r, not to
be struck with admiration. Watching with keen eyes the unfolding of
Lincoln, Seward advanced from admiration to regard. After a while he
could write, "The President is the best of us." He warmed to him;
he gave out the best of himself. Lincoln responded. While the other
secretaries were useful, Seward became necessary. Lincoln, in these dark
days, found comfort in his society.(10) Lincoln was not going to allow
Seward to be driven out of the Cabinet. But how could he prevent it?
He could not say. He was in a quandary. For the moment, the Republican
leaders were so nearly of one mind in their antagonism to Seward, that
it demanded the greatest courage to oppose them. But Lincoln does not
appear to have given a thought to surrender. What puzzled him was the
mode of resistance.

Now that he was wholly himself, having confidence in whatever mode of
procedure his own thought approved, he had begun using methods that the
politicians found disconcerting. The second conference with the Senators
was an instance. Returning in the same mood in which they had left
him, with no suspicion of a surprise in store, the Senators to their
amazement were confronted by the Cabinet--or most of it, Seward being
absent.(11) The Senators were put out. This simple maneuver by the
President was the beginning of their discomfiture. It changed their
role from the ambassadors of an ultimatum to the participants in a
conference. But even thus, they might have succeeded in dominating the
event, though it is hardly conceivable that they could have carried
their point; they might have driven Lincoln into a corner; had it
not been for the make-up of one man. Again, the destiny that is in
character! Lincoln was delivered from a quandary by the course which the
Secretary of the Treasury could not keep himself from pursuing.

Chase, previous to this hour, may truly be called an imposing figure.
As a leader of the extreme Republicans, he had earned much fame. Lincoln
had given him a free hand in the Treasury and all the financial measures
of the government were his. Hitherto, Vindictives of all sorts had loved
him. He was a critic of the President's mildness, and a severe critic of
Seward. But Chase was not candid. Though on the surface he scrupulously
avoided any hint of cynicism, any point of resemblance to Seward, he was
in fact far more devious, much more capable of self-deception. He had
little of Seward's courage, and none of his aplomb. His