Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847-1865Lamon, Ward Hill
History
Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847-1865
Lamon, Ward Hill
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
DEAR SIR,--Yours of the 1st, closing with my proposition for
compromise, was duly received. I will be on hand, and in due time
will notify you of the exact day. I believe, after all, I shall
make a political speech of it. You have no objection?
I would like to know in advance, whether I am also to speak or
lecture in New York.
Very, very glad your election went right.
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
P. S. I am here at court, but my address is still at Springfield,
Ill.
"In due time Mr. Lincoln wrote me that he would deliver the lecture, a
political one, on the evening of the 27th of February, 1860. This was
rather late in the season for a lecture, and the young gentlemen who
were responsible were doubtful about its success, as the expenses were
large. It was stipulated that the lecture was to be in Plymouth Church,
Brooklyn. I requested and urged that the lecture should be delivered at
the Cooper Institute. They were fearful it would not pay expenses--three
hundred and fifty dollars. I thought it would.
"In order to relieve Messrs. Richards, Pettingill, and Tubbs of all
responsibility, I called upon some of the officers of the 'Young Men's
Republican Union' and proposed that they should take Mr. Lincoln, and
that the lecture should be delivered under their auspices. They
respectfully declined.
"I next called upon Mr. Simeon Draper, then President of 'The Draper
Republican Union Club of New York,' and proposed to him that his 'Union'
take Mr. Lincoln and the lecture, and assume the responsibility of the
expenses. Mr. Draper and his friends declined, and Mr. Lincoln was left
in the hands of 'the original Jacobs.'
"After considerable discussion, it was agreed on the part of the young
gentlemen that the lecture should be delivered in the Cooper Institute,
if I would agree to share the expenses, if the sale of tickets
(twenty-five cents each) for the lecture did not meet the outlay. To
this I assented, and the lecture was advertised to be delivered in the
Cooper Institute on the evening of the 27th of February, 1860.
"Mr. Lincoln read the notice of the lecture in the papers and, without
any knowledge of the arrangement, was somewhat surprised to learn that
he was first to make his appearance before a New York instead of a
'Plymouth Church' audience. A notice of the proposed lecture appeared in
the New York papers, and the 'Times' spoke of him 'as a lawyer who had
some local reputation in Illinois.'
"At my personal solicitation Mr. William Cullen Bryant presided as
chairman of the meeting, and introduced Mr. Lincoln for the first time
to a New York audience.
"The lecture was over, all the expenses were paid, I was handed by the
gentlemen interested the sum of $4.25 as my share of the profits, as
they would have called on me if there had been a deficiency in the
receipts to meet expenses."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account