Were it not for my almost continual absence since the receipt of your first letter I would be greatly in the wrong for having sooner acknowledged it. I have been in almost every part of the state & can now speak with entire confidence of our complete success. There is not the slightest reason to doubt it. Unless I am greatly disappointed we are good for thirty votes The letter you spoke of in your last is certainly very premature. We must impress those people with more discretion. My View for the future (<touching> the matter you refer to) may be contained in a nut shell. They are simply to return to & stay by all the old fashioned Republican principles and usages. Remember me most kindly to Mrs W. Write me as often as you can & believe me to be