Norwich Ct. Sep 19. 1831
My dear friend
Yours of the 16^th has just reached me and
does not leave time to address you at Albany in reply on the pre-
sumption of you being at Baltimore the 26^th. I direct therefore
so as to intercept you at N. Y.– Since my last I have been
worse but am now better and hope to be able after a few
days to take the field again– That I shall be able to attend the
convention is now however out of the question and I must
add that if ^I^ were well the predicament in which your friend-
ship has placed me would render it inexpedient– I could
not under any circumstances act so as to justify a suspi-
cion of seeking a nomination. If it shall come without my
agency, well, but I assure you in the faithfulness of confiding
friendship that I am a stranger to my own heart if there lurks
within it a single aspiration after that or any other office un-
der Heaven– But I trust it will not detract from the sin-
cerity of this asseveration to add that nothing can be plainer
to my perception than that the selection of M^r Spencer would
injure if not ruin the prospects of our cause in New York, and
this opinion I doubt not finds confirmation in the judgment
however little it may be in the action, of every leading antimason
in our state; If then it should be accomplished we must at-
tribute it to the unseen workings of a malign influence that [hole]
foredoomed our destruction– But I am not able to proceed– I
submit to the good sense and firmness, (if any there be) of our
friends, not only believing but knowing that I have nothing at
stake in the matter beyond a deep heartfelt interest in Anti-
masonry which nothing but death can eradicate–
After you reach Baltimore, address me at Albany
where I intend being before your return
In haste yours affectionately
Albert H Tracy

h S. A. Foot
19 Sept 1831