A life of Grover Cleveland : with a sketch of Adlai E. Stevenson ...

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Preface

The accompanying Life of Grover Cleveland may be considered a supplement to my volume of his ^^ Writings and Speeches," issued in June last. While making the researches necessary for that, I was struck with the paucity and weakness of the literature that had grown up about this virile political figure. Coming to the front as he did without notice, rounding out a political career in an unprecedentedly brief time, no serious and intelligent attempt had ever been made to bring out in anything like connected form the words and a history of the acts that represented what Mr. Cleveland is, and what he means to the American people. Most of the sketches extant were written in 1884 and re-issued in 1888, almost without revision. They are of little value as a record of his career, or an estimate of his character.

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It was my good fortune to be thrown into intimate relations witli this man, and to discover, as I studied his character, that much biographical material had remained unused. This knowledge was utilized as best I knew how in the editing of the "Writings and Speeches," which was prepared without any attempt at an estimate other than that included in the Introduction, a composition purely critical both in character and intent.

It appeared to me that the time was opportune for a brief, comprehensive sketch which should bring together, in a reasonable compass, the events of Mr. Cleveland's life, giving due emphasis to the great political work he had done since his election to the Presidency in 1884. I have modestly attempted to do this here; in the main, to sketch only in outline the acts of the man, leaving the reader to turn to the collected writings for his words. I have thus been able to get away from the old-time documentary sketch, which was little more than a collection of letters and speeches.

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Whatever faults this volume may have, it is at least an honest attempt to sum up the character of its subject, after a narration, however brief, of his achievements. It has been throughout a labor of love. I have the hio^hest admiration for the man who is the subject of it, and the warmest personal attachment. I believe thoroughly in the enlightened ideas and impulses he represents, and profess the faith of the political party he has both led and regenerated. This sketch is, therefore, by a friendly hand. The career under discussion is not one that has things to be concealed. The subject of it is himself open, manly, free from vanity and show, moved by impulses of the highest patriotism, always looking at a question from a moral point of view, and devoted in a degree that few men can be to what he believes to be the best interests of his countrymen.

Knowing as well as believing all this, I have not had to look for flaws nor to analyze bad or questionable motives and methods, either personal or political. I have simply felt moved, so far as in me

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lay, to " tell the truth." So, if my little work reads like a eulogy, the reasou is not far to seek. I have felt that the mere telling of the story of his life iu plain language makes impossible anything else than praise. This inheres to the character of the man studied, and accords with my own conception of the dignity and usefulness of the public service he has done and may still do.

I have given only brief space to his earlier life and struggles. Mr. Cleveland's whole public career, like that of every other man of force, is builded upon the character which came fi-om native abilities, and from his youthful surroundings and days of struggle. It remains true, however, that the public work is the one thing that interests his countrymen. They may like to know something of the foundation and how it was made, but in this case it is the superstructure that is interesting and valuable to them, and they want to know this in reasonable detail. I have reviewed his public service topically, endeavoring to set it forth with sufficient fullness to give

PREFACE.

the reader a knowledge of his acts. For his words I must refer to his writings and speeches.

I hope that these two books, completing for the present the study that I started out to make, may find some acceptance as my humble contribution to contemporary history. If I have succeeded even in a small degree, I shall have abundant reward, because my own studies of public men long ago convinced me that it is far more difficult to get fairly accurate information about men of the time than of those whose records have passed finally into history.

I cannot forbear to make acknowledgment to friends who have assisted me. Little has been known about Mr. Cleveland as a young man. I have consequently deemed myself fortunate in securing from Miss Frances J. Crosby a careful review of his life at that time. This certainly ought not only to add to the interest of my little book, but contribute something to a knowledge of the character it treats.

In like manner his professional career

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has Dot attracted the attention that it deserved. Many men kno^. him as an excellent lawyer; few know that he was practically the leader of the bar in a great and important community. The estimate made of him by his former partner and long, ime personal friend, Mr. Wilson S Bissell, will, I think, contribute in some degree to supply this lack.

