ington, therefore, frowned upon the eager Republican office seekers, largely wearing the manners and garb of the new West, as they thronged the streets and swarmed the Capitol and the hotel lobbies. Clamor and intrigue filled the air which the President-elect breathed, and a faction fight raged around him over the formation of his cabinet. It was generally believed that some one of the more distinguished Republican leaders, or at least some group of experienced politicians, would control this new and inexperienced man. Few dreamed that it was to be a Lincoln administration. One day it looked as if Seward had captured the President-elect; but the next day the Chase element or some other appeared to have gained the upper hand of the kindly, simple man who told stories to his callers and sent them away without permitting them to draw from him a positive opinion on any subject. Finally, when an Illinois friend rushed in with the rumor that the Seward faction had "broken the cabinet slate," Lincoln said firmly, "If that slate breaks again, it will break at the top." This proved to be true. Seward, whose name was written at the top, failed in his effort to dictate other appointments, and only two days before the inauguration sent the President-elect a letter declining to accept the Secretaryship of State. Lincoln made no reply until he was about to go to the Capitol to be sworn in. Remarking then to his private secretary, "I can't afford to let Seward take the first trick," he wrote urging him to accept and giving him two days in which to reconsider his refusal. In the end, the framework of the cabinet stood as he had constructed it in his mind on election night in Springfield. On the day of the inauguration, when the White House carriage drew up in front of Lincoln's hotel, President Buchanan, an old man in an old-fashioned swallow-tail coat, hobbled out and into the hotel, to reappear a few minutes later with the Presidentelect, who was dressed in a new black suit and a shining high hat, and who carried in his hand a gold-headed cane. General Scott had closed all the liquor saloons in the city and carefully arranged his small military force to thwart any attempt at assassination and to prevent disorder among the thousands of hostile persons in the city, who looked with sullen faces on the transfer of the govern ment. The presidential carriage moved along Pennsylvania Avenue between double files of cavalry, while soldiers marched in front and behind it. Groups of riflemen were stationed on various roofs which commanded the thoroughfare, watching for the slightest sign of hostility, and cavalrymen guarded every approach to the avenue by side streets. A feeling of relief was manifest in both houses of Congress when it was known the journey had been made without trouble, and that Lincoln had arrived at the Capitol. Shortly after twelve o'clock the President and the President-elect appeared at the eastern front, in the sight of the waiting thousands on the broad esplanade. Overhead, ugly derricks hung about the yet unfinished dome, while the great bronze statue of Freedom still stood on the ground biding the time when it should be swung into its lofty place above and crown the completed Capitol. A battalion of soldiers was drawn up near the steps, and from the windows, riflemen scanned the scene with vigilant eyes, while a battery of flying artillery was posted in the rear of the crowd. As Lincoln stepped to the place where he was to be invested with his stupendous responsibilities to his country and mankind, he was the center of a remarkable group of historical char acters. Within reach of his arm stood the President, James Buchanan, about to pass into retirement after forty years of distinguished public service; |