ngton, had never heard
of the Stock Board, and had lived in some yet undiscovered country,
where legislation is never bought nor sold, his life would have been
more blameless, useful, and happy. I was sitting beside him in his
editorial room soon after Governor Seward's election, when he opened a
letter from a brother Whig, which ran substantially thus: 'Dear Weed:
I want to be a bank examiner. You know how to fix it. Do so, and draw
on me for whatever sum you may see fit. Yours truly.' In an instant
his face became prematurely black with mingled rage and mortification.
'My God,' said he, 'I knew that my political adversaries thought me a
scoundrel, but I never till now supposed that my friends
did.'"--Horace Greeley, _Recollections of a Busy Life_, pp. 312, 313.]

[Footnote 732: "President Lincoln looked to Mr. Weed for counsel, when,
as often during the war, he met with difficulties hard to surmount. It
was Mr. Lincoln's habit at such times to telegraph Mr. Weed to come to
Washington from Albany or New York, perhaps at an hour's notice. He
often spent the day with the President, coming and returning by night,
regardless of his age and infirmities. His services in these
exigencies were often invaluable."--Thurlow Weed Barnes, _Life of
Thurlow Weed_, Vol. 2, p. 288.]

The immediate influence that led to the announcement of Barney's
selection, however, is not entirely clear. At the Cooper Institute
meeting in February, 1860, at which Lincoln spoke, Barney occupied a
seat on the stage, and was among the few gentlemen having opportunity
to pay the distinguished Illinoisan those courtesies which especially
please one who felt, as Lincoln did "by reason of his own modest
estimate of himself,"[733] that he was under obligation to any person
showing him marked attention. But neither this fact nor Barney's
subsequent support at Chicago sufficiently accounts for the strong
preference indicated by such an important and far-reaching
appointment. Among the few indorsements on file in the treasury
department at Washington, one letter, dated March 8, 1861, and
addressed to Salmon P. Chase, speaks of Barney as "a personal friend
of yours." Six days later a New York newspaper announced that "the
appointment of Barney has been a fixed fact ever since Chase went into
the Cabinet. It was this influence that persuaded Chase to accept the
position."[734] The biographer of Thurlow Weed, probably basing the
statement upon the belief of Weed