dation. He said if I would transpose King and Davis he would be satisfied. I thought it a whim, but, anxious to oblige him, I consented. Immediately he commenced an assault upon King's character, intending, as I suppose, to defeat his appointment, and thereby secure another chance for himself. This double offense of bad faith to me and slander upon a good man is so totally outrageous that I now ask to have King and Davis placed as I originally recommended—that is, King for register and Davis for receiver.

18th. (To Duff Green.) I learn from Washington that a man by the name of Butterfield will probably be appointed Commissioner of the General Land Office. This ought not to be. That is about the only crumb of patronage which Illinois expects; and I am sure the mass of General Taylor's friends here would quite as lief see it go east of the Alleghenies, or west of the Rocky Mountains, as into that man's hands. They are already sore on the subject of his getting office. In the great contest of 1840 he was not seen or heard of; but when the victory came, three or four old drones, including him, got all the valuable offices, through what influence no one has yet been able to tell. I believe the only time he has been very active was last spring a year ago, in opposition to General Taylor's nomination.

Now can not you get the ear of General Taylor? Ewing is for Butterfield, and therefore he must be avoided. Preston, I think, will favor you. Mr. Edwards has written me offering to decline, but I advised him not to do so. Some kind friends think I ought to be an appellant, but I am for Mr. Edwards. Try to defeat Butterfield, and in doing so use Mr. Edwards, J. L. D. Morrison, or myself, whichever you can to best advantage. Write me, and let this be confidential.

19th. Butterfield will be Commissioner of the General Land Office, unless prevented by strong and speedy efforts. Ewing is for him and he is only not appointed yet because old Zach. [Taylor] hangs fire.

By way of variety in the midst of his political anxieties he devises a curious invention and applies for a patent.

22nd. What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by letters patent, is the combination of expansible buoyant chambers placed at the sides of a vessel with the main shaft or shafts by means of the sliding spars which pass down through the buoyant chambers and are made fast to their bottoms and the series of ropes and pulleys or their equivalents in such a manner that by turning the main shaft or shafts in one direction the buoyant chambers will be forced downwards into the water, and at the same time expanded and filled with air for buoying up the vessel by the displacement of water, and by turning the shafts in an opposite direction the buoyant chambers will be contracted into a small space and secured against injury.

Returning to the problem of the Land Office—

25th. (To E. Embree.) I understand that the General Land Office is about to be given to Illinois, and that Mr. Ewing desires Justin Butterfield of Chicago, to be the man. I give you my word, the appointment of Mr. Butterfield will be an egregious offense to the whole Whig party here, and be worse than a dead loss to the administration of so much. of its patronage.

There are other questions of patronage.

There must be

June 5th. (To William H. Herndon.) some mistake about Walter Davis saying I promised him the Post-office. I did not so promise him. I did tell him that if the distribution of the offices should fall into my hands, he should have anything; and if I shall be convinced he has said. any more than this, I shall be disappointed.

I said this much to him because, as I understand, he is of good character, is one of the young men, is of the mechanics, and always faithful and never troublesome; a Whig, and is poor, with the support of a widow mother thrown almost exclusively on him by the death of his brother. If these are wrong reasons, then I have been wrong; but I have certainly not been selfish in it, because in my greatest need of friends he was against me, and for Baker.

At last he decides to play his own hand with regard to the Land Office.

8th. (To Nathaniel Pope.) I do not know that it would, but I can well enough conceive it might embarrass you to now give a letter recommending me for the General Land Office. Could you not, however, without embarrassment of any impropriety, so far indicate the truth of history as to briefly state to me, in a letter, what you did say to me last spring, on my arrival here from Washington, in relation to my becoming an applicant for that office? Having at last concluded to be an applicant, I have thought it is perhaps due to me to be enabled to show the influences which brought me to the conclusion, and of which influences the wishes and opinions you expressed, were not the least.

Butterfield, with strong backing at Washington, succeeds in obtaining the Land Office appointment.

Unexpected bitterness in connection with the Land Office.

July 13th. Mr. Edwards is unquestionably offended with me in connection with the matter of the General Land Office. He wrote a letter against me which was filed at the Depart

ment.

The better part of one's life consists of his friendships; and, of them, mine with Mr. Edwards was one of the most

cherished. I have not been false to it. At a word I could have had the office any time before the Department was committed to Mr. Butterfield-at least Mr. Ewing and the President say as much. That word I forbore to speak, partly for other reasons, but chiefly for Mr. Edwards' sake-losing the office that he might gain it, I was always for; but to lose his friendship by the effort for him, would oppress me very much, were I not sustained by the utmost consciousness of rectitude. I first determined to be an applicant, unconditionally, on the 2nd of June; and I did so then upon being informed by a Telegraphic despatch that the question was narrowed down to Mr. B. and myself, and that the Cabinet had postponed the appointment, three weeks, for my benefit. Not doubting that Mr. Edwards was wholly out of the question, I, nevertheless, would not then have become an applicant had I supposed he would thereby be brought to suspect me of treachery to him. Two or three days afterward a conversation with Levi Davis convinced me Mr. Edwards was dissatisfied; but I was then too far in to get out. His own letter, written on the 25th of April, after I had fully informed him of all that had passed up to within a few days of that time, gave assurance I had that entire confidence from him, which I felt my uniform and strong friendship for him entitled me to.

28th. Springfield.

(To John M. Clayton, Secretary of State.) It is with some hesitation I presume to address this letter and yet I wish not only you, but the whole Cabinet, and the President too, would consider the subject matter of it. My being among the People while you and they are not, will excuse the apparent presumption. It is understood that the President at first adopted, as a general rule, to throw the responsibility of the appointments upon the respective Departments; and that such rule is adhered to and practised upon. This

course I at first thought proper; and, of course, I am not now complaining of it. Still I am disappointed with the effect of it on the public mind. It is fixing for the President the unjust and ruinous character of being a mere man of straw. This must be arrested, or it will damn us all inevitably. It is said General Taylor and his officers held a council of war, at Palo Alto (I believe); and that he then fought the battle against unanimous opinion of those officers. This fact (no matter whether rightfully or wrongfully) gives him more popularity than ten thousand submissions, however really wise and magnanimous those submissions may be.

The appointments need be no better than they have been, but the public must be brought to understand that they are the President's appointments. He must occasionally say, or seem to say, "by the Eternal," "I take the responsibility." Those phrases were the "Samson's locks" of General Jackson and we dare not disregard the lessons of experience.

The Hungarian revolution arouses general sympathy in America. Lincoln draws up resolutions adopted at a public meeting.

September 12th. Resolved, That in their present glorious struggle for liberty, the Hungarians command our highest admiration and have our warmest sympathy.

Resolved, That they have our most ardent prayers for their speedy triumph and final success.

Resolved, That the Government of the United States should acknowledge the independence of Hungary as a nation of freemen at the very earliest moment consistent with our amicable relations with the government against which they are contending.

Resolved, That in the opinion of this meeting, the immediate acknowledgment of the independence of Hungary by