you particulars now, but will when I see you. In the meantime let it be
understood I am not greatly dissatisfied,--I wish the offer had been so
bestowed as to encourage our friends in future contests, and I regret
exceedingly Mr. Edwards' feelings towards me. These two things away, I
should have no regrets,--at least I think I would not.
Write me soon.
Your friend, as ever,
A. LINCOLN.
RESOLUTIONS OF SYMPATHY WITH THE CAUSE OF HUNGARIAN FREEDOM,
SEPTEMBER [1??], 1849.
At a meeting to express sympathy with the cause of Hungarian freedom, Dr.
Todd, Thos. Lewis, Hon. A. Lincoln, and Wm. Carpenter were appointed a
committee to present appropriate resolutions, which reported through Hon.
A. Lincoln the following:
Resolved, That, in their present glorious struggle for liberty, the
Hungarians command our highest admiration and have our warmest sympathy.
Resolved, That they have our most ardent prayers for their speedy triumph
and final success.
Resolved, That the Government of the United States should acknowledge the
independence of Hungary as a nation of freemen at the very earliest moment
consistent with our amicable relations with the government against which
they are contending.
Resolved, That, in the opinion of this meeting, the immediate
acknowledgment of the independence of Hungary by our government is due
from American freemen to their struggling brethren, to the general cause
of republican liberty, and not violative of the just rights of any nation
or people.
TO Dr. WILLIAM FITHIAN.
SPRINGFIELD, Sept. 14, 1849.
Dr. WILLIAM FITHIAN, Danville, Ill.
DEAR DOCTOR:--Your letter of the 9th was received a day or two ago. The
notes and mortgages you enclosed me were duly received. I also got the
original Blanchard mortgage from Antrim Campbell, with whom Blanchard had
left it for you. I got a decree of foreclosure on the whole; but, owing to
there being no redemption on the sale to be under the Blanchard mortgage,
the court allowed Mobley till the first of March to pay the money, before
advertising for sale. Stuart was empowered by Mobley to appear for him,
and I had to take such decree as he would consent to, or none at all. I
cast the matter about in my mind and concluded that as I could not get
a decree we would put the accrued interest at interest, and thereby more
than match the fact of throwing the Blanchard debt back from twelve to six
per cent., it was better to do it. This is the present state of the case.
I can well enough understand and appreciate your suggestions about the
Land-Office at Danville; but in my present condition, I can do nothing.
Yours, as ever,
A. LINCOLN.
SPRINGFIELD, Dec. 15, 1849.
------ ESQ.
DEAR SIR:--On my return from Kentucky I found your letter of the 7th of
November, and have delayed answering it till now for the reason I now
briefly state. From the beginning of our acquaintance I had felt the
greatest kindness for you and had supposed it was reciprocated on your
part. Last summer, under circumstances which I mentioned to you, I was
painfully constrained to withhold a recommendation which you desired, and
shortly afterwards I learned, in such a way as to believe it, that you
were indulging in open abuse of me. Of course my feelings were wounded.
On receiving your last letter the question occurred whether you were
attempting to use me at the same time you would injure me, or whether you
might not have been misrepresented to me. If the former, I ought not to
answer you; if the latter, I ought, and so I have remained in suspense. I
now enclose you the letter, which you may use if you see fit.
Yours, etc.,
A. LINCOLN.
1850
RESOLUTIONS ON THE DEATH OF JUDGE NATHANIEL POPE.
Circuit and District Court of the U. S. in and for the State and District
of Illinois. Monday, June 3, 1850.
On the opening of the Court this morning, the Hon. A. Lincoln, a member
of the Bar of this Court, suggested the death of the Hon. Nathaniel
Pope, late a judge of this Court, since the adjournment of the last term;
whereupon, in token of respect for the memory of the deceased, it is
ordered that the Court do now adjourn until to-morrow morning at ten
o'clock.
The Hon. Stephen T. Logan, the Hon. Norman H. Purple, the Hon. David L.
Gregg, the Hon. A. Lincoln, and George W. Meeker, Esq., were appointed a
Committee to prepare resolutions.
