I called early this morning on the Secretary of State
touching a communication of his of the 8th inst. which I received yesterday, in
which I am directed in the name of the President to give instructions of an
extraordinary character to our naval officers, instructions which I do not
approve, and which in one or two points conflict with law and usage. Though the
direction was in the President's name, I learned he knew nothing of the
proceeding.
Mr. Seward has a passion to be thought a master spirit in
the Administration, and to parade before others an exhibition of authority
which if permitted is not always exercised wisely or intelligently. Englishmen
have complained that their vessels were detained and searched, and that they
have experienced great inconvenience by the delay in the transmission of
letters by blockade-runners. These matters having been brought before the
Secretary of State, he on the instant, without consultation with anyone,
without investigation, without being aware he was disregarding law and
long-settled principles, volunteered to say he would mitigate or remedy the
grievance, would put the matter right; and, under the impulse of the moment and
with an ostentatious show of authority which he did not possess, yielded all
that was asked and more than the Englishmen had anticipated or than the
Secretary was authorized to give. I saw that he had acted precipitately and
inconsiderately, and was soon aware that the President, in whose name he
assumed to act, was uninformed on the subject. But Seward is committed and
cannot humiliate himself to retrace his steps. I gave him to understand,
however, I would send out no such instructions as he had sent me in the
President's name; that we had, under the belligerent right of search, authority
to stop any suspected vessel, and if she had contraband on board to capture
her; that no blockade-runner ever cleared for a Rebel port, like Charleston,
though that might be its actual destination, but for Halifax, Nassau, or some
neutral port; that the idea of surrendering mails and letters captured on
blockade-runners to foreign consuls, officers, and legations, instead of
delivering them, as the law explicitly directs, to the courts, could not be
entertained for a moment. Seward suggested that I could so modify the proposed
instructions as to make them conform to the law, which he admitted he had not
examined. Said it would relieve him and do much to conciliate the Englishmen,
who were troublesome, and willing to get into difficulty with us. It will be useless
to see the President, who will be alarmed with the bugaboo of a foreign war, a
bugbear which Seward well knows how to use. These absurd instructions do not
originate with the President, yet, relating to foreign matters, he will endorse
them, I have no doubt, under the appeals which Seward will make. Nothing of
special interest to-day in the Cabinet. Some gentlemen — Roseleas, Coltman, and
Bullitt of Louisiana — were with the President when I called. He was reading
some printed letters as to the policy which the Union men of Louisiana, for
whom they appeared, should pursue. He did not think it wise or expedient for
them to shrink from an honest and open avowal of their principles and purpose,
assured them that rallying earnestly for the Government and the service would
be the surest way to restore tranquillity.
Had a long private letter from Commodore Wilkes, who
deplores recent orders in regard to the army under McClellan; thinks it
suicidal. I fear there is truth in his apprehensions.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864,
p. 79-81
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