"CLEWFIELD, PA., _Nov. 14, 1876_.
"MY DEAR SIR,--Your firmness and courage now is the only
hope for the perpetuity of our institutions. The country is with
you, and will sustain you in any event and at all hazards.
Very truly yours,
"WILLIAM A. WALLACE."
BENJAMIN RUSH TO TILDEN (SUGGESTS GOVERNOR GIVE A PUBLIC DECLARATION
OF HIS VIEWS ON THE SITUATION)
"1728 CHESTNUT STREET, PHILA., _18th Nov., 1876_.
"DEAR SIR,--May I venture, with great respect, to offer a
suggestion which, in this extraordinary crisis, might, it seems to
me, if you approve, have a good effect with the other side.
"Would not a public expression of your well-considered views _now_,
in the present state of things, tend to exercise a good influence?
Your friends all remember how much good was done, on a different
occasion, by that admirable letter to Mr. Hewitt, shortly before the
election, about rebel claims, etc.
"Might not the calm, patriotic, and therefore assuaging utterances
of your pen _now_ tend to an early settlement upon the basis of
right and justice by bringing to bear, with accumulated force,
upon the bad men so conspicuous in the disputed States, the just
indignation and censure of honest and influential men of their own
party, who could not fail to be influenced by such an expression
from you, causing those men, at least, to _pause_ in their mad
career?
"Might it not, at least, have the effect of _gaining time_, and
smoothing the way for the dispassionate and final and possibly
controlling judgment of the better elements of the Republican party?
"Pray pardon the freedom of the suggestion. It is doubtless not new
to you or the friends about you, but this may at least serve to show
how the suggestion strikes another mind at a distance.
"Suffer me to avail myself of the occasion to congratulate the
American people and yourself upon the unmistakable majority of the
Electoral College and immense popular majority in your favor.
"I have the honor to be, with the highest respect.
"Your friend & obt. serv't,
"BENJAMIN RUSH."