Whereupon, the Hon. Stephen T. Logan, in behalf of the Committee,
presented the following preamble and resolutions:
Whereas The Hon. Nathaniel Pope, District Judge of the United States Court
for the District of Illinois, having departed this life during the
last vacation of said Court, and the members of the Bar of said Court,
entertaining the highest veneration for his memory, a profound respect for
his ability, great experience, and learning as a judge, and cherishing for
his many virtues, public and private, his earnest simplicity of character
and unostentatious deportment, both in his public and private relations,
the most lively and affectionate recollections, have
Resolved, That, as a manifestation of their deep sense of the loss
which has been sustained in his death, they will wear the usual badge of
mourning during the residue of the term.
Resolved, That the Chairman communicate to the family of the deceased a
copy of these proceedings, with an assurance of our sincere condolence on
account of their heavy bereavement.
Resolved, That the Hon. A. Williams, District Attorney of this Court, be
requested in behalf of the meeting to present these proceedings to the
Circuit Court, and respectfully to ask that they may be entered on the
records.
E. N. POWELL, Sec'y. SAMUEL H. TREAT, Ch'n.
NOTES FOR LAW LECTURE
(fragments)
JULY 1, 1850
DISCOURAGE LITIGATION. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you
can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser--in
fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peace-maker the lawyer has a
superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business
enough.
Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one
who does this. Who can be more nearly a fiend than he who habitually
over-hauls the register of deeds in search of defects in titles, whereon
to stir up strife, and put money in his pocket? A moral tone ought to be
infused into the profession which should drive such men out of it.
The matter of fees is important, far beyond the mere question of bread
and butter involved. Properly attended to, fuller justice is done to both
lawyer and client. An exorbitant fee should never be claimed. As a general
rule never take your whole fee in advance, nor any more than a small
retainer. When fully paid beforehand, you are more than a common mortal
if you can feel the same interest in the case as if something was still in
prospect for you, as well as for your client. And when you lack interest
in the case the job will very likely lack skill and diligence in the
performance. Settle the amount of fee and take a note in advance. Then you
will feel that you are working for something, and you are sure to do your
work faithfully and well. Never sell a fee note--at least not before
the consideration service is performed. It leads to negligence and
dishonesty--negligence by losing interest in the case, and dishonesty in
refusing to refund when you have allowed the consideration to fail.
This idea of a refund or reduction of charges from the lawyer in a failed
case is a new one to me--but not a bad one.
1851
LETTERS TO FAMILY MEMBERS
TO JOHN D. JOHNSTON.
January 2, 1851
DEAR JOHNSTON:--Your request for eighty dollars I do not think it best to
comply with now. At the various times when I have helped you a little you
have said to me, "We can get along very well now"; but in a very short
time I find you in the same difficulty again. Now, this can only happen by
some defect in your conduct. What that defect is, I think I know. You are
not lazy, and still you are an idler. I doubt whether, since I saw you,
you have done a good whole day's work in any one day. You do not very much
dislike to work, and still you do not work much merely because it does
not seem to you that you could get much for it. This habit of uselessly
wasting time is the whole difficulty; it is vastly important to you, and
still more so to your children, that you should break the habit. It is
more important to them, because they have longer to live, and can keep out
of an idle habit before they are in it, easier than they can get out after
they are in.
You are now in need of some money; and what I propose is, that you shall
go to work, "tooth and nail," for somebody who will give you money for it.
Let father and your boys take charge of your things at home, prepare for
a crop, and make the crop, and you go to work for the best money wages, or
in discharge of any debt you owe, that you can get; and, to secure you a
fair reward for your labor, I now promise you, that for every dollar you
will, between this and the first of May, get for your own labor, either in
money or as your own indebtedness, I will then give you one other dollar.
By this, if you hire yourself at ten dollars a month, from me you will get
ten more, making twenty dollars a month for your work. In this I do not
mean you shall go off to St. Louis, or the lead mines, or the gold mines
in California, but I mean for you to go at it for the best wages you can
get close to home in Coles County. Now, if you will do this, you will be
soon out of debt, and, what is better, you will have a habit that will
keep you from getting in debt again. But, if I should now clear you out
of debt, next year you would be just as deep in as ever. You say you would
almost give your place in heaven for seventy or eighty dollars. Then you
value your place in heaven very cheap, for I am sure you can, with the
offer I make, get the seventy or eighty dollars for four or five months'
work. You say if I will furnish you the money you will deed me the
land, and, if you don't pay the money back, you will deliver possession.
