yours trulyJohn Kelly(AT THE AGE OF 50 YEARS.)
yours trulyJohn Kelly(AT THE AGE OF 50 YEARS.)
yours trulyJohn Kelly(AT THE AGE OF 50 YEARS.)
In a city of a million inhabitants, where a Government had prevailed for years, such as disgraced Rome in the days of Caligula, when the tyrant made his horse a Roman Consul; or in the epoch from Tiberius to Nero, when folly, crime and profligacy ran riot in all departments of the Empire, such as Tacitus describes so vividly in the Annals, and in the immortal Life of Agricola; in such a state of affairs it was an enormous task for John Kelly to head a successful movement against a Ring intrenched in office, with millions of stolen money at command, and backed up by a purchased Legislature. This task he undertook and accomplished, and history will record the fact on its imperishable page that the gallant attack upon the Ring in the Courts and Legislature, by Charles O’Conor and Samuel J. Tilden, was not crowned with final success until John Kelly carried the war into Tammany Hall, and drove the Ring politicians from its portals. O’Conor and Tilden scotched the snake in 1871, and John Kelly killed it in 1872. Tammany Hall, the cradle of American Democracy, whose patrioticSachems in the year 1819 were addressed in a speech by Andrew Jackson,[61]and in long friendly letters at the same period by Thomas Jefferson, the elder Adams, and James Madison,[62]was rescued from disgrace and placed again in control of honest men in 1872 by John Kelly. Not only the political organization, but the Tammany Society was wrested from the control of the Ring. No political contest in the history of the city of New York was more stubbornly fought on both sides, or has been followed by happier results to the people at large. If great public service entitles a man to rank among the worthies of the Republic, John Kelly won that title when he succeeded in expelling the Ring men from Tammany Hall. His victory marked an epoch. The Board of Sachems of the Tammany Society for 1871, and the Board for 1872 tell the story of this great revolution:
On the retirement of Mr. Belmont from the Chairmanship of the National Democratic Committee, in 1872, that distinguished position was tendered to Mr. Kelly at the meeting of the National Convention in Baltimore. But domestic affliction had again visited him about that time, in the death in New York of his only surviving daughter, his elder daughter having died some time before in a city in Spain, where her father had taken her in a vain pursuit of health. Cast down by these afflictions, Mr. Kelly declined the Chairmanship of the National Committee of his party, but suggested his old friend Mr. Schell, who was elected Chairman. “Who is John Kelly?” asked some of the younger delegates at Baltimore, when they heard his name mentioned as their first choice by the New York delegation. They were informed by Mr. Schell that Mr. Kelly was detained at home in the house of mourning, but that he was a great leader in New York politics, and a true patriot in public life; and that he had sat in Congress before many of those young men were well out of the nursery.
It was about this time that the Committee of Seventy set out to reform the city government, but those worthy old gentlemen soon became engaged in an amusing scramble for office, and beyond putting their chairman, General Dix, in the Governor’s chair, and another of their number, Mr. Havemeyer, in that of Mayor, they did not set the river on fire, nor performany of the twelve labors of Hercules. As soon as the Committee of Seventy became known as office-seekers, their usefulness was at an end. John Kelly sought no office, for he had to fight a battle with office-holders, then a synonym for corruptionists, and he appreciated the magnitude of the struggle more correctly than to leave it in anybody’s power to say that the Ring men and the Reform element, the latter marshalled by Tilden and himself, were fighting over the offices. A mere scramble for office between the Ins and Outs is always a vulgar thing. When they became place-hunters, the Committee of Seventy ceased to be reformers. Kelly, with better statesmanship, sought no office, and would accept none. When every other event in his life has been forgotten, his memorable battle in the County Convention of 1872 will still be remembered. A fiercer one was never fought in American politics. To employ the words of Mr. Tilden, in his history of the overthrow of the Tammany Ring, Kelly had to confront on that occasion, “an organization which held the influence growing out of the employment of twelve thousand persons, and the disbursement of thirty millions a year; which had possession of all the machinery of local government, dominated the judiciary and police, and swayed the officers of election.”[63]
Harry Genet was leader of the Ring men in theConvention. Prize-fighters and heelers swarmed upon the floor; and when Samuel B. Garvin was again placed in nomination for District-Attorney, the fighters and heelers roared themselves hoarse with applause. Mr. Kelly took the floor to oppose Garvin, when he was interrupted by Genet. He replied to the latter in scathing language, arraigned him and Garvin with the utmost severity, and although hissed by the hirelings of the Ring, and interrupted by volleys of oaths, John Kelly kept the mob in sufficient restraint until he caught the eye of the chairman, and moved an adjournment to 3 o’clock the next day. Mr. Schell, who was in the chair, put the motion to adjourn, and it was carried, in spite of the protests of the mob.
