ed, been incurably wounded in his pride, and
disappointed in his ambition, when Mr. Lincoln, then a comparatively
unknown man, was preferred to him by the Republican party as a
candidate for the Presidency in 1860. He had, as they believed, bided
his time for revenge. During the war, the pressure of patriotic duty,
as his new but reluctant enemies alleged, held him steadily to his
old faith; but now, when he could do it without positive danger to the
country, he was bent on administering discipline to the party and its
leaders. They likened him to Mr. Van Buren, revengefully defeating
General Cass in 1848; to Mr. Webster, who on his death-bed gave his
sympathy to the party which had always reviled him; to Mr. Fillmore,
who deserted his anti-slavery professions in the hour of most pressing
responsibility. Comments even more severe were made by many who had
been deeply attached to Mr. Seward, and had deplored his defeat at
Chicago. At such a period of excitement, it was not possible that a
man of Mr. Seward's exalted position could in any degree change his
party relations without great exasperation on the part of old friends,
--an exasperation sure to lead to extravagance of expression and to
personal injustice.

Mr. Seward's course at this period must not be judged harshly by a
standard established from a retrospective view of the circumstances
surrounding him. It is more just to consider the situation as it
appeared to his own observation when his eyes were turned to the
future. He no doubt looked buoyantly forward, according to his
temperament, trusting always to the healing influences of time and to
that re-action in the headlong course of Southern men which he felt
sure would be brought about by the sting of personal reflection and the
power of public opinion. A silver lining to the darkest cloud was
always visible to his eye of faith, and he now brought to the
contemplation of the adverse elements in the political field a full
measure of that confidence which had always sustained him when adverse
elements in the field of war caused many strong hearts to faint and
grow weary.

The course of events developed occasions when Mr. Seward's influence
proved valuable to the country, but it did not serve to recall his
popularity. He was thwarted and defeated at all points by the Southern
leaders whom he had induced the President to forgive and re-instate.
These men had originally established their relations with M