SALMON P. CHASE AND THE ELECTION
OF 1860
BY DONNAL V. SMITH
CHAPTER I
CHASE IN THE CAMPAIGN OF 1860
"I shall ever strive to be first
wherever I may be, let
what success will attend the effort
...."
So wrote Salmon P. Chase in 1830, then
a young at-
torney practicing with the famous Wirt
firm in Wash-
ington.1 Shortly after, he moved to
Cincinnati, the "Queen
City" of the West, there to begin
a life of political ac-
tivity which, in a few short years,
took him through
the various changes of the old Whig
party, into the
Liberty party of 1844; then after
acting with the Free
Soilers in the Harrison campaign he
entered the ranks
of the Democratic party, only to find
that because of
the question of negro slavery he could
not remain there.
By 1856, Chase, now arrived at middle
age, was a hope-
ful Republican and a leader of the
party in Ohio. It is
true that politicians there knew about
the "deal" that
had made him a Senator in 1849, and
they smiled at
the mention of his reelection while he
was yet Governor.
But if the politicians pretended to see
something un-
savory in these elections the people
did not. They re-
garded Governor Chase, the
"Attorney General for the
Negro," as a leader against
oppression, the champion of
1 J. W. Schuckers, Life and Public Services of Salmon P.
Chase, 31,
(515)
516 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
"free speech, free press, free
soil and free men," stand-
ing forth in the Halls of Congress,
denouncing Douglas
as "the architect of ruin."
They saw in Salmon P. Chase
a godly man, sincere, upright, honest
and great.
Already in 1858, the people were saying
things to
flatter the political leader. He
listened. To him it
sounded like a call to the presidency
of the nation and
Salmon P. Chase strove "ever to be
first." From the
old Bay State he heard that "now
is the time ... depend
upon it ... You will ride the topmost
wave."2 In Ver-
mont it was said that "no other
candidate will have so
many friends at the start."3 James
M. Ashley, friend
and political lieutenant, reported that
in New York,
Horace Greeley and John Bigelow could
be persuaded
by the proper persons to support
Chase's name for the
presidential nomination.4 Moreover,
E. D. Morgan was
said to be ready to spend money for an
organization.5
James A. Briggs was already working
hard to overcome
the influence of Thurlow Weed.6 From Ohio, Thomas
Spooner wrote that he was willing to
accept Governor
Dennison's invitation to go to
Washington to attend the
convention of state republican
committees if Chase
thought that some good could be done
thereby.7 Michi-
gan and Illinois, while favoring
Seward, were reported
as not impossible in the event of a
Chase candidacy;
while in Iowa, no less a personage than
Governor Grimes
2 Chase MSS., C. E. Stowe to Chase,
March 30, 1858. [All MSS.
cited are found in the Library of
Congress unless otherwise indicated.]
3 Chase MSS., Jas. Barrett to Chase,
November 30.
4 Chase MSS., Letter of February 17.
5 Chase MSS., Jas. A. Briggs to Chase, November 9.
6 Chase MSS., Briggs to Chase, November
30, December 14.
7 Chase MSS., Letter of February 21.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 517
was ready to take the stump on behalf
of Governor
Chase.8 In Kansas where the
names of only Chase and
Seward were mentioned, the friends of
Chase were far
more active, it was said.9
Not all of Chase's friends were so
optimistic. His
colleague of the Ohio Bar, George
Hoadly, advised that
he did not believe "that by 1860
the time will have ar-
rived for you . . . to succeed on an
anti-slavery basis
faction," and further, he
predicted that "we shall have
a party and a party candidate and you
and I will both
support him because we shall see no
better course to
take."10
Being advised early in 1859, to
"lay low for a time"
in order to allow the Seward and F
emont factions to
become completely divided so that he
could then be intro-
duced as a compromise candidate,11
Chase began to toy
with the bait. To some, he affected
indifference as to
his political future, saying that he
would not allow per-
sonal considerations to decide his
action.12 But to a
friend in Cleveland he wrote:13
If I may believe assurances which I
constantly receive, my
name is more and more regarded as the
most available . . .
Among men equally qualified and equally
faithful . . . avail-
ability should certainly determine
choice. I shall feel gratified
and grateful if the Republicans and
other opponents of the na-
tional administration . . . shall see
fit to entrust to my keeping
the standard of freedom.
8 Chase MSS., Thos. F. Withrow to Chase,
March 26, 1858.
9 Chase
MSS., Henry J. Adams to Chase, June 12.
10 Chase MSS., Letter of April 3.
11 Chase MSS., Victor Smith to Chase,
February 8, 1859.
12 Chase MSS., Chase to Israel Green,
March 16, [1859].
13 Chase MSS., Chase to Jas. C. Briggs,
April 7. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
518
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
In many quarters, a strong feeling of
distrust was
manifested for the candidacy of
Governor Chase be-
cause of his insistent avowals that he
was in full accord
with the Democrats in all respects save
on the question
of slavery. This led some to account
him a free-trader.
It was said that Thurlow Weed,
"the brains" of the
Seward movement, was ready to admit
Chase's rosy
prospects but for the troublesome
question of the tariff.14
Informed of this fact, Chase labored to
create a different
impression by writing his opinions to
those who would
see that they attained currency.
"I am a practical man,"
he explained, "and wish to take
practical views on this
tariff question .... No man in my
judgment deserves
the name American Statesman who would
not so shape
American legislation and administration
as to protect
American industry and guard impartially
all American
rights and interests."15 To
another he wrote, "No ultra
free-trader can availably or
successfully represent the
Republican party in a National canvass.
My own posi-
tion is just what it long has
been--unrestricted commer-
cial intercourse, when it can be gained
by treaty or re-
ciprocal legislation . . . and in the
meantime . . . a tariff
of duties so arranged as to afford the
greatest possible
incidental benefits to
industry."16 He urged James C.
Briggs to see that the erroneous
opinion concerning his
tariff views be corrected and he went
so far as to say
that he never expected to see the day
when this country
14 Chase MSS., Wm. Wilkinson to Chase,
February 13, 1859.
15 Chase MSS., Chase to T. R. Stanley, October 25. [Pa.
Hist. Soc.]
16 Chase MSS., Chase to Green, March 16.
[Pa. Hist. Soc.] Green to
Chase, March 21.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 519
would practice free trade.17 In
Congress, Chase relied
on Colonel Richard C. Parsons and James
A. Garfield
to "disabuse the Pennsylvania
members of their er-
rors."18 While the
Chase men were trying to silence the
tariff question in the East, out on the
Illinois prairies
Abraham Lincoln was writing in almost
identical vein,
saying that he had always been a Clay
tariff Whig but
believed that it would be wiser not to
mention the tariff
at all in the coming campaign.19
As the year 1859 drew to a close, the
campaign
opened in all seriousness and Chase was
keen for the
contest even though some of his closest
friends told him
that it was nonsense to make the
effort.20 Chase, how-
ever, believed himself to be the choice
of the people, and
"let what success will, attend the
effort" he would al-
ways strive to be first. Sometimes he
would express a
willingness to retire to private life
and attend to his law
practice and his scattered real estate,
but such letters
never forgot to mention that it was
always his earnest
desire to serve the Republicans of the
nation in whatever
capacity to which they called him;21 just as a public-
spirited man should.
Although Chase desired the Republican
nomination
17 Chase MSS., Chase to Jas. C. Briggs, April 7, 1859.
[Pa. Hist. Soc.]
Jas. C. Briggs was a resident of
Cleveland and, like James A. Briggs of
New York, was an admirer of Chase.
18 Chase MSS.,
Chase to Parsons, April 17, 1860.
19 Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln,
(Nicolay and Hay ed.) I, 584,
634, 651. Lamon, Recollections of
Lincoln, 423.
20 Judge Hoadly again wrote to Chase
advising him against making a
campaign, but to return to the Senate.
Chase MSS., December 3, 1859;
Foraker, Notes On A Busy Life, II,
511.
21 Misc. MSS., Chase to W. G. Hosea,
January 23, 1860, is typical of
many such letters. [Harvard University
Library.]
520 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
and put forth every personal effort to
get it, he never
had what might be called a campaign
manager; he was
the whole management, working through
the press and
his lieutenants, both being without
recognized authority
to speak save as he instructed them.
Was it that he so
liked the feeling of power in his own
hands that he
could not bring himself to relinquish
it?
Perhaps it was for this reason that in
the selection of
state delegates to the Chicago
Convention, Chase was
not able to consolidate such strength
as he had. In the
East where his supporters had been most
active against
the Weed machine, he lost the New
Hampshire delega-
tion because of the lack of a proper
organization, said
his correspondents.22 Vermont
had repeatedly requested
Chase to call there in person or to
send some one with
authority to speak for him.23 This
he had failed to do,
hence their delegation went to Chicago
uninstructed--
save for the whispers of the wily Weed.
Massachusetts,
without the vestige of a Chase
organization, declared for
Seward, even in the areas of strong
abolition sentiment.24
Governor Andrew, who had been partial
to Chase in
1858, found that the Seward men controlled
the party
organization and although Seward was
not his first
choice there was nothing else to do but
support him.25
22 Chase MSS., Amos Tuck to Chase, March
14; R. S. Rust to Chase,
April 12.
23 Chase MSS., Jas. H. Barrett to Chase,
April 20.
24 Chase MSS., Jas. M. Stone to Chase,
March 23, 1860; Erastus Hop-
kins to Chase, March 10; Geo. G. Fogg to
Chase, March 26. Although the
Massachusetts delegates were instructed
to vote for Seward, Bird, in a letter
to Sumner, April 3, expressed a fear that
some scheme was under way to
eliminate him at Chicago and Seward was
warned accordingly. H. G. Pear-
son, Life of John A. Andrew, I,
112.
25 Pearson, Life of Andrew, I,
112, quotes a letter of Andrew to Cyrus
Woodman, April 2.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 521
Governor Cleveland, of Connecticut, had
supported
Chase but no one represented him in an
authoritative
way so that delegation also went
uninstructed, Cleveland
still hoping that in some way Chase
could win their
votes.26 The Rhode Island
Republicans, said to be loud
for Chase in 1859, succumbed to Weed
influence and in-
structed their delegates to vote one
ballot for Senator
Simmons, a favorite son, and then support
Seward.27 In
New York City, such men as Governor
Morgan, William
Cullen Bryant, James Kelley, Wilson G.
Hunt, Hamil-
ton Fish and even the Republican
Central Committee
had invited Chase to address them, both
in public and
informally, but Chase never found it
convenient to do
so.28 In January, he did manage to stop
in Albany but
it was too late then to check the
Sewardites.29 Hiram
Barney, ever ready with speech and
purse, and James
A. Briggs worked incessantly, but not
together.30 Gree-
ley, while never emphatic against
Chase, said nothing
openly in his favor.31 Finally both
Briggs and Barney
gave up in despair and left the New
York delegation to
Seward.32
26 Chase MSS., Chase to Jas. A. Briggs,
March 22.
27 Chase MSS., Thos. Davis to Chase,
February 16; Jas. Walker to
Chase, October 3, 1859.
28 Chase MSS., Wilson G. Hunt and others
to Chase, September 26;
Republican Central Committee of N. Y. to
Chase, October 26; Jas. A.
Briggs to Chase, October 19.
29 Chase
MSS., E. D. Morgan to Chase, January 16, 1860; Jas. A.
B'riggs to Chase, March 17.
30 Chase MSS., Barney to Chase, November
10, 1859. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
31 Misc. MSS., W. G. Hosea to Chase,
April 14, 1860. [Harv. Univ.
Lib.]
32 Chase MSS., Barney to Chase, April 3, [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
J. A. Briggs to Chase, May 3. Preston
King, in a letter to Bigelow,
January 16, expressed the belief that
Chase was almost as strong as Seward
in New York as well as elsewhere.
Bigelow, Retrospections, I, 248.
522 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Chase did not know the true situation
in Pennsyl-
vania and all he could learn from his
"hit-or-miss" cor-
respondence was that the Republicans
there did not want
Seward and were not enthusiastic for
Cameron.33 At
once Chase instructed Parsons to become
acquainted
with General Moorhead, Thaddeus
Stevens, Messrs.
Grow, Cameron, Covode, McKnight and
others and
"talk to them
understandingly."34 Later,
after he had
given up hope for the vote of
Pennsylvania, an en-
couraging letter revived him and he
ordered Briggs to
work with the Pennsylvania delegates at
Chicago.35 Ash-
ley learned that Seward had canvassed
Maryland in
person and had the support of the
leading men of Balti-
more, so Chase did not make any further
effort to get
the state.36
It was recognized that the Northwest
was to be the
real battle-ground; yet Chase fared no
better there. In
February of 1859, the Toledo Blade had
declared for
Chase, it is true, but its influence
was limited.37 The
Cincinnati Gazette, accounted a
Chase paper at that
time, soon refrained from mentioning
his name in its
columns,--to save its influence in the
state, said one of
its editors.38 In the Ohio
caucus there appeared to be
plenty of Chase sentiment but it was
never formulated
into positive instructions. Chase, warned that some
were suggesting the name of Benjamin F.
Wade as the
33 Chase MSS., C. D. Cleveland to Chase, May 21, 1859; R. G. Orwig to
Chase, March 5, 1860; John A. Gurley,
April 13.
34 Chase MSS., Parsons to Chase, April
5. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
35 Chase MSS. Chase to Briggs, May 8.
36 Chase MSS., Ashley to Chase, April 5.
37 Chase MSS., W. C. Earl to Chase, February 3, 1859.
38 Chase MSS., Jas. Barrett to
Chase, March 3, April 9, 1860.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 523
choice of Ohio, reassured himself by
asking Colonel Par-
sons to tell Wade that the use of his
name was dividing
the party.39 One of the
delegates supporting Wade
wrote to Chase, asking him whom he
preferred in case he
could not get the nomination himself,
and who was to
speak for him at Chicago. Chase's reply
is typical of
his organization:40
Having been named myself for that
position by the Repub-
licans of Ohio propriety forbids me to
express any preference for
one or another of the gentlemen of
other constituencies.
I shall have nobody to speak or act for
me at Chicago, ex-
cept the Ohio delegates, who will, I
doubt not, faithfully represent
the Republicans of the state. There
will doubtless be other Re-
publicans at the Convention with whom
the delegates will choose
to consult. Among them Governor
Dennison, Mr. Wolcott, Mr.
Stone and General Ashley may be named
as gentlemen who desire
to give effect to the wishes of the
party in Ohio and in whose
judgment I have perfect confidence.
Events were soon to show that Chase's
confidence in
the men he named as desiring "to
give effect to the
wishes of the party in Ohio" was
misplaced.
Indiana never accepted Chase, her
managers saying
that he was too radical as an
abolitionist, besides being
a free trader.41 In Illinois
such Chase strength as there
may have been was stifled by Lincoln's
candidacy. One
Chase paper proposed to put Lincoln on
the ticket as
Vice President and thus thwart the move
to make him
39 Chase MSS., Jas. Elliott to Chase,
February 23; Geo. P. Este to
Chase, March 5. [Lib. of Cong.] Chase to
Parsons, April 5, 1860. [Pa.
Hist. Soc.]
40 Chase MSS., Chase to Benj. Eggleston,
May 10.
41 Chase
MSS., Jas. Walker to Chase, October 3, 1859. Caleb Smith
agreed that neither Seward nor Chase
could win Indiana; either would be
political suicide. Chase MSS., Geo. R.
Morton to Chase, April 19, 1860,
524 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
president,42 but the Lincoln
men controlled the state
organization too well for such a
proposal to get far.
Michigan seemed united for Seward and
the very best
his opponents could do was secure an
uninstructed dele-
gation.43 Wisconsin, with her large
German vote, had
as much Seward sentiment as Michigan,
but Ashley
wrongly informed Chase that the support
of Carl Schurz
could be procured, and Schurz
controlled the German
vote.44 Schurz, however,
announced his support for
Seward in January and warned the Chase
cohorts of his
state not to press the claims of their
candidate.45 In
March, he delivered a lecture in Ohio
and in his most
polite manner tried to tell Chase that
his cause was hope-
less in Wisconsin--yet he failed, for
shortly after, Chase
wrote to a friend that Schurz had
learned enough while
in Columbus to change his mind.46
Minnesota indorsed
Seward, and all of her delegates save
one were person-
ally for him.47 Iowa, so
full of promise for Chase in
1859, neglected to mention his name in
the instructions
to her delegates in 1860.48 Although
the delegates of
42 Chase MSS., G. Price Smith, editor of the Danville Journal
to Chase,
December 16, 1859; W. H. Bissel to
Chase, February 4, 1860.
43 Chase MSS., J. R. Williams to Chase,
June 9, 1859; J. H. Maze to
Chase, December 28. James Birney called
the state but an extension of New
York and advised Chase to
"lecture" all of its uninstructed delegates at the
Convention. Chase MSS., Letter dated
January 23, 1860.
44 Chase MSS., Ashley to Chase, July 29, 1859. Barney made
a trip
through the Northwest to help Chase.
Chase MSS., Barney to Chase, May
30. [Pa. Hist. Soc.] On January 7, 1860,
H. Dawes wrote that Seward
was losing votes in Wisconsin. [Chase
MSS.]
45 Chase MSS., Amos Tuck to Chase, March
14, 1860.
46 Misc. MSS., Chase to W. G. Hosea,
March 18. [Harv. Univ. Lib.]
F. Bancroft, Life of William H.
Seward, I, 526.
47 Chase MSS., J. H. Baker to Chase,
January 13; February 24.
48 G. W. Ells wrote Chase on July 20, 1859, that the state
convention
held in Davenport was unofficially for
him. Dr. Elliott, Pres. of Iowa
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 525
Kansas were instructed for Seward,
Chase wrote to
Briggs that "a friend . . . well
informed," said that
after the first ballot Chase would get
their vote.49
Greeley, anxious to defeat Weed and
Seward, sent
James H. Van Alen to appraise Edward
Bates and after
Van Alen's glowing report the New York Tribune
urged
him for the presidency.50 Chase
knew that unless he
did something he could not expect the
vote of Missouri,
so he generously proposed to share the
ticket, allowing
Bates second place on it.51 Hearing
that young Frank
Blair would support Bates, Chase sent
his Congressional
representative, the trusty Parsons, a
letter of introduc-
tion to the head of the House of Blair,
saying that "they
[the Blairs] can do us much good if
they will."52
Whether or not Colonel Parsons made the
call, certain it
is that the Blairs did not aid Chase.
*
* * *
In a mammoth wooden structure called
the Wigwam,
on Lake Street in windy Chicago, the
Republicans of the
nation assembled to name the candidate
of their party.
On
May 16, Thurlow Weed and his friends, more
Wesleyan and editor of the Christian
Advocate, was enthusiastic for Chase
and predicted that the Methodist
Conference would indorse him. Delbert to
Chase, August 18, 1859. During the
winter Chase heard that his strength
was increasing. R. P. Lowe to Chase,
December 12; Wm. Richards to
Chase, February 24, 1860.
49 Chase MSS., March 22; Henry J. Adams informed Chase of
the sit-
uation in Kansas, and asked for money to
be used there. Chase MSS.,
October 15, 1859.
50 Greeley
MSS., Van Alen to Greeley, February 5, 1860. [N. Y. Pub.
Lib.]
51 Chase MSS., Wm. H. Brisbane to Chase,
replying to this proposal,
June 22, 1859.
52 Chase MSS., E. L. Pierce to Chase,
April 5, 1859. [Lib. of Cong.]
Chase to Parsons, April 5, 1860. [Pa.
Hist. Soc.]
