do, under the obligations of his oath, was to possess and hold the
property of the United States; that he hoped to do this peaceably; that
he abhorred war for any purpose, and that they would have none unless
they themselves were the aggressors. It was a masterpiece of
persuasiveness, and while Lincoln had accepted many valuable amendments
suggested by Seward, it was essentially his own. Probably Lincoln
himself did not expect his inaugural address to have any effect upon the
secessionists, for he must have known them to be resolved upon disunion
at any cost. But it was an appeal to the wavering minds in the North,
and upon them it made a profound impression. Every candid man, however
timid and halting, had to admit that the President was bound by his oath
to do his duty; that under that oath he could do no less than he said he
would do; that if the secessionists resisted such an appeal as the
President had made, they were bent upon mischief, and that the government
must be supported against them. The partisan sympathy with the Southern
insurrection which still existed in the North did indeed not disappear,
but it diminished perceptibly under the influence of such reasoning.
Those who still resisted it did so at the risk of appearing unpatriotic.

It must not be supposed, however, that Lincoln at once succeeded in
pleasing everybody, even among his friends,--even among those nearest to
him. In selecting his cabinet, which he did substantially before he left
Springfield for Washington, he thought it wise to call to his assistance
the strong men of his party, especially those who had given evidence of
the support they commanded as his competitors in the Chicago convention.
In them he found at the same time representatives of the different shades
of opinion within the party, and of the different elements--former Whigs
and former Democrats--from which the party had recruited itself. This
was sound policy under the circumstances. It might indeed have been
foreseen that among the members of a cabinet so composed, troublesome