"That would make two popular elections necessary. The convention would be sure to be conservative. By summer the disintegration of the Republican party would be completed, the reaction perfected, and three-quarters of the States would ratify amendments substantially on the basis of Crittenden's propositions.
"Our people are temporarily misled, but by a vast majority conservative at the bottom. We only need time to bring them to a sound position.
"Excuse the haste with which I am compelled to write, and believe me,
"Very truly,
"Your friend,
"(sd.) S. J. Tilden.
"Hon. Wyndham Robertson,
"Richmond, Va."
Dudley Burwell was a prominent lawyer in Albany, a thoughtful and estimable man, and had been an active Democratic partisan of Van Buren in opposition to General Cass in 1848. He shared Mr. Tilden's apprehensions of a civil war as the inevitable result of Mr. Lincoln's election. He held no office himself, and I am not aware that he ever sought any. His letter is valuable as an illustration of the diversity of opinion among leading men of all parties by which Mr. Lincoln's government was perplexed during the three first years of his administration. Advice was in abundance, but no two counsellors entirely agreed about what the government should do or abstain from doing. It was impossible to divine the opinions of the people upon any subject, the succession of new and unfamiliar events was so rapid and surprising.
D. BURWELL TO CASSIDY
"I pray you read this letter immediately!
"Jan'y 29th, 1861.
"My dear Cassidy,—I received your telegraph this evening—and so kind a message would have started me at once for Albany, but one side of my face is badly swollen, and unless it is better to-morrow I must keep within doors.