The Choice Of Illinois.

No one who as watched the political currents in Illinois this year can doubt that ABRAHAM LINCOLN is emphatically the choice of the State for President. No one who attended the Decatur Convention can doubt that the people, in presenting his name, did so with the intent of giving him their utmost strength in the Chicago Convention. The exigencies of our position are such that we have no choice but to adhere to Mr. LINCOLN in the Chicago Convention so long as adherence shall be of service to him, or give promise of the great and efficient aid which his name would bring to the task before us. We are speaking as citizens of Illinois, who have in hand the business not only of giving the electoral vote vote [sic] of the state to the Republican cause but of preserving a seat in the Senate for LYMAN TRUMBULL and securing a re-apportionment in Congressional and Legislative districts, upon which hangs our political future during the next ten years. We have no right,—we claim none—to insist that New England and New York shall sacrifice their preferences to help us out of the ditch, but it must be apparent to every one that Illinois has more at stake than they in the approaching contest. Constables are worth more than Presidents in the long run, as a means of holding political power. The legislature is of vastly more consequence to particular States than their delegations in Congress. We look to Mr. LINCOLN to tow constables and General Assembly into power, and place us where we can be generous—where we can hold our electoral vote as securely as Maine, Michigan, or Wisconsin, and where we can promise it to whomsoever may hereafter bear the Republican standard before the nation. The gods help those who help themselves. Illinois is bound by all considerations of self defence to labor for the man who can bring her to the land of promise, and so she will be found laboring in the Chicago Convention. What we claim for ourselves we freely concede to others, and when the battle is set we go into the campaign without reservations, to do our best for the common cause.

Two years ago Mr. LINCOLN received 125,275 votes from the people, against 121,190 for Mr. DOUGLAS, and 4,683 for the Administration. These figures show to our friends from distant States the delicate, yet hopeful ground on which we stand. They will see how close was our battle with our best ban; they will be prepared to forgive us for seeking safety where we know it to be found, and for holding fast to that which is good. If other States shall come to our assistance, recognizing in Mr. LINCOLN the peer of any of the Republican captauis [sic] now prominent before the country, whether as regards ability or devotion to the principles which the Chicago Convention is to maintain, we shall be devoutly thankful. Yet we have no claim which may not be asserted by many others. The Party has claims on all its members—they have none on the party. Illinois has declared unanimously by her preference for the Presidency, and she will urge with respectful firmness, before various delegations, the difficulties which constrain her to adhere to the man of her choice.

SOURCE: “The Choice Of Illinois,” The Press and Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, Monday, May 14, 1860, p. 2, col. 2