MY DEAR SIR: I found your second favors here upon my return and I avail
myself of the first mail to reply to them. I am under many obligations to you
for your kindness and for the skill and address with which you have managed
matters. The affair of the Herald I think will do neither good nor harm. The
moment you mentioned Westcotts name I understood the whole matter. You ask me
what is the cause of his dislike to me? I know of no cause and was not aware
that he had any dislike to me. In truth I do not believe that he either likes
or dislikes me or cares one cent about me. He has a natural propensity for
mischief and delights in making a sensation. He could indulge these
propensities better by the course which he pursued than by following your
suggestions. This I suspect is the key to his conduct unless there is somebody
in New York whom he wished to annoy. Mr. Jefferson said of Burr that he was
like "crooked gun" and no one could ever tell where he would shoot.
The same may be said of W[estcott]. The best way is to let him alone. He will
be satisfied with what he has done unless somebody pursued it further.
I am glad that you are satisfied with my letter. I was afraid you might
think I did not attach sufficient importance to your wishes which was far from
being the case. But after weighing the matter well it seemed to me most prudent
to decline. But enough of this subject. What does Donelson mean by his constant
praises of Webster? Is he bolstering him up to give him strength enough to
divide the whig party or is there an alternative in which he contemplates the
possibility of supporting him. Scarcely the latter I should think. But there
must be some object. Pray let me hear from you when you have leisure. Have the
North Western papers said any thing of my letter? Where is Douglass and what is
he about?
P. S. I will write you a letter in relation to Cushing. He would make a
capital selection.
* This letter is in the Library of Congress.
SOURCE: Charles Henry Ambler, Editor, Annual Report of the
American Historical Association for the Year 1916, in Two Volumes, Vol. II,
Correspondence of Robert M. T. Hunter (1826-1876), p. 128
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