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I understand there is considerable trouble with the slaves in Missouri. Please do your best to keep peace on the question for two or three weeks, by which time we hope to do something here towards settling the question, in Missouri. A. LINCOLN
[1] ALS, owned by Alfred W. Stern, Chicago, Illinois. Curtis replied on January 11, ``Dispatch received. Hear of no negro troubles. Rebel raid on Springfield some trouble. My forces are coming on them from two directions.'' (OR, I, XXII, II, 32). A bill introduced in the House on December 22, 1862, by Representative Albert S. White for giving aid to Missouri toward abolishment of slavery passed the House on January 6 and as amended passed the Senate on February 12, 1863. No record of Lincoln's approval has been found, however, and a similar bill introduced in the Senate on December 19, 1862, by Senator John B. Henderson was reported unfavorably on January 14 by Senator Lyman Trumbull from the committee on the judiciary.