The next day the same emissaries of the Ring were there to overwhelm the Convention again, but this time Kelly was prepared for them. He had a force stationed at the doors of Tammany Hall, and no man, not a delegate to the Convention, and not provided with a delegate’s ticket, was allowed to enter the building. The police and city authorities were on the side of the desperadoes, but no policeman was allowed inside the premises. This bold stand of Mr. Kelly had the desired effect. By his personal intrepidity, and readiness to resist attack, he cowed the rowdies, and no others but delegates got into the Convention. Garvin was defeated, and Charles Donohue was nominated forDistrict-Attorney. Abram R. Lawrence was nominated for Mayor. It was in that day’s struggle that the backbone of the Ring was broken, and it ceased to be a compact organization, and melted away after that day’s defeat. Havemeyer of the Committee of Seventy was elected Mayor, with Lawrence a close second, and O’Brien a bad third. Phelps beat Donohue for District-Attorney. But Reformed Tammany, in spite of predictions to the contrary, polled a surprisingly large vote, and although it did not elect, it was a vote of confidence in John Kelly, and discerning men saw that the future belonged to the old organization. Mr. Havemeyer, who had been an excellent Mayor in early life, now proved a failure. His defiance of the Supreme Court in the case of Police Commissioners Charlick and Gardner raised a storm of indignation about his head, and led to his reprimand by Governor Dix, who threatened his removal from office. Charlick and Gardner had been indicted for a violation of the election laws, and Mr. Kelly was very active in bringing on their trial. They were convicted by the Jury, and sentenced by Judge Brady to pay a fine of $250 each, but conviction carried with it a still severer penalty, forfeiture of their offices and disability to fill them by reappointment. The Mayor’s attempt to reappoint them was an act of surprising folly, but when the Governor’s reprimand reached him, with the statement that his age, and near completion of his term of office, alonesaved him from removal for contumacy, Mayor Havemeyer’s rage vented itself in an extravagantly abusive attack on John Kelly. He held Mr. Kelly responsible for the trial of Charlick and Gardner, and after astounding the community by defying the Supreme Court with a vain attempt to re-instate the guilty officials, he brought the matter to an impotent conclusion by pouring out a torrent of abuse upon John Kelly, and assailing his record for honesty when he was Sheriff of New York. During all the long years which had elapsed since Mr. Kelly had held that office, not one syllable had ever been uttered derogatory to his exalted character for honesty as Sheriff, until Mayor Havemeyer made his reckless charges. Smarting under a sense of humiliation after the Gardner-Charlick fiasco, the Mayor allowed bad temper to get the mastery of his judgment, and the explosion of wrath against Mr. Kelly followed. The animus of the attack was perfectly apparent on its face, and the good sense of the people was not imposed upon by the revengeful ebullitions of the angry old gentleman. Mr. Kelly promptly instituted a suit for damages, but on the very day the trial began, by a remarkable coincidence Mayor Havemeyer, stricken by apoplexy, fell dead in his office. The passionate events of the moment were forgotten, and a sense of sorrow pervaded the community. Mr. Havemeyer’s long and honorable career was remembered, and the unfortunate passagein his last days was generally, and justly imputed to the misguided counsels of his friends.
The Tammany Democrats were completely victorious at the election of 1873. Those able lawyers, Charles Donohue and Abram R. Lawrence, were elected to the Supreme Court. The late William Walsh and the late Wm. C. Connor, both excellent men, were elected County Clerk and Sheriff. Again, in 1874, victory perched on the standards of Mr. Kelly. This time its dimensions were larger. In addition to a Mayor (Mr. Wickham), and other city officers, a Governor (Mr. Tilden), and other State officers, were chosen by overwhelming Democratic majorities.
Mr. Kelly had been the first man to suggest Mr. Tilden’s nomination for Governor. His splendid services in the war on the Ring pointed him out as the fit candidate of his party. Tired out, after his long labors, Mr. Tilden, in 1874, went to Europe to enjoy the first holiday he had allowed himself for years. But such was his confidence in the judgment of Mr. Kelly, that a cable message from that friend was sufficient to cause him to cancel his engagements in Europe, give up his tour, and take passage in the first steamer for New York. The Canal Ring was in motion against Tilden’s nomination, and Kelly, who had found this out, thought there was no time for delay. Tilden at first expressed disinclination for theoffice, but the Tammany Chief had set his heart on his nomination, and the author of these pages has heard Mr. Tilden say that Mr. Kelly’s persistency finally controlled his decision, and won his acquiescence. One of the leading delegates to the Convention of 1874 was Mr. William Purcell, editor of theRochester Union. “To John Kelly,” said Purcell editorially, shortly after the election, “more than any other man does Governor Tilden owe his nomination and his majority at the election. Governor Tilden was personally present at the nominating convention, in close counsel with Mr. Kelly, than whom he lauded no man higher for his personal honesty, his political integrity, and his purity of purpose.”
Mr. Tilden was a constant visitor at Mr. Kelly’s house during this period, and no two men could have evinced more respect and friendship for each other. The last time Mr. Tilden attended a meeting in Tammany Hall was at the election of Sachems on the third Monday of April, 1874. The late Matthew T. Brennan and others ran an opposition or anti-Kelly ticket, and so anxious was Mr. Tilden for the defeat of this movement that he came down to the Wigwam, and took an active part in favor of the regular ticket. He sat with Mr. Kelly, and when the result was announced warmly congratulated him upon the victory.
In the latter part of January, 1875, a few weeks after Mr. Tilden’s inauguration as Governor, the authorspent a morning at his residence in Gramercy Park, and there met ex-Governor Seymour and Mr. Kelly, in company with Governor Tilden. The conversation of these three distinguished men, in the abandon of social intercourse around the hearthstone of Gramercy Park, was very agreeable and entertaining. The author was an attentive listener and observer, and afterwards, on the same day, wrote out in his diary his impressions of these three celebrated New Yorkers. Although ten years have elapsed since those impressions were written, they are here reproduced in the exact words in which they were then put down in the diary, without the alteration of a single sentence:
[Conversed with Messieurs Seymour, Tilden and Kelly at 15 Gramercy Park to-day. Big fellows all of them, but entirely distinct types. Let me see if I can depict them.
Horatio Seymour is a man well advanced in life, tall, well-shaped, though rather spare in build, with a beaming open countenance, a bright speaking eye, expressive mouth and a large nose. The marks and lines of the face and forehead are deep and strong. His language is quite Saxon in its selection and character, words of one or two syllables prevailing. His expression of thought was clear enough to be taken down by a stenographer as prepared utterances. His range of subjects is large, and his treatment of each ready and versatile. It is conversation all the time,not platform or stump-speaking. The fault with him seems to be one which any person of such eminent parts might be liable to—it is an occasional tendency to diffusion, a Narcissus-like disposition to dwell on the shadow mirrored in the wave; not vanity, but an introspective play of thought. His mental bent is speculative, which perhaps accounts for his sometimes presenting a thought under a great variety of aspects. He throws out an opinion, and follows it up by a profusion of suggestive considerations. Instead, however, of pausing after the stroke was dealt, he would now and again keep on elaborating his points until the conversation began to expand into a disquisition. The key remained conversational still, while the range was widening. But let an interruption occur, and the ex-Governor knew how to conclude with a hasty stroke or two. His descriptive power is good, but not so good as his reach and closeness of observation into general principles, and his capacity to grasp and develop causes and effects. He is more of a philosopher than a delineator, and has humor too, which draws the laugh at will.
Governor Tilden is a spare, close-cut man, of rather a nautical appearance. You might mistake him in a crowd for a weather-beaten old tar retired from the deck of a man-of-war, to enjoy a little needed repose. His movements and quiet speech suggest the idea to a stranger of a cold, formal, negative man, reticent,receptive, and not easily to be enlisted in ordinary matters. Five minutes conversation with him will suffice to upset such an opinion. First you will most probably be struck with his eyes, which have an indefinable expression. It would be spectral, if it were not now melancholy, and again indicative of a womanly tenderness. There is a peculiar play in them which expresses a great deal. His voice is low, and one might suppose, till he begins to converse, that he is a better listener than talker. The forehead is gnarled and concentrated, and on phrenological principles would not indicate a marked presence of the intellectual faculties, considered by itself; but if you draw an imaginary line from the tip of the ears across the head, it is evident that the brain power from the brows to this line is proportionately very large, and phrenologically very strong. His nose is a decided aquiline, the mouth full but compressed, and the chin prominent, and indicative of a marked preponderance of the vital forces. His conversation is more nervous than Seymour’s, but not so copious. He seems better pleased with the suggestion than elaboration of ideas. He can, however, when you don’t want to talk but to listen, throw an analytical strength into his expressions which sustains his reputation for sagacity and vigor. Governor Tilden is classical in diction. The right word is used all the time, although not a shadow of art is perceptible in the language. He seems bent on convincingyou by what he has to say, and not by his manner of saying it. His method of reasoning is logical and exhaustive, and yet it is analytical and not synthetical. He leaves his listener to draw conclusions. He is less given to generalization than to subtle methods of mastering subjects. He has a quiet way of talking, and of saying trenchant, sententious things. Governor Tilden strikes me as a man who would be very slow to gain popularity by dash of manners or exterior conduct, but as having grit in him, and a genius for accomplishing what he undertakes. He is already named in several quarters as a prominent Democratic candidate for the next Presidency.
John Kelly, leader of Tammany Hall, remains to be described. He is a very different man from Seymour or Tilden. An English traveler once heard Daniel Webster on the stump in an interior New England town. As he gazed at “Black Dan” with his massy brows playing with ponderous thought, and his great arm and big body swaying back and forth in obedience to the ideas he was expressing, the first impression of the Englishman was: “Why this man Webster, with his herculean frame and sledge-hammer fist, would have proved the most formidable gladiator that ever entered the arena—if Providence had not given him a still bigger head than body. He is a magnificent creature considered as an animal, but a still more magnificent man.” Kelly answers this description. The NewYorkHeraldonce compared him to General Grant on account of his quiet manners and reticence. He stands two or three inches under six feet, weighs about two hundred and thirty or forty pounds, is active and firm in step and movement, and from his leonine aspect must be the envy of those who delight in the manly art of self-defence. His forehead is massive and broad, with a wealth of phrenological development; over his physiognomy are the lines of decision and benevolence of character. The under jaw is large and firmly set, imparting to his face an air of command and resolution. In conversation he is modest and direct, and seldom speaks of himself. That he is a man of action is at once revealed to the observer. He has humor and a keen appreciation of the amusing side of human nature. His manners are quiet and frank, but underneath there is discernible a cool and commanding spirit. A mingled air ofbonhommieand sternness proclaims to all that he knows how to command obedience as well as respect, and if once fairly aroused no man can confront an enemy with sterner mien, or more annihilation in his glance. Those who have seen him in stormy public place, where such qualities alone avail, have often witnessed this quiet man’s transformation into the fiery ruler of his fellows.[64]]
The extraordinary victories of the Tammany Democracy for several years after Mr. Kelly became its leader,at length aroused jealousies and rivalries, and it began to look as though the successful leader had enemies in Printing-house Square. Perhaps the editors thought they should have been consulted more frequently in regard to nominations and other matters, and perhaps Mr. Kelly made a mistake in not oftener seeking their advice. At all events, an animated newspaper fire was opened upon him in 1875. He was called a boss, a dictator; “one man power” was furiously denounced; and so savage was this onslaught, that if the editors had not modified their expressions after election, and even begun again to speak handsomely of him, one might have imagined that John Kelly was a veritable Ogre, a lineal successor to Tweed, instead of the destroyer of Tweedism. But it was all only a custom of the country at elections, and not an expression of the editorial conscience. No man occupying a high place ever escapes these fusillades; John Kelly formed no exception to the invariable rule. At the election of that year the Tammany ticket was badly defeated. Replying to these denunciations against the Tammany Chief, Mr. Abram S. Hewitt, then Chairman of the General Committee of the Tammany Democracy, made a speech, October 30, 1875, in the course of which he said:
“The assertion that John Kelly is a dictator is an insult to Tammany and its members. All organizations must have leaders, and no one but John Kellycould have done the work that he has performed. The city of New York owes to that calumniated man honors that statues could not adequately pay. There is no desire in John Kelly’s breast so strong as to be relieved from his present onerous position but if some one of respectability was not found to do such labors, the city of New York would be soon as uninhabitable as a den of wild beasts.”[65]
One of the shrewdest political observers who has figured during recent years in New York politics, was the late Hugh J. Hastings, editor of theCommercial Advertiser. As a Republican he was opposed to Democrats, but he had the blunt candor to speak of John Kelly in the following manner:
“On the ruins of Tweed rose Kelly, of Tammany Hall, and Tilden, Hewitt, and Cooper joined his Court, and were numbered among his legions. Under Kelly the condition of society has improved in the city, and we might add the municipal government,—all know there was great room for improvement. Kelly has ruled the fierce Democracy in such a manner that life and property are comparatively safe. It is a fearful responsibility to hold this wild element in check. Beasts of burden may easily be managed by a new master. But will the wild ass submit to the bonds? Will the unicorn serve and abide his crib? Will the leviathan hold out his nostrils to the hook? Themythological conqueror of the East, whose enchantments reduced wild beasts to the tameness of domestic cattle, and who harnessed lions and tigers to his chariot, is but an imperfect type of the man who can control the wild, whiskey-drinking and fierce spirits that make up the worst elements of this great city. It requires a great man to stand between the City Treasury and this most dangerous mass. It demands courage, activity, energy, wisdom, or vices so splendid and alluring as to resemble virtues. Again we say, dethrone Kelly, and where is the man to succeed him?”[66]
The spirit of faction, the curse of New York politics from the beginning of the century, was again distracting the Democratic party. New York and Albany are natural political antagonists, as were Carthage and Rome of old.
