Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-21
Library OBTAINS
LINCOLN LETTERS
MiSSive Expresses Complete
Confidence in Plans of
Gen. Grant.
BY THOMAS. r. HENRY.

letters of Abraham Lincoln are being
accumulated in the Library of Con-
gress.
The bulk of Lincoln's correspondence
now at the National Library is sealed for
20 years under the will of the late Rob-
ert T. Lincoln, the Civil War Presidents
son. But scattered through the coun-
try. largely in the possession of individ-
uals, are zealously guarded scraps of
Lincoln writing, ranging from hastily
scribled notes to formal letters.
These are extremely valuable because
of their great rarity, in contrast to the
masses of lettes signed by such men as
Washington and Jefferson, which con-
| tinually are turning up, both in the
United States and Europe.
Letter to Grant.
! The Library has just obtained, from
various sources, the largest addition yet
made to the slender folder of Lincoln
can be made available to the public.
But among these are several character
| iStic of the martyred President, includ-
ing one written to Gen. U. S. Grant,
| April 80, 1864, which follows:
Not expecting to see you again be-
| fore the Spring campaign opens, wish
to express my entire satisfaction with
what you have done up to this time. so
| far as / understand it. The particu-
lars of your plans I neither know nor
seek to know.
You are vigilant and self reliant, and
pleased with this, wish not to obtrude
any CONSTANTS or restraints upon you.
While I am very anxious that any great
| disaster, or capture of men in great
numbers, shall be avoided, I'know that
these points are less likely to escape
your attention than they would be
mine. If there is anything wanting
which is in my power to give do not
| fail to let me know it. And now, with
brave army and a just cause, may
God sustain you"
Longest Letter to Hewitt.
The longest of the letters was written
| in 1848, while Lincoln was member of
| Congress, to one JosephuS Hewitt Of
| NatcheZ, Miss Lincoln at that time
was a member of Congress and the let
| ter indicates that he had at that time
some sympathy with the position of the
slave States. This letter follows
Your Wing representative from
| Mississippi has just shown me letter
of yours to him. 1 am jealous because
| you did not write to me. Don't you re-
member a long, lank fellow who rode
| on horseback with you from fremont
| to Springfield nearly 10 years ago,
swimming your horses over the Macki-
nav on the trip? Well, I am that
same fellow yet.
II was once of your opinion, ex-
pressed in your letter, that presidential
| electors should be dispensed with, but a
more thorough knowledge of the causes
| that introduced them has made me
| doubt Those causes were briefly these {:
| The convention that framed the Con-
| stitution had this difficulty, that the
small States wished to so form the new
| Government so that they might be
equal to the large ones, regardless OF the
! inequality Of population. The large
ones insisted on equality in proportion
| to population. They compromised by
on population and the Senate on States,
regardless of population, and the Ex-
ecutive on both principles, by electors
| from each State equal in number TO
the Senators and Representatives.
Compromise Broken.
"Now throw away this machinery of
electors and the compromise Is broken
| I'D and the whole yielded to the prin-
| ciple of the large States. There Is one
| thing more In the slave States you
have representatives, and consequently
electors. partly on the basis of your
black population, which would be swept
away by the change you seem to think
! desirable. Have you ever reflected on
these things? But to come to the point,
wish you to know that have made a
speech in Congress and want you to
be enlightened by reading 1t, to further
which object send you copy OF the
speech by this mail"
On May "a, 1861, at the very out
break of the Civil War, Lincoln wrote to
l ,r,1,x, ft,OV ~,
| mand of the Union Army: What think
| you of the propriety of yourself or the
more immediate commander, Gen.
Mansfield, taking the occasion of oc-
cupying Alexandria and Arlington
Heights to make a proclamation to the
citizens of these places, assuring them
! they are not to be deported, but can
have your protection if they will accept
| it, and invite such as have left their
homes and business to return. Mr..
| Nicolay will show you telegram which
will not displease you"
Opposed Death Penalties.
In short note to his Attorney Gen
eral Lincoln states that 800 Indians are
under sentence of death from military
court for rebellion in Minnesota. He
wants legal advice as to whether it
| would be possible to reduce greatly the
number of sentences without naming
any individual Indians leaving it to
the discretion of the military officers to
shoot those whom they considered the
most dangerous.
Most of the letters in the new Ma
tional Library accretion are hasty notes,
dealing with appointments and patron
age, matters which were always trou-
bling Lincoln. One Is to a portrait
painter who had painted him from a
photograph. He considers the picture
perfect from line Immediately across
| the eyebrows down. Above this line
think it is not so good; that is, while
it gives perhaps a better forehead, it
is not quite true to the original"