EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, February 17, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL STEELE, Little Rock, Arkansas:
The day fixed by the convention for the election is probably the best, but you on the ground, and in consultation with gentlemen there, are to decide. I should have fixed no day for an election, presented no plan for reconstruction, had I known the convention was doing the same things. It is probably best that you merely assist the convention on their own plan, as to election day and all other matters I have already written and telegraphed this half a dozen times.
A. LINCOLN. [ [!-- H2 anchor --] ]
TELEGRAM TO A. ROBINSON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, February 18, 1864.
A. ROBINSON, Leroy, N. Y.:
The law only obliges us to keep accounts with States, or at most Congressional Districts, and it would overwhelm us to attempt in counties, cities and towns. Nevertheless we do what we can to oblige in particular cases. In this view I send your dispatch to the Provost-Marshal General, asking him to do the best he can for you.
A. LINCOLN. [ [!-- H2 anchor --] ]