Mr Eichard Watson Gilder, long Mr Cleveland's friend and for some years my own, from his abundant store of knowledge, has given me a kindly and critical analysis of his friend and mine. I esteem this the more keenly because Mr. Gilder seldom writes for publications other than those of his own company, and for the iurtlier reason that, without solicitation, he kindly sent me the letter included in this volume. It is a warm and sympathetic analysis of the man whose training and careei- are so different from his own, and IS the result of a friendship honorable in the highest degree to both. ^ In the preparation of the brief sketch of Mr. Stevenson, I have obtained from that

PREFACE. ^^

gentleman many of the material facts included in it. In addition to tliis, I have known liim well for many years, and count him as one of my circle of friends. I have endeavored to set forth his character as well as I could in the brief space allotted to it, and trust that his countrymen may get from it some idea of the noble qualities

of the man.

While this work has been written in the stress of other and absorbing employments, and does not therefore make any pretensions to literary merit, I hope I may have been successful in giving to my readers something like a fair idea of the men whose characters are thus delineated. GEORaE F. Parker.

New York, September 10, 1892.

Contents

A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND.

PAGE CHAPTEB

I. Ancestry and Early Life, .... 1

Chapter I. Ancestey And Eaely Life

The first of the Cleveland name-a name made famous by the subject of this sketch— known to this country was Moses Cleaveland, who came to Massachusetts m 1635 from Ipswich, in the county ot Norfolk Eno'land. The name was then spelled " Cleveland," the superfluous " a" having been dropped by some of his successors, although several branches of the family collateral to that to which the ex-President belon-s have retained it. In about two generations from the beginniug-as was not uncommon in the records of New Eng- Ig^^fl life— the ministerial habit became fixed in the Cleveland family; since which time there has never been a generation in which one or more of the name was not a minister of some one of the Protestant Churches. In one or two eases they were EpiscojDalians, but in general they took to Presbyterianism or to its sister, Congregationalism.

It is not necessary to go at any great length mto the genealogical history of the family simply because a descendant of the original stock has attained distinction. Each generation of the Cle^relands has been active, energetic; never noted perhaps, at any time for the possession of great wealth or such genius as to attract universal attention in their various walks of life, but at all times the men and the women have done their duty and have done it well. The family connections have been good, and yet there is no record anywhere that anything like extraordinary family pride or vanity has been engendered. ^

Among the descendants of the original Cleveland there have been, as already asserted, many men of character and ability. They have been found in almost every occupation and profession— farmers, me-

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clianics, lawyers, physicians, soldiers, ministers of the gospel at home and missionaries in foreign lands. As early as 1757 one of the ministerial members of the family, in the fourth generation, the Kev, Aaron Cleveland, died in Philadelphia at the house of Benjamin Franklin, and his virtues were recorded by his philosopher friend in the primitive weekly newspaper which he conducted. In this notice, which would be considered singularly brief for a man of such prominence in the present day, the great American philosopher pronounced upon his dead friend the following eulogy :

"As he was a gentleman of humane and pious disposition, indefatigable in his ministrv easy and affable in his conversation open and sincere in his friendship and above every species of meanness and dissimulation, his death is greatly lamented by all who knew him, as a loss to the public— a loss to the Church of Christ in general, and in particular to that congregation who had proposed to themselves so much satisfaction from his late appointment among tliem, agreeable to their own request.

Ever since that day there have been prominent clergymen in the ranks of the

Cleveland family, and the general cliaracteristics of all, whatever their calling, have been those described so well by Benjamin Franklin.

In 1793 AVilliam Cleveland, the grandfather of Grrover Cleveland — a watchmaker of the old-fashioned, hard-working, careful kind, engaged in business in Westiield, Mass. — was married to Margaret Falley at Norwich, Conn. In the latter place the young couple settled down to live, and on June 19, 1805, there was born to them a son, Richard Falley Cleveland, who was the father of Grover Cleveland. It was decreed in the councils of the family that this young man should become a minister. Accordingly he was trained in the schools of Norwich and there fitted for entering into Yale College, from which institution he was graduated in 1824.

