Naushon, August 24,1861.
Yours
of the 21st received. The objection which you suggest to Mr. H. is a very
strong one. We need a man in the War Department who, when the right time comes,
will not hesitate a moment to assail the weakest point of the enemy. Our
Governor Andrew seemed to me to hit the nail on the head when he rebuked Butler
for offering to put out any fire in the enemy's camp. The time has come when we
can no longer afford to “make war with rose-water,” and it was a great mistake
in Congress to limit the confiscation of property to that of rebels found in
arms against us. All the property of open rebels should be forfeited the first
week of the next Congress; this would enable us to proclaim emancipation in the
border States with a fixed compensation for all valuable slaves belonging to
loyal citizens, without a very large bill for Virginia.
I had hoped that H. was man enough to go in for such a
measure and advocate it as a boon to the loyal citizens of Kentucky, Missouri,
Maryland, and Delaware, putting it upon the ground of military necessity. If he
is not up to this we don't want him; but it is not worth while to try to get
rid of Cameron without at the same time making quite sure of a better man. You
remember the old story of the trapped fox begging his friend the hawk not to
drive off the half-sated swarm of flies only to give place to a new cloud of
them — and hungry ones? I wish you would go a step further, and suggest a
successor. Is there no one who could take Chase's place, and give him the War?
I forget whether I suggested to you James Joy, of Detroit. He would do well for
the War, better for the Interior, from his thorough knowledge of the West.
Lincoln, Trumbull, Chandler, and all the Western men know him. He is the most
able, decided, and plucky man that I know. How would Sherman do for the
Treasury, and Chase for War?
As the matter stands now, the effort to displace Cameron
will be coupled with one to put in H., and if the latter is not the right man,
we had better rub along as we are, until the right man turns up. Governor
Andrew has all the moral qualities; but he is perhaps too pronounced an
anti-slavery man, and works too much upon details himself, not using other men.
He would kill himself in the Cabinet. . . .
SOURCE: Sarah Forbes Hughes, Letters and
Recollections of John Murray Forbes, Volume 1, p. 241-2
No comments:
Post a Comment