I have just ar[ri]ved in this city
and recived your Note together with Dr Bernhisels
Letter who are direct from him to me. I wrote to him
the evening I ^last^ saw you also sent him another the next
day requsting him to take the word Territory out of the
petition before it was presented at Washington
also remarked that I would rather the bill would
be withdrawn than to recieve a Territory unless we
had the fullest assureance given us by the presidet
that officers of our own choice wshould be appointed
Dr Bernhisel informs me that they are instructed
to ask for a Territory if they cannot get a State
then as a last resort if the State fails we must use
every possible exhertion to get our own officers appoited
and trust the event in the hands of God. I shall write Dr
Bernhisel immediately. I will say I have been enabled to
procure letters of recommendation for Dr Bernhisel to
the Senators and Representatives from the State of Maine
who have promised to [go] for our cause
That peace Health, Strength and prosperity may attend
you is the cincere prayer of yours Truly
"Letter to Thomas Leiper Kane and John Milton Bernhisel, 8 December 1849," p. 1, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed March 21, 2023, https://wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/p/n5pl
