He brings in the affidavit of his own son, and even of Peter S. Weber,
with whom I am not acquainted, but who, I suppose, is some black or
mulatto boy, from his being kept in the kitchen, to prove his points;
but when such a man as Talbott, a man who, but two years ago, ran
against Gen. Adams for the office of Recorder and beat him more than
four votes to one, is introduced against him, he asks the community,
with all the consequence of a lord, to reject his testimony.
I might easily write a volume, pointing out inconsistencies between
the statements in Adams's last address with one another, and with other
known facts; but I am aware the reader must already be tired with
the length of this article. His opening statements, that he was first
accused of being a Tory, and that he refuted that; that then the
Sampson's ghost story was got up, and he refuted that; that as a last
resort, a dying effort, the assignment charge was got up is all as false
as hell, as all this community must know. Sampson's ghost first made
its appearance in print, and that, too, after Keys swears he saw the
assignment, as any one may see by reference to the files of papers; and
Gen. Adams himself, in reply to the Sampson's ghost story, was the first
man that raised the cry of toryism, and it was only by way of set-off,
and never in seriousness, that it was bandied back at him. His effort is
to make the impression that his enemies first made the charge of toryism
and he drove them from that, then Sampson's ghost, he drove them from
that, then finally the assignment charge was manufactured just before
election. Now, the only general reply he ever made to the Sampson's
ghost and tory charges he made at one and the same time, and not in
succession as he states; and the date of that reply will show, that it
was made at least a month after the date on which Keys swears he saw the
Anderson assignment. But enough. In conclusion I will only say that I
have a character to defend as well as Gen. Adams, but I disdain to whine
about it as he does. It is true I have no children nor kitchen boys; and
if I had, I should scorn to lug them in to make affidavits for me.
A. LINCOLN, September 6, 1837.
Gen. ADAMS CONTROVERSY--CONTINUED
TO THE PUBLIC.
"SANGAMON JOURNAL," Springfield, Ill, Oct.28, 1837.
Such is the turn which things have taken lately, that when Gen. Adams
writes a book, I am expected to write a commentary on it. In the
Republican of this morning he has presented the world with a new work
of six columns in length; in consequence of which I must beg the room of
one column in the Journal. It is obvious that a minute reply cannot
be made in one column to everything that can be said in six; and,
consequently, I hope that expectation will be answered if I reply to
such parts of the General's publication as are worth replying to.
It may not be improper to remind the reader that in his publication of
Sept. 6th General Adams said that the assignment charge was manufactured
just before the election; and that in reply I proved that statement to
be false by Keys, his own witness. Now, without attempting to explain,
he furnishes me with another witness (Tinsley) by which the same thing
is proved, to wit, that the assignment was not manufactured just before
the election; but that it was some weeks before. Let it be borne in mind
that Adams made this statement--has himself furnished two witnesses to
prove its falsehood, and does not attempt to deny or explain it. Before
going farther, let a pin be stuck here, labeled "One lie proved and
confessed." On the 6th of September he said he had before stated in
the hand-bill that he held an assignment dated May 20th, 1828, which in
reply I pronounced to be false, and referred to the hand-bill for the
truth of what I said. This week he forgets to make any explanation of
this. Let another pin be stuck here, labelled as before. I mention these
things because, if, when I convict him in one falsehood, he is permitted
to shift his ground and pass it by in silence, there can be no end to
this controversy.
The first thing that attracts my attention in the General's present
production is the information he is pleased to give to "those who are
made to suffer at his (my) hands."
Under present circumstances, this cannot apply to me, for I am not
a widow nor an orphan: nor have I a wife or children who might by
possibility become such. Such, however, I have no doubt, have been,
and will again be made to suffer at his hands! Hands! Yes, they are
the mischievous agents. The next thing I shall notice is his favorite
expression, "not of lawyers, doctors and others," which he is so fond of
applying to all who dare expose his rascality. Now, let it be remembered
that when he first came to this country he attempted to impose himself
upon the community as a lawyer, and actually carried the attempt so
far as to induce a man who was under a charge of murder to entrust the
defence of his life in his hands, and finally took his money and got
him hanged. Is this the man that is to raise a breeze in his favor by
abusing lawyers? If he is not himself a lawyer, it is for the lack of
sense, and not of inclination. If he is not a lawyer, he is a liar, for
he proclaimed himself a lawyer, and got a man hanged by depending on
him.
