had thought of
giving it to Holt.' 'Mr. Lincoln,' said I, 'if I am to retire in the
present situation of affairs, it seems but proper that a friend of mine,
or at least a man not unfriendly to me, should be appointed in my place.
If you give Mr. Stanton the position, you will not only accomplish this
object but will please the State of Pennsylvania and also get an
excellent officer.' 'Very well,' said Mr. Lincoln, 'you go and see him,
and if he will accept the place he shall have it.' I left the White
House and started to find Stanton, passing through the Treasury
Department on my way. As I passed Mr. Chase's office, I stepped in and
told him what had occurred between the President and myself. He said,
'Let's send for Stanton; bring him here and talk it over.' 'Very well,'
said I, and a messenger was at once sent. Stanton came immediately, and
I told him of the conference between the President and myself. He agreed
to accept. We walked to the White House, and the matter was settled.

"One of the troubles in the Cabinet which brought about this change was
that I had recommended in my annual report, in the fall of 1861, that
the negroes should be enlisted as soldiers after they left their
masters. This advanced step was regarded by most of the Cabinet with
alarm. Mr. Lincoln thought it would frighten the border States out of
the Union, and Mr. Seward and Mr. Chase thought it would never do at
all."

Just before the retirement of Mr. Cameron, a number of influential
Senators waited upon the President and represented to him that inasmuch
as the Cabinet had not been chosen with reference to the war and had
more or less lost the confidence of the country, and since the President
had decided to select a new war minister, they thought the occasion was
opportune to change the whole seven Cabinet ministers. They therefore
earnestly advised him to make a clean sweep, select seven new men, and
so restore the waning confidence of the country. The President listened
with patient courtesy, and when the Senators had concluded, he said,
with a characteristic gleam of humor in his eye: "Gentlemen, your
request for a change of the whole Cabinet because I have made one
change, reminds me of a story I once heard in Illinois of a farmer who
was much troubled by skunks. They annoyed his household at night, and
his wife insisted that he should take measures to get rid of them. One
moonlight night he loaded his old shot-gun and stationed hims