Nathan Sargent from Daniel Dewey Barnard, Oct 31, 1855

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Albany October 31. ’55

My Dear Sir,

I am much obliged to you for your letter of the 26th, suggesting a plan for the settlement of the slavery difficulties between the North & the South.  God knows, I wish for a final settlement as much as any man.  Your suggestions seem reasonable & feasible.  And, for one, I am ready to co-operate in this, or any such plan, that wise & moderate men may suggest & adopt, which may seem to promise repose to the country & safety to the Union.  But I suppose, in spite of every thing, ultraists, & rule-or-ruin men, will agitate to the end of the chapter. And it has seemed to me that the best kind of Union for the country would be - as it has been - a truly national Whig party, resolved, & pledged to have no slavery issues where it sho[uld] be possible to avoid them, and to differ upon them, when unavoidable, as wise men, & in the forbearing & compromising temper &spirit of the Constitution ~

With great respect,
Very truly yours
D.D. Barnard