Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Tuesday, May 22, 1860

Fine day—At work in office. out at Cox's to tea. “Help me Cassius or I sink” received a long letter from Hon David Davis, Tho^s A Marshall, N. B. Judd, E Peck¹ & O. M. Hatch, entreating me in the most earnest terms to go, without delay, to St Louis, and see Judge Bates, and try and prevail upon him to come into Illinois, and assist us in the campaign. They want his influence to carry the old whig Quincy element for Lincoln.² Some of these same men had blamed me for supporting Judge Bates for the Presidency and had asserted, in the most emphatic terms, that he could not carry Illinois. I believed before the convention, and believe now, that he would have carried the entire Republican party, and the old whig party beside, and I think others are beginning to suspect the same thing, and that we have made a mistake in the selection of candidates.

I immediately wrote a long and urgent letter to Judge Bates, and will follow it in person tomorrow—for in my opinion, the existence of the party and the highest good of the country, are alike dependent upon our success, and I am willing to forego all personal preferences, and make any reasonable sacrifice to secure a triumph

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¹ Ebenezer Peck, 1805-1881. Born in Maine; admitted to bar in Canada; member of Canadian Parliament; came to Chicago, 1835, being one of the founders of the Democratic party and one of its supposedly unscrupulous politicians. Lincoln opposed him then, but by 1856 Peck had become a Republican and he took part in the Republican convention at Bloomington in that year. He was elected clerk of the Supreme Court in 1841 in a meeting of five of the nine justices of the court. His election was supposed to be part of a bargain regarding the passage of the act of 1841 reorganizing the Supreme Court on Democratic lines. He was therefore known as the "midnight clerk." President Lincoln appointed him to the United States Court of Claims. Palmer, The Bench and Bar of Illinois, 1:76-77; 2: 627; Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, 1:126127; 2: 28; Memoirs of Gustave Koerner, 2: 93.

² This letter is in the files of the Illinois State Historical Library at Springfield and reads as follows:

Springfield, Ills

May 21 1860

Dear Browning—

 

There must be no mistake about carrying Illinois—

 

Our honor is pledged to it—

 

To conduce to this end, it is apparent to a number of friends now here, that Judge Edward Bates should be got to make speeches, at 4 or 5 prominent places in this State, say Charleston Springfield, Jacksonville, Carlinville, or Alton, & some place on Military Tract

 

Judge Bates owes it to himself & the cause to make this sacrifice His appearance & the man himself would be more effective, than a thousand speeches from Eastern Orators—

 

—Mr Bates, would emphatically settle the Fillmore element for us—

Your friends think that if these speeches could be made all of them before the Baltimore nomination—that they would be greatly—infinitely more effective—than if made afterwards

 

Now is the appointed time— In looking over the list of our friends, who should be sent to Mr Bates to effect this end a number of your friends & Mr Lincoln's now here, unitedly believe that you are that man—

 

The undersigned therefore, earnestly & affectionatley urge you immediately to visit Saint Louis & if possible secure the services of Mr Bates— We assure you that you could not more effectually serve the cause—

 

We beg of you to lay aside business & visit Saint Louis—for this purpose—

 

Write to Mr Hatch the result of your mission—Knowing your interest in this cause, we feel certain that you will not hesitate a moment, in endeavouring to accomplish this very desirable object.

 

Mr Blair of St Louis thinks it most important & if in St Louis will lend his aid— Mr Blair has the matter at heart—

 

We remain

Dear Sir

Your friends

David Davis

N. B. Judd

T. A. Marshall

Eb Peck.

O. M. Hatch

SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, pp. 408-10

David Davis et al to Orville Hickman Browning, May 21, 1860

Springfield, Ills

May 21 1860

Dear Browning—

There must be no mistake about carrying Illinois—

Our honor is pledged to it—

To conduce to this end, it is apparent to a number of friends now here, that Judge Edward Bates should be got to make speeches, at 4 or 5 prominent places in this State, say Charleston Springfield, Jacksonville, Carlinville, or Alton, & some place on Military Tract

Judge Bates owes it to himself & the cause to make this sacrifice His appearance & the man himself would be more effective, than a thousand speeches from Eastern Orators—

—Mr Bates, would emphatically settle the Fillmore element for us—

Your friends think that if these speeches could be made all of them before the Baltimore nomination—that they would be greatly—infinitely more effective—than if made afterwards

Now is the appointed time— In looking over the list of our friends, who should be sent to Mr Bates to effect this end a number of your friends & Mr Lincoln's now here, unitedly believe that you are that man—

The undersigned therefore, earnestly & affectionatley urge you immediately to visit Saint Louis & if possible secure the services of Mr Bates— We assure you that you could not more effectually serve the cause—

We beg of you to lay aside business & visit Saint Louis—for this purpose—

Write to Mr Hatch the result of your mission—Knowing your interest in this cause, we feel certain that you will not hesitate a moment, in endeavouring to accomplish this very desirable object.

