Washington, June 19, 1850.
. . . Thanks for your hint about the Boston letter; but
Childs need not expect to catch old birds with chaff; just tell him so, and
tell him not to be so indefinite. The Chicopee folks send it with a
construction of their own. They say it means, “Vote for Taylor's plan!!” Will
Childs indorse that? or will he expound it to mean, Give to the South all they
ask? There is no medium, and it is melancholy to see that by votes from Free
States they are getting all they want. The Omnibus will go through the Senate.
Bridges are being built to enable men to cross the gulf, and the report to-day
is that there can be no doubt. Mr. Davis almost wishes Jefferson Davis’s
amendment may be adopted, that the Northern men may be effectually cornered.
The tariff still slumbers, but probably that will be brought to bear in the
House. Mr. Badger says there can be no Southern vote for a tariff if this bill
is defeated. I hope we are not quite ready to sell soul and body too for
cotton.
We often wish for your good company. Mrs. Grinnell desires
her regard, and the gentlemen would too if they were hear; but I write without
delay, after reading your letter, fearing I may fall into my old habit of
waiting a more convenient season, till finally I am ashamed to do it at all.
With great regard,
Your friend,
E. Davis
I have opened my letter to say to you that Mr. Dayton has
just come in from the Senate quite in spirits. He says he told Clay he wished
to go home a day or two, and asked him what would be done to-morrow. “My God,”
says Clay, “don't ask me. Who can tell for tomorrow. I wish I could be well out
of this matter. Woe to the day I ever touched it.” Berrien offered an amendment
which has offended him, and he said so. “I am not a school-boy to be lectured,”
says Berrien. “I am too old for that, sir.” “Aha!” says Dayton, “I have thought
so too, but you must take your turn.” The bridges are caving in, and the hope
is our folks still keep a majority, notwithstanding absenteeism. Borland and
Bradbury have decamped, but it is said the rest will not be coaxed even by Clay.
So much for to-day. Wednesday, 4 o'clock.
SOURCE: James Shepherd Pike, First Blows of the
Civil War: The Ten Years of Preliminary Conflict in the United States from 1850
to 1860, p. 84
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