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390. George E. Eisenmeyer to William H. Herndon.

Mascoutah, Dec. 3. 66.

Dear Sir!

I seen a notice in the Mo. Democrat a few days ago in regard to your request of letters from Mr. Lincoln. The following is from Memory of a conservation Mr. John Pearson of Alton Ill. had with Mr Lincoln A.D. 1860. Tom Corwin Esqr. made a Speech at Edwardsville during the fall Champaign of that year, in which he said, that if the Gulf States wanted or needed Slavery to till their land they might have it. To this sentence Mr Lincoln objected on the following ground. I doubt the propriety of making such assertions, I have before me the Census returns of the State of South Carolina in which I find that one half of the white population of that State are noneslaveholders, since it is not likely that so large a body of people can Support themselfs by theft and Crime we must conclude that they work for a living; now if one half of the inhabitants of a state can maintain & support themselves by labor, the other half can likewise. To Mr. Lincolns Credit and for the benefit of mankind in general the above ought to go on record, it shows Mr Lincolns fine sense of justice, he was not willing that his friends should Speeches that would not stand the test of truth & justice. The reason that I have in writing to you is this, that every body so far as I know, will use what is called political expediencies to gain an election, yet Mr. Lincoln who was in that Champaign largely interested was not willing that his friends should make use of any arguments derogatory to his general expressed opinions, that mankind evry where could & might be free.

You will please excuse me by calling on you, a stranger to you, for a favor, but as Mr. Lincoln figures largely in both articles, which were printed by the Belleville Advocate, I thought it would be of interest and advantage to all concerned that both articles should appear in the State Journal with a recommendation of $100.000. for the L. Monument instead of fifty, I did not wish to propose so much to start with and expected our Editor to do it, but he is an ___.

Yours very Respectfully,
George C. Eisenmeyer.

NB. Please send me a copy of the Journal or the articles as they are

Library of Congress: Herndon-Weik Collection. Manuscript Division. Library of Congress. Washington, D.C. 2830 — 31

nts

Notes.

1. Verb omitted.