"SENATE CHAMBER, WASHINGTON, _April 11, 1844_.
"MY DEAR SIR,--Having labored in vain during the whole of yesterday to
find time to write to you my promised letter, and not having approached
the probability of such leisure between 8 o'clock A.M. and 12 o'clock
P.M., I now take my seat for the purpose.
"I have conversed as extensively as I could with our Western friends
upon the subject of the paper of which we take,[6] and all I can say,
as to the result of my conferences, is that no dependence can be made
upon them, beyond a reasonable effort to extend the subscription, in
case we shall conclude to take the hazard of making the attempt to
establish the paper. The same feeling of which I spoke to you has
produced the influences I supposed it would, and it, together with the
efforts we are making here to distribute documents, has cooled the
anxiety formerly expressed for such a paper, and especially so when a
suspicion arises that the man's own pocket may be connected with the
effort to establish the paper.
"Still, I confess, I have not been able to diminish, to my own mind,
the importance of such a paper to our cause. I think our State press,
as a general remark, in a very bad state for the pending contest. The
country press has been, time immemorial, accustomed to look to the
_Argus_ for lead and tone in these great fights, but the _Argus_,
during the whole time we have been here, appears to me to have been
insensible of the pendency of the contest, as perfectly unaware of
what appears to me to be its true character. It is not my object to
complain of the _Argus_, and I doubt not that the singular and very
unfortunate state of things at Albany has embarrassed its cause, and
perhaps presented reasons for its silence upon national questions, of
which I am ignorant. In any event, the _Argus_ furnishes no lead to the
country press; we have no weekly general paper, and the Whigs, through
the showers of the _Tribune_ which they are pouring over the State, are
doing much to get the start of us and to turn the current of feeling
with the impulsive and unthinking against us. At least these are my
fears, and it seems to me that these must be the natural consequences
of constant effort and allegation and falsehood on the one side, and
comparative silence upon the other. Of this, however, our friends
at home can judge much better than I can, and I therefore renew the
advice I gave you before we parted here, to go and make Mr. Van Buren
a leisurely visit, and take his counsel and advice about the whole
matter, and act as he shall think best.
"You will not be surprised when I tell you that the news from your
charter election[7] has thrown everything here, for this morning, into
that state of excitement and confusion which renders it troublesome for
one to keep cool and good-natured both. After some months of constant
session, the atmosphere becomes so thoroughly tainted here, and the
members of Congress themselves become either so far corrupted, or so
lost in their remembrances of home and what the people really are, that
they are really more childish and more excitable than so many children,
and it takes more patience than I can command to bear up against their
whims. In the result of your charter election I have experienced little
disappointment, and see no great cause of alarm. If our press would
improve the advantages it presents, it appears to me it could not fail
to fix the Irish and other emigrant vote throughout the country; but
in this, as in other things, I fear we shall feel the want of some
paper which is recognized as having a lead and giving the facts and the
aims of the whole party. The _Post_ is well edited for its place and
circulation, but its exchange-list, I suppose, is not the broadest,
and it never has been looked to for the party lead. I say this in no
disparagement to Mr. Bryant, for no one holds him in higher estimation
than I do, and it is our own fault and not his that his paper has not
held the leading place.
"But I must return to the subject of my letter, and writing, as I do,
in my seat, and in the hearing of an excited debate, I can say little
more, even upon that. You can tell Mr. V. B. all our views about the
proposed establishment of a paper as fully as I could repeat them
to you as to him if I had the time, and if he shall think that we
overestimate our need, or the utility of such a paper, if established,
I shall be perfectly content that any farther movement be abandoned.
If he thinks it best for you to consult any of our friends at Albany
he will tell you who and how. You will let him know, too, that the
reason we did not think of Albany, rather than New York, was that we
supposed the state of things and state of feeling there to be such,
and the relations to our two papers there, those which would be likely
to defeat any movement made there with this view, or compel it to be
made either against active opposition from our own friends or under
dissatisfied feeling on the part of those connected with one of those
papers.
"It appears to me that if anything is to be done it should be done
quietly, so that the paper may commence with the nominations. I do
not doubt, if subscribers are sent here to be distributed, that many,
very many, subscribers will be obtained from without the State, and
especially from Indiana and Illinois, and probably from Ohio and
Michigan, but to that end all the time which can be given will be
desirable.
"I must close, for I have been listening to speeches, while writing,
until I do not know what I have said or what I wanted to say. After
your return let me know the result of your mission as soon as you shall
find leisure.
"I am, most truly, yours,
"SILAS WRIGHT."
"_Private_.
"N. B.--I shall write to Mr. V. B. upon this subject by this mail,
and I think it not best for you to go up until after my letter can
reach him. May it not be best for you to drop him a note, saying that
you propose to make him a visit, naming the day, and telling him the
subject is that of a paper, about which you suppose I have written to
him?
"S. W."