nificant the outcry really was, Chandler,
who was staunch for Fremont, began his active interference with the
management of the army. McClellan had insisted on plenty of time
in which to drill the new three-year recruits who were pouring into
Washington. He did not propose to repeat the experience of General
McDowell. On the other hand, Chandler was bent on forcing him into
action. He, Wade and Trumbull combined, attempting to bring things to
pass in a way to suit themselves and their faction. To these men and
their followers, clever young Hay gave the apt name of "The Jacobin
Club."

They began their campaign by their second visit to the army. Wade was
their chief spokesman. He urged McClellan to advance at once; to risk
an unsuccessful battle rather than continue to stand still; the country
wanted something done; a defeat could easily be repaired by the swarming
recruits.(12)

This callous attitude got no response from the Commanding General. The
three Senators turned upon Lincoln. "This evening," writes Hay in
his diary on October twenty-sixth, "the Jacobin Club represented by
Trumbull, Chandler and Wade, came out to worry the Administration into
a battle. The agitation of the summer is to be renewed. The President
defended McClellan's deliberateness. The next night we went over
to Seward's and found Chandler and Wade there." They repeated their
reckless talk; a battle must be fought; defeat would be no worse than
delay; "and a great deal more trash."

But Lincoln was not to be moved. He and Hay called upon McClellan. The
President deprecated this new manifestation of popular impatience, but
said it was a reality and should be taken into account. "At the same
time, General," said he, "you must not fight until you are ready."(13)

At this moment of extreme tension occurred the famous incident of
the seizure of the Confederate envoys, Mason and Slidell, who were
passengers on the British merchant ship, the Trent. These men had run
the blockade which had now drawn its strangling line along the whole
coast of the Confederacy; they had boarded the Trent at Havana, and
under the law of nations were safe from capture. But Captain Wilkes of
the United States Navy, more zealous than discreet, overhauled the Trent
and took off the two Confederates. Every thoughtless Northerner went
wild with joy. At last the government had done something. Even the
Secretary of the Navy so far forgot himself as to telegraph to Wilkes
"Cong