"DEAR SIR,--You, as a matter of course, have heard of our loss, and will regret it as much, or more, than I do, if such a thing be possible. I am about to take a liberty that, I think, the situation will justify--that is, suggest that you tender to the Secretary the use of your yacht. He is fond of the water, and if he recovers will need rest and recreation. He can obtain it nowhere so well as on the water. I feel that I have taken a great liberty, but my desire to serve Mr. Manning is very great. He deserves all the affection and esteem of his friends, and now their air and sympathy. "Yours very respectfully, "C. N. JORDAN." S. J. TILDEN TO GOVERNOR HILL "15 GRAMERCY PARK, NEW YORK, _March 28, 1886_. "DEAR GOVERNOR HILL,--I feel that Mr. Husted[38] is permitting the resolution on coast defences to slumber too long, and that New York is failing to take the position which is necessary to the safety of the whole country, and especially to her own safety. [38] Mr. Husted, then Republican leader in the Assembly at Albany, had charge of some resolutions urging the New York members in Congress to push Mr. Tilden's policy of strengthening our coast defences. The paper that immediately follows this letter, entitled "Sea-coast Defences," is a contribution which Mr. Tilden made to Mr. Manning, with a view of its being made a part of the annual report. "I think it is highly desirable that you should call his attention to the subject. "Very truly yours, "S. J. TILDEN. "I am here until Monday afternoon." "SEA-COAST DEFENCES "In considering the state of the public revenues, the subject involves the question whether we shall extinguish the surplus by reducing the revenue; or, whether we shall apply the surplus to payments on the public debt; or, whether we shall seize the occasion to provide for our sea-coast defences, which have been too long neglected. The Secretary is of the opinion that the latter is a paramount necessity, which ought to precede the reduction of the revenue; and ought, also, to precede an excessive rapidity in the payment of the public debt. "The property exposed to destruction in the nine seaports--Portland, Portsmouth, Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, and San Francisco--cannot be less in value than five thousand millions of dollars. To this must be added a vast amount of property dependent for its use on three seaports. Nor does this statement afford a true measure of the damage which might be carried to the property and business of the country by a failure to protect these seaports from hostile naval attacks. "They are the centres, not only of foreign commerce, but of most of the internal trade and exchanges of domestic productions. To this state of things the machinery of transportation of the whole country has become adapted.