ed and damaged Breckenridge, and at the same time has induced
the Bell men to suppose that Bell will certainly be President, if they
can keep a few of the Northern States away from us by throwing them to
Douglas. But you, better than I, understand all this.

I think there will be the most extraordinary effort ever made to carry New
York for Douglas. You and all others who write me from your State think
the effort cannot succeed, and I hope you are right. Still, it will
require close watching and great efforts on the other side.

Herewith I send you a copy of a letter written at New York, which
sufficiently explains itself, and which may or may not give you a valuable
hint. You have seen that Bell tickets have been put on the track both here
and in Indiana. In both cases the object has been, I think, the same as
the Hunt movement in New York--to throw States to Douglas. In our State,
we know the thing is engineered by Douglas men, and we do not believe they
can make a great deal out of it.

Yours very truly,

A. LINCOLN.

SLOW TO LISTEN TO CRIMINATIONS

TO HON. JOHN ------------

(Private.)

SPRINGFIELD, ILL., Aug. 31, 1860

MY DEAR SIR:--Yours of the 27th is duly received. It consists almost
exclusively of a historical detail of some local troubles, among some
of our friends in Pennsylvania; and I suppose its object is to guard me
against forming a prejudice against Mr. McC------____, I have not heard
near so much upon that subject as you probably suppose; and I am slow to
listen to criminations among friends, and never expose their quarrels on
either side. My sincere wish is that both sides will allow bygones to be
bygones, and look to the present and future only.

Yours very truly,

A. LINCOLN.

TO HANNIBAL HAMLIN

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, September 4, 1860

HON. HANNIBAL HAMLIN.

MY DEAR SIR:--I am annoyed some by a letter from a friend in Chicago, in
which the following passage occurs: "Hamlin has written Colfax that two
members of Congress will, he fears, be lost in Maine, the first and sixth
districts; and that Washburne's majority for governor will not exceed six
thousand."

I had heard something like this six weeks ago, but had been assured since
that it was not so. Your secretary of state,--Mr. Smith, I think,--whom
you introduced to me by letter, gave this assurance; more recently, Mr.
Fessenden, our candidate for Congress in one of those districts, wrote a
relative here tha