to you, as it was then understood I would, but, on reflection, I have
always found that I had nothing new to tell you. All has happened as I
then told you I expected it would--Baker's declining, Hardin's taking the
track, and so on.
If Hardin and I stood precisely equal, if neither of us had been to
Congress, or if we both had, it would only accord with what I have always
done, for the sake of peace, to give way to him; and I expect I should do
it. That I can voluntarily postpone my pretensions, when they are no more
than equal to those to which they are postponed, you have yourself seen.
But to yield to Hardin under present circumstances seems to me as nothing
else than yielding to one who would gladly sacrifice me altogether. This
I would rather not submit to. That Hardin is talented, energetic, usually
generous and magnanimous, I have before this affirmed to you and do not
deny. You know that my only argument is that "turn about is fair play."
This he, practically at least, denies.
If it would not be taxing you too much, I wish you would write me, telling
the aspect of things in your country, or rather your district; and also,
send the names of some of your Whig neighbors, to whom I might, with
propriety, write. Unless I can get some one to do this, Hardin, with his
old franking list, will have the advantage of me. My reliance for a fair
shake (and I want nothing more) in your country is chiefly on you, because
of your position and standing, and because I am acquainted with so few
others. Let me hear from you soon.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TO JOHN BENNETT.
SPRINGFIELD, Jan. 15, 1846.
JOHN BENNETT.
FRIEND JOHN:
Nathan Dresser is here, and speaks as though the contest between Hardin
and me is to be doubtful in Menard County. I know he is candid and this
alarms me some. I asked him to tell me the names of the men that were
going strong for Hardin, he said Morris was about as strong as any-now
tell me, is Morris going it openly? You remember you wrote me that he
would be neutral. Nathan also said that some man, whom he could not
remember, had said lately that Menard County was going to decide the
contest and that made the contest very doubtful. Do you know who that
was? Don't fail to write me instantly on receiving this, telling me
all--particularly the names of those who are going strong against me.
Yours as ever,
A. LINCOLN.
TO N. J. ROCKWELL.
SPRINGFIELD, January 21, 1846.
DEAR SIR:--You perhaps know that General Hardin and I have a contest for
the Whig nomination for Congress for this district.
He has had a turn and my argument is "turn about is fair play."
I shall be pleased if this strikes you as a sufficient argument.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TO JAMES BERDAN.
SPRINGFIELD, April 26, 1846.
DEAR SIR:--I thank you for the promptness with which you answered my
letter from Bloomington. I also thank you for the frankness with which you
comment upon a certain part of my letter; because that comment affords
me an opportunity of trying to express myself better than I did before,
seeing, as I do, that in that part of my letter, you have not understood
me as I intended to be understood.
In speaking of the "dissatisfaction" of men who yet mean to do no wrong,
etc., I mean no special application of what I said to the Whigs of Morgan,
or of Morgan & Scott. I only had in my mind the fact that previous to
General Hardin's withdrawal some of his friends and some of mine had
become a little warm; and I felt, and meant to say, that for them now to
meet face to face and converse together was the best way to efface any
remnant of unpleasant feeling, if any such existed.
I did not suppose that General Hardin's friends were in any greater need
of having their feelings corrected than mine were. Since I saw you at
Jacksonville, I have had no more suspicion of the Whigs of Morgan than
of those of any other part of the district. I write this only to try to
remove any impression that I distrust you and the other Whigs of your
country.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TO JAMES BERDAN.
SPRINGFIELD, May 7, 1866.
DEAR SIR:--It is a matter of high moral obligation, if not of necessity,
for me to attend the Coles and Edwards courts. I have some cases in both
of them, in which the parties have my promise, and are depending upon me.
