i do understand, yes.
but you don't understand at all.
there's a whole city to share and all you see is your own narrow streets.
yes, alright. gladly. it's all blackjack jobs and panel games and killings for a fiver.
as far as it goes.
but we're talking about different things, bill. you describe the present. i see the possibilities. look to the future. there is so much more.
there's things demanding to be done that no police force can do, not even an obedient one. there's contributions from every dive and brothel. loyalties to be secured and debts to be collected.
 beside tammany.  in the performance of these civic obligations. and for a satisfactory.  i'm prepared even to say equitable.  financial participation. it's not the sort of responsibility the founding fathers might have recognized. but then, the founding fathers never imagined the city new york has become.
we'd like to. i do miss it. but it's wiser for men in the public life to give an appearance of probity.
oh jesus, no. the appearance of law must be upheld, especially while it's being broken.
perhaps not within the points. but the smart man could go higher.
i would never speak ill of a rival. i would never say that every know-nothing is a horse thief. it is my observation, however, that every horse thief is a know-nothing.
keep our men voting. everybody works today. it's not a victory we need, daniel. i want a triumph.
what do you think? would that make a fit motto for our fair city?
what is it? well, hell, let's get one we can remember. we're going to build a new city hall, we better have something to put over the front door. and mayor, you'll make sure the latin's right?
if these two are going to combat, it aught to be a worthier occasion. and more rewarding for all.
i only wanted to thank you, bill, for the customary good job today.  and an equally bright future for us both.
will you drink with me, bill, as a friend? an honored friend.
tammany's here to take the chill off the winter and the weight off your heart. it's tammany can make this city a fit place, with the help and vote of all you good people.
we could use help here. grab a sack.
so i've observed.
what if you hadn't? think of the embarrassment. and what if you had? consider the waste. next time you're in a dust-up like that, think ahead and make proper plans. it'd be a grand source of revenue, whoever prevails.
our mutual interests. that's why i want you to contact monk eastman. i want you to extend a proposition. i want him to join us.
oh, not tammany, of course not. we could no more have him there than you. but he should throw in with the native americans, become aware of our arrangement and .  well, use his influence, shall we say, to enrich us all.
it's none of that, bill. none of that. his independence is like a rebuke to tammany. and an insult to you.
i should. if i'd been confident-absolutely certain--that you would have prevailed. monk is an unpredictable power, and a figure of size. he needs to be reckoned with.
no. he's an elemental force. them you don't destroy. but you can contain them and use them for the good they give off.
coal?
and the pleasures of the company provided you, mr. greeley.
i suppose you can at that. take with one hand, flay with the other. virtuels on your conscience, horace, but tammany's in your heart.
pheasant.
you killed a bull this morning. i told you to make an arrangement with him, and you come back with his blood on your hands.
you stand for anything if i tell you.
what did you earn us, killing monk?
i see it lost you a lot of god's sense, along with that eye.
you need two eyes to see the depth, bill. that's how we help each other. if it wasn't for me would be happy enough to plunder the points and put the fear into people who don't know nothing else. but bill, i'm only saying.  i'm counselinm.  look in the distance. you want to sit at my table, fine. but you must always remember who the host is. it's not a matter of courage welre talking. it's manners.
fine, if you're hungry.
i've always told you, bill. there's plenty for all, and more for us together than separate. we'll dine together sometime.
let me put this to you, daniel. now that the butcher has killed the single most prominent figure in the five points--a man of myth and moment--who is there to take his place? of course. then what do we do about the butcher? he's too useful to be killed, but he must be checked.
impossible! any cops who might have the mettle to go against the butcher have blood ties to the gangs. they can't be trusted. and any cops that can be trusted are too craven to be any use. if bill's to be checked, it must come from within the points, not without.
that so? the last time i saw him he was under the butcher's knife looking like a fine filet. who else is there?
what would that be?
blood will make a man intrepid. bring them along, then. nurture the rabbits with neglect. let them roam where they like.
i'd tolerate a little trespassing if it was for a higher good and use. they'll cross with the natives soon enough and keep each other occupied.
i'll hold bill in check. if he becomes unwieldy .  well, damn it all, daniel, i might just have to oil up my old musket. what do you think of that, eh?
but poor politics, eh? well, we musn't have that. i do miss those roistering days, though. oh, and bring some of that food for the canaries.
the building and how many?
the dead rabbits are a wooly bunch alright.
not just now. it's between too late and too soon. they've become a little too prominent for comfort, but they're still too small for you to soil your hands. the man who killed monk eastman pushing around a mob of upstarts. it's practically undignified.
very well, and to hell as well with any plans you and i may have for growth and change and even greater reward. you'll never advance anywhere beyond the limited perimeter of your imagination.
got to, no. but ought to.
an invitation. to dinner.
no thanks owed, son. conscription's federal law, and so's the $300 exemption. you might remind your father, though, that you saw me here today, minding that the law's strictly and equitably enforced.
it's not my law, and not my liking, either. but washington's always treated us with sufferance, and we must extend the same regard to them. boys, we are bound by honor and love of country to fight in this time of crisis!
boys, the union is in distress, our land is wounded deeply, our future is suddenly a frail and finite thing. we must ask ourselves how.
thank you, boys, thank you for your understanding. holy mother.
daniel, between the blindness of washington and the damned brass of bill poole tammany will fall like an autumn leaf. we must take what measures we can. attend to the butcher. after the elections, of course. unless you think amsterdam will do our work for us first.
not so daunting as this. boys, i've just had a word with your compatriots inside, and if you show half the sand and a fraction of the spirit they have manifeste for joining this great struggle.
great weeping jesus, daniel, whatever happened to the halcyon days?
i swear that science will be the death of industry.
your role is to expedite, daniel, not to explain. do something!
a moment please, daniel. one moment. you're a dead rabbit, aren't you? friend to amsterdam? and therefore no particular friend to us. what brings you here?
well, then, a gentleman of foresight! are you suggesting.  or perhaps you're even saying.  that your friend and your gang may be .  well, lagging behind the great march of history?
well fine, step up to history then and tell us what you have in mind.
your honor.  yes, and the law of the land.  lies in the balance. the conscription act of 1863 was handed down by president lincoln himself .
too much sympathy, horace. writing these riots were a rising against "unjust laws and unsuitable law-givers." the shame!
it was tammany and the rabble that elected you, governor. and it's tammany and the gangs who'll stop it. isn't that so, bill?
he's here on our business and my invitation. he's already been of great help. what's the opposition strength, john?
gentlemen, i'm sorry you find it necessary to question the loyalty of my friend here, and by extension, my own judgement. so as proof .  john, where will the mob go? what will the gangs do? go on, tell them what you told me.
as indeed you nearly was. were.
would you agree with that, bill? wouldn't you do the same? if you were fighting against the militia instead of beside them?
you will have to fight beside them to take the armory. it cannot fall into unfriendly hands.
we're all of us swept up in a great tide of events, bill. have you learned to swim?
i'm sure that bill will do his usual splendid job. but after that .  well, i'm afraid he's grown away from us. he shows distressing signs of.  shall we say, free-thinking. crime flourishes in chaos, and these riots could encourage bill to overstep himself. he no longer inspires in me the same trust.  well, that you might. if you can prove yourself further.
in vital things. would i be talking to you now otherwise? vital things, but small things. are you equal to greater responsibility and opportunity?
ridding me of bill the butcher. he may question your loyalty to me, but bill would never believe you had the sand to go against him. he'd never expect it. do you have the sand?
if the rabbits are already at the armory, where the hell is bill and the militia?
alright then, john, you pray to any god you choose that's the fact of it. if bill thinks he can best the natives, that is your opportunity. that is your moment. are you a bible man? the book says in revelations, "i saw a new heaven and a new earth." if the hand of god's not on you to fulfill that prophecy, then the hand of tweed will be. go on and god bless.
oh, i think he can. whether it's one man against another or a mob against the city, the mathematics remain the same. you never enjoyed the enlightenment of poverty, did you, governor? if you had, you'd know you can always hire half the poor to kill the other half.