Sunday, March 17, 2024

John J. Crittenden to Leslie Coombs, November 1, 1851

WASHINGTON, November 1, 1851.

DEAR COOMBS [sic],—I received your kind and friendly letter, for which I thank you. My position in respect to the senatorial election is just this, no more, no less: At the instance of some friends in Kentucky, I consented to their presenting my name as a candidate if they thought proper to do so upon the meeting of the legislature and upon a survey of all the circumstances. I thought I might go thus far without presumption or giving just cause of offense, and yet I confess that I felt some reluctance to do even that, because it might cross or conflict with the hopes and wishes of good friends and cause some dissatisfaction on their part. Yet, having yielded my seat in the Senate to obey the wishes of the Whigs of Kentucky in becoming, at their bidding, a candidate for the office of governor, it seemed to me that I might naturally and reasonably indulge the desire of being restored to my former position; yet I did not make myself a candidate,—I left that to the discretion and the will of others. From what I hear, I suppose they have presented me as a candidate. I therefore desire to be elected; it is the situation most agreeable to me, and a re-election would be felt as a great honor. Still, I want nothing that cannot be freely awarded to me; I am not to be regarded as a disturber of the party. Disturbance already existed so far as it could be produced by the conflicting pretensions or claims of many candidates, each one of whom is, to say the least, as chargeable as I am with causing any controversy. But enough of this. I desire, of course, not to be beaten, and I thankfully accept your proffered services and friendship. I hope that you will go to Frankfort and take such part in the contest as you deem proper. I never felt less like controversy. Wounded as I have been, I naturally turn away from the battle like a bleeding soldier. My friends must act for me.

Your friend,
J. J. CRITTENDEN.
Gov. LESLIE COOMBS.

SOURCE: Ann Mary Butler Crittenden Coleman, Editor, The Life of John J. Crittenden: With Selections from His Correspondence and Speeches, Vol. 2, p. 19-20

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