Mr. Lincoln was well aware of this. Indeed, it was impossible not
to know about it, though he refused to hear the matter discussed
or to read any letters concerning it. He had his own opinion of
the taste displayed by Mr. Chase, but chose to take no notice of
his actions. "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 not only kept him where he was, but went on appointing Chase's
friends to office.
There was also some talk of making General Grant the Republican
candidate for President, and an attempt was even made to trap Mr.
Lincoln into taking part in a meeting where this was to be done.
Mr. Lincoln refused to attend, and instead wrote a letter of such
hearty and generous approval of Grant and his army that the
meeting naturally fell into the hands of Mr. Lincoln's friends.
General Grant, never at that time or any other, gave the least
encouragement to the efforts which were made to array him against
the President. Mr. Lincoln, on his part, received all warnings to
beware of Grant in the most serene manner, saying tranquilly, "If
he takes Richmond, let him have it." It was not so with General
Fremont. At a poorly attended meeting held in Cleveland he was
actually nominated by a handful of people calling themselves the
"Radical Democracy," and taking the matter seriously, accepted,
although, three months later, having found no response from the
public, he withdrew from the contest.
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