The court commences in Coles on the second Monday, and in Edgar on the
third. Your court in Morgan commences on the fourth Monday; and it is my
purpose to be with you then, and make a speech. I mention the Coles and
Edgar courts in order that if I should not reach Jacksonville at the time
named you may understand the reason why. I do not, however, think there is
much danger of my being detained; as I shall go with a purpose not to be,
and consequently shall engage in no new cases that might delay me.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
VERSES WRITTEN BY LINCOLN AFTER A VISIT TO HIS OLD HOME IN INDIANA
(A FRAGMENT).
[In December, 1847, when Lincoln was stumping for Clay, he crossed into
Indiana and revisited his old home. He writes: "That part of the country
is within itself as unpoetical as any spot on earth; but still seeing
it and its objects and inhabitants aroused feelings in me which were
certainly poetry; though whether my expression of these feelings is
poetry, is quite another question."]
Near twenty years have passed away
Since here I bid farewell
To woods and fields, and scenes of play,
And playmates loved so well.
Where many were, but few remain
Of old familiar things;
But seeing them to mind again
The lost and absent brings.
The friends I left that parting day,
How changed, as time has sped!
Young childhood grown, strong manhood gray,
And half of all are dead.
I hear the loved survivors tell
How naught from death could save,
Till every sound appears a knell,
And every spot a grave.
I range the fields with pensive tread,
And pace the hollow rooms,
And feel (companion of the dead)
I 'm living in the tombs.
VERSES WRITTEN BY LINCOLN CONCERNING A SCHOOL-FELLOW
WHO BECAME INSANE--(A FRAGMENT).
And when at length the drear and long
Time soothed thy fiercer woes,
How plaintively thy mournful song
Upon the still night rose
I've heard it oft as if I dreamed,
Far distant, sweet and lone;
The funeral dirge it ever seemed
Of reason dead and gone.
Air held her breath; trees with the spell
Seemed sorrowing angels round,
Whose swelling tears in dewdrops fell
Upon the listening ground.
But this is past, and naught remains
That raised thee o'er the brute;
Thy piercing shrieks and soothing strains
Are like, forever mute.
Now fare thee well! More thou the cause
Than subject now of woe.
All mental pangs by time's kind laws
Hast lost the power to know.
O Death! thou awe-inspiring prince
That keepst the world in fear,
Why dost thou tear more blest ones hence,
And leave him lingering here?
SECOND CHILD
TO JOSHUA P. SPEED
SPRINGFIELD, October 22, 1846.
DEAR SPEED:--You, no doubt, assign the suspension of our correspondence to
the true philosophic cause; though it must be confessed by both of us that
this is rather a cold reason for allowing a friendship such as ours to
die out by degrees. I propose now that, upon receipt of this, you shall be
considered in my debt, and under obligations to pay soon, and that neither
shall remain long in arrears hereafter. Are you agreed?
Being elected to Congress, though I am very grateful to our friends for
having done it, has not pleased me as much as I expected.
We have another boy, born the 10th of March. He is very much such a child
as Bob was at his age, rather of a longer order. Bob is "short and low,"
and I expect always will be. He talks very plainly,--almost as plainly as
anybody. He is quite smart enough. I sometimes fear that he is one of the
little rare-ripe sort that are smarter at about five than ever after. He
has a great deal of that sort of mischief that is the offspring of such
animal spirits. Since I began this letter, a messenger came to tell me Bob
was lost; but by the time I reached the house his mother had found him and
had him whipped, and by now, very likely, he is run away again. Mary has
read your letter, and wishes to be remembered to Mrs. Speed and you, in
which I most sincerely join her.
As ever yours,
A. LINCOLN.
TO MORRIS AND BROWN
SPRINGFIELD, October 21, 1847.
MESSRS. MORRIS AND BROWN.
GENTLEMEN:--Your second letter on the matter of Thornton and others, came
to hand this morning. I went at once to see Logan, and found that he
is not engaged against you, and that he has so sent you word by Mr.
