[sideways text]
Copy of A letter
written to J M Bernhiel
Boardentown N. J.
Brother Bernhisel
Dear Sir
I sent you a few lines last night ^eveneg^
written in great Haste, as the boat was about to start but one item
which I intended to have mentioned was omitted which I con
sider quite essential and which I did not think to mention when I
saw you. If I mistake not the petition to which the signers names
are attached calls for a Territorial Governmnet if that is the case it
appeares to me that that petition should not be presnted befoe
Congress by any means untill it is altered I think that wise
policy would dictate that the word Territory be not so much as
once named in any petition or address which you have to
lay before congress in the request which is now made at there
hands, but State and State alone the ownly thing we ask for
and with my present feelings I pray to God with all my heart
that sooner than to have a Territorial Govenment given us that
they may not be permitted to give us any ^a^ Govement at all unless
by all means we could have our own Govenor & other offcers
which is a vary uncertain matter, if we could not get a State
would it not be better to withdraw the bill or petitions as
we afterwards could again present a petition for a state while
if we were a Territory we could not do it perhaps for many
years besides all the trouble that would arise from Haveing
officers & polititions among us who would have no interest in our
wilfare I throw these things [out] as they rest upon my mind
for your consideratin this subject is increasing upon my mind
and rests with wait upon me more & more day & night & is uppermost
above all other considerations and I do not know but I feel as much
interested in it as though the whole concern rested upon my shouldiers
for it is not a work merely to aggrandize or set up any one man or set
of men to get some paltry office a little salary or a name
but objets far more Noble & glorious are at stake in which
we areall feel an equal interest. Therefore I do not wish Brother
Babbit or Brother Brother Bernhisel should for a momet think
that because I expess my feelings to you upon these matters
freely by Letter that I wish to set myself up to dictate or diret
you in this important trust committed to you from
the proper source in the vally No God forbid, such a thought has
No place in my heart. You must be left free to act
from the instructions you have recieved from the proper
source and who act according to the circunstances that are [presntetd]
before you and according to the best wisdom which God shall
bestow upon you and I pray God that you may be inspired to work
together in union as the Heart of one man. It is quite probable
that any suggestions I ^may^ make to you upon this subject may have been
already been weighed well in your minds & prepared for, if so my
suggestions will do you no harm and if they have not all been considered
and I can do any good in anywise in this important matter I shall be
amply paid for my labour for I am with you both in this glorious
work with all my heart soul & spirit. I discover the House is not yet
organized or speaker chosen. I shall look for Letters from you &
Brother Babbit on on my arival at New York Yours Truly Wilford Woodruff
I have not yet reced those letters from Maine and I would like
to know if you have I recieved your Letter containg the
Ticket of admission into the genarel College I went on Monday it is
certainly one of the most magnificent finished and durable
buiddings I ever visited I also saw the robe you left for the
Col which was a splendid thing give my respets to Brothe Babbit
WW
And now Dear Sir permit me by way of conclusion to say that
since you have been at Washigton If I have not written much
to you, I have gone before the Lord & bowed my knees in earnest
prayer day by day and prayed for your success & prosperity in the glorious
cause ^in which^ your are engaged in, also for Dr. Bernhisel believing that you both
[was] doing your best to exhert an influence if not with the same
individuals that it was all lending to the same cause & to produce
the same effects and I will furthermore say that I will ^not ownly^ continue to
pray for your success, But I feel to sustan you with evry feeling
& sentimnt of my heart evy way in my power in accomplishing the
object of your mission ^at^to Washington, and I will endeavor to do
the same for evey agent who goes forth for the benefit of Deseret
under the seal & sanction of her Cetizens. I will also say that I will
endeovor to be more punctual in answering any communitions
from you than I was in answring your last for I certanly
wish to correspond with you while I am in this Couty I
expet to leave Cambridgeprt about the 1st of April with as
ma[n]y as I can get to go with me to the Bluffs & Vally. I expet
Mess[r]s Hayward & Wooley will call upon you soon, please say to them
I receved their Lette & wish them to call upon me on their
arival in Boston. My address is the Corner of Harvad & Davis
stet Cambridgepot Mass.
With sentimts of respet
and Friendship I remain Yours Truly
Wilford Woodruff
A W Babbitt Esqr
Washingtn DC