red to me without
injustice; I now think it should have occurred to you. If it did occur
to me, I was not the man to ask you for it; I think that should not
have been necessary. I only remember that no friend at Albany inquired
as to my pecuniary circumstances; that your friend (but not mine),
Robert C. Wetmore, was one of the chief dispensers of your patronage
here; and that such devoted compatriots as A.H. Wells and John Hooks
were lifted by you out of pauperism into independence, as I am glad I
was not; and yet an inquiry from you as to my needs and means at that
time would have been timely, and held ever in grateful remembrance.

"In the Harrison campaign of 1840 I was again designated to edit a
campaign paper. I published it as well, and ought to have made
something by it, in spite of its extremely low price; my extreme
poverty was the main reason why I did not. It compelled me to hire
presswork, mailing, etc., done by the job, and high charges for extra
work nearly ate me up. At the close I was still without property and
in debt, but this paper had rather improved my position.

"Now came the great scramble of the swell mob of coon minstrels and
cider suckers at Washington--I not being counted in. Several regiments
of them went on from this city; but no one of the whole crowd--though
I say it who should not--had done so much toward General Harrison's
nomination and election as yours respectfully. I asked nothing,
expected nothing; _but you_, Governor Seward, _ought to have asked
that I be postmaster of New York_. Your asking would have been in
vain; but it would have been an act of grace neither wasted nor
undeserved.

"I soon after started the _Tribune_, because I was urged to do so by
certain of your friends, and because such a paper was needed here. I
was promised certain pecuniary aid in so doing; it might have been
given me without cost or risk to any one. All I ever had was a loan by
piecemeal of $1000, from James Coggeshall. God bless his honoured
memory! I did not ask for this, and I think it is the one sole case in
which I ever received a pecuniary favour from a political associate. I
am very thankful that he did not die till it was fully repaid.

"And let me here honour one grateful recollection. When the Whig party
under your rule had offices to give, my name was never thought of; but
when in '42-'43, we were hopelessly out of power, I was honoured with
the nomination for state printer. When we came