AVhen he began to look about for a place to practice his profession he was led to go for a time to Baltimore, Md., where for a year he filled a position as tutor in a private school. He proceeded forthwith to

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fall in love with Anne Neal, but, as lie liad not yet perfected himself in his theological studies, he left his lady-love behind and entered upon the study of theology in the Seminary of Princeton. In 1829, when he was twenty-four years old, he returned to Baltimore and he and Miss Neal were married. They went at once to Windham, Conn., in which place the young man had been oifered a position as minister of the Congregational Church. He began his professional life with enthusiasm, and his earnest, eloquent sermons were long remembered in the neighborhood in which he first began his work. He accepted soon after a call from the Presbyterian Church of Portsmouth, Va., where he hoped to re-establish his health, then somewhat shattered. He remained there for only a brief time, and the work he did was not different from that which usually fell upon a young clergyman in those days in a small town.

In due time, with health restored, he began to contemplate a return to the North, and upon the recommendation of his old instructors at Princeton he was called to the pastorate of the Presbyterian church in Caldwell, N. J., then, as now, a village in Essex County in that State. He began his work in this new field just before Christmas, 1834, and in the parsonage attached to this modest church Grover Cleveland was born on the 18th day of March, 1837.

For many years preceding the arrival of Eichard F. Cleveland in Caldwell, the pastor had been a man dee]3ly beloved by his congregation, one whose death ^vas greatly lamented — Stephen Grover. In recognition of the good qualities of this predecessor the child was given the name which has now become famous. But even in his later boyhood the name Stephen was never used, and before he had arrived at the years of maturity he was always known by his middle name.

In 1841 Richard Cleveland accepted a call to the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville, K Y., a small village situated in what ^vas then almost a pioneer region in Onondaga County. Syra-

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cuse, now grown to be an important city, was tlien little more than a village, and the marvelous growth of central New York had only just begun. As a consequence there was a good deal of difficulty in reaching the new pastorate, and it was only after many days of Aveary travel by river, canal, and wagon that the Cleveland family, then numbering — besides the father and mother — three daughters and three sons, reached its destination in this new and comparatively unsettled region.

Once there the father settled down to a work that was congenial and useful. Like many a minister in those days the salary was small and the allowances almost nothing. But the energy of the father and the prudent watchfulness and loving foresight of the mother enabled them to bring up their family, not in luxury, but with all the comforts of life. In spite of the $600 a year, which would seem almost insignificant at this day, and upon which scarcely any man of this type would undertake in such a place to rear and train a family, there was never anything like poverty in the Cleveland home. There was a necessity for close management, care, and prudent economy on the part of all, but each did his part in the task of making life happy.

This relation to Fayetteville continued about eleven years, when, in 1851, Eichard Cleveland, having accept ed^the agency of the American Home Missionary Society at the munificent salary of $1000 a year, removed with his wife and children, the latter now increased to nine, to Clinton, Oneida County. One of the motives of this change was not only a better position in life, but a desire to use the educational facilities offered by Hamilton College, then, as now, located in Clinton. The eldest son, the Rev. William N. Cleveland, now pastor of the Presbyteiian Church at Chaumont, Jefferson County, X. Y., finished his education at Hamilton College, while the 3'ounger members of the family were able to avail themselves of the advantages of the Clinton schools, the boys with immediate reference to a college career.

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Before leaving Fayetteville, Grover, then fourteen years old, had accepted a place as clerk in a grocery store in Fayetteville, and so did not at once go with the family to the new home. He was able to command for his services in this useful but humble capacity the large sum of $50 a year, with the promise of $100 for the second year. A single year, however, was enough. At the end of that time the father called his son home in order that he might begin his work in the academy.

The duties of the young boy in the country store were not different from those of the ordinary boy; nor are there any records to show that he was either more or less efficient or more or less active than the average young merchant of his kind. Since he became prominent every event of his life has been brought to light, and it has been found that even in those days whatever he did he did well, and that he left behind him a reputation for fidelity that was not soon forgotten. As was common in the early days of every new community, all the people of the surrounding country found their way to this store. There he studied human nature to advantage, and got that insight into the motives of men which has been so useful to him during his public career. As a result of this experience and his natural gifts he has the faculty of knowing the peoj^le and knowing how to reach them— better perhaps than any other public man of our generation, with the exception of Abraham Lincoln, who had a training similar in many respects. Now, when he speaks of the "j^lain people of the land," as he is wont to do with kindness and affection, it is from personal knowledge ; he knows what these plain people have done and what they are doing; he knows the motives that guide them, and how to appeal to their intelligence so as to command the best results.

