that all other possibilities are exhausted. I feel very much the same way. When you tell me that I must necessarily make a vigorous speech for the Cincinnati ticket now, I have simply to say that I can advocate the election of that ticket only upon the ground that it is the only way to beat Grant, and that there is absolutely no chance for another practicable alternative.
If I attempted to ratify now, the words would stick in my throat. It is against my nature and I cannot do it. I shall do my best when the issues are finally made up.
Now, you must be at that conference in New York. I shall have you notified more particularly; and if you can suggest the names of some prominent Liberals in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, whose standing and reputation are such as to add weight to their advice and action, I wish you would do so.
Do not blame me for my silence. I cannot speak now, and your hard words cannot make me speak. These four weeks since the Cincinnati Convention are among the unhappiest periods of time I ever went through. What loss of reputation I may suffer by a course which many do not understand, will be little compared [with] the disappointment caused by the loss of so great an opportunity as we had.
It is my intention to leave Washington on Friday night, unless developments in the Senate render it probable that Congress will sit beyond June 10th. I want very much to go to St. Louis and I hope I shall be able to do so.
Last Sunday, Sam Bowles was here. He thinks just as I do. This evening, I shall see Horace White who, as is reported to me from New York, is pretty much of the same mind.
