There is nothing of consequence new here.  Congress is to organize to-morrow.  Last night we held a Whig caucus for the House, and nominated Winthrop of Massachusetts for speaker, Sargent of Pennsylvania for sergeant-at-arms, Homer of New Jersey door-keeper, and McCormick of District of Columbia postmaster.  The Whig majority in the House is so small that, together with some little dissatisfaction, [it] leaves it doubtful whether we will elect them all.

This paper is too thick to fold, which is the reason I send only a half-sheet.

Yours as ever, A. Lincoln.

TO WILLIAM H. HERNDON.

Washington, December 13, 1847

Dear William:—­Your letter, advising me of the receipt of our fee in the bank case, is just received, and I don’t expect to hear another as good a piece of news from Springfield while I am away.  I am under no obligations to the bank; and I therefore wish you to buy bank certificates, and pay my debt there, so as to pay it with the least money possible.  I would as soon you should buy them of Mr. Ridgely, or any other person at the bank, as of any one else, provided you can get them as cheaply.  I suppose, after the bank debt shall be paid, there will be some money left, out of which I would like to have you pay Lavely and Stout twenty dollars, and Priest and somebody (oil-makers) ten dollars, for materials got for house-painting.  If there shall still be any left, keep it till you see or hear from me.

I shall begin sending documents so soon as I can get them.  I wrote you yesterday about a “Congressional Globe.”  As you are all so anxious for me to distinguish myself, I have concluded to do so before long.

Yours truly,
A. Lincoln.

RESOLUTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DECEMBER 22, 1847

Whereas, The President of the United States, in his message of May 11, 1846, has declared that “the Mexican Government not only refused to receive him [the envoy of the United States], or to listen to his propositions, but, after a long-continued series of menaces, has at last invaded our territory and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil”;

And again, in his message of December 8, 1846, that “we had ample cause of war against Mexico long before the breaking out of hostilities; but even then we forbore to take redress into our own hands until Mexico herself became the aggressor, by invading our soil in hostile array, and shedding the blood of our citizens”;

And yet again, in his message of December 7, 1847, that “the Mexican Government refused even to hear the terms of adjustment which he [our minister of peace] was authorized to propose, and finally, under wholly unjustifiable pretexts, involved the two countries in war, by invading the territory of the State of Texas, striking the first blow, and shedding the blood of our citizens on our own soil”;