embers of
his council who were stigmatized as conservatives; and the first cabinet
change which actually took place after the adjournment of the convention
filled the radical body of his supporters with dismay, since they had
looked upon Mr. Chase as their special representative in the government.
The publication of the Wade-Davis manifesto still further increased
their restlessness, and brought upon Mr. Lincoln a powerful pressure
from every quarter to satisfy radical demands by dismissing Montgomery
Blair, his Postmaster-General. Mr. Blair had been one of the founders of
the Republican party, and in the very forefront of opposition to slavery
extension, but had gradually attracted to himself the hostility of all
the radical Republicans in the country. The immediate cause of this
estrangement was the bitter quarrel that developed between his family
and General Fremont in Missouri: a quarrel in which the Blairs were
undoubtedly right in the beginning, but which broadened and extended
until it landed them finally in the Democratic party.

The President considered the dispute one of form rather than substance,
and having a deep regard, not only for the Postmaster-General, but for
his brother, General Frank Blair, and for his distinguished father, was
most reluctant to take action against him. Even in the bosom of the
government, however, a strong hostility to Mr. Blair manifested itself.
As long as Chase remained in the cabinet there was smoldering hostility
between them, and his attitude toward Seward and Stanton was one of
increasing enmity. General Halleck, incensed at some caustic remarks
Blair was reported to have made about the defenders of the capital after
Early's raid, during which the family estate near Washington had
suffered, sent an angry note to the War Department, wishing to know if
such "wholesale denouncement" had the President's sanction; adding that
either the names of the officers accused should be stricken from the
rolls, or the "slanderer dismissed from the cabinet." Mr. Stanton sent
the letter to the President without comment. This was too much; and the
Secretary received an answer on the very same day, written in Mr.
Lincoln's most masterful manner:

"Whether the remarks were really made I do not know, nor do I suppose
such knowledge is necessary to a correct response. If they were made, I
do not approve them; and yet, under the circumstances, I would not
dismiss a member of the cabinet therefore.