"'ATLAS & ARGUS' OFFICE.
"ALBANY, _Octr., 1860._
"DEAR TILDEN,--Newell tells me that you are preparing a reply to the
_Post's_ appeal to be 'shown the way out.' Do so; and it will give
me a chance to write an editorial, which I intended and postponed
till the occasion passed by. I enclose a reply to an assault upon
our consistency, the last half of which is _apropos_ to the _Post's_
inquiry. I am afraid your committee of fifteen will do more harm than
good--as usual. You recollect how the Castle Garden movement defeated
Seymour and elected Church, reversing its intended effect, and how the
Fifth Avenue movement of last year paralyzed us? Let it go, however,
with the other blunders.
"What I write to you about is to say that I intend to come down to New
York on the 7th proxo. and consult you in regard to a project which
O---- and I have long discussed--establishing a New York daily. We
can readily get $60,000 (or more) for shares, and from a few men. I
can name Plumb, DeWolf, Johnson (of Oswego), Ross--besides Richmond,
Cagger, Corning, Kelly, etc. We could _add_ what an establishment here
is worth, $40,000 or $50,000. The sum could be increased, and all
subscribed outside of New York. It is not for help (to ask you 'to go
round with a paper,' as your party friends generally do), but simply
for advice. Wesley, the banker, once proposed to sell me some of his
interest in the _Times_ if I would go in there. This is _entre nous_,
and I allude to it only to explain why I am going to consult him, as
well as you.
"If we could buy the _World_, the _Express_, or the _Post_, that would
make the best beginning. If we established the New York _Argus_ or
_The Age_ we could start with a larger subscription and in better
organization than any two other persons. Of course we would have to
go to great expense, employ many hands and heads, and meet a fearful
competition. But neither of us are without experience, and we have
regarded the question on all sides. There must be, and there will be, a
Democratic organ in New York. Who is to control it? In the transitive
state of politics, 'that is the question.' There's a vast volume of
Democratic patronage going to waste in the city, and still more beyond
it. We send out 40,000 weekly papers from Albany, and in less than
a year could raise it to 200,000 if we were in New York. That is as
much as Greeley has for his _Tribune_, and that is the source of its
influence.
"There is plenty of ability in New York that could be called in.
What is wanted is conduct--a policy, prudence, independence--for
the political part. For the business part we want competent men--an
association, if possible, with a great publishing house, in order to
avail ourselves of literary talent, not allowing it, however, to be our
publisher. Commercial and other reporters, and enough literary talent
to supply a daily _feuilleton_; for we must call on the aid of fiction,
as the Paris papers do, and so gratify a taste which is stronger here
than anywhere else. I would commence by getting Hawthorne or some
writer of equal talent to furnish a novel, which might be republished
afterwards in a volume, and which would thus pay. To do this, we should
want a paper like the _World_. We will reverse the wish of Archimedes:
give us the _World_, and we will find the lever to move it.
"But I intend to ask your advice, not to forestall it. Until I see you,
which will be after the November triumph, I remain
"Yr. frd. & fellow-sufferer,
"WM. CASSIDY."
"When Wood was elected by Greeley's agency, I made up my mind that he
would administer retributive justice upon G. & Co. by some stupendous
organization of the canvassers. But you have an honest vote of 100,000.
The Republicans are not entitled to more than 30,000 of this. Give us
40,000, and we will carry the State. Organize--make them do it. The
registry will facilitate such work."