?--there were bigger traitors higher up.
Stone was summoned before the Inquisition.(6)

While Stone was on the rack, metaphorically, while the Committee was
showing him every brutality in its power, refusing to acquaint him with
the evidence against him, intimating that they were able to convict him
of treason, between the fifth and the eleventh of January a crisis arose
in the War Office. Cameron had failed to ingratiate himself with the
rising powers. Old political enemies in Congress were implacable.
Scandals in his Department gave rise to sweeping charges of peculation.

There is scarcely another moment when Lincoln's power was so precarious.
In one respect, in their impatience, the Committee reflected faithfully
the country at large. And by the irony of fate McClellan at this crucial
hour, had fallen ill. After waiting for his recovery during several
weeks, Lincoln ventured with much hesitation to call a conference of
generals.(7) They were sitting during the Stone investigation, producing
no result except a distraction in councils, devising plans that were
thrown over the moment the Commanding General arose from his bed. A
vote in Congress a few days previous had amounted to a censure of the
Administration. It was taken upon the Crittenden Resolution which had
been introduced a second time. Of those who had voted for it in July,
so many now abandoned the Administration that this resolution, the clear
embodiment of Lincoln's policy, was laid on the table, seventy-one
to sixty-five.(8) Lincoln's hope for an all-parties government was
receiving little encouragement The Democrats were breaking into
factions, while the control of their party organization was falling into
the hands of a group of inferior politicians who were content to "play
politics" in the most unscrupulous fashion. Both the Secretary of War
and the Secretary of State had authorized arbitrary arrests. Men in New
York and New England had been thrown into prison. The privilege of the
writ of habeas corpus had been denied them on the mere belief of the
government that they were conspiring with its enemies. Because of these
arrests, sharp criticism was being aimed at the Administration both
within and without Congress.

For all these reasons, the government at Washington appeared to be
tottering. Desperate remedies seemed imperative. Lincoln decided to make
every concession he could make without letting go his central purpose.
First, he threw over Camer