WILLIAM CASSIDY TO TILDEN
"14 Augt., '67.
"Hon. Samuel J. Tilden.
"Dear Tilden,—Your long absence gives anxiety to your friends here. We miss you in council and on the floor. You must come up soon; for we will have to meet the financial question, and want you. I would have written you before, but have been laid up by the heels myself for a fortnight. Indeed, I would have gone down to New York to see you if I had been able. I would have asked leave of absence, but each day you were expected to be on hand, and I am opposed to placing on record the fact that you were ever ill. A majority of the convention has been on the sick list. Take 160 middle-aged men, and you will have a pretty large show of invalids in midsummer, when all classes are accustomed to vacation.
"You have lost nothing thus far. We have lost your speech on naturalization, etc. It must come in elsewhere. Write me, and tell me what I can do to aid you, and when you expect to be on board.
"Yours truly,
"William Cassidy."