5.The familiar version of the retirement of affair is contained in the Life of Chandler issued by the Detroit Post and Tribune without an author's name.This book throughout is an apology for Chandler.In substance its story of this episode is as follows:Chandler beheld with aching heart the estrangement between Lincoln and Wade;he set to work to bring them together;at a conference which he had with Wade,in Ohio,a working understanding was effected;Chandler hurried to Washington;with infinite pains he accomplished a party deal,the three elements of which were Lincoln's removal of Blair,Fremont's resignation,and Wade's appearance in the Administration ranks.Whatever may be said of the physical facts of this narrative,its mental facts,its tone and atmosphere,are historical fiction.And I have to protest that the significance of the episode has been greatly exaggerated.
The series of dates given in the text can not be reconciled with any theory which makes the turn of the tide toward Lincoln at all dependent on a Blair-Fremont deal.Speaking of the tradition that Chandler called upon Lincoln and made a definite agreement with him looking toward the removal of Blair,Colonel W.O.Stoddard writes me that his "opinion,or half memory,would be that the tradition is a myth."See also,Welles,II,156-158.
6.Lincoln,X,228-229.
7.Times,September 24,1864.
8.Times,September 28,1864.
9.N.and H.,IX,364.
10.Thayer,II,214;Hay MS.
11.N.and H.,IX,377.
12.Thayer,II,216;Hay MS,III,29.
13.Lincoln,X,261.
14.N.and H.,IX,378-379.
XXXV.THE MASTER OF THE MOMENT.
1.Lincoln,X,283.
2.N.and H.,IX,392-394.
3.N.and H.,IX,210-211.
4.One of the traditions that has grown up around Lincoln makes the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment a matter of threats.Two votes were needed.It was discovered according to this simpleminded bit of art that two members of the opposition had been guilty of illegal practices,the precise nature of which is conveniently left vague.Lincoln,even in some highly reputable biographies,sent for these secret criminals,told them that the power of the President of the United States was very great,and that he expected them to vote for the amendment.The authority for the story appears to be a member of Congress,John B.Aley.Reminiscences,585-586;Lord Charnwood,Abraham Lincoln,335-336.To a great many minds it has always seemed out of key.Fortunately,there is a rival version.Shrewd,careful Riddle has a vastly different tale in which Lincoln does not figure at all,in which three necessary votes were bought for the amendment by Ashley.Riddle is so careful to make plain just what he can vouch for and just what he has at second hand that his mere mode of narration creates confidence.Riddle,324-325.Parts of his version are to be found in various places.
5.Nicolay,Cambridge,601.
6.Lincoln,X,38-39,and note;XI,89.
7.38Globe,II,903.
8.38Globe,II,1127.
9.38Globe,11,1129;Pierce,IV,221-227.
10.Recollections,249.
11.Nicolay,503-504;Lincoln,XI,43.
12.Lincoln,XI,4446.
XXXVI.PREPARING A DIFFERENT WAR.
1.Grant,II,459.
2.Tarbell,II,229.
3.N.and H.,IX,457.
4.Pierce,IV,236.
5.Lincoln,XI,84-91.
XXXVII.FATE INTERPOSES.
1.Tarbell,II,231-232.
2.Pierce,IV,235.
3.Tarbell,II,232.
4.Recollections,116.
5.Nicolay,531.
6.N.and H.,X,283-284.
7.Julian,255.
8.Recollections,249.
9.Recollections,119.
10.Nicolay,532.
11.Recollections,119-120;Carpenter,293;Nicolay,532;Tarbell,II,235.
12.Nicolay,539.
13.Thayer,II,219;Hay MS,14.Riddle,332.
15.Nicolay,530.