Chautauqua Land Office
Westfield April 11. 1838
Dear Henry
Your kind favour of the 7^th is to
hand. The account you give of the mode of
spending your time & the demands made
upon you by the public is what might be
expected in the present aspect of affairs.
I suppose you must bear it; a while longer
at least. Nor should you regard it as all
lost time, although it may seem so in com-
parison with office duty. Remember that it
is by this description of wolf racing, [ plitical ]
vagrancy, more than in any other way
you are to get near the people & instruct
them in their duties & their interests.
Amazing! that the Regency should now
pretend a friendship to the Southern tier,
of counties & the Erie & N.Y. R.R.! I do
believe there never existed a set of men
counting so largely upon the gullibility
of the people as these same Regency
Politicians! But they have calculated
once, I think, without their best & will find

themselves mistaken. I am glad matters retain a favourable
position for you personally. Plumb was up
a few days since (has his $500) & made
searching inquiries & shewed deep interest.
I notice of late, that men from the South
in the county, speak of you & your prospects
when at the office, quite frequently. From other
parts, I hear little or nothing except from
a few leading whigs of your personal friendship,
I hope all things will work well.
In regard to the schedules, if by the
term you mean, the list of Bonds & M. made
by S. & the lists of articles made by myself
I am certain you have there with you.
The lists of modifications made by Judge Peacock after the purchase, that were pre-
posed by Mr Humphrey, were observed to be
still here, in the bottom of his desk, & were
carefully put up & sent to the Batavia by
Mr Hungerford, on Monday morning. The copy
of your contract with the H.L.Co, used by you
while here, is also discovered to be here.
But as there ^are^ several copies of it, I have
not thought it necessary to send it after
you.

Our business continues small. We have
not recieved five hundred dollars in ten days.
But we have leisure to bring up other
things: of other things beside leisure, favoured.
Haight has applied for a service as a surveyor
in the recent Indian purchase in this state
& on some railroad routes, but & therefore
feels at loose ends, Smith has had an
overhauling, turned all manner of colours
is alarmed & is at work for a few days
for dear life. But he is young, & being
surrounded by bad influences & under
[ Haights ] example & my own which I
am [ s ] orry to say is anything else than
a close confinement to business, he is
not likely to hold out very long.
We are [ threatning ] the men who have
Mortgages here unsigned: with a view to bring
them in to execute their papers:, of which
there are 20 remaining. On examination it
turns out that many discharge Mortgages
have never been prepared, & we propose to
send out 14 foreclosure cases, against delin-
quents of 18 months standing & scatter them
among all the lawyers & all the newspapers.
Tew sends in his bill for recording, he
has entered almost all the mortgages at $1.15.
I thought I had understood from you that the

price had been agreed upon at a dollar.
My health is still feeble. Feeling as I do
that when I am away, little is doing: & that little,
liable to be a little wrong, I seem unable to get
my own consent to leave this office. and although
little is doing at any time, there is yet enough
to keep me talking & talking till my strength
is gone & I am from day to day left with im-
provement, still I think I shall soon get matters
so as to be able to break away & do better.
Jo Whites brother, it is said, has advanced him
money, & he has saved his property but not his rep-
utation or his pride.
Your grateful Brother
B.J.S.
W. H. Seward Esq
Care Am. L. Ins. & Trust Co
New York City.
Westfield N.Y. APR 12
B. J. Seward
April 11. 1838