526 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Seward than Republican, began pouring
into the city by
the train load. Not to be outdone by
big-city politicians,
forty thousand hired shouters yelled
for Lincoln of
Illinois, making what was intended to
be a Seward con-
cert a bedlam of noise.53 Pennsylvanians
made Cameron's
name heard though they only whispered.
The Oregon
delegation, strangely enough, headed by
that schemer,
Horace Greeley, worked for Bates, but
not too loudly,
for Greeley wanted to humble Weed and
Seward too
badly not to be able to take advantage
of whatever cir-
cumstance might arise.
And Chase,--what of Salmon P. Chase? A
few
mentioned him; Walter Q. Gresham
favored him but
Gresham was without much influence;
likewise Cassius
M. Clay. George Luther Stearns and
others of Boston's
active "Bird Club" were
partial to the Ohio candidate
but they were discouraged at the
outlook.54 It was their
fellow-clubman, Erastus Hopkins, who epitomized
the
whole situation when he reported to
Chase:55
There is lots of good feeling, afloat
for you. The lukewarm-
ness of those who should not be
lukewarm is your misfortune
. . . The hardest kind of death to die
is that occasioned by
indecisive lukewarm friends.
Governor Dennison, accounted a Chase
man, no
sooner alighted from the train than he
informed the
New Yorkers that he was for Seward.56
Tom Corwin said
53 Wm. E. Dodd, Lincoln or Lee, 24.
54 Matilda Gresham, Life of Walter Q.
Gresham, I, 57; C. M. Clay,
Life of Cassius Marcellus Clay, I, 304; F. P. Stearns, Life and Public
Services of George Luther Stearns,
226.
55 Chase MSS., Letter of May 17, 1860.
56 Chase MSS., Jas. A. Briggs to Chase,
May 30. Sherman was also
reported as having gone over to the
Seward camp after arriving at Chicago.
Brinkerhoff to Chase, June 19.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 527
Ohio had the candidate best fitted for
the position but
he had no strength at home nor abroad.57
Whitelaw
Reid, estranged from Chase because of
the policy of the
Cincinnati Gazette, worked for
Lincoln.58 A few New
Yorkers, Hiram Barney, David Dudley
Field, James A.
Briggs and George Opdyke, urged Chase's
name upon all
who would listen. Weed, looking on,
said that they
wanted to ruin Seward to secure their
own political wel-
fare.59
The Ohio delegation, instead of
assuming the im-
portant role Chase had planned for it
in making his po-
litical career, "hatched wooden
eggs."60 Before all the
delegation had yet arrived, Eggleston
sent a despatch to
the Cincinnati Times saying that
the Chase men could
not get a majority and would go for
Wade after a com-
plimentary ballot.61 Prior
to this, Chase had written a
letter requesting the delegation to
vote as a unit, sup-
posing of course, that he had a
majority and could
thereby gain the entire Ohio vote as
the nucleus for the
vote of the Convention. D. M. Cartter,
who remained
behind for that purpose, saw to it that
the delegates
from the Reserve and eastern Ohio
generally, read the
Gazette. Never strong for Chase, they were eager for
57 Chase MSS., F. M. Wright to Chase,
May 21. Chase had known that
Corwin was not friendly and as early as
March 22, instructed Briggs to
"see him and set him right" by
pointing out that "he has nothing to com-
plain of in me, and nothing to lose but
much to gain by reciprocating the
sincere good-will I have ever felt
toward him." Chase MSS. [Second
ser.]
58 Royal Cortissoz, Life of Whitelaw
Reid, I, 195.
59 Life of Thurlow Weed, 321, 322; Chase MSS., Opdyke to Chase, May
11; Taylor to Chase, May 22; Briggs to
Chase, May 30.
60 Chase MSS.,
Roger Hosea to Chase, May 16, 1860.
61 Giddings--Julian MSS., Giddings to Julian, May 25;
Chase MSS.,
James Elliott to Chase, May 21.
528
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Wade when they arrived in Chicago and
were con-
fronted by Chase's own request to adopt
the unit system.
This they were now willing to do,
seeing in it a way to
name Wade. The Chase men, by the simple
process of
counting noses, saw that to follow the
unwise instruc-
tions of their candidate would impale
him on his own
pot-hook, so they set out to defeat the
unit system. Help
came from an unexpected quarter. Back in
Ohio, Murat
Halstead published the whole Wade plan
as advanced by
Eggleston in the Cincinnati Commercial;
not because he
loved Chase more, but because he loved
Wade less. Fifty
copies of the paper were sold in the
Tremont House.
The cards were all on the table! Wade
would not be
nominated by Chase votes.
But could Chase gain the Wade
contingent? Joshua
Giddings, seeing the hopelessness of it
all for Chase, pro-
posed that his name be withdrawn
entirely.62 This
caused others of the Chase men to feel
that Giddings
and the supporters of his proposal were
working in con-
junction with Eggleston, Delano and
those who were
urging Wade's claims. Thus, such
strength as Chase
had after the fight over the unit rule
was not united.63
In Congress, the friends of Chase,
hearing of the
use made of Wade's name, proposed that
he be peti-
tioned to withdraw it. A few
preliminary soundings,
however, served to disclose that this
could not be done;
indeed several of the Congressmen expressed
a desire
that Wade's name, rather than Chase's,
go before the
Convention. Finally, John A. Bingham,
Senator from
Michigan, approached Wade and suggested
that he with-
62 Giddings letter, supra.
63 Elliott letter, supra.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 529
draw his name, but Ben, honest Ben
Wade, replied that
he had always said that he was a Chase
man, but he
could not withdraw until there was
something to with-
draw from.64
The Wade men, seeing that all they
could do in their
own delegation was to block Chase, went
among the un-
instructed delegations urging that one
of them announce
Wade's name, hoping thereby to force
the Ohio dele-
gates to Wade's support rather than
deny a native son
who had been named by another state. To
forestall fur-
thur activity in that direction, the
Chase men threatened
to vote for Seward if Wade's name were
introduced in
the Convention.65 The effect
was immediate. Rather
than run the risk of placing Weed and
Seward in power,
the Wade men remained silent. Had Chase
been rep-
resented by an able lieutenant, he
could, no doubt, have
made further use of such a threat. The
delegates of
Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois and many
from Iowa and
Minnesota as well as scattered votes
did not want Seward
at any cost and it is probable that had
the Chase men
threatened to vote for him on the
second or third ballot,
votes could have been forced into the
Chase column.66 It
would have taken but very little to
stampede the Conven-
tion to Seward, therefore his opponents
would not have
dared to allow any Ohio votes to go to
him. As it was,
Greeley was so sure that Seward would
win that on mid-
night of the seventeenth he wired the Tribune
that
64 Chase MSS., Bingham to Chase, June 2,
1860.
65 Elliott letter, supra.
66 Chase MSS., H. Griswold to Chase, May
24; L. W. Hall to Chase,
June 2; J. R. Meredith, July 14; Jas.
Elliott, May 21; Roger Hosea, May
16, 18, 1860.
Vol, XXXIX--34.
530
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Seward would be named in the morning.67
Weed, on
the morning of the eighteenth was so
confident that he
went about offering second place to the
opposition.68
The Illinois managers had feared a
defection of
Chase support to Seward and had sent
Joseph Medill to
prevent it. Medill seated himself among
his friends in
the Ohio delegation as the second
ballot was taken, only
to be unceremoniously ordered out by
Giddings, but the
Wade men, seeing in Medill anti-Chase
strength, al-
lowed him to stay. After the ballot,
Medill claimed that
he whispered to D. M. Cartter to swing
the Wade votes
to Lincoln and Ohio would be well cared
for. Cartter
announced his votes and Giddings
challenged at once,
but as Medill said, "Cartter had
not 'nigged' over one or
two votes."69 It was
enough. Abraham Lincoln was
named the candidate.
At this time, back in New York, half of
Cayuga
County and several cannon stood on
Seward's lawn,
awaiting the returns. Seward, it is
said, remarked to
Christopher Morgan after the second
vote, "I shall be
named on the next ballot."70 The
crowd applauded; the
guns roared, speeches were made.
Another messenger
arrived with the news of the final
ballot. "Seward
turned as pale as ashes."71
The flags were furled; the
guns rolled away; half of Cayuga County
returned to its
tasks, musing upon the idiosyncrasies
of politicians.
67 New York Tribune, May 18,
[Morning ed.]
68 Ibid., May 22.
69 H.
I. Cleveland, "An Interview With Joe Medill on Lincoln" in the
Saturday Evening Post, August 5, 1899, p. 85.
70 H. B. Stanton, Random
Recollections, 215.
71 Ibid., 216.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 531
Chase heard that "the people of
Ohio have been duped."72
Even Greeley, who should not have been
surprised at
anything, could scarcely bring himself
to believe the
result.73
To Chase, personally, the Convention
was as worm-
wood and gall. "I have felt little
disposition to write
about Chicago," he confided to his
friend, William G.
Hosea:74
When I remember what New York did for
Seward, what
Illinois did for Lincoln and what Missouri
did for Bates and re-
member also that neither of these
gentlemen has spent a fourth
part--if indeed a tithe of the time I
have spent for our party in
Ohio; and then reflect on the action of
the Ohio delegation in
Chicago toward me, I confess that I
have little heart to write or
think about it . . . I do feel the
inglorious conduct of the
Ohio delegation and the . . . conduct
of those men out of
Ohio, who brought forward the name of
Mr. Wade to divide at
home and abroad, those who would
willingly have supported me
but for this division. I have no
reproaches for Mr. Wade but I
must say that had he received the same
expression from Ohio
that was given me, and had I been in
his place I would have suf-
fered my arm to be wrenched from my
body before I would have
allowed my name to be brought into
competition with his . . .
But there were reproaches for Wade.
Late in De-
cember Chase informed him, "You
have done me, I
think, some wrong and permissively
caused more, and
the wrong to me was a greater wrong to
the Republican
party of Ohio. My sense of it was the
keener because I
had been under all circumstances
cordially friendly to
you and faithful to our organization .
. ."75 Wade's
reaction to this was injured innocence:
"All this is so
new and strange to me that I do not
know what to make
72 Chase MSS.,
Joseph Brand to Chase, May 20, 1860.
73 N. Y. Tribune, May 21.
74 Misc. MSS., June 5, 1860. [Harv.
Univ. Lib.]
75 Chase MSS., Chase to Wade, December
21. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
532 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
of it . . . I am in the dark. You must
be under some
strong delusion . . . I hope you are
not blinded by a
. . . combination."76
But Chase was not appeased. For two
years he
held Wade responsible. In November,
1862, mutual
friends effected a rapprochement. This
was fairly easy
on Wade's part, for he was trying to
procure an ap-
pointment for a friend at the time, and
for Chase it was
equally easy for he wanted to win the
support of the
Reserve, and of Wade, particularly.
Chase could not
write to Wade, however, without once
more reminding
him of his remissness in 1860.77 Wade
replied with a
rather tart letter saying:78
I wrote you a letter in which in very
general terms I stated
to you that there seemed to be no
concentration of sentiment upon
a candidate for the Presidency, almost
every state having one of
its own. This generality failed to
apprise you of the fact of the
terrible opposition there was to
you . . . In all my labors
in both Houses I found but two members
who were for your
nomination . . . This was a very poor
showing so far as
Congress had anything to do in the
matter . . .
Moreover Wade said that he could not
have with-
drawn his name for there was nothing
from which it
could be withdrawn. After another
exchange of letters,
Chase was able to forget the
disappointments of 1860
in the hopes of 1864.
*
* * *
Now that the Convention was over,
Lincoln's elec-
tion was in order. Edward Bates,
returned to the ob-
scurity from which "the gratuitous
good opinion and
76 Chase MSS., Wade to Chase, December
29. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
77 Chase MSS., Chase to Wade, July 30,
1862. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
78 Chase MSS., Wade to Chase, August 4. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 533
generous confidence of certain eminent
Republicans"
had drawn him, was ready to help.79
The "Bird Club"
of Boston, after discussing the
Convention and its nomi-
nee fully and completely, decided that
he would do.80
On May 25, Chase congratulated the
nominee and
pledged his "cordial and
earnest" support. He could
not refrain, however, from expressing
his own disap-
pointment in the conduct of the
delegation from Ohio.81
A few days later he wrote to a friend:82
As for the Chicago nomination I am quite
content that it
fell to Mr. Lincoln.--Not that I believe
he will prove more
accessible than I should have been, or
that his nomination is, all
things considered, a wiser one than that
which you favored. ...
I do not envy Mr. Lincoln and I am all
the more content because
he was the only one of the prominent
candidates whose friends
had not been engaged in the dishonorable
attempt to bring out
a candidate in Ohio. . .
That division and the means by
which it was effected . . . are the only
grievances I have
to complain of . . .
Briggs, Field and other New Yorkers who
had sup-
ported Chase were active in the
campaign and Chase
himself took the stump for Lincoln in
September.83
A practically solid foreign-born vote
and a divided
Democracy accounted for Lincoln's
election.84 Chase's
letter of congratulation had hardly
reached Springfield
before discussion of the new Cabinet
began. Chase,
Seward, Cameron, Wade, Colfax, Bates,
the Blairs, Ca-
leb Smith, and many others were
mentioned. The loyal
79 Greeley MSS., Bates to Greeley, May
26, 1860. [N. Y. Pub. Lib.]
80 Stearns, op. cit., 227.
81 Chase MSS., Chase to Lincoln, May 25.
[Pa. Hist. Soc.]
82 Chase MSS., Chase to A. C. Parker,
May 30. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
83
Chase MSS., Chase to J. A. Briggs, July 14, [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
84 D. V. Smith, "Influence of The
Foreign-Born Vote in The Election
of 1860." (Unpublished thesis,
Univ. of Chicago, 1927.)
534
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
sons of Massachusetts proposed John A.
Andrew,85 and
even Cassius M. Clay was suggested, but
perhaps the
Chase men were first in pursuit of
office. Immediately
after the Convention Opdyke and Briggs
informed Lin-
coln of the superior qualities of
Salmon P. Chase as a
statesman, and Lincoln is said to have
concurred.86
Chase, his friends said, would be named
Secretary of
State after a complimentary offer had
been tendered
Mr. Seward.87 Fogg, of New
Hampshire, advised
Chase to send two or three discreet
friends to Spring-
field to discuss the situation, saying
that Lincoln was
just about to decide on the man for
first position.88 Cas-
sius M. Clay wrote that he stood ready
to do what he
could in that direction.89
In New York City, great anxiety was
manifested.
Lieutenant Governor Campbell, William
Curtis Noyes,
David D. Field, Charles A. Dana, Opdyke
and Barney,
Senator Madden, Godwin of the Post, and
several oth-
ers held a meeting late in November and
named a com-
mittee to call on Lincoln. They felt
that Chase should
be given first place and that he should
accept. Later,
the committee met in Albany, after
having sought the
advice of Senator Lyman Trumbull, to
perfect their
plans.90 William Cullen
Bryant was to write a letter of
introduction which the committee could
carry along to
Springfield. Besides this, he was to
write a personal
85 Stearns, op cit., 340; J. G.
Nicolay and John Hay, Abraham Lin-
coln, A History, III, 354 ff.
86 Chase MSS., Jas. A. Briggs to Chase,
May 30, 1860.
87 Welles
MSS., Unpublished article.
88 Chase MSS., Fogg to Chase, November
7.
89 Chase MSS., May 26.
90 Chase MSS., H. B. Stanton to Chase,
November 30.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 535
letter to Lincoln to make clear the
representative char-
acter of the committee.91
The committee did not make
its call until January.
On December 31, Chase received the
invitation he
had been expecting, to call on Mr.
Lincoln at Spring-
field.92 During the two-day
conference Lincoln asked
Chase whether he would be able "to
accept the appoint-
ment of Secretary of the Treasury,
without, however,
being exactly prepared to make you that
offer ;" a rather
strange request! Chase, however, made
reply; the offer,
he said, must first be made. By way of
explanation he
added, that since Seward was to receive
the first posi-
tion he would certainly not refuse out
of pique; that he
"wanted no position, least of all
a subordinate one."93
After his return, Chase was informed
that Weed had
discussed Cabinet appointment, as well
as minor places
with Lincoln in December.94 Did
it mean that Chase
was subordinate to Seward in Lincoln's
estimation?
Chase felt so.95
The Committee of Ten from New York
stopped at
91 Bryant MSS., Barney to Bryan, January
9, 1861. [N. Y. Pub. Lib.]
92 Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, I, 662.
93 Chase MSS., Chase to Opdyke, January
9. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
94 Chase MSS., H. B. Stanton to Chase,
January 7.
95 Chase diary, January 2. "Had it
been made earlier and with the
same promptitude and definiteness as
that to Mr. Seward, I should have
been inclined to make some
sacrifices."
"... If he [Lincoln] concurs with
me in thinking it best that I
remain in the Senate he will not tender
me the post."--Julian-Giddings
MSS., Chase to Julian, January 16.
[Chase frequently referred to his
reluctance to accept the Treasury post.
The author believes him sincere
in this, for his ambitions were
political, his training political. In the
State Department this experience would
have stood him in good stead
but would have been of little benefit in
the Treasury. Perhaps he really
felt that in the Senate he could render
better service as well as attend to
his political future.]
536
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Columbus on January 10, en route to
Springfield, to dis-
cuss matters fully and freely with
Governor Chase and
to hear, no doubt, all that had been
said during Chase's
conference with Lincoln. Arrived in
Springfield, the
committee was cordially received by the
President-elect
but politely informed that no further
appointments
would be made until he reached
Washington. Lincoln
indicated, however, that if the
Pennsylvanians could be
placated, he expected to name Chase as
Secretary of the
Treasury. Failing in their efforts to
persuade the Pres-
ident to make the appointment at once,
the committee
returned to New York.96 After
hearing the report of
the committee, Bryant, Greeley, Opdyke
and others
wrote to Lincoln, urging him to appoint
Chase at once.
They feared that unless Chase got into
the Cabinet soon,
Weed, acting through Seward, would gain
control of
the administration.97
Sumner heard that Chase had refused the
Treasury
and wrote to dissuade him, agreeing
with Senator
Bingham--now Governor
Bingham--"that it is our only
hope."98 Chase's reply
a few days later said that the
offer had not yet been made and that
when it was it would
be accepted, with extreme reluctance,
of course.99
According to the "Diary of a
Public Man" the pres-
sure exerted upon Lincoln regarding the
appointment of
Misc. MSS., Chase to Hosea, January 16.
[Harv. Univ. Lib.]
Chase was not all one-sided. After his
arrival in Wash-
ington Lincoln entertained a delegation
determined to
prevent the appointment of the Ohioan
at all hazards.
96 Bryant MSS., Barney to Bryant,
January 17, 1861. [N. Y., Pub. Lib.]
97 Chase MSS., Dana to Chase, January
22. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
98 Chase MSS., January 19.
99 Sumner MSS., Chase to Sumner, January
23. [Harv. Univ. Lib.]
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 537
Lincoln heard them declaim the
importance of Seward
to the new administration and the
danger in appointing
Chase. It would be impossible, they
maintained, for
them both to sit in the same Cabinet;
Seward would not
wish it; in fact his New York friends
would not tolerate
it. Lincoln then explained his ambition
to form a Cabi-
net that would have the confidence of
the entire nation;
that he respected and admired both
Seward and Chase
and had hoped to have them both in his
service, however,
a change could be made if absolutely
necessary. How
would it be, he then asked, to make Mr.
Chase Secretary
of the Treasury and offer the State
Department to Wil-
liam L. Dayton? Lincoln, all innocence,
then went to
some length to explain the advantages
of such a change;
Seward in England, Chase and Dayton in
the Cabinet.
