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lawyer.” Seward was furious when Chase and Bates insisted on two appointments in his own district and stated that would be “humiliating” to him. “I would sooner attack either of those gentlemen in the open street,” Seward indignantly wrote Lincoln, “than consent to oppose any local appointment they might desire to make in their respective states.” From his Treasury Department office overlooking the White House grounds, Chase complained to Lincoln that Seward would “certainly have no cause to congratulate himself if he persists in denying the only favor he can show me.” Blair Senior, echoing the sentiment of his son, grumbled to Chase that all the best missions abroad had been given to Seward’s old Whig friends. “I believe our Republican Party will not endure, unless there is a fusion of the Whig & Democratic element,” he noted ruefully.

While the cabinet members squabbled over patronage, they united in their resentment of Seward’s preeminent position. They were irritated that he was the one who called the cabinet into session, and the time he spent with Lincoln inspired jealousy. Finally, with Chase as their “spokesman,” they requested that cabinet meetings be held at regular times. Lincoln agreed, designating Tuesdays and Fridays at noon.

Still, Seward was recognized as the man who had the president’s ear. William Russell of The Times in London capitalized on this intimacy when he first arrived in Washington. Russell was then forty-one, a spectacled, lively, rotund Englishman whose sparkling reports from the Crimean War had made him a celebrity in London. At a dinner party on March 26, he was fascinated by Seward, “a subtle, quick man, rejoicing in power…fond of badinage, bursting with the importance of state mysteries.” The next day, Seward arranged for Russell to slip into a White House reception for the Italian minister. Russell recalled that Lincoln “put out his hand in a very friendly manner, and said, ‘Mr. Russell, I am very glad to make your acquaintance, and to see you in this country. The London Times is one of the greatest powers in the world—in fact, I don’t know anything which has much more power—except perhaps the Mississippi.’”

Russell attended the Lincolns’ first state dinner that evening. Arriving at the White House, he noted that Mary “was already seated to receive her guests.” He found her features “plain, her nose and mouth of an ordinary type, and her manners and appearance homely, stiffened, however, by the consciousness that her position requires her to be something more than plain Mrs. Lincoln, the wife of the Illinois lawyer; she is profuse in the introduction of the word ‘sir’ in every sentence.”

Once acquainted with all the cabinet officers and the various guests, Russell rated Chase, with his “fine forehead” and his “face indicating energy and power,” as “one of the most intelligent and distinguished persons in the whole assemblage.” He was particularly taken with Kate Chase, whom he described as “very attractive, agreeable, and sprightly.” Kate was in her element, talking “easily, with a low melodious voice…her head tilted slightly upward, a faint, almost disdainful smile upon her face, as if she were a titled English lady posing in a formal garden for Gainsborough or Reynolds.” As her father’s hostess, Kate stood fourth in official Washington society. Her only real rival was Mrs. Lincoln, since neither Ellen Hamlin nor Frances Seward had any desire for social aggrandizement. “In reality, there was no one in Washington to compare with Kate Chase,” one of Kate’s intimate friends later told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “She was the queen of society. Men showered adulation upon her and went on their knees to her. I have never seen a woman who has so much personal charm and magnetism.” The possibly apocryphal story spread of Kate’s introduction to Mary that night. “I shall be glad to see you any time, Miss Chase,” Mary said. Kate replied: “Mrs. Lincoln, I shall be glad to have you call on me at any time.” Though Mary would later manifest intense jealousy of Kate, it is doubtful that Kate’s remark