On joining his family at Clinton the lad entered^ the academy at that place. In this institution he made satisfactory progress in his studies and expected in due time to enter Hamilton College, where he avouM continue his educational training. But

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these plans were never carried out, for in September, 1853, tlie family moved to Holland Patent, where the father had received a call from the Presbyterian Church. This was a village about fifteen miles from Utica. Only three weeks after this removal, on October 1, 1853, Richard F. Cleveland died and left his wife and children to struggle with the world as best they could. The mother remained in Holland Patent and kept with her such of her family as had nofc already gone out into the world to make their fortunes, and resided there the rest of her life, dying in 1882, only a few weeks before the nomination of Grover Cleveland as the candidate for Governor of New York, and while he was Mayor of Buffalo.

In the mean time the eldest son, William, had obtained employment as principal male teacher in the Institution for the Blind, in New York City, which had at that time about two hundred pupils. When the older brother returned from the funeral of his father he arranged with the trustees of the institution to give employment to his younger brother, Grover ; and during the month of October, 1853, the later assumed the position of bookkeeper and assistant to the superintendent of that institution.

In order that I might obtain some information about the career of Grover Cleveland at the Institution for the Blind, and learn something of his character at that early age, I was fortunate enough to get from Miss Frances J. Crosby, a pupil and teacher in that institution from 1835 to 1858, her recollections of the young man as he appeared to her at that time.

Miss Crosby is an interesting character — one of those independent persons who will not permit misfortunes to keep them from hard work, or from attempting to satisfy some of their ambitions. For many years she has been recognized as one of the best hymn-writers of the country. During her early life she devoted herself with much assiduity to poetry and to the work of promoting the interests of the Institution for the Blind, then comparatively unknown and little appreciated by

ANCE8TR Y AND EARLY LIFE. 1 3

the families of those so afflicted. She has done efficient work in every way, conquering for herself an excellent position.

In speaking of the man who has since come to such fame— her associate for a year in his early days— she says:

"When Grover Cleveland came to the Institution in 1853, he was in his seventeenth year. His mind was unusually well developed for his years ; so well, in fact, that he might be called a marvel of precocity. He was nearly full grown as to height, but slender, though he had reached mental maturity many years earlier than the average man. He had an mtellectual appearance ; indeed, it was surprising that one so young was able to hold a position of such importance and to make his mark in it. He seemed to have about him even then the manner of a mature man. It was my fortune to make his acquaintance soon after he came to the Institution, and I felt, therefore, free to tell him, as I did many times, that he had a mind much in advance of his years, and I also used, with almost motherly caution, to say to ^him : ' Take

14 A LIFE OF OROVER GLEVELAim.

care that you do not study too mucli and injure yourself.'

" Every moment of his spare time was given to the hardest kind of study. He was a persistent reader^ devoting most of his attention to history, and developing even in those days something of a bent for the law, which he ^vas finally to make his calling. But he did not confine his reading entirely to such solid matter. Many times he favored myself, and other teachers and pupils in the Institution, by reading to us from the poets. Among other authors who were favorites of his was Thomas Moore, from ^vhom he read a good many selections, as well as from Byron. I remember that at one time he read Byron's ^ Corsair ' to me. Even then he had developed the faculty of hard ^vork, which has so distinguished his ]?:ter career, so that it is no new thing for him to burn the midnight oil. He did so even as a young man Avhen I first knew him thirtynine years ago.

" No man could have a kinder heart than had Grover Cleveland in those days — days

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that, to most boys of his age, might be termed formative. He came to us ahnost immediately after the death of his father, and as a result he had an air of pensive sadness about him. He showed that he felt very keenly the loss of his father. This did not take the form of melancholia, but he used often to talk to me about his father in an intimate, familiar way that was touching and very natural. As a cliild, he had been brought up in a Christian household, under the ministrations of a father noted for his deep piety and of a mother distinguished for tenderness and care for her family.

" When he first came there I used often to talk to him when his office duties were over, and in due course of time we became good friends. Perhaps I knew him quite as well as any of the teachers or officers of tlie Institution. He came in contact with mature men and women there, many of whom have since become well known in various fields of work, and was able to meet them upon their own plane. He showed himself to be keen and thoughtful.

