will constitutionally defend
and maintain itself."

THE CABINET OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

Mr. Lincoln constituted his Cabinet in a manner at least unusual
if not unprecedented. It had been the general practice of Presidents,
from the first organization of the government, to tender the post
of Secretary of State to the man considered to be next in prominence
to himself in the party to which both belonged. In the earlier
history of the country, the expected successor in the Executive
office was selected. This was indeed for a long period so uniform
that the appointment to the State Department came to be regarded
as a designation to the Presidency. In political phrase, this mode
of reaching the coveted place was known as the "easy accession."
By its operation Madison succeeded Jefferson, Monroe succeeded
Madison, John Quincy Adams succeeded Monroe. After successful
application for a quarter of a century the custom fell into disfavor
and, by bitter agitation, into disuse. The cause of its overthrow
was the appointment of Henry Clay to the State Department, and the
baseless scandal of a "bargain and sale" was invented to deprive
Mr. Clay of the "easy accession." After a few years, when National
Conventions were introduced, it became the habit of the President
to tender the State Department to a leading or prominent competitor
for the Presidential nomination. Thus General Harrison offered
the post to Mr. Clay, who declined; and then to Mr. Webster, who
accepted. President Polk appointed Mr. Buchanan. President Pierce
appointed Mr. Marcy. President Buchanan appointed General Cass.

Following in the same line, Mr. Lincoln now invited his chief rival,
Mr. Seward, to the State Department. But his courtesy did not stop
there. He was generous beyond all example to his rivals. He called
Salmon P. Chase to the Treasury, appointed Simon Cameron to the
War Department, and made Edward Bates of Missouri Attorney-General.
These were the three who, next to Mr. Seward, received the largest
votes of the minority in the convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln.
The Cabinet was completed by the appointment of Gideon Welles of
Connecticut Secretary of the Navy, Caleb B. Smith of Indiana
Secretary of the Interior, and Montgomery Blair of Maryland Postmaster-
General.

The announcement of these names gave fair satisfaction to the party,
though the most advanced and radical element of the R