Francis B. Carpenter, Six Months at the White House

“There is little to find fault with,” he replied; “the portraiture is the main thing, and that seems to me absolutely perfect.”

I then called his attention afresh to the accessories of the picture, stating that these had been selected from the objects in the Cabinet chamber with reference solely to their bearing upon the subject. “Yes,” said he, “there are the war-maps, the portfolios, the slave-map, and all; but the book in the corner, leaning against the chair-leg,--you have changed the title of that, I see.” “Yes,” I replied; “at the last moment I learned that you frequently consulted, during the period you were preparing the Proclamation, Solicitor Whiting's work on the ‘War Powers of the President,’ and as Emancipation was the result in fact of a military necessity, the book seemed to me just the thing to go in there; so I simply changed the title, leaving the old sheepskin cover as it was.” “Now,” said he, “Whiting's book is not a regular law-book. It is all very well that it should be there; but I would suggest that as you have changed the title, you change also the character of the binding. It now looks like an old volume of United States Statutes.” I thanked him for this criticism, and then said: “Is there anything else that you would like changed or added?” “No,”