P. S.-The documents referred to I suppose you will readily find in Washington. LETTER TO THURLOW WEED A. L. SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, December 17, 1860. My dear Sir: Yours of the 11th was received two days ago. Should the convocation of governors of which you speak seem desirous to know my views on the present aspect of things tell them you judge from my speeches that I will be inflexible on the territorial question; that I probably think either the Missouri line extended, or Douglas's and Eli Thayer's popular sovereignty, would lose us everything we gain by the election; that filibustering for all south of us and making slave States of it would follow, in spite of us, in either case; also that I probably think all opposition, real and apparent, to the fugitive-slave clause of the Constitution ought to be withdrawn. I believe you can pretend to find but little, if anything, in my speeches about secession. But my opinion is, that no State can in any way lawfully get out of the Union without the consent of the others; and that it is the duty of the President and other government functionaries to run the machine as it is. Truly yours, A. LINCOLN. LETTER TO EDWARD BATES (Confidential.) SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, December 18, 1860. My dear Sir: Yours of to-day is just received. Let a little editorial appear in the "Missouri Democrat" in about these words: "We have the permission of both Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Bates to say that the latter will be offered, and will accept, a place in the new cabinet, subject, of course, to the action of the Senate. It is not yet definitely settled which department will be assigned to Mr. Bates." Let it go just as above, or with any modification which may seem proper to you. Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN. *LETTER TO HENRY J. RAYMOND (Confidential.) SPRINGFIELD, ILLS., Dec. 18, 1860. My dear Sir: Yours of the 14th is received. What a very mad man your correspondent, Smedley is. Mr. Lincoln is not pledged to the ultimate extinction of slavery; does not hold the black man to be the equal of the white, unqualifiedly as Mr. S. states it; and never did stigmatize their white people as immoral and unchris tian; and Mr. S. cannot prove one of his assertions true. Mr. S. seems sensitive on the questions of morals and Christianity. What does he think of a man who makes charges against another which he does not know to be true, and could easily learn to be false? As to the pitcher story it is a forgery out and out. I never made but one speech in Cincinnati -the last speech in the volume containing the Joint Debates between Senator Douglas and myself. I have never yet seen Governor Chase. I was never in a meeting of negroes in my life; and never saw a pitcher presented by anybody to anybody. I am much obliged by your letter, and shall be glad to hear from you again when you have anything of interest. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN. LETTER TO E. B. WASHBURNE (Confidential.) SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, December 21, 1860. My dear Sir: Last night I received your letter giving an account of your interview with General Scott, and for which I thank you. Please present my respects to the general, and tell him, confidentially, I shall be obliged to him to be as well prepared as he can to either hold or retake the forts, as the case may require, at and after the inauguration. Yours as ever, A. LINCOLN. LETTER TO ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS.1 SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, December 22, 1860. My dear Sir: Your obliging answer to my short note is just received, and for which please accept my thanks. I fully appreciate the present peril the country is in, and the weight of responsibility on me. Do the people of the South really entertain fears that a Republican administration would, directly or indirectly, interfere with the slaves, or with them about the slaves? If they do, I wish to assure you, as once a friend, and still, I hope, not an enemy, that there is no cause for such fears. The South would be in no more danger in this respect than it was in the days of Washington. I suppose, however, this 'This letter was written two days after the South Carolina convention had unanimously declared the union existing between it and the other States dissolved. Two months later than the date of this letter the Confederate States of America framed a provisional government with Jefferson Davis as President and Stephens as Vice-President. Stephens described the new govment as "founded on the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition." You think slavery is does not meet the case. right and ought to be extended, while we think it is wrong and ought to be restricted. That, I suppose, is the rub. It certainly is the only substantial difference between us. Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN. *LETTER TO MAJOR DAVID HUNTER SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, December 22, 1860. My dear Sir: I am much obliged by the receipt of yours of the 18th. The most we can do now is to watch events, and be as well prepared as possible for any turn things may take. If the forts fall, my judgment is that they are to be retaken. When I shall determine definitely my time of starting to Washington, I will notify you. Yours truly, A. LINCOLN. LETTER TO HANNIBAL HAMLIN SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, December 24, 1860. My dear Sir: I need a man of Democratic antecedents from New England. I cannot get a fair share of that element in without. This stands in the way of Mr. Adams. I think of Governor Banks, Mr. Welles, and Mr. Tuck. |