nt to himself. He imagined that he did not covet
advancement, and was anxious only for the public good; yet, in the midst
of his enormous labors found time to write letters to every part of the
country, protesting his indifference to the presidency, but indicating
his willingness to accept it, and painting pictures so dark of the
chaotic state of affairs in the government, that the irresistible
inference was that only he could save the country. From the beginning
Mr. Lincoln had been aware of this quasi-candidacy, which continued all
through the winter Indeed, it was impossible to remain unconscious of
it, although he discouraged all conversation on the subject, and
refused to read letters relating to it. He had his own opinion of the
taste and judgment displayed by Mr. Chase in his criticisms of the
President and his colleagues in the cabinet, but he took no note of
them.

"I have determined," he said, "to shut my eyes, so far as possible, to
everything of the sort. Mr. Chase makes a good secretary, and I shall
keep him where he is. If he becomes President, all right. I hope we may
never have a worse man."

And he went on appointing Mr. Chase's partizans and adherents to places
in the government. Although his own renomination was a matter in regard
to which he refused to talk much, even with intimate friends, he was
perfectly aware of the true drift of things. In capacity of appreciating
popular currents Chase was as a child beside him; and he allowed the
opposition to himself in his own cabinet to continue, without question
or remark, all the more patiently, because he knew how feeble it really
was.

The movement in favor of Mr. Chase culminated in the month of February,
1864, in a secret circular signed by Senator Pomeroy of Kansas, and
widely circulated through the Union; which criticised Mr. Lincoln's
"tendency toward compromises and temporary expedients"; explained that
even if his reelection were desirable, it was practically impossible in
the face of the opposition that had developed; and lauded Chase as the
statesman best fitted to rescue the country from present perils and
guard it against future ills. Of course copies of this circular soon
reached the White House, but Mr. Lincoln refused to look at them, and
they accumulated unread in the desk of his secretary. Finally, it got
into print, whereupon Mr. Chase wrote to the President to assure him he
had no knowledge of the letter before seeing it in the pape