July 19, 1850.
DEAR BURNLEY,—I returned from Louisville last evening, where I was
suddenly summoned a few days ago to attend the sick and, as was then supposed,
dying bed of my son-in-law, Chapman Coleman. I left him much improved, and, as
the doctors induced me to hope, out of danger, though still quite ill. This
absence delayed the receipt of your telegraphic dispatches, in which you ask me
if I will accept the office of Attorney-General, and say that it is important I
should answer immediately. A little reflection will show you the difficulty of
answering this communication with the telegraphic brevity of a "yes"
or "no." Indeed, I find much of the same difficulty in responding to
you in any mode. You are upon the spot, and with a nearer and better view of
the condition of things. You give me no intimation of your opinions or wishes;
nor do you give me to understand that the inquiry was made at the suggestion or
by the authority of the President or any other official. I must therefore
understand it as more an inquiry of your own, in order, perhaps, to enable you
and other friends to press me more effectually for the office. If this be the
object and purpose, I could not answer you affirmatively without in substance
seeking the office for myself. That I am not willing to do, either in form or
substance, directly or indirectly. I would not, for any consideration subject
myself to the imputation of endeavoring to force or solicit my way into the
cabinet of Mr. Fillmore. There are stations that can be neither agreeably nor usefully
occupied except by persons having the personal good will and confidence of the
President. My relations with Mr. Fillmore have always been of the most
agreeable and amicable character, and I hope they may continue so. It seems to
me that if he pleased to desire my acceptance of the office of
Attorney-General, the most proper course would be for him to tender it to me;
and that the most proper and becoming course for me would be to wait till it
was tendered. The tender would then be most honorable to both parties, and
certainly most gratefully received by me. I feel that before such an offer it
would be indelicate in me to say that I would or would NOT accept. You will
appreciate all this without any explanation, and so I shall leave the subject.
There is no confidence, Burnley, that I fear to repose in you; and if it should
appear to you that there is too much of reserve in this letter to be used
towards an old and well-tried friend, I wish you to understand that it is
intended to apply to the subject only, and to keep distinct and clear the line
of conduct that I sincerely desire to pursue in relation to this matter.
My situation now is not exactly what it was when I declined an invitation
to go into the cabinet of General Taylor; and to you, as my friend, my personal
friend, I may say that my impression is that I should accept the office if
tendered to me; but I will have no agency in seeking or getting it; nor do I
wish my friends to place me in any attitude that can be construed into any such
seeking; nor do I wish them to give themselves any trouble about the matter. If
the offer of the office comes freely and without solicitation, then it comes
honorably, and may be taken the more honorably. I think you will now understand
me fully, and I have only to add that I am always your friend,
SOURCE: Ann Mary Butler Crittenden Coleman, Editor, The Life of John J. Crittenden: With Selections from His Correspondence
and Speeches, Vol. 1, p. 374-5
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