very wing, defeated the policy of his
predecessor, secured the enactment of the Fugitive-slave Law, and
neutralized all efforts to prohibit the introduction of slavery in the
Territories. In this course Mr. Fillmore had the support of the
great leaders of the party, Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster, but he
disregarded the young Whigs who under the lead of Mr. Seward were
proclaiming a new political dispensation in harmony with the advancing
public opinion of the world. Mr. Fillmore did not leave his party,
but he failed to retain the respect and confidence of the great mass
of Northern Whigs; and his administration came to an end in coldness
and gloom for himself, and with the defeat, and practically the
destruction, of the party which had chosen him to his high place four
years before. His faithlessness to General Scott gave to the
Democratic candidate an almost unparalleled victory. Scott encountered
defeat. Fillmore barely escaped dishonor.

With the ill-fortune of these predecessors fresh in his memory, Mr.
Johnson evidently set out with the full intention not merely of
retaining the Cabinet of his predecessor, not merely of co-operating
with the party which elected him, but of espousing the principles of
its radical, progressive, energetic section. A Southern man, he
undoubtedly aspired to lead and control Northern opinion--the opinion
which had displayed the moral courage necessary to the prolonged
anti-slavery struggle in Congress, and had exhibited the physical
courage to accept the gage of battle and prosecute a gigantic war
in support of deep-rooted convictions. The speeches of the President
had defined his position, and the Nation awaited the series of
measures with which he would inaugurate his policy. Public interest
in the subject would indeed have caused greater impatience if public
attention had not in every Northern State been intently occupied in
welcoming to their homes the troops, who in thinned ranks and with
battered standards were about to close their military career and resume
the duties of peaceful citizens.

The personal character and political bias of the members of the
Cabinet, and especially their opinions respecting the policy which the
President had indicated, became therefore a matter of controlling
importance. The Cabinet had undergone many changes since its original
organization in March, 1861. The substitution of Mr. Stanton for Mr.
Cameron and of Mr. Fessenden for Mr. Chase has al