ecret issues which I supposed came from it, and of secret agents who
I supposed were sent out by it, for several weeks. I have known just as
little of these things as my friends have allowed me to know. They bring
the documents to me, but I do not read them; they tell me what they
think fit to tell me, but I do not inquire for more. I fully concur
with you that neither of us can be justly held responsible for what our
respective friends may do without our instigation or countenance; and I
assure you, as you have assured me, that no assault has been made upon
you by my instigation or with my countenance. Whether you shall remain
at the head of the Treasury Department is a question which I will not
allow myself to consider from any standpoint other than my judgment of
the public service, and in that view, I do not perceive occasion for
a change."(4) But this was not the end of the incident. The country
promptly repudiated Chase. His own state led the way. A caucus of
Union members of the Ohio Legislature resolved that the people and
the soldiers of Ohio demanded the reelection of Lincoln. In a host of
similar resolutions, Legislative caucuses, political conventions, dubs,
societies, prominent individuals not in the political machine, all
ringingly declared for Lincoln, the one proper candidate of the "Union
party"-as the movement was labeled in a last and relatively successful
attempt to break party lines.

As the date of the "Union Convention" approached, Lincoln put aside
an opportunity to gratify the Vindictives. Following the Emancipation
Proclamation, the recruiting offices had been opened to negroes.
Thereupon the Confederate government threatened to treat black soldiers
as brigands, and to refuse to their white officers the protection of
the laws of war. A cry went up in the North for reprisal. It was not
the first time the cry had been raised. In 1862 Lincoln's spokesman in
Congress, Browning, had withstood a proposal for the trial of General
Buckner by the civil authorities of Kentucky. Browning opposed such a
course on the ground that it would lead to a policy of retaliation, and
make of the war a gratification of revenge.(5) The Confederate
threat gave a new turn to the discussion. Frederick Douglas, the most
influential negro of the time, obtained an audience with Lincoln and
begged for reprisals. Lincoln would not consent. So effective was his
argument that even the ardent negro, convinced that his race was ab