Was introduced to the President to-day. He was overwhelmed
with papers, and retained a number in his left hand, probably of more
importance than the rest. He received me with urbanity, and while he read the
papers I had given him, as I had never seen him before, I endeavored to
scrutinize his features, as one would naturally do, for the purpose of forming a
vague estimate of the character and capabilities of the man destined to perform
the leading part in a revolution which must occupy a large space in the world's
history. His stature is tall, nearly six feet; his frame is very slight and
seemingly frail; but when he throws back his shoulders he is as straight as an
Indian chief. The features of his face are distinctly marked with character;
and no one gazing at his profile would doubt for a moment that he beheld more
than an ordinary man. His face is handsome, and his thin lip often basks a pleasant
smile. There is nothing sinister or repulsive in his manners or appearance; and
if there are no special indications of great grasp of intellectual power on his
forehead and on his sharply defined nose and chin, neither is there any evidence
of weakness, or that he could be easily moved from any settled purpose. I think
he has a clear perception of matters demanding his cognizance, and a nice
discrimination of details. As a politician he attaches the utmost importance to
consistency—and here I differ with him. I think that to be consistent as
a politician, is to change with the circumstances of the case. When Calhoun and
Webster first met in Congress, the first advocated a protective tariff and the
last opposed it. This was told me by Mr. Webster himself, in 1842, when he was
Secretary of State; and it was confirmed by Mr. Calhoun in 1844, then Secretary
of State himself. Statesmen are the physicians of the public weal; and what
doctor hesitates to vary his remedies with the new phases of disease?
When the President had completed the reading of my papers,
and during the perusal I observed him make several emphatic nods, he asked me
what I wanted. I told him I wanted employment with my pen, perhaps only
temporary employment. I thought the correspondence of the Secretary of War
would increase in volume, and another assistant besides Major Tyler would be
required in his office. He smiled and shook his head, saying that such work
would be only temporary indeed; which I construed to mean that even he did
not then suppose the war was to assume colossