ies, and he would try to pursue such a course as would secure
their support. The interview continued perhaps an hour."

Judge David Davis, a most intimate and confidential friend of Lincoln,
states that the latter was firmly determined to appoint "Democrats and
Republicans alike to office." Mr. Lamon corroborates the statement,
pointedly remarking: "He felt that his strength lay in conciliation at
the outset; that was his ruling conviction during all those months of
preparation for the great task before him. It showed itself not only in
the appointments which he sought to make but in those which he did make.
Harboring no jealousies, entertaining no fears concerning his personal
interests in the future, he called around him the most powerful of his
late rivals--Seward, Chase, Bates--and unhesitatingly gave into their
hands powers which most Presidents would have shrunk from committing to
their equals, and much more to their superiors, in the conduct of public
affairs." In a noted instance where the most powerful influence was
brought to bear upon Lincoln to induce him to make what he regarded as
an unworthy appointment, he exclaimed: "All that I am in the world--the
Presidency and all else--I owe to the opinion of me which the people
express when they call me 'Honest Old Abe.' Now, what would they think
of their _honest_ Abe if he should make such an appointment as the one
proposed?"

Hon. Leonard Swett, who knew Lincoln from 1848 to the time of his death,
and had "traveled the circuit" with him in Illinois, relates that soon
after the election he and Judge Davis advised Lincoln to consult Thurlow
Weed regarding the formation of the Cabinet and on political affairs
generally. "Mr. Lincoln asked me," says Mr. Swett, "to write Mr. Weed
and invite him to a conference at Lincoln's house in Springfield. I did
so, and the result was that Judge Davis, Thurlow Weed, and myself spent
a whole day with him in discussing the men and measures of his
administration. At that meeting, which took place in less than a month
after Lincoln's election, or early in December, 1860, Lincoln became
convinced that war was imminent between the North and the South. Mr.
Weed was a very astute man, and had a wonderful knowledge of what was
going on. He told Lincoln of preparations being made in the Southern
States that could mean nothing less than war. It was a serious time with
all of us, of course, but Lincoln took it with the imperturbability that