THE

XX.

CHARLES A. DANA.

after his inauguration.

HE first time I saw Mr. Lincoln was shortly He had appointed Mr. Seward to be his Secretary of State, and some of the Republican leaders of New York, who had been instrumental in preventing Mr. Seward's nomination to the Presidency and in securing that of Mr. Lincoln, had begun to fear that they would be left out in the cold in the distribution of the offices. General James S. Wadsworth, George Opdyke, Lucius Robinson, T. B. Carroll, and Henry B. Stanton were among the number of these gentlemen. Their apprehensions were somewhat mitigated by the fact that Mr. Chase, to whom we were all friendly, was Secretary of the Treasury. But, notwithstanding, they were afraid that the superior tact and pertinacity of Mr. Seward and Mr. Weed would get the upper hand, and that the power of the Federal Administration would be put into the control of the rival faction. Accordingly, several of them determined to go to Washington, and I was asked to go with them.

I believe the appointment for our interview with

the President was made through Mr. Chase; but at any rate we all went up to the White House together, except Mr. Stanton, who stayed away because he was himself an applicant for office.

Mr. Lincoln received us in the large room up-stairs in the east wing of the White House, where the President had his working office, and stood up while General Wadsworth, who was our principal spokesman, and Mr. Opdyke, stated what was desired. After the interview was begun a big Indianian, who was a messenger in attendance in the White House, came into the room and said to the President:

"Yes, yes,” said Mr. Lincoln without stirring. Soon afterward the messenger returned again, exclaiming :

"I say she wants you!"

The President was evidently annoyed, but instead of going out after the messenger he remarked to us :

"One side shall not gobble up everything. Make out a list of the places and men you want, and I will endeavor to apply the rule of give and take."

General Wadsworth answered:

"Our party will not be able to remain in Washington, but we will leave such a list with Mr. Carroll, and whatever he agrees to will be agreeable to us."

Mr. Lincoln continued, "Let Mr. Carroll come in to-morrow and we will see what can be done."

This is the substance of the interview, and what most impressed me was the evident fairness of the President. We all felt that he meant to do what was right and square in the matter. While he was not the man to promote factious quarrels and difficulties. within his party, he did not intend to leave in the lurch the friends through whose exertions his nomination and election had finally been brought about. At the same time he understood perfectly that we and our associates in the Republican body had not gone to Chicago for the purpose of nominating him, or of nominating any one in particular, but only to beat Mr. Seward, and to do the best that could be done as regards the selection of the candidate.

Two years later I entered the service of the War Department, and from that time until the close of the rebellion I had constant opportunities of seeing Mr. Lincoln and of conversing with him in the cordial and unofficial manner which he always preferred. Not that there was ever any lack of dignity in the man. Even in his freest moments one always felt the presence of a will and an intellectual power which maintained the ascendency of the President. He never posed or put on airs or attempted to make any particular impression; but he was always conscious of his own ideas and purposes, even in his most unreserved moments.

In one of the interesting passages which occurred

during this period, I was not myself either a principal actor or a personal witness, but I knew all about it.

My friend and colleague, the Hon. Peter H. Watson, who was the earliest Assistant Secretary of War appointed by Mr. Stanton, had caught some quartermasters in extensive frauds in forage furnished to the Army of the Potomac. The mode of the fraud consisted in a dishonest mixture of oats and Indian corn for the horses and mules of the army. By changing the proportions of the two sorts of grain, they were able to make a great difference in the cost of the bushel, and it was quite difficult to detect the cheat. However, Watson found it out and at once arrested the two officers who were most directly involved. They soon surrendered a large sum of money. If my memory serves me correctly, they returned $175,000 from the product of the swindle. They were men of some political importance about Lycoming, and eminent politicians took a hand in getting them out of the scrape. Among these the Hon. David Wilmot, then Senator of the United States and author of the famous Wilmot Proviso, was very active. He went to Mr. Lincoln and made such representations and appeals that finally the President consented to go with him over to the War Department and see Watson in his office. Wilmot remained outside, and Mr. Lincoln went in to labor