A few days later he offered a Cabinet position to Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, without assigning him to any particular portfolio. This was done to relieve him from the pressure that was being brought by Schuyler Colfax, whose friends were exceedingly persistent. Mr. Colfax was very much disappointed, and attributed his failure to obtain the appointment to Lincoln's resentment towards him because he had favored the re-election of Douglas to the United States Senate in 1858. Lincoln was not aware of this supposition until after he had entered upon his duties as President, when he showed his candor and good-nature by writing a friendly letter to Mr. Colfax explaining that "a tender of the appointment was not withheld in any part because of anything that happened in 1858. Indeed, I should have decided as I did, easier than I did, had that matter never existed. I had partly made up my mind in favor of Mr. Smith--not conclusively, of course--before your name was mentioned in that connection. When you were brought forward I said, 'Colfax is a young man already in a position, is running a brilliant career, and is sure of a bright future in any event. With Smith it is now or never.' I now have to beg that you will not do me the injustice to suppose for a moment that I remember anything against you in malice." Mr. Smith did not remain in the Cabinet a great while, however. The duties of Secretary of the Interior were arduous and uncongenial, and he retired in December, 1862, at his own request, to accept an appointment to the United States District bench. He was succeeded by John P. Usher, also of Indiana, who continued in office until after the inauguration of Johnson, although he tendered his resignation early in 1865 to relieve President Lincoln from the criticism of having two members of his Cabinet from Indiana, Hugh McCulloch having been appointed Secretary of the Treasury. The President was reluctant to let Mr. Usher go, but accepted his resignation, and, for some reason never explained, fixed May 15, 1865, as the day when it should take effect. When that day arrived Lincoln had no further need of his services. Mr. Bates proved a strong supporter of the war. He was a man of determination and belligerent disposition, notwithstanding his conservative education; and although he came from a slave State, he was one of the most radical of the President's advisers whenever the slavery question came up. When the Emancipation Proclamation was first proposed, Mr. Bates and Mr. Stanton were the only members of the Cabinet who gave it their unreserved approval, while Mr. Chase, who came nearer to being the representative of the abolition faction than any other member, and Mr. Seward, who was supposed to be the most radical of Republicans, were opposed to it. Among Mr. Stanton's papers is a curious memorandum which throws a search-light upon his position and that of some of his colleagues. "Tuesday, July 22.