rs, but he did not desire to become governor
again, even though the party indicated a willingness to follow his
leadership and give him free rein to inaugurate such a policy as his
wisdom and conservatism might dictate. He clearly recognised the
difficulties in the way. He had taken ultra ground against the Federal
Administration, opposing emancipation, denouncing arbitrary arrests,
and expressing the belief that the North could not subjugate the
South; yet he would be powerless to give life to his own views, or to
modify Lincoln's proposed conduct of the war. The President, having
been elected to serve until March, 1865, would not tolerate
interference with his plans and purposes, so that an opposition
Governor, regardless of grievances or their cause, would be compelled
to furnish troops and to keep the peace. Hatred of conscription would
be no excuse for non-action in case of a draft riot, and indignation
over summary arrests could in nowise limit the exercise of such
arbitrary methods. To be governor under such conditions, therefore,
meant constant embarrassment, if not unceasing humiliation. These
reasons were carefully presented to Richmond. Moreover, Seymour was
conscious of inherent defects of temperament. He did not belong to the
class of politicians, described by Victor Hugo, who mistake a
weather-cock for a flag. He was a gentleman of culture, of public
experience, and of moral purpose, representing the best quality of his
party; but possessed of a sensitive and eager temper, he was too often
influenced by the men immediately about him, and too often inclined
to have about him men whose influence did not strengthen his own
better judgment.

Richmond knew of this weakness and regretted it, but the man of iron,
grasping the political situation with the shrewdness of a phenomenally
successful business man, wanted a candidate who could win. It was
plain to him that the Republican party, divided on the question of
emancipation and weakened by arbitrary arrests, a policy that many
people bitterly resented, could be beaten by a candidate who added
exceptional popularity to a promised support of the war and a vigorous
protest against government methods. Dix, he knew, would stand with the
President; Seymour would criticise, and with sureness of aim arouse
opposition. While Richmond, therefore, listened respectfully to
Seymour's reasons for declining the nomination, he was deaf to all
entreaty, insisting that as the p