FRANKFORT, March 7, 1854.
MY DEAR SIR,—I am much obliged by your letter of 7th of February, and thank you for the information and kind suggestions it contains. I fully appreciate the frank and friendly spirit in which it was written.
You tell me there is a feeling among the Whigs at Washington "to run me for the Presidency, and that you fully participate in that feeling." I am grateful and proud to be held in such estimation by my friends; but I beg you to be assured that I entertain no expectation and no aspiration to become a candidate for the Presidency. No ambition for that high office troubles me. In the speech which I made on the 16th of last month I did not allude to the Nebraska bill. The festive occasion—a public dinner—on which it was made did not require me to speak on that subject. Besides, I had no inclination to make any public parade of my opinions, as though they were of consequence. On the other hand, I had no motive or wish to conceal them. I have not, therefore, hesitated here, in private circles, when it happened to become the subject of conversation, to express my views without reserve. I stated these views to the Hon. Presley Ewing, now at Washington, in a telegraphic reply to an inquiry which he had addressed to me from that place a few days ago. I will now, with the same readiness and frankness, state them briefly to you, without prolonging this letter by explanations and arguments.
Considering the question as an open one, it seems to me clear that Congress ought to leave it to the people of the Territories, preparing to enter the Union as States, to form their constitutions in respect to slavery as they may please, and ought to admit them into the Union whether they have admitted or excluded slavery; but that question, it seems to me, can scarcely be considered as an open one.
The country has long rested in the belief that it is settled by the Missouri Compromise, so far as it respects all the territory embraced by it, and of which Nebraska and Kansas are parts. I hope, however, that the North may consent to yield that compromise, and concur in substituting the principle of the Nebraska bill for the rule fixed by the Missouri Compromise. But without such a concurrence of Northern representatives as would fairly manifest the assent of the North to such substitution, I do not think the South ought to disregard or urge the repeal of that compromise to which she was a party.
The Missouri Compromise has long been considered as a sort of landmark in our political progress. It does not appear to me that it has ever been superseded or abrogated; and I think it is to be apprehended that its repeal, without sincere concurrence of the North, will be productive of serious agitations and disturbances.
That concurrence will relieve the subject from difficulty, as the parties to compromise have an undoubted right to set it aside at their pleasure. By such a course it seems to me the North would lose nothing, and would but afford another evidence of her wisdom and her patriotism. This, however, is a subject for her own consideration.
The great interest of the country requires that we should avoid, as far as possible, all agitation of the slavery question.
To use the language of Mr. Jefferson, "it sounds like a firebell at midnight." I am now, as I always have been, disposed to abide and stand by any past or future compromise or settlement of that question, provided it be only tolerably just and equal, not dishonorable, rather than to hazard the mischiefs of continued and corroding agitation. For these reasons I was content with the present compromises and regretted their disturbance. For the same reason I would maintain, for the sake of quiet, any different compromise or settlement that may be now or hereafter made, if not dishonorable or grossly unfair. This course, it seems to me, is demanded no less by the interest of the slaveholding States than for the tranquillity of the Union and its safety.
I have thus, sir, endeavored to give you an imperfect sketch of my views on the subject of the Nebraska bill. It will enable you to discover by comparison how far I differ in opinion with you and our other friends in Washington. Whatever these differences may be, they shall on my part be only differences of opinion. They will never disturb my general relations, personal or political, to you or to them. I will only add, sir, that if the Nebraska bill, with its repeal of the "Missouri Compromise," shall pass, my hope and wish is that it may prove by its consequences the correctness of your views, and its results may be as beneficial to the country as your purposes and intentions, I am sure, have been upright and patriotic.
SOURCE: Ann Mary Butler Crittenden Coleman, Editor, The Life of John J. Crittenden: With Selections from His Correspondence and Speeches, Vol. 2, pp. 102-3
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