| Show interesting correspondence washington feb 24 the philadelphia pre press revives the following atten by general Sher sherman nian for the north Anzer american idan review of december 1888 in the year of our lord 1884 here to be a sharp contest for the noat nation in chicago for a presidential candidate of the republican party the pret presh and the people generally gener alfy believed believe that blaine wanted it and everybody turned to him as the man best qualified to execute the policy to accomplish the result aimed at still ab negating himself he wrote to me from washington I 1 i his letter confidential strictly and absolutely so 80 washington D C may 1884 my dear general generah this letter requires P no answer after reading it file it away in in your most secret drawer or give it to the names flames at the approaching convention at chicago it is more than possible it i indeed not improbable that you may be nominated for the presidency if so no you must stand your hand acce accept t the responsibility lity and assume the duties of the place to which you will surely be chosen it if a candidate you must not look upon it as the work of the politicians if it comes to you it will come as the ground swell of popular demand and you can no more refuse than you could have refused to obey an order when you were a lieutenant in the army if it comes to you at all it will come me as a call of patriotism it would in such ouch an event injure your great fame as much to decline it as it would for you ou to seek it your historic record full fuu as it is would be rendered still more glorious by such an administration as an you would be able to give the country do bo not say a word in advance of the convention no matter who may ask you you are with your friends who will jealously guard your honor and renown your friend JAMES JAMBS G BLAINE to which I 1 replied GARRISON adz av ST louis mo ma may 28 14 hon james G blaine washington D 0 my dear friend 1 I have received your letter of the shall construe as 88 absolutely confidential not intimating intimation tin even to any member of my family that f I 1 have heard from you and though you may not expect an answer I 1 hope you will not construe one as unwarranted I 1 have a great many letters from all points of the compass to a similar effect one or two of which I 1 have answered frankly but the great maw mass are unanswered were I 1 ought not to submit myself to the cheap ridicule of declining what is not offered but it is only fair to the man many y really able men who rightfully aspire to the high honor of being president of the united states to let them know that I 1 am botand not and must mast not be construed as a rival in every mans life occurs an epoch when he must choose his own career and when he may not throw oft the responsibility or tamely place his desti destiny ni in the han hands of friends mine deerr occurred in louii louisiana when in 1861 alone in the midst of a people blinded by supposed wrongs fro solved to stand by the union as long as a fragment of it survived on OB which to cling since then through faction tempest war and peace ce my career has been all my cami family and friends could ask we are now in a good house of our own choice with reko reasonable provisions for old age surrounded by kind and admiring friends in a community where catholicism I 1 is held in respect and veneration and where my children will naturally grow up in contact with an industrious and frugal people ae you have known and precia ap appreciated mrs sherman from childhood h have also known each other oiher and all the t he members of my family and can understand without an explanation from me how their thoughts though tsi and feelings should and ought to influence my action but I 1 will not even throw off on them the responsibility I 1 will not in any event entertain or accept a nomi nomination nadon as a candidate for president by the chicago republican convention ven tion or any other convention for reasons personal to myself I 1 claim that the civil war in which I 1 simply did a mans fair share of work so perfectly accomplished 2 complis hed peace that military men have have an wD absolute solute right to rest and to demand that the men who have been schooled in the arts and practice of peace shall now do their work equally well any senator can stop step from hia chair at the capitol into the white house and fulfil fulfill the office of president with more skill and success than a grant sherman or sheridan who were soldiers by education and nature who filled well their office when the country was in danger but were not schooled in the practice by which civil communities are and should be governed 0 v I 1 claim that our expert experience ence sn since 00 1866 demonstrates demonstrate the truth of this my proposition therefore I 1 say that patriotism does not demand of me what I 1 construe as a sacrifice of judgments judgment of inclination clia cli tion and of self interest I 1 have my personal affairs in a state of absolute safety and comfort I 1 owe no man a cent have no expensive habits envy no man his wealth or power no complications or indirect liabilities and w would account myself a fool a madman an ass to embark anew at 65 years of age in a career career that may become at any moment tempest tossed by perfidy the defalcation the dishonesty or neglect of any single one of a hundred thousand subordinates utterly unknown to the president of the united states not to say may the eternal worriment of a vast host of impecunious friends and old military subordinates even as it is Iam I 1 am tortured by the charitable appeals of poor distressed pensioners but as president these would be multiplied beyond human endurance I 1 remember well the experience of generals jackson harrison taylor grant hayes anti and garfield all elected because of their military services and am warned not encouraged by their sad experiences perien ces the civilians of the united states should and must buffet with this thankless office and leave us as old soldiers to enjoy the peace we fought for and think we earned with profound respect your fi lend fiend W T SHERMAN these letters prove absolutely that mr blaine though qualified waived to me personally a nomination which the world still believes he then coveted for himself for copies of these letters I 1 believe I 1 have been importuned importuner a thousand times but as a soldier I 1 claim the p privilege elege of unmasking my batteries when I 1 please in giving to the north american review at this late day these letters which thus far have remained hidden in my private files filea I 1 commit no breach of elf confidence fi ce and to put at rest a matter of coni inquiry referred to in my letter of mal 28 18 1 here record that my imme late family are strongly catholic am not and cannot be that is all the public has a right to know nor do I 1 wish to be construed as depar departing tink from a are re solve made forty years ago never to embark in politics the brightest and best youth of our oar laud land have been drawn into that maelstrom and their wrecked fortunes strew the beach of the ocean of time my memory even in its short time brings up the names of victims by the hundreds if not thousands W T 11 |
