The Sunday Dispatch's front page is dominated by a scathing political column titled "Reminiscences and Bantam Recollections of the Tyler Administration," written by Horace Walpole and addressed to Henry A. Wise, U.S. Minister to Brazil. The piece is a blistering indictment of President John Tyler's abuse of executive patronage to secure his own re-election. Walpole chronicles how Tyler, after breaking with the Whigs who elevated him to the presidency, surrounded himself with "unprincipled harpies" who promised to deliver New York's electoral votes in exchange for control over the Custom House and Post Office. The author details how respectable officials like Edward Curtis (Collector) and James Coddington (Postmaster) were pressured to make politically-motivated appointments, and how Curtis ultimately held firm against the "infamous mandate" long enough that the Custom House position went unfilled until Cornelius P. Van Ness—a Vermont politician and stranger to New York—was appointed without consulting city residents. The column concludes with a darker note: Van Ness, upon taking office on July 15, 1844, dismissed 60 subordinates in a single day, replacing them with unqualified cronies while extracting "black-mail" levies from the dismissed employees before they were even notified of their removal.

In 1846, America was grappling with profound questions about executive power, party loyalty, and the proper use of government patronage. Tyler's presidency (1841-1845) had been chaotic—he inherited the office after William Henry Harrison's death, alienated his own party, and became the first president to have impeachment threatened against him. This column captures the raw anger among New York's political establishment over what they viewed as blatant corruption disguised as party loyalty. The "spoils system" was standard practice, but Tyler was accused of taking it to extremes, essentially auctioning federal positions to finance his political survival. This controversy fed into broader mid-19th-century debates about whether democracy could survive when politicians treated government jobs as personal currency. The anger expressed here would influence reform movements that wouldn't gain real traction until the Civil Service Act of 1883.

• The Sunday Dispatch itself was a bargain: 3 cents per week for city subscribers, or $1 per year by mail—making it roughly 75 cents in today's money for a year's subscription. Advertisements cost $1 per square (16 lines) for the first insertion, 50 cents thereafter.
• Walpole references C.P. Van Ness as 'late Minister to Spain' and 'Ex-Governor of Vermont' and 'Ex-Collector of the Port of Burlington, a small port on Lake Champlain, to which a Canadian canoe occasionally had entrance'—yet this man, a stranger to New York, was appointed Collector of the Port of New York, the nation's most lucrative customs position.
• The column mentions Van Ness had been in Washington 'many months, pushing some extra claims through the departments—claims that had been proclaimed unjust' by an eminent Senator, and involved him in schemes with Joel B. Sutherland, N.P. Tallmadge, William C. Rives, and John C. Clarke to defeat John W. Jones for Speaker of the House.
• A bizarre secondary story reveals a young Kentuckian traveling down the Rhone River who couldn't obtain a dinner from the captain despite offers of bribes and entreaty—yet when a Russian Count Orloff appeared, the captain suddenly served him lavishly, explaining 'he be one gran' Russian Count.' The Kentuckian's response—'And what the h—ll if he be!'—captures the democratic indignation of the era.
• The column explicitly invokes classical parallels, comparing one gentleman of principle who refused the Collectorship to 'the aged Aristides of Bethnel Green' (Aristides the Just), suggesting educated New Yorkers saw themselves as guardians of civic virtue against those who believed 'every man has his price.'

• President Tyler's vice president replacement, Robert Tyler (mentioned here as 'Bob'), was actually his own son—one of the first instances of a president involving his child so directly in patronage politics. The Tyler family would continue using government office for personal advancement.
• Edward Curtis, the Collector Walpole defends, had Daniel Webster as his 'friend and confidant' in the Cabinet—Webster was Secretary of State and one of the few Whigs Tyler initially kept. This connection briefly protected Curtis, but even Webster couldn't save him from the full machinery of Tyler's patronage purge.
• The Custom House and Post Office positions referenced here were among the most valuable federal appointments in America—the New York Custom House alone generated millions in tariff revenue and controlled dozens of lucrative jobs. Control of these offices was literally worth electoral votes in a closely-divided nation.
• Cornelius P. Van Ness's ultimate removal by 'the present Administration' (which would be President James K. Polk, elected in 1844) is presented as vindication of Walpole's criticism—suggesting that even Tyler's successor recognized the damage done by these patronage appointments.
• The article is dated February 21, 1846—roughly 18 months after Van Ness took office and began his mass dismissals. Walpole's column gained traction as Tyler's presidency receded into memory, allowing him to write this critique when political danger had passed, in a paper just one year old (Volume I, Number 12).