Mr Blair of St Louis thinks it most important & if in St Louis will lend his aid— Mr Blair has the matter at heart—

We remain
                Dear Sir
                                                                Your friends

David Davis

N. B. Judd

T. A. Marshall

Eb Peck.

O. M. Hatch

SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, pp. 409-10

Congress And The Convention.

It cannot be alleged that members of Congress are exercising an undue influence on the Convention. Among the five hundred or more delegates chosen, there are only six members whose name appear in the list, to wit: Senators JAMES F. SIMMONS of Rhode Island, and PRESTON KING of N. Y.; and Messrs. ABRAHAM [sic] B. OLIN, of N. Y., THADDEUS STEVENS of Pa., THOMAS CORWIN of Ohio, and ELI THAYER of Mass., the latter representing the State of Oregon.

—Five members of the National Republican Committee are also members of the Convention, all of them being delegates at large from their respective States, to wit: GIDEON WELLES of Conn., JAMES T. SHERMAN of N. J., ALFRED CALDWELL of Virginia, THOMAS SPOONER of Ohio, and NORMAN B. JUDD, of Ill.

SOURCE: “Congress And The Convention,” The Press and Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, Tuesday, May 15, 1860, p. 1, col. 2

Diary of John Hay: December 9, 1863

. . . . In the evening Judd and Usher, and Nicolay and I were talking politics and blackguarding our friends in the Council Chamber. A great deal had been said about the folly of the Edward Bates letter — the Rockville Blair speech, etc. — when the President came in. They at once opened on him, and after some talk he settled down to give his ideas about the Blair business. He said:—

“The Blairs have, to an unusual degree, the spirit of clan. Their family is a close corporation. Frank is their hope and pride. They have a way of going with a rush for anything they undertake; — especially have Montgomery and the Old Gentleman. When this war first began, they could think of nothing but Frémont; they expected everything from him; and upon their earnest solicitation he was made a General, and sent to Missouri. I thought well of Frémont. Even now I think he is the prey of wicked and designing men, and I think he has absolutely no military capacity. He went to Missouri, the pet and protegé of the Blairs. At first they corresponded with him and with Frank, who was with him, fully and confidently thinking his plans and his efforts would accomplish great things for the country. At last the tone of Frank’s letters changed. It was a change from confidence to doubt and uncertainty. They were pervaded with a tone of sincere sorrow, and of fear that Frémont would fail. Montgomery showed them to me, and we were both grieved at the prospect. Soon came the news that Frémont had issued his Emancipation Order, and had set up a Bureau of Abolition, giving free papers, and occupying his time apparently with little else. At last, at my suggestion, Montgomery Blair went to Missouri to look at, and talk over matters. He went as the friend of Frémont. I sent him as Frémont ‘s friend. He passed on the way, Mrs. Frémont coming to see me. She sought an audience with me at midnight, and taxed me so violently with many things that I had to exercise all the awkward tact I have, to avoid quarreling with her. She surprised me by asking why their enemy, Montgomery Blair, had been sent to Missouri. She more than once intimated that if Gen'l Frémont should conclude to try conclusions with me, he could set up for himself.”

(Judd says: — “It is pretty clearly proven that Frémont had at that time concluded that the Union was definitely destroyed, and that he should set up an independent government as soon as he took Memphis and organized his army.")

“The next we heard was that Frémont had arrested Frank Blair, and the rupture has since never been healed.”

“During Frémont’s time, the Missouri Democrat, which had always been Blair’s organ, was bought up by Frémont, and turned against Frank Blair. This took away from Frank, after his final break with Frémont, the bulk of the strength which had always elected him. This left him ashore. To be elected in this state of things he must seek for votes outside of the Republican organization. He had pretty hard trimming and cutting to do this consistently. It is this necessity, as it appears to me, of finding some ground for Frank to stand on, that accounts for the present, somewhat anomalous, position of the Blairs in politics.”

Judd: — “The opinion of people who read your Message to-day is that, on that platform, two of your ministers must walk the plank — Blair and Bates.”

Lincoln: — “Both of these men acquiesced in it without objection. The only member of the Cabinet who objected to it was Mr. Chase.”

SOURCES: Clara B. Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts from Diary, Volume 1, p. 132-5; For the whole diary entry see Tyler Dennett, Editor, Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and letters of John Hay, p. 130-4.