Charles H. Ray to Abraham Lincoln, 14 April [1858]1
Chicago, Apl 14thMy Dear Sir,I hear nothing from you in relation that opinion that I asked for, though I am anxious about it. Can you relieve me?2
We have nothing new in the political world. Private.3 I was questioned a day or two ago about the propriety of running Douglas for the Lower House, in this district, by one of his friends. He put it thus: “What would you as editor
of the Tribune, ^do^ about running Douglas as the Anti Lecompton candidate for Congress, if he opposes the Administration plan for the acquisition
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of Cuba, whatever that plan may be?” My answer was vague and indefinite of course; because
I wanted to know why he asked. It was Dr. Brainard who asked me; and I presume from his relations to Douglas that he did not move on
his own authority alone. I think his question had Douglas’ sanction.4 It seemed to me to be a confession that all hopes of success as a candidate for
Senator are worth nothing, and that he is laying out anchors to the windward.5 He is coming to us “sure as shooting.”6 I wish I could have a long talk with you about the aspect of affairs
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particularly as they touch your hopes and prospects; and I hope that you will not
fail to be at home when we have our little confab on the 21st.7It is due to you that you should know what passed between Brainard and myself; but
as the conversation was confidential, though no injunctions were imposed, I hope
you will not repeat it.
Yours Very SincerelyC. H. Ray,<Page 4>
[Envelope]
CHICAGO Ill[Illinois]
APR[APRIL] 15 1858Hon. Abm. Lincoln,Springfield,Ills.
APR[APRIL] 15 1858Hon. Abm. Lincoln,Springfield,Ills.
1Charles H. Ray wrote and signed this letter, including the address on the envelope.
The year of composition, which was omitted by Ray in the dateline, is conjectured
from the postmark.
2Ray had written Abraham Lincoln in March of 1858 and would write again in May requesting Lincoln’s opinion on legal issues related to David Leavitt’s claim to a $40,000 commission for having assisted in the negotiation of a loan
for the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Ray and Leavitt, as two of the three members of the Board of Trustees of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, had voted the sum to Leavitt in October of 1857. After the third trustee, William H. Swift, protested, the European bondholders of the canal loan directed their agent in the
United States to file suit in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to recover the money from Leavitt. No response from Lincoln on this subject nor an
opinion by him on the legal questions posed by Ray has been located.
Ray asked Lincoln for legal advice, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), https://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=141837; Illinois House Journal. 1863. 23rd G. A., 656-58.
4Stephen A. Douglas had criticized the Lecompton Constitution and President James Buchanan’s support of it in December 1857, causing a rift in the Democratic Party. Some Republicans were excited by Douglas’ repudiation of the Lecompton Constitution to the extent
that they considered supporting his bid for reelection to the U.S. Senate in 1858 or welcoming him into the Republican Party. Although Douglas later denied
it, he courted Republican support by meeting in person with prominent Republicans
and hinting in correspondence to Republicans that he was finished with the Democratic
Party.
Daniel Brainard’s suggestion to Ray that Douglas drop his bid for reelection to the
U.S. Senate to run instead for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives with the combined support of anti-Lecompton Democrats and Republicans was one of
a number of such possibilities discussed regarding Douglas in 1858 as Illinois Republicans and Democrats sought advantage against the background of shifting party
allegiances. Brainard’s proposal, which would have given Douglas Republican support
while still allowing Republicans to back Lincoln for Douglas’ U.S. Senate seat in
the election of 1858, was apparently not sanctioned by Douglas, and Brainard himself split with Douglas
to ally with Buchanan Democrats in the summer of 1858.
Buchanan had long desired the United States’ acquisition of Cuba from Spain. In his second annual message in December, 1858, he laid out a case to the U.S. Congress for acquiring Cuba. A proposal in Congress to negotiate for the purchase of Cuba
was introduced early in 1859, but was defeated by Republicans opposed to the admission
of Cuba to the United States as a territory where slavery was legal. Buchanan continued
to propose purchasing Cuba in his subsequent annual messages but lacked sufficient
Congressional support for the issue. Douglas had also been a longtime proponent of
the annexation of Cuba.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:445-50; Robert W. Johannsen,
Stephen A. Douglas (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997), 326-27, 528-30, 637-38, 683; Charles
H. Ray to Elihu B. Washburne, [15 April 1858], E. B. Washburne Papers: Bound Volumes, Letters Received; 1857, Aug. 10-1858, Aug.
8, Manuscript/Mixed Material, https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss44651.003/?sp=162, accessed 16 April 2024; Daily Illinois State Journal
(Springfield), 3 June 1858, 3:1; 6 September 1858, 3:1; Cong. Globe, 35th Cong., 2nd Sess., Appendix, 4 (1858); John M. Belohlavek, “In Defense of Doughface
Diplomacy: A Reevaluation of the Foreign Policy of James Buchanan,” James Buchanan and the Coming of the Civil War, John W. Quist and Michael J. Birkner, eds. (Gainesville: University Press of Florida,
2013), 120-21.
5To lay anchor to the windward is “to adopt measures for security.”
James A. H. Murray, Henry Bradley, W. A. Craigie, C. T. Onions, eds., A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1928), 10:2:167.
6The phrase “sure as shooting” means “certain or certainly.”
William A. Craigie and James R. Hulbert, eds., A Dictionary of American English on Historical Principles (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1974), 4:2104.
7Illinois Republican leaders held a meeting in Springfield, Illinois, on April 21,
1858, at which both Lincoln and Ray were present.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 21 April 1858, https://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-04-21; Charles H. Ray to Elihu B. Washburne, 2 May [1858], E. B. Washburne Papers: Bound Volumes, Letters Received; 1861; Mar. 21-May 31, Manuscript/Mixed Material, https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss44651.017/?sp=227&st=image, accessed 16 April 2024.
Autograph Letter Signed, 4 page(s),
Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress (Washington, DC).