d to his nomination," he said in
the _Tribune_ of April 23, in reply to the _Times'_ charge of
hostility, "it has been on the ground of his too near approximation in
principle and sentiment to our standard to be a safe candidate just
yet. We joyfully believe that the country is acquiring a just and
adequate conception of the malign influence exerted by the slave power
upon its character, its reputation, its treatment of its neighbour,
and all its great moral and material interests. In a few years more we
believe it will be ready to elect as its President a man who not only
sees but proclaims the whole truth in this respect--in short, such a
man as Governor Seward. We have certainly doubted its being yet so far
advanced in its political education as to be ready to choose for
President one who looks the slave oligarchy square in the eye and
says, 'Know me as your enemy.'"

[Footnote 545: "At this time there was friendly intercourse between
Mr. Greeley and Mr. Weed, nor did anybody suppose that Mr. Greeley was
not on good terms with Governor Seward. He had, indeed, in 1854,
written to Mr. Seward a remarkable letter, 'dissolving the firm of
Seward, Weed & Greeley,' but Mr. Weed had never seen such a letter,
nor did Mr. Greeley appear to remember its existence. Mr. Weed and Mr.
Greeley met frequently in New York, not with all of the old
cordiality, perhaps, but still they had by no means quarrelled. Mr.
Greeley wrote often to Mr. Weed, in the old way, and he and his family
were visitors at Mr. Weed's house. Indeed--though that seems
impossible--Mr. Greeley stopped at Mr. Weed's house, in Albany, on his
way West, before the Chicago convention, and made a friendly visit of
a day or so, leaving the impression that he was going to support Mr.
Seward when he reached Chicago."--Thurlow Weed Barnes, _Life of
Thurlow Weed_, Vol. 2, p. 268.]

Greeley favoured Bates of Missouri, but was ready to support anybody
to beat Seward. Bryant, disliking what he called the "pliant politics"
of the New York Senator, had been disposed to favour Chase until the
Cooper Institute speech. Lincoln left a similar trail of friends
through New England. The Illinoisan's title of "Honest Old Abe,"
given, him by his neighbours, contrasted favourably with the whispered
reports of "bad associates" and the "New York City railroad scheme."
Gradually, even the radical element in the unpledged delegations began
questioning the advisability of the New Yorker's s