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 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. Lincoln’s 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.”