men concerned in public affairs, should adopt and act upon
the theory that Mr. Lincoln, emerging so sharply from such a past as his
had been, into such a crisis as was now present, must need a vast amount
of instruction, guidance, suggestion. Accordingly there were many
gentlemen who stood ready, not to say eager, to supply these fancied
wants, and who could have supplied them very well had they existed.
Therefore one of the first things which Mr. Lincoln had to do was,
without antagonizing Mr. Seward and Mr. Chase, to indicate to them that
they were to be not only in name but also in rigid fact his secretaries,
and that he was in fact as well as by title President. This delicate
business was done so soon as opportunity offered, not in any disguised
way but with plain simplicity. Mr. Chase never took the disposition
quite pleasantly. He managed his department with splendid ability, but
in the personal relation of a cabinet adviser upon the various matters
of governmental policy he was always somewhat uncomfortable to get along
with, inclined to fault-finding, ever ready with discordant suggestions,
and in time also disturbed by ambition.

Mr. Seward behaved far better. After the question of supremacy had been
settled, though in a way quite contrary to his anticipation, he frankly
accepted the subordinate position, and discharged his duties with hearty
good-will. Indeed, this settlement had already come, before the time
which this narrative has reached; but the people did not know it; it was
a private matter betwixt the two men who had been parties to it. Only
Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward knew that the secretary had suggested his
willingness to run the government for the President, and that the
President had replied that he intended to run it himself. It came about
in this way: on April 1 Mr. Seward presented, in writing, "Some thoughts
for the President's consideration." He opened with the statement, not
conciliatory, that "We are at the end of a month's administration, and
yet without a policy, either domestic or foreign." He then proceeded to
offer suggestions for each. For the "policy at home" he proposed, as the
"ruling idea:" "Change the question before the public from one upon
slavery, or about slavery, for a question upon Union or Disunion." It
was odd and not complimentary that he should seem to forget or ignore
that precisely this thing had already been attempted by Mr. Lincoln in
his inaugural address. Also with