upon which it could be prosecuted with any prospect of

success.

A Republican form of government has always the power, and sometimes the disposition, to be despotic and oppressive. Of this a more flagrant illustration than the one just recited had rarely occurred.

CHAPTER VIII

The purchase of Graystone Dinner to J. S. Morgan - Mr. Tilden rebukes third-term candidates for the presidency Withdraws from public

life Letter to Mr. Manning declaring the presidential nomination in 1880 - The Cincinnati convention - Urged for a renomination in 1884 Second letter of declension.

In the summer of 1879 Mr. Tilden thought to benefit his health by establishing a home, for at least a portion of the year, in the country. He leased for the summer, and before the expiration of the lease purchased, the noble estate since widely known as Graystone at Yonkers, on the Hudson, then about three miles beyond the northernmost limit of New York city. The property consisted of sixty-three and one-third acres of land, and a palatial stone dwelling which had been recently finished, on the highest ground on the river's bank south of the Highlands. To this estate he subsequently added forty-eight adjoining acres. The structure, the view, the air, the facilities of access to the city, everything about the place, was suited to his taste and his needs. If he had not by this time abandoned all thought of returning to public life, he had ceased to regard such a prospect with pleasure. He found all the employment and recreation he required in improving and stocking his new home. Thither he transported a portion of his library, in the seclusion of which he now enjoyed a welcome exemption from the incessant interruptions to which he was exposed in Gramercy park. Graystone soon became, to a far greater extent than he had anticipated, his home. Here he received his friends with a generous hospitality. Though ceasing to take any responsibility for the leadership of the party, his views of public matters continued to be sought and his judgment deferred to as

much as ever. He appeared rarely before the public, though scarcely an editor in the land ventured to send his paper to press without some allusion to him.

In the fall of 1877 he consented to preside at a dinner given to the late J. S. Morgan, then head of the banking house of J. S. Morgan and Company, of London. In the course of the speech, in which he proposed the health of Mr. Morgan, he referred, in a humorous way, to the very small share that the proprietors of colossal fortunes can appropriate to their personal use. It is the only instance, I believe, of his ever alluding in a public discourse or paper to the burdens or perquisites of wealth.

"I remember, when I was quite a young man, being sent for by one of the ablest men I have ever known, a great statesman and a great thinker, - Martin Van Buren, who wanted to consult me about his will. Well, I walked with him all over his farm one afternoon, and I heard what he had to say, with the previous knowledge (not from him) that I was trustee under his will. The next morning, as I stood before his broad and large wood-fire, I stated the result of my reflections. I said: 'It is not well to be wiser than events; to attempt to control the far future, which no man can foresee; to trust one's grandchildren, whom one does not know, out of distrust, without special cause, of one's children, whom one does know.' I came home, and after a week I received a letter from him stating that he had thought much about the suggestion as to attempting to be wiser than events, and had abandoned all the complicated trusts by which he had proposed tying up his property; and he submitted to me a simple form according to the laws of the land and the laws of nature, which was approved and adopted.

"I went down to Roehampton last summer to see the beautiful country home of my friend Mr. Morgan, a few miles out of London. He was well pleased to show me about everywhere. No man could help being delighted with what I saw, and he was curious to know what were my impressions. Well, I had, while inspecting with pleasure the appliances of comfort and luxury, been thinking how much, after all, he got for himself out of his great