WASHINGTON, December
5, 1851.
MY DEAR SIR,—You and
other friends have been so remiss in writing to me that I have been, and am
still, to a great extent, ignorant of the proceedings and incidents of the late
attempts made in the Kentucky legislature to elect a senator to the Congress of
the United States. This, however, I do not complain of. I am, perhaps,
fortunate, in that it has saved me from some portion of those unpleasant
feelings which are unavoidable in such contests. I have learned enough,
however, to give me uneasiness and pain. The use which my friends have thought
proper to make of my name seems to have been a cause of disturbance and
controversy among the Whigs. I owe to them too many obligations for favors and
honors received in times past to be willing now to be an obstacle in their way
or to be a cause of dissension among them. If it will restore harmony and give
them satisfaction, I hope that those of them who have desired my election will
yield at once and withdraw my name from the contest. So far as I am concerned, I
will be a willing sacrifice to the reunion of the Whigs. Honorable and
desirable as it would be to me to be restored to a seat in the Senate, my
ambition is not so selfish as to make me seek it through discord and alienation
among my Whig friends. I prefer the good opinion of Kentucky to any office, and
I would not excite the ill will of any considerable number of Kentuckians by
any strife or contention for office with political friends. I do not see that
the mere presentation of my name as a candidate ought to have produced any
excitement against me, or among Whigs. I think I have not deserved this, and
that there are few who will not agree with me when the passions excited by the
contest are past. Still, we must look to the fact, and act upon it accordingly.
For my part, I can say that I want no office which is not freely and willingly
bestowed, and that I want no contest in which I am to conquer, or be conquered,
by my friends. I would rather yield to them than fight them. By the first
course, harmony might be restored among them for their own and the country's
good; in the latter, nothing but discord and division could be the result. I am
averse to be placed in any situation where I could, with any propriety, be
regarded as the cause of such evils. I do not mean by this that I would feel
bound or willing to yield to a competitor, however worthy, simply upon the
ground that he preferred the place for himself, or that his friends preferred
it for him. To ask such a submission would be illiberal, and to grant it would
be unmanly. Such differences among friends of the same party ought to be
settled in a generous and friendly spirit and leave no ill feeling behind. In
such settlements, my aim would be not to be outdone in liberality and
concession. I should dislike exceedingly to be engaged in any personal or
illiberal struggle, and sooner than an election, which ought to be made, should
be postponed, I would for the public interest and for harmony prefer to retire
from the contest. There might be some mortification attending such a course;
but this would be relieved by considering that it was done from motives
honorable, friendly, and patriotic. I have served Kentucky a long time; I have
served her faithfully, and, I hope, with no discredit to her; but I have no
wish to intrude myself upon her for reluctant favors. When my services cease to
be acceptable to her, to hold office under her would no longer be an object of
ambition for me.
SOURCE: Ann Mary
Butler Crittenden Coleman, Editor, The Life of John J. Crittenden: With
Selections from His Correspondence and Speeches, Vol. 2, p. 22-4
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