Meanwhile other work, entirely quiet, was being done elsewhere. The objection to Seward was that he was too radical, too far in advance of the party. The Bates following were pushing their candidate as a moderate man, who would be acceptable to "Union men." But Bates's chance was small, and any tendency towards a moderate candidate was likely to carry his friends to Lincoln rather than to Seward; for Lincoln was generally supposed, however erroneously,[100] to be more remote from Abolitionism than Seward was. To counteract this, a Seward delegate telegraphed to the Bates men at St. Louis that Lincoln was as radical as Seward. Lincoln, at Springfield, saw this dispatch, and at once wrote a message to David Davis: "Lincoln agrees with Seward in his irrepressible-conflict idea, and in Negro Equality; but he is opposed to Seward's Higher Law. _Make no contracts that will bind me_." He underscored the last sentence; but when his managers saw it, they recognized that such independence did not accord with the situation, and so they set it aside. The first vote was:-- Whole number 465 Necessary for choice 233 William H. Seward of New York 173-1/2 Abraham Lincoln of Illinois 102 Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania 50-1/2 Salmon P. Chase of Ohio 49 Edward Bates of Missouri 48 William L. Dayton of New Jersey 14 John McLean of Ohio 12 Jacob Collamer of Vermont 10 Scattering 6 The fact was, and Lincoln's friends perfectly understood it, that Cameron held that peculiar kind of power which gave him no real prospect of success, yet had a considerable salable value. Could they refrain from trying the market? They asked the owners of the 50-1/2 Cameron votes what was their price. The owners said: The Treasury Department. Lincoln's friends declared this extravagant. Then they all chaffered. Finally Cameron's men took a place in the cabinet, without further specification. Lamon says that another smaller contract was made with the friends of Caleb B. Smith. Then the Lincoln managers rested in a pleasing sense of security. The second ballot showed slight changes:-- Seward 184-1/2 Lincoln 181 Cameron 2 Chase 42-1/2 Bates 5 Dayton 10 McLean 8 Scattering 2 Upon the third ballot delivery was made of what Mr. Davis had bought. That epidemic foreknowledge, which sometimes so unaccountably foreruns an event, told the convention that the decision was at hand. A dead silence reigned save for the click of the telegraphic instruments and the low scratching of hundreds of pencils checking off the votes as the roll was called. Those who were keeping the tally saw that it stood:-- Seward 180 Lincoln 231-1/2 Chase 24-1/2 Bates 22 Dayton 1 McLean 5 Scattering 1