"COLUMBUS, _June 19, 1848_.
"MY DEAR SIR,--Many of our Free-Territory men in this quarter are in
doubt as to the course which the New York Democracy intend to pursue
in reference to the Buffalo convention. Will they be represented in
it? Will they concur in the nominations made by it? If Judge McLean
can be induced to accept a nomination for the Vice-Presidency, in
connection with Mr. Van Buren for the Presidency, will they cordially
accept it? If the convention, on mature deliberation, should think it
expedient to nominate Judge McLean for the Presidency and Col. Samuel
Young or Bradford R. Wood or yourself for the Vice-Presidency, would
the New York Democracy concur in that nomination? There is a strong
disposition, also, in the West to drop the older politicians altogether
and take younger men, who better represent the spirit of the time. One
of the best and ablest Democrats in the State, I mean Edwin M. Stanton,
said to me to-day that if John Van Buren should be the nominee of the
Buffalo convention he would roll up his sleeves and go to work till the
election for the ticket; and I am sure that to all the young Democrats
and all the young Whigs in the State your name would be more acceptable
than your father's. Suppose the convention should be animated by
this spirit and nominate men of this generation, would the New York
Democracy concur?
"I put these questions to indicate the various phases which the
movement may assume. My own opinion is that, under existing
circumstances, the best possible nomination for the Presidency has been
made at Utica, provided the name of John McLean can be associated with
it. Whether it can be is, as yet, in doubt, though I fear the doubt
will be resolved against my wish. If it cannot be, we have no man in
the West whose name on the ticket would be altogether unexceptionable.
If Judge McLean should consent to allow his name to be used, the
ticket would undoubtedly sweep Ohio, and would gain immense accessions
of strength throughout the West. I firmly believe that the nominees
may, in that event, be elected this year. It would be, to be sure,
sacrificing a good deal on the part of Judge McLean, so long prominent
in the regards of the people as a candidate for the first office, to
accept a nomination for the second; and the bitterness with which he
could be assailed by the slaveholders and their allies would exceed
greatly that which is now manifested towards your father. Nothing but
a strong sense of personal duty, and a deep interest in the success of
the movement (and he avows that interest openly), will prevail on him
to consent, and, I fear, he will not feel that duty absolutely requires
the step. It is probable that he would regard an offer of a nomination
for the first office differently. He would then be the recognized head
or representative of the movement, and would feel the abuse directed
against him, as levelled chiefly at the cause. And I think he would
represent the movement almost exactly as Silas Wright would have done
if living. I regard him as more nearly resembling Silas Wright in the
general character of his views on public questions than any living
public man. While, therefore, I repeat that if we can have Judge
McLean's name for the Vice-Presidency I would rather take the ticket as
it would then stand--Martin Van Buren and John McLean--than any other,
you will not wonder that I regret that the action of the convention
at Utica has interposed an obstacle to a different arrangement.
Whether the obstacle is insuperable you are a far better judge than
I am. If it be, then, we must take the Utica nomination, supply the
Vice-Presidential vacancy and make the best fight we can.
"You will have observed the difficulty suggested by the _National Era_
growing out of the expressions in your father's letter, in relation
to slavery in the District of Columbia; and you are doubtless aware
that all that part of the letter in reference to the course of his
administration on the subject of slavery is very distasteful to almost
all anti-slavery men, whether Whig, Democratic, or Liberty.
"I wish that part of the letter could have been omitted. It does no
good to revive the past. Our business is with the present and the
future. Your remarks in your speech at Genesee on the 20th of June are
full of truth. The Free-Territories question, in discussion, must bring
up the whole slavery question inevitably. Our contest is with the slave
power, and it will break us down unless we break it down. The people
will not stop with the exclusion of slavery from Territories: they will
demand its complete denationalization. Now many understand Mr. Van
Buren's letter, so far as it touches upon slavery in the District, as a
reiteration of his pledge to veto a bill for the abolition of slavery
there if enacted by Congress. I do not myself so understand it. I
cannot believe that at the present day and under present circumstances,
when a strong anti-slavery sentiment exists in Maryland and Virginia,
which would be vastly strengthened by such a measure--so strengthened,
indeed, that those States would by it be converted into free Territory
States--that he would interpose the slightest obstacle to its adoption.
I cannot doubt that, on the contrary, he would give it every favor
consistent with the proper discharge of his function as President.
"So many, however, take a different view from mine that it is highly
desirable, in the event that M. Van Buren is to be the nominee of the
Buffalo convention, to have all doubt on this matter removed, so that
he may be received and understood everywhere as a true representative
of the movement.
"The uprising in this State exceeds all expectation, and if we only can
present a proper ticket at Buffalo we shall have the best chance of
carrying the State. But the effect of the movement is different here
from its effect in New York. The question in this State will be between
the independent nominee and Cass. Taylor is, with us, entirely out of
the question. The people reject him, and the politicians support him,
when they do at all, doubtingly and without enthusiasm. The Cass men
are more active and with better hopes. In conversation with Judge Wood
yesterday, or the day before, I remarked to him that I was a little
surprised, after reading of the interview between himself, Cass, and
the people at Cleveland, to hear of his advocating on the stump the
claims of Cass, as a Wilmot proviso man. 'Oh,' says the judge, 'He
is for the proviso as much as any of us.' 'Do you mean to say, then,
that the Nicholson letter was designed to cheat the South and get the
nomination?' I asked. 'D--n them,' said he, 'it is their _turn_ to be
cheated.' This is a common argument among the Cass men; and as there
is something like _retribution in kind_ indicated by it, it don't take
very badly among the people.
"I shall be very glad to hear from you, and to be advised of the views
of yourself and others, to whom you may show this, as to what is best
to be done and the best mode of doing it.
Yours very truly,
"S. P. CHASE."
"P. S.--Did you or Mr. Preston King receive a telegraphic despatch, at
Utica, stating the action of our people's convention, which adjourned
the day before your session commenced? We, Mr. Vaughan and myself, sent
one on the evening of the 21st, and it should have reached you on the
morning of the 22d at the latest. We shall be glad to know whether it
reached you at all, and, if so, when."