rther he wished to
say, but the President was eager and did not perceive it, but took and
hastily opened the letter.

"'This,' said he, looking towards me with a triumphal laugh, 'cuts the
Gordian knot.' An air of satisfaction spread over his countenance such
as I had not seen for some time. 'I can dispose of this subject now
without difficulty,' he added, as he turned in his chair; 'I see my way
clear.'"(12) In Lincoln's distress during this episode, there was much
besides his anxiety for the fate of a trusted minister. He felt he must
not permit himself to be driven into the arms of the Vindictives by
disgracing Seward. Seward had a following which Lincoln needed. But to
proclaim to the world his confidence in Seward without at the same time
offsetting it by some display of confidence, equally significant in the
enemies of Seward, this would have amounted to committing himself to
Seward's following alone. And that would not do. Should either faction
appear to dominate him, Lincoln felt that "the whole government must
cave in. It could not stand, could not hold water; the bottom would be
out."(13)

The incredible stroke of luck, the sheer good fortune that Chase was
Chase and nobody else,--vain, devious, stagey and hypersensitive,--was
salvation. Lincoln promptly rejected both resignations and called upon
both Ministers to resume their portfolios. They did so. The incident was
closed. Neither faction could say that Lincoln had favored the other.
He had saved himself, or rather, Chase's character had saved him, by the
margin of a hair.

For the moment, a rebuilding of the Vindictive Coalition was impossible.
Nevertheless, the Jacobins, again balked of their prey, had it in their
power, through the terrible Committee, to do immense mischief. The
history of the war contains no other instance of party malice quite
so fruitless and therefore so inexcusable as their next move. After
severely interrogating Burnside, they published an exoneration of his
motives and revealed the fact that Lincoln had forced him into command
against his will. The implication was plain.

January came in. The Emancipation Proclamation was confirmed. The
jubilation of the Abolitionists became, almost at once, a propaganda for
another issue upon slavery. New troubles were gathering close about the
President The overwhelming benefit which had been anticipated from
the new policy had not clearly arrived. Even army enlistments were
not satisfactor