enard County. I know
he is candid, and this alarms me some. I asked him to tell me the names
of the men that were going strong for Hardin; he said Morris was about
as strong as any. Now tell me, is Morris going it openly? You remember
you wrote me that he would be neutral. Nathan also said that some man
(who, he could not remember) had said lately that Menard County was
again to decide the contest, and that made the contest very doubtful. Do
you know who that was?

"Don't fail to write me instantly on receiving, telling me
all--particularly the names of those who are going strong against
me[9]."

[Footnote 9: This letter, hitherto unpublished, is owned by E. R.
Oeltjen of Petersburg, Illinois.]

In January, General Hardin suggested that, since he and Mr. Lincoln were
the only persons mentioned as candidates, there be no convention, but
the selection be left to the Whig voters of the district. Lincoln
refused.

"It seems to me," he wrote Hardin, "that on reflection you will see the
fact of your having been in Congress has, in various ways, so spread
your name in the district as to give you a decided advantage in such a
stipulation. I appreciate your desire to keep down excitement; and I
promise you to 'keep cool' under all circumstances.... I have always
been in the habit of acceding to almost any proposal that a friend would
make, and I am truly sorry that I cannot in this. I perhaps ought to
mention that some friends at different places are endeavoring to secure
the honor of the sitting of the convention at their towns respectively,
and I fear that they would not feel much complimented if we shall make a
bargain that it should sit nowhere."[10]

[Footnote 10: From a letter published in the "Sangamo Journal" of
February 26, 1846, and which is not found in any collection of Lincoln's
letters and speeches.]

After General Hardin received this refusal he withdrew from the contest,
in a manly and generous letter which was warmly approved by the Whigs of
the district. Both men were so much loved that a break between them
would have been a disastrous thing for the party. "We are truly glad
that a contest which in its nature was calculated to weaken the ties of
friendship has terminated amicably," said the "Sangamo Journal."

[Illustration: ROBERT C. WINTHROP, SPEAKER OF THE THIRTIETH CONGRESS.

Born in Boston in 1809, graduated at Harvard, and studied law with
Daniel Webster. Winthrop's career as a statesman began