William Barton Rogers to Henry Darwin Rogers, May 29, 1860

Boston, May 29, 1860.

. . . We go to Lunenburg on Friday. As soon as there I shall write out my observations on binocular vision, etc., in a form suited for presentation.

Our “Reservation Committees” are to continue their action until the next meeting of the Legislature, feeling strong hopes of obtaining the grant of land on the Back Bay through further efforts. They have urged me to accept the chairmanship, and I have conditionally agreed. Among our present purposes is that of framing a plan for a Technological department, with which some of our leading men, as Erastus Bigelow, Ignatius Sargent, etc., think they can secure a subscription of $100,000 from the manufacturers and merchants, and that being assured, we can come before the Legislature with an irresistible claim.

Now can you not, while in London, gather up all documents relating to the Kensington Museum, that in Jermyn Street, etc., which might be of assistance in digesting such a plan? You will do us a great service by sending me such as you collect....

The anti-Darwin review in the last “Edinburgh” is, I suppose, by Owen. It does not seem to me to be altogether fair or philosophic. I see a notice of his “Palaeontology “ in the small type of the "Westminster," which I ascribe to Huxley, and which certainly shows up the deficiencies and errors of that treatise very positively.

This morning's paper brought the sad announcement of the death of Theodore Parker. The news lately received from Florence led us to look for such a result. But now that it is certain, how deep will be the grief of the large circle of friends upon whom it will fall as one of the heaviest of bereavements. No one will be more sincerely mourned, or leave a more lasting memory in the affections and gratitude of liberal hearts everywhere, than our noble, self-sacrificing, gently loving and heroic friend. I feel that his name will be a power, and that the free and wise words that he has written, and the disciples he has reared, will continue the labours of humanity and freedom which he showed such unfaltering boldness in carrying on. You and I have lost a good friend, who knew how, better than almost any other, to appreciate the free thought that was in us. I shall never forget his kind words of you and to me, as with a tearful eye I last parted from him.

You have no doubt seen the action of the Chicago Convention. How decorous and manly and consistent their course, compared with the Democratic and the old-fogy conventions that preceded! There is good reason to expect the success of the Republican ticket; Lincoln and Hamlin are both men of superior endowments, are honest and patriotic, and sufficiently versed in affairs.

The Union-saving party is looked upon as a “dead thing” Some one lately said to one of these gentlemen, who had just been telling him that they had nominated “Bell and Everett,” “Why did you not choose?” “Why, he has been dead this twelvemonth!” was the reply. “Not so dead as either of your nominees,” was the rejoinder.

SOURCE: Emma Savage Rogers & William T. Sedgwick, Life and Letters of William Barton Rogers, Volume 2, p. 34

Horace Greeley to James S. Pike, May 25, 1860

New York, May 25, 1860.

Pike, My Friend: Do you see how the heathen rage? How the whole weight of their wrath is poured out on my head? Will you tell me why Maine behaved so much worse at Chicago than any New-England State but Massachusetts? What meant that infernal vote from Massachusetts against us? I thought some of you Eastern folks would look to this. Just write me one letter to let me know what all this means.

Yours,

Horace Greeley.

J. S. Pike, Esq.

SOURCE: James Shepherd Pike, First Blows of the Civil War: The Ten Years of Preliminary Conflict in the United States from 1850 to 1860, p. 520

Horace Greeley to James S. Pike, May 21, 1860

New York, May 21, 1861.

Pike: Your Maine delegation was a poor affair; I thought you had been at work preparing it for the great struggle; yet I suspect you left all the work for me, as everybody seems to do. Massachusetts also was right in Weed's hands, contrary to all reasonable expectation. I cannot understand this. It was all we could do to hold Vermont by the most desperate exertions; and I at some times despaired of it. The rest of New England was pretty sound, but part of New Jersey was somehow inclined to sin against light and knowledge. If you had seen the Pennsylvania delegation, and known how much money Weed had in hand, you would not have believed we could do so well as we did. Give Curtin thanks for that. Ohio looked very bad, yet turned out well, and Virginia had been regularly sold out; but the seller couldn't deliver. “We had to rain red-hot bolts on them, however, to keep the majority from going for Seward, who got eight votes here as it was. Indiana was our right bower, and Missouri above praise. It was a fearful week, such as I hope and trust I shall never see repeated. I think your absence lost us several votes.

But the deed is done, and the country breathes more freely. We shall beat the enemy fifty thousand in this State — can't take off a single man. New England stands like a rock, and the North-west is all ablaze. Pennsylvania and New Jersey are our pieces de resistance, but we shall carry them. I am almost worn out.