Butterfield, as he says. He says that some time ago, a young man (who he
knows not) came to him, with a copy of the affidavit, to engage him to aid
in getting the Governor to grant the warrant; and that he, Logan, told
the man, that in his opinion, the affidavit was clearly insufficient, upon
which the young man left, without making any engagement with him. If the
Governor shall arrive before I leave, Logan and I will both attend to the
matter, and he will attend to it, if he does not come till after I leave;
all upon the condition that the Governor shall not have acted upon the
matter, before his arrival here. I mention this condition because, I
learned this morning from the Secretary of State, that he is forwarding to
the Governor, at Palestine, all papers he receives in the case, as fast
as he receives them. Among the papers forwarded will be your letter to
the Governor or Secretary of, I believe, the same date and about the same
contents of your last letter to me; so that the Governor will, at all
events have your points and authorities. The case is a clear one on our
side; but whether the Governor will view it so is another thing.
Yours as ever,
A. LINCOLN.
TO WILLIAM H. HERNDON
WASHINGTON, December 5, 1847.
DEAR WILLIAM:--You may remember that about a year ago a man by the name of
Wilson (James Wilson, I think) paid us twenty dollars as an advance fee to
attend to a case in the Supreme Court for him, against a Mr. Campbell, the
record of which case was in the hands of Mr. Dixon of St. Louis, who never
furnished it to us. When I was at Bloomington last fall I met a friend
of Wilson, who mentioned the subject to me, and induced me to write to
Wilson, telling him I would leave the ten dollars with you which had been
left with me to pay for making abstracts in the case, so that the case may
go on this winter; but I came away, and forgot to do it. What I want now
is to send you the money, to be used accordingly, if any one comes on to
start the case, or to be retained by you if no one does.
There is nothing of consequence new here. Congress is to organize
to-morrow. Last night we held a Whig caucus for the House, and nominated
Winthrop of Massachusetts for speaker, Sargent of Pennsylvania for
sergeant-at-arms, Homer of New Jersey door-keeper, and McCormick of
District of Columbia postmaster. The Whig majority in the House is so
small that, together with some little dissatisfaction, [it] leaves it
doubtful whether we will elect them all.
This paper is too thick to fold, which is the reason I send only a
half-sheet.
Yours as ever, A. LINCOLN.
TO WILLIAM H. HERNDON.
WASHINGTON, December 13, 1847
DEAR WILLIAM:--Your letter, advising me of the receipt of our fee in the
bank case, is just received, and I don't expect to hear another as good a
piece of news from Springfield while I am away. I am under no obligations
to the bank; and I therefore wish you to buy bank certificates, and pay my
debt there, so as to pay it with the least money possible. I would as soon
you should buy them of Mr. Ridgely, or any other person at the bank, as of
any one else, provided you can get them as cheaply. I suppose, after the
bank debt shall be paid, there will be some money left, out of which I
would like to have you pay Lavely and Stout twenty dollars, and Priest and
somebody (oil-makers) ten dollars, for materials got for house-painting.
If there shall still be any left, keep it till you see or hear from me.
I shall begin sending documents so soon as I can get them. I wrote you
yesterday about a "Congressional Globe." As you are all so anxious for me
to distinguish myself, I have concluded to do so before long.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
RESOLUTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
DECEMBER 22, 1847
Whereas, The President of the United States, in his message of May 11,
1846, has declared that "the Mexican Government not only refused to
receive him [the envoy of the United States], or to listen to his
propositions, but, after a long-continued series of menaces, has at last
invaded our territory and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own
soil";
And again, in his message of December 8, 1846, that "we had ample cause of
war against Mexico long before the breaking out of hostilities; but even
then we forbore to take redress into our own hands until Mexico herself
became the aggressor, by invading our soil in hostile array, and shedding
the blood of our citizens";
And yet again, in his message of December 7, 1847, that "the Mexican
Government refused even to hear the terms of adjustment which he [our
minister of peace] was authorized to propose, and finally, under wholly
unjustifiable pretexts, involved the two countries in war, by invading the
territory of the State of Texas, striking the first blow, and shedding the
blood of our citizens on our own soil";
And whereas, This House is desirous to obtain a full knowledge of all the
facts which go to establish whether the particular spot on which the blood
of our citizens was so shed was or was not at that time our own soil:
therefore,
Resolved, By the House of Representatives, that the President of the
United States be respectfully requested to inform this House:
First. Whether the spot on which the blood of our citizens was shed, as
in his message declared, was or was not within the territory of Spain, at
least after the treaty of 1819, until the Mexican revolution.