Passing over such parts of the article as have neither fact nor argument
in them, I come to the question asked by Adams whether any person ever
saw the assignment in his possession. This is an insult to common sense.
Talbott has sworn once and repeated time and again, that he got it out
of Adams's possession and returned it into the same possession. Still,
as though he was addressing fools, he has assurance to ask if any person
ever saw it in his possession.
Next I quote a sentence, "Now my son Lucian swears that when Talbott
called for the deed, that he, Talbott, opened it and pointed out the
error." True. His son Lucian did swear as he says; and in doing so, he
swore what I will prove by his own affidavit to be a falsehood. Turn to
Lucian's affidavit, and you will there see that Talbott called for the
deed by which to correct an error on the record. Thus it appears that
the error in question was on the record, and not in the deed. How then
could Talbott open the deed and point out the error? Where a thing is
not, it cannot be pointed out. The error was not in the deed, and of
course could not be pointed out there. This does not merely prove that
the error could not be pointed out, as Lucian swore it was; but it
proves, too, that the deed was not opened in his presence with a special
view to the error, for if it had been, he could not have failed to see
that there was no error in it. It is easy enough to see why Lucian swore
this. His object was to prove that the assignment was not in the deed
when Talbott got it: but it was discovered he could not swear this
safely, without first swearing the deed was opened--and if he swore it
was opened, he must show a motive for opening it, and the conclusion
with him and his father was that the pointing out the error would appear
the most plausible.
For the purpose of showing that the assignment was not in the bundle
when Talbott got it, is the story introduced into Lucian's affidavit
that the deeds were counted. It is a remarkable fact, and one that
should stand as a warning to all liars and fabricators, that in this
short affidavit of Lucian's he only attempted to depart from the truth,
so far as I have the means of knowing, in two points, to wit, in the
opening the deed and pointing out the error and the counting of the
deeds,--and in both of these he caught himself. About the counting, he
caught himself thus--after saying the bundle contained five deeds and
a lease, he proceeds, "and I saw no other papers than the said deed and
lease." First he has six papers, and then he saw none but two; for "my
son Lucian's" benefit, let a pin be stuck here.
Adams again adduces the argument, that he could not have forged the
assignment, for the reason that he could have had no motive for it. With
those that know the facts there is no absence of motive. Admitting the
paper which he has filed in the suit to be genuine, it is clear that it
cannot answer the purpose for which he designs it. Hence his motive for
making one that he supposed would answer is obvious. His making the date
too old is also easily enough accounted for. The records were not in his
hands, and then, there being some considerable talk upon this particular
subject, he knew he could not examine the records to ascertain the
precise dates without subjecting himself to suspicion; and hence he
concluded to try it by guess, and, as it turned out, missed it a little.
About Miller's deposition I have a word to say. In the first place,
Miller's answer to the first question shows upon its face that he had
been tampered with, and the answer dictated to him. He was asked if he
knew Joel Wright and James Adams; and above three-fourths of his answer
consists of what he knew about Joseph Anderson, a man about whom nothing
had been asked, nor a word said in the question--a fact that can only be
accounted for upon the supposition that Adams had secretly told him what
he wished him to swear to.
Another of Miller's answers I will prove both by common sense and the
Court of Record is untrue. To one question he answers, "Anderson brought
a suit against me before James Adams, then an acting justice of the
peace in Sangamon County, before whom he obtained a judgment.
"Q.--Did you remove the same by injunction to the Sangamon Circuit
Court? Ans.--I did remove it."
