The first, Simon Cameron,
owed his place in the Cabinet to the double fact of being one of
the ablest of political bosses and of standing high among
Lincoln's competitors for the Presidential nomination.
Personally honest, he was also a political cynic to whom
tradition ascribes the epigram defining an honest politician as
one who "when he is bought, will stay bought." As Secretary of
War he showed no particular ability.
In 1861, when the tide of enthusiasm was in flood, and volunteers
in hosts were responding to acts of Congress for the raising and
maintenance of a volunteer army, Cameron reported in December
that the Government had on foot 660,971 men and could have had a
million except that Congress had limited the number of volunteers
to be received. When this report was prepared, Lincoln was, so
to speak, in the trough of two seas. The devotion which had been
offered to him in April, 1861, when the North seemed to rise as
one man, had undergone a reaction. Eight months without a single
striking military success, together with the startling defeat at
Bull Run, had had their inevitable effect. Democracies are
mercurial; variability seems to be part of the price of freedom.
With childlike faith in their cause, the Northern people, in
midsummer, were crying, "On to Richmond!" In the autumn, stung
by defeat, they were ready to cry, "Down with Lincoln.
Pages:
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149