The Constitutional Conventions of 1821 and 1846, by enlarging the elective features of government, had greatly relieved New York, and greatly diminished the power of the Albany Regency, but the love of power is inbred in man, and special legislation at the State capital still holds the giant metropolis in political leading strings. During Mr. Tilden’s administration as Governor, he and his old friend Mr. Kelly became involved in unfortunate differences as leaders of rival wings of the Democratic party of the State. It were useless here to recapitulate the story of this disastrousbreach between two statesmen who had done so much when acting together to purify the public service; each occupying the place he held at the wish, and by the powerful assistance of the other; Kelly in Tammany at Tilden’s urgent request, and Tilden called back from Europe by a cable dispatch from Kelly to run for Governor of New York. It were worse than useless to revive the bitter memories of the strife. Let them be buried in oblivion. A few weeks before the St. Louis Convention in 1876, Mr. Tilden called upon Mr. Kelly, and talked over old times. Before leaving, the Governor humorously remarked:
“Now John, you are my sponsor, or political godfather. You found me not inclined to take any office two years ago, and you insisted that I should take the nomination for Governor. No matter what differences may have arisen since, remember John, you are my sponsor.” Mr. Kelly smiled, but was non-committal. But that visit, and graceful reminiscence of a happier day in their political lives did its work well. Let the brilliant Philadelphia editor, Alexander McClure, tell the sequel. In a letter to his paper from St. Louis, announcing Mr. Tilden’s nomination for the Presidency, Mr. McClure said:
“The work of the Convention was then done, but it was electrified by the appearance on the main aisle of the full-moon, Irish face of John Kelly, the Anti-Tilden Tammany Sachem. Those who hissed andhowled at him yesterday, now greeted him with thunders of approval, and called him to the platform. When he appeared there a whisper could have been heard in any part of the hall, and when he gave in his adhesion to Tilden and Hendricks, and pledged his best efforts for their election, he was crowned and welcomed as the returning prodigal of the household.”[67]
Right nobly did John Kelly keep that pledge. Rutherford B. Hayes came in from the rural districts of New York 30,000 ahead of Samuel J. Tilden. When he reached the Harlem River he found that Tammany Hall had given Mr. Tilden 54,000 majority in the city of New York, and had wrested the Empire State from the Republicans. President-elect Tilden sent a message of congratulation on that memorable election night to John Kelly, and his warmest salutations to the invincible tribe of Saint Tammany, as “the right wing of the Democratic Army.”
By changing dates and names, it will be found that Mr. Kelly’s services in the Cleveland campaign of 1884 were an exact repetition of his services in 1876. He gave the same loyal support to Grover Cleveland that he had given to Samuel J. Tilden. He held his forces in hand magnificently, and if the high honor may be attributed to any one man of carrying New York through the most desperate conflict ever waged within her borders, safelyout of the very jaws of defeat, to the Democratic column, that honor belongs to Honest John Kelly. To save Grover Cleveland, Kelly sacrificed every man on his local ticket, every dear friend who bore the Tammany standards on that eventful day, which decided the destinies of the United States for the next four years.
When John Kelly was appointed Comptroller of the City of New York by Mayor Wickham, in 1876, the debt of the municipality which had been uniformly accumulating under his predecessors until it reached over a hundred million of dollars, was first arrested in its upward course, and brought into a line of rapid reduction. In four brief years he had reduced the debt $12,000,000, thus justifying the encomiums of the press at the time of his accession to the office. The New YorkHeraldof December 8, 1876, the day after his appointment, said editorially:
“Mr. Kelly will make a very good Comptroller. He has firmness, honesty and business capacity. He is the right man in the right place, and a great improvement on Mr. Green. He will guard the treasury just as jealously as the present Comptroller, without being impracticable, litigious and obstructive. The people of New York will be satisfied with Mr. Kelly.”
