policy of the Vindictives, these visionaries held a convention at Cleveland; voted down a resolution that recognized God as an ally; and nominated Fremont for the Presidency.  A witty comment on the movement—­one that greatly amused Lincoln—­was the citation of a verse in first Samuel:  “And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them; and there were with him about four hundred men.”

If anything was needed to keep the dissatisfied Senators in the party ranks, it was this rash “bolt.”  Though Fremont had been their man in the past, he had thrown the fat in the fire by setting up an independent ticket.  Silently, the wise opportunists of the Senate and all their henchmen, stood aside at the “Union convention”—­which they called the Republican Convention—­June seventh, and took their medicine.

There was no doubt of the tempest of enthusiasm among the majority of the delegates.  It was a Lincoln ovation.

In responding the next day to a committee of congratulation, Lincoln said:  “I am not insensible at all to the personal compliment there is in this, and yet I do not allow myself to believe that any but a small portion of it is to be appropriated as a personal compliment. . . .  I do not allow myself to suppose that either the Convention or the (National Union) League have concluded to decide that I am the greatest or best man in America, but rather they have concluded that it is best not to swap horses while crossing the river, and have further concluded that I am not so poor a horse that they might not make a botch of it trying to swap."(16)

Carpenter records another sort of congratulation a few days later that brought out the graceful side of this man whom most people still supposed to be hopelessly awkward.  It happened on a Saturday.  Carpenter had invited friends to sit in his painting room and oversee the crowd while listening to the music.  “Towards the close of the concert, the door suddenly opened, and the President came in, as he was in the habit of doing, alone.  Mr. and Mrs. Cropsey had been presented to him in the course of the morning; and as he came forward, half hesitatingly, Mrs. C., who held a bunch of beautiful flowers in her hand, tripped forward playfully, and said:  ’Allow me, Mr. President, to present you with a bouquet!’ The situation was momentarily embarrassing; and I was puzzled to know how ‘His Excellency’ would get out of it.  With no appearance of discomposure, he stooped down, took the flowers, and, looking from them into the sparkling eyes and radiant face of the lady, said, with a gallantry I was unprepared for ’Really, madam, if you give them to me, and they are mine, I think I can not possibly make so good use of them as to present them to you, in return!’"(17)

In gaining the nomination, Lincoln had not, as yet, attained security for his plans.  Grant was still to be reckoned with.  By a curious irony, the significance of his struggle with Lee during May, his steady advance by the left flank, had been misapprehended in the North.  Looking at the map, the country saw that he was pushing southward, and again southward, on Virginia soil.  McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Hooker, with them it had been: