Carthage. Pleasant day—Attending Court in the forenoon.
At 2 P. M. Mr Warren, Mr Wheat & myself left Carthage, and came in
Hamiltons carriage to Colmer, where they took the cars home, and I came to
Macomb to address a political meeting tomorrow.
I am at the Randolph
House. At near ten Oclock at night the people assembled round the house, and
shouted for me till I had to go down, and show myself and shake hands &
talk a little.
SOURCE: The
Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 413
Macomb. Early this morning the people began to gather
in, and by noon from seven to ten thousand assembled. The morning was quite
warm with a fresh breeze from the South, and the arrangements for speaking were
made in the public square. Lawrence was to commence at 2 P. M. and I was to
follow him. At 1 P. M. the wind shifted to the North, and blew almost a
hurricane for half and hour, and then rained very heavily for sometime. Between
2 & 3 P. M. when it had almost ceased to rain although the earth was
drenched, and the grass dripping, a great crowd of men and women assembled in
the square, and I was compelled to address them, which I proceeded to do with
my hat on, and an umbrella held over. After speaking an hour, being then
thoroughly wet, and the rain increasing, it was proposed to adjourn to a large
unfinished brick house, which we did, and where I addressed them for an
hour longer tho' not one fourth of them could get in.
At 7 O'clock I took
the cars for home where I arrived at 10, and found that rain had extended to
Adams County in copious & abundant supply. It was the best and heaviest
rain we have had this year. Lawrence and I dined with Mr Twyman, the son in law
of Mr Chas Chandler
SOURCE: The
Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 413
Very fine day. At
Church A. M. & P. M. Just before night Mr & Mrs Goodrich, of Mass: Mr
Goodrich being a member of the National Republican Committee called, and sat
till near 10 O'clock. The moon is about full, and is as lovely a summer night
as ever shone.
SOURCE: The
Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 413
Quincy &
Carthage. At 5 Oclock this morning took
the cars for Plymouth on my way back to Hancock Court. Warren & Grimshaw in
company and at Plymouth we were joined by Mr Sherman of Galesburg and we all
came on together to Carthage with Hamiltons team and carriage, which Grimshaw
had driven to Plymouth on Saturday—Got here a little after 10 Oclock and
stopped at Artois Hamiltons—A very fine day.
SOURCE: The
Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 413
Fine day. Attending
Court. Wrote to Hon Edw: Bates in reply to his of 28th ult:
SOURCE: The
Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 413
Thunder &
lightning last night, and a little cool this morning. Attending Court
SOURCE: The
Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 413
Carthage &
Quincy. Cool, pleasant day. At 3. PM
Court & Quincy adjourned till Court in Course. Grimshaw, Jason Sherman
& myself got Jno Hamilton to bring us, and Miss Mary Boude, who was going
home with me, to Colmer, where we took supper, and at 7½ took the cars for Quincy
where we arrived at 9½ at night. Miss Boude went home with me.
SOURCE: The
Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 413
Very pleasant day.
At work in office. At 10½ A M. Mrs B & I rode to our place in 8th Street
and called at Mr Coxs
SOURCE: The
Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 413
Cool, pleasant day.
At work in office. A little party at our house at night. Had to tea Bushnells,
Bulls, Cox's, McFadons & & Mrs Baldwin of Keokuk — & Mrs Hunter
& Miss Benedict of Philadelphia
SOURCE: The
Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 413
Quincy. Pleasant day. At church A. M. and P. M.
SOURCE: The
Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 413
Fine day. At 512 P.
M. took the cars for Springfield to attend US Circuit Court. Reached
Springfield at midgnight and stopped at the American. Many democrats were in
Company coming over to attend the meeting of the democratic State Convention on
Wednesday. Quite cloudy & thundering and lightning when we arrived at
Springfield, and some rain before day. The Circuit Court commenced in Quincy to
day but I could not remain, being compelled to come here
SOURCE: The
Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 413
 |
| Young Lincoln by Thomas Hicks. |
Lincoln bears his
honors meekly As soon as other company had retired after I went in he fell into
his old habit of telling amusing stories, and we had a free and easy talk of an
hour or two.
Called at Dr Browns
after tea
1 Thomas Hicks
SOURCE: The
Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 413
Democratic State
Convention in session here to day, and the Court did but little business Spent
a portion of the day with Lincoln talking to him whilst Mr Hicks worked upon
his portrait He completed it this P. M. In my judgment it is an exact, life
like likeness, and a beautiful work of art. It is deeply imbued with the
intellectual and spiritual, and I doubt whether any one ever succeeds in
getting a better picture of the man.
