Washington, Jan. 28, '50.
My Dear Sumner:
You ask for a word of cheer. The response must come from a sad heart. I have
just heard the tidings of the death of a beloved sister, than whose a sweeter,
kinder, more affectionate heart never yearned towards a brother. You may
remember that when I was in Boston last fall I went up to New Hampshire to see
her. Little thought I it was our last meeting on earth. But God has so willed
it — would that I could say more truly from the heart God's will be done!
My wife, too, is still very ill; but I hope is mending slowly.
I fear, however, her constitution will never recover wholly from the shock it
has sustained.
What a vale of misery this world is! To me it has been
emphatically so. Death has pursued me incessantly ever since I was twenty-five.
My path has been — how terribly true it is — through the region of his shadow.
Sometimes I feel as if I could give up — as if I must give up. And then
after all I rise and press on. Have you ever experienced these feelings? I
should faint certainly if I did not believe that God in mercy as well as wisdom
orders all things well, and will not suffer those who trust in Him through
Christ to be utterly cast down.
There is much commotion here, and some feel discouraged. Our
cause is just and it will triumph; no matter how the territorial issue may be
decided. I still think the Proviso will pass the House, and I think that
it will pass the Senate. The South seems determined to insist on territorial
government being instituted; and I do not see how the question can be avoided.
If it comes fully to a vote I shall believe we shall carry it until the result
shall teach me the contrary.
Cordially your
friend,
[Salmon P. Chase.]
P. S. You must go to wah, all hands, in Palfrey's
district.
SOURCE: Annual Report of the American Historical
Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 200
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