The logical consequences of the decision were tremendous, or would have been, if the public mind had been in a condition to appreciate its gravity. Not only did it follow logically that the trial and execution of Booth's fellow conspirators, Payne, Atzerodt, Herold, and Mrs. Surratt, were, in contemplation of law, no better than lynching, but that Andrew Johnson's endeavor to put an end to government by military commissions, as soon as possible, was right, and that the contrary design, by whomsoever held, was wrong. The radicals in Congress, however, were only angered by the decision. They were not in the least disconcerted by it, but the court itself was very much so. If it had been necessary to pass a law reorganizing the court, in order to reap the fruits of the victory won in the recent elections, a majority could have been obtained for it. Under date of January 8, 1867, the "Diary of Gideon Welles" tells us that there was a Cabinet meeting at which the President said that he wished to obtain the views of each member on the subject, already mooted, of dismantling states and throwing them into a territorial condition. A colloquy ensued which is reported as follows: Seward was evidently taken by surprise. Said he had avoided expressing himself on these questions; did not think it judicious to anticipate them; that storms were never so furious as they threatened; but as the subject had been brought up, he would say that never, under any circumstances, could he be brought to admit that a sovereign state had been destroyed, or could be reduced to a territorial condition. McCulloch was equally decided, that the states could not be converted into territories. Stanton said he had communicated his views to no man. Here, in the Cabinet, he had assented to and cordially approved of every step which had been taken, to reorganize the governments of the states which had rebelled, and saw no cause to change or depart from it. Stevens's proposition he had not seen, and did not care to, for it was one of those schemes which would end in noise and smoke. He had conversed with but one Senator, Mr. Sumner, and that was one year ago, when Sumner said he disapproved of the policy of the Administration and intended to upset it. He had never since conversed with Sumner nor any one else. He did not concur in Mr. Sumner's views, nor did he think a state would or could be remanded to a territorial condition. I stated my concurrence in the opinions which had been expressed by the Secretary of War, and that I held Congress had no power to take from a state its reserved rights and sovereignty, or to impose terms on one state which were not imposed on all states.