that he was a much injured man, and
his attitude was that of the martyr supported by the serenity of the
saint. But to the world he bore himself with the courage and the
dignity that belong to one whose supremacy is due to superiority of
talents. The country could not know that he was to become a secretary
of state of whom the civilised world would take notice; but one of
Seward's prescience must have felt well satisfied in his own mind,
even when telling Weed how "welcome" private life would be, that,
although he was not to become President, he was at the opening of a
greater political career.

CHAPTER XXII

NEW YORK'S CONTROL AT BALTIMORE

1860

The recess between the Charleston and Baltimore conventions did not
allay hostilities. Jefferson Davis' criticism and Douglas' tart
retorts transferred the quarrel to the floor of the United States
Senate, and by the time the delegates had reassembled at Baltimore on
June 18, 1860, the factions exhibited greater exasperation than had
been shown at Charleston. Yet the Douglas men seemed certain of
success. Dean Richmond, it was said, had been engaged in private
consultation with Douglas and his friends, pledging himself to stand
by them to the last. On the other hand, rumours of a negotiation in
which the Southerners and the Administration at Washington had offered
the New Yorkers their whole strength for any man the Empire State
might name other than Douglas and Guthrie, found ready belief among
the Northwestern delegates. It was surmised, too, that the defeat of
Seward at Chicago had strengthened the chances of Horatio Seymour, on
the ground that the disappointed and discontented Seward Republicans
would allow him to carry the State. Whatever truth there may have been
in these reports, all admitted that the New York delegation had in its
hands the destiny of the convention, if not that of the party
itself.[557]

[Footnote 557: "There was no question that the New York delegation had
the fate of the convention in its keeping; and while it was understood
that the strength of Douglas in the delegation had been increased
during the recess by the Fowler defalcation (Fowler's substitute being
reported a Douglas man) and by the appearance of regular delegates
whose alternates had been against Douglas at Charleston, it was
obvious that the action of the politicians of New York could not be
counted upon in any direction with confidence. Rumours circulated that
a negoti