Now mark--it is said he removed it by injunction. The word "injunction"
in common language imports a command that some person or thing shall
not move or be removed; in law it has the same meaning. An injunction
issuing out of chancery to a justice of the peace is a command to him to
stop all proceedings in a named case until further orders. It is not an
order to remove but to stop or stay something that is already moving.
Besides this, the records of the Sangamon Circuit Court show that the
judgment of which Miller swore was never removed into said Court by
injunction or otherwise.
I have now to take notice of a part of Adams's address which in the
order of time should have been noticed before. It is in these words:
"I have now shown, in the opinion of two competent judges, that the
handwriting of the forged assignment differed from mine, and by one of
them that it could not be mistaken for mine." That is false. Tinsley no
doubt is the judge referred to; and by reference to his certificate it
will be seen that he did not say the handwriting of the assignment
could not be mistaken for Adams's--nor did he use any other expression
substantially, or anything near substantially, the same. But if Tinsley
had said the handwriting could not be mistaken for Adams's, it would
have been equally unfortunate for Adams: for it then would have
contradicted Keys, who says, "I looked at the writing and judged it the
said Adams's or a good imitation."
Adams speaks with much apparent confidence of his success on attending
lawsuits, and the ultimate maintenance of his title to the land in
question. Without wishing to disturb the pleasure of his dream, I would
say to him that it is not impossible that he may yet be taught to sing a
different song in relation to the matter.
At the end of Miller's deposition, Adams asks, "Will Mr. Lincoln now say
that he is almost convinced my title to this ten acre tract of land
is founded in fraud?" I answer, I will not. I will now change the
phraseology so as to make it run--I am quite convinced, &c. I cannot
pass in silence Adams's assertion that he has proved that the forged
assignment was not in the deed when it came from his house by Talbott,
the recorder. In this, although Talbott has sworn that the assignment
was in the bundle of deeds when it came from his house, Adams has
the unaccountable assurance to say that he has proved the contrary by
Talbott. Let him or his friends attempt to show wherein he proved any
such thing by Talbott.
In his publication of the 6th of September he hinted to Talbott, that
he might be mistaken. In his present, speaking of Talbott and me he says
"They may have been imposed upon." Can any man of the least penetration
fail to see the object of this? After he has stormed and raged till he
hopes and imagines he has got us a little scared he wishes to softly
whisper in our ears, "If you'll quit I will." If he could get us to say
that some unknown, undefined being had slipped the assignment into
our hands without our knowledge, not a doubt remains but that he would
immediately discover that we were the purest men on earth. This is the
ground he evidently wishes us to understand he is willing to compromise
upon. But we ask no such charity at his hands. We are neither mistaken
nor imposed upon. We have made the statements we have because we know
them to be true and we choose to live or die by them.
Esq. Carter, who is Adams's friend, personal and political, will
recollect, that, on the 5th of this month, he (Adams), with a great
affectation of modesty, declared that he would never introduce his own
child as a witness. Notwithstanding this affectation of modesty, he has
in his present publication introduced his child as witness; and as if to
show with how much contempt he could treat his own declaration, he
has had this same Esq. Carter to administer the oath to him. And so
important a witness does he consider him, and so entirely does the whole
of his entire present production depend upon the testimony of his child,
that in it he has mentioned "my son," "my son Lucian," "Lucian, my son,"
and the like expressions no less than fifteen different times. Let it
be remembered here, that I have shown the affidavit of "my darling son
Lucian" to be false by the evidence apparent on its own face; and I now
ask if that affidavit be taken away what foundation will the fabric have
left to stand upon?
General Adams's publications and out-door maneuvering, taken in
connection with the editorial articles of the Republican, are not more
foolish and contradictory than they are ludicrous and amusing. One
week the Republican notifies the public that Gen. Adams is preparing
an instrument that will tear, rend, split, rive, blow up, confound,
overwhelm, annihilate, extinguish, exterminate, burst asunder, and grind
to powder all its slanderers, and particularly Talbott and Lincoln--all
of which is to be done in due time.
