y meeting them, chatting with them or lounging as was his habit
in Stanton's room, Lincoln seemed only officially superior to them. One
of them had expected to be President, and another meant to be; a third
dared to be insolent and unruly; it seemed to be only by a chance of
politics that these men stood to him as junior partners to a senior, or
like a board of directors to the president of a corporation."

The unfriendly feeling existing between members of the Cabinet comes
out in many entries in Welles's Diary. "Pressing, assuming, violent,
impatient, intriguing, harsh, and arbitrary," are examples of the terms
in which Stanton is spoken of by Welles His contempt for the Committee
on the Conduct of the War is expressed in no less stinging words. The
members of this committee "are most of them narrow and prejudiced
partisans, mischievous busybodies, and a discredit to Congress. Mean and
contemptible partisanship colors all their acts." It is amusing to note
that while Secretary Welles was thus outspoken in his criticisms of
others, he himself did not escape calumny. One critic (Thurlow Weed,
who, it may be remembered, had objected to Welles's appointment to a
Cabinet position when Lincoln suggested it to him in their consultation
at Springfield before the inauguration) declared that "It is worse than
a fault, it is a crime, to keep that old imbecile at the head of the
Navy Department." And another critic expressed the uncomplimentary
opinion that "If Lincoln would send old Welles back to Hartford, it
would be better for the Navy and for the country."

The accounts of the earliest Cabinet meetings, as given by Secretary
Welles, who was nearly always present, are full of interest. "Cabinet
meetings, which at that exciting period should have been daily, were
infrequent, irregular, and without system," says Mr. Welles. "The
Secretary of State notified his associates when the President desired a
meeting of the heads of Departments. It seemed unadvisable to the
Premier--as he liked to be called and considered--that the members
should meet often, and they did not. Consequently there was very little
concerted action. At the earlier meetings there was little or no
formality; the Cabinet meetings were a sort of privy council or
gathering of equals, much like a Senatorial caucus, where there was no
recognized leader and the Secretary of State put himself in advance of
the President. No seats were assigned or regularly taken. The