Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-02-06
r. zoY

Lincoln and Stanton met for the lrse
time in Cincinnati in 1857. It was In
lawsuit. Both were on the same
side. The client was q resident Of
Chicago. and~he knew Lincoln. STAN
ton represented the eastern interests
OF the client When the time came to
submit argument Lincoln and Stanton
conferred as to who should have the
honor. By rule Of the bar Lincoln
had precedence. AS matter Of cour-
tesy he asked Stanton If he would not
prefer to make the argument, and.
much to the surprise of Lincoln. STAN
ton accepted. The incident caused
Lincoln to have ease of blues" and
as he was leaving town ne said to his
hostess. II hope I shall never see Gin
cinnati again." Stanton had said to q
brother lawyer that Lincoln was a
Tong, lank creature from Illinois,
wearing a dirty linen buster for q
coat, on the back of which the per-
SEPARATION had splotched wide stains
that resembled a map Of the CONT
nent" Lincoln heard of the remark
after he returned home. For some
| time he was more melancholy than
usual He became president. STAN
ton was his secretary of war.
Forming the First Cabinet.
1t will interest new politicians to
know that Mr.. Lincoln was in favor
| of giving the south place in his
| cabinet He named three who would
be acceptable to him. These were
Bolts of Virginia, Stephens of Geor-
| gia and Maynard of Tenre ssee. If he
could have had his way. what untold
sorrow might have been avoided! He
could not bring himself to believe that
the routh would attempt to overthrow
/ the government.
Finally the cabinet was framed.
There is authority for the statement
that it was largely the work of Lin
coin himself. Probably no presiden-
tial cabinet was ever constructed I'M
der such difficulties. 1t is curious
political fact that the cabinet as orig
inally framed was subjected to only
two changes. The called" were not
assigned to any portfolio. That was
to be an after consideration. The
names selected were Seward, Bates.
Dayton. Judd. Chase. Blair and Welles.
Seward the Premier.
Necessarily the president and Sec
rotary Seward were much more fire.
quently in conference than were the
IL
east when the story was on its legs
that Seward was to be de facto presi-
dent Whether Seward ever aspired
to such an attitude is not certainly
known, but If he ever did 1t is the
opinion of politicians that he modified
his intentions.
Magnanimous to Chase.
The magnanimity of President Lin
~,
that Lincoln knew how to forgive As
is we'll known, Chase in his ambition
to be president had criticised the ad-
ninistration of which he was a part
When the time came to appoint sue
cessor to Chief Justice fancy, Sena-
tor Sumner and other friends OF
Chase asked that Chase be made CHIEF
justice. The president listened: ther
he told the senator and his party al
that he had heard about the criticism:
of Chase The party left the White
, House feeling that their mission hat
;. failed. The next day the name o.
:, Chase was sent to the senate. and h,
was confirmed as chief Justice
? The adolescent in politics is remind
= ed that Daniel Webster and Abraham
q Lincoln were in congress at the sam,
time, the former in the upper house
s the latter in the lower branch, repre-
senting a district in the southern par
of Illinois. Lincoln was only al
AYE" and may" factor in the house
but when he went to his hotel ant
e tilted his long figure on a chat
= against the wall and told reminders
h he always had an audience. One o
: his most appreciative listeners wa
n that lion of the NORTH" as somebod.
e SO aptly called the great senator from
: Massachusetts,.
r. FRANK II. BROOKS.