of the “Barnburner” or free-soil faction of the New York Democrats, and in 1855 was the candidate of the “softshell,” or anti-slavery, faction for attorney-general of the state. During the Civil War, although he opposed several of the war measures of President Lincoln's administration, he gave the Union cause his heartiest support. In 1866 Tilden became chairman of the Democratic state committee, and soon came into conflict with the notorious “Tweed ring” of New York City. As the “ring” could be destroyed only by removing the corrupt judges who were its tools, Tilden, after entering the Assembly in 1872 to promote the cause of reform, took a leading part in their impeachment. By analysing the bank accounts of certain members of the “ring,” he obtained legal proof of the principle on which the spoils had been divided. His fame as a reformer brought him to the governor's chair in 1874, and he at once gave his attention to a second set of plunderers — the “canal ring,” made up of members of both parties who had been systematically robbing the state through the maladministration of its canals — and succeeded in breaking them up. In 1876 the Democrats nominated him for the presidency, the Republicans nominating Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio. The result was the disputed election of 1876, when two sets of returns were sent to Washington from the states of Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina and Oregon. As the Federal Constitution contained no provision for settling a dispute of this kind the two houses of Congress agreed to the appointment of an extra-constitutional body, the “Electoral Commission” (q.v.) which decided all the contests in favour of the Republican candidates. Tilden counselled his followers to abide quietly by the result. In 1878 the New York Tribune (Republican) published a series of telegraphic despatches in cipher, accompanied by translations, by which it attempted to prove that during the crisis following the election Tilden had been negotiating for the purchase of the electoral votes of South Carolina and Florida. Tilden denied emphatically all knowledge of such despatches, and appeared voluntarily before a Congressional sub-committee in New York City to clear himself of the charge. The attempts to implicate him in corrupt transactions were not successful; but his political opponents endeavoured to make capital in subsequent campaigns, out of the “Cipher Dispatches.” The remainder of his life was spent in retirement at his country home, Greystone, near Yonkers, New York, where he died on the 4th of August 1886. Of his fortune (estimated at $5,000,000) approximately $4,000,000 was bequeathed for the establishment and maintenance of “a free public library and reading-room in the City of New York”; but, as the will was successfully contested by relatives, only about $2,000,000 of the bequest was applied to its original purpose; in 1895 the Tilden Trust was combined with the Astor and Lenox libraries to form the New York Public Library.
See the Writings and Speeches of Samuel J. Tilden (2 vols., New York, 1885) and Letters and Literary Memorials of Samuel J. Tilden (2 vols., New York, 1908), both edited by John Bigelow; also Bigelow's Life of Samuel J. Tilden (2 vols., New York, 1895); and P. L. Haworth's The Hayes-Tilden Disputed Presidential Election of 1876 (Cleveland, 1906).
TILE (O. Eng. tigel, Fr. tuile, connected with Lat. tegida), the name given to flat slabs of baked clay or other material used for a great variety of architectural purposes, such as covering roofs, floors and walls.
1. Roofing Tiles.[1]—In the most important temples of ancient Greece the roof was covered with tiles of white marble, fitted together in the most perfect way so as to exclude the rain. In most cases as in the Athenian Parthenon and the existing temple of Aegina the tiles were large slabs of marble, with a flange along each side over which joint tiles (άρμοί) were accurately fitted (see A. in fig. 1). In the temple of Apollo at Bassae, though the main building was of limestone, the roof was covered with very beautiful tiles of Parian marble, which are specially mentioned by Pausanias as being one of the chief beauties of the temple. Some of these were found by Mr Cockercll during his excavations at Bassae early, in the 19th century.[2] In design they resemble the other examples mentioned above, but are peculiar in having a joint piece worked out of the same slab of marble as the adjacent tiles (see B in fig. 1) at great additional cost of material and labour, in order to secure a more perfect fit. Fig. 2 shows the
Fig. 1.—Examples of roofing tiles from Greek Temples.
A, B, Marble tiles from Aegina and Bassae, showing two methods of working the joint tiles.
C, C, Clay tiles from Olympia.
D, Sketch showing method of jointing at the lower edge,
E, Longitudinal section of a clay joint-tile (άρμός).
F, Joint-tile with peg to fix it.
way in which they were set on the roof. Great splendour of effect must have been gained by continuing the gleaming white of the columns and walls on to the roof. All along the eaves each end of a row of joint tiles was usually covered by an antefixa, an oval topped piece of marble with honeysuckle or some other conventional pattern carved in relief.[3] In most cases the Greeks used terra-cotta roofing tiles, shaped like the marble ones of fig. 1, A. Others were without a flange, being formed by a concave upper surface to prevent the rain getting underneath the joint tiles. The lower edge of the tile, whether of marble or of clay, was usually half-lapped and fitted into a corresponding rebate in
Fig. 2.—Perspective sketch showing the arrangement of tiles B in fig. 1, at Bassae.
B, B, Dowels to fix the joint-tiles. C, Tilting piece, a, a, Flat surface of tiles.
the upper edge of the next tile (see D in fig. 1). The άρμοί also were half-lapped at the joints (see E in fig. 1). All these were usually fastened with bronze nails to the rafters of the roof. In some cases each joint-tile had a projecting peg to fix it to the next άρμός, as shown at F. In the temples of Imperial Rome marble roofing tiles were used like those shown at fig. 1. These were copied from Greek work along with other salient architectural features. For domestic and other less important work clay tiles (tegulae) were employed, of the form shown in A, fig. 3. These are narrower at the lower edge, so as to fit into the upper
- ↑ In Egypt and Assyria temples and palaces were mostly roofed with stone, while inferior buildings had flat roofs covered with beaten clay (sec also Terra Cotta).
- ↑ See Cockerell, Temples of Aegina and Bassae (London, 1860).
- ↑ Marble tiles are said to have been first made by Byzes of Naxos about 620 B.C.; see Pausanias v. 10, 2.