Yours,

Horace Greeley.

James S. Pike, Esq., Somewhere.

SOURCE: James Shepherd Pike, First Blows of the Civil War: The Ten Years of Preliminary Conflict in the United States from 1850 to 1860, p. 519-20

Count Adam Gurowski to James S. Pike, Wednesday May 12, 1860

21 West 22d Street, May 12, 1860.

My Dear Yankee: I am sorry not to be able to adopt your advice. I prefer not to publish it at all, as to do it by the help of Greeley and of the Tribune. I have my own personal feeling about it.

I am sorry to hear that you are so unwell as to be disabled to go to Chicago. What is the matter? You ought to have told me.

Good-by. The world will not be a bit better if I do not publish my book. After all, if it would be a Helper, help would have been found.

Mes amities à Madame.

Yours,

Gurowski.

SOURCE: James Shepherd Pike, First Blows of the Civil War: The Ten Years of Preliminary Conflict in the United States from 1850 to 1860, p. 515

Governor Salmon P. Chase to James S. Pike, March 19, 1860

Columbus, March 19, 1860.

My Dear Friend: Your letter came just as an imperious business necessity compelled me to go to Cincinnati. Returning, I found the announcement that it is determined to suspend the publication of the Era. The necessity of this step is greatly to be deplored. Surely a very little activity among our friends at Washington might have averted it. I fear the effect of it upon any attempt to obtain the surrender of the certificates in the Chicago Block Property. If I were only able I would myself take the responsiblity of carrying it on through the year; but I am literally exhausted by the expense of my residence here for the past four years, coupled with the great depreciation of property in the State.

I regret now that I did not recommend Mr. French to you. Although not the man to take the helm of the Era exactly, he is prompt, talented, and faithful, and might have organized a support which would have continued it. I believe I will write to him yet on the subject. Meantime please let me know what you are doing or propose to do, what propositions are made, if any, etc., etc.

As to the Chicago nomination, I possess my soul in patience. That I shall have some friends outside of Ohio who prefer me to all others, I know; that many more prefer me as a second choice is plain enough. What the result will be nobody can tell. If I were certain of the nomination I can hardly tell whether I should be more gratified by the confidence implied in it, or alarmed by the responsibilities and trials which it would impose. There seems to be at present a considerable set towards Seward. Should the nomination fall to him, I shall not at all repine. If the best interests of our cause and country will be best promoted by it, I shall not only not repine, but shall rejoice. Many, however, think he cannot be nominated; many, that if nominated he cannot be elected; many, that if elected, his administration will divide the Republicans, reorganize the Democracy, and insure its triumph. Situated as I am, I cannot enter into these speculations, but prefer to let opinions form themselves.

I wish I could come to Washington without seeming to seek votes. If I could, I would. There are some things of a business nature I want to do, and there are friends I want to see. But I suppose it will not do for me at present. I would rather never have a place than seem even to be importunate for it.

Give my best love to the children, and believe me,

Affectionately and faithfully yours,

S. P. Chase.

SOURCE: James Shepherd Pike, First Blows of the Civil War: The Ten Years of Preliminary Conflict in the United States from 1850 to 1860, p. 502-3

Horace Greeley to James S. Pike, March 8, 1860

New York, March 8, 1860.

Friend Pike: I have bet you $20 on Douglas against the field. So far good. Now you say Seward will be our man. Well, I offer you $20 on that. I name my man for Charleston and back him against the field. You name your man for Chicago, and don't back him against the field, as I proposed. Very good. It seems that I have more confidence in my jud[g]ment than you have in yours; so we will stand there on the original $20 on Douglas, which I trust you will win; only, if Douglas has no chance, you and Harvey should “poor pussy” him, not abuse him.

F. is one of the poorest and most debauched of the drunken sailors that floated ashore from the wreck of Know-Nothingism. He is, of course, the very man for a printer to Congress. No honest man could get it, for none of that stamp could lie enough. Hence Follett's failure in '56, and Defrees's now. Both these are honest men.

But Gurley's bill to establish a Government Printing-Office is worse even than Ford or Bowman or Wendell — worse than all three together. It is to establish a national hospital for broken-down editors and printers, the jackals of the Camerons, and Bankses and Brights and Gwinns of all time. It will be more expensive and more nauseous than any thing we have yet known. Every drunken printer and ex-editor who won't work, and can't earn a living if he would, will be billeted on the public Treasury, and jobs will be invented to keep up a semblance of work for them — and very little work will do them. Just see.