Then for two or three weeks all is calm--not a word said. Again the
Republican comes forth with a mere passing remark that "public" opinion
has decided in favor of Gen. Adams, and intimates that he will give
himself no more trouble about the matter. In the meantime Adams himself
is prowling about and, as Burns says of the devil, "For prey, and holes
and corners tryin'," and in one instance goes so far as to take an old
acquaintance of mine several steps from a crowd and, apparently weighed
down with the importance of his business, gravely and solemnly asks him
if "he ever heard Lincoln say he was a deist."
Anon the Republican comes again. "We invite the attention of the public
to General Adams's communication," &c. "The victory is a great one, the
triumph is overwhelming." I really believe the editor of the Illinois
Republican is fool enough to think General Adams leads off--"Authors
most egregiously mistaken &c. Most woefully shall their presumption be
punished," &c. (Lord have mercy on us.) "The hour is yet to come, yea,
nigh at hand--(how long first do you reckon?)--when the Journal and its
junto shall say, I have appeared too early." "Their infamy shall be laid
bare to the public gaze." Suddenly the General appears to relent at the
severity with which he is treating us and he exclaims: "The condemnation
of my enemies is the inevitable result of my own defense." For your
health's sake, dear Gen., do not permit your tenderness of heart to
afflict you so much on our account. For some reason (perhaps because we
are killed so quickly) we shall never be sensible of our suffering.
Farewell, General. I will see you again at court if not before--when and
where we will settle the question whether you or the widow shall have
the land.
A. LINCOLN. October 18, 1837.
1838
TO Mrs. O. H. BROWNING--A FARCE
SPRINGFIELD, April 1, 1838.
DEAR MADAM:--Without apologizing for being egotistical, I shall make the
history of so much of my life as has elapsed since I saw you the subject
of this letter. And, by the way, I now discover that, in order to give
a full and intelligible account of the things I have done and suffered
since I saw you, I shall necessarily have to relate some that happened
before.
It was, then, in the autumn of 1836 that a married lady of my
acquaintance, and who was a great friend of mine, being about to pay a
visit to her father and other relatives residing in Kentucky, proposed
to me that on her return she would bring a sister of hers with her on
condition that I would engage to become her brother-in-law with all
convenient despatch. I, of course, accepted the proposal, for you know
I could not have done otherwise had I really been averse to it; but
privately, between you and me, I was most confoundedly well pleased with
the project. I had seen the said sister some three years before, thought
her intelligent and agreeable, and saw no good objection to plodding
life through hand in hand with her. Time passed on; the lady took her
journey and in due time returned, sister in company, sure enough. This
astonished me a little, for it appeared to me that her coming so readily
showed that she was a trifle too willing, but on reflection it occurred
to me that she might have been prevailed on by her married sister to
come without anything concerning me ever having been mentioned to her,
and so I concluded that if no other objection presented itself, I would
consent to waive this. All this occurred to me on hearing of her arrival
in the neighborhood--for, be it remembered, I had not yet seen her,
except about three years previous, as above mentioned. In a few days we
had an interview, and, although I had seen her before, she did not look
as my imagination had pictured her. I knew she was over-size, but she
now appeared a fair match for Falstaff. I knew she was called an
"old maid," and I felt no doubt of the truth of at least half of the
appellation, but now, when I beheld her, I could not for my life avoid
thinking of my mother; and this, not from withered features,--for
her skin was too full of fat to permit of its contracting into
wrinkles,--but from her want of teeth, weather-beaten appearance in
general, and from a kind of notion that ran in my head that nothing
could have commenced at the size of infancy and reached her present bulk
in less than thirty-five or forty years; and in short, I was not at
all pleased with her. But what could I do? I had told her sister that I
would take her for better or for worse, and I made a point of honor and
conscience in all things to stick to my word especially if others had
been induced to act on it which in this case I had no doubt they had,
for I was now fairly convinced that no other man on earth would have
her, and hence the conclusion that they were bent on holding me to my
bargain.
