CHAPTER XV

Lincoln at the Helm—­First Days in Washington—­Meeting Public Men and Discussing Public Affairs—­The Inauguration—­The Inaugural Address—­A New Era Begun—­Lincoln in the White House—­The First Cabinet—­The President and the Office-seekers—­Southern Prejudice against Lincoln—­Ominous Portents, but Lincoln not Dismayed—­The President’s Reception Room—­Varied Impressions of the New President—­Guarding the White House.

The week following Lincoln’s arrival in Washington, and preceding his inauguration, was for him one of incessant activity.  From almost the first moment he was engrossed either in preparations for his inauguration and the official responsibilities which would immediately follow that event, or in receiving the distinguished callers who hastened to meet him and in discussing with them the grave aspects of political affairs.  Without rest or opportunity to survey the field that lay before him, or any preparations save such as the resources of his own strong character might afford him, he was plunged instantly into the great political maelstrom in which he was to remain for four long years, and whose wild vortex might well have bewildered an eye less sure, a will less resolute, and a brain less cool than his.  As Emerson put it, “The new pilot was hurried to the helm in a tornado.”

“Mr. Lincoln’s headquarters,” says Congressman Riddle of Ohio, “were at Willard’s Hotel; and the few days before the inauguration were given up to a continuous reception in the broad corridor of the second floor, near the stairway.  I remember a notable morning when the majestic General Scott, in full dress, sword, plumes, and bullion, came to pay his respects to the incoming President.  The scene was impressive.  By the unknown law that ruled his spirits, Mr. Lincoln was at his best, complete master of himself and of all who came within the magic of his presence.  Never was he happier, speaking most of the time, flashing with anecdote and story.  That time now seems as remote as things of a hundred years ago.  The war antiquated all that went before it.  The Washington, the men, the spirit of that now ancient time, have faded past all power to recall and reproduce them.  The real Washington was as essentially Southern as Richmond or Baltimore.  ‘Lincoln and his vandals,’ fresh from the North and West, were thronging the wide, squat, unattractive city, from which the bolder and braver rebel element had not yet departed.”

Dr. George B. Loring, of Massachusetts, who was one of the first to meet Lincoln after his arrival in Washington, says:  “I saw him on his arrival, and when he made his first appearance in a public place.  I was standing in the upper hall of Willard’s Hotel, conversing with a friend and listening to the confused talk of the crowded drawing-room adjoining.  As we stood there, a tall and awkward form appeared above the stairs, especially conspicuous, as it came