WASHINGTON, March 6,
1852.
MY DEAR SIR,—I
received your favor transmitting an engrossed copy of the address which you did
me the honor to make to me on the occasion of presenting the medal which my New
York friends had offered me. I thank you for this corrected copy of the address
which is very beautifully engrossed.
The medal has been
in the possession of the goldsmiths of this place, who desired the custody of
it to gratify public curiosity. You wish it returned that a more accurate
impression may be made by striking another. I examined it to see if I could
discern the defect in the letters to which you refer, and I confess I could
not. If to strike it again will occasion any trouble or expense to my friends,
I think it might well be avoided, but if you persist in your desire to have it
done, I will have it sent to you by Adams' Express next week.
You rightly
understood me in expressing a preference for Mr. Fillmore as the Whig candidate
for the Presidency. This I did before I left home, and have frequently here in
private intercourse, since my arrival at Washington. I care not how generally
the fact may be known, but I should not deem it right to publish any formal
avowal of that preference under my own signature in the newspapers. Such a
course would subject me to the imputation of supposing that my opinions
possessed more weight with the public than I apprehend they do. The foundation
of my preference is, that Mr. Fillmore has administered the Executive
Government with signal success and ability. He has been tried and found true,
faithful, honest, and conscientious. I wish to say nothing in derogation from
his eminent competitors, they have both rendered great services to their
country; the one in the field, the other in the Cabinet. They might possibly
administer the Government as well as Mr. Fillmore has done. But then neither of
them has been tried; he has been tried in the elevated position he now holds,
and I think that prudence and wisdom had better restrain us from making any
change without a necessity for it, the existence of which I do not perceive.
SOURCE: Calvin
Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 628
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