This was more than the delegation had
bargained for
and they withdrew with all convenient
speed, leaving the
final decision in the hands of the new
President.100
Another reminiscence has it that
shortly after the effort
to exclude Chase from the Cabinet, a
correspondent of
the New York Herald asked
Lincoln if perchance he had
some bit of news to send Mr. Bennett.
"Yes," was the
reply, "Thurlow Weed has found out
that Seward was
not nominated at Chicago."101
So it was done; Salmon
P. Chase became the Secretary of the
Treasury.
But Cabinet-making was not the only
problem be-
fore Lincoln. South Carolina had
withdrawn from the
Union. The mild-mannered and moderate
Lincoln, not
yet, said Douglas, out of the
atmosphere of Springfield,
100 Published in North American
Review, CXXIX, 1879, p. 271.
101 Stephen Fiske, "When Lincoln Was First
Inaugurated," in the
Ladies' Home Journal, XIV. (March 1897), p. 8.
538 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
was disturbed and knew not what to do.
Greeley would
let the "erring sisters" go
in peace, holding with Jeffer-
son "to the inalienable right of
communities to abolish
or alter forms of government that have
become op-
pressive or injurious."102 In
Congress, Toombs was
saying to the South, "Defend
yourselves, the enemy is
at your door; . . . drive him from the
temple of lib-
erty or pull down its pillars in common
ruin."103 Com-
promise proposals from Virginia and those offered by
Senator Crittenden were in vain.
Chase advised Seward that no compromise
should be
made, though he knew that both Seward
and Weed were
advocates of compromise.104 But
he also doubtless knew
that Wade was urging a little
"blood-letting"; that pious
Joshua Giddings could see no solution
in compromise,
and above all, Sumner, whose good
opinion he cherished,
stood "rooted like the oak against
the coming storm" and
shouted, "no compromise or
concession will be of the
least avail."105
All this Chase knew, and every day he
received let-
ters telling him that he, more than any
other, was looked
to for that vigorous policy which alone
could save the
government.106 Ohio, according to young
Rutherford B.
Hayes, looked to him: "The good
things done at Wash-
ington are placed to your credit. The
errors are charged
to others."107 "Hold
Sumter," was the general plea.108
102 N. Y. Tribune, November 9,
1860.
103 Cong. Globe, 36 Cong., 1 Sess., 93.
104 Chase MSS., Chase to Seward, January
11, 1861. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
105 Stearns,
op. cit., 241, letter of Sumner to Stearns, February 3.
106 Chase MSS., Newill to Chase, March
23, 1861. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
107 Chase MSS., Hayes to Chase, June 29.
108 Chase MSS., W. H. West to Chase,
March 26; Wm. Lawrence to
Chase, March 26; J. H. Jordan to Chase,
March 27.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 539
It was Lincoln who made the final
decision that there
would be no compromise on the question
of slavery ex-
tension and, no doubt, as the fourth of
March ap-
proached he came to realize what that
decision would
mean. Restless Washington, watching the
hordes of
unwashed from Illinois, heard the
inaugural address in
silence. "We are not enemies, but
friends. . . . Though
passion may have strained, it must not
break our bonds
of affection."109
But little more than a month passed
until the guns
of Sumter roared the answer--the bonds
were broken.
CHAPTER II
EMANCIPATION AND POLITICS
It has been so easy to generalize upon
the beneficent
results of the Emancipation
Proclamation that its his-
torical origin has frequently been
neglected, if not for-
gotten. A brief survey of the politics
of the first years
of the Civil War serves to explain in
no small measure
the development of the emancipation
program.
With four politicians in the Cabinet
and a past mas-
ter in the art, for President, it is
easy to understand that
Washington of 1861, was a political
Mecca. Those who
had the ear of the new Secretary of the
Treasury never
permitted him to lose sight of the fact
that he had al-
most been named the choice of the party
at the Chicago
Convention. One of his political
friends, in search of
that for which "political
friends" usually seek, reminded
the Secretary of a remark made after
the Convention to
the effect that hereafter Chase would
reward only his
109 Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, II,
7.
540
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
friends and allow his enemies to make
their own road.1
Of course Mr. Chase never for a moment
thought of
rewarding these friends at the expense
of good govern-
ment, but no doubt a consideration of
his own qualifica-
tions for the office he held made it
easy for him to
classify anyone as qualified. With
mathematical pre-
cision Chase set out to secure his
share of the spoils.
Ohio, he computed, had one-eighth of the
total popula-
tion of the nation, hence she should
have one-eighth of
the offices. With that in mind he
reminded Seward, for
whom he had no personal nor political
regard, that of
the 269 vacancies in the State
Department Ohio's share
would be thirty-three. So far Chase had
asked for only
thirteen, but what son of Ohio had a
better claim than
he to the rest? When the appointment of
Colonel Rich-
ard C. Parsons, a staunch Chase man, to
the London
consulship went awry, Chase cautioned
Seward, "I have
not thought it respectful to go to the
President about ap-
pointments in your department, except
through you:
others do and it seems not
unsuccessfully."2
From the Attorney General, Chase
secured a place
for his brother only to have Senator
King, a warm
friend of Seward's protest so strongly
as to compel Mr.
Bates to change his mind. This, Chase
could not allow
and he was not satisfied until his
brother was safely
established in the Empire State.3
With the patronage of his own
department Chase
was equally careful to provide for his
friends. Seward,
in an endeavor to influence Treasury
appointments in
1 Chase MSS., Jas. M. Ashley to Chase,
September 6, 1861.
2 Chase MSS., Chase to Seward, March 20,
1861. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
3 Chase MSS., Chase to Seward, March 27.
[Pa. Hist. Soc.]
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 541
New York, almost arrived at an open
break with the
Secretary of the Treasury. Nor was
there peace until
Thurlow Weed and Hiram Barney, like
seconds in an
affaire d'honneur, met and agreed to leave treasury ap-
pointments entirely in Chase's hands,
suggesting that he
confer with Seward and that Seward on
his part, make
an effort to be more agreeable to
Chase. Weed, it was
understood, would never assume to act
for Seward nor
attempt, in any way, to dictate the disposition
of treas-
ury patronage. To the President, this
arrangement was
a welcome truce; anything at all, he
said, that would
induce Secretaries Chase and Seward to
work in har-
mony.4
When charged with favoritism, Chase
would explain
that "in making appointments my
rule always has been
to give the preference to political
friends, except in cases
where peculiar fitness and talents made
the preference of
a political opponent a public
duty."5 Thus in the re-
moval of ninety custom-house heads,
Chase found
places enough for almost all of his
friends, especially
since a change in the chief officer
frequently entailed a
change in the personnel of the staff
also. Besides, the
war had necessitated the creation of a
number of new
offices in which the Secretary could
place his relatives
and friends.6
From the country at large Chase heard
no criticism
of his policies; in fact, quite the
contrary. Pennsylvania,
ever mindful of her tariff, watched it
mount still higher
4 Chase MSS., Barney to Chase, June 19,
1861. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
5 Chase MSS., Chase to John Roberts, May
31. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
6 Hart, A. B., Salmon P. Chase, p.
217.
542
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
under war conditions and then in county
conventions
specifically indorsed Chase and his
"wise policy."7
Joshua Hanna, a Pittsburg banker, wrote
that it
was the consensus of Pennsylvania
opinion that Chase
was the only man competent to meet the
crisis and that,
were he the head of the administration,
confidence,
money and soldiers would have been in
Washington long
ago.8 According to another admirer,
Philadelphia also
wished that Chase were president,9
and Massachusetts,
said a citizen of Boston, had learned
to depend on Chase.10
Martin F. Conway, of Massachusetts and
Kansas, an-
nounced to all the world that he would
support any of
Chase's measures and supposed that
other members of
the House of Representatives would do
the same.11
While Flamen Ball and other Ohio
friends of the Sec-
retary were already proclaiming Chase
as the man for
1864, the leading abolitionists of the
country announced
that they accorded Chase their
"deepest trust" and pro-
nounced him "the noblest Roman of
them all.12
Such sentiment would not have made it
any easier
for Chase to put aside his ambition of
1860, even though
he had tried to do so. He could not
help but feel that
he was a representative man and perhaps
thus early he
began to cherish the hope that he could
do in 1864 what
he had failed to do in 1860.
It was in the midst of just such
political plans as
7 Chase MSS., Jas. Sill to Chase,
September 14.
8 Chase
MSS., Hanna to Chase, November 9, 1861.
9 Chase MSS., R. M'Murdy to Chase,
November 25.
10 Chase MSS., Sam'l G. Howe to Chase,
May 15.
11 Stearns, F. P. Life of Geo. Luther
Stearns, p. 253.
12 Chase MSS., Ball to Chase, July 13;
H. S. Bundy, November 9; C.
S. Hamilton, November 12; Thomas Proctor,
November 16; Thomas Hea-
ton, December 2; Rush R. Sloane, August
19; Garrett Davis, August 21,
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 543
these that the question of emancipation
of the negro
arose, and since it was a question
which soon caught the
popular fancy it could not be ignored
by the politicians
though they would fain have done so. In
his first war
message the President ignored the negro
problem en-
tirely. Likewise Congress resolved that:13
This war is not waged in any spirit of
oppression, or for any
purpose of conquest or subjugation, or
purpose of overthrowing
or interfering with the rights of
established institutions of those
states but to maintain and defend the
supremacy of the Consti-
tution and to preserve the Union with
all the dignity, equality
and rights of the several states
unimpaired, and that as soon as
these objects are accomplished the war
ought to cease. . . .
The Battle of Bull Run had just been
lost and Congress
realized the worth of border state
support. Practical
policy, not principle, dictated its
course.
But while Congress and the President
both sought
to avoid the troublesome problem of
slavery, the military
arm of the government brought it to the
fore. General
Butler, commanding at Fortress Monroe,
issued an or-
der on May 24, 1861, freeing all of the
slaves within his
lines who had been employed by the
Confederates in the
construction of forts. These persons he
held as contra-
band of war. The act was so popular
that Congress not
only refrained from interfering but
enacted a law on
August 26, which made the order legal.
Since this act
said nothing about ordinary fugitive
slaves who came
into the Union lines the Secretary of
War decided that
they be held and employed in the
service of the United
States, implying at the same time that
after the war Con-
gress might see fit to provide just
compensation to their
13 Congressional Globe, 37 Cong., 1 Sess., 1861, p. 222.
544
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
former masters. Thus was military
emancipation with
a hint of compensation begun.
John C. Fremont, commander of the Union
forces in
Missouri, carried this procedure still
further by an order
issued on August 30, which ordered the
confiscation of
the property of all those persons who
had taken arms
against the government. Slaves were to
be emancipated
and a bureau of emancipation was
created to facilitate
the process. The President, learning of
Fremont's ac-
tion through the press, at once
requested him to modify
the order in conformity with the First
Confiscation Act.
This request Fremont ignored, therefore
the President
as Commander-in-Chief ordered that it
be rescinded.14
In issuing this order the President had
the implicit ap-
proval and support of Chase, who gave
it as his opinion
at this time that "neither the
President nor any member
of his administration has any desire to
convert this war
for the Union . . . into a war upon any
state institu-
tion."15
That this was not the opinion of his
friends, Chase
soon learned. Joseph Medill, politician-editor of the
Chicago Tribune, pronounced the
withdrawal of the or-
der as worse in its effect than another
Bull Run. It was
Medill's opinion that there was no law
for rebels and he
considered it "passing
strange" that a government with
seven profound lawyers at its head
should have over-
looked that fact.16 The next
day his paper carried an
editorial denouncing the President's
action and predict-
14 Official Records of the Rebellion,
3 Ser. III., p. 33.
15 Welles, Gideon, "The
Administration of Abraham Lincoln," in the
Galaxy, XXIV [1877] p. 733; Hart, op. cit., p. 256.
16 Chase MSS., Medill
to Chase, September 15, 1861. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 545
ing that unless the administration
adopted a more vig-
orous policy in the prosecution of the
war grave humilia-
tion was in store for it. During the
next few days local
papers in Illinois took up the cry and
many of them
found their way to the desk of the
Secretary in the
Treasury Department.17 With
them came letter after
letter condemning the action of the
President and urging
that something be done to counteract
it.18 Ashley wrote
that the country looked to Chase to so
direct "this revo-
lution as ultimately to bring about the
complete emanci-
pation of every slave,"19 and
Medill pointed out to Chase
that the country was tired of
"boring auger holes with
gimlets" and hoped that though the
President ignored
the cause of the war Chase would not.20
No doubt it
was these promptings that inspired
Chase to a new state-
ment of his position, this time a
trifle more advanced
than before. On October 8, he penned an
article for the
National Intelligencer in which he specially approved of
Butler's program which had made a
beginning at mili-
tary emancipation. Expecting that this
policy would
be carried still further, Chase
recommended that compen-
sation be provided for the blacks and
that the entire race
be transported to some tropical region.
While this posi-
tion is a long way from the final
disposition of the ques-
17 Rock River Democrat, September 24, 1861, is a typical example.
18 Chase MSS., Aldrich to Chase,
September 16; C. N. Olds, Septem-
ber 17; I. M. Ganson, September 17; W.
E. Wright, September 24.
19 Chase MSS., Ashley to Chase, May 5.
20 Chase MSS., Medill to Chase, November
25. [Pa. Hist. Soc.] This
same letter continued, "Our
telegraphic correspondent hints that you think
of making such a proposition. [One for
more radical dealing with the
confiscation of property and slavery.]
You will hit the nail squarely on
the head if you do." Certainly this
was an invitation to a man who hoped
to be president.
Vol. XXXIX--35.
546 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
tion it reveals in Chase the evolution
of a more radical
policy with regard to the slave
question.
Meantime the President had determined
upon Fre-
mont's removal.21 Secretary
Cameron had gone West
with a dismissal in his pocket, but the
Pathfinder's
grief upon hearing of it so moved the
war official that he
returned to Washington with the letter
unused.22 The
reprieve, however, was short, for on
November 2 Hun-
ter succeeded Fremont. Of course the removal
of Fre-
mont only increased the animus of the
radicals. In Con-
gress Lyman Trumbull, Senator from the
President's
own state, received information that
the German ele-
ment there was in open revolt.23 Lincoln's
former law
21 John Hay recorded in his diary the
following comment of the Presi-
dent on Fremont: "Even now I think
he [Fremont] is the prey of wicked
and designing men, and I think he has
absolutely no military capacity. He
went to Missouri the pet and protege of
the B[lairs]. At first they cor-
responded with him and with F[rank] who
was with him, fully and confi-
dentially, thinking his plans and
efforts would accomplish great things for
the country. At last the tone of
F[rank]'s letters changed . . . They
were pervaded with a tone of sincere
sorrow, of fear that F[remont] would
fail. M[ontgomery] showed them to me,
and we were both grieved at the
prospect. Soon came the news that
F[remont] had issued his Emancipa-
tion order, and had set up a Bureau of
Abolition, giving free papers and
occupying his time apparently with
little else. At last at my suggestion M.
B[lair] went to Missouri to look at and
talk over matters. He went as the
friend of F[remont] . . . He passed on
the way Mrs. F[remont] com-
ing to see me. She sought an audience
with me at midnight and taxed me
so violently with many things that I had
to exercise all the awkward tact
I have to avoid quarreling with her. She
surprised me by asking why their
enemy M. B[lair] has been sent to Missouri.
She more than once intimated
that if General F[remont] should
conclude to try conclusions with me, he
could set up for himself . . . The next
we heard was that F[remont]
had arrested F. B [lair] and the rupture
has since never been healed. . .
."
--Printed but not published diary of
John Hay, December 9, 1863.
22 Greeley MSS., Sam'l. Wilkinson to
Greely, October 15, 1861. [N. Y.
Pub. Lib.]
23 Trumbull MSS., Gustave Koerner to
Trumbull, November 18; De-
cember 12.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 547
partner, W. H. Herndon, accused him of
trying to
"squelch out this huge rebellion
by pop-guns filled with
rosewater" and said that Lincoln
"ought to hang some-
body and get up a name for will or
decisiveness of char-
acter. Let him hang some child or woman
if he has not
the courage to hang a man."24 Senator Grimes of Iowa,
who had condemned the withdrawal of
Fremont's order,
expressed himself even more strongly at
the removal of
the General. Conceding that Fremont had
perhaps made
some mistakes he went on to point out
that Seward had
also erred and that "the father of
the faithful had sinned
in this same way . . . The truth
is," he continued,
"we are going to destruction as
fast as imbecility, cor-
ruption and the wheels of time can
carry us." Chase,
Grimes favored, but he alone could not
stem the tide.25
Chase's personal correspondence
contained many let-
ters from his old friends and
colleagues in abolition, pro-
testing the President's action in
connection with Fre-
mont. One of these attributed Lincoln's
"grave error"
to the "Jesuitical, cowardly
hypocrisy of Seward,"26
Even Joshua Hanna, busy at his counting
house, found
24 Trumbull MSS., Herndon to Trumbull,
November 20, 1861. Dr. P.
A. Allaire, writing to Trumbull on
December 10, expressed his fear of
failure and could see hope of success
only if the "Lord will send us another
Cromwell to lead his Puritans." All
of the nation's grief he blamed on
Lincoln's "silly desire to
conciliate loyal slaveholders . . ."
25 In a letter of September 19, Grimes
wrote, "It is as evident as the
noonday sun that the people are
with Fremont, . . . Everybody of
every sect, party, sex and color
approves of it in the Northwest, and it
will not do for the Administration to
causelessly tamper with the man
who had the sublime moral courage to
issue it." Quoted from Salter's Life
of Grimes, p. 153, which prints a letter to William Pitt
Fessenden. The
citation above comes from the same
source, p. 155 and is an extract from
another letter to Fessenden dated
November 13.
26 Chase MSS., Elizur Wright to Chase,
September 24.
548 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
time to write a bitter protest.27 One of the owners of
the Cincinnati Gazette predicted
that Ohio and the
Northwest generally was on the verge of
revolution.28
It was inevitable of course, that the
President learn
something of the opposition that was
growing daily.
Soon after the Fremont order, Senator
Browning, the
successor of Douglas, made a personal
protest. The
President replied at length expressing
surprise and im-
plying disappointment that he should be
so criticized in
his own state. He explained that the
"Kentucky Legis-
lature would not budge an inch until
that proclamation
was modified," but there was no
explanation in that
which would satisfy the radicals.29
On December 3, the President delivered
his annual
message. It was impossible for him to
continue to ig-
nore the question of the negro any
longer so he proposed
that a plan of colonization be devised
and that Hayti
and Liberia be recognized. If he hoped
that such a pro-
posal would satisfy the radicals, the
President was
doomed to disappointment, as the
correspondence of Ly-
man Trumbull bears evidence. One writer
who had
been a Lincoln advocate in 1860
expressed the wish that
the President might be able to quit
Washington without
making Buchanan's administration
respectable.30 Stru-
27 Chase MSS., Hanna to Chase, November
9.
28 Chase MSS., Richard I. Smith to Chase, November 7, 1861.
29 Complete
Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Nicolay and Hay ed.) II,
80 f.
30 Trumbull MSS., W. A. Baldwin to
Trumbull, December 16. Another
correspondent expressed his and the
country's disappointment with the mes-
sage, "entirely destitute of that
high-toned sentiment which ought to have
pervaded a Message at such a critical
period as this." J. C. Conkling to
Trumbull, December 16. J. H. Bryant,
writing on December 8, expressed
similar sentiment.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 549
bal York, a leading abolitionist of
Illinois, failed to see
in the message "one single, manly,
bold, dignified posi-
tion" and condemned it as a
"tame, timid, time-serving,
commonplace sort of abortion . . . cold
enough with
one breath to freeze Hell over."31
Chase felt that he was not included in
the general
vituperative condemnation of the
administration--his
own correspondence said as much.
