Office Of The Evening Post,
New York, August 21,1861.
My Dear Sir, —
It does not seem to me at all indiscreet or imprudent to make the change in the
Cabinet which you suggest. Indeed, I think that Mr. Cameron's retirement would,
instead of being impolitic, be the most politic thing that could be done, by
way of giving firmness to public opinion and strengthening the administration
with the people. The dissatisfaction here is as great as with you, and I hear
that at Washington it is expressed by everybody, except Cameron's special
friends and favorites, in the strongest terms. If I am rightly informed, there
is nothing done by him with the promptness, energy, and decision which the
times demand, without his being in a manner forced to it by the other members
of the Cabinet, or the President. A man who wants to make a contract with the
government for three hundred mules, provided he be a Pennsylvanian, can obtain
access to him, when a citizen of East Tennessee, coming as the representative
of the numerous Union population of that region, is denied. There are bitter
complaints, too, of Cameron's disregard of his appointments and engagements in
such cases as that I have mentioned.
Mr. Lincoln must know, I think, that Cameron is worse than
nothing in the Cabinet, and a strong representation concerning his unpopularity
and unacceptableness, of which he may not know, may lead him to take the
important resolution of supplying his place with a better man. I do not think
the newspapers are the place to discuss the matter, but I make no secret of my
opinion.
I am, dear sir, truly
yours,
Wm. C. Bryant.
P. S. — I open my letter to say another word on the subject
of yours. It does not appear to me that H. would be the man for the War
Department, for the reason that he might give us trouble on the slavery
question. Cameron has managed that part of our relations with the seceding
States very badly, and I feel H. would do no better. He would do very well in
the place of Smith; but with the exception of making a place for him, it might
not be of much consequence whether Smith were retained or not, though he adds
no strength to the Cabinet. Some here talk of requiring the dismissal of
Seward, but I fear this would be asking more than it is possible to get, and
might endanger the success of the scheme for getting rid of Cameron.
W. C. B.
SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and
Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 1, p. 236-7
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