FORT MOULTRIE, S.C., Oct. 24, 1844.
My Dear Brother: . . . What in the devil are you doing? Stump
speaking! I really thought you were too decent for that, or at least had
sufficient pride not to humble and cringe to beg party or popular favor.
However, the coming election will sufficiently prove the intelligence and
patriotic spirit of the American people, and may deter you from committing a
like sin again. . . . For my part, I wish Henry Clay to be elected, and should
rejoice in his success, for various reasons, but I do not permit myself to
indulge in sanguine feelings when dependence has to be placed on the
pitch-and-toss game of party elections.
*
* * * * * * * * *
I rejoice in the
winter period of relaxation to enable me to devote more time to reading. Look
out that I don't turn out a pettifogging lawyer, and rival you in fame at some
cross-roads in the Far West. . . .
Let me conclude by
hoping that you will now in the outset of life do all things in your power to
advance your interest and fame, and to neglect no chance to better your
fortune. . . .
SOURCE: Rachel
Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between
General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, pp. 26-7
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