Radical Democrats
as well as Republicans, he heard,
accorded him only the
highest praise.32 Enoch
Carson wrote that "while every
member of the Cabinet, and the
President too, are de-
nounced, you alone escape . . . You
have the entire
confidence of the people . . ."33
Many of these corre-
spondents were predicting that Chase
would be the next
president.34
Just how much these letters prompted
Chase to as-
sume a more radical attitude on the
emancipation ques-
tion is difficult to determine.
Nevertheless it is clear
enough that at this time he began to
advance to a posi-
tion more in keeping with the demands
of the radical
element of the North. In his
instructions to Edward L.
Pierce, whom he sent to Port Royal to
take charge of
a colony of negroes, he made it clear that
he never ex-
pected to see these persons returned to
slavery, thus
showing that in his mind military
emancipation had be-
come a permanent policy.35 The
negroes who came into
the Union lines were to be treated, he
said, exactly as
31 Trumbull MSS., York to Trumbull,
December 5, 1861.
32 Chase
MSS., E. M. Shields to Chase, January 8, 1862.
33 Chase MSS., Carson to Chase, February
9.
34 Chase MSS., A. R. Calderwood to
Chase, April 6; B. R. Plumley,
April 21'; J. W. Stone, May 5.
35 Hart, op. cit., p. 259.
550 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
loyalists. To do otherwise would lend
support to the
institution.36
By May, Chase had enlarged his view
sufficiently to
favor Hunter's order freeing the slaves
in South Caro-
lina, Georgia and Florida, and in a
letter to the Presi-
dent on the subject he urged that the
order receive the
support of the administration on the
grounds of mili-
tary necessity.37 This, the
President could not do and
remain consistent to his policy as
revealed in the Fre-
mont episode, therefore he rescinded
Hunter's order,
endeavoring at the same time to soften
his veto by an
appeal to the border states to accept
gradual emanci-
pation with compensation. Of course the
radicals re-
fused to be mollified with such a
feeble hope. One of
them promptly wrote that he would not
shed a tear to
hear that the administration and the
Capitol had fallen
into the hands of the enemy.38
During the next few days as he became
more con-
vinced in his radical course, Chase
turned to the press.
To Greeley and his sheet, the New York Tribune,
Chase
called the revocation of Hunter's order
the worst of the
"sore trials" he had been
facing ever since the begin-
ning of the war. But as was his wont he
philosophized
a bit by adding that "the best
thing to be done is, as
Touchstone expressed it--'to be
thankful for skim-milk
when you can't get cream' . . ."39
To another news-
36 Chase MSS., Chase to B. R. Wood,
March 28, 1862. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
It will be recalled that just a few
months before, Chase had gone on record
as believing that neither the President
nor any member of his Cabinet de-
sired to interfere with any state
institution, but that was before the popular
clamor over the Fremont order and
removal.
37 Chase MSS., Chase to Lincoln, May 16.
[Pa. Hist. Soc.]
38 Chase MSS., Eli Nichols to Chase,
September 15.
39 Chase MSS., Chase to Greeley, May 21.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 551
writer he wrote that no government
could uphold slav-
ery without coming to ruin; that it was
futile to con-
tinue the rebellion and uphold its main
cause at the same
time.40 On June 24, Chase
wrote to General Butler that
a restoration of the Union with slavery
untouched was
no longer possible.41 For
Chase emancipation of the
slave was now a necessity.
During this time the President was
considering plans
of colonization. He worried constantly
over what to
do with the slaves should they be
freed. John Gillmore,
friend and sometimes agent of Horace
Greeley, favored
concentrating the negroes in South
Carolina; at least
so he said in his short-lived magazine,
the Continental
Monthly. This proposal, half a jest, was no wilder than
the one advanced by Senator Pomeroy who
proposed
to make Texas into the Black State. It
is said that he
actually induced the President to
consult a contractor on
the project.42
On July 17, Congress enacted the Second
Confisca-
tion Act. The President, although he
doubted its con-
stitutionality, felt that public
opinion demanded its ac-
ceptance; so he permitted it to become
a law. Seeing no
better plan than emancipation, and urged
to it by a
Congress that was unfriendly if not
openly hostile, Lin-
coln was forced to consider ways of
freeing the slaves.
Then, too, emissaries ordinary and
extraordinary to the
Court of St. James pronounced
emancipation the only
way to prevent British recognition of
the Confederacy.
40 Chase
MSS., Chase to Murat Halstead, May 24, 1862. [Pa. Hist.
Soc.]
41 Chase
MSS., Chase to Butler, June 24, [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
42 Chittenden, L. E., Recollections
of President Lincoln, p. 336 ff.
552 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
In addition to all of this the
President knew of the
political ambitions of his Secretary of
the Treasury.
Daily Lincoln found on his desk
commissions to be
signed which would place abolitionists
of the old school,
friends of Chase, in some treasury
office.43 He knew
of Chase's demands for a more vigorous
prosecution
of the war and no doubt heard that
troublesome fellow.
Greeley, suggest that Chase be made the
commander of
the Army of the Potomac in order to
insure victory.44
Certainly some one of the young private
secretaries
about the White House must have kept
the President
informed of the suggestions of Chase's
friends that he
be made the next President. Everyone
knew of Chase's
earlier record in the abolition
movement and it was
natural to expect that he would be
looked upon as the
champion of the movement still.
Perhaps the President had his Secretary
in mind
when in a meeting on July 22, he
proposed to his Cabinet
a plan for the emancipation of the
slaves. Gideon
Welles, habitually putting Cabinet, as
well as other se-
crets, into writing, recorded that
Chase was completely
taken by surprise, since the President
had divulged his
plan to no one save Secretaries Welles
and Seward.45
Chase recovered quickly, however, and
spoke vigorously
in favor of such procedure, but Seward,
who knew in
advance what was coming, heard Chase
through and
then proposed that the plan be deferred
until such a
time as the armies in the field would
relieve the admin-
43 Printed but unpublished diary of John
Hay, entry for August 11,
1862. Chase MSS., Chase to Heaton, July
21. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
44 Noah Brooks, Statesmen, p.
165.
45 Welles MSS., Article on Lincoln's
administration. [See Galaxy,
(1877) XXIV], p. 449.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 553
istration of the appearance of
stretching out its arms to
Ethiopia for aid. Welles believed that
Chase recognized
in the President's proposal an effort
to wrest from him
his supposed position as the leader of
the anti-slavery
faction of the North, therefore he
spoke so enthusi-
astically to make it appear that the
President's program
was that which he himself had advanced.46
In his diary
Welles wrote, "Chase gathers it
[emancipation] into
the coming presidential election; feels
that the measure
of emancipation which was decided
without first con-
sulting him was placed in advance of
him on a path
which was his specialty."47 Now
that the President had
proposed emancipation himself and, upon
the advice of
one of his Cabinet, had been persuaded
to hold it in abey-
ance until the army won something like
a victory in the
field, it would appear that Chase could
not use it as po-
litical capital in his own ambitious
plans. But such an
appearance is misleading, for Chase
immediately strove
to take away whatever political
advantage might accrue
to the President, by making
emancipation a military and
not a civil program. On July 31, Chase
sent a long
letter to General Butler, who of course
knew nothing of
the President's proposal to the
Cabinet. In this letter
Chase said that he was giving only his
personal opin-
46 Ibid.
47 Vol. I, p. 415. Later, while
discussing Chase and the campaign, Lin-
coln said, ". .. I have seen
clearly all along his plan of strengthening
himself. Whenever he sees that an
important matter is troubling me, if I
am compelled to decide it in such a way
as to give offence to a man of
some influence, he always ranges himself
in opposition to me, and per-
suades the victim that he [Chase] would
have arranged it very differently.
It was so with General Fremont, and with
General Hunter when I annulled
his hasty proclamation . . ."
[Printed but not published diary of John
Hay, entry for October 16, 1863.]
554 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
ions; he felt certain, however, that
the people and the
politicians must accept these opinions
just as, he said,
"both . . . have come to opinions
expressed by me
when they found few concurrents."
Chase's proposal
was that Butler proceed at once to
emancipate all the
slaves of the Gulf States and notify
the slaveholders
that hereafter they must pay the blacks
a wage just as
they would white labor. "It may be
said," Chase con-
cluded, "that such an order would
be annulled. I think
not. It is plain enough to see that the
annulling of
Hunter's order was a mistake. It will
not be re-
peated."48 Thus Chase,
knowing of the President's in-
tention, was advising Butler, who had
never been en-
thusiastic for the administration, to
anticipate emanci-
pation by employing a method of which
Lincoln had
twice declared his disapproval.
The radicals, most of whom were yet in
ignorance
of the plan of the President expressed
to the Cabinet
on July 22, continued their demands for
emancipation.49
Scarcely a day passed but that Greeley
wrote an edi-
torial on the subject, capping them all
with his "Prayer
48 Chase MSS., Chase to Butler, July 31,
1862. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
49 Chase received many such letters. That of Francis
Gillette [Sep-
tember 15] is typical. "The people
are in despair," he wrote, "because of
the policy of masterly inactivity."
Why, he demanded, does not Washing-
ton "at least explain? . . . How
can a President of the United States
at such a juncture go on babbling about
'saving the Union in a constitu-
tional way' or 'the shortest way under
the Constitution' and that too, with-
out regard for the justice of God or . .
. man." Another, who had
long hailed Lincoln's as a pro-slavery
administration, proclaimed Chase "the
man for whom the country has been
waiting," a man "who understands the
situation and is equal to it."
Chase MSS., M. F. Conway to Chase, No-
vember 18, 1862.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 555
of Twenty Millions."50 In
the West Greeley found echo
in Joe Medill.51
This was the political situation when,
on September
17, Lee's offensive was sufficiently
checked at Antietam
to be called a victory. It furnished
the administration
the occasion for the announcement of
the Proclamation
of Emancipation, made public on
September 22. Chase
did not yet give up hope of destroying
such political
advantage as might result to the
administration, for
the very next day he again wrote to
Butler to tell him
that he "must anticipate a little
the operation of the
Proclamation in New Orleans and
Louisiana. The
law frees all slaves of rebels in any
city occupied by
our troops and previously occupied by
the rebels. This
is the condition in New Orleans. Is it
not clear then,
that the presumption is in favor of
every man, only to
be set aside in case of some clear
proof of continuous
loyalty?"52 It was Chase's
last hope--all that was left
was criticism and protest. "You
have before this seen
the Proclamation of the
President," he wrote to S. G.
Arnold, "I hope a new vigor and
activity in military af-
fairs may follow. I can only hope,
however, for I have
no voice in the conduct of the war and
am not respon-
sible for it, except in the provision
of the necessary
funds . . ."53 To another, Chase
implied that he had
proposed more radical measures with
regard to the
negro long ago but "as the
President did not concur in
this judgment I was willing and indeed
very glad to ac-
50 N. Y. Tribune, Aug. 2, 8, 11,
20. 22.
51 Chicago Tribune, September 15.
52 Warden, R. B., An Account of
the Private Life and Public Services
of Salmon Portland Chase, p. 485.
53 Ibid., 492, quoting the Arnold letter, September 24, 1862.
556 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
cept the Proclamation as the next best
mode of dealing
with the subject."54
On December 29, and again two days
later, the Pres-
ident and his Cabinet considered for
the last time, the
Proclamation, so soon to go into
effect. Chase's contri-
bution to these meetings was the
closing sentence in-
voking the "serious judgment of
mankind and the gra-
cious favor of Almighty God."55
Thus was the freedom of the negro
achieved; a prin-
ciple accelerated if not entirely
accomplished through
the operation of practical politics.
Bereft of an issue which he undoubtedly
hoped to
capitalize, Chase now turned his
attention to the con-
duct of the war. From the outset he
evinced a strong
interest in the War Department and
found sufficient
time from his labors at the treasury
and his correspond-
ence regarding slavery to devote a part
of his time to it.
As long as Simon Cameron was Secretary
of War,
Chase's interference there seemed
welcome, both to
Cameron and the President.55a Edwin M.
Stanton, how-
ever, was not a man to brook
interference, and Chase,
recognizing that fact, remained on good
terms with the
new Secretary by directing his
criticism and advice to
another quarter. Some of the officers
in the army were
known to Chase before the war, others
he met while
Cameron was in the Cabinet and it was
to them that he
now turned.
54 Chase MSS., Chase to Gen. Buford,
October 11. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
55 Welles, Diary, I, p. 210;
Cincinnati Gazette, March 24, 1864.
55a Chase acted as Cameron's defender,
saying that had he been left
free from interference in his management
of the Department results would
have been far different from what they
were. (Chase MSS., Chase to
Halstead, December 25, 1861. Pa. Hist.
Soc.) He may have had some
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 557
In 1861, when McClellan's star had been
in its as-
cendancy, Chase boasted that it was his
influence that
had secured "Little Mac" his
promotion.56 But as the
General's popularity waned, Chase
turned from him as
did many another politician in
Washington. Gideon
Welles, assiduously writing in his
revealing diary, at-
tributed this change of sentiment on
the part of Chase
to the intimacy of the General with
Secretary Seward.57
In any event, by January of 1862, Chase
was telling Mc-
Dowell what he knew of McClellan's
plans;--always
in "strictest secrecy" of
course,58 and by summer Mc-
Clellan was pronounced "a dear
luxury--fifty days--
fifty miles--fifty million of
dollars--easy arithmetic but
unsatisfactory."59 After
Pope's failure, when McClellan
was again restored to full command,
Chase complained
that it was against his best judgment
but that he had
again been overruled.60 As
the "little Napoleon" quietly
watched Lee in Virginia, Chase found
abundant oppor-
tunity to increase his lamentations.61
Once, while in
a critical mood, Chase confided to
McDowell that "with
50,000 men and you for a general, I
would undertake to
go to Richmond from Fortress Monroe by
the James
hope of succeeding Cameron. On one
occasion he said that he knew of
no one who could carry on the work of
that office. (Hart, op. cit., 213)
Forbes suggested to Bryant that Chase be
made Secretary of War, (Forbes,
Letters and Recollections, I, 242) while Greeley and others seemed to think
that Chase had some real military
ability. (Brooks, Statesmen, 165).
56 Chase MSS., Chase to McClellan, July
7, 1861. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
57 Welles MSS., Articles on Lincoln's
Administration.
58 Chase diary, entry for January 11,
1862.
59 Chase MSS., Chase to Greeley, May 21.
60 Chase MSS., Chase to Carson,
September 8. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
61 Chase MSS., Chase to John Cochrane,
October 18. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
558 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
River, with my revenue steamers Miami and the
Stevens and the Monitor, in two days."62
When it began to appear certain that
McClellan
would be removed, Chase wrote to Hooker
saying that
it was his wish that Hooker be the one
promoted. But
again Chase complained that his wishes
seemed to go
for little in such things; that he
really ought not say
anything more but that it was hard for
him to remain
silent, seeing how so much might be
economized of ac-
tion, power and resources.63 Later,
while Hooker was
in a Washington hospital recovering
from the wounds
received at Antietam, Chase called more
than once and
had the satisfaction of hearing the
General say that had
Chase's plans been followed Richmond
would have
fallen.64
Upon hearing of Halleck's appointment
as military
adviser, Chase could only hope that it
was not another
of Lincoln's dreadful mistakes65 but
as Halleck proved
less and less communicative Chase suspected
the worst
and determined to withhold his advice
from the General
entirely, since it was so frequently
rejected. "Those who
reject my counsel ought to know better
than I do," he
wrote.66
Rosecrans, about to be named commander
in the
West, also received a letter from the
Corresponding Sec-
62 Chase MSS., Chase to McDowell, May 14. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
63 Chase MSS., Chase to Hooker, June 11,
[Pa. Hist. Soc.]
64 Chase diary, entry for September 23,
1862.
65 Chase MSS., Chase to Edw. Haight,
July 4. [Pa. Hist. Soc.] Chase
had written to Wm. P. Mellen, of the New
York Post, on March 26, say-
ing that he looked upon Halleck "as
the ablest man yet." (Chase MSS.,
Pa. Hist. Soc.)
66 Chase MSS., Chase to Wm. M.
Dickinson, August 29. [Pa. Hist.
Soc.]
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 559
retary. As was usual in such epistles
of friendliness,
Chase modestly claimed a share of the
General's promo-
tion and among other things, requested
that he "write
. . . frankly as to political
views" and then to make
the confidence reciprocal Chase
confessed that per-
sonally he was wholeheartedly a
Democrat in all else but
slavery.67
In James A. Garfield, Chase had long
held a special
interest. After Garfield had been
promoted to the rank
of brigadier, Chase wrote to a mutual
friend, hinting
that Garfield should be informed that
it was due to the
good offices of the Secretary of the
Treasury that the ad-
vancement had been made.68 Whether
or not Garfield
recognized his indebtedness to Chase,
he was, by Sep-
tember, acclaiming him the strongest
man in the admin-
istration and the leader for a vigorous
prosecution of
the war.69 When in Washington the young General
would visit Chase. Together they called
on Hooker and
whiled away an idle hour or two
condemning McClellan
and hatching schemes to capture
Richmond.70 Some-
times they would ride about the city
while Chase ex-
plained what he would do if he were
President; young
Garfield listened.71
Occasionally the Secretary would
solicit the com-
ment of the Generals on their superiors
as in the case of
General Hunter. Chase asked Hunter for
his opinion
of Halleck and finding that it
coincided pretty well with
67 Chase MSS., Chase to
Rosecrans, October 25. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
68 Chase MSS., Chase to James Monroe,
March 3.
69 T. C. Smith, Life and Letters of
James Abram Garfield, I, 238.
70 Chase diary, entry for September 25,
1862.
71 Smith, op cit., I, 241
[Account of a conversation of Garfield and
Chase, September 26].
560 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
his own, carried the inquisition
further by asking for an
estimate of Stanton. Hunter replied
that he had but
very little upon which to base an
opinion of Stanton,
having seen him but once; so treated
then that he never
had the desire to see him again. About
the President,
however, Hunter had more to relate. He
described his
chief as follows:
A man irresolute but of honest
intentions--born a poor white
in a slave state, and of course among
aristocrats--kind in spirit
and not envious, but anxious for
approval, especially of those to
whom he has been accustomed to look
up--hence solicitous of the
support of the slaveholders of the
border states and unwilling to
offend them--without the large mind
necessary to grasp great
questions--uncertain of himself, and in
many things ready to lean
too much on others.
In his diary Chase's only comment is,
"I found him
well read and extremely
intelligent."72
But Chase did not confide his
criticisms of the con-
duct of the war to the generals alone.
To many, many
persons all over the North he
complained that it was
well-nigh impossible for him to
maintain public credit
in the face of such inadequate
administration.73 He
bemoaned that the Cabinet, as such, did
not exist; the
members were mere department heads
meeting occa-
sionally to talk about any question
that happened to be
uppermost. It irked him, he said, that
he was thought
to have sufficient power to remedy the
complaints of
remissness, delays and dangers and yet
not have that
power.74 His
recommendations, he felt, would have
ended the war in 1862, and at
"less than two-thirds the
72 Chase diary, entry for October 11,
1862.
73 Chase MSS., Chase to Haight, July 24,
[Pa. Hist. Soc.]
74 John Sherman MSS., Chase to Sherman, September 20; Greeley
MSS., Chase to Greeley, September 7. [N.
