THE

WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

OF

SAMUEL J. TILDEN

EDITED BY

JOHN BIGELOW

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOL. I.

NEW YORK

HARPER AND BROTHERS

1885

PREFACE BY THE EDITOR.

WERE it necessary to assign any reason for gathering together, as it were under one roof, the writings and speeches of Mr. Tilden, it might be sufficient to say that they embody the political opinions and public teachings of one of the most profound and sagacious of modern statesmen upon the most important problems of American politics for the last half century, and that they ought therefore to be more accessible than they have been, scattered through the official documents and public prints in which they originally appeared.

Why the present time is chosen for such a publication may not be so obvious, and therefore merits a brief explanation.

When Mr. Tilden's letter appeared, in 1880, declining a renomination to the Presidency, I knew that it was his wellconsidered purpose never to return to public life. Soon after, with his permission, I proceeded to occupy myself with what I had often, but in vain, urged him to undertake, a collection of his numerous contributions to the political science of his time; deeming it one of the educational agencies best adapted to check "the fungus-growth of false constructions and corrupt practices" which were threatening the character, if not the very existence, of our cherished political system. Though Mr. Tilden's declining health daily reinforced the consideration which led to his formal abdication in 1880, the political party with which his public life had been identified, and of which he had long been the head, experienced unexampled difficulties in transferring its allegiance to another leader.