Great interest is felt in the result of the Connecticut
election, one of the most animated and exciting elections ever known. Issues
broad and distinct. Thousands will vote for Seymour under the discipline and
delusion of party who have not the remotest thought of being disloyal.
Senator Sumner called upon me this p.m. and gave a curious
narrative concerning my
letter to Seward on the subject of letters of marque, and of the difficulty
the President had in getting it. When finally obtained, he informed and called
in Sumner, and the two sat down and the President deliberately read it aloud.
They then criticized it carefully, and when they were through, Sumner says the
President spoke complimentarily of the letter and very complimentarily of me.
Rumors are current and thick respecting Charleston, but they
are all conjectural. A movement against the place is expected about these days,
but there has not been time to hear of it. I have great anxiety and great
apprehension. Operations have gone on slowly and reluctantly.
The report of the “Committee on the Conduct of the War” is
to-day published. This method of supervising military operations by legislative
committee is of more than questionable utility. Little good can be expected of
these partisan supervisors of the Government at any time. They are partisan and
made up of persons not very competent to form correct and intelligent opinions
of Army or Navy operations, or administrative purposes. In this instance, I
think, from a slight look into a few pages, there is more truth from them than
usual in these cases.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30,
1864, p. 261-2
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