"Lincoln's
published works include a memorandum concerning his birthplace which was given
to the "Artist Hicks" on June 14, 1860. Nicolay and Hay, Complete
Works of Abraham Lincoln (Gettysburg edition).
SOURCE: The
Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 413
Springfield. Rained last night and this forenoon. Attending
Court. Spent the evening at Lincolns
SOURCE: The
Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 413
Fine, warm summer
day—Attending Court. Took tea at Dubois with Lincoln
SOURCE: The
Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 413
Senator Doolittle
took tea with me. He wished me to go with him to the President, where some
friends were to assemble to consider and decide in relation to the proposed
call for a national convention. Senator Cowan, Browning,1 Randall,2
and three other persons whom I did not know, but who seemed attachés of Randall,
and who, I understood, belonged to the National Union Johnson Club, composed
the sitting. The call, which had been modified in slight respects, still
omitted any allusion to the Constitutional changes, the really important
question before the country. This I thought a great and radical defect, and
Cowan and Browning concurred with me, as did McCulloch. Randall, who is
flattered and used by Seward, opposed this, and his principal reason was that
he would leave something for the convention to do. I asked why the convention
was called, if not on this great issue which stood prominent beyond any other.
"Well," he said, "it would hasten the calling of the State
Legislatures to pass upon it." That, I told him, if properly used might be
made to weaken them and strengthen us, we would demand an expression of popular
sentiment through the instrumentality of an election, and thereby expose the
recent hasty action which was intended to stifle public opinion.
Much of the
conversation between eight and eleven o'clock was on this point, during which I
became satisfied that Randall was prompted by Seward and unwittingly used for
party purposes of Weed and Seward. The President evidently was with me in his
convictions but forbore taking an active part. My impressions are that Seward
has, in his way, indicated objections to making the Constitutional question a
part of the call; that it would prevent Raymond and others from uniting in the
movement. Finally, Browning and then McCulloch and Cowan yielded. They probably
saw, as I did, that it was a foregone conclusion, was predetermined, that the
meeting had been cunningly contrived and pushed by Randall.
Doolittle stated his
purpose of having the members of the Cabinet sign the call. Both McCulloch and
myself had doubts of its expediency and effect. The President, without
expressing an opinion, showed that he concurred in Doolittle's suggestion.
McCulloch asked if
Seward would put his name to it, and two or three undertook to vouch for him. I
expressed my readiness to unite in what would be best for the Administration
and the cause. If it was to have official significance, a proclamation I
thought best. Seward, I am satisfied, would not sign it if the Constitutional
point was presented, and I doubt if he will under any circumstances.
Something was said
respecting Thurlow Weed, and the President remarked that Weed would be here
to-morrow, but he knew Weed approved this movement and would sign the call. All
this pained me. Seward and Weed are manifestly controlling the whole thing in
an underhand way; they have possession of the President and are using the
Administration for themselves and party rather than the President and country.
They have eviscerated the call and will dissect and, I fear, destroy the effect
of this move. Randall is a man of lax political morality, and I think his
influence with the President is not always in the right direction. Seward knows
his influence and intimacy in that quarter and has captured him, probably
without R.'s being aware of it. The President finds that R. agrees with Seward,
and it carries him in that direction. While R. means to reflect the President's
wishes, he is really the tool of Seward and Weed, and is doing harm to the
cause and to the President himself. But this matter cannot be corrected and
will, I fear, prove ruinous.
I left soon after
eleven and came home, desponding and unhappy. The cause is in bad and over-cunning
if not treacherous hands, I fear. The proposed convention has no basis of
principles. It will be denounced as a mere union with Rebels.
_______________
1 O. H. Browning, who shortly succeeded Harlan
as Secretary of the Interior.
2 A. W. Randall, soon to succeed Dennison as
Postmaster-General.
SOURCE: Gideon
Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and
Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, pp. 533-5
Very warm day. At
work in office Dined with Gov Morgan of NY at Q House
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 408
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, Thos 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.
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
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
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, pp. 409-10
Quincy & St Louis. At 11 O'clock A. M. took passage on Steamer Hannibal City for St Louis, on a political mission to Judge Bates
SOURCE: The Diary of Orville Hickman Browning, Vol. 1, p. 410