I hope F. will cheat the crowd out of every dollar. If he will do this with the impudence of a highwayman, I'll go in for giving him another as good thing somewhere. Genius should be encouraged.

Yours,

H. G.

J. S. P.

SOURCE: James Shepherd Pike, First Blows of the Civil War: The Ten Years of Preliminary Conflict in the United States from 1850 to 1860, p. 502

George William Curtis to John J. Pinkerton, April 13, 1860

North Shore, 13th April, 1860.

My Dear Pinkerton, — Thanks for your kind response. I have had the same suspicion of Pennsylvania, but my general feeling is this: that the nomination of Mr. Bates would so chill and paralyze the youth and ardor which are the strength of the Republican party; would so cheer the Democrats as a merely available move, showing distrust of our own position and power; would so alienate the German Northwest, and so endanger a bolt from the straight Republicans of New England, — that the possible gain of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and even Indiana, might be balanced. Add to this that defeat with Bates is the utter destruction of our party organization, and that success with him is very doubtful victory, and I cannot but feel that upon the whole his nomination is an act of very uncertain wisdom.

It is very true that there is no old Republican, because the party is young, and it will not do to ask too sharply when a man became a Republican. Moreover, a man like Mr. Bates may very properly have been a Fillmore man in '56, because he might not have believed that the Slavery party was as resolved and desperate as it immediately showed itself in the Dred Scott business; this is all true, but human nature cries out against the friends of Fremont in '56 working for a Fillmore man in '60, and there is a good deal of human nature in the public. The nomination of Mr. Bates will plunge the really Republican States into a syncope. If they are strong enough to remain Republican while they are apathetic, then in the border States you may decide the battle.

I think New York is very sure for the Chicago man, whoever he is; but if Bates is the man, we shall have to travel upon our muscle!! Individually believing, as I do, in the necessary triumph of our cause by causes superior to the merely political, I should prefer a fair fight upon the merits of the case between Douglas and Seward, or Hunter or Guthrie and Seward. I think Douglas will be the Charleston man.

Thank you once more.

Yours faithfully,

George William Curtis.

SOURCE: Edward Cary, George William Curtis, p. 130-2

Senator William P. Fessenden to his Family, May 17, 1860

You will probably get the result at Chicago before this reaches you. We know nothing here except what appears by telegraph. It looks now as if Mr. Seward would fail. In that case Lincoln seems to be in the ascendant. I have no doubt it will either be Mr. Seward or a Western man. I have done everything I could to avoid being named at all, and have specifically directed the Maine delegation not to bring me forward in any event, or procure it to be done.

SOURCE: Francis Fessenden, Life and Public Services of William Pitt Fessenden, Volume 1, p. 113

Charles Russell Lowell to George Putnam, May 24, 1860

Burlington, May 24, '60.

How does the Chicago platform and nomination please the Puritans, — it shows pluck, and that, in an American, generally argues strength. Deliberately I prefer Lincoln to Seward, especially since the latter's Capital and Labor speech, that shivered a little in the wind's eye. Lincoln is emphatic on the irrepressible conflict, without if or but. Had Greeley's pet, Bates, been successful, this State, at least, would have gone for Douglas. Since Douglas's last rally in the Senate, he stands in a Samson Antagonistic attitude, which is attractive to the Northwest.

SOURCE: Edward Waldo Emerson, Life and Letters of Charles Russell Lowell, p. 187-8

James G. Blaine to Senator William P. Fessenden, May 16, 1860

Private.

Chicago, Monday A. M., May 16, 1860.

My Dear Sir, — I arrived here Saturday night.  . . . I may mention, however, that the Seward force is on the ground and assume an air of dictation which is at once unwarranted and offensive, and which I think will create a reaction before Wednesday. They cannot count up more than a third of the votes from States that can carry the ticket, and how much they intend or expect to make from such delegates as come from slave States has not yet transpired. Should he be nominated by the aid of the delegates that can promise him no support, the Pennsylvanians would consider it a most insulting disregard of their rights and wishes. I do not myself believe that he will be nominated, though a great many here think otherwise. If he is not, I will adhere to the opinion I expressed to you in Portland, that the game lies between Lincoln and yourself — Chase, McLean, Banks, and Bates stand no chance. Cameron is hotly urged by a majority of the Pennsylvanians, but the proposition is scouted on all hands outside of that State. Wade cannot be made a compromise candidate. His speeches in Maine and on the Western Reserve are remembered by too large a number.

