"Since I saw you last fall," he wrote on January 7, 1846, to his friend
Dr. Robert Boal of Lacon, Illinois, in a letter hitherto unpublished[8],
"I have often thought of writing you, as it was then understood I would;
but, on reflection, I have always found that I had nothing new to tell
you. All has happened as I then told you I expected it would--Baker's
declining, Hardin's taking the track, and so on.

[Footnote 8: This letter is still in the possession of Dr. Boal of
Lacon, Illinois, and the right of publication was secured for the
Magazine by W.B. Powell of that city.]

"If Hardin and I stood precisely equal--that is, if _neither_ of us
had been to Congress, or if we _both_ had--it would not only accord
with what I have always done, for the sake of peace, to give way to him;
and I expect I should do it. That I _can_ voluntarily postpone my
pretensions, when they are no more than equal to those to which they are
postponed, you have yourself seen. But to yield to Hardin under present
circumstances seems to me as nothing else than yielding to one who would
gladly sacrifice me altogether. This I would rather not submit to. That
Hardin is talented, energetic, unusually generous and magnanimous, I
have, before this, affirmed to you, and do not now deny. You know that
my only argument is that 'turn about is fair play.' This he, practically
at least, denies.

"If it would not be taxing you too much, I wish you would write me,
telling the aspect of things in your county, or rather your district;
and also send the names of some of your Whig neighbors to whom I might,
with propriety, write. Unless I can get some one to do this, Hardin,
with his old franking list, will have the advantage of me. My reliance
for a fair shake (and I want nothing more) in your county is chiefly on
you, because of your position and standing, and because I am acquainted
with so few others. Let me hear from you soon."

[Illustration: HENRY CLAY.

From a carbon reproduction, by Sherman and McHugh of New York City, of a
daguerreotype in the collection of Peter Gilsey, Esq., and here
reproduced through his courtesy.]

Lincoln followed the vibrations of feeling in the various counties with
extreme nicety, studying every individual whose loyalty he suspected or
whose vote was not yet pledged. "Nathan Dresser is here," he wrote to
his friend Bennett, on January 15, 1846, "and speaks as though the
contest between Hardin and me is to be doubtful in M