Second. Whether that spot is or is not within the territory which was
wrested from Spain by the revolutionary government of Mexico.
Third. Whether that spot is or is not within a settlement of people, which
settlement has existed ever since long before the Texas revolution, and
until its inhabitants fled before the approach of the United States army.
Fourth. Whether that settlement is or is not isolated from any and all
other settlements by the Gulf and the Rio Grande on the south and west,
and by wide uninhabited regions on the north and east.
Fifth. Whether the people of that settlement, or a majority of them, or
any of them, have ever submitted themselves to the government or laws
of Texas or of the United States, by consent or by compulsion, either by
accepting office, or voting at elections, or paying tax, or serving on
juries, or having process served upon them, or in any other way.
Sixth. Whether the people of that settlement did or did not flee from the
approach of the United States army, leaving unprotected their homes and
their growing crops, before the blood was shed, as in the message stated;
and whether the first blood, so shed, was or was not shed within the
inclosure of one of the people who had thus fled from it.
Seventh. Whether our citizens, whose blood was shed, as in his message
declared, were or were not, at that time, armed officers and soldiers,
sent into that settlement by the military order of the President, through
the Secretary of War.
Eighth. Whether the military force of the United States was or was not
so sent into that settlement after General Taylor had more than once
intimated to the War Department that, in his opinion, no such movement was
necessary to the defence or protection of Texas.
REMARKS IN THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
JANUARY 5, 1848.
Mr. Lincoln said he had made an effort, some few days since, to obtain the
floor in relation to this measure [resolution to direct Postmaster-General
to make arrangements with railroad for carrying the mails--in Committee of
the Whole], but had failed. One of the objects he had then had in view was
now in a great measure superseded by what had fallen from the gentleman
from Virginia who had just taken his seat. He begged to assure his friends
on the other side of the House that no assault whatever was meant upon the
Postmaster-General, and he was glad that what the gentleman had now said
modified to a great extent the impression which might have been created
by the language he had used on a previous occasion. He wanted to state to
gentlemen who might have entertained such impressions, that the Committee
on the Post-office was composed of five Whigs and four Democrats, and
their report was understood as sustaining, not impugning, the position
taken by the Postmaster-General. That report had met with the approbation
of all the Whigs, and of all the Democrats also, with the exception
of one, and he wanted to go even further than this. [Intimation was
informally given Mr. Lincoln that it was not in order to mention on the
floor what had taken place in committee.] He then observed that if he had
been out of order in what he had said he took it all back so far as he
could. He had no desire, he could assure gentlemen, ever to be out of
order--though he never could keep long in order.
Mr. Lincoln went on to observe that he differed in opinion, in the present
case, from his honorable friend from Richmond [Mr. Botts]. That gentleman,
had begun his remarks by saying that if all prepossessions in this
matter could be removed out of the way, but little difficulty would be
experienced in coming to an agreement. Now, he could assure that
gentleman that he had himself begun the examination of the subject with
prepossessions all in his favor. He had long and often heard of him,
and, from what he had heard, was prepossessed in his favor. Of the
Postmaster-General he had also heard, but had no prepossessions in his
favor, though certainly none of an opposite kind. He differed, however,
with that gentleman in politics, while in this respect he agreed with the
gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Botts], whom he wished to oblige whenever it
was in his power. That gentleman had referred to the report made to the
House by the Postmaster-General, and had intimated an apprehension that
gentlemen would be disposed to rely, on that report alone, and derive
their views of the case from that document alone. Now it so happened that
a pamphlet had been slipped into his [Mr. Lincoln's] hand before he read
the report of the Postmaster-General; so that, even in this, he had begun
with prepossessions in favor of the gentleman from Virginia.
