ACCORDING TO Gideon Welles, Thurlow Weed was "chief
engineer of the Albany plan" -- the plan, that is, of sidetracking a con-
stitutionally elected President and elevating his foremost competitor
to the supreme control of the party. This "Albany plan" evidently
took form in Weed's mind as soon as the shouts had subsided in the
Chicago Wigwam. As soon as Weed's grief over the collapse of a life
ambition died down, like a good politician he began to take stock;
perhaps, after all, some salvage could be gathered from the wreck.
The propitiatory visit of Andrew Curtin, who had dealt such a death-
blow to Seward in helping the transfer of Pennsylvania's delegates to
Lincoln on the second ballot, has already been noted. David Davis and
Leonard Swett similarly paid a call on the disgruntled Titan. Davis
and Swett recognized the need of harmony in the approaching cam-
paign, and were willing to go to almost any extreme to soothe the
feelings of the New York delegation. Their olive branch was received
more politely than the friendly advances of Curtin. They were met
with sorrowful reproaches indeed, but not with ferocious discourtesy.
The reason is plain. Swett and David Davis of all men stood closest
to Lincoln's ear, and no wise politician would antagonize such ascend-
ant luminaries on the Republican horizon.

Swett invited Weed to visit the new nominee on his way back to
New York. The suggestion was eagerly accepted. He was about to go
to Iowa for a week or two, Weed replied, and on his return would take
pleasure in dropping off for a few hours at Springfield. This trip to
Iowa was probably a fiction. That a vast deluge of visitors would over-
whelm Lincoln's home immediately after the nomination Weed well
knew; he did not wish to be one of a crowd, but preferred to have his
session with Lincoln after the rush had quieted, and all rival bigwigs
had left. Gideon Welles, one of the committee sent to Springfield to
notify Lincoln officially of his nomination, also spent a few days after
the excitement had died down, in western and southern Illinois. One
evening, a few days after leaving Springfield, he boarded what he

-86-