Dear Sir:—Having great respect for your influence and reposing perfect confidence in your capable judgment on public affairs, I would be very much pleased to have you call as soon as you arrive here, as I desire to have your views and advice on some important matters. It is my hope, as it will be my pride, that the term upon which I enter shall be marked with a degree of educational interest and progress not hitherto attained in our young commonwealth; and I wish to ask for your counsel and aid in assisting to impress upon the General Assembly the importance of such subjects, and the necessity of some further and better legislation on our school matters; and I also wish to consult with you in regard to the matter of the proposed Illinois and Michigan Canal.

Sincerely your friend,
Ninian Edwards.

XII. HON. ADAM W. SNYDER TO REV. JAMES LEMEN.

(From Belleville Advocate, April 17, 1908. Clipping, I.B.H.C.,—K11)

City of Washington, Jan. 5, 1838.
Rev. James Lemen,
[Collinsville, Illinois]

My Dear Friend:—To the letter which I wrote you a few days since I wish to add that the members of the Illinois delegation in Congress have read the letter you recently wrote me, and they are all willing and ready to assist in pressing the cause of the class of claimants whom you mentioned upon the attention of the government for a more liberal and generous allowance of lands. I have no further news to communicate, except that I believe Mexico's treachery and insolence will sooner or later call down upon her a severe chastisement from this country; and that our Southern friends in Congress are growing exasperatingly and needlessly sensitive on the slavery question, claiming that Jefferson's views would sustain their positions, not knowing the splendid secret of your father's (Rev. James Lemen, Sr.) anti-slavery mission under Jefferson's orders and advice, which saved Illinois and we might say the Northwest Territory, to freedom. In fact, the demands of slavery, if not controlled by its friends, will eventually put the country into a mood that will no longer brook its insolence and greed.

Yours in esteem and confidence,
A. W. Snyder.

XIII. ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S LETTER

Belleville Weekly Advocate, April 24, 1908

The following letter and remarks from Abraham Lincoln, hitherto unpublished, comprise the fifth letter of the series of old "Pioneer Letters" which Mr. J. B. Lemen of O'Fallon is sending to the Advocate.—Ed.