Year: 1868




MY DEAR SIR-Your favor.of the 9th
has been some time on hand, but a press,
partly of business, mainly of Incidence,
has delayed my answer. .-i..,. ~
am not at all surprised at the views
you express on the subject of my
address of the Cd. You talk, ndread
and live on one side of the question
only,and whatever strongly contravenes
it must, 1 am well aware, impress you
unfavorably: while I, on the other hand,
not engaged in political or professional
life, mixing freely with men of all par
ties and having all the reliable sources
of information open and present before
me, have formed an opinion quite diff
ferent from yours, and probably differ
ent from that which 1 would have formed
in your situation. You have read the
brief on one side. I have examined and
weighed the case carefully on both,
with most earnest desire to sustain, if
possible, the party to which very many
of my old friends and political associ-
ates belonged; that l would not do it
was their fault, not mine, for l warned
them repeatedly of the gulf which they
were opening between us, which it were
impossible for me to pass without an
abandonment of all my lifelong cher
ished principles; and while these events
were passing, 1 stood on ground which
precluded all possible supposition that
1 had an undue bias on the side on
which you think err, that is, towards
secession, its consequent revolt, or in
favor of those who committed it. have
during all my political life spoken and
written against the right of notification
and secession. And at the opening of the
late contest, from the very first, and as
long as my physical strength endured, 1
publicly addressed the people, calling
upon the young men to volunteer, and
the aged and rich to contribute funds to
support the families of the patriotic SOL
diers who volunteered to fight in defense
of the Constitution and the Union.


In this, Judge Ranney, Allen, and
other old school Democrats, took the
stand with me. 1t was not party, but
National, Union movement, and /
did not propose then, nor do 1 intend
now, to slide into party which by its
reckless violence is destroying both the
Union and the Republican government
under which alone it exists. 1 have
four sons and two sons in law, six in
all. When an armed force became nee
essary, five of the six volunteered-of
these all but one, who was disabled by
a wound, served during the war, and
fought in more than twenty battles, be-
ginning at Bull Run and ending at the
grand review in Washington; and Of
these four, no one was less than twice
promoted for good conduct on the field
of battle. 1t is cool for gentlemen to
talk to me of their achievements and ar
rogate the right to govern the nation
because they saved it, when few of them
rendered more efficient service in the
hour of trial than 1, and the millions
who think and act with me. And the
most that many of those did who claim
most merit, and are most clamorous and
exacting, was to manufacture shoddy,
and, with it, to cheat the Government
in clothing furnished our troops.


In the beginning of the contest it was
of paramount Importance to secure the
co operation of the border States, es'
pecially Kentucky; and to this end ]
held consultation with Mr.. Crittenden,
and at his request, he being in feeble
health but strong in the ruling passion
devotion to the Union-I drew up
the resolutions which bear his name,
which, without the change of word
passed the two houses with but three
dissenting voices. 1 intended them in
good faith, and so they were received
by the border States; but that faith was
violated by Congress at its first session
after the surrender of the rebel army,
and the dissolution of the Confederate
government, and this breach of faith
has produced all the anarchy and most
of the evils which have since distracted
the nation. 1 have washed my hands
of it. and of the party who committed
and still persist in asserting and sustain
ing it. The old Whig party, to which
you and belonged, was sincere and
truthful party. So with the Union par
ty of 1861; they violated no obliga-
tions, legal or constitutional; they broke
no faith, but held due on to the execu,
ton of their just and lawful purpose;
and am too long taught in their school
to now join in, or knowingly give coun'
tenance to, lawless or faithless politi
cal combination, however powerful ol
imposing, or however largely composed
of those who once acted with me and
were my friends.


Whether justly or not, I am proud o
the part which my family bore in th'
late conflict, and am not at all afraid tina
their laurels will be tarnished by the OBJ
servance of strict good faith with th'
yanouished, who have yielded the prin