A furious Onslaught on Mayor Opdyke, of New York, by Thurlow Weed.
Notwithstanding the intense anxiety of the Abolitionists in New York about "the flag," they occasionally find time to expose each other's thieving operations. There is a pretty quarried between Thurlow Weed and Mayor Opdyke, of New York city, and here is Thurlow's letter.: Editors Evening Journal: In a recent letter, designed, first, to admonish the Democratic party of the folly and fate of disloyalty; and, second, to expose the sham patriotism of boisterous Abolitionists, I made use of Mayor Opdyke and Editor Tilton as examples. Both have replied. Neither deny the material accusation, viz: the draft and the skulking. But to another accusation Mayor Opdyke says: ‘ "He next charges my son with holding offices. There would be nothing improper in this if it were true, unless he had bought them of some office broker, like Mr. Weed. But it so happens that he has never asked for nor received an office of any kind, unless the barren commission of notary public may be regarded as such." ’ Was Mr. Opdyke's notary's commission a "barren" one ? We shall see. Mr. Opdyke, senior, after filling the Custom House with relatives (one a Breckinridge rowdy) and followers, demanded the notarial business of that department for his son. Opdyke, junior, was therefore installed as Custom House notary. But the ordinary business of the department did not suffice. The officers and employees were required to go before the notary with a "barren commission" monthly and swear to their account — swear that. ‘ "Thirty days hath September,April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting February, which hath twenty-eight alone;
’ concluding with a payment of a quarter of a dollar each to Notary Opdyke ! Some of the officers rebelled; but if five hundred out of the thousand "walked up to the captain's office and settled," the notary realized $1,500 per annum in that slim way. "Equally groundless is the charge against me of being 'gorged with Government contracts.' This, if true, would not be at all censurable, provided I obtained them fairly and executed them with fidelity." The charge that Mayor Opdyke is "gorged with profitable contracts" is "equally groundless." It is not his Honor the Mayor, but his Honor the Mayor's son-in-law, who is "gorged" with a profitable gun contract. And when the rioters burned the gun factory, his Honor the Mayor had nothing to do with getting a prompt allowance of over $200,000 from the city, without going through the process to which ordinary claimants are subjected. Mayor Opdyke get offices and jobs "fairly" and executes them with "fidelity." Mr. Spenlow, the eminent doctors commons, solicitor, and "David Copperfield's father-in-law," was upright, liberal, and even generous; but his partner, Mr. Jorkins, was a grasping, miserly skinflint. Mayor Opdyke has had no sleeping or silent partnership"no "shoddy" interests ! He did not infest Quartermaster Vinton's office, competing with the Jews for "unclean drippings.?" Not he ! Catch him at that, if you can ! Look into the open, fresh, manly face ! Do you discover anything sinister or sordid there ? By no means. It is his partner, Jorkins, with the "hang-dog look," who gets gun contracts, furnishes "shoddy," and hides away in convenient places, where he can be found at convenient times, to approve convenient ordinances before inconvenient injunctions can be served ! I have not met with the reply of Mr. Tilton, of the Independent. But the next time that skulking conscript comes upon the stage with a musket, showing a delightful Abolition audience how "Old John Brown" went through the facings and firings, I will endeavor to be there and see. T. W.
