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INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
John Kelly is the best abused man in America. Fifty or sixty years ago Andrew Jackson was subjected to similar treatment. The hero of New Orleans lived down the slanders which were hurled thick and fast upon him by political opponents. Mr. Kelly will do the same thing, for the people, though easily imposed upon for the moment by artful men, soon correct their own misconceptions, and invariably render justice to public characters. The malice which invents slanders is incapable of transmitting them into history.
Fugitive and imperfect sketches of John Kelly’s career have appeared from time to time in the newspapers. No detailed narrative of his life has hitherto been submitted to the public. The writer of these pages is conscious of the difficulty of portraying the character of a living man. Appreciation of merit should not run into panegyric; condemnation of faults should not be spared where faults are found. The advantages possessed by the present writer to discharge the task he has undertaken have been derived from an acquaintance with Mr. Kelly extending over thirty years, and from participation in public affairs in which that gentleman has been a conspicuous actor. Mr. Kelly has figured in transactions which will form an interesting chapter in the history of the present times. The testimony of a contemporary who preserves a distinct recollection of the events he describes will always be an aid to the historian of the next age, who must sift evidence in order to get at the truth, and who should reject whatever falls below that standard. There would not be so many fictions in American biography, if those who have participated in the scenes would record their honest recollection of them. The testimony of an eye-witness is in the nature of primary evidence, and the historian can have no more helpful auxiliary than such a reminiscent. The following pages are offered to the public as the contribution to American biography of one who has enjoyed unusual advantages of knowing the man he writes about.
Mr. Kelly is one of the few remarkable men the present political generation has produced. The public has read so much about him both of pure fiction and coarse abuse, that an outline sketch of his life will no doubt prove acceptable to candid readers, and furnish, at the same time, a corrective of current misrepresentations. It might seem strange to those who do not stop to consider the causes of it, that a life-long citizen of New York, who has acted a prominent part in its affairs, should have come to be misunderstood by so many people. But to those who look into the matter more closely the explanation is not difficult to find. Mr. Kelly is a man of very positive character. He has antagonized powerful men, and on several memorable occasions thwarted their schemes of ambition and self-aggrandizement. He has thus excited resentments, and in their disappointment his opponents have sought revenge. Some of these gentlemen control great combinations of corporate wealth, and possess enormous private fortunes. They have not found it difficult to enlist a large section of the press into a species of anti-Kelly crusade. The weapons of partisan warfare are not very choice, and this crusade has been carried on without much regard to the amenities of journalism, but with a resolute and persistent attention to the main idea, namely, the elimination of Mr. Kelly as a political leader, by proclaiming him to be the representative of one of the worst elements of American politics. But this mode of attack, while it may answer a temporary purpose, is always in the end a weak one. Intelligent people become interested to know more of a man who excites his opponents into storms of abuse, torrents of invective, and hurricanes, as it were, of rage. Is it all real, or does it cover a purpose? That becomes the question which the public soon ask, and its answer is always favorable to truth, and fatal to the manipulators of an artificial excitement, for intelligent people have an independent way of getting at the truth the moment they suspect it is being kept back, and get at it they will, and they do.
In this manner John Kelly’s political opponents have really done him a service. The universal gaze has been directed towards the man, and the monster painted by reckless partisans of other and rival politicians has been found to be no monster at all, but a plain, quiet man, honest and straightforward as old Nat. Macon himself—to whom he was once likened by the late Alexander H. Stephens—of very original and rugged order of mind, of powers of command scarcely equalled by any other statesmen in the United States to-day, a foe to humbug, a terror to corruptionists—one, in short, to inspire love and respect rather than hatred and ill-will in the minds of disinterested people.
The writer thinks he knows John Kelly intimately and thoroughly. His mind is powerful, without the acuteness of a Calhoun, or the imagination of a Webster, but as far as he sees his objects he sees with the eye of a statesman, and no judgment was ever sounder. Of ideas in their simplicity men in general have but a partial cognition, an apperception of consciousness, as philosophers term it, and not the clear perception. But the perceptive faculty is Mr. Kelly’s pre-eminent feature. He is deliberate in mental operation, trusting nothing to fancy or imagination, and not distinguished for impulsive celerity of action, but almost invariably sure in his conclusions. Thus it has been sometimes, that his plans, when suddenly deranged in action by unforeseen circumstances, were not rapidly reformed, and defeat came upon him. But when he is in rest, and left to himself to devise and map out movements, his judicious arrangement and skill in deciding upon what is best to do have proved almost faultless. Incapable of fear, he has seemed to some to go forward to his objects with blind obstinacy. But those who think so have a superficial knowledge of the man, for prudence is his controlling quality. Before he reaches a decision, every circumstance and consideration is maturely weighed, all suggestions are patiently heard, all doubts exert restraint upon him. Indeed, his prudence has exposed him to the charge by more hot-headed men of being a plodder, so carefully does he labor to mature plans. It is only when he has reached a decision that his purpose becomes fixed and immovable, and he goes through with it, no matter what obstacles beset his path, or what less courageous friends may advise to change his resolution. Mr. Kelly has, in fine, granite firmness, and there is a broad distinction between firmness and doggedness.
