Replying to Addison, Lincoln writes: "The substance of the matter you speak of, in detail, has long been known to me. . . . But my high regard for some of the members of the late cabinet; my great devotion to Gen: Taylor personally; and, above all, my fidelity to the great whig cause, have induced me to be silent. . . . I would not now accept the Land Office, if it were offered to me." Abraham Lincoln to John Addison, 9 August 1850, CW, 2:91-92.