Y. Pub. Lib.]
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 561
cost."75 When correspondents expressed doubts
and
misgivings, his replies first
encouraged their doubts and
then uttered a feeble hope that all
might yet turn out for
the best.76
In his criticisms of the President he
was quite free,
implying, sometimes openly expressing,
a belief that he
appointed unfit men to high command.77 He felt that too
often Lincoln made excuses for
blunders, "to use no
harsher name," instead of
penalizing them. In his diary
he accredited the President with
"a sincere desire to
save the country" but thought that
he had yielded so
long to "border state and
negrophobic counsels" that he
was now unable to stop.78 But
after all, he summarized
both to his friends and in his diary,
the President is re-
sponsible. He was elected by the people
to decide meas-
ures and appoint men to execute them,
and if he has
failed only the people can correct
them. That adminis-
trative mistakes--he started to write
"crimes" in his
diary--were made, he had not the
slightest doubt. "All
our worst defeats have followed
them," he wrote.79
During the time that Chase was
corresponding with
generals and others he was receiving
reports from all
parts of the country expressing
dissatisfaction and un-
easiness. Many of these letters told Chase that the
gloom was not occasioned by military
disasters so much
as by the growing conviction that the
government was
75 Chase MSS., Chase to Chas. A.
Heckscher, January 22, 1863. [Pa.
Hist. Soc.]
76 Chase MSS., Chase to Oran Follett,
September 24, 1862; Chase to
Wm. Dickinson, August 29, 1862. [Pa.
Hist. Soc.]
77 Chase MSS., Chase to Maj. Gen. Keyes,
August 1, 1862. [Pa. Hist.
Soc.]
78 Chase diary, entry for September 12,
1862.
79 Chase MSS., Chase to J. H. Jordan,
October 29. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
Vol. XXXIX--36.
562 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
badly managed. Poor generals and slowness were
blamed upon the administration, and
more frequently
than not, upon the President.80
In August, 1862, the New York Independent
ac-
corded the President the best of
intentions; granted
that he was honest and whole-heartedly
patriotic; but
stated that "affairs are too
mighty for him" and on that
score the paper condemned .him roundly.81
Edward
Bates, seeing articles of such a
venomous nature, felt
sure that all newspaper reading was a
vice.82 The New
York Sun waxed religious and in
its office, meetings
were held daily at noon to pray for the
country. The
proprietors refused all Sunday
advertising and in edi-
torials urged that all fighting cease
on Sunday--not for-
getting that the Bull Run disaster had
occurred on a
Sunday.83 Moncure Conway preached that the
ballot-
box must be conquered and some such man
as Wendell
Phillips elected president.84
The various loyal state governors, at
the suggestion
of Governor Curtin, convened to help
administer the
needs of the nation or perhaps, as
Governor John A.
Andrew expressed it, to find some way
to save the Pres-
ident from the infamy of ruining his
country.85 Thur-
low Weed, in one of his numerous
letters to John Bige-
low, wrote that the government was
"in a fix" defend-
80 Chase
MSS., C. R. Roberts to Chase, July 23; P. F. Wilson to Chase,
August 4; James A. Wright to Chase,
August 4.
81 National Intelligencer, November
2, 1864, quoting article of the Inde-
pendent referred to.
82 Continental Magazine, I, 340.
83 F. M. O'Brien, The Sun, p. 189.
84 Moncure D. Conway, Addresses and Reports, 102.
85 W.
B. Weeden, War Government, 229.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 563
ing every position amid dissension and
weakness.86 Zach-
ary Chandler appealed to Chase:
"For God's sake, let
us save the government."87 Trumbull
heard that Illinois
was uneasy and Israel Washburn's
correspondents told
him that the tragic state of affairs
verged on anarchy.88
Joe Medill wrote that he was in
despair; that in two
years
the Democrats would
have Washington, and
Chase and every other Republican in the
government
would be in exile.89 Again
and again Chase heard that
the people had lost all confidence in
the government and
were giving it up as lost.90
Obviously enough the Ship of State was
in troubled
waters, and as an anchor to windward
Chase courted
Greeley's favor by telling him that one
or two lucrative
Treasury clerkships were vacant and would be filled
upon his recommendation. In the next
sentence Chase
took occasion to thank the editor for
the "generous and
disinterested support" of his
paper.91 Judge Geiger, of
Columbus, offered to take care of any
"transient busi-
ness" that Chase might have for
him and volunteered to
86 John Bigelow, Retrospections, I,
521. On another occasion Weed
wrote Bigelow that he wished Ben Butler
were president, or at least in
Halleck's place. [Ibid., 596.]
87 Chase MSS., Chandler to Chase,
September 13, 1862. [Pa. Hist.
Soc.]
88 Trumbull MSS., Washburn MSS., passim
summer of 1862.
89 Chase MSS., Medill to Chase, September 14. [Pa. Hist.
Soc.]
90 Chase MSS., H. C. Bowen to Chase,
September 13; C. Kingsley to
Chase, October 22; Asa Mahan to Chase,
October 28; T. C. H. Smith to
Chase, October 31. A typical letter is
that of Oran Follett dated September
16: "Public patience is exhausted .
. . If surrender to traitors is the
object it could have been more cheaply
done. . . . For God's sake and
for the sake of all that is dear to the
country and to Liberty, let this move-
ment without results be put a stop to.
The country cannot be made to
stand it much longer . . ."
91 Chase MSS., Chase to Greeley, May 21,
1862.
564 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
so arrange his affairs that he could
have himself chosen
a delegate to the next National
Convention to look after
Chase interests there.92 On August 31, 1862, Chase
wrote in his diary that three gentlemen
from California
called to express the wish that he be
the candidate of his
party in 1864.93 From Cleveland,
Colonel Parsons, now
a Treasury Department official, sent
frequent reports of
the political situation in the middle
west.94 John Hop-
ley, one-time resident of Bucyrus,
lately returned from
England with a commission to write
dispatches for the
English press, requested that Chase
find a berth for him
in Washington. His application was
granted.95 Thus
did Chase seek to secure
his position.
Nor were the political efforts of the
Secretary of the
Treasury in vain, for many of his
letters quite openly
designated him as the most important
member of the
administration.96 One
reminded him that he was like
Richelieu; "the same weak Chief
Magistrate, the same
struggle for his possession in the
Cabinet, the same con-
spiracy against the political life of
Richelieu by the
Army generals--and Richelieu who lived
for France.
You are the Richelieu of today . . ."97
Flattering
words and dangerous if a man had
ambitious dreams,
but the Secretary said that he had no
ambitions for of-
fice, in fact did not want the one he
had and would will-
92 Chase MSS., Geiger to Chase, May 22.
93 Chase diary.
94 Chase MSS., Parsons to Chase,
September 2.
95 Chase MSS., John Hopley to Chase,
October 24, November 1; Chase
to Hopley, October 27.
96 Chase MSS., Coates Kinney to Chase,
October 22, 1862; Anson
Smyth to Chase, November 20.
97 Chase MSS., J. Fred Myers to Chase,
October 24.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 565
ingly resign it.98 Yet
Edward Bates, silently observing
the trend of events, wrote in his
diary, "I'm afraid Mr.
Chase's head is turned by his eagerness
in pursuit of the
presidency. For a long time back he has
been filling all
the offices in his own vast patronage
with extreme par-
tisans and continues also to fill many
vacancies belong-
ing to other departments."99
While the tide of criticism and unrest
mounted dur-
ing the summer of 1862, the states
prepared for their
local elections in October and
November. These elec-
tions were to afford the people their
first opportunity
to pass upon an administration
sponsored by the Re-
publican party, therefore they were
important. Penn-
sylvania, looked upon as an index to
the opinion of the
country, yielded a Democratic majority
of four thou-
sand,100 with half the
Congressional delegation. In-
diana, electing a new legislature, gave
eight of the eleven
congressional districts to the
Democrats as well as a
substantial popular majority. In New
York, James
Wadsworth, a brigadier general of
pronounced anti-
slavery views, was defeated for
governor by the Demo-
cratic nominee, Horatio Seymour, by ten
thousand ma-
jority. The Republicans in that state
polled seventy
thousand votes less than in 1860.
Illinois, much to the
chagrin of the President, gave but
three out of seven-
teen congressional districts to his
party. Ohio suffered
likewise; fourteen out of nineteen
districts were Demo-
cratic whereas by the preceding
election the Republicans
98 Chase MSS., Chase to Follett,
September 24.
99 Edward Bates diary, entry for October
17, 1863.
100 N. Y. Tribune, December 27,
1862; J. G. Blaine, Twenty Years of
Congress, I, 442.
566
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
had carried thirteen districts.
Wisconsin, without the
aid of Carl Schurz who was then in the
army, also re-
corded a Democratic victory. All of
these states had
cast their electoral vote for Lincoln
in 1860.
Had this same ratio extended to the
other states still
in the Union the Democrats would have
controlled the
next Congress. Such a disaster,
however, was averted
by the vote of New England, Michigan,
Iowa, Cali-
fornia and the border states but even
there the adminis-
tration could find but little cheer. It
was only by almost
superhuman efforts on the part of
Senator Chandler
that Michigan was won by the
Republicans, while in
Missouri, Frank Blair was able to carry
the St. Louis
district by only 153 votes, two
thousand less than the
combined vote of his two opponents. It
required the in-
cessant campaigning of Sumner and
Governor Andrew
to win Massachusetts, a state
supposedly very loyal to
the party.
While not exactly a vote of want of
confidence in the
administration, as the New York Times
declared it to
be,101 the vote did show that the North
was by no means
united in support of the party. John
Bigelow thought
that it was fortunate that the
Republican majority in
Congress had been diminished because it
would now
impel the President and his advisers to
a greater unity
and impress upon them the need for
immediate action.102
The party had failed and a variety of
reasons were ad-
vanced as the cause. Schurz maintained
that it was due
to the failure of the war for which he
held the President
101 N. Y. Times, November 7,
1862.
102 Bigelow, op. cit., I, 576.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 567
partly responsible.103 Gideon
Welles and John Sherman
attributed it to the lack of a good
party organization,104
another criticism of Lincoln, inasmuch
as the President
is the leader of his party. Some of
Chase's correspond-
ents charged the poor showing to the
untimeliness of the
Emancipation Proclamation.105 Besides
these reasons it
must be remembered that many friends of
the adminis-
tration were in the army and in 1862,
but few of them
voted. Others who had supported the
Republican party
in 1860 were dissatisfied with the
management of the
war and remained away from the polls;
some disap-
proved of the arbitrary measures of the
administration
and voiced their protest in an adverse
vote.106
Chase was most interested in the Ohio
election. He
was not able to go to the state in
person but he wrote
numerous letters in support of Ashley's
candidacy for a
seat in the state legislature.107 This
may have been for
a purpose. Chase knew from his
correspondence that
the administration had suffered a great
loss of popu-
larity. This knowledge may have
impelled Chase to
listen favorably to proposals that he
return to the Sen-
103 Complete Works of Abraham
Lincoln, II, 257. Letters of Schurz
and Lincoln, November 20 and 24.
104 Welles, Diary, I, 183; Sherman
Letters, 167. See also speech of
John Sherman in Cong. Globe, Pt.
1, 1st Sess., 38 Cong., p. 439.
105 Chase MSS., Kingsley to Chase,
October 22; S. G. Arnold to Chase,
October 20; H. S. Bundy to Chase,
October 18, 1862.
106 On November 22, 1862, Stanton
ordered the release of all political
prisoners taken the year before. Perhaps
it may be charged that he did
so because of the sorry showing of the
party in the fall elections.
107 Chase urged his friends to support Ashley in spite of proof that
Ashley was not a fit man for the place.
Chase MSS., Chase to Walbrige,
October 11, 1862. [Pa. Hist. Soc.] Chase
to Alexander S. Latty, Sep-
tember 17, 1862.
568
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
ate.108 He might there
escape any criticism that attach-
ment to the administration might bring.
In addition,
Ashley had for some time advocated
Chase's re-entry
to the Senate as a preliminary move
toward the presi-
dential campaign to come in 1864.109
News of these
plans soon got abroad and Chase was
promised aid if he
desired to declare his candidacy.110
In February, Chase sounded Potter of
the Cincinnati
Commercial on the question of the senatorship, saying
that he was not indifferent to the
suggestion and that he
was quite convinced that Wade was not
the man for the
place.111 Later, hearing
that his old friend, James Mon-
roe, was supporting Wade, Chase at once
reminded him
of the Convention of 1860 and Wade's
action then, and
urged that Monroe support Judge
Spalding, a personal
friend of Chase. Joseph H. Geiger was
likewise or-
dered to withhold his support from
Wade.12 During
July and August of 1862 Chase and Wade
opened a cor-
respondence in an effort to remove
their differences and
arrive at an understanding,13
but Chase was still con-
sidering the senatorship in October. He
wrote to a
friend that he had "pretty much
made up" his mind to
go back to the Senate, should
circumstances indicate the
expediency of such a step. He still
left a way out by
intimating that should it be found that
Wade repre-
108
Chase MSS., Geiger to Chase, July 26; Stoms to Chase, October 19;
S. S. Coy to Chase, October 20.
109 Chase MSS., Hoadly to Chase,
September 18, 1861.
110 Chase
MSS., Sloane to Chase, January 22, 1862.
111 Chase MSS., Chase to M. D. Potter,
February 17. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
112 Chase MSS., Chase to Monroe, March
3, 1862; Chase to Geiger,
March 17, 1862.
113 Chase MSS., Chase to Wade, July 30;
Wade to Chase, July 22 and
August 4. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 569
sented "our ideas"
sufficiently well, he, Chase, would
remain in the Cabinet.114 Parsons
was on friendly terms
with the Wade men and was taking care
that Chase
appeared before them in the proper
light.115
On November 2, in reply to a letter
from Wade,
Chase explained that many of his
friends had been urg-
ing him to return to the Senate but
that he was re-
luctant to do so, preferring Wade's
reflection. "Of
course," Chase continued, "I
do not want you elected if
you are to be hostile to me. My duties
are hard and I
want support and friendship. But I take
it for granted
that I shall have your friendship as in
former times, and
I feel sure that if I have it, your
reelection will be more
useful to the country and to me than my
own election
would be."116 Five days later Wade
replied saying that
he "rejoiced" that "all
is right now between us . . .
It will tax our joint efforts to the
utmost to save the
country...117
Wishing Geiger to know that he had
changed his
mind regarding the Senatorial question,
Chase wrote to
him saying that Wade's election
"now seemed best for
all concerned."118 Geiger
at once replied, agreeing that
it was wise to make peace with Wade at
this time.119
Thus it appeared that Chase and Wade
had arrived at
an understanding and that Wade would
enter the Sen-
ate under obligations to Chase. In
December, however,
Chase's name was still heard in
connection with the
114 Chase MSS., Chase to R. C. Kirk,
October 6. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
115 Chase
MSS., Chase to Parsons, October 9, 31. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
116 Chase
MSS., Chase to Wade, November 2. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
117 Chase MSS., Wade to Chase, November
7, 1862. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
118 Chase MSS., Chase to
Geiger, November 12. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
119 Chase MSS., Geiger to Chase,
November 18.
570 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Senate and a friend of Wade wrote to
the Secretary
telling him of the use made of his name
and asking that
Chase make an announcement of his
support for Wade.
The situation was not unlike that at
Chicago in 1860,
with the position of the principals
reversed and Chase
had gone on record then as preferring
to have his "arm
wrenched from his body" rather than to permit his
name to be used as Wade's was then:
I do not desire to be Senator [wrote
Chase]. If I know my
own heart I have no longing for that or
any other political office.
I am willing to serve where I am
put .
. . If the ma-
jority which now sustains Mr. Wade shall
find it impossible to
elect him, and circumstances shall
indicate the desirableness and
practicability of electing me, and those
who have a right to my
services, namely the People represented
in the General Assembly,
shall claim them, I do not think I could
have a right to decline.
Such was Chase's denial of his
Senatorial candidacy.120
The President's annual message failed
to meet the
general approval it was hoped that it
would obtain. Its
cool reception gave the friends of
Chase an opportunity
to point to the annual Treasury report
and acclaim it
the "greatest state paper of the
day,"121 and it was pro-
posed that some supporter in each state
secure a reso-
lution from his state legislature
indorsing it.122
In the meantime Chase continued mending
his po-
litical fences. On several occasions he
entertained Thur-
low Weed in his home'123 and
felt, he wrote in his diary,
120 Chase MSS., Chase to W. K. Upham,
December 1. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
On January 7, 1863, the Cleveland Herald
printed substantially an expres-
sion of this same sentiment and two days
later it appeared in the Cincin-
nati Commercial.
121 Smith, op. cit., I, 256.
122 Chase MSS., C. M. Walker to Chase, December 12, 1862.
123 Chase diary, entries for August 18, September 13 and
15.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 571
that he had convinced Weed that
Seward's irresolution
and unwise selection of men were
responsible in a large
measure, for the President's
inactivity.124 In New York
it was rumored that at one of these
conferences Chase
asked Weed for his support in the next
presidential cam-
paign.125 In Ohio, Parsons was doing what he
could to
reconstruct Governor Dennison's opinion
of the Secre-
tary.'126 Frederick Edge sounded General
Banks and
reported that "he uncovered
himself to me . . . speaking
as he ought to speak of you . .
."127
The appointment of Burnside as
McClellan's suc-
cessor failed to help the political
situation at Washing-
ton.
The soldiers under McClellan attributed the
change to Cabinet interference and did
not enter with
enthusiasm into Burnside's plans.128
At Fredericksburg
the army failed signally and cast the
country into deep-
est gloom.129 In Congress
the feeling that the President
was badly advised by his Cabinet grew
apace; the chief
difficulty was felt to come from
Seward. Greeley, who
could not be expected to care for
Seward, advised that
he be replaced by Robert J. Walker,
whom he believed
to be the greatest man since Benjamin Franklin.130
124 Ibid., September
15.
125 Chase MSS., John Jay to Chase, September 25.
126 Chase MSS., Chase to Parsons, October 31. [Pa. Hist.
Soc.]
127 Chase MSS., Edge to Chase, December 3.
128 War Letters of Lusk, 231, 256; Goss, Recollections of a Private,
135; Memoirs and Letters of John R.
Adams, 89, 97; Cincinnati Commer-
cial, January 2, 1863.
129 Ephraim Cutler, Diary, entry
for December 16, 1862.
130 J. R. Gillmore, Personal
Recollections of Abraham Lincoln and the
Civil War, 75. Gillmore also wrote that after the Battle of Bull
Run Lin-
coln asked Walker if he would accept
Seward's post should some patriotic
act of the Secretary create the vacancy,
p. 50.
572 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Late in December the Republican
Senators decided to
act. In caucus, a resolution was drawn,
requesting the
President to revise his Cabinet. Though
Seward's name
did not appear in the formal
resolution, it was implied.
As soon as he possibly could, Senator
King made his
way to Seward and revealed all that had
been done.
Seward promptly sent his resignation to
the President.131
Later in the day the President informed
the Cabinet of
the caucus and asked them to meet that
evening. He
also sent a similar request to a
committee of the caucus.
On the evening of December 19, the
Cabinet and the
Committee met together. After the
discussion the Pres-
ident asked whether they still thought
that Seward
should be dropped from the official
family. Senators
Sumner, Grimes, Pomeroy and Trumbull
voted "Yes"
while Senator Harris of New York voted
"No." Sen-
ators Collamer, Howard and Fessenden
declined to
vote. At a late hour the meeting
ended.132
Chase was in a dilemma. He had freely
condemned
the conduct of the war and his
relations with Seward
scarcely permitted formal
conversation. All this the
Senators doubtless knew133
and consistency demanded
that he join them in their attack. On
the other hand,
ethics demanded that he remain loyal to
the group of
131
Welles, Diary, I, 196; Forbes, op.
cit., I, 346, quoting letter of Sen-
ator Sedgwick to Forbes.
