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.
_______________
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.
* * * * * * *
* * * * *
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.
* * * * * * *
* * * * *
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.
* * * * * * *
* * * * *
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
