While the other secretaries were useful,Seward became necessary.Lincoln,in these dark days,found comfort in his society.[10]Lincoln was not going to allow Seward to he driven out of the Cabinet.But how could he prevent it?He could not say.He was in a quandary.For the moment,the Republican leaders were so nearly of one mind in their antagonism to Seward,that it demanded the greatest courage to oppose them.
But Lincoln does not appear to have given a thought to surrender.What puzzled him was the mode of resistance.
Now that he was wholly himself,having confidence in whatever mode of procedure his own thought approved,he had begun using methods that the politicians found disconcerting.The second conference with the Senators was an instance.Returning in the same mood in which they had left him,with no suspicion of a surprise in store,the Senators to their amazement were confronted by the Cabinet--or most of it,Seward being absent.[11]The Senators were put out.This simple maneuver by the President was the beginning of their discomfiture.It changed their role from the ambassadors of an ultimatum to the participants in a conference.But even thus,they might have succeeded in dominating the event,though it is hardly conceivable that they could have carried their point;they might have driven Lincoln into a corner;had it not been for the make-up of one man.Again,the destiny that is in character!Lincoln was delivered from a quandary by the course which the Secretary of the Treasury could not keep himself from pursuing.
Chase,previous to this hour,may truly be called an imposing figure.As a leader of the extreme Republicans,he had earned much fame.Lincoln had given him a free hand in the Treasury and all the financial measures of the government were his.
Hitherto,Vindictives of all sorts had loved him.He was a critic of the President's mildness,and a severe critic of Seward.But Chase was not candid.Though on the surface he scrupulously avoided any hint of cynicism,any point of resemblance to Seward,he was in fact far more devious,much more capable of self-deception.He had little of Seward's courage,and none of his aplomb.His condemnation of Seward had been confided privately to Vindictive brethren.
When the Cabinet and the Senators met,Chase was placed in a situation of which he had an instinctive horror.His caution,his secretiveness,his adroit confidences,his skilful silences,had created in these two groups of men,two impressions of his character.The Cabinet knew him as the faithful,plausible Minister who found the money for the President.The Senators,or some of them,knew him as the discontented Minister who was their secret ally.For the two groups to compare notes,to check up their impressions,meant that Chase was going to be found out.And it was the central characteristic of Chase that he had a horror of being found out.
The only definite result of the conference was Chase's realization when the Senators departed that mischance was his portion.In the presence of the Cabinet he had not the face to stick to his guns.He feebly defended Seward.The Senators opened their eyes and stared.The ally they had counted on had failed them.Chase bit his lips and was miserable.
The night that followed was one of deep anxiety for Lincoln.
He was still unable to see his way out.But all the while the predestination in Chase's character was preparing the way of escape.Chase was desperately trying to discover how to save his face.An element in him that approached the melodramatic at last pointed the way.He would resign.What an admirable mode of recapturing the confidence of his disappointed friends,carrying out their aim to disrupt the Cabinet!But he could not do a bold thing like this in Seward's way--at a stroke,without hesitation.When he called on Lincoln the next day with the resignation in his hand,he wavered.It happened that Welles was in the room.
"Chase said he had been painfully affected,"is Welles'
account,"by the meeting last evening,which was a surprise,and after some not very explicit remarks as to how he was affected,informed the President he had prepared his resignation of the office of Secretary of the Treasury.'Where is it,'said the President,quickly,his eye lighting up in a moment.'I brought it with me,'said Chase,taking the paper from his pocket.'I wrote it this morning.''Let me have it,'
said the President,reaching his long arm and fingers toward Chase,who held on seemingly reluctant to part with the letter which was sealed and which he apparently hesitated to surrender.Something further he wished to say,but the President was eager and did not perceive it,but took and hastily opened the letter.
