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MR. BROWNING'S REPLY.

"QUINCY, ILL., Sept. 30, 1861. "Mr. President-Yours of the 22d inst. is before me. Fully aware of the multitude and magnitude of your engagements, I certainly did not expect a moment of your valuable time to be consumed in replying to any communication of mine, but am very greatly obliged to you for having done so.

"Occasionally, since the beginning of our troubles, I have taken the liberty of writing you and giving my opinions, valueless as they may be, upon the great questions which agitate the nation, and which we are bound, however difficult and distressing they may be, in some way or other to solve. I have also, from time to time, endeavored to give you a true reflection of public sentiment, so far as it was known to me. I have been prompted to this course by a very sincere interest in your individual welfare, fame and fortune, as well as by a painfully intense anxiety for the maintenance of the Constitution and the Union, the restoration of the just authority of the Government, and the triumph of as holy a cause, in my judgment, as ever interested men's feelings, and enlisted their energies.

"I thought that whether the public sentiment here and my own opinions accorded with yours or not, you might still be not only willing but glad to know them. I have, therefore, written to you frankly and candidly, but have at all times intended to be both kind and respectful, and I regret it deeply if I have failed in either, as some passages in yours lead me to suspect I have only annoyed you. Nothing, I assure you, has been further from my purpose. Fully appreciating the difficulties and embarrassments of your position, I would be as ready and willing to aid you by any personal sacrifice I could make, as I would be reluctant to add to your harassments, either by fault-finding or by solicitations. I have said many things to you which I have not said to others. Conscious of the great injury our cause would sustain by any weakening of the confidence of the people in the administration, I have constantly vindicated both its men and its measures before the public, and when I have had complaints or suggestions to make in regard to either, I have made them directly to you. Others have not known of them. This, I thought, was demanded alike by the claims of friendship and patriotism.

"What I said in regard to Gen. Fremont and his proclamation, was in accordance with this feeling. My acquaintance with him has been very limited, and I have had no personal feeling in this matter. If he was honestly and faithfully doing his duty, justice to him and regard for his country alike required that he should be sustained. There was much complaint and clamor against him, and as I am not quick to take up evil report, I went twice to St. Louis to see and learn for myself all that I could. It is very probable he has made some mistakes, but in the main he seemed to be taking his measures wisely and well. Many of the charges against him appeared to me frivolous, and I did not know of any one who could take his position and do better amid the surrounding difficulties, and was confident his removal at the time and under the circumstances, would be damaging both to the administration and the cause. Hence I wrote you, as I thought it my duty to do, certainly not intending any impertinent interference with executive duties, or expecting what I said to have any greater scope than friendly suggestion.

"And now, Mr. President, permit me in conclusion to say, in all kindness, that I am not conscious of any 'restlessness for new positions.' New positions for us are not necessary. A firm adherence to old ones is, and this I am sure you intend.

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Thus far I have tried to 'back you manfully, upon the grounds upon which you had your election.'

"It may be that I have done it feebly, but certainly honestly and earnestly; and I shall be one of the last to falter in support of either our principles or their chosen exponent.

And I am very sure that neither for yourself nor for the country, do you more ardently desire that 'we shall go through triumphantly,' than does your very sincere and faithful friend, O. H. BROWNING."

This correspondence cannot fail to demonstrate two things, which have not been before well settled in the minds of those who have been given to look through the vision of prejudice. It shows that, whatever may have been the opinion of Mr. Lincoln's enemies, the abolition of slavery was not the paramount idea of his nature, but that he wished to preserve the Union, and leave the question of slavery to adjust itself, as circumstances might

direct. The other thing made plain is, that Mr. Browning was never wanting in a proper regard for Mr. Lincoln, or in devotion to the union of the States.

In justification of what we have said regarding the loyalty of Mr. Browning to the administration of Mr. Lincoln, we point to the following extract from a speech made by him in the Senate of the United States just prior to the resignation of all the Southern Senators:

"I say it with no passion, Mr. President, but I do say, and I think I say it for the entire country, that any man or set of men, here or elsewhere, who delude themselves with the idea that there is to be now, or at any time hereafter, any sort or character of compromise patched up with treason, by which the war is to be brought to a close, are fatally deceiving themselves. Mr. President, no terms can be made now or hereafter. Let the consequences of the war be what they may, no terms, now or at any time hereafter, can be made with treason and rebellion. There are but two alternatives. One is that this Government shall be overthrown and that all hope for Constitutional Government shall go down; and the other is that rebellion shall be subdued, shall be subjugated, that treason shall be punished, and this Government founded upon a rock, firmer, faster than it has hitherto been, and upon which hereafter all the tempests of insurrection and discontent shall beat in vain.'

After the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, President Johnson appointed Mr. Browning Secretary of the Interior, the duties of which he discharged with an ability which did honor to his name and an integrity that was never questioned. The troubles which environed the administration of Mr. Johnson, and the attempt made to remove him by impeachment, estranged Mr. Browning from his old party associates, and he ceased to act with the Republican party.

Mr. Browning was by birth a Kentuckian, removing to Illinois in 1830, locating at Quincy, where he continued to reside so long as he lived. He was originally a Whig, and living in a strong Democratic district, naturally held

but few public trusts. He was elected a Senator in the tenth General Assembly, in 1836, and opposed the wild legislation on the question of internal improvements of that time. In 1843, he was induced to run for Congress against Stephen A. Douglas, but owing to the large Democratic majority in the district failed of an election; and his appointment as the successor of Douglas in the United States Senate was his next appearance as a public man. After his retirement from Johnson's cabinet, in 1869, he was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention which framed our present Constitution, and to him is due many of its wise and excellent provisions.

Mr. Browning died in August, 1881, in the 75th year of his age, and, in closing his admirable address, Mr. Lawrence paid this happy and fitting tribute to his memory:

"The announcement of his death came to the beautiful city where he had lived so long, and which he loved so well, like a fearful blow. Its most honored citizen had gone. For fifty years he had been their trusted leader and adviser. For fifty years he had lived among them a life which made no man his foe, but all men his friends. For fifty years they had listened to his eloquent utterances in the courts of justice and on the public platform, in times of trouble or when the country was in danger, and they had always gained strength and courage from his lips. For fifty years he had spoken to them words of wisdom, deepening their convictions as to the demands of patriotism and public duty. For fifty years he had dared to tell them the truth, or what he believed to be the truth, even when he knew it would cause a fleeting cloud between himself and them. For fifty years he had set them the example of a noble life. Little wonder that the town mourned.

"The funeral day was appointed. Friends, from far and near, came to render their last tribute of respect, and we felt, as we laid him away in the sunset of a summer day, in a beautiful cemetery on the banks of the Mississippi, beneath the shadows of the silent oaks, that a great brain and a great heart had done their work, and another tie between ourselves and life was broken."

CHAPTER XLIII.

STATE CAMPAIGN OF 1882.

The campaign of 1882 was what is commonly denominated the "off year," and party lines were not so closely drawn as in the Presidential years. The Republicans nominated John C. Smith for Treasurer, and Charles T. Strattan for Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The Democrats nominated Alfred Orendorff for Treasurer, and Henry Raab for Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The Prohibitionists nominated John G. Irwin for Treasurer, and Elizabeth B. Brown for Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The Greenbackers nominated Daniel McLaughlin for Treasurer, and Frank H. Hall for Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The aggregate vote of the respective candidates, as shown by the canvass made by the General Assembly, was:

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