had learned "with satisfaction,
though not with surprise, that Senator Wade, notwithstanding his
signature to a celebrated Manifesto, had enrolled himself among the
Lincoln forces."(24) Exactly two weeks after Atlanta, Wade made his
first speech for Lincoln as President. It was a "terrific assault upon
the Copperhead policy."(25)

The ship of the conspiracy was sinking fast, and on every hand was heard
a scurrying patter of escaping politicians.

XXXIV. "FATHER ABRAHAM"

The key-notes of Lincoln's course with the Executive Committee, his
refusal to do anything that appeared to him to be futile, his firmness
not to cast about and experiment after a policy, his basing of all
his plans on the vision in his own mind of their sure fruitage--these
continued to be his key-notes throughout the campaign. They ruled his
action in a difficult matter with which he was quickly forced to deal.

Montgomery Blair, the Postmaster General, was widely and bitterly
disliked. Originally a radical Republican, he had quarreled with that
wing of the party. In 1863 the Union League of Philadelphia,
which elected all the rest of the Cabinet honorary members of its
organization, omitted Blair. A reference to the Cabinet in the Union
platform of 1864 was supposed to be a hint that the Postmaster General
would serve his country, if he resigned. During the dark days of the
summer of 1864, the President's mail was filled with supplications for
the dismissal of Blair.(1) He was described as an incubus that might
cause the defeat of the Administration.

If the President's secretaries were not prejudiced witnesses, Blair had
worn out his welcome in the Cabinet. He had grown suspicious. He tried
to make Lincoln believe that Seward was plotting with the Copperheads.
Nevertheless, Lincoln turned a deaf ear to the clamor against him.
Merely personal considerations were not compelling. If it was true, as
for a while he believed it was, that his election was already lost, he
did not propose to throw Blair over as a mere experiment. True to his
principles he would not become a juggler with futility.

The turn of the tide in his favor put the matter in a new light. All the
enemies of Blair renewed their attack on a slightly different line. One
of those powerful New Englanders who had come to Lincoln's aid at such
an opportune moment led off. On the second day following the news of
Atlanta, Henry Wilson wrote to him, "Blair, every one hates. Tens of