As to the report, he had but one remark to make: he had carefully examined
it, and he did not understand that there was any dispute as to the facts
therein stated the dispute, if he understood it, was confined altogether
to the inferences to be drawn from those facts. It was a difference not
about facts, but about conclusions. The facts were not disputed. If he was
right in this, he supposed the House might assume the facts to be as they
were stated, and thence proceed to draw their own conclusions.
The gentleman had said that the Postmaster-General had got into a personal
squabble with the railroad company. Of this Mr. Lincoln knew nothing, nor
did he need or desire to know anything, because it had nothing whatever to
do with a just conclusion from the premises. But the gentleman had gone
on to ask whether so great a grievance as the present detention of the
Southern mail ought not to be remedied. Mr. Lincoln would assure the
gentleman that if there was a proper way of doing it, no man was more
anxious than he that it should be done. The report made by the committee
had been intended to yield much for the sake of removing that grievance.
That the grievance was very great there was no dispute in any quarter. He
supposed that the statements made by the gentleman from Virginia to show
this were all entirely correct in point of fact. He did suppose that the
interruptions of regular intercourse, and all the other inconveniences
growing out of it, were all as that gentleman had stated them to be;
and certainly, if redress could be rendered, it was proper it should be
rendered as soon as possible. The gentleman said that in order to effect
this no new legislative action was needed; all that was necessary was that
the Postmaster-General should be required to do what the law, as it stood,
authorized and required him to do.
We come then, said Mr. Lincoln, to the law. Now the Postmaster-General
says he cannot give to this company more than two hundred and thirty-seven
dollars and fifty cents per railroad mile of transportation, and twelve
and a half per cent. less for transportation by steamboats. He considers
himself as restricted by law to this amount; and he says, further, that he
would not give more if he could, because in his apprehension it would not
be fair and just.
1848
DESIRE FOR SECOND TERM IN CONGRESS
TO WILLIAM H. HERNDON.
WASHINGTON, January 8, 1848.
DEAR WILLIAM:--Your letter of December 27 was received a day or two ago. I
am much obliged to you for the trouble you have taken, and promise to take
in my little business there. As to speech making, by way of getting
the hang of the House I made a little speech two or three days ago on
a post-office question of no general interest. I find speaking here and
elsewhere about the same thing. I was about as badly scared, and no worse
as I am when I speak in court. I expect to make one within a week or two,
in which I hope to succeed well enough to wish you to see it.
It is very pleasant to learn from you that there are some who desire
that I should be reelected. I most heartily thank them for their kind
partiality; and I can say, as Mr. Clay said of the annexation of Texas,
that "personally I would not object" to a reelection, although I thought
at the time, and still think, it would be quite as well for me to return
to the law at the end of a single term. I made the declaration that I
would not be a candidate again, more from a wish to deal fairly with
others, to keep peace among our friends, and to keep the district from
going to the enemy, than for any cause personal to myself; so that if it
should so happen that nobody else wishes to be elected, I could not
refuse the people the right of sending me again. But to enter myself as
a competitor of others, or to authorize any one so to enter me is what my
word and honor forbid.
I got some letters intimating a probability of so much difficulty amongst
our friends as to lose us the district; but I remember such letters were
written to Baker when my own case was under consideration, and I trust
there is no more ground for such apprehension now than there was then.
Remember I am always glad to receive a letter from you.
Most truly your friend,
A. LINCOLN.
SPEECH ON DECLARATION OF WAR ON MEXICO
SPEECH IN THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
JANUARY 12, 1848.