fancied they
were greater men than Lincoln, and each of them, at the beginning
at least, entertained the idea that on him rested the responsibility
of the administration. Seward felt that he should have been the
nominee of his party. Chase felt perfectly sure that he, and not
Lincoln, should have been President.

Before many months had passed, Seward was compelled to acknowledge
that Mr. Lincoln was the superior of any of them, as he expressed
it in a letter to his wife. He soon became one of the most devoted
friends and loyal supporters of the President. The publication of
the diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to
1865, shows that Mr. Lincoln was the leader of them all, and was
in fact the real head of every department of his administration.

Chase was an able man, and loyal to the Union; but, unlike Seward,
he was never loyal to the President personally, and was constantly
plotting in his own interest to supplant Lincoln as the nominee of
his party in 1864,--a most reprehensible course on the part of a
cabinet officer. This did not give concern to Mr. Lincoln in the
slightest degree. He cared very little what Mr. Chase said or
thought of him personally, so long as he was doing his duty as
Secretary of the Treasury.

I was in Washington the latter part of February, 1864, before he
was nominated the second time. I happened to hear of the Pomeroy
letter in behalf of Mr. Chase, and I learned with amazement that
Chase was conspiring with his friends to secure the nomination for
the Presidency, and was untrue and unloyal to his chief. I felt
justly indignant. I saw Mr. Lincoln and talked with him about it
with great earnestness. I told him that Chase should be turned
out. He answered by saying: "Let him alone; he can do no more
harm in here than he can outside."

If things did not go to suit him, Chase was in the habit of tendering
his resignation every few days. It was not accepted; but he offered
it once too often, and, very much to his surprise and chagrin, it
was promptly accepted; and Chase was relegated to private life,
where he belonged, and where he should have remained.

Chief Justice Taney passed away unmourned, the most pathetic and
desolate figure in the Civil War, with his long, faithful, and
distinguished service on the bench forgotten. Chase's friends,
and Chase himself, at once commenced overtures of friendship toward
Mr. Lincoln, in the interest, solely, of securin