Washington, Dec. 14, 1850.
My Dear Sumner:
I should rejoice in the election of Giddings to the Senate but no man can tell
who will be elected. Mr. G's friends in the Senate of Ohio acted badly in
voting for and electing a National Fillmore Whig as Speaker in preference to
and over a radical Free Soil Democrat. This has, of course, exasperated the Old
Line.
I am delighted with your assurance that a Freesoiler will be
elected from Massachusetts. But you have no right to take yourself out
of the list from which a selection shall be made. Let there be a free choice
and the result acquiesced in cheerfully. You cannot withdraw to more
quiet pursuits whether elected to the Senate or not. Freedom has need of all
and more than all her able champions. The struggle is but just begun. When you
have elected a Senator he will need support and the cause will need that he
should be supported.
I can't tell what will be done this session. If somebody
better qualified does not anticipate me I mean to discuss the fugitive slave
bill in full. I mean, also, as occasion shall offer, to express my views on
other topics. I wish besides, to show that I can do something for Ohio and
Western Interests.
I don't know what Seward will do. I have never been able to
establish much sympathy between us. He is too much of a politician for me. It
is said that he is disinclined to agitation and disposed to be gracious to his
Fillmore co-partizans.
I believe nothing will be matured this winter as to
Presidential candidates. The canvass seems somewhat active; but it is hard to
find out what men are and who they are with. Parties
are not cohesive enough for the practical purposes of Presidential patriots.
Yours cordially,
[SALMON P. CHASE.]
SOURCE: Diary and correspondence of Salmon P. Chase, Annual
Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol.
2, p. 224
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