Nonsense! If you can't now live with the land, how will you then live
without it? You have always been kind to me, and I do not mean to be
unkind to you. On the contrary, if you will but follow my advice, you will
find it worth more than eighty times eighty dollars to you.
Affectionately your brother,
A. LINCOLN.
TO C. HOYT.
SPRINGFIELD, Jan. 11, 1851.
C. HOYT, ESQ.
MY DEAR SIR:--Our case is decided against us. The decision was announced
this morning. Very sorry, but there is no help. The history of the case
since it came here is this. On Friday morning last, Mr. Joy filed his
papers, and entered his motion for a mandamus, and urged me to take up the
motion as soon as possible. I already had the points and authority sent me
by you and by Mr. Goodrich, but had not studied them. I began preparing as
fast as possible.
The evening of the same day I was again urged to take up the case. I
refused on the ground that I was not ready, and on which plea I also
got off over Saturday. But on Monday (the 14th) I had to go into it. We
occupied the whole day, I using the large part. I made every point and
used every authority sent me by yourself and by Mr. Goodrich; and in
addition all the points I could think of and all the authorities I could
find myself. When I closed the argument on my part, a large package was
handed me, which proved to be the plat you sent me.
The court received it of me, but it was not different from the plat
already on the record. I do not think I could ever have argued the case
better than I did. I did nothing else, but prepare to argue and argue this
case, from Friday morning till Monday evening. Very sorry for the result;
but I do not think it could have been prevented.
Your friend, as ever,
A. LINCOLN.
TO JOHN D. JOHNSTON.
SPRINGFIELD, January 12, 1851
DEAR BROTHER:--On the day before yesterday I received a letter from
Harriet, written at Greenup. She says she has just returned from your
house, and that father is very low and will hardly recover. She also says
you have written me two letters, and that, although you do not expect me
to come now, you wonder that I do not write.
I received both your letters, and although I have not answered them it is
not because I have forgotten them, or been uninterested about them, but
because it appeared to me that I could write nothing which would do any
good. You already know I desire that neither father nor mother shall be in
want of any comfort, either in health or sickness, while they live; and I
feel sure you have not failed to use my name, if necessary, to procure a
doctor, or anything else for father in his present sickness. My business
is such that I could hardly leave home now, if it was not as it is, that
my own wife is sick abed. (It is a case of baby-sickness, and I suppose is
not dangerous.) I sincerely hope father may recover his health, but at
all events, tell him to remember to call upon and confide in our great and
good and merciful Maker, who will not turn away from him in any extremity.
He notes the fall of a sparrow, and numbers the hairs of our heads, and He
will not forget the dying man who puts his trust in Him. Say to him that
if we could meet now it is doubtful whether it would not be more painful
than pleasant, but that if it be his lot to go now, he will soon have a
joyous meeting with many loved ones gone before, and where the rest of us,
through the help of God, hope ere long to join them.
Write to me again when you receive this.
Affectionately,
A. LINCOLN.
PETITION ON BEHALF OF ONE JOSHUA GIPSON
TO THE JUDGE OF THE SANGAMON COUNTY COURT,
MAY 13, 1851.
TO THE HONORABLE, THE JUDGE OF THE COUNTY COURT
IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SANGAMON AND STATE OF ILLINOIS:
Your Petitioner, Joshua Gipson, respectfully represents that on or about
the 21st day of December, 1850, a judgment was rendered against your
Petitioner for costs, by J. C. Spugg, one of the Justices of the Peace
in and for said County of Sangamon, in a suit wherein your Petitioner
was plaintiff and James L. and C. B. Gerard were defendants; that said
judgment was not the result of negligence on the part of your Petitioner;
that said judgment, in his opinion, is unjust and erroneous in this, that
the defendants were at that time and are indebted to this Petitioner in
the full amount of the principal and interest of the note sued on, the
principal being, as affiant remembers and believes, thirty-one dollars
and eighty two cents; and that, as affiant is informed and believes, the
defendants succeeded in the trial of said cause by proving old claims
against your petitioner, in set-off against said note, which claims
had been settled, adjusted and paid before said note was executed. Your
Petitioner further states that the reasons of his not being present at
said trial, as he was not, and of its not being in his power to take an
appeal in the ordinary way, as it was not, were that your Petitioner then
resided in Edgar County about one hundred and twenty miles from where
defendants resided; that a very short time before the suit was commenced
your Petitioner was in Sangamon County for the purpose of collecting debts
due him, and with the rest, the note in question, which note had then been
given more than a year, that your Petitioner then saw the defendant J.
