Chase in the gubernatorial chair of Ohio, and was unremitting in
his labor for the Union. Alexander W. Randall of Wisconsin had
contributed in no small degree by public and attractive speech to
the triumph of Mr. Lincoln, and was now intrusted with an important
duty, to which he gave himself with genuine zeal.

In these sixteen States--all the non-slaveholding Commonwealths
east of the Rocky Mountains--the governors were members of the
Republican party. They were in political accord, and in complete
personal sympathy with the administration. This was regarded by
Mr. Lincoln as not in all respects a fortunate circumstance. It
was his belief, as it was the belief of many others, that if loyal
Democrats had been in the executive chairs of some of the largest
States, the effect would have been more impressive. It would have
suggested a more absolute unity of the Northern people in support
of the government. It would in some degree have relieved the
struggle for national life from the opprobrium contained in the
reproach which subsequently became too common, that after all it
was "a Republican war," waged merely for the abolition of slavery.

The two States on the Pacific coast had Democratic governors, and,
by reason of the strong influence which the Southern Democrats had
exercised in both under the influence of William M. Gwin and Joseph
Lane, there was deep solicitude as to the course of event in that
important outpost of the Union. The loyal adherence of those States
to the National Government was a profound disappointment to the
Confederacy. Jefferson Davis had expected, with a confidence
amounting to certainty, and based, it is believed, on personal
pledges, that the Pacific Coast, if it did not actually join the
South, would be disloyal to the Union, and would, from its remoteness
and its superlative importance, require a large contingent of the
national forces to hold it in subjection. It was expected by the
South that California and Oregon would give at least as much trouble
as Kentucky and Missouri, and would thus indirectly but powerfully
aid the Southern cause. The enthusiastic devotion which these
distant States showed to the Union was therefore a surprise to the
South and a most welcome relief to the National Government. The
loyalty of the Pacific Coast was in the hearts of its people, but
it was made more promptly manifest and effective by the patriotic
conduct of Governor Downey and Governor Wh