The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln — Volume 5: 1858-1862. Lincoln Abraham

braham Lincoln

      The Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln — Volume 5: 1858-1862

      TO SYDNEY SPRING, GRAYVILLE, ILL

SPRINGFIELD, June 19, 1858

      SYDNEY SPRING, Esq.

      MY DEAR SIR: — Your letter introducing Mr. Faree was duly received. There was no opening to nominate him for Superintendent of Public Instruction, but through him Egypt made a most valuable contribution to the convention. I think it may be fairly said that he came off the lion of the day — or rather of the night. Can you not elect him to the Legislature? It seems to me he would be hard to beat. What objection could be made to him? What is your Senator Martin saying and doing? What is Webb about?

      Please write me. Yours truly,

      A. LINCOLN.

      TO H. C. WHITNEY

SPRINGFIELD, June 24, 1858

      H. C. WHITNEY, ESQ.

      DEAR SIR: — Your letter enclosing the attack of the Times upon me was received this morning. Give yourself no concern about my voting against the supplies. Unless you are without faith that a lie can be successfully contradicted, there is not a word of truth in the charge, and I am just considering a little as to the best shape to put a contradiction in. Show this to whomever you please, but do not publish it in the paper.

      Your friend as ever,

      A. LINCOLN.

      TO J. W. SOMERS

SPRINGFIELD, June 25, 1858

      JAMES W. SOMERS, Esq.

      MY DEAR SIR: — Yours of the 22nd, inclosing a draft of two hundred dollars, was duly received. I have paid it on the judgment, and herewith you have the receipt. I do not wish to say anything as to who shall be the Republican candidate for the Legislature in your district, further than that I have full confidence in Dr. Hull. Have you ever got in the way of consulting with McKinley in political matters? He is true as steel, and his judgment is very good. The last I heard from him, he rather thought Weldon, of De Witt, was our best timber for representative, all things considered. But you there must settle it among yourselves. It may well puzzle older heads than yours to understand how, as the Dred Scott decision holds, Congress can authorize a Territorial Legislature to do everything else, and cannot authorize them to prohibit slavery. That is one of the things the court can decide, but can never give an intelligible reason for.

      Yours very truly,

      A. LINCOLN.

      TO A. CAMPBELL

SPRINGFIELD, June 28, 1858

      A. CAMPBELL, Esq.

      MY DEAR SIR: — In 1856 you gave me authority to draw on you for any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars. I see clearly that such a privilege would be more available now than it was then. I am aware that times are tighter now than they were then. Please write me at all events, and whether you can now do anything or not I shall continue grateful for the past.

      Yours very truly,

      A. LINCOLN.

      TO J. GILLESPIE

SPRINGFIELD, July 16, 1858

      HON. JOSEPH GILLESPIE.

      MY DEAR SIR: — I write this to say that from the specimens of Douglas Democracy we occasionally see here from Madison, we learn that they are making very confident calculation of beating you and your friends for the lower house, in that county. They offer to bet upon it. Billings and Job, respectively, have been up here, and were each as I learn, talking largely about it. If they do so, it can only be done by carrying the Fillmore men of 1856 very differently from what they seem to [be] going in the other party. Below is the vote of 1856, in your district:

      Counties.

      By this you will see, if you go through the calculation, that if they get one quarter of the Fillmore votes, and you three quarters, they will beat you 125 votes. If they get one fifth, and you four fifths, you beat them 179. In Madison, alone, if our friends get 1000 of the Fillmore votes, and their opponents the remainder, 658, we win by just two votes.

      This shows the whole field, on the basis of the election of 1856.

      Whether, since then, any Buchanan, or Fremonters, have shifted ground, and how the majority of new votes will go, you can judge better than I.

      Of course you, on the ground, can better determine your line of tactics than any one off the ground; but it behooves you to be wide awake and actively working.

      Don't neglect it; and write me at your first leisure. Yours as ever,

      A. LINCOLN.

      TO JOHN MATHERS, JACKSONVILLE, ILL

SPRINGFIELD, JULY 20, 1858

      JNO. MATHERS, Esq.

      MY DEAR SIR: — Your kind and interesting letter of the 19th was duly received. Your suggestions as to placing one's self on the offensive rather than the defensive are certainly correct. That is a point which I shall not disregard. I spoke here on Saturday night. The speech, not very well reported, appears in the State journal of this morning. You doubtless will see it; and I hope that you will perceive in it that I am already improving. I would mail you a copy now, but have not one [at] hand. I thank you for your letter and shall be pleased to hear from you again.

      Yours very truly,

      A. LINCOLN.

      TO JOSEPH GILLESPIE

SPRINGFIELD, JULY 25, 1858

      HON. J. GILLESPIE.

      MY DEAR SIR: — Your doleful letter of the 8th was received on my return from Chicago last night. I do hope you are worse scared than hurt, though you ought to know best. We must not lose the district. We must make a job of it, and save it. Lay hold of the proper agencies, and secure all the Americans you can, at once. I do hope, on closer inspection, you will find they are not half gone. Make a little test. Run down one of the poll-books of the Edwardsville precinct, and take the first hundred known American names. Then quietly ascertain how many of them are actually going for Douglas. I think you will find less than fifty. But even if you find fifty, make sure of the other fifty, that is, make sure of all you can, at all events. We will set other agencies to work which shall compensate for the loss of a good many Americans. Don't fail to check the stampede at once. Trumbull, I think, will be with you before long.

      There is much he cannot do, and some he can. I have reason to hope there will be other help of an appropriate kind. Write me again.

      Yours as ever,

      A. LINCOLN.

      TO B. C. COOK

SPRINGFIELD, Aug. 2, 1858

      Hon. B. C. COOK.

      MY DEAR SIR: — I have a letter from a very true and intelligent man insisting that there is a plan on foot in La Salle and Bureau to run Douglas Republicans for Congress and for the Legislature in those counties, if they can only get the encouragement of our folks nominating pretty extreme abolitionists.

      It is thought they will do nothing if our folks nominate men who are not very obnoxious to the charge of abolitionism. Please have your eye upon this. Signs are looking pretty fair.

      Yours very truly,

      A. LINCOLN.

      TO HON. J. M. PALMER

SPRINGFIELD, Aug. 5, 1858

      HON. J. M. PALMER.

      DEAR SIR: