porters of each, who engaged in making statements derogatory to the other.

The effect upon their candidates was different. Mr. Lincoln took it all easy and let tales brought to him pass for their value, which was not great. Mr. Chase, very differently constituted, felt otherwise. Oversensitive and deeply passionate, he readily saw that the partisans of Mr. Lincoln were doing him injustice, and that the President was not wholly blameless.

Since holding the portfolio of Secretary of the Treasury, he had presented his resignation several times theretofore, and which the consummate address and genuine kindness of Mr, Lincoln enabled him to parry and put aside. The last, however, was accompanied with peculiar irritation, and was accepted.

It took the Senate by surprise. A message to that body, with the nomination of David Todd, of Ohio, for Secretary of the Treasury, in place of Salmon P. Chase resigned, was the first intimation the Senate had of the important event.

The Senate went at once into executive session, and referred the nomination to its Finance Committee and then adjourned.

The committee met, and, after a full consultation, resolved to wait on the President in a body and ascertain why the resignation, whether it could not be reconsidered, and, if it could not, why the name of

David Todd was sent in as the successor of Mr. Chase.

The committee went to the Executive Mansion, where the President met them, and the case and the object of their visit were stated by William Pitt Fessenden, their chairman.

It is not putting it too strongly to say that the committee, or many members of it, felt that the fault was not alone that of Mr. Chase, and that in all probability the President was somewhat to blame; that the change in the Treasury Department at that time, where Mr. Chase had done valuable work, would be a public misfortune, and that the nomination of Todd showed a want of appreciation by the President of the condition of the public credit.

David Todd had been one of the sturdiest of the "War Governors," and was known as a sterling patriot, but no one thought of him as a proper head of the Treasury Department then, or as a fitting successor of Chase.

Mr. Lincoln at once relieved the committee concerning this last consideration, by stating that he had a dispatch from Governor Todd declining the office; but before dismissing that branch of the subject, said he had met many men since our troubles began, and comparing him with others-taking him all in all-he thought "Dave Todd was considerable of a man."

He then went at length into a history of his relations with "Governor Chase," as he styled him; how he came to invite him, and in fact every other member of his Cabinet, to the places they filled, stating that he was governed in the selection of each by the need of representing the geographical and political sections of the country, and the prominence of each as representing opinion, giving the idea that it was not agreement in a Cabinet that he sought so much as representatives of differing sections and factions; so Abolitionists, Conservatives, and the Blair family found representation in the Cabinet of Abraham Lincoln.

The President was deeply serious throughout, and there was probably never a clearer exposition of motive and character made than was then presented by him. His Cabinet seemed to have been selected with more impersonal consideration than was possible to most men. He rose from his seat and took from some pigeon-holes near him all the correspondence which had passed between him and Mr. Chase, and read to the committee, commenting as he went on. He recounted the many times "Governor Chase" had tendered resignation, and the irritation that had grown out of these repetitions, laying special stress upon the last of them.

John J. Cisco had resigned the office of Assistant Treasurer at New York; the place had been offered

to several gentlemen who declined it, and now the Secretary had determined to fill it with a man of his own choice. Friends of the President, and he, were opposed to Mr. Chase's selection. The Secretary claimed that he was responsible for the finances, and he should control this office. The President refused to appoint his man, but said he offered to appoint any other that Mr. Chase might name.

Now, gentlemen," continued the President, "I could not appoint him. He had only recently at a social gathering, in presence of ladies and gentlemen, while intoxicated, kicked his hat up against the ceiling, bringing discredit upon us all, and proving his unfitness."

The President went specially into the difficulties which had come up between him and his Secretary, growing out of the improper conduct of their political friends, saying that he had no objection to the candidacy of Mr. Chase-he had a right to be a candidate-but there had grown such a state of feeling that it was unpleasant for them to meet each other; and now Mr. Chase had resigned, and he had accepted the resignation.

He added: "I will not longer continue the association. I am ready and willing to resign the office of President, and let you have Mr. Hamlin for your President, but I will no longer endure the state I have been in."

The above were nearly his words, spoken with deep seriousness. Through all this interview, and the history of painful, personal relations, there was no word nor thought impugning the motives or purposes of the outgoing Secretary. It was a deeply interesting insight into the character of Abraham Lincoln.

It will be remembered that the name of William Pitt Fessenden was next sent to the Senate for Secretary of the Treasury. His appointment grew

out of this interview, and here is another of the proofs of peculiar ability in Mr. Lincoln to accommodate difficulties and reconcile differences. He saw that Mr. Fessenden would be acceptable to the Senate and country. He had long been chairman of the Finance Committee of the Senate, and was a sagacious, prudent and able man. Instead of further depression of the public credit, it rose, and never again receded.

The history of this episode in the life of Abraham Lincoln would be incomplete, and fail to illustrate the exceeding purity and generosity of his nature, without calling to mind how soon after he was able to appoint Mr. Chase Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The great office was sought by more than one man, through friends, and there were those who thought they had secured for Mr. Chase the appointment, but Abraham Lincoln saw in it a fitting act