"My aunt, Mrs. Barton, in a spirit of filial piety, had preserved a number of copies for the purpose of presenting them in suitable quarters. But before she could accomplish the object Mrs. Barton herself suddenly died. The duty having consequently devolved on me of distributing the volumes, I felt special satisfaction in offering you a copy of them, who, as the Governor of the native State of Edward Livingston, are so conspicuous for wisdom and devotion to the cause of public reform.
"May I venture to add a few words, and to say that at such a moment as this it is quite impossible not to feel the deepest interest in the work which you tell me has proved so absorbing to yourself. It is, indeed, your high fortune to lead in the reform all over our country, and no one, watching the drift of the national canvass in your favor, can fail to be full of hope and belief in the future.
"Should you ever come in our neighborhood, I beg that you will not pass us by. It would be a great gratification to me to have the pleasure of receiving you at Montgomery Place.
"Louise Livingston Hunt."
TILDEN TO HON. JOHN BRAGG, MOBILE
"138 Eagle Street, Albany, Aug. 11th, 1876.
"My dear Sir,—Mrs. Van Buren has been so kind as to send me your letter to her. I am glad to renew an acquaintance which, although slight, has not wholly passed from my recollection.
"You mention an inquiry of yours in 1872, whether I had entirely abandoned public life. In the sense of official life, I can scarcely be said ever to have any. Tho' I have given almost half my life to public affairs, it has been as a private citizen. In 1846 I went to the Assembly for a special object, to help Mr. Wright in a crisis of his administration, and retired. In 1872 I went again to the same body to obtain the impeachment and removal of corrupt judges who swayed the administration of justice in the metropolis, and again retired. In 1846, and again in 1867, I served in conventions to revise the State Constitution. That is all in that long period.
"I never destined myself to a public career. I did not come into my present trust until I found myself unable in any other way to have it on the side of reforms I had begun three years before, and to which I had surrendered my professional business, attention to my affairs, and my peace and comfort. I had felt gloomily the decay of all my early ideals of my country, and engaged in the effort to restore them in the city and State in which I live, with no idea of any result to myself except of sacrifice. The logic of events has brought me into my present situation. I have been tempted to do so much to satisfy the curiosity of an old acquaintance, and, as I stop, I do not know but I have provoked more than I have satisfied.
"At any rate, it is a real pleasure to refresh what remains of a set of early associations. I think you were something of a pet of Mr. Van Buren, as I was also. He would have been interested in the course of present events; and puzzled about me, for he told me, near the close of his life, when he had observed me for thirty years, that I was the most unambitious man he had ever known.