L. Gerard who is the principal in said note, and solicited payment of the
same; that said defendant then made no pretense that he did not owe the
same, but on the contrary expressly promised that he would come into
Springfield, in a very few days and either pay the money, or give a new
note, payable by the then next Christmas; that your Petitioner accordingly
left said note with said J. C. Spugg, with directions to give defendant
full time to pay the money or give the new note as above, and if he did
neither to sue; and then affiant came home to Edgar County, not having the
slightest suspicion that if suit should be brought, the defendants would
make any defense whatever; and your Petitioner never did in any way learn
that said suit had been commenced until more than twenty days after it had
been decided against him. He therefore prays for a writ of Certiorari.
HIS
JOSHUA x GIPSON
MARK
TO J. D. JOHNSTON.
SPRINGFIELD, Aug. 31, 1851
DEAR BROTHER: Inclosed is the deed for the land. We are all well, and
have nothing in the way of news. We have had no Cholera here for about two
weeks.
Give my love to all, and especially to Mother.
Yours as ever,
A. LINCOLN.
TO J. D. JOHNSTON.
SHELBYVILLE, Nov. 4, 1851
DEAR BROTHER:
When I came into Charleston day before yesterday I learned that you are
anxious to sell the land where you live, and move to Missouri. I have been
thinking of this ever since, and cannot but think such a notion is utterly
foolish. What can you do in Missouri better than here? Is the land richer?
Can you there, any more than here, raise corn and wheat and oats without
work? Will anybody there, any more than here, do your work for you? If you
intend to go to work, there is no better place than right where you
are; if you do not intend to go to work you cannot get along anywhere.
Squirming and crawling about from place to place can do no good. You have
raised no crop this year, and what you really want is to sell the land,
get the money and spend it. Part with the land you have, and, my life upon
it, you will never after own a spot big enough to bury you in. Half you
will get for the land you spend in moving to Missouri, and the other half
you will eat and drink and wear out, and no foot of land will be bought.
Now I feel it is my duty to have no hand in such a piece of foolery. I
feel that it is so even on your own account, and particularly on Mother's
account. The eastern forty acres I intend to keep for Mother while she
lives; if you will not cultivate it, it will rent for enough to support
her; at least it will rent for something. Her dower in the other two
forties she can let you have, and no thanks to me.
Now do not misunderstand this letter. I do not write it in any unkindness.
I write it in order, if possible, to get you to face the truth, which
truth is, you are destitute because you have idled away all your time.
Your thousand pretenses for not getting along better are all nonsense;
they deceive nobody but yourself. Go to work is the only cure for your
case.
A word for Mother: Chapman tells me he wants you to go and live with him.
If I were you I would try it awhile. If you get tired of it (as I think
you will not) you can return to your own home. Chapman feels very kindly
to you; and I have no doubt he will make your situation very pleasant.
Sincerely yours,
A. LINCOLN.
Nov. 4, 1851
DEAR MOTHER:
Chapman tells me he wants you to go and live with him. If I were you I
would try it awhile. If you get tired of it (as I think you will not) you
can return to your own home. Chapman feels very kindly to you; and I have
no doubt he will make your situation very pleasant.
Sincerely your son,
A. LINCOLN.
TO JOHN D. JOHNSTON.
SHELBYVILLE, November 9, 1851
DEAR BROTHER:--When I wrote you before, I had not received your letter.
I still think as I did, but if the land can be sold so that I get three
hundred dollars to put to interest for Mother, I will not object, if she
does not. But before I will make a deed, the money must be had, or secured
beyond all doubt, at ten per cent.
