ican people," not as an external
struggle between the North and the South.

Finally, the culmination of the message was a long elaborate argument
upon the significance of the war to the working classes. His aim was
to show that the whole trend of the Confederate movement was toward a
conclusion which would "place capital on an equal footing with, if not
above, labor, in the structure of government." Thus, as so often before,
he insisted on his own view of the significance in American politics of
all issues involving slavery--their bearing on the condition of the free
laborer. In a very striking passage, often overlooked, he ranked himself
once more, as first of all, a statesman of "the people," in the limited
class sense of the term. "Labor is prior to and independent of capital.
Capital is only the fruit of labor and could never have existed if labor
had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves
much the higher consideration." But so far is he from any revolutionary
purpose, that he adds immediately, "Capital has its rights which are as
worthy of protection as any other rights." His crowning vision is not
communism. His ideal world is one of universal opportunity, with labor
freed of every hindrance, with all its deserving members acquiring more
and more of the benefits of property.

Such a message had no consolation for Chandler, Wade, or, as he then
was, for Trumbull. They looked about for a way to retaliate. And now two
things became plain. That "agitation of the summer" to which Hay refers,
had borne fruit, but not enough fruit. Many members of Congress who had
been swept along by the President's policy in July had been won over in
the reaction against him and were ripe for manipulation; but it was not
yet certain that they held the balance of power in Congress. To lock
horns with the Administration, in December, would have been so rash a
move that even such bold men as Chandler and Wade avoided it. Instead,
they devised an astute plan of campaign. Trumbull was Chairman of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, and in that important position would
bide his time to bring pressure to bear on the President through
his influence upon legislation. Wade and Chandler would go in for
propaganda. But they would do so in disguise. What more natural than
that Congress should take an active interest in the army, should wish
to do all in its power to "assist" the President in rendering the
army-efficient. For