time with heartier self-effacement. The patient skill with which the result was accomplished is well indicated by Mrs. Davis when she says : " It was to me a curious spectacle ; the steady approximation to a thorough friend- liness of the President and his war minister. It was a very gradual rapprochement but all the more solid for that reason." 27 J. B. Jones, who disliked and distrusted his Jewish superior, analyzes the relation between presi- dent and secretary with much less approval. "Mr. B. unquestionably will have great influence with the President, for he has studied his character most carefully. He will be familiar not only with his 'likes,' but especially with his ' dislikes.'" 28 And when the diarist hears that the president is about to be baptized and confirmed, he takes comfort because " it may place a gulf between him and the descendant of those who crucified the Saviour." 29 If we accept Benjamin's own words, however, and I think we may, we shall conclude that his devotion to Davis was founded, at any rate in part, on a sincere esteem and admiration. Writing to the London "Times," after the war, he says : " For the four years during which I have been one of his most privileged advisers, the recipient of his confidence and sharer to the best of my ability in his labors and responsibilities, I have learned to know him better perhaps than he is known by any other living man. Neither in private conversation nor in Cabinet council have I ever heard him utter one unworthy thought, one ungenerous sentiment." 30
