Viii.
The first sketch of the composition, as it was afterward placed upon the canvas, was matured, I believe, the same afternoon, or the following Monday
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after the interview recorded above, upon the back of a visiting card; my pockets affording evidence of the employment of all loose material at hand in leisure moments, in the study of the work.
The final arrangement of the figures was the result of much thought and many combinations, though the original conception as to the moment of time and incident of action was preserved throughout.
The general arrangement of the group, as described by the
President, was fortunately entirely consistent with my purpose, which was to give that prominence to the different individuals which belonged to them respectively in the Administration.
There was a curious mingling of fact and allegory in my mind, as I assigned to each his place on the canvas.
There were two elements in the
Cabinet, the radical and the conservative.
Mr. Lincoln was placed at the head of the official table, between two groups, nearest that representing the radical, but the uniting point of both.
The chief powers of a government are War and Finance: the ministers of these were at his right, -the
Secretary of War, symbolizing the great struggle, in the immediate foreground; the
Secretary of the Treasury, actively supporting the new policy, standing by the
President's side.
The Army being, the right hand, the Navy may very properly be styled the left hand of the government.
The place for the
Secretary of the Navy seemed, therefore, very naturally to be on
Mr. Lincoin's
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left, at the rear of the table.
To the
Secretary of State, as the great expounder of the principles of the Republican party, the profound and sagacious statesman, would the attention of all at such a time be given.
Entitled to precedence in discussion by his position in the
Cabinet, he would necessarily form one of the central figures of the group.
The four
chief officers of the government were thus brought, in accordance with their relations to the Administration, nearest the person of the
President, who, with the manuscript proclamation in hand, which he had just read, was represented leaning forward, listening to, and intently considering the views presented by the
Secretary of State.
The
Attorney-General, absorbed in the constitutional questions involved, with folded arms, was placed at the foot of the table opposite the
President.
The
Secretary of the Interior and the
Postmaster-General, occupying the less conspicuous positions of the
Cabinet, seemed to take their proper places in the background of the picture.
When, at length, the conception as thus described was sketched upon the large canvas, and
Mr. Lincoln came in to see it, his gratifying remark, often subsequently repeated, was, “It is as good as it can be made.”