As to Abram, I do not want him, on my own account; but I understand he
wants to live with me, so that he can go to school and get a fair start in
the world, which I very much wish him to have. When I reach home, if I can
make it convenient to take, I will take him, provided there is no mistake
between us as to the object and terms of my taking him. In haste, as ever,
A. LINCOLN.
TO JOHN D. JOHNSTON.
SPRINGFIELD, November 25, 1851.
DEAR BROTHER:--Your letter of the 22d is just received. Your proposal
about selling the east forty acres of land is all that I want or could
claim for myself; but I am not satisfied with it on Mother's account--I
want her to have her living, and I feel that it is my duty, to some
extent, to see that she is not wronged. She had a right of dower (that is,
the use of one-third for life) in the other two forties; but, it seems,
she has already let you take that, hook and line. She now has the use of
the whole of the east forty, as long as she lives; and if it be sold, of
course she is entitled to the interest on all the money it brings, as long
as she lives; but you propose to sell it for three hundred dollars, take
one hundred away with you, and leave her two hundred at 8 per cent.,
making her the enormous sum of 16 dollars a year. Now, if you are
satisfied with treating her in that way, I am not. It is true that you are
to have that forty for two hundred dollars, at Mother's death, but you are
not to have it before. I am confident that land can be made to produce for
Mother at least $30 a year, and I can not, to oblige any living person,
consent that she shall be put on an allowance of sixteen dollars a year.
Yours, etc.,
A. LINCOLN.
1852
EULOGY ON HENRY CLAY,
DELIVERED IN THE STATE HOUSE AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, JULY 16, 1852.
On the fourth day of July, 1776, the people of a few feeble and oppressed
colonies of Great Britain, inhabiting a portion of the Atlantic coast of
North America, publicly declared their national independence, and made
their appeal to the justice of their cause and to the God of battles for
the maintenance of that declaration. That people were few in number and
without resources, save only their wise heads and stout hearts. Within the
first year of that declared independence, and while its maintenance was
yet problematical, while the bloody struggle between those resolute rebels
and their haughty would-be masters was still waging,--of undistinguished
parents and in an obscure district of one of those colonies Henry Clay
was born. The infant nation and the infant child began the race of life
together. For three quarters of a century they have travelled hand in
hand. They have been companions ever. The nation has passed its perils,
and it is free, prosperous, and powerful. The child has reached his
manhood, his middle age, his old age, and is dead. In all that has
concerned the nation the man ever sympathized; and now the nation mourns
the man.
The day after his death one of the public journals, opposed to him
politically, held the following pathetic and beautiful language, which I
adopt partly because such high and exclusive eulogy, originating with a
political friend, might offend good taste, but chiefly because I could not
in any language of my own so well express my thoughts:
"Alas, who can realize that Henry Clay is dead! Who can realize that never
again that majestic form shall rise in the council-chambers of his country
to beat back the storms of anarchy which may threaten, or pour the oil of
peace upon the troubled billows as they rage and menace around! Who
can realize that the workings of that mighty mind have ceased, that the
throbbings of that gallant heart are stilled, that the mighty sweep of
that graceful arm will be felt no more, and the magic of that eloquent
tongue, which spake as spake no other tongue besides, is hushed hushed for
ever! Who can realize that freedom's champion, the champion of a civilized
world and of all tongues and kindreds of people, has indeed fallen! Alas,
in those dark hours of peril and dread which our land has experienced, and
which she may be called to experience again, to whom now may her people
look up for that counsel and advice which only wisdom and experience and
patriotism can give, and which only the undoubting confidence of a nation
will receive? Perchance in the whole circle of the great and gifted of
our land there remains but one on whose shoulders the mighty mantle of
the departed statesman may fall; one who while we now write is doubtless
pouring his tears over the bier of his brother and friend brother, friend,
ever, yet in political sentiment as far apart as party could make them.
Ah, it is at times like these that the petty distinctions of mere party
disappear. We see only the great, the grand, the noble features of the
departed statesman; and we do not even beg permission to bow at his
feet and mingle our tears with those who have ever been his political
adherents--we do [not] beg this permission, we claim it as a right, though
we feel it as a privilege. Henry Clay belonged to his country--to the
world; mere party cannot claim men like him. His career has been national,
his fame has filled the earth, his memory will endure to the last syllable
of recorded time.