"Well," thought I, "I have said it, and, be the consequences what they
may, it shall not be my fault if I fail to do it." At once I determined
to consider her my wife; and, this done, all my powers of discovery were
put to work in search of perfections in her which might be fairly set
off against her defects. I tried to imagine her handsome, which, but
for her unfortunate corpulency, was actually true. Exclusive of this no
woman that I have ever seen has a finer face. I also tried to convince
myself that the mind was much more to be valued than the person; and in
this she was not inferior, as I could discover, to any with whom I had
been acquainted.
Shortly after this, without coming to any positive understanding with
her, I set out for Vandalia, when and where you first saw me. During
my stay there I had letters from her which did not change my opinion of
either her intellect or intention, but on the contrary confirmed it in
both.
All this while, although I was fixed, "firm as the surge-repelling
rock," in my resolution, I found I was continually repenting the
rashness which had led me to make it. Through life, I have been in no
bondage, either real or imaginary, from the thraldom of which I so much
desired to be free. After my return home, I saw nothing to change my
opinions of her in any particular. She was the same, and so was I. I now
spent my time in planning how I might get along through life after my
contemplated change of circumstances should have taken place, and how I
might procrastinate the evil day for a time, which I really dreaded as
much, perhaps more, than an Irishman does the halter.
After all my suffering upon this deeply interesting subject, here I am,
wholly, unexpectedly, completely, out of the "scrape"; and now I want to
know if you can guess how I got out of it----out, clear, in every sense
of the term; no violation of word, honor, or conscience. I don't believe
you can guess, and so I might as well tell you at once. As the lawyer
says, it was done in the manner following, to wit: After I had delayed
the matter as long as I thought I could in honor do (which, by the way,
had brought me round into the last fall), I concluded I might as well
bring it to a consummation without further delay; and so I mustered
my resolution, and made the proposal to her direct; but, shocking to
relate, she answered, No. At first I supposed she did it through an
affectation of modesty, which I thought but ill became her under the
peculiar circumstances of her case; but on my renewal of the charge,
I found she repelled it with greater firmness than before. I tried it
again and again but with the same success, or rather with the same want
of success.
I finally was forced to give it up; at which I very unexpectedly found
myself mortified almost beyond endurance. I was mortified, it seemed
to me, in a hundred different ways. My vanity was deeply wounded by the
reflection that I had been too stupid to discover her intentions, and at
the same time never doubting that I understood them perfectly, and also
that she, whom I had taught myself to believe nobody else would have,
had actually rejected me with all my fancied greatness. And, to cap the
whole, I then for the first time began to suspect that I was really a
little in love with her. But let it all go. I'll try and outlive it.
Others have been made fools of by the girls, but this can never with
truth be said of me. I most emphatically in this instance, made a fool
of myself. I have now come to the conclusion never again to think of
marrying, and for this reason: I can never be satisfied with any one who
would be blockhead enough to have me.
When you receive this, write me a long yarn about something to amuse me.
Give my respects to Mr. Browning.
Your sincere friend, A. LINCOLN.
1839
REMARKS ON SALE OF PUBLIC LANDS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, January 17, 1839.
Mr. Lincoln, from Committee on Finance, to which the subject was
referred, made a report on the subject of purchasing of the United
States all the unsold lands lying within the limits of the State of
Illinois, accompanied by resolutions that this State propose to purchase
all unsold lands at twenty-five cents per acre, and pledging the faith
of the State to carry the proposal into effect if the government accept
the same within two years.
Mr. Lincoln thought the resolutions ought to be seriously considered. In
reply to the gentleman from Adams, he said that it was not to enrich the
State. The price of the lands may be raised, it was thought by some; by
others, that it would be reduced. The conclusion in his mind was that
the representatives in this Legislature from the country in which
the lands lie would be opposed to raising the price, because it would
operate against the settlement of the lands. He referred to the lands in
the military tract. They had fallen into the hands of large speculators
in consequence of the low price. He was opposed to a low price of land.
He thought it was adverse to the interests of the poor settler, because
speculators buy them up. He was opposed to a reduction of the price of
public lands.