FREEDOM IN THE CABINET.
Reading edition
Secretary Usher relates some interesting facts.
"I was in the Cabinet somewhat more than two years. It was very ill-assorted. There was hardly ever such a thing as a regular cabinet meeting in the sense of form. Under Johnson and Grant the chairs were placed in regular order around the table. Nothing of the kind ever occurred in Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet. Seward would come in and lie down on a settee. Stanton hardly ever stayed more than five or ten minutes. Sometimes Seward would tell the president the outline of some paper he was writing on a State matter. Lincoln generally stood up and walked about. In fact every member of the Cabinet ran his own department in his own way. I don't suppose that such a historic period was ever so simply operated. Lincoln trusted all his subordinates and they worked out their own performances."