efore the Committee
of Seventy had had its interview with the Governor.--Tilden's _Public
Writings and Speeches_, Vol. 1, p. 590.]

[Footnote 1401: James F. Rhodes, _History of the United States_, Vol.
6, p. 401, note.]

For mayor of New York, John Kelly nominated Abram R. Lawrence, a
lawyer of ability and integrity, whom the Liberals endorsed. The
anti-Tammany forces, not yet willing to surrender to the new Boss,
divided their strength, the Apollo Hall Democracy nominating James
O'Brien, its founder, while the associations centring about the
Committee of Seventy supported William F. Havermeyer, whom the
Republicans endorsed. Havermeyer had twice been mayor.[1402] He
belonged among the enemies of jobbery, and although sixty-seven years
of age his mental and physical powers remained unimpaired. The
contest, thus narrowed to Lawrence and Havermeyer, assured a good
mayor.

[Footnote 1402: Elected in 1844 and 1847. Declined a renomination in
1849.]

The campaign opened encouragingly for Democrats and Liberals. "The
antagonisms which civil war has created between the kindred
populations of our country," declared Tilden, in his speech at the
Syracuse convention, "must be closed up now and forever."[1403] This
was the keynote of his party, and, apart from the personal question
of candidates, was the only serious issue of the campaign. In his
letter of acceptance Greeley added a new phrase to the vocabulary of
the common people: "I accept your nomination," he said, "in the
confident trust that the masses of our countrymen North and South are
eager to clasp hands across the bloody chasm."[1404]

[Footnote 1403: New York _Tribune_, September 5, 1872.]

[Footnote 1404: _Ibid._, May 22, 1872.]

This was a taking cry, and as the great editor moved across
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, the general demonstration of interest
created considerable uneasiness at Republican headquarters. "His name
had been honoured for so many years in every Republican household,"
says Blaine, "that the desire to see and hear him was universal, and
secured to him the majesty of numbers at every meeting."[1405]
Greeley's friends interpreted these vast audiences as indications of a
great tidal wave which would sweep Grant and his party from power. In
the latter part of September they confidently counted upon carrying
the October States. The South's endorsement of the Thirteenth,
Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, its declaration that the publi