Washington, February 11, 1860.
J. S. Pike, Esq.
Dear Sir:
Yours of yesterday is received. Many thanks for your kindness in saving me from
another assault in the Tribune.
I see from the Tribune of yesterday that you suppose
there was some unbecoming altercation between Mr. Colfax and myself in the
House. This is a great mistake. There are no two members of the House whose
personal relations are more kind and cordial than Mr. Colfax's and my own. I of
course felt the awkwardness of my position in opposing the election of a
candidate nominated by a caucus in which I participated. To break the force of
an anticipated attack on that ground I referred to the vote of the friends of Mr. Defrees,
and especially Mr. Colfax, in 1856. I probably acted indiscreetly in doing so.
Mr. Colfax exhibited a little feeling in his reply, but subsequent explanations
have removed every trace of it, and our former amicable relations are fully and
completely restored.
Yours, etc.,
B. Stanton.
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. 485-6
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