence reposed
in him by the “plain people” of the country, which no
misrepresentation seems able to impair. His opponents assert
that the public declarations in his favor are influenced by the
office holders. But this cannot well be, for the office
_holders_ are always far outnumbered by the office _seekers_.
With regard to executive patronage, it is as true now as when
Talleyrand first said it, that every office conferred makes one
ingrate and forty-nine enemies. The truth is, possession of the
offices is a source, not of strength, but of actual weakness to
any political party. In spite of this, General Grant is so
strong and popular that a coalition is frantically sought as the
only and forlorn hope of defeating him. It is thought that the