第120章 THE RALLY TO THE PRESIDENT(1)

The question insists upon rising again:were the anti-Lincoln politicians justified in their exultation,the Lincoln politicians justified in their panic?Nobody will ever know;but it is worth considering that the shrewd opportunist who expressed himself through The Herald changed his mind during a fortnight in August.By one of those odd coincidences of which history is full,it was on the twenty-third of the month that he warned the Democrats and jeered at the Republicans in this insolent fashion:

"Many of our leading Republicans are now furious against Lincoln....Bryant of The Evening Post is very angry with Lincoln because Henderson,The Post's publisher,has been arrested for defrauding the government.

Raymond is a little shaky and has to make frequent journeys to Washington for instructions....

"Now,to what does all this amount?Our experience of politics convinces us that it amounts to nothing.The sorehead Republicans complain that Lincoln gives them either too little shoddy or too little nigger.What candidate can they find who will give them more of either?

"The Chicago (Democratic)delegates must very emphatically comprehend that they must beat the whole Re-publican party if they elect their candidate.It is a strong party even yet and has a heavy army vote to draw upon.The error of relying too greatly upon the weakness of the Republicans as developed in the quarrels of the Republican leaders,may prove fatal ...

the Republican leaders may have their personal quarrels,or their shoddy quarrels,or their nigger quarrels with Old Abe;but he has the whip hand of them and they will soon be bobbing back into the Republican fold,like sheep who have gone astray.

The most of the fuss some of them kick up now,is simply to force Lincoln to give them their terms..

"We have studied all classes of politicians in our day and we warn the Chicago Convention to put no trust in the Republican soreheads.Furiously as some of them denounce Lincoln now,and lukewarm as the rest of them are in his cause,they will all be shouting for him as the only true Union candidate as soon as the nominations have all been made and the chances for bargains have passed.

Whatever they say now,we venture to predict that Wade and his tail;and Bryant and his tail;and Wendell Phillips and his tail;and Weed,Barney,Chase and their tails;and Winter Davis,Raymond,Opdyke and Forney who have no tails;will all make tracks for Old Abe's plantation,and will soon be found crowing and blowing,and vowing and writing,and swearing and stumping the state on his side,declaring that he and he alone,is the hope of the nation,the bugaboo of Jeff Davis,the first of Conservatives,the best of Abolitionists,the purest of patriots,the most gullible of mankind,the easiest President to manage,and the person especially predestined and foreordained by Providence to carry on the war,free the niggers,and give all the faithful a fair share of the spoils.

The spectacle will be ridiculous;but it is inevitable."[1]

The cynic of The Herald had something to go upon besides his general knowledge of politicians and elections.The Manifesto had not met with universal acclaim.in the course of this month of surprises,there were several things that an apprehensive observer might interpret as the shadow of that hand of fate which was soon to appear upon the wall.In the Republican Convention of the Nineteenth Ohio District,which included Ashtabula County,Wade's county,there were fierce words and then with few dissenting votes,a resolution,"That the recent attack upon the President by Wade and Davis is,in our opinion,ill-timed,ill-tempered,and ill-advised ...

and inasmuch as one of the authors of said protest is a citizen of this Congressional District and indebted in no small degree to our friendship for the position,we deem it a duty no less imperative than disagreeable,to pronounce upon that disorganizing Manifesto our unqualified disapproval and condemnation."[2]

To be sure there were plenty of other voices from Ohio and elsewhere applauding "The War on the President."Nevertheless,there were signs of a reluctance to join the movement,and some of these in quarters where they had been least expected.

Notably,the Abolitionist leaders were slow to come forward.

Sumner was particularly slow.He was ready,indeed,to admit that a better candidate than Lincoln could be found,and there was a whisper that the better candidate was himself.However,he was unconditional that he would not participate in a fight against Lincoln.if the President could be persuaded to withdraw,that was one thing.But otherwise--no Sumner in the conspiracy.[3]

Was it possible that Chandler,Wade,Davis and the rest had jumped too soon?To rebuild the Vindictive Coalition,the group in which Sumner had a place was essential.This group was composed of Abolitionists,chiefly New Englanders,and for present purpose their central figure was Andrew,the Governor of Massachusetts.During the latter half of August,the fate of the Conspiracy hung on the question,Can Andrew and his group be drawn in?

Andrew did not like the President.He was one of those who never got over their first impression of the strange new man of 1861.He insisted that Lincoln lacked the essential qualities of a leader."To comprehend this objection,"says his frank biographer,"which to us seems so astoundingly wide of the mark,we must realize that whenever the New Englander of that generation uttered the word 'leader'his mind's eye was filled with the image of Daniel Webster ...his commanding presence,his lofty tone about affairs of state,his sonorous profession of an ideal,his whole ex cathedra attitude.All those characteristics supplied the aristocratic connotation of the word 'leader'as required by a community in which a considerable measure of aristocratic sympathy still lingered.