Davis got his bill through the House,but his allies in the Senate laid it aside.They understood the country too -well not to see that they must wait for something to happen.if the President made any mistake,if anything went wrong with the army-they remembered the spring of 1862,McClellan's failure,and how Chandler followed it up.And at this moment no man was chafing more angrily because of what the ground was saying,no man was watching the President more keenly,than Chandler.
History is said to repeat itself,and all things are supposed to come to him who waits.While Davis's bill was before the House,Lincoln accepted battle with the Vindictives in a way that was entirely unostentatious,but that burned his bridges.
He pressed forward the organization of a new State government in Louisiana under Federal auspices.He wrote to Michael Hahn,the newly chosen governor of this somewhat fictitious State:"Icongratulate you on having fixed your name in history as the first Free State governor of Louisiana."[3]
Meanwhile,the hotheads of the House again followed Davis's lead and flung defiance in Lincoln's face.Napoleon,who had all along coquetted alarmingly with the Confederates,had also pushed ahead with his insolent conquest of Mexico.Lincoln and Seward,determined to have but one war on their hands at a time,had skilfully evaded committing themselves.The United States had neither protested against the action of Napoleon,nor in any way admitted its propriety.Other men besides the Vindictives were biding their time.But here the hotheads thought they saw an opportunity.Davis brought in a resolution which amounted to a censure of the Administration for not demanding the retirement of the French from Mexico.This was one of those times when the Democrats played politics and followed Davis.The motion was carried unanimously.[4]It was so much of a sensation that the 'American Minister at Paris,calling on the Imperial Minister of Foreign Affairs,was met by the curt question,"Do you bring peace or war?"But it was not in the power of the House to draw Lincoln's fire until he chose to be drawn.He ignored its action.The Imperial Government was informed that the acts of the House of Representatives were not the acts of the President,and that in relation to France,if the President should change his policy,the imperial Government would be duly in formed.[5]
It was Lincoln's fate to see his policy once again at the mercy of his Commanding General.That was his situation in the spring of 1862when everything hung on McClellan who failed him;again in the autumn of the year when McClellan so narrowly saved him.The spring of 1864paralleled,in this respect,that other spring two years earlier.To be sure,Lincoln's position was now much stronger;he had a great personal following on which he relied.But just how strong it was he did not know.He was taking a great risk forcing a policy high-handed in defiance of Congress,where all his bitterest enemies were entrenched,glowering.If his General failed him now--The man on whom this huge responsibility rested was Grant.
Lincoln had summoned him from the West and placed him at the head of all the armies of the Republic.As to Halleck who had long since proved himself perfectly useless,he was allowed to lapse into obscurity.
Grant has preserved in his Memoirs his first confidential talk with Lincoln:"He told me he did not want to know what Iproposed to do.But he submitted a plan of campaign of his own that he wanted me to hear and then do as I pleased about.He brought out a map of Virginia on which he had evidently marked every position occupied by the Federal and Confederate armies up to that time.He pointed out on the map two streams which empty into the Potomac,and suggested that an army might be moved on boats and landed between the mouths of those streams.
We would then have the Potomac to bring our supplies,and the tributaries would protect our flanks while we moved out.Ilistened respectfully,but did not suggest that the same streams would protect Lee's flanks while he was shutting us up."[6]
Grant set out for the front in Virginia.Lincoln's parting words were this note:"Not expecting to see you again before the spring campaign opens,I wish to express in this way my entire satisfaction with what you have done up to this time,so far as I understand it.The particulars of your plans Ineither know nor seek to know.You are vigilant and self-reliant;and,pleased with this,I wish not to obtrude any constraints or restraints upon you.While I am very anxious that any great disaster or capture of our men in great numbers shall be avoided,I know these points are less likely to escape your attention than they would be mine.If there is anything wanting which is within my power to give,do not fail to let me know it.And now,with a brave army and a just cause,may God sustain you."[7]
