Canandaigua, February 13, 1851 —
My Dear Friend
Mrs Seward,
I ought to have written
you sooner in expression of my thanks,
and should have done so had not
some circumstances not entirely
within my control, broken me off
from my plan. You will I am
sure, know very well that it was not
an inadvertence nor a want of feeling
that produced the delay. It may be true,
and probably was, that yourself and
Governor Seward ^while I was in your household,^ did not find me
as efficient a Clerk as you had
a right to expect: Such was also my
own conviction. But I must excuse
the matter to you and him, now,
as I did to myself then, that I had
many problems connected with our
Federal Government and institutions,
unexpectedly thrown before my mind to

be worked out, and when I was appar-
ently least occupied, to external view,
I was in fact settling principles
and seeing through relations and
tendencies which will be important
longer than I shall live but which
really I might not soon again have
the opportunity of becoming acquainted
with. I ^have^ felt that a statement of the
above was necessary, to show that if I did
not pursue the right, still that I knew
it. The short comings not arising from stolidity, you will
forgive them.
You will be sufficiently interested
in politics to be glad to hear me say that
what I wrote to Mrs. Worden a good
while ago, now appears to be more true
than ever, that is, that the people are
in earnest for progress and for the freedom
& benefit of their fellows, and that if they can
not find leaders, already acknowledged
as such, to precede them, they are willing
and determined to shoot down their old
guides, of both the former political parties,
and seek new ones, who will
“Lead on to Glorious War, The Sacramental Host of God’s Elect.”

I think this feature of the public
mind and determination has become
very much more ma ^r^ ked since the
beginning of the winter. The conserva-
tives of both the old parties of course
appear further in the background
than ever, they are not as quiet, however,
as according to theory, it is their wont
to be.
The Murrays, Esquire Benja-
min, and Mr Mallory of this place,
are in the strongest hope, as are also
those who were formerly liberty party
men, and the free soilers. Mr Bradford
of Geneva, and a number of characters
from the southern tier of counties
ditto.
Please excuse me for venturing
upon so long an epistle, remember me
to the children, and Carrie, & the others, c
and believe me,
With the highest Respect,
Your obedient friend,
Myron O. Wilder
Mrs. Seward.

For
Mrs. Seward —
hMr Wilder
1851