132 Ibid., 197.
133 Some accounts assert that as the
Senators filed out at the close of
the meeting on the 19th, Trumbull, in a
lowered voice, said to Lincoln that
had Chase spoken with his usual tone the
outcome would have been very
different. A quarter of a century later
Trumbull denied this story and
stated further that he had no
recollection that Chase had ever spoken dif-
ferently than he did on the night of the
meeting. Schuckers MSS., Trum-.
bull to Schuckers, March 5, 1889.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 573
which he was a member. There seemed but
one solution
to the problem and that was to do as
Seward had done,
withdraw from the Cabinet. On the
morning of De-
cember 20, Chase, accompanied by
Stanton, called on
the President to deliver the letter of
resignation. The
President, as Seward once said,
possessed a cunning that
amounted to genius, and at once he saw
his path clearly
before him.134 To have
allowed Seward to resign would
have cost the administration a considerable
body of sup-
porters, but now with two resignations
Lincoln could
refuse both and the following of each
Secretary would
have to acquiesce to retain its leader.
On December 21,
Seward indicated that he would be
governed by the
President's wish and remain at his post
and the next day
Chase did likewise.135 The
Cabinet crisis was, for the
moment, happily ended.
The friends of Chase felt that he had
won a moral
victory. Geiger wrote that he had
proven that the office
was not necessary to him while the
President had clearly
disclosed the fact that Chase was
essential to the admin-
istration.136 Medill expressed the belief that Chase
was
now more popular than ever and that his
victory had
been gained at the expense of Seward's
leadership.137
Greeley, however, was not satisfied and
in a long edi-
torial expressed his conviction that a
Cabinet change was
yet necessary and that the wiser course
for the President
134 Piatt's Reminiscences in the N. Y. Tribune,
March 22, 1885.
135 Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, VI,
268. The whole affair was published.
N. Y. Tribune, December 20-24,
29, 1862; Chicago Tribune, December 24,
25; Boston Courier, December 22,
23. Forbes, Letters, I, 346, Letter of
Sedgwick to Forbes. Sedgwick felt that
the outcome of the affair was a
rebuff for the Senate and served to make
Seward more powerful than ever.
136 Chase MSS.,
Geiger to Chase, December 27, 1862.
137 Chase MSS., Medil 1 to Chase,
December 28. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
574 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
to have taken in the late crisis would
have been to let
both Chase and Seward go.138
Though the President had thus
successfully avoided
an open break in his Cabinet, his
general position was
but little improved. In New York,
Governor Seymour
was about to deliver his first message.
The President
summoned Weed and requested him to call
on the Gov-
ernor-elect and enlist his aid in
support of the adminis-
tration and the war. This, Weed said,
Seymour had
promised but the message fell far short
of the Presi-
dent's hopes.139 Seymour did
not mention Lincoln by
name but he did condemn arbitrary
arrests, martial law,
and violations of the sacred rights of
the states; all of
which could be charged to the
administration during the
last year.140
The Seymour message was a signal to the
Conserva-
tives of the state and almost at once
they began planning
ways to force the President to a change
of men and
measures in the conduct of the war.141
They would
force upon the Republicans all of the
responsibility of
the war and at its close the Democrats
would reap the
fruits of victory, or at least escape
the stigma of de-
feat.142 Lincoln saw the
outline of such a scheme and
138 N. Y. Tribune, December 24.
139 A. T. Rice, Reminiscences of
Lincoln, XXX ff.
140 Seymour MSS., First Message. [N. Y.
State Lib.] The comment
of Wales in his diary was, "...The
Jesuitical and heartless insincerity of
Seymour of New York is devoid of true
patriotism, weak in statesmanship
and a discredit to the position he
occupies . . . That such a man, at such a
time, should have been elected to such a
place does no credit to popular
intelligence or to public virtue..."
[I, 219]. Cincinnati Commercial, Jan-
uary 8, 1863.
141 Samuel
J. Tilden, Letters, I, 169. Belmont to Tilden, January 27.
142 Seymour MSS., Churchill to Seymour,
January 28. [N. Y. State
Lib.]
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 575
wrote to Seymour to procure a
"better understanding"
and the "cooperation of your
state." Both he deemed
"indispensable" to the Union
cause.143
The Conservatives of New York were not
alone in
their opposition to the President. The
Radicals there
had an organization known as the Loyal
League. Prac-
tically every one of its officers was a
friend of Secretary
Chase.144 Their aim was to lend support
to the war and
to this end they planned a huge meeting
in New York
City in April. Among other notables,
Chase was in-
vited to attend. Unable to do so, he
sent a letter lauding
their noble purpose "to strengthen
the hands and nerve
the heart of the President to the great
work to which
God and the people have called
him."145 Most of the
speeches were mere oratorical effusions
but occasionally
there was a comment which showed real
dissatisfaction,
as in the speech of David Dudley Field.
He reviewed
quite graphically all the horror and
suffering of two
years warfare and attributed "all
our disasters" to "di-
vided counsels and the incompetence or
infidelity of of-
ficers, civil and military." He
remarked that imperial
power had been bestowed upon the
President, yet "we
must wait."146
143 Seymour MSS., Lincoln to Seymour,
March 23. [N. Y. State Lib.]
144 John A. Stevens, Jr., and his
father, William Orton, Mayor Op-
dyke, W. C. Bryant, John C. Greene, A.
T. Stewart, Cisco, Barney, Bailey,
Godwin and still others of Chase's
friends were active in the organization.
145 Chase MSS., Chase to Opdyke and the
Loyal League, April 9. [Pa.
Hist. Soc.]
146 Madison Square Celebration of
'63, p. 83. Seward told John Hay
that a secret organization in the Loyal
League was working to overthrow
the President. He had his information
from Weed who included the order
of Odd Fellows in the plot. Printed
diary of John Hay, November 27,
1862. Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, VIII,
315.
576 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
If the picture of the political
situation in New York
was dark and gloomy that of Indiana was
black. In Oc-
tober, 1862, Governor Morton warned the
President
that the Northwest bordered on
revolution and contem-
plated the formation of another
confederacy.147 Dur-
ing the remainder of the year
disaffection grew and
Morton again wrote to Washington to say
that the state
legislature planned to adopt a
resolution acknowledging
the Southern Confederacy and proposing
that the North-
west secede from the New England
states.148 When the
Indiana legislature assembled one of
its first acts was
to thank the Governor of New York for
his able message
and to assure him that Indiana looked
with approval
upon all that he had said. During the
next few weeks,
resolutions by the score, none loyal,
nearly all treason-
able, were offered until, wrote the
correspondent of the
Cincinnati Commercial, the
Indiana Legislature sounded
like that of South Carolina.149
In May, a great mass meeting was held
at Indianap-
olis and not a word was spoken in favor
of the admin-
istration or the war. Richard D.
Merrick, of Chicago,
delivered the main address and his
central theme was:
"If I were a citizen of Virginia,
I would burn every
blade of grass and run the nation in
reservoirs of blood
sooner than come back into the
Union."150
Michigan was almost as bad as Indiana.
Edward G.
Morton, member of the legislature,
attributed the war
to the "damnable sectionalism of
the North" and now
147 W. D. Foulke, Oliver P. Morton, I,
208.
148 0. R., XX, pt. 2, p. 297.
Letter, Morton to Stanton, January 3,
1863.
149 Foulke, op. cit., 217, 229;
Cincinnati Commercial, January 12.
150 Cincinnati Commercial, May 21, 1863.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 577
"abolitionists in their greed of
office are determined to
prolong the strife as long as possible,
destroy the country
and raise Hell itself." John
Brown, he stigmatized as
the arch horse thief of the conspiracy;
the Emancipation
Proclamation was its platform, and
worst of all was the
Republican party of Michigan, as much
in rebellion as
South Carolina, save only for the fact
that it was not in
arms.151 Judge Pratt, more
specific than his colleague
from Monroe, denounced the President as
that "damna-
ble abolitionist who administers the
government" and
said that the people "ought to
rise up and hurl him from
his chair, . . . then in the eyes of
God and man the
people would be justified."152
To the people of Illinois it appeared
that "politics,
the army, and the finances all seem to
be going to the
devil." The nation, they thought,
was seeking "eternal
damnation" and, wrote Cyrus
Woodman, "we are in a
fair way to find it." This same
writer felt that Chase
was the only one in the administration
who was doing
well and should, therefore, have the
support of Con-
gress.153 One of Trumbull's
correspondents thought the
President imagined himself to be a
"sort of halfway
Clergyman" and that he read too
much of the New Tes-
tament. Another said that the
authorities at Washing-
151 Michigan Historical Collections, XXX, 103.
152 Ibid., 104, quoting the speech as printed in the Detroit Advertiser,
January 25.
153 E. B. Washburn MSS.,
Woodman to Washburn, January 18, 1863.
On the same day G. H. Hamilton wrote,
"Treason walks unblushingly and
boasts of its power... honest men are in
fear;...Are the streets of dear
old Galena to be the scenes of blood,
and those we love to be at the mercy
of an ignorant and infuriated mob led by
miserable demagogues?" His final
plea was to send more soldiers to
Virginia since "God is always with the
heaviest columns."
Vol. XXXIX--37.
578 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
ton had no idea of the danger of
revolution in the North-
west where both the President and his
Cabinet were
deemed inadequate to the crisis.154
There it was thought
that the entire Cabinet should be
removed and such men
as Butler, Banks and Fessenden
appointed in their
stead.155 Sumner of Massachusetts, heard that
but for
Chase and Welles all was
"pusillanimous incapacity" in
the administration. This incapacity had
filled the hearts
of the people with fear and dread for
the welfare of the
nation.156
With such sentiment from their constituents it is
small wonder that Congressmen were
uneasy. Party
caucus was almost continuous to discuss
ways and means
of forcing the President to discard his
Cabinet, "the fag-
ends of the Chicago Convention,"
and build anew.157 It
was even suggested that Congress make a
Cabinet and
force it upon the President; a
committee of safety to win
the war. As the congressmen discussed
the problem
they found so many differences among
themselves that,
fortunately for the President, they
could not decide on
anything really harmful to the
administration, but they
were a constant menace and hectored
Lincoln to distrac-
tion.158 On one of the
numerous committee calls to which
the President was subjected, Senator
Wade is said to
154 Trumbull
MSS., Turner to Trumbull, February 1; Enos to Trum-
bull, January 7, 1862.
155 Trumbull MSS., Goodrich to Trumbull,
January 31, 1863. "We
Republicans of the Northwest wonder and
are amazed to see pro-slavery
Blair and Bates and envious, ambitious
Seward retained as chief advisers
in the Cabinet...." See also Maple
to Trumbull, December 28, 1862.
156 Sumner MSS., J. D. Baldwin to
Sumner, December 30, 1862.
[Harv. Univ. Lib.]
157 Cutler, op. cit., entries in diary for January 17, 20 and 21,
1863.
158 Ibid., January 27.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 579
have lost his temper and accused
Lincoln of military
blunders by his obstinacy in retaining
certain men in
high command. "You are on the road
to Hell with this
government and you are not a mile off
this minute,"
Wade is reported to have said. "A
mile from Hell, Sen-
ator?" the President asked,
"That is just about the dis-
tance from here to the Capitol, is it not ?"159 Whether the
incident be true or not, there is but
little doubt that the
Capitol was Lincoln's worst torment in
1863.
Besides those of Congress, other
delegations called
at the White House to petition
removals, appointments
and changes in the conduct of the
war;160 men once ac-
counted friends of the administration
condemned the
President and his policies;161 some,
admitting his honesty,
denied him all else and dubbed him an
"unutterable ca-
lamity . . . where he is."162
The press likewise was
severely critical during the early
months of 1863. Only
rarely was the administration and its
conduct of the
war spoken of with favor.168
It was a gloomy time for
the President alone in the White House.
159 J. M. Scovel, "Sidelights on Lincoln," in
the Overland Monthly,
XXXVIII [October, 1901], p. 206.
160 Stearns, op. cit., 276.
161 Forbes, Letters and
Recollections, I, 337.
162 C. F. Adams, Richard Henry Dana, II,
264. Cutler, op. cif. On
January 26 the diary contained the
following entry: "To human vision all
is dark, and it would almost seem that
God works for the rebels and keeps
alive their cause.... All is confusion
and doubt.... How striking is the
want of a leader. The Nation is without
a head."
163 In
January Garrison supported the administration with an editorial,
much to the disgust of his friends. See
Stearns, op. cit., 276. Philadelphia
Press, May 6, 1863, had an editorial favoring Lincoln but these
were ex-
ceptions. The general opinion of the
press was unfavorable to the admin-
istration. Those papers not openly
criticising the conduct of the war were
ominously silent.
580 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
CHAPTER III
LINCOLN OR CHASE
The prospects of the early months of
1863 seemed to
offer little hope for either military
or political success
to the Union party. The revived morale
following the
dubious victory of Rosecrans at Stone's
River was soon
broken by the disheartening accounts of
costly failures
on the Mississippi. The War Office
endeavored to keep
the blackest news from reaching the
public but despite
its strictest censorship, accounts too
accurate to be mere
conjecture gained currency. On every
hand all over
the North the want of a capable
commander was em-
phasized. The Chicago Tribune urged
that the critical
state of affairs warranted the presence
of Lincoln him-
self at the head of his troops.1 The
people generally,
growing more and more despondent, began
to say that
"God worked for the rebels and
kept alive their cause."2
In June, when it became certain that
Lee planned an in-
vasion of the North, Washington and Baltimore
trem-
bled and raised a desperate cry for
McClellan.3 Hooker,
out-generalled by Lee and quarreling
with Halleck, asked
to be relieved of his command.4 To
this request the
President yielded and appointed George
G. Meade, who
reluctantly accepted.5
1 Chicago
Tribune, May 23, 1863.
2 W. P. Cutler, Diary, January 17, 26, 27,
February 2; John Sherman
wrote to General Sherman that
"things look dark" and the army appeared
demoralized. Sherman Letters, 187.
3 National Intelligencer, June 18, 23; 0. R., XXVIII, pt. 3,
391, 409,
436, 437; N. Y. Tribune, July 1
and 2.
4 O. R., XXVII,
pt. 1, p. 59.
5 Ibid.,
p. 60, 61.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 581
At last, fortune smiled on the Union
cause and
Meade succeeded in turning back the
invasion at Gettys-
burg. It was a welcome victory but not
decisive enough
to satisfy Lincoln who repeatedly urged
Meade to fol-
low up his advantage by completely
crushing the Con-
federate army before it could escape
across the flood-
swollen Potomac.6 But Meade,
fatigued and uncertain,
hesitated, while Lee successfully
negotiated the crossing;
the "golden opportunity" was
gone and Lincoln could
only regret that he had not taken
Medill's advice to go to
the army in person and order its
forward movement.7
Soon after Gettysburg, Washington heard
of Grant's
victory in the West. The new hope these
tidings en-
gendered did much to brighten the
political outlook of
the Republican party.
While the military suspense had been at
its height
Secretary Chase, informed that no
candidate could be
elected Governor of Ohio without his
indorsement, was
searching for the man on whom he could
depend for per-
sonal friendship and support.8 When
it was rumored
that Stanley Matthews might become a
candidate, Chase
wrote to him at once to solicit a frank
statement of his
personal regard, saying that he was not
indifferent on
the point of friendship from Ohio's
next Governor.9 At
the moment, however, the ambition of
Matthews ran
along military lines so it was
necessary to search else-
where for a candidate to defeat
Governor Tod who de-
sired reelection. When the state
delegates of the Union
6 Ibid.,
83, 85. Halleck, however, advised
Meade not to move if it
seemed inadvisable. p. 88, 89.
7 Nicolay
and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, VII, 278.
8 Chase
MSS., Geiger to Chase, April 10, 1863.
9 Chase MSS., Chase to Matthews, April
16, 1863.
582
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
party met at Cleveland on June 17, it
was at once appar-
ent that Tod could be beaten only by a
candidate who
could win the vote of the War Democrats
as well as the
Republican vote. The man who most
nearly fitted these
requirements was John Brough who had
already devoted
half a lifetime to the press and
politics of Ohio and was,
at the time, president of the
Bellefontaine Railroad Com-
pany. He consented to become a candidate
for Gover-
nor after a friend and fellow-owner
volunteered to as-
sume the duties of president of the
road and allow
Brough the salary. As soon as Brough
was nominated
Geiger reported to Chase saying that he
had sounded
Brough and found him friendly to the
Chase cause. Be-
sides, he was the only nominee who
could win. The
platform, said Geiger, had been
"drawn mild to catch
outsiders," German and Locofoco
votes among others.10
Shortly after the Convention, Thomas
Heaton, another
ardent Chase man, endeavored to placate
Tod by telling
him that the Chase men had not been
responsible for his
defeat; but Tod was undeceived and made
it plain that
he held Chase himself solely
responsible.11 But the va-
garies of politics are inscrutable and
Tod soon found
himself bound. He not only had to
support Brough
but at a meeting of which he was
chairman he found it
necessary to introduce Chase, which he
did after saying
that only a short time before no
platform could have
been drawn large enough to hold both
himself and Chase
but that now they were so near a common
ground that
any platform, no matter how small,
would suffice; then
10 Chase MSS., Geiger to Chase, June 18.
11 Chase MSS., Heaton to Chase, July 2,
1863.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 583
with a glance full of meaning at
Geiger, he added, "Yes,
and leave room for Geiger too."12
The Democrats had little trouble with
their platform
and still less in selecting a
candidate. The arrest and
"drumhead" court-martial of
Vallandigham elevated
him to such a position of prominence
that he was practi-
cally unopposed. Their cause and
candidate was vigor-
ously espoused by the Crisis, under
the editorship of
Samuel Medary, whose invective and
sarcasm scathed
the national administration and its
war, while his most
laudatory hyperbole was reserved for
the exiled Val-
landigham.13
The War Democrats, unwilling to support
Vallan-
digham and the regular platform, held a
convention of
their own in Columbus and indorsed
Brough. The po-
litical situation in Ohio was no longer
one of mere party
division; it had become a test of
loyalty to the Union; an
effort to determine whether or not the
war should be
continued to final victory or defeat.
As the date for the state election in
Ohio approached,
Chase prepared to return home to vote.
There were those
in Washington who saw this visit in a
different light.
Secretaries Bates and Welles recorded
in their respec-
tive journals that Chase was discharging
the opening
gun of the next presidential
campaign.14 Among those
in agreement with this interpretation
were Montgomery
Blair and his brother Francis P. Blair
of St. Louis,
They called Chase's visit an open
declaration of war, po-
12 Cincinnati Commercial, October 19.
13 Crisis, July 8, 15, 22, August 5, 19, 26, September 2, 9, 16,
October
7 and 10. Scarcely an issue appeared
that did not carry editorials or other
items in favor of Vallandigham.
14 Bates diary, October 20; Welles, Diary,
I, 469.
584 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
litically speaking.15 Certainly
there can be no doubt that
the Blairs were ready for the fray.
Already Montgom-
ery Blair had assumed the more or less
official role of
defender of the administration while
his brother out in
Missouri prosecuted the Treasury
Department for the
closure of the Mississippi. In one
speech on the subject
Francis Blair was interrupted by a
cheer for Chase
which provoked him to say that after
all there was but
very little difference between the
Secretary of the Treas-
ury and Jeff Davis so far as the West
was concerned.16
With the more forceful forensic style
of his brother as
his model, Montgomery Blair concluded
the immediate
series with a speech at Rockville,
Maryland, in which he
flayed the radicals in general and
Chase in particular.17
The fact that the Blairs assumed to
speak for the Presi-
dent gave added significance to their
words. Soon the
press was claiming that the Blair
attacks proved their
fear that Chase would be the next
president.18
Chase, however, was not without his
defenders. In
the East, Senator Wilson, speaking for
Massachusetts,
denounced the Rockville address as
"an insult to nine
hundred and ninety-nine out of every
thousand loyal peo-
ple." Likewise in the West.19
There Henry T. Blow,
Congressman-elect from Missouri,
undertook a reply to
the House of Blair. After replying to
various other
charges, he pronounced the attack on Chase
entirely too
15 Bates diary, October 20, 1863.
16 Missouri Democrat, Missouri
Republican, September 28 and 29;
National Intelligencer, October 13.
