Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Tuesday, June 19, 1860

Very warm summer day-Breakfasted at Dr Browns with Mrs Brown alone, he being in the Country     The letter of Hon Edw Bates to me declaring his intention to support Mr Lincoln for the Presidency appeared in St Louis Democrat to day.¹ Our friends are delighted with it. It is a great letter the production of a great man and noble patriot, and will be of immense value to us in the campaign. It is all that I could possibly desire.

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¹ The salient passages in Bates's letter, above referred to, were as follows:

St. Louis, June 11, 1860.

O. H. Browning, Esq., Quincy, Ill.

 

. . . It ought not to have been doubted that I could give Mr. Lincoln's nomination a cordial and hearty support. . . .

 

There was no good ground for supposing that I felt any pique or dissatisfaction because the Chicago convention failed to nominate me. . . . On party grounds I had no right to expect a nomination; I had no claims upon the Republicans as a party for I have never been a member of any party . . . except only the Whig party. . . . Many Republicans honored me with their confidence and desired to make me their candidate. For this favor I was indebted to the fact that between them and me there was a coincidence of opinion upon certain important questions of government. They and I agreed in believing that the national government has sovereign power over the territories, and that it would be impolitic and unwise to use that power for the propagation of negro slavery by planting it in free territory. Some of them believed also that my nomination, while it would tend to soften the tone of the Republican party, without any abandonment of its principles, might tend also to generalize its character and attract the friendship and support of many, especially in the border States, who, like me, had never been members of party, but concurred with them in opinion about the government of the territories. These are . . . I think, the only grounds upon which I was supported at all at Chicago.

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Mr. Lincoln's nomination took the public by surprise because, until just before the event, it was unexpected. But really it ought not to have excited any surprise, for such unforeseen nominations are common in our political history. . . . As an individual he earned a high reputation for truth, courage, candor, morals, and amiability so that, as a man, he is most trustworthy, and in this particular he is more entitled to our esteem than some other men, his equals, who had far better opportunities and aids in early life.

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I consider Mr. Lincoln a sound, safe, national man. He could not be sectional if he tried. His birth, his education, the habits of his life, and his geographical position compelled him to be national. All his feelings and interests are identified with the great valley of the Mississippi, near whose center he has spent his whole life. That valley is not a section.

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I give my opinion freely in favor of Mr. Lincoln, and I hope that, for the good of the whole country, he may be elected, but it is not my intention to take active part in the canvass. For many years past, I have had little to do with public affairs, and have acquired no political office; and now, in view of the mad excitement which convulses the country, and the general disruption and disorder of parties, . . . I am more than ever assured that for me, personally, there is no political future, and I accept the condition with cheerful satisfaction. *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Edward Bates

SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 416-7