Lincoln was President-elect of the United States. Between November and March there was much to be done. His cabinet was to be chosen, numerous offices were to be filled, his private affairs were to be wound up. The magnanimity of his mind was soon made apparent in his willingness to appoint his opponents to the highest offices within his gift.

He offered the Secretaryship of the Treasury to Mr. Guthrie of Kentucky; another secretaryship was tendered to Mr. Gilmer of North Carolina; Stephens of Georgia was also approached. He saw, as few party men could see, the injustice and impolicy of administering the government in the interest of a party that had no existence in the southern states. Though he was a conqueror, he was a conciliator, and if grave trouble was to be safely avoided, he would leave no stone unturned to avoid it.

Without jealousy or fear, he intrusted the foremost places in his cabinet to his late political rivals, utterly oblivious to the suggestion that they might outshine or supplant him.

Seward, the accomplished, eloquent statesman from New York, he made his Secretary of State, Chase his Secretary of the Treasury, Bates his Attorney General.

Cameron and Smith he appointed in deference to the suggestions of his friends, for services rendered, as alleged, in securing his nomination. Hundreds of office seekers made a pilgrimage to Springfield and made life a burden to him. He listened to their

plea, regaled them with an apposite story and sent them on their way. Many of his old-time friends hoped to reap the reward of their friendship in appointment to office, and felt hardly toward him that their cases were not always favorably considered. But he would not have it said that he used his public position in the interest of his friends. Then too, old friends and old scenes must be visited that he might say good-bye, for his long absence, from the region where he had grown to manhood. He made a tender farewell visit to his old step-mother, who had been a mother indeed. He visited New Salem and shook hands with thousands of his old friends, whom he had known in all the phases of his career.

The framing of his policy and the writing of his inaugural address were absorbing cares. As he looked out on the alarming situation in the South and the imbecility and knavery that was being manifested in Washington, his forced inactivity till March was like a consuming canker. Southern States were seceding and appropriating national property. The arsenals of the North were being looted for the benefit of the South, by order of the Secretary of War. Frantic efforts were being made in Congress to concoct some scheme of compromise that would save the union, and Mr. Lincoln was implored to, speak some word, or offer some suggestion as to his policy, that would help the situation. To such as sought to know his position, he referred them to his record.

To the committee of thirty-three in the House he said, "Entertain no compromise in regard to the extension of slavery." To Mr. Washburne he said on this point:

"Hold firm, as with a chain of steel."

On Dec. 17th, he wrote to Thurlow Weed that "no state can in any way, lawfully, get out of the union without

the consent of the others," and, that "it is the duty of the president and other government functionaries to run the machine as it is." To Mr. Washburne he wrote, for the

advice of General Scott, "Please present my respects to the General and tell him, confidentially, that I shall be obliged to him to be as well prepared as he can to either hold, or retake the forts, as the case may require, at and after the inauguration." The summary way in which General Jackson had dealt with the nullifiers of 1830 and '32 was a frequent study during these months of waiting.

At length the time came for his departure to the scene of his labors. With his mind fully made up, his cabinet chosen, his inaugural written, he bade farewell to his old partner, as we have related. Judge Gillespie, an old friend, called to say good-bye and told him he believed it would do him good to get to Washington.

en.

"I know it will," Lincoln replied, "I only wish I could have got there to lock the door before the horse was stolBut when I get to the spot I can find the tracks." With tender farewell he addressed the citizens of Springfield, commending them to the Divine care, and begging their prayers on his behalf.

At different stages on the route he stated his position with a clearness that admitted no uncertainty, that he purposed to rule justly, respecting the rights of all under the Constitution, maintaining the rights and possessions of the nation in all its parts.

Assassins lay in wait for him, but he avoided them and reached the Capital in safety more than a week before the inauguration. On the 27th of February, when waited upon by the mayor and common council of Washington, he assured them, and the South through them, that he had no disposition to treat them in any other way