"He said he would Swing him before sundown if he attempted such a thing."Raymond,though more than half in sympathy with Burnside,felt that the situation was startling.He hurried off to Washington."I immediately,"he writes,"called upon Secretary Chase and told him the whole story.He was greatly surprised to hear such reports of Hooker,and said he had looked upon him as the man best fitted to command the army of the Potomac.But no man capable of so much and such unprincipled ambition was fit for so great a trust,and he gave up all thought of him henceforth.He wished me to go with him to his house and accompany him and his daughter to the President's levee.I did so and found a great crowd surrounding President Lincoln.Imanaged,however,to tell him in brief terms that I had been with the army and that many things were occurring there which he ought to know.I told him of the obstacles thrown in Burnside's way by his subordinates and especially General Hooker's habitual conversation.He put his hand on my shoulder and said in my ear as if desirous of not being overheard,'That is all true;Hooker talks badly;but the trouble is,he is stronger with the country today than any other man.'I ventured to ask how long he would retain that strength if his real conduct and character should be understood.'The country,'
said he,'would not believe it;they would say it was all a lie.'"[8]
Whether Chase did what he said he would do and ceased to be Hooker's advocate,may be questioned.Tradition preserves a deal between the Secretary and the General--the Secretary to urge his advancement,the General,if he reached his goal,to content himself with military honors and to assist the Secretary in succeeding to the Presidency.Hooker was a public favorite.The dashing,handsome figure of "Fighting Joe"captivated the popular imagination.The terrible Committee were his friends.Military men thought him full of promise.
On the whole,Lincoln,who saw the wisdom of following up his clash over the Cabinet by a concession to the Jacobins,was willing to take his chances with Hooker.
His intimate advisers were not of the same mind.They knew that there was much talk on the theme of a possible dictator-not the constitutional dictator of Lincoln and Stevens,but the old-fashioned dictator of historical melodrama.
Hooker was reported to have encouraged such talk.All this greatly alarmed one of Lincoln's most devoted henchmen--Lamon,Marshal of the District of Columbia,who regarded himself as personally responsible for Lincoln's safety."In conversation with Mr.Lincoln,"says Lamon,"one night about the time General Burnside was relieved,I was urging upon him the necessity of looking well to the fact that there was a scheme on foot to depose him,and to appoint a military dictator in his stead.He laughed and said,'I think,for a man of accredited courage,you are the most panicky person I ever knew;you can see more dangers to me than all the other friends I have.You are all the time exercised about somebody taking my life;murdering me;and now you have discovered a new danger;now you think the people of this great government are likely to turn me out of office.I do not fear this from the people any more than I fear assassination from an individual.
Now to show my appreciation of what my French friends would call a coup d'etat,let me read you a letter I have written to General Hooker whom I have just appointed to the command of the army of the Potomac."[9]
Few letters of Lincoln's are better known,few reveal more exactly the tone of his final period,than the remarkable communication he addressed to Hooker two days after that whispered talk with Raymond at the White House levee:
"General,I have placed you at the head of the army of the Potomac.Of course I have done this upon what appear to me to be sufficient reasons,and yet I think it best for you to know that there are some things in regard to which I am not quite satisfied with you.I believe you to be a brave and skilful soldier,which of course I like.I also believe you do not mix politics with your profession,in which you are right.You have confidence in yourself,which is a valuable,if not an indispensable quality.You are ambitious,which within reasonable bounds,does good rather than harm;but I think that during General Burnside's command of the army you have taken counsel of your ambition and thwarted him as much as you could,in which you did a great wrong to the country and to a most meritorious and honorable brother officer.I have heard in such a way as to believe it,of your recently Saying that both the army and the government needed a dictator.Of course it was not for this,but in spite of it,that I have given you the command.Only those generals who gain successes can set up dictators.What I now ask you is military success,and I will risk the dictatorship.The government will support you to the utmost of its ability,which is neither more nor less than it has done and will do for all commanders.I much fear that the spirit which you have aided to infuse into the army,of criticizing their commander and withholding confidence from him,will now turn upon you.I shall assist you as far as Ican to put it down.Neither you nor Napoleon,if he were alive again,could get any good out of an army while such a Spirit prevails in it;and now beware of rashness.Beware of rashness,but with energy and sleepless vigilance go forward and give us victories."[10]
The appointment of Hooker had the effect of quieting the Committee for the time.Lincoln turned again to his political scheme,but not until he had made another military appointment from which at the moment no one could have guessed that trouble would ever come.He gave to Burnside what might be called the sinecure position of Commander of the Department of the Ohio with headquarters at Cincinnati.[11]
