e has no doubt whatever about that. He is an
able financier, a great statesman, and at the bottom a patriot . . he is
never perfectly happy unless he is thoroughly miserable and able to make
everybody else just as uncomfortable as he is himself. . He is either
determined to annoy me or that I shall pat him on the shoulder and coax
him to stay. I don't think I ought to do it. I will take him at his
word."(2)

He accepted the resignation in a note that was almost curt: "Of all I
have said in commendation of your ability and fidelity, I have nothing
to unsay; and yet you and I have reached a point of mutual embarrassment
in our official relations which it seems can not be overcome or longer
sustained consistently with the public service."(3)

The selection of a successor to Chase was no easy matter. The
Vindictives were the leaders of the moment. What if they persuaded the
Senate not to confirm Lincoln's choice of Secretary. "I never saw the
President," says Carpenter, "under so much excitement as on the day
following this event" On the night of July first, Lincoln lay awake
debating with himself the merits of various candidates. At length, he
selected his man and immediately went to sleep.

"The next morning he went to his office and wrote the nomination. John
Hay, the assistant private secretary, had taken it from the President on
his way to the Capitol, when he encountered Senator Fessenden upon the
threshold of the room. As chairman of the Finance Committee, he also
had passed an anxious night, and called this early to consult with
the President, and offer some suggestions. After a few moments'
conversation, Mr. Lincoln turned to him with a smile and said: 'I am
obliged to you, Fessenden, but the fact is, I have just sent your own
name to the Senate for Secretary of the Treasury. Hay had just received
the nomination from my hand as you entered.' Mr. Fessenden was taken
completely by surprise, and, very much agitated, protested his inability
to accept the position. The state of his health, he said, if no other
consideration, made it impossible. Mr. Lincoln would not accept
the refusal as final. He very justly felt that with Mr. Fessenden's
experience and known ability at the head of the Finance Committee, his
acceptance would go far toward reestablishing a feeling of security. He
said to him, very earnestly, 'Fessenden, the Lord has not deserted me
thus far, and He is not going to now--you must accept!'

"They separ