and seclusion. But he said, "I
cannot fly from my thoughts. I do not think it is personal vanity or
ambition, though I am not free from those infirmities, but I cannot but
feel that the weal or woe of the nation will be decided in November.
There is no proposal offered by any wing of the Democratic party but that
must result in the permanent destruction of the Union." He would have
been well content to make place for Grant if Grant had finished his work.
But that work was delayed, and then Lincoln became greatly troubled by
the movement to force Grant, the general whom he had at last found, into
politics with his work undone; for all would have been lost if McClellan
had come in with the war still progressing badly. Lincoln had been
invited in June to a gathering in honour of Grant, got up with the thinly
disguised object of putting the general forward as his rival. He wrote,
with true diplomacy: "It is impossible for me to attend. I approve
nevertheless of whatever may tend to strengthen and sustain General Grant
and the noble armies now under his command. He and his brave soldiers
are now in the midst of their great trial, and I trust that at your
meeting you will so shape your good words that they may turn to men and
guns, moving to his and their support." In August he told his mind
plainly to Grant's friend Eaton. He never dreamed for a moment that
Grant would willingly go off into politics with the military situation
still insecure, and he believed that no possible pressure could force
Grant to do so; but on this latter question he wished to make himself
sure; with a view to future military measures he really needed to be sure
of it. Eaton saw Grant, and in the course of conversation very tactfully
brought to Grant's notice the designs of his would-be friends. "We had,"
writes Eaton, "been talking very quietly, but Grant's reply came in an
instant and with a violence for which I was not prepared. He brought his
clenched fists down hard on the strap arms of his camp chair, 'They can't
do it. They can't compel me to do it.' Emphatic gesture was not a
strong point with Grant. 'Have you said this to the President?' I asked.
'No,' said Grant. 'I have not thought it worth while to assure the
President of my opinion. I consider it as important for the cause that
he should be elected as that the army should be successful in the
field.'" "I told you," said Lincoln afterwards, "they could not get him
to run