17 Baltimore American, October 5;
National Intelligencer, October 6;
Missouri Democrat, October 6, 1863.
18 Ibid., and issue of September 23 also, of the Democrat.
19 Pittsburgh Gazette, October 5,
1863.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 585
crude to be noticed and rested his case
on an account of
the services of the Secretary of the
Treasury to his coun-
try.20 The radicals
elsewhere, particularly in New York
City, used the Blair speeches to prove
the conservatism
of Lincoln's administration;21 they agreed with Thad-
deus Stevens that it was high time to
cast about for Lin-
coln's successor.22 Among religious publications, the
Central Christian Advocate, published in Cincinnati,
took up the defence of Chase,23 who
frankly admitted
that he did not know what to do so
wisely refrained from
doing anything publicly. He said that
he did not think
that the President had authorized the
attacks but that
he did not hope for a public disclaimer
from him either.24
Joseph Geiger, unofficial
representative of the Chase
interests in Ohio, and M. D. Potter of
the Cincinnati
Commercial had arranged a reception for Chase when
he arrived in Cincinnati on October 12.
Despite the fact
that the train was nearly an hour late,
due to the fre-
quent stops so that the Secretary might
address station
crowds along the route, "a large
concourse of citizens,
many of them with coaches and carriages,"
was assem-
bled at the Little Miami depot to greet
their fellow towns-
man,25 who, after a brief
response to his welcome visited
among his old friends and the next day
voted for John
Brough.
October 13 was the date for the
gubernatorial elec-
20 Missouri Democrat, October 5.
21 Chase MSS., Barney to Chase, October
8, 1863. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
22 Chase MSS., Stevens to Chase, October
8, 1863. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
23 Cited in an item of the Missouri
Democrat, October 9.
24 Chase MSS., Chase to Stevens, October
31, 1863. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
25 Chase MSS., Geiger to Chase, July 10.
The reception was reported
in the Cincinnati Commercial, October
13, 1863.
586
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
tion in Pennsylvania. The candidates
there were Gov-
ernor Curtin and Judge Woodward.
Curtin's reelec-
tion was opposed by the Cameron faction
so his success
was by no means certain. The President
had sought to
avoid this circumstance by offering
Curtin a desirable
foreign post to become effective at the
expiration of his
term as governor on condition that he
forego the cam-
paign. This, Curtin was not unwilling
to do and an-
nounced that he would not seek
reelection, but a number
of the larger counties placed his name
before the people,
notwithstanding the declination. Rather
than run the
risk of further dividing the party it
was necessary for
him to make the race.26
Chase also had an interest in the
political situation in
Pennsylvania. On August 30, John Covode
had visited
him and proposed that the state be made
safe for Chase
by offering Curtin and his faction the
treasury patronage
of Pennsylvania in return for their
assurance that they
would use their organization to select
to the next party
convention delegates who would be
favorable to Chase.
Covode pointed out that Curtin would
have to take ad-
vantage of every such opportunity to
insure his own
election. The political sagacity of
such a move may well
be questioned since it would have
compelled Chase to
align himself definitely with a faction
that was by no
means certain of victory; the failure
of such an alliance
would have meant practical loss of the
state. No doubt
Chase saw this side of the question but
he did not give
it as his reason for refusing to
bargain. He advised
Covode to support the party candidate
because of party
loyalty; besides, Chase denied that he
was anxious to
26 A. K. McClure, Lincoln and Men of
War Time, 79.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of 1860 587
be president, but should his friends
put forward his
name they must do so without binding
him in his choice
of an administration. Covode allowed
himself to be per-
suaded and promised to use his
influence among those
who were then in opposition to Curtin's
candidacy.27
Thus to both Lincoln and Chase the
election in Pennsyl-
vania meant more than just the choice
of a governor.
The President made no effort to conceal
his doubt
and anxiety regarding the outcome.28
All day long and
far into the night of October 13, he
remained near the
wire which carried frequent reports of
the election.
Late that night after Brough had
reported his majority
to be well over one hundred thousand
votes, Lincoln ex-
pressed his relief by his message:
"Glory to God in the
highest, Ohio has saved the
nation."29
Before returning to Washington Chase
accepted the
invitation of Governor Morton to visit
Indiana. Wher-
ever he introduced him Morton made a
flattering speech
and Chase replied in jubilant mood.30
The story goes
that one day as Chase and Morton rode
through the
streets of Indianapolis Chase told
Morton that were he
president, Morton would be secretary of
state.31 What-
ever Morton thought is not recorded but
certainly there
is no lack of evidence that the people
of Ohio and In-
diana looked upon Chase with favor.
Some compli-
mented him merely on his oratorical
effort but there
27 Chase
diary, entry for August 30, 1863.
28 Welles, Diary, I, 469-470.
29 D. J. Ryan, "Lincoln in
Ohio," in the Ohio Archaeological and His-
torical Quarterly, XXXII (January, 1922), p. 211-212.
30 Chase MSS., Chase to W. D. Bickham,
October 18, 1863. [Pa.
Hist. Soc.] Cincinnati Commercial, October
15.
31 W. D. Foulke, Life of Oliver P. Morton, I, 251
[The son of Gov.
Morton related the incident to Mr.
Foulke.]
588 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
were those who pronounced the Ohio
election a personal
triumph and the applause of Indiana the
herald of his
nomination for president in 1864.32 The
correspondent
of the New York Times wrote that
the demonstrations
accorded Chase showed that no man, not
even the gen-
erals in the field, had attained a
reputation comparable
to his.33 Nor did Chase
himself minimize the effect of
his visit, as his correspondence bears
witness. He wrote
that the demonstrations were entirely
spontaneous and
popular and that the recognition of the
press had been
most cordial, a fact that gave Chase
much gratification
and encouragement.34
Though the elections of Ohio and
Pennsylvania may
have attracted the major attention of
the nation, that
of New York was not without its
significance. Al-
though no governor was to be chosen the
vote would
serve as a test of Seymour's
administration. Should a
Democratic victory be recorded, Seymour
could claim it
as a vindication of his policies while
the converse could
be called a rebuke for the Democrats. A
favorable elec-
tion would also go far to allay the
feeling of insecurity
and dread that had existed in New York
City ever since
the draft riots of the preceding July.35
For some time
Chase had been combating the influence
of the Weed
faction in New York City. This he had
been doing
32 Chase MSS., Letters from R. S. Hart,
October 16; Parsons, October
17; J. A. Briggs, October 17, 22; H. W.
Hoffman and Barney, October 19;
J. M. Jones, October 20; S. G. Browne
and Flamen Ball, October 21, 1863.
33 Oct. 19, other papers expressing a
similar estimate were National
Intelligencer, October 21 and N. Y. Herald, November 12.
34 Chase MSS., Chase to E. D. Mansfield,
October 18; Chase to Con-
ness, October 18. [Both in Pa. Hist.
Soc.]
35 Chase MSS., Chas. Gould to Chase,
July 16; S. Knapp to Chase,
July 16; J. T. Hogeboom to Chase, July
18.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 589
through the efforts of David D. Field,
whom he intended
to reward with the position of
Assistant Secretary as
soon as Congress would create the
office.36 Field had
been assisted in his efforts by James
A. Briggs, a deputy
collector of the port of New York.
Hiram Barney, head
of the New York Custom House, could not
be relied
upon in a political skirmish as much as
Chase might
have wished from a man in so important
a position.
Barney had appointed as one of his
secretaries a
young man named Palmer, who was hand in
glove with
certain members of the Weed faction and
gave them
such information as he could learn
through his posi-
tion.37 What Chase most
needed in New York, his
friends said, was a leader around whom
he could or-
ganize the state. Neither the inept
Barney nor Mayor
Opdyke, with his own political future
to look after,
would do. So far Henry B. Stanton had
done some-
thing in the right direction but to
accomplish most it
would be necessary to find some wealthy
man living in
New York City who could afford to
entertain.38
Primarily to help the Central Committee
to cam-
paign the state but with an incidental
eye for Chase in-
terests, Judge Geiger made a speaking
tour through
New York just before the election.39
Both he and Briggs
took advantage of every opportunity
that presented it-
self to speak a word for Chase as a
presidential possi-
bility in 1864. They both reported that
Seward had lost
36 Chase diary entry for September 15,
1863.
37 Chase MSS., John A. Stevens, Jr. to
Chase, September 15. [Pa.
Hist. Soc.]
38 Chase MSS., Briggs to Chase,
September 30.
39 Chase MSS., Geiger to Chase, October
25.
590 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
his ascendancy, but that they could do
but little with the
Weed men.40
The final outcome of the state
elections, in every
case except New Jersey, was a victory
for the Union
party. While this must have cheered the
President so
far as the support of the war was
concerned, it afforded
him but very little personal
satisfaction. An analysis
of the returns shows that many of the
votes must have
come from those members of the Democratic
party who
favored the prosecution of the war but
did not want to
sacrifice their party membership to
indicate that prefer-
ence. This fact was repeatedly pointed
out by the press
and ably summarized by Governor-elect
Brough who
wrote, "The election is not the
triumph of any man
. . . Neither is it the triumph of any
party
The line of division has been between
those who were
friends of the government and the
country on one side
and the opponents of these on the
other."41 In no sense
of the word could the victory be
attributed to the per-
sonal popularity of the President.
But the President had other political
problems than
the election to occupy his attention.
One of these was
created by the radical Union wing of
the party in Mis-
souri. On September 22, they held a
Convention at Jef-
ferson City in which practically every
county had a rep-
resentation. The result of this
Convention was the en-
40 Chase MSS., Briggs to Chase; Geiger to Chase, both
dated Novem-
ber 2.
41 Condensation of a letter of Brough's
printed in the National In-
telligencer, November 16. Between November 6 and 16 the N. Y. Tribune,
World and Times, the Journal of Commerce, the
Philadelphia Press, the
Cincinnati Commercial, the Toledo
Blade and the Chicago Tribune all ex-
pressed similar beliefs.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 591
actment of a set of resolutions to be
placed before the
President by a delegation of which
Charles D. Drake
was chairman. The chief demands of the
radicals were
the removal of General Schofield and
the appointment
of General Butler in his stead; the
abolition of the state
militia system and the substitution of
federal forces in
Missouri; and lastly the denial of
franchise to all per-
sons who had engaged in rebellion. The
conservative
Union element, led by Francis P. Blair,
wanted all of
these demands denied and further asked
that the Missis-
sippi River be opened to trade. This
would permit their
continued control of the state.
Inasmuch as river trade
had been prohibited by order of the
Secretary of the
Treasury, Chase was involved in the
discussion and the
radicals were more or less compelled to
assume his de-
fence in order to defeat the entire
program of the con-
servatives. Hence, the organ of the
radicals, the Mis-
souri Democrat frequently disapproved of the policies
of the President, because of his
apparently close rela-
tionship to the Blairs, and almost as
often it took up the
defence of Chase, until it began to
appear that Chase
led the radical element against Blair
and the conserva-
tives.42
When the Missouri delegates arrived in
Washing-
ton late in September they at once
called on Chase.43
What the topic of their conference was
is not known,
but a short time later, in response to
a serenade, Chase
said that he would not discuss their
mission because he
did not wish to anticipate the
President.44
42 Missouri Democrat, September 20, 24, 25, 29, 1863.
43 Chase, diary entry for September 30,
1863.
44 Missouri Democrat, October 3.
592 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
On October 5, the President made his
official reply
to the demands of the radicals and in
it he denied prac-
tically all that had been asked.
Disappointed, Drake
said that Lincoln "would live to
see and regret his mis-
take."45 The New York Independent
expressed its sym-
pathy for the radicals and its
displeasure with the Pres-
ident for turning away from "the
Promised Land back
to the flesh pots of Egypt."46
During his visit to Ohio
for the election Chase again saw the
radicals, then on
their way homeward. He took occasion at
that time to
express his sympathy and to promise aid
to them and
their cause whenever he should be
called upon in the
future.47
During the fall of 1863, the Missouri
question was
debated in lively fashion. The
conservatives found
much to their liking in the attitude of
the President and
expressed relief that he had
"routed the Jacobins, horse,
foot and dragoons."48 The
radicals, on their part, in-
creased their censure of Lincoln and
turned more and
more to Chase.49 The
Indianapolis Gazette gave the
controversy a distinctly political
expression when it cen-
sured Lincoln for listening too closely
to the advice
of Bates, the Blairs and Governor
Gamble to retain
Schofield in order that they might
continue their profit-
able control of western patronage and
trade. Such con-
duct, thought the editor, explains why
the friends of the
party do not desire Lincoln's
reflection.50 Nor was this
45 National Intelligencer, October 27, 29.
46 N. Y. Independent, October.
47 Cincinnati Commercial, October 13.
48 Bates
diary, entry for October 16; Missouri Republican, October 27
49 Missouri Democrat, October 14.
50 February 12, 1864. (Evening edition.)
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 593
opinion far different from that
expressed in Greeley's
paper.51
Of course Chase was dissatisfied and so
wrote
Drake, but he also recognized the
favored position the
President enjoyed as the official
leader of his party.52
Let the unconditional Union men be
patient and work
[he advised Drake]. Let the President
receive the respect due to
his position and I must add, to his
character, though he disap-
points us; for I am sure he means to do
right. Let it be re-
membered too as a point of prudence,
that among those who sym-
pathize with the Unconditional Unionists
there are those who
would be alienated by even imagined
injustice to him; many who
would upon an issue with him shrink from
your side for fear
of dividing the party, or for fear of
losing caste with the con-
troller of patronage. These notions are
powerful and the last
not the least powerful.
Consider your steps--be prudent--be
resolute. Stand man-
fully to your principles for they are
right. Conciliate all you can
without sacrificing them and overcome
all you cannot conciliate.
Certainly there was in Chase's advice
the seeds of a
definite, well-planned opposition to
the stand Lincoln
had taken. Nor did Chase confine his
criticism to radi-
cal Missourians alone. To a friend who
was inclined
to think that the President had acted
wisely, Chase at
once wrote to point out how he had
erred.53 To another
he lamented that his effort to get the
President to take
a more positive stand on the Missouri
question had
ended in failure and that now all that
was left for him
to do was to support the administration
in respectful
silence.54
51 Reprint in the National
Intelligencer, October 29, 1863.
52 Chase MSS., Chase to Drake, October
26. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
53 Chase MSS., Chase to E. D. Mansfield,
October 27, 1863. [Pa.
Hist. Soc.]
54 Chase MSS., Chase to Theo. Tilton,
October 31. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
Vol. XXXIX--38.
594
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
But by December Lincoln was convinced
that some
further action on his part was
necessary to quiet the
radicals. The demand easiest handled
was the removal
of Schofield because the General, upon
assurance that
he would be well cared for in another
quarter, was will-
ing to resign. Senator Benjamin Gratz
Brown, Mis-
souri radical in Congress, agreed to
labor for Senatorial
ratification of Schofield's promotion.
To secure the co-
operation of Stanton it was necessary
for the President
to explain that "from a military
point of view it may
be that none of these things are . . .
advantageous;
but in another respect, scarcely less
important, they
would give relief; while at the worst .
. . they could
not injure the military service much .
. ."55 Scho-
field resigned but he felt that he was
a sacrifice to the
radicals who were scheming to advance
Chase.56 This
tardy concession was hailed by the
radical element with
glee; to them it appeared as an
admission on the part of
Lincoln that he had been wrong in his
earlier denial of
their demands. "In plowing around
the stump the Pres-
ident has thrown away a magnificent
opportunity of
doing a just thing in a magnanimous way,"
was the
opinion of the Missouri
Democrat. The radicals of
Missouri reciprocated the action of the
President by
denying that they planned to make Chase
their candi-
date for president unless they were
compelled to do so
by the retention of
"Rockville" Blair and "Granny"
Bates in the Cabinet.57 Thus
did Lincoln succeed in
55 Stanton MSS., Lincoln to Stanton,
December 18.
56 J.
M. Schofield, Forty-six Years in the Army, p. 77.
57 Missouri Democrat, December
19, and editorial of December 29, 1863.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 595
quieting the worst clamors of his
tormentors while
Chase was still without a means of
silencing the Blairs.
But the friends of Chase were thinking
of him as
the choice of the party for the next
presidency. As early
as January, Joshua Giddings, certain
that Chase would
be unopposed in 1864, advised a
reorganization of the
party toward that end.58 Others
with like views pointed
out the advantages of an early candidacy
in perfecting
a national organization.59 Colonel
Parsons, however, did
not believe that anything could be
gained by such a
movement. His plan was to continue the
work of indi-
viduals in every state until after the
opening of Con-
gress, then after conferring with the
members from all
parts of the country a more intelligent
procedure could
be devised than would be the case
before.60 Certainly
there was no reason for Chase to fear
that his friends
were idle, for from every quarter he
heard of their ac-
tivity. Members of the editorial staff
of the National
Intelligencer assured
him that they were ready to sup-
port his views61 and from
New York to California there
were others who professed to be of similar
intent.62 Op-
dyke was more active than he had ever
been, sending
men to Washington from time to time, to
learn directly
from Chase himself the newest changes
of policy.63 Cas-
sius M. Clay still accounted Chase as
first among the
58 Chase MSS., Giddings to Chase,
January 13. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
59 Chase
MSS., John Leavitt to Chase, September 30. [Leavitt was
on the editorial staff of the N. Y. Independent.]
60 Chase MSS., Parsons to Chase,
September 3, 1863.
61 Chase MSS., Jas. C. Welling to Chase, February 4.
62 Chase MSS., E. W. Chester to Chase,
June 22; Judge Crocker
to Chase, June 27.
63 Chase MSS., Opdyke to Chase, August
26.
596 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
candidates64 and Richard
Henry Dana was convinced
that Chase meant to be the next
president.65 Judge
Geiger, after a trip to West Virginia,
reported Governor
Bowman and Colonel Crothers as agreeing
that Chase
could carry their state.66 William
Wales, editor of the
Baltimore American, was active
for Chase and before
printing political editorials he would
sometimes send
them to the Secretary for his approval.67
From Cincin-
nati came numerous letters from Flamen
Ball who was
assiduously collecting material for a
campaign biogra-
phy.68 Greeley, veteran of
many campaigns, wrote that
if he could make the president and not
merely name a
candidate, Chase would be the man.69
But then Greeley
had said those same words in 1860 to
cover up the fact
that he did nothing at all for Chase at
Chicago.70 Gov-
ernor Morton frequently flattered Chase
in public ad-
dress and then would have his secretary
mail him copies
of the speech.71 James A.
Briggs, in his report on Mich-
igan, quoted Chandler as saying that
both he and Wade
would go for Chase if he were as strong
in the Con-
vention as he now appeared to be.
Briggs also advised
Chase to find a place for the late Speaker
of the House
of the Michigan legislature, for he was
a very close
64 Chase MSS., Clay to Chase, March 23;
again on September 6 he
used the same expression.
65 C.
F. Adams, Richard Henry Dana, II, 265.
66 Chase MSS., Geiger to Chase, August
28.
67 Chase MSS., Wales to Chase, September
19; Baltimore American,
September 23.
68 Chase MSS., Ball to Chase, September
21.
69 Chase MSS., Greeley to Chase, September 29, 1863. [Pa.
Hist. Soc.]
