the States." These "ought to be
accepted as an evidence of a salutary change in public opinion at the
North."[935] Now if the Republican party would only offer a similar
guarantee, by a constitutional amendment, that they would never revive
their aggressive policy toward slavery in the Territories!

As the February days wore away, Douglas became less hopeful of
peaceable adjustment through compromise. If he had counted upon large
concessions from Seward, he was disappointed. If he had entertained
hopes of the Peace Conference, he had also erred grievously. He became
more and more assured that the forces making against peace were from
the North as well as the South. He told the Senate on February 21st,
that there was "a deliberate plot to break up this Union under
pretense of preserving it."[936] Privately he feared the influence of
some of Mr. Lincoln's advisers, who were hostile to Seward. "What the
Blairs really want," he said hotly to a friend, "is a civil war."[937]
With many another well-wisher he deplored the secret entrance of Mr.
Lincoln into the capital. It seemed to him both weak and undignified,
when the situation called for a conciliatory, but firm, front.[938]

With an absence of personal pique which did him credit, he determined
to take the first opportunity to warn Mr. Lincoln of the dangers of
his position. Douglas knew Lincoln far better than the average
Washington politician. To an acquaintance who lamented the apparent
weakness of the President-elect, Douglas said emphatically, "No, he is
not that, Sir; but he is eminently a man of the atmosphere which
surrounds him. He has not yet got out of Springfield, Sir.... He he
does not know that he is President-elect of the United States, Sir, he
does not see that the shadow he casts is any bigger now than it was
last year. It will not take him long to find it out when he has got
established in the White House."[939]

The ready tact of Mrs. Douglas admirably seconded the initiative of
her husband. She was among the first to call upon Mrs. Lincoln,
thereby setting the example for the ladies of the opposition.[940] A
little incident, to be sure; but in critical hours, the warp and woof
of history is made up of just such little acts of thoughtful courtesy.
Washington society understood and appreciated the gracious spirit of
Adele Cutts Douglas; and even the New York press commented upon the
incident with satisfaction.

That Seward and his friends were no le