Wilson, Douglas L., ed.; Davis, Rodney O., ed.; Harding, Jacob. 'Jacob Harding to William H. Herndon' in 'Herndon's Informants: Letters, Interviews, and Statements About Abraham Lincoln' . Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998. [format: book], [genre: letter]. Permission: University of Illinois Press
Persistent link to this document: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=herndon542.html

Paris, Ills. Jan. 7th, 1867.

My dear Sir:

In reply to your letter of the 31st ult., I send you copies of two letters from Mr. Lincoln to myself — one written in 1854, the other in 1855. I submit them both, entire, to your discretion. These are all I have been able, so far, to find. I remember having received an article intended as editorial for my paper, to which you allude, but I have not been able to find it — nor can I now recollect even the substance of it. I did not use it because I had long before made it a rule to publish nothing, on editorial; not written by myself, or by my co-editor, when I had an assistant. Had I thought it expedient to suspend the rule for any one, it would have been done for Mr. Lincoln, for he stood higher in my estimation than any other

man in the State. Indeed, I was among the first, if not the very first in the editorial corps of Illinois, who proposed him for the presidency in 1860. Should I find that article you desire a copy of, I will cheerfully comply with your request.

Respectfully, yours &c.
J. Harding,