The New YorkWorldof the same date, after dwelling editorially upon his great ability, said:
“Mr. Kelly’s honesty and integrity are unquestioned,even by his bitterest political opponents. He is a native of New York city. Beginning life as a mechanic, by his energy and industry he very soon made himself a manufacturer and a merchant. He sat for one term in the Board of Aldermen, and was twice elected to Congress. At Washington he handled questions of national importance with ability and decorum, and by the force of his native good sense soon took rank above many men who had more experience than he in the national councils. He is best known to New Yorkers of the present day as the leader of the Tammany organization, as the man who took hold of that ancient society after it had been deservedly defeated, disgraced and overthrown under the management of members of the old Ring. He reorganized it, filled it with new life, and weeded out the men who helped to bring reproach upon it. The property-holders and taxpayers of this city are to be congratulated that the administration of their financial affairs has fallen into such worthy hands, and will be entrusted to a man of Mr. Kelly’s perspicacious brain and known probity.”
The New YorkEvening Express, of the same date, referred to Mr. Kelly’s eminent fitness for the office, and to his services in the election of Mr. Tilden to the Presidency, and said, editorially: “Speaking in a political sense only, Mr. Kelly has well earned this office, and even a higher one, for to him more than any other man is the credit due for the immense Democraticmajority in this city, which gave the state to Governor Tilden.”
The New YorkSun, of the same date, said editorially:
“Mr. Kelly is an honest and capable man, willing to do a great deal of hard work, well fitted to look after the important and varied business of his office, and the financial interests of the city. He is the most popular man of the party that governs this city, and stands well with the community at large. He will make a good Comptroller. When the nomination of Governor Tilden was made in St. Louis Mr. Kelly promised to do all in his power to insure the success of the people’s choice. During the campaign Mr. Kelly’s labors were arduous and continuous. He gave time and strength and money, and even deferred his marriage until the fight should be over. That Mr. Kelly might have secured the Mayoralty or any other local office for himself, had he so desired, is no secret. That he was urged against his will to take the Comptrollership is asserted by his friends as a fact.”
An interesting event in Mr. Kelly’s life is incidentally alluded to by Mr. Dana in the preceding article from theSun. This was his second marriage, which took place on the 21st of November, 1876. His wife is an accomplished lady in every sense of the word, the good helpmeet, such as the Scripture describes. The following, account of the wedding, is taken from the New YorkWorld:
“As announced inThe Worldof yesterday, promptly at the hour of 8 in the morning, the ceremonies began that were to end in the marriage of Mr. John Kelly to Miss Teresa Mullen, a niece of Cardinal McCloskey. About 7.30 the very few who were to participate in the event assembled at Cardinal McCloskey’s house in Madison avenue, where, in the private chapel of His Eminence, the marriage was to take place. This alone was a compliment of the highest order in Church etiquette, doubtless owing to the relationship of the bride to His Eminence. The little company invited to witness the ceremony was gathered together in the parlor of the mansion. The party consisted, besides Mr. Kelly, of Mr. Francis D. Cleary, brother-in-law of the bride; Mr. Edward L. Donnelly, Colonel George W. Wingate, and Mr. Kelly’s nephew, Hugh Kelly. Above stairs was assembled the bride with her two sisters, Mrs. Francis D. Cleary and Miss Mullen. At the hour appointed the Rev. Father Farley made his appearance at the parlor door, and announced that all was ready. The gentlemen at once arose and proceeded to the chapel on the third floor, Mr. Kelly and Father Farley being last. On the way to the chapel Mr. Kelly was joined by the bride, and, arm in arm, the couple slowly passed up to the doublePrie-Dieu, before the altar under the escort of Father Farley. Meantime all had taken their respective positions in the beautiful little chapel, in the order peculiar to Catholic Churchetiquette. All knelt in silent prayer for some few moments, when the venerable Cardinal made his appearance, preceded by the Rev. Father Farley, Very Rev. Vicar-General Quinn, and one handsome little boy dressed like a miniature Cardinal, who acted as candle-bearer to His Eminence.
“The Cardinal in his scarlet robes then took his place before the altar, with the Vicar-General to his right, and Father Farley and the acolyte to his left. Immediately behind His Eminence knelt the future husband and wife, side by side. After a moment’s silent prayer the Cardinal began the services. Laying off the mozetta, the Vicar-General and Father Farley enrobed His Eminence. The amice, alb, cincture, pectoral cross, stole, cope and mitre having been placed upon his head and shoulders, the Cardinal turned to perform the marriage ceremony. The vestments worn were white and gold. The ring was blessed, and the Cardinal said: ‘John Kelly, do you take this woman to be your lawful wife?’
‘I do.’
‘Do you promise to love and cherish her until death?’
