Richmond [va.], May 23,1844.
My Dear Sir:
If you had asked me to square the circle or solve the longitude I should as
soon have undertaken it as to have advised you upon the problem which you have
proposed to me. If you will give us a strong available candidate on whom our
party will rally, tu eris mihi magnus Apollo.
As one step towards seeing your way out of the fog, I advise
you to make the acquaintance of my friend W. H. Roane who is a delegate from
this district. You will find him a man after your own heart. Tell him, if you
please, that we are only strengthened in the opinion which he entertained when
he left us, that it is in vain to expect to carry Virginia with our friend Van
Buren.
If we have no Texas candidate but Capt. John Tyler he will
carry off a few thousands from Mr. V. B. which per se would be
sufficient to defeat Mr. V. B. in Virginia.
My eldest son, W. F. Ritchie, carries this hasty letter with
him. Pie is an alternate delegate to the Baltimore convention. He has seen all
my correspondence and knows the public sentiment of Virginia as well as I do.
He will go into the convention and carry out the wishes of his constituents of
the Abingdon district and he goes in also as no man's man—not even his
father's — as I have written Mr. Colquitt. I pray you to make him welcome in
Washington.
SOURCE: Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, Editor, The Annual
Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1911, Volume 2: The
Correspondence of Robert Toombs, Alexander H. Stephens, and Howell Cobb, p.
59
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