TREMONT, September 17, 1842.
       ABRA. LINCOLN, ESQ.:--I regret that my absence on public business compelled me to postpone a matter of private consideration a little longer than I could have desired. It will only be necessary, however, to account for it by informing you that I have been to Quincy on business that would not admit of delay. I will now state briefly the reasons of my troubling you with this communication, the disagreeable nature of which I regret, as I had hoped to avoid any difficulty with any one in Springfield while residing there, by endeavoring to conduct myself in such a way amongst both my political friends and opponents as to escape the necessity of any. Whilst thus abstaining from giving provocation, I have become the object of slander, vituperation, and personal abuse, which were I capable of submitting to, I would prove myself worthy of the whole of it.
       In two or three of the last numbers of the Sangamon Journal, articles of the most personal nature and calculated to degrade me have made their appearance. On inquiring, I was informed by the editor of that paper, through the medium of my friend General Whitesides, that you are the author of those articles. This information satisfies me that I have become by some means or other the object of your secret hostility. I will not take the trouble of inquiring into the reason of all this; but I will take the liberty of requiring a full, positive, and absolute retraction of all offensive allusions used by you in these communications, in relation to my private character and standing as a man, as an apology for the insults conveyed in them.
       This may prevent consequences which no one will regret more than myself.
       Your obedient servant, JAS. SHIELDS.

Introductory
Introductory Note
Abraham Lincoln: An Essay by Carl Shurz
Abraham Lincoln, by Joseph H. Choate
Address to the People of Sangamon County.
To E. C. Blankenship.
Response to Request for Postage Receipt
Announcement of Political Views.
Response to Political Smear
To Miss Mary Owens.
Speech in Illinois Legislature.
Opposition to Mob-Rule. Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois.
Protest in the Illinois Legislature on the Subject of Slavery.
To Miss Mary Owens.
To John Bennett.
To Mary Owens.
Legal Suit of Widow v.s. Gen. Adams
Lincoln and Talbott in Reply to Gen. Adams.
Gen. Adams Controversy--continued
To Mrs. O. H. Browning--A Farce
Remarks on Sale of Public Lands
To _________ Row.
Speech on National Bank
To John T. Stuart.
Circular From Whig Committee.
To John T. Stuart.
Resolution in the Illinois Legislature.
Resolution in the Illinois Legislature.
Remarks in the Illinois Legislature.
Remarks in the Illinois Legislature.
To John T. Stuart--On Depression
Remarks in the Illinois Legislature.
Circular From Whig Committee.
Extract From a Protest in the Illinois Legislature Against the Reorganization of the Judiciary.
To Joshua F. Speed--Murder Case
Statement About Harry Wilton.
To Miss Mary Speed--Practical Slavery
To Joshua F. Speed--On Marriage
To Joshua F. Speed.
To Joshua F. Speed--On Depression
To G. B. Sheledy.
To George E. Pickett--Advice to Youth
Address Before the Springfield Washingtonian Temperance Society, February 22, 1842.
To Joshua F. Speed.
To Joshua F. Speed--On Marriage Concerns
To Joshua F. Speed.
To Joshua F. Speed.
A Letter From the Lost Townships
Lost Townships
Invitation to Henry Clay.
Correspondence About the Lincoln-Shields Duel.
To J. Shields.
To A. Lincoln From Jas. Shields
Memorandum of Instructions to E. H. Merryman, Lincoln's Second,
To Joshua F. Speed.
To James S. Irwin.
Resolutions at a Whig Meeting at Springfield, Illinois, March 1, 1843.
Circular From Whig Committee.
To John Bennett.
To Joshua F. Speed.
To Martin M. Morris.
To Martin M. Morris.
To Gen. J. J. Hardin.