Springfield, Ills– Mar–16,
1860
Dear Delahay–
I have just returned from the East. Before leaving, I
received your letter of Feb. 6; and on my return I find those of the 17th.
& 19th. with Genl. Lane's note inclosed in one of
them.
I sincerely wish you could be elected one of the first
Senators for Kansas; but how to help you I do not know. If it were permissable
for me to interfere, I am not personally acquainted with a single member of
your Legislature. If my known friendship for you could be of any advantage,
that friendship was abundantly manifested by me last December while in Kansas.
If any member had written me, as you say some have Trumbull, I would very
readily answer him. I shall write Trumbull on the subject at this sitting.
I understood, while in Kansas, that the State Legislature
will not meet until the State is admitted. Was that the right understanding?
As to your kind wishes for myself, allow me to say I can not
enter the ring on the money basis– first, because, in the main, it is wrong;
and secondly, I have not, and can not get, the money. I say, in the main, the
use of money is wrong; but for certain objects, in a political contest, the use
of some, is both right, and indispensable. With me, as with yourself, this long
struggle has been one of great pecuniary loss. I now distinctly say this. If
you shall be appointed a delegate to Chicago, I will furnish one hundred
dollars to bear the expences of the trip.
Present my respects to Genl. Lane; and say to him, I shall
be pleased to hear from him at any time.
Your friend, as ever
A. LINCOLN.
P.S. I have not yet taken the newspaper slip to the Journal.
I shall do that to-morrow; and then send you the paper as requested.
A. L.
SOURCE: Roy P. Basler, Editor, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 4, p. 31-2
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