of money; therefore it was that I was careful to have the advice of an able lawyer.  When the question of changing me from the War Department to the Russian mission came up, Mr. Lincoln said to me, ‘Whom shall I appoint in your place?’ My prompt response was, ‘Edwin M. Stanton.’  ‘But,’ said he, ’I 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 himself in the yard to watch for the intruders, his wife remaining in the house anxiously awaiting the result.  After some time she heard the shotgun go off, and in a few minutes the farmer entered the house.  ’What luck had you?’ said