70 Chase MSS., Briggs to Chase, May 30, 1860.
71 Chase MSS., Holloway to Chase,
October 5, 1863.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 597
friend of Chandler.72 Orville
H. Browning of Illinois,
soon to be the President's choice for
Speaker of the
House of Representatives, wrote that
Chase or some
man like him must be made president in
order to save
the nation from being "dashed to
atoms on the waves
of popular passion."73
Judge Spalding reported that
New England wanted Chase for president
and that per-
sonally he was ready to grant her that
desire.74 Among
the foreign born, Chase workers were
equally active and
believed that the German vote that had
been for Fremont
could now be directed to Chase.75 In
New York City
the Polish press, a decisive agent in
guiding Polish
voters, was decidedly pro-Chase.76
Likewise, plans
were proposed to gain control of the
Jewish press of that
city.77 Illinois, the home
of the President, appeared as
favorable to Chase as it did to its own
son. Medill, both
in the Chicago Tribune and in
his personal correspond-
ence, appeared highly displeased with
Lincoln and apt to
support Chase. He was, however, under
constant
pressure from the Lincoln men, so did
nothing decisive
72 Chase MSS., Briggs to Chase, November
2. At the same time,
however, Judge Noah H. Swayne wrote that
Chancellor Manning and
Judge Christiancy, also from Michigan,
agreed that Chase's service in the
Treasury Department was the working of a
kind providence and that he
should consider himself, not a
"great author" but "only an instrument"
and conduct himself accordingly. Chase
MSS., November 4.
73 Ewing
MSS., Browning to Ewing, June 15. One of Trumbull's
correspondents wrote him that
"common talk" showed the need for some
candidate other than Lincoln and that
Chase seemed to be the man. Trum-
bull MSS., Barber to Trumbull, October
30.
74 Chase MSS., Spalding to Chase, August
13. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
75 Chase MSS., C. W. Kleeburg to Chase,
February 8; Thos. Brown
to Chase, May 22, 1863.
76 Chase MSS., Chas. L. Alexander to Chase, August 11.
77 Chase MSS., A. S. Cohen to Chase,
September 1.
598 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
until very late in the year.78 Governor
Yates was very
cool toward the question of Lincoln's
reflection79 and
Trumbull watched closely to discern the
trend of opin-
ion that he might be found on the
popular side.80 For
these reasons Chase was not greatly
concerned over
Illinois, feeling that nothing definite
would be done
there until it would be too late to aid
Lincoln.81 Iowa,
Chase heard, was "right" with
such men as Judges But-
ler and Springer and Senator Grimes in
his support.82
In December it was said that a Chase
organization was
being formed in New York with General
Wadsworth,
now satisfied that Chase could defeat
Lincoln, ready to
give it his support.83 James
Gordon Bennett, editor of
the New York Herald, admitted
the President's good
intentions and integrity but denied
that he had the abil-
ity to lead the country safely through
the grave crisis
it was now in. This, the Chase men
thought was in
their favor and they also enjoyed the Herald's
refer-
ences to the ascendancy of Chase over
Seward in the
Cabinet.84 What they most
desired was an open decla-
ration from Bennett that he would
support Chase for
the presidency. James A. Briggs suggested that the
editor be won over by inviting his son,
James Gordon
Bennett, Jr., to the approaching
wedding of Kate Chase
and Governor Sprague, an affair that
gave promise
of being the biggest social event of
war-ridden Wash-
78 Chase MSS., Briggs to Chase, October 17.
79
Trumbull MSS., Geo. B. Brown to Trumbull, November 12.
80 Trumbull MSS., H. Barber to Trumbull,
October 30.
81 Chase
MSS., Chase to Spalding, November 5. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
82 Chase MSS., R. L. B. Clarke to Chase,
November 5.
83 Chase MSS., Thos. Hogeboom to Chase,
December 28.
84 N. Y.
Herald, July 9, 31, August 8 and 13, 1863.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 599
ington. Briggs thought that such notice
would flatter
the elder Bennett and perhaps persuade
him to come
out for Chase. After a night's repose
Briggs again
wrote to Chase, submitting a second
plan. This time
he suggested that since the younger
Bennett was the
proud possessor of a well-appointed
yacht, it might be
good policy to find some mission, not
too dangerous.
upon which he might be sent. This, said
Briggs, would
perhaps satisfy the family desire for
recognition.85 But
Chase knew that the latter plan had
been tried86 and
he did not see fit to employ the former
so Bennett was
never entirely won over to the Chase
camp.
Thanks to the wealthy Cookes, of
Philadelphia, who
regarded Chase as the greatest
statesman of his gen-
eration, Pennsylvania was flooded with
pro-Chase prop-
aganda. They not only supported Chase
through their
own paper in Philadelphia but sent
articles, many of
which Chase first approved, to other
papers all over the
state.87
Now and then some of his lieutenants
would ask
Chase to use his patronage to help his
cause. Geiger
suggested that the editor of the Ohio
State Journal be
sent on some far distant consulship so
that a man could
be named as his successor who could
give the paper
some political value,88 In
Senator John Conness of Cali-
fornia, Chase fancied that he saw a
possible supporter
of strength so he wrote to him
regarding treasury ap-
85 Chase MSS., Briggs to Chase, October
22 and 23.
86 Don C. Seitz, The James Gordon
Bennetts, p. 81, quoting Chase
MSS., Lincoln to Chase, May 6, 1861.
[Treas. Dept.]
87 Cooke MSS., Joshua Hanna to Jay Cooke, December 1;
Henry
Cooke to Jay Cooke, April 13, 1863. [Pa.
Hist. Soc.]
88 Chase MSS., Geiger to Chase,
September 1.
600 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
pointments on the Pacific coast.89
Conness knew Chase
and politics equally well, so he
replied that no appointee
of his suggestion would be permitted to
work against the
best interests of Secretary of the
Treasury and he fur-
ther assured him that the entire West
viewed his work
with approbation.90 This,
Chase thought was very en-
couraging and to show Conness just how
much his sup-
port was esteemed Chase wrote that
"from the moment
I saw and heard you I felt that
Providence had sent us
a bold, clear-headed and faithful man
from the Pacific
. . . I feel sure that I shall not be
disappointed in the
man I select in consultation with
you."91 Shortly after
his correspondence with Senator Conness
Chase wrote
to an admirer, "The good opinion
and warm expressions
of it . . . creates an atmosphere in
which I breathe
most freely and inhale most vigor.
Approval stimulates
exertion as disapproval withers it.
Even if approval is
not felt to be deserved, in a mind of
any susceptibility,
strenuous desires and corresponding
[effort] follows
it."92 The political
prospects were brightening.
But if Chase were prone to be too
sanguine in his
outlook his lieutenants were not. It
was Geiger's in-
cessant plea to "quit blind
striking" and do something
89
Chase MSS., Chase to Conness, October 18. [Pa. Hist. Soc.] iCon-
ness had been among those who had
objected to Victor Smith as collector
at San Francisco. Smith and Chase were
close friends and Chase was
reluctant to remove him but Lincoln
virtually demanded his transfer (May
8) and Chase at once offered to resign
(May 13). The President, unwill-
ing to have Chase resign at the moment,
persuaded him to remain in the
Cabinet. Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, IX,
89; M. B. Field, Memories of
Many Men and Some Women, 303.
90 Chase MSS., Conness to Chase, October
24.
91 Chase MSS., Chase to Conness, October
31, 1863. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
92 Chase MSS., Chase to Thos. Starr
King, November 2. [Pa. Hist.
Soc.]
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 601
to put "public sentiment, which is
in your favor, in
shape."93 Perhaps it
was under just such stimulus that
Chase decided to try to win the support
of the War
Democrats who were holding a convention
in Chicago
in November. His plan was to have
certain men who
were known to have influence in that
quarter, attend the
convention and present a plan which he
could use as a
platform. Daniel S. Dickinson was one
of the men
chosen and after stressing the
importance of the work
which Dickinson could do, Chase,
admitting the prob-
able impropriety of his conduct as a
candidate, pro-
ceeded to set forth the principles
which he should like for
the Democrats to adopt. He would have
the party de-
clare that Democracy is based on the
equal rights of
man and that to deny these rights to
any is inconsistent.
The opposite of Democracy is slavery
and because the
states enjoying its pretended benefits
have engaged in
rebellion, slavery can have no place
under the constitu-
tion, therefore, to be loyal the party
should expressly
recognize the freedom of the negro. In
reconstructing
the rebel states only such loyal men
should have a share
and the state should make express
recognition of eman-
cipation and give constitutional
guaranty against seces-
sion in the future.94 The
man selected to aid Dickinson
93 Chase
MSS., Geiger to Chase, November 10. On November 2,
Briggs had urged "a thorough and
united concert of action." On Novem-
ber 16, H. C. Bowen, editor of the
Brooklyn Independent, wrote that the
time had come for a more organized
effort, and that only through the
want of such an organization could Chase
be defeated in 1864. His final
word is significant. "I am afraid
to act for fear I shall not move in ac-
cordance with some general plan."
There were doubtless many others
who felt the same.
94 Chase MSS., Chase to Dickinson,
November 18, 1863. [Pa. Hist.
Soc.] Weed knew of Chase's plan for
reconstruction and said that it was
602 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
was Governor Sprague, recently acquired
son-in-law of
the Secretary. To him, Chase wrote,
that if his name
were to be brought forward in the
coming campaign it
would be very helpful to. look to the
character of the
Democratic convention. Chase further
informed him
of his ideas of a platform which had
been sent to Dick-
inson and advised that Sprague and
Dickinson go to
Chicago together so that they might
further perfect
their program."95 To
each of these men Chase made it
abundantly clear that he hoped to be a
presidential can-
didate in 1864.
While his friends were busy working in
his behalf,
Chase kept up his criticisms of the war
and the admin-
istration. Among other things he found
fault with the
relationship of the President to his
Cabinet and the
mode, or rather the lack of mode, in
its operation. In
his correspondence and in his diary he
referred to that
body as "the Heads" or
"the Cabinet so-called."96 There
was, he said, no such organization as a
Cabinet, properly
speaking. Each man did as he pleased in
his own de-
partment and at the Cabinet meetings.
It was Stanton,
Halleck and the President who managed
the war as they
pleased, complained Chase, without
regard for the ad-
vice that he or other members of the
Cabinet offered.
In fact he felt that for all the good
they did, the Cabinet
meetings might as well be dispensed
with, and Chase
had no scruples about absenting himself
from the ses-
designed to keep the South out of the
union until after the next election "be-
cause their vote on the presidential
question is not wanted." Bigelow,
Retrospections, II, 97. Welles made a similar charge, Diary, I,
413.
95 Chase MSS., Chase to Sprague, November
18. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
96 Chase diary, September 3, 14, 29.
[Lib. of Cong.] Chase to
Sprague, October 31, 1863. [Pa. Hist.
Soc.]
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 603
sions.97 Outside the
official family there were those
who observed the want of harmony and
some said that
Chase, as much as any one, was
responsible.98 For mis-
management in military affairs Chase
held Lincoln alone
responsible, for he was the head of the
administration
and should see to it that there was
cooperation.99
Occasionally there would come to Chase
a warning
to court some general for particular
reasons, as in the
case of Rosecrans. James Saffin of
Cincinnati warned
him to avoid doing anything prejudicial
to the interests
of the general, since he possessed a
large influence with
a certain sect in Cincinnati and
elsewhere.100 In this
particular instance, however, Chase had
anticipated his
informant. He had already written to
Bishop Purcell,
of Cincinnati, in flattering terms
about Rosecrans, re-
minding him that it had been Chase's
advice that had
secured his advancement in the west. As
a further bid
for Catholic support Chase told the
Bishop that he had
asked the President to instruct the
Ambassador to Rome
to persuade the Pope to advance Purcell
to the Arch-
bishopric vacated by the recent death
of John Hughes.101
97 Chase MSS., Letters to Barney, July
21; E. D. Mansfield, October
27; to Tilton, to Sprague, to Thaddeus
Stevens, October 31; to Hooker,
December 21. [Pa. Hist. Soc.] Diary
entry, September 29.
98 Adams, Dana, II, 265; Bigelow,
op. cit., II, 100.
99 "I should fear nothing [wrote
Chase] if we had an administration
in the just sense of the word, guided by
a bold, resolute, far-seeing and
active mind, guided by an honest,
earnest heart. But this we have not.
Oh! for energy and economy in the
management of the war. But how
can we have this with three heads?"
[Chase MSS., Chase to Mansfield,
October 18, 1863. Pa. Hist. Soc.] Also,
Chase to Weiss, August 21; to
Halstead, September 21; to W. D.
Bickham, October 18; to Gen. Webb.
November 7. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
100 Chase MSS., Saffin to Chase,
December 21.
101 Chase MSS., Chase to Purcell, November 7; February 1,
1864.
[Pa. Hist. Soc.]
604 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Then there were times when Chase
affected indiffer-
ence to the presidency. What the people
desired of him
was what he strove to give, he would
say. His per-
sonal future he was willing to leave to
the disposition of
events. Or again, he would pretend that
a judicial po-
sition would be more to his liking, and
once, after he
had so written, he added:102
But Providence has kept me hitherto in
political positions and
I now think that I have done more good
than I could have effected
on the Bench. And so I think also
concerning the future. Per-
haps I am overconfident, but I really
feel as if, with God's bless-
ing, I could administer the
government of this country so as to
secure and imperdibilize our
institutions and create a party . . .
which would guarantee a succession of
successful administrations.
I may be overconfident I say; and I
shall take it as a sign that
I am, if the people do not call for me,
and shall be content.
Similarly he wrote to Greeley and
others and when he
mentioned that he did not wish to be a
presidential can-
didate he was always careful to imply
that he would
be.103
Lincoln, of course knew something of
Chase's
schemes. His active young secretaries,
Messrs. Nicolay
and Hay, frequently informed him of
some one or
another of them but the President
always professed dis-
interest so long as Chase did his duty
as Secretary of
the Treasury.104 Lincoln's
followers were not so com-
placent and, with Attorney General
Bates, believed that
it was high time for "all honest
conservatives to lay
102 Chase MSS., Chase to Joshua Leavitt, October 7, 1863. [
Pa. Hist.
Soc.]
103 Chase MSS., Chase to
Greeley, October 9; to Geo. Harrington,
November 19; to Gov. Sprague, November
26; to E. A. Spencer, December
4. [Pa. Hist. Soc.] Chase diary, October
2, 1863.
104 Printed but not published diary of
John Hay, October 16, 29, 30.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 605
their heads together . . . to save
something from the
wreck which the unscrupulous radicals
are conspiring to
bring the country."105 In
August, the President was in-
vited to attend a mass meeting of the
Union party to be
held in Springfield, Illinois. Unable
to attend in person,
Lincoln wrote a letter of regret.
Whether or not he so
intended it, this letter was used as a
statement and de-
fence of his policies and was reprinted
again and
again.106 Shortly after this
Lincoln conferred with
Weed and others regarding his
candidacy.107
The New York Herald announced in
November that
the President had indicated that he
would seek reelec-
tion.108 In the Cabinet,
Blair and Seward began actively
working toward that end109 and
outside, such prominent
radicals as Phillips and Garrison
seemed to accept the
administration with better spirit and
allow it to be
thought that they desired Lincoln's
reflection.110 In
Ohio, S. S. Cox sought to bring the
Democracy to the
President's support111 and
Lyman Trumbull decided that
it was high time to declare for his
fellow-citizen, even
though only modestly.112 But
most important of all was
the announcement of the Chicago Tribune
on December
105 Bates diary, October 26.
106
Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, II, 396. Letter to J. C.
Conkling, August 26, 1863.
107 Ibid., II,
424; Trumbull MSS., G. B. Brown to Trumbull, November
12. After a conference with the
President, Brown wrote that he would
be a candidate.
108 November 20, 23, 24. Times,
Nov. 10, said that Lincoln was now
in the campaign with Chase as his chief
rival.
109 Bigelow,
op. cit., II, 100.
110 L. Sears, Wendell Phillips, 24.6;
A. H. Grimke, William Lloyd
Garrison, 376; Springfield (Mass.) Republican, November
18.
111 Printed but unpublished diary of
Hay, December 24.
112 Welles, Diary, I, 498.
606 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
17, that the country demanded another
term of "Honest
Abe" and that Chase would have to
wait until 1868.
Like Chase, the President did not want
to leave the
impression that he was over-anxious so
he once wrote,
"I am only the people's attorney .
. . If the people
desire to change their attorney it is
not for me to resist
or complain. Nevertheless, between you
and me, I think
the change would be impolitic, whoever
might be substi-
tuted for the present counsel.113 But,
again like Chase,
Lincoln made it clear that he would be
a candidate;
"when the Presidential grub once
gets in a man it hides
well," he is reported to have
explained.114
The thirty-eighth Congress assembled on
December
7, and the House elected Schuyler
Colfax, the candidate
of Henry Winter Davis and Thaddeus
Stevens, to be its
Speaker. Surely this was a victory for
the radicals but
Chase was in no mood to enjoy it. He
was having his
troubles with Hiram Barney and slowly
but surely he
saw
Thurlow Weed wresting
from his control the pat-
ronage of the New York customs; a
serious loss on the
eve of a political campaign.115
113 Noah
Brooks, Lincoln and Slavery, 385.
114 W. E. Dodd, Lincoln or Lee, 123.
The President had advised Blair,
after his election, to come to
Washington and help organize the House
after which event he could resume his
position in the army since it would
not have been filled in the interim. All
this the President told to Whitelaw
Reid with the admonition that "this
Blair business must not get out . . ."
R. Cortissoz, Life of Reid, I,
107, quoting a letter, Reid to Greeley, Nov.
2, 1863. There seemed, however, to be a
general understanding among
those of inner political circles that
Colfax would win the Speakership.
Bigelow, op. cit., Weed to
Bigelow, December 1, 1863.
115 Chase MSS., R. F. Andrews to Chase,
December 15. Chase made
an effort to control Barney by personal
letters and special messengers, but
Barney refused to give any positive
assurance that he would work for
Chase's nomination. Edw. Jordan to
Chase, October 27; Chase to Barney,
November 7 [Pa. Hist. Soc.]; J. F.
Bailey to Chase, December 13.
Salmon P. Chase and the Election of
1860 607
On December 8, the President delivered
his annual
message. He described the progress of
the war and set
forth the principles of a
reconstruction without vin-
dictiveness. Chase at once called it a
disappointment
and then, falling back upon the
philosophy he ascribed to
Touchstone, said that the country must
be satisfied with
skim-milk when it could not get
cream.116 The New
York World, the Rochester Union,
the Boston Courier
and a few other papers also called the
message unsatis-
factory117 but in the main
the press and the people ac-
cepted it with a quiet tolerance.118
As the trying year drew to its close it
became clearly
apparent to the members of the
Republican party that
they were to witness a duel for
leadership. The South,
growing tired of the war but still
unwilling to admit
defeat, looked on with the hope that a
split in the Re-
publican ranks would permit the Democrats
to win the
election and then draw up a peace that
would award the
Confederacy a victory they had not won
in the field.
The contest was on, would the victor be
Lincoln or
Chase?
116 Chase
MSS., Chase to Bucher, December 26, 1863. [Pa. Hist. Soc.]
Weed was displeased with the message and
the "willy-nilly way" of the
administration, and especially with
"that old imbecile at the head of
the Navy Department." Chase, he
said, made an able report and was an
able man but was cramped because
"his eye was single--not to the welfare
of his country in an unselfish cause,
but to the Presidency!" Bigelow, op.
cit., II, 109.
117 All issues for December 10.
118 Cincinnati
Commercial, Louisville Journal, National Intelligencer,
Chicago Tribune, N. Y. Evening Post,
N. Y. Times, December 10; Provi-
dence Journal, December 11.
(To be continued in October QUARTERLY)