Of course copies of this circular soon
reached the White House, but Mr. Lincoln refused to look at them, and
they accumulated unread in the desk of his secretary. Finally, it got
into print, whereupon Mr. Chase wrote to the President to assure him he
had no knowledge of the letter before seeing it in the papers. To this
Mr. Lincoln replied:
"I was not shocked or surprised by the appearance of the letter, because
I had had knowledge of Mr. Pomeroy's committee, and of secret issues
which I supposed came from it, ... for several weeks. I have known just
as little of these things as my friends have allowed me to know.... I
fully concur with you that neither of us can be justly held responsible
for what our respective friends may do without our instigation or
countenance.... Whether you shall remain at the head of the Treasury
Department is a question which I will not allow myself to consider from
any standpoint other than my judgment of the public service, and, in
that view, I do not perceive occasion for a change."
Even before the President wrote this letter, Mr. Chase's candidacy had
passed out of sight. In fact, it never really existed save in the
imagination of the Secretary of the Treasury and a narrow circle of his
adherents. He was by no means the choice of the body of radicals who
were discontented with Mr.
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