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.
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
_______________
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
