I have presented it to my family and friends as the proudest passage in the history of an eventful life, and shall transmit it to my posterity as a sacred and cherished memento of friendship. I thank Heaven that it has fallen to my lot to be associated with yourself and others in resisting the mad current of disunion which threatened to overwhelm us; and the recollection that my course upon a question so momentous has received the approbation of the most distinguished American statesman, has more than satisfied my ambition. Believe me, my dear sir, that of all the patriots that came forward in the evil day of their country, there was no voice so potential as your own. Others could buffet the dark and angry waves, but it was your strong arm that could roll them back from the holy citadel.
May that beneficent Being who holds the destiny of men and nations, long spare you to the public service, and may your vision never rest upon the disjointed fragments of a convulsed and ruined confederacy.
I pray you to accept and to present to Mrs. Webster the kind remembrance of myself and family, and believe me sincerely yours,
D. S. Dickinson.
He (Mr. Dickinson) was a member of the Baltimore Convention of 1848. In 1852, he was again a member. The convention failed to nominate on the first day of its sitting. The second day, on assembling in the morning, the Virginia delegation presented his name for the Presidency. Having been the friend and supporter of Gen. Cass for the nomination, whose name in the balloting then stood at about 100, he thought that in honor he could not become a candidate, and arose in the convention and declined the use of his name in a speech which did honor to his patriotism and self-sacrifice, and was received with the warmest applause, though many of his friends and the sound democracy of the country regretted his decision. Virginia subsequently brought forward, in the same manner, the name of Gen. Pierce, and he was nominated and elected.
In 1853, he was appointed to the valuable office of Collector of the Port of New York, which he declined. In 1858, the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on him by the Faculty of Hamilton College, New York. Since the expiration of his senatorial term, he has been entirely devoted to professional and rural occupations, and is at present conducting a large professional business. He has not mingled extensively in political affairs since, but was upon the stump in the presidential campaigns of 1852 and 1856, in his own and some of the other States.
Mr. Dickinson possesses a strong constitution, land firm and uniform health. His habits are those of exact regularity and active industry. He is capable of great concentration of effort, and of endurance, and performs every day of his life, either at the courts, in his office, upon his grounds, or keeping up his extensive correspondence, a vast amount of labor.
He is devoted to his family and friends, is domestic in his tastes, and his most cherished hours are those spent in the confidence and quietude of home.
Cheerful, genial and hospitable in his disposition and intercourse, he is exceedingly popular in social life; his ready wit and fund of anecdote, with his varied and more solid powers of conversation, always make him welcome, and render him in society the centre of many a delighted circle.
He writes with facility, and in a style pointed and vigorous.