Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 October 1859 — Mr. Broderick’s Career. [ARTICLE]

Mr. Broderick’s Career.

[From the X«u Yoih Tribune, Oct. 10

i David C. Broderick was born in the city of Washington, in December, 1818, or 1810 consequently, at the time of his death, was : about forty or forty-one years of age. fJc was of Irish parentage. His father was a stone-cutter, a well-to-do man, who had the contract for supplying stone for building the picsent Capitol, and worked upon the pillars of the Chamber in which his son afterward sat. When David was five or sux year* old, the family removed to this city, where he was at once sent to school, in w Irish lieacquired an ordinary education. So sooft as he was old enough, he was bound an apprentice to a stone cutter, with whom he served his time. (Whether his father was then trFfee, is not definitely known.) During the period of Mr. B. ’s apprentices^p, a . iU.serward, lie was considered a person of strong mental characteristics, as well as great physical strength and activity, and on these accounts he was made the umpire in all disputes that arose among his co-laborers and associates. Soon after attaining the age of manhood, he was elected engineer of Howard Fire Engine Company No. 36. While occupying that position, he was much sought after by politicians, and he thus became'interested in the political questions of thedav, and soon acquired great influence in the Ninth Ward, where he became a recognized power in the Democratic party. His leading affinities then were Sickles, Hart. Haskin,. Brady, and others of that class of His political influence rapidly increased to. such an extent, that under the administration of Tyler, when Mr. Van Hess was Collector of Customs in tiiis city, Mr. B. acquired! the control and disposition of certain places, in the Custom House, and was instrumental! in securing the Naval Agency for Samuel Suydam. Many other leading politicians., who obtained fat berths and prominent positions at that time, owe their fortunes to theinfluence of Mr. B. in their favor. In 1840 Mr Broderick was a candidate forr ( ungress in the L ith District , in opposition, to F. A. Tallmadge. Isi order to detent .Mr. I’. ;l cabal was set on foot which nominated! John Bloodgovd as a third -candidate. Thelatter got 346 votes—just sufficient to secure the clebt foil of Mr. Tallmadge. I» 18 1.). becoming dissatisfied with the condition of politics in this city,and feeling somewhat soure d by his o\\ n disappointment, Mr. B. left New York for Culilornia. On |,iaarrival there he immediately commenced the* business, in connection with Frederick I) Kohler, of smelting and assaying gold. After a brief residence in California lie wis selec ed us a delegate ta Inc Convent ion which drc. up the original Constitute n < f the .Stale, and in which he was instiium n al in having the leading features of our state < ’oust it ution adopted, llis course on that occa sion was signally hitter in opposition to lotteries, banking, .Ye. Shortly afterward, and! while extensively engaged in business, lieretired. in order to serve a short term of twoyears in t lie State Senate, where the integrity of his conduct was always recognized by liis most bitter opponents, w hile it was the pride of his Iriends that no vote of his could he foil lid on record, on the side where there was money distributed. No political speculators over wanted to get a measure through the Legislature, that they did not first sa\ to themselves, “How shall we overcome Broderick! ’ And such was his inlT.ienc and popularity, that lie was chosen President 6: the Senate, and, at the conclusion of his term, on the resignation of the Governor, he was act/ng Governor of the State. In 1852, lie conceived the idea of putting himself in nomination before the Legislature of the State, for United States Senator, to fill an expected vacancy, by Senator Gwin being called to the Cabinet of President Pierce, and tlie Legislature was canvassed in bis behalf with satisfactory results, but the vacancy did not occur. During the Legislative session of 1853, the friends of Mr. B. canvassed that body, with a view to having him then elected to succeed Senator Gwin, assuming the principle, then novel, and for the first time put forth, that a Legislature under the Constitution, is not precluded in electing their U. S. Senators at any time in advance of the vacancy. After a bitter and protracted struggle, and a contest which aroused andr embittered the passions and animosities of the two rival factions of the Democratic party in-the State, the Legislature adjourned, having done but little business beside attending to this quarrel, leaving Mr. B. w ith a majority of the House in his favor, and only one vote lacking in the Senate. Thus with an aggregate majority in the Legislature sufficient to elect him, he Was left without power, the deficient vote in the Senate preventing him from getting a joint ballot. The subsidence of this storm left bitter and rani ling feuds, which lasted through Mr. Broderick’s cateer, and resulted in his death, The effort to elect Mr. (1. was renewed the following year (1855) hut no choice was made, there being two or three candidates in the field beside Senator Gwin and Mr. B-; but in 1856 the latter succeeded by such overwhelming strength, that he was enabled to dictate who should be his associate in the Senate for the short term. In this respect, Mr. B. made the singular selection ol the man whom he most hated, and for w hom he had less respect than any other man in the world—which was Dr. Gwin; and the motive which governed Mr. li. was a profound knowledge of retaliation and revenge- Iff. Gwin having always denounced him mo.-t unsparingly at Washington as a man of neither ability nor character. Mr. B. conceived the idea of forcing Mr.. Gwin to solicit his election from the man lie had pretended to undervalue, and to acknowledge the oblig<>tion in writing, and to bind himself in that written acknowledgment to abandon the a friends who had always sustained fiim, by u foregoing the patronage which was diie to W his position. W. In accordance with this arrangement ' obligation, entered/ into by Dr. (!ivm. h r published a card to the effect that lie w” tired serving the interests of professed friend* wearing oat his life for them, and that he,

therefore, desired to his hands of all /patronage, and cheerfully conceded it all to hip .associate. Ho soon as Dit. Gw in saw on what terms lie had recoveret a seat in the Senate, and and the to which he would be sub* ject if his posith.m became known, he repeatedly sent entreaties to Mr. Broderick to obtain possessioin of the letter or acknowledgment in question, but a copy cf that paper bad been taken, and shortly after found its way into print, when the fetid between G win and -I4n»de**c4f became iiiore bitter and iriteconsiiable. llMfey arrived from California together, and eh going to Washington, MKB. soon discovered that the Administration bad been pojisoned against him, and refused to recognise the proposed appointment 6f his friends toioffice, although backed by tire strength of California-, but gave prefer* Vince to the suggestions atari wishes of Dr. Owin’. Under these circumstances, Mr. 13. Wuke aB teUjis With the Administration, .fe'ftpi when the Ldcompton Constitution came \ip, he was found a zealous opponent of that measure. In soc ial liile, fVtr. Broderick was one of the most exemplary men that cjnld be found in any country. No clergyman, no pbilanthrophist, however proud on the,score of morality, could feel moire so thanjlr. B. He was never known to enter a gambling den or house of ill-famej; and in business transactions or personal dealings, h s word was relied on as implicitly as though he had entered into the tnbst solemn written obligation for their performance. For these traits of character, Mr. B. was a great favorite, and among no class of persons was he stronger than with the clergymen of all denominations, who looked upon him as a strictly moral man.