Cinti. Novr. 9 [1848.]
My Dear Sir, I
recd. yrs of the 6th to day, & as I shall be obliged to leave the city to
attend the Circuit Court at Columbus on M’day next & shall be much engaged
in the meantime I anr it at once. In regard to State Policy, which
the Free Democracy should adopt, I think it of great importance that it should
be, in the first place, truly Democratic and, in the second, well considered &
generally approved by our friends. Neither your views nor mine may be fully
met, — yet if the general principles of the policy adopted be sound, I do not
doubt that we shall both be satisfied, approximation to particular opinions is
all that can be expected in the details of a general plan. I agree that the
advantages of a paper currency, securely based upon & promptly convertible
into specie, are such that there is no reasonable probability that its use will
be dispensed with. The great problem then is to make it safe and deliver it
from the monopolizing control of corporations & favored individuals. I am
wedded to no particular plan. Let us have the most efficient. The most
prominent objection likely to be made to yrs., is that it makes the Government
of the State a Banker. I have been accustomed, myself, greatly to distrust
Government Banking: but I have neither time nor place to state my reasons now.
When we meet at Columbus we will talk the matter over. I am much obliged to
Governor Shannon for his kind opinion of me, & cordially reciprocate his
good will. I think, however, the times require, — and such I am assured is the
opinion of the friends of our movement in our own & other states, — in
the Senate of the United States, from Ohio, a man, who thoroughly understands
& will steadfastly maintain the whole platform of the Free Democracy. I do
not know but Governor Shannon is such a man. If so, I shall witness his
elevation to any station which the Legislature or the People may confer upon
him, with unfeigned pleasure. For myself, I have no aspirations for the office
of Supreme Judge. I have devoted eight of the best years of my life to one
great object — the overthrow of the Slave power and slavery by Constitutional
Action: and I desire no position in which I cannot efficiently promote this
leading purpose. On the bench I could do little for it:— not so much, I think, as
I can in my present position.
Nor do I desire to be considered as a candidate for
any other place. Some of our friends have been pleased to think I can be of use
to our cause in the Senate: and men of other parties have said that, in the
contingency that their strength in the Legislature shall prove insufficient to
elect a candidate of their own, they will be satisfied with my election to that
body. I am not weak enough to found any serious expectations or aspirations
upon these views and expressions. I look upon the election of myself or any
other Free Soiler as a contingent possibility — nothing more.
I trust that the Representatives of the Free Democracy in
the General assembly, will act when they meet at Columbus, with the patriotic
wisdom & independent firmness which the crisis will require. Upon all the
questions which they will be called upon to decide, as virtual arbiters,
between the other parties, I hope they will manifest strict impartiality, and
decide then, without bias, as their own conscientious convictions demand. In
selecting their own candidates, for whatever public stations, they should
inquire not “Whence is he ?” — nor “With what party, did he act?” but “Will he,
if elected, promote most efficiently the interests of our cause?” and “For whom
can the suffrages of our fellow members be most certainly obtained?” It would
be affectation in me to say, that I should not be highly gratified if the
choice of the Free Soil members in the Legislature should fall on me, and that
choice should be approved by a majority of their fellow members:— for I do
believe that I understand the history, principles & practical workings of
the Free Soil movement as thoroughly as most men, & nobody, I presume, will
question my fidelity to it. If, however, that choice made on those principles
should fall on another than myself — upon Giddings, Root, Swan, Hitchcock,
Brinkerhoff, or any other of those true-hearted & able men who have so
nobly sustained our cause during the recent struggle — no man will be more
prompt than I to concur cordially in it or more desirous than I to see it
confirmed by the Legislature. What I wish to have understood is this, — I do
not seek any office:— much less do I claim any. I do not even desire
any, however elevated or honorable, in which, while discharging faithfully
its general duties, I cannot efficiently promote the cause of Free Democracy:— but
should our friends have the power & feel the disposition to place me in a
position, in which, while so discharging its duties, I can so serve our cause, the
reproach of “sinister motives” —the cheap missile of malignant detraction —
would have as little influence in deterring me from accepting it, as similar
attacks have had on my past action against slavery. No man, I trust, is more
sensitive to just blame than I:— few I am sure are more indifferent to censure
felt to be undeserved.
_______________
* From letter-book 6, pp. 160. Eli Nichols was a worker for
Chase in the Ohio Senatorial election, which resulted, after a contest of
nearly three months, in Chase's election, Feb. 22, 1849. See Hart's Chase,
103-112, and T. C. Smith's History of the Liberty and Free Soil Parties,
160-175.
SOURCE: Annual Report of the American Historical
Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 139-41
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