New York, May 24, 1861.
Dear Sumner, — I have
hesitated a long time whether I ought to write to you in an affair, trifling
for every one except myself and my son. I think, however, that I ought not to
hesitate, and thus I write. My son Hamilton is among the Illinois troops at
Cairo; for my son Norman, the youngest, I have solicited a lieutenant's
commission in the army. Papers have been sent to the President, to Mr. Cameron,
and to Mr. Seward, from presidential electors and several well-known citizens here.
But if the ancients said, “Letters do not blush,” moderns may with equal
correctness say, “Letters do not push.” My presence at Washington would not be
of any use either. A professor has no influence in America; a literary man,
even a publicist, has no more; and a New York professor or writer the least of
all. Should you think it worth your while, in case you see Mr. Cameron, to say
a word to him?
Norman is an
admitted lawyer, a young man of strictly honorable principles, gentlemanly,
and, like his father, ardent for the Union and for freedom. I say it as an old
soldier, that he is in every way competent to do justice and honor to a
commission in the army. If this reaches you, I should like to have a word from
you.
SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and
Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 318-9
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