At the same time lie was extremely modest; something I have noted with interest since his great public career has brought him before the people of his country. " Indeed, the first time I met him after those early associations was in Lakew^ood, N. J., during the past winter. At that time I noticed the same modest demeanor. He was interested in telling me of an experience of his while President. A convention or meeting of blind people was held at Baltimore during that time, and he went there on purpose to see them. In recounting to me this incident he never referred to the matter as having occurred while he was President, but he used a form, which I am told he has almost uniformly adopted, of sa3dng, ' When I was in Washington ' ; in fact, I do not believe that during our interview he used the word President, or in any way said anything to indicate that he had held such an exalted office. This was thorougldy characteristic of him, as lie was always anxious to avoid anything like praise or commendation of himself.

" He did not strike me during tlie period I knew him as a young man who would have a great number of friends, although he had a capacity for friend ship. I thought that he was somewhat chary of giving his confidence to many people. This did not come from any feeling of vanity, but from his natural reserve. But when he came to know a person and gave his confidence, he did so fully and unreservedly. He vs^as always kindly and sympathetic, and during his residence there the tendency v^as strongly developed at every turn. He resented occasional cruelties practiced by a superintendent, who lacked the qualities necessary for a successful administration of such an important place. I remember at one time, that when a boy was punished with undue severity, young Cleveland spoke to me about it with much feeling. He could not, of course, in his position, take steps to resent it by a physical demonstration, but he showed in every v^^ord and action that he would like to punish its perpetrator in the most effective way.

" I remember another incident that had a bearing personal to myself. The same superintendent had about him a dictatorial way when he found himself in authority over anybody. It so hap]3ened one day that I went downstairs into the office, where Mr. Cleveland worked, and asked him to copy a poem. He did so, and when he had nearly finished the work, the superintendent came in and said, in a very insolent way : ^ Miss Crosby, when you want Mr. Cleveland to copy a piece for you, I will thank you to come and ask me.' Of course I felt very much hurt, and when the superintendent went ^out, Mr. Cleveland said to me : ^ Now, Fanny Crosby, how long do you intend to allow that man to harrow up your feelings like this ? ' I asked him : ^ What can I do to stop it ? ' and he said, ' By giving as good as he sent.'

" I was nonplused, and in reply I said, ^ Mr. Cleveland, I never was saucy in my life.' To this he replied : ' But it is not impudent to take your own part, and you never will be taught independence and self-reliance any younger. Now, we will

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try an experiment. Come down to-morrow, and ask me to copy another poem for you. I will do so, and then you come in as usual and you will see the consequences, but in any event make up your mind never to let anyone impose upon you.' According to this agreement I went down and asked Mr. Cleveland to copy a poem for me. As was anticipated, the superintendent came in and made the same remark. Then I turned round and said to him : ' I want you to understand that I am second to no one in this Institution except yourself, and I have borne with your insolence so long that I will do so no longer ; if it is repeated, I will report you to the managers.' The superintendent looked at me with the greatest astonishment, but my reply had just the effect that Mr. Cleveland said it would have. I never had any further trouble with the obnoxious superintendent, nor did he assume such a manner toward me or Mr. Cleveland any more.

" After young Cleveland left the Institution I myself remained until 1858. I

20 A LIFE OF OROVEB CLEVELAND.

never heard from liim or about him until lie was nominated for Governor in 1882, while Mayor of Buffalo. But he took occasion the first time he heard from me to show his kindly feeling. While he was Govei-nor one of my friends gave me a sort of benefit, and sent an invitation to the Governor. He immediately wrote back expressing regret at his inability to attend, but saying : ' I remember my old friend Fanny Crosby very w^ell,' and in further token of his remembrance he sent to the friend managing the alfair a neat little sum of money.

" I have always regretted that I did not keep up a correspondence with him after he became Governor or President ; but in both cases I felt that, as I had neglected him for so many years, it would not seem just the right thing to open a correspondence with him then, because it might look as though I wanted to court favor. So I never met him again until at Lakewood last winter.

"I cannot say that I have been surprised at his rise to prominence and great-

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ness. I always felt that lie was a man far above the average, both intellectually and morally. He seemed to me to have great possibilities, so that one who came in contact with him in an intimate way, as I had an opportunity to do by reason of official association with him, would have predicted for him a successful career.