Sever all connections with Thurlow Weed? Many considered- & I think, with justification- Weed to be a pretty shady character. * That he seemed to be Seward’s right-hand man was used against him, with great effectiveness, by his opponents. Of course I have to add that I doubt this would have been enough to secure the nomination for Seward- he had too many strikes against him- but heck, it couldn’t have hurt.
*- Earlier that year Weed pushed through the NY legislature six NYC street-railway bills
which allowed many miles of track to be laid
w/o any conditions re compensation, tenure,
or fares. Seward’s opponents charged that the purpose of these bills was to get the franchise receipents to furnish $ for the G.O.P. in the Presidental election. Sound familiar?