of this order was a useful creature in Richmond during those four years.
But another quality, even more valuable than business habits, sustained Benjamin in his office: he knew how to handle men. He watched character perpetually, studied the motives of others, their wants, their weaknesses, knew how to adapt himself to them. "No shade of emotion in another escaped Mr. Benjamin's penetration," writes the keen-sighted Mrs. Davis, whose warm admiration of her husband's adviser is one of his best credentials. "He seemed to have a kind of electric sympathy with every mind with which he came into contact, and very often surprised his friends by alluding to something they had not expressed nor desired him to interpret." 26
How useful this quality was in dealing with Davis can only be appreciated by those who have studied carefully the peculiarities of that noble but complicated personage. A patriotic idealist in purpose, he wished to save his country, but he wished to save it in his own way. From his subordinates he desired labor, quick comprehension, a hearty support of all his plans and methods. Advice he did not desire, and those who gave it had to give it with tact and extreme delicacy. Here was exactly the chance for Judah P. Benjamin. Advice he did not especially care to give, but no man could divine Davis's wishes with finer sympathy, no man could carry out his plans with more intelligent cooperation and at the same
