748 



TILDEN, SAMUEL J. 



TRANSVAAL REPUBLIC, 



after a journey to Munich, Rome, and Nor- 

 way, he devoted himself exclusively to paint- 

 ing scenes from Norwegian history. He first 

 gained considerable celebrity by his painting, 

 " An Afternoon Service of Haugians " (a re- 

 ligious sect of Norway), for which he received 

 the gold medal of the Berlin Academy. In 

 1850 he decorated the dining-hall of the Royal 

 Palace in Oskarshall with ten paintings, repre- 

 senting the Norwegian peasant-life from begin- 

 ning to end. Other works of importance are 

 "The Orphan," "The Wolf-Hunter in the Moun- 

 tain-Hut," and " The Norwegian Funeral." In 

 1860 he produced two paintings, "The Dress- 

 ing of the Bride " and " The Administration of 

 the Lord's Supper in a Hut," which attracted 

 considerable attention. " The Duel at the Wed- 

 ding" (1864) is considered his most powerful 

 and passionate painting. His " Wedding Pro- 

 cession," finished in 1873, gained for him a 

 medal in the Vienna Exposition. His last large 

 picture was finished in February, 1876. It rep- 

 resents the landing of Colonel Sinclair with 

 Scottish auxiliaries for Sweden, at Romsdaelen, 

 in 1612. 



TILDEN, SAMUEL JONES, was born in New 

 Labanon, Columbia County, N. Y., February 

 9, 1814, where his grandfather, John Tilden, 

 settled in 1790, and where his father, Elam 

 Tilden, was a farmer and merchant. Samuel 

 entered Yale College in 1833, but soon left 

 that institution and graduated at the Univer- 

 sity of New York. He was admitted to the 

 bar in 1841, and began practice in New York 

 City. In 1844 the Morning News, a daily paper, 

 was established in New York, to advocate the 

 election to the presidency of James K. Polk. 

 Mr. Tilden invested capital in this enterprise 

 and became the editor of the journal, which 

 position he held until after the election. In 

 1845 he was elected to the New York Assem- 

 bly, and in 1846 was chosen a member of the 

 Constitutional Convention, where he was made 

 a member of the Committee on Finance and 

 Canals. In 1S55 he was defeated as the "Soft- 

 Shell" Democratic candidate for Attorney- 

 General of New York. Mr. Tilden now de- 

 voted himself to his profession. His practice 

 was very extensive, and by it he amassed con- 

 siderable wealth. Besides other important 

 cases he was counsel, in 1856, for Azariah C. 

 Flagg, in the case growing out of the con- 

 tested election for the controllership of New 

 York City; in 1857 for the relatives of Dr. 

 Burdell against the claims of Mrs. Cunning- 

 ham ; and for the Pennsylvania Coal Company 

 in the suit brought by the Delaware & Hudson 

 Canal Company. Mr. Tilden became chairman 

 of the Democratic State Committee in 1866, 

 and was a leading member of the Constitu- 

 tional Convention of 1867, serving with dis- 

 tinction on the Finance Committee. He be- 

 came an indefatigable laborer in the cause of 

 judicial and political reform in the city of New 

 York, and in 1869-'70 was active in the organ- 

 ization of the Bar Association. When the con- 



test was waged against the members of the 

 "Tammany Ring" holding city offices, who 

 were charged with defrauding the city treasury 

 of many million dollars, Mr. Tilden rendered in- 

 valuable services to the cause of reform by hia 

 famous analysis of the accounts of the Broad- 

 way Bank, showing conclusively how the 

 alleged culprits had shared their spoils, and 

 furnishing legal proof for their conviction. In 

 1872 he was again elected to the General As- 

 sembly, where he continued his exertions in 

 the cause of reform. In 1874 he was elected 

 Governor of New York by a plurality of 50,317 

 votes over John A. Dix (Republican) and Myron 

 H. Clark (Prohibitionist). He was inaugurated 

 January 1, 1875, and soon after declared war 

 against the " Canal Ring," which resulted in 

 the overthrow of that organization. When the 

 National Democratic Convention assembled in 

 St. Louis, in June, 1876, Governor Tilden was 

 the leading candidate for the first place on the 

 ticket. On the first ballot he received 403J 

 of the 713 votes cast. When the vote for the 

 second ballot was finally announced, Governor 

 Tilden had 535 in a whole vote of 738. The 

 nomination was made unanimous, and he was 

 declared the Democratic candidate for the 

 presidency. He accepted the nomination in 

 a brief speech on July llth. His formal let- 

 ter of acceptance was dated July 31st. (For 

 this letter, and the results of the election, see 

 UNITED STATES.) 



TRANSVAAL REPUBLIC, a free state in 

 South Africa, occupying a part of the territory 

 of the former Dutch colonies in that region. 

 Area, about 114,300 square miles; white pop- 

 ulation, 36,600; native population, 300,000. 

 President, Thomas Francois Burgers ; he was 

 inaugurated in 1872 ; his term expires in 1877. 

 President Burgers conceived a plan for organ- 

 izing a direct trade with the Netherlands by 

 means of a railroad to be built to Delagoa Bay. 

 With this view he visited Europe in 1875 and 

 1876, and secured from the Portuguese Gov- 

 ernment the concession of the privilege of 

 building a railway, free of taxes for fifteen 

 years, through the Portuguese territory to the 

 port of Lorenzo Marquez, which was ratified 

 by the Portuguese Cortes on the 23d of Jan- 

 uary. He also formed trade connections with 

 mercantile houses in Amsterdam, and con- 

 tracted a loan with a banking-house in that 

 city for carrying out his purposes. 



Soon after the return of President Burgers 

 to his country, the republic became involved in 

 difficulties with Secocoeni, the chief of one of 

 the Caffre tribes. The trouble arose in charges 

 by the Boers, or Dutch colonists, that the na- 

 tives were committing depredations upon their 

 lands and stealing their cattle. Secocoeni was 

 called upon to repress the trespasses of his 

 people, but, asserting that he was not tributary 

 to the white government, refused to obey. 

 The Volksraad, by the advice of President Bur- 

 gers, ordered a " commando " to be called out 

 to chastise him. An alliance was formed with 



