the Union, for obviously a postmaster of doubtful
loyalty might do mischief. Lincoln, then, except in dealing with posts
of special consequence, for which men with really special
qualifications were to be found, frankly and without a question took as
the great principle of his patronage the fairest possible distribution
of favours among different classes and individuals among the supporters
of the Government, whom it was his primary duty to keep together. His
attitude in the whole business was perfectly understood and respected
by scrupulous men who watched politics critically. It was the cause in
one way of great worry to him, for, except when his indignation was
kindled, he was abnormally reluctant to say "no,"--he once shuddered to
think what would have happened to him if he had been a woman, but was
consoled by the thought that his ugliness would have been a shield; and
his private secretaries accuse him of carrying out his principle with
needless and even ridiculous care. In appointments to which the party
principle did not apply, but in which an ordinary man would have felt
party prejudice, Lincoln's old opponents were often startled by his
freedom from it. If jobbery be the right name for his persistent
endeavour to keep the partisans of the Union pleased and united, his
jobbery proved to have one shining attribute of virtue; later on, when,
apart from the Democratic opposition which revived, there arose in the
Republican party sections hostile to himself, the claims of personal
adherence to him and the wavering prospects of his own reelection seem,
from recorded instances, to have affected his choice remarkably little.

4. _Foreign Policy and England_.

The question, what was his influence upon foreign policy, is more
difficult than the general praise bestowed upon it might lead us to
expect; because, though he is known to have exercised a constant
supervision over Seward, that influence was concealed from the
diplomatic world.

For at least the first eighteen months of the war, apart from lesser
points of quarrel, a real danger of foreign intervention hung over the
North. The danger was increased by the ambitions of Napoleon III. in
regard to Mexico, and by the loss and suffering caused to England,
above all, not merely from the interruption of trade but from the
suspension of cotton supplies by the blockade. From the first there
was the fear that foreign powers would recognise the Southern
Confede