Annotation
[1] AES, DLC-RTL. Lincoln's endorsement is written on the envelope containing ex-congressman Kellogg's letter of April 8, 1863, which reads in part:
``I am in receipt of a note from your private secretary informing me that as a `mark' of your `confidence and esteem' you had appointed me Consul at Valaparaiso, Chile.
``Certainly the Honor, attached to the office ought to satisfy the ambition of the most aspiring, and the salary (which would but little if any more than defray the expenses of myself and family to & from the place of duty,) is as much as a reasonable man should desire. Yet I feel myself compelled to decline the appointment.
``At one time, I was indiscreet enough to indicate to your Excellency a desire for an appointment to an office, for which, I was vain enough to believe I was qualified but from the position now offered, I am forced to conclude, that your Excellency held a decidedly different opinion from my own on that subject, or that my political status was such that the administration would suffer by my appointment to an office of the grade of those held by Peck, Wilmot, Olin, Fisher, Swett, Gurley and Carter and many other recent appointees.
``If I have lost the confidence and regard of those for whom I have had a most ardent esteem and whom I have most faithfully served, I must not loose my own self respect. I am therefore compelled to decline the position tendered.''
Ebenezer Peck and David Wilmot had been appointed to the U.S. Court of Claims; Abraham B. Olin, George P. Fisher, and David K. Cartter to the U.S. Court, District of Columbia; John A. Gurley as governor of Arizona; and Leonard Swett as commissioner on Peruvian claims.