On Tuesday afternoon, Governor Seymour contacted the leader of New York City's Catholic citizens, Archbishop John Hughes, in a letter that read in part: "Will you exert your powerful influence to stop the disorders now reigning in this city? I do not wish to ask anything inconsistent with your sacred duties but if you can with propriety aid the civil authorities at this crisis I hope you will do so." Hughes, an Irishman who had repeatedly come into conflict with Horace Greeley over the Tribune's negative portrayals of New York's Irish Catholic population, responded Wednesday with a statement of his own that was published in the morning newspapers on Thursday, as well as an invitation for citizens to come to his home and hear him speak the following day. Several thousand gathered peacefully on Friday at Hughes' home at Madison and 36th St. Hughes extolled the virtues of both New York City's Irish Catholic population and the potential for democratic change of the federal government.