"_Private._
"UNITED STATES SENATE CHAMBER, WASHINGTON, _Aug. 20,
1872_.
"MY DEAR TILDEN,--There is a rumor here that O'Conor is willing to
accept the nomination of Blanton Duncan's Louisville convention. If
you have any influence with him I pray you to exert it to prevent his
doing so. It is as hard for me to support Greeley as it is for any
man I know. But, being compelled to choose between him and Grant,
I am satisfied that we ought to support him--not for his own sake,
but because it is the only mode left to us to break the radical
organization. I have a very high opinion of O'Conor, and would be much
distressed should he give the use of his great name to the Louisville
movement, which is wholly in the interest of Grant.
"Please write to me at _Columbus, Ohio_, where I will be in a few days.
"Yours truly,
"A. G. THURMAN."