Private
Executive Mansion,
Washington, Jan. 11,
1862.
Dear Sir:
Though I have said nothing hitherto in response to your
wish, expressed long since, to resign your seat in the cabinet, I have not been
unmindful of it. I have been only unwilling to consent to a change at a time,
and under circumstances which might give occasion to misconstruction, and
unable, till now to see how such misconstruction could be avoided.
But the desire of Mr. Clay to return home and to offer his
services to his country in the field enables me now to gratify your wish, and
at the same time evince my personal regard for you, and my confidence in your
ability, patriotism, and fidelity to public trust.
I therefore tender to your acceptance, if you still desire
to resign your present position, the post of Minister to Russia. Should you
accept it, you will bear with you the assurance of my
undiminished confidence, of my affectionate esteem, and of my sure expectation
that, near the great sovereign [sic] whose personal and hereditary friendship
for the United States, so much endears him to Americans, you will be able to
render services to your country, not less important than those you could render
at home.
Very sincerely your
friend
A. LINCOLN
SOURCE: Roy P. Basler, Editor, The Collected Works of Abraham
Lincoln, Vol. 5, p. 96-7;
A copy of this letter can be found in the Abraham Lincoln Papers
at the Library of Congress.
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