Nature has given him a high temper, but reflection and habits of self-command have reduced it to almost perfect subjection. If aroused, however, and goaded to passion, he is one of the most tremendous men in his wrath, and one of the most formidable in his mode of delivering battle. A man of warm affections and commanding presence, his personal magnetism is simply wonderful. His name, wherever he is well-known, is never mentioned at public meetings without storms of applause immediately breaking forth. His appearance at public gatherings is always the signal for hand clapping and expressions of welcome of that unmistakable sort only bestowed on a favorite. In this respect John Kelly almost rivals Henry Clay, and since the death of the illustrious Mill Boy of the Slashes no other man in America has had such an enthusiastic personal following.
While his liberality is great it is unpretentious. Publicity in well-doing is repulsive to his nature. His charity, which is almost ceaseless, is consequently always silent. The solidest kind of man in build and character, he delights in action more than words, and is known in New York as the safe leader. His natural ascendency over men is instinctively recognized. For these and kindred qualities his influence in American politics is as potent as that of any other statesman in public life, and the reader of the following pages will find, it is believed, that this influence has been always beneficially exerted.
John Kelly was born in the city of New York, April 20, 1822. The home of his parents and spot of his nativity was in Hester Street near Mott, in the old Sixth, afterwards changed into the Fourteenth Ward, famous for its politicians. He springs from that stalwart race of men who have played so conspicuous a part in the history of the United States—Tyrone County Irishmen. From Tyrone County came Richard Montgomery, whom Bancroft places second only to Washington as the military genius of the Revolutionary War; thence also came Alexander Porter, the illustrious Louisiana statesman, and one of the great lights of the United States Senate in its palmiest days. Archbishop Hughes, who left his impress on the age in which he lived as one of its most remarkable men, and General James Shields, one of the heroes of two American wars, who enjoyed the unprecedented distinction of having been elected to the United States Senate at various times by three great States of the Union, were both emigrants from Tyrone County, Ireland. Out of this Milesian hive, seeking his fortunes in the New World in the early part of the present century, came Hugh Kelly, father of the subject of this memoir. He married Sarah Donnelly, of County Fermanagh, a small county adjoining Tyrone. The marriage took place in Ireland. There were seven children born to the parents, of whom John was the fourth. The others were five daughters and a son, the last named after the father, Hugh. Old New Yorkers, who were acquainted with the mother of John Kelly, have informed the writer of this memoir that she was a woman of remarkable force of character, a devout Christian, and a mother who brought up her children in the love and fear of God. The children were all vivacious, and very communicative among themselves in the family circle, with the exception of John, who was quiet and thoughtful, and a better listener than talker. On one occasion a neighbor paid a visit to the Kellys, and brought news of an excursion, a pic-nic, or some such affair, that pleased and greatly excited the little ones, each of whom, save John, had something to say about it. At length the neighbor looked over at John, who had remained a silent listener, and exclaimed, “Look at John there, with his big head, taking it all in, and not saying a word.” “Oh, yes,” said the mother, “that is his way; he thinks a great deal more than he talks, but be sure he is not dumb.” A New York newspaper once cynically characterized him as an ox, but the dumb ox, to use the figure of Albertus Magnus, has given a bellow which has been heard round the world. The devotion of Mrs. Kelly to her elder son was peculiarly tender. At one time, when he was a small boy, he had to cross the East River daily. The mother would often accompany him to the boat in the morning, and always went to meet him on his return in the afternoon. Other boys going and returning at the same time observed that young Kelly’s mother never failed to be at the landing in the afternoon to accompany her son home. The mischievous boys sometimes cracked jokes at his expense, and teased him about his mother’s apron strings. He stood the bantering well enough for a time, but at length grew tired of it. One of the tallest and strongest of the boys hearing that Kelly had threatened to thrash the next fellow that annoyed him on the subject, took it into his head to try his mettle. “Say, Kelly,” exclaimed this one, “how’s your mother? Boys, he’s got a good mother, sure. She won’t let him go running about the streets with the gang for fear he might learn something wicked, but comes for him and takes her little boy home every night. Come along, Johnny, and be tucked in your little bed. Bah!” A flushed face and clenched fist told that Kelly would stand no more raillery of that sort. A smart battle took place on the spot between the two youngsters, and ended in the discomfiture of the larger boy. Kelly’s victory made him a favorite among his companions, and they all soon came to look upon him as a sort of leader, although he would not loiter with the crowd at street corners of evenings, nor haunt the purlieus of the city where youth loses its innocence, and flaunting vice slopes the way to ruin. Such a mother is a guardian angel to her children, and Mrs. Kelly’s afternoon escort to her son provoked no more jibes at the expense of the latter. This incident affords an insight into the methods of his boyhood, and shows how, under the fostering hand of his mother, the character of the future man was moulded. The American sin of cursing and swearing is first picked up by children running idly about the streets into all sorts of company. John Kelly was never addicted to this bad habit, and it may be doubted whether his most intimate friend of to-day ever heard him utter a profane oath. The Psalmist’s aspiration to walk soberly and chastely in the day before the Divine Face should be the aim of the rising generation. With that object in view children should be kept out of temptation in the pitfalls of a great city. After awhile, when the habits of a promising youth are formed on the right side, temptation assails him in vain, and whether it be from the cot of poverty or the mansion of wealth, a hero steps forth for life’s battle, who may be depended upon to make his way, and render a good account of himself.
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