‘I do.’ And so likewise vowed Teresa Mullen to love and honor John Kelly until death.
“A few more prayers, and His Eminence turned from the kneeling couple, leaving them man and wife. The crozier, mitre and cope were laid aside; and His Eminence,putting on the chasuble, commenced the nuptial Mass,pro sponsis. The gospel of the Mass is the recital of the marriage of Canaan, when Christ changed the water into wine. The Mass progressed slowly to the communion, when the newly-married received the Sacrament. Just after thePater Noster, the two kneeling on the step of the altar, His Eminence read from the missal, with mitre on head, the long prayer imploring from God harmony and peace in the domestic relations of the newly-married, and praying that if God should bless them with children, they might be brought up in the fear of the Lord. This over, the Mass soon ended. After the Mass the little congregation and the clergy withdrew, leaving the Cardinal, and Mr. and Mrs. Kelly together. A few kind words of encouragement, and advice, and congratulations were administered by the Cardinal; and, while he remained to say a few prayers, Mr. and Mrs. Kelly joined their friends, and received their well wishes.”
In concluding this volume the author regrets that he has not found room for more of Mr. Kelly’s speeches. They are all full of good sense, and occasionally they display a high order of eloquence. The present plan did not admit of their introduction. One, however, must be included, as it illustrates the witty side of his character, and was spoken of by those whoheard it as a very happy after-dinner speech. It was made before the Lotos Club, January 11, 1879, at the dinner given to Mayor Cooper, soon after that gentleman had entered upon his duties as Mayor of the city of New York.
The following is the report in theHeraldof January 12, 1879:
“The seating capacity of the large dining room of the Lotos Club was taxed to the utmost last evening. Mayor Cooper, and the retiring Mayor, Smith Ely, Jr., being the guests of the club. About ninety members and guests found seats at the tables, and nearly as many more, who were present during the delivery of the speeches, had to content themselves with standing room. Mr. Whitelaw Reid, president of the club, presided at the middle table, and at the heads of the upper and lower tables, respectively, sat the vice-presidents, Noah Brooks and Dr. Charles J. Pardee. Among the persons present as members or guests were Postmaster James, Chauncey M. Depew, Augustus Schell, John Kelly, Judge Noah Davis, Robert B. Roosevelt, Peter Cooper, Charles H. Chapin, Paul Du Chaillu, Dr. Isaac I. Hayes, Colonel Thomas W. Knox, George Osgood, Frederick B. Noyes, Moses Mitchell, Drs. Hammond, Arnold and Callen, and General Barnum.
COMPTROLLER KELLY’S SPEECH.
Mr. Kelly was very cordially greeted when, in answerto a pressing call for ‘a few words,’ he rose to speak.
“Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Lotos Club:— I have read frequently in the papers of the Lotos Club, but never before had even the honor to know where it met after it left Irving Place, and when asking to-night where the Lotos Club was, I was informed that it was directly opposite the Union Club. I do not know what progress the Lotos Club has made in life since its organization, but certainly you are at a point in this city—on Fifth avenue—where they say the aristocracy live. If this is a specimen of the aristocracy I am entirely content to mix with them at all times. (Applause and laughter). As the president of the Club has said, you have a mixture here of all kinds, and that political discussions are never brought among you. I will say that that is a very friendly state of society when you can come together and talk of everything but politics. I have always noticed in life, particularly in public affairs, that the first topic broached was politics, and it usually commenced by abusing somebody. (Laughter). Now that has been my misfortune. I got along very well in my early political life. I had very little said against me, but I found after a few years that I was about as bad a fellow in the estimation of some people as could be found in this community, or any other. (Laughter). But it don’t worry me a bit. (Laughter). I have gotto that state of mind that I feel if a man is conscious that he is trying to do his best, as well as he can understand it, he need care very little what may be said about him. (Applause). A man’s conscience should at all times be his master. (Applause). Now, I do not think that politics should be brought into discussion here. Mayor Cooper has a very important duty to perform. Probably he can hardly realize yet the amount of labor he must go through, and no man can tell until he gets into the Mayor’s office. I suppose our friend Ely here, when he first entered on his duties, considered it a light place, but he was not there long before he saw that the labor was immense. I do not mean to say that the intellectual labor is immense, but the responsibility connected with the office. I am exceedingly anxious, so far as I am concerned, that Mayor Cooper’s administration may be successful. (Loud applause.) Mayor Cooper is not the representative of a party; he leaves the party behind him. And he undoubtedly will be successful, because I sincerely believe that he has the full interest of the people at heart, and that he will do his best to serve them. (Applause.) I have said so since his election, and I said so before his election. People have various opinions about parties. Our friend Reid here sometimes scolds, but probably if he knew the truth he would not say such things about public officers as he does. (Laughter.) I do not mean to say that he willallow himself to be prejudiced or biased, but he will get a notion in his head, and say, ‘That fellow is not doing right, and I will take him to task for it,’ and so he goes at it. (Laughter.) Mayor Cooper now has the support of the press of this city, but he will probably find that before the end of his term the press will begin to find fault with him. Then Mayor Cooper will say, ‘I have not done anything in particular that I know of that they should abuse me. Damn the fellow; I will go and see him.’ (Great laughter.) I do not mean to say that Mr. Cooper will do that either, because he is a very sensible man, but I know that our friend Ely did it repeatedly. (Great laughter.) I have often gone into his office after he came in in the morning. He had read the papers at home, and was full of them. Down he comes to the office, slaps his hat on his head, and off he goes to theTimes. TheTimesman tells him, ‘Well, we will look into this thing.’ (Laughter.) He has not got a satisfactory answer from theTimes, and off he starts for our friend of theTribune. Then Mr. Reid says, ‘Well, Mr. Ely, I don’t know; there are various opinions about this matter. I cannot give you a positive answer about it. I will look into the thing, and let you know.’ (Laughter.) So, Ely goes the rounds. Back he comes disconsolate. He says, ‘I have seen all these fellows of the press, and they are all alike, they are abusing me for nothing. They can’t do that. I have been inthe leather business, and I refer them to that trade. Go and ask Schultz; go and ask any fellow down in the Swamp whether I ever took anything that didn’t belong to me.’ (Laughter.) Then he becomes a philosopher and says, ‘What is the use of talking? They are only one man. Each controls his paper, and has individual opinions. The ‘boys’ are with me. (Loud laughter.) I will throw myself on the ‘boys.’ (Renewed laughter.) ‘They can say what they please about me.’ After a few days pass down he comes to the office again, and says, ‘TheTimesis raising the devil this morning,’ and so the thing goes on. (Laughter.) Now, gentlemen, I will say this. You have a very large city. Some people in public office must be censured. It is necessary, probably, sometimes that they should be, for it often has a beneficial effect. There is a large number of people who will say that there has been no reform in the city government, and will never take the trouble to find out whether there is or not. During the time Mayor Ely has been in office great progress has been made; but I venture to say that, while the debt of the city has been reduced $6,300,000 inside of two years, by the end of the term of the present Mayor, if things should continue in the same way, as there is no reason why they should not, you will find that the debt will have been reduced from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000. (Applause.) That will be an accomplishment of $10,000,000 insideof four years. (Applause.) Yes; I venture to say that if I remain in office—whatever has occurred, let that pass; I do not refer to it—but if he and I work together in the interests of the city, the debt in the next two years will be reduced $8,000,000. (Applause.) I wish Mayor Cooper all the success in public life that any friend of his can wish him, and I assure him and his friends that so far as the official business of this city is concerned, there will be no disagreement between us on matters which are really in the interest of the people. (Long continued applause.)
Speeches were made during the evening by Dr. Isaac I. Hayes, Chauncey M. Depew, Robert B. Roosevelt and Judge Noah Davis.”
As this volume goes to press Mr. Kelly, who has been indisposed recently, is again recovering his health. His severe labors in the recent Presidential campaign brought on an attack of his old trouble of insomnia. He is now steadily improving, and rides horseback for one or two hours every day. Referring to his sickness, the New YorkTimesof December 12, 1884, contained the following remarks:
“The substantial shoes of Mr. John Kelly stand unoccupied in Mr. Kelly’s Sixty-ninth street mansion, and their owner is taking all the ease which ill-health and restlessness will admit of. Those shoes are theobject of a great deal of attention. In all the 50,000 voters in the Tammany Hall organization, there is not one fit to succeed him as the head of the party.”
TheTimesmight have added that there is no one in Tammany Hall who desires to succeed Mr. Kelly, and that he has held the leadership of that ancient organization nearly five times as long as any other leader in the whole history of Tammany. But there are other men of no mean ability in the ranks of that organization. They are all the friends, and not the rivals, of the subject of this memoir.
The chief events of John Kelly’s past life are, at least in outline, now before the reader. The task which the author set out to perform is discharged, to tell the truth about a distinguished citizen, and to let him speak for himself, both in his public and private career, during the past forty years.
Mrs. Kelly, and two bright little children, a daughter and son, have brought the sunlight back again to John Kelly’s home, where, after this imperfect sketch of his remarkable career, we leave him a happy man, and an honored citizen.