Dear Brother: . . . The coming session of Congress is to be an
important one, not in a political sense but in a business sense. The tariff,
commercial relations with American States, and differences with Canada are
likely to occupy a good deal of time, and in all of these I shall have to take
a part. What is worse, we will have the distribution of many offices. Harrison
holds on to this dangerous power, and is likely to distribute it during his
entire term. If so, he will not have another. Cleveland did the same and lost.
A President should, within the first few months of his term, fill all the most
important appointments, and then he may hope to recover from the effect before
his term closes. But I suppose you are not interested in these things, and I
begin to regard myself as a spectator rather than an actor. It is not at all
likely that I shall ever seek or accept an office again. . . .
SOURCE: Rachel
Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between
General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, pp. 378-9
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