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Indianapolis, Indy, February 4, 1885

My Dear Friend:

I often think of you, and always with
pride and pleasure; and, yet I must confess,
with regret. The real leaders of nations and
races are never allowed to enter their promised
lands; and, therefore, you are always coupled
in my mind with regret. Moses could
look at Canaan from the top of Pisgah,
but might not enter with the people
of God. He is the type of all true and
truly great leaders . I once hoped that the
Republican party would be great enough
to honor itself, by placing at its head, in
the day of its power, the real leader of its
opinions; and the real exemplar of its
manhood. You combined more of both
than any other man. Your opinions are
never so ideal and so distant from prac
tical life as not to be capable of union
with it; and by bravely accepting the
duty of uniting them and it in all perilous
times and places, your life became the expression