C. Storrs Jr. to Richard Yates

Washington June 7th 1861

His Excellency

Gov Yates

Springfield Illinois

Dear Sir

The only apology I can offer for this intrusion is the deep interest in the subject of which I am to speak and I trust this may be sufficient.

By reason of the death of Judge Douglas, the duty devolves upon you to appoint his Successor. The Tribune of Chicago favors the policy of appointing a Douglas Democrat as his successor. I hope I may be pardoned, but I wish to express my earnest protest against such an appointment, and in this I express the sentiments of every Illinoisan I

have met, and quite a number of western men from several states. Like the entire mass of the loyal citizens of the north and as is the solemn duty of all men north and south, he has manifested his devotion to the Union, but why Douglas Democrats are to be paid for this loyalty is incomprehensible. During his life and almost the whole of it, the Tribune and the entire northern republican Press has never ceased to denounce him as the impersonation of Demagoguism and more than these any living statesman responsible for the present difficulties, - that they are but the culmination of his labors and doctrines. Now to make him a demi-god seems totally preposterous.

It does seem to me the [illegible] frustration of the most simple elements of Common Sense, that when this war is over, to have pushed a course that will

give up the final Settlement to men whose whole life is a guarantee that they will so settle it as to disgrace those who must take the responsibility, and that forever, I cannot bear the thought of it, and am astonished beyond all language can express at the conduct of the Tribune I have not met a man from Illinois who is not thoroughly indignant that those should be set aside by a Journal so influential who risked everything to defeat the party - now to be rewarded for a duty, not a choice, and by every good citizen and every good man.

Permit me to say further that your firm, manly course with regard to the State militia meets with the most unqualified approbation and is a source of undisguised pride to every man from Illinois. Please pardon this intrusion, but I could not help it.

With the highest sentiments of respect, Your obt Servt

C. Storrs Jr

C. Storrs Jr

Our Senatorship