Russell’s Opinion Of Mr. Stanton

The favorite of the day is Mr. Stanton; he has touched the heart of his countrymen. They like his sharp, clear cut manifestoes, and his sounding pronunciamentos. The recent successes are, they think, somehow or other connected with his accession to power. He has, indeed, endeavored to disabuse the Northerners of their delusion that the movements of Grant, Buell, and Lander are portions of a concerted plan, each directed from headquarters in reference to the other, and has plainly intimated that their victories are due to individual inspiration, and to fortune typifying the God of Battles. One of his boldest acts has been the liberation of the victims of the Lettres decachet of the State Department, on the condition that they give parole not to afford aid or comfort to those engaged in hostility against the United States; and his seizure of the agent of a journal which pretends to exercise great influence in America as a spy has been regarded with satisfaction, for it is proof of his indifference to the enmity he will no doubt provoke in the discharge of his duty, and of his contempt for its power.

– Published in the Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, April 9, 1862