SOURCE: Francis Fessenden, Life and Public Services of William Pitt Fessenden, Volume 1, p. 112

Hannibal Hamlin to George Ashmun, May 30, 1860

WASHINGTON, May 30, 1860.

Gentlemen, — Your official communication of the 18th inst., informing me that the representatives of the Republican party of the United States, assembled at Chicago on that day, had by unanimous vote selected me as their candidate for the office of Vice-President of the United States, has been received, together with the resolutions adopted by the convention as its declaration of principles. These resolutions enunciate clearly and forcibly the principles which unite us, and the objects proposed to be accomplished. They address themselves to all, and there is neither necessity nor propriety in entering upon a discussion of any of them. They have the approval of my judgment, and in any action of mine will be faithfully and cordially sustained. I am profoundly grateful to those with whom it is my pride to cooperate for the nomination so unexpectedly conferred. And I desire to tender through you to the members of the convention my sincere thanks for the confidence thus reposed in me. Should the nomination which I now accept be ratified by the people, and the duties devolved on me of presiding over the Senate of the United States, it will be my earnest endeavor faithfully to discharge them with a just regard for the rights of all.

It is to be observed in connection with the doings of the Republican convention, that the paramount object with us is to preserve the normal conditions of our territorial domains as homes for freemen. The able advocate and defender of Republican principles whom you have named for the highest place that can gratify the ambition of man comes from a State which has been made what it is by the special action in that respect by the wise and good men who founded our institutions. The rights of free labor have been there vindicated and maintained. The thrift and enterprise which so distinguish Illinois, one of the most flourishing States of the glorious West, we would see secured to all the territories of the Union, and restore peace and harmony to the whole country by bringing back the government to what it was under the wise and patriotic men who created it. If the Republicans shall succeed in that object, as they hope to, they will be held in grateful remembrance by the busy and teeming millions of the future ages.

I am, very truly yours,

H. Hamlin.

To the Hon. George Ashmun,

President of the Convention, and others of the Committee.

SOURCE: Charles Eugene Hamlin, The Life and Times of Hannibal Hamlin, p. 351; David W. Bartlett, The Life and Public Services of Hon. Abraham Lincoln, p. 356-7

Senator James W. Grimes to Elizabeth S. Nealley Grimes, June 4, 1860

Washington, June 4, 1860.

We have just had a four hours speech from Sumner on the “Barbarism of Slavery.” In a literary point of view it was of course excellent. As a bitter, denunciatory oration, it could hardly be exceeded in point of style and finish. But, to me, many parts of it sounded harsh, vindictive, and slightly brutal. It is all true that slavery tends to barbarism, but Mr. Sumner furnishes no remedy for the evils he complains of. His speech has done the Republicans no good. Its effect has been to exasperate the Southern members, and render it utterly impossible for Mr. Sumner to exercise any influence here for the good of his State. Mr. C. F. Adams made a manly, statesmanly speech in the House of Representatives, four days ago, which was attentively listened to by everybody. He read it, as did Mr. Sumner his.

Mr. Seward is now here, and made a speech in Executive session the other day on the Mexican Treaty, that to my view showed more intellectual vigor than did his speech which you heard. His speech to which I refer was short, extemporaneous, and very able, converting almost the whole Senate to his views.

The nomination of Lincoln strikes the mass of the people with great favor. He is universally regarded as a scrupulously honest man, and a genuine man of the people.

SOURCE: William Salter, The Life of James W. Grimes, p. 127-8

Abraham Lincoln to George Ashmun, May 23, 1860

Hon. George Ashmun,

President of the Republican National Convention.

Springfield, Ills., May 23, 1860.

Sir: I accept the nomination tendered me by the convention over which you presided, of which I am formally appraised in a letter of yourself and others acting as a committee of the convention for that purpose.

The declaration of principles and sentiments which accompanies your letter meets my approval, and it shall be my care not to violate it, or disregard it in any part. Imploring the assistance of Divine Providence, and with due regard to the views and feelings of all who were represented in the convention, to the rights of all the states and territories and people of the nation, to the inviolability of the constitution, and the perpetual union, harmony, and prosperity of all; I am most happy to co-operate for the practical success of the principles declared by the convention.

Your obliged friend and fellow-citizen,

A. LINCOLN.

SOURCES: Draft of this letter from The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress;  G. M. Van Buren, Abraham Lincoln's Pen And Voice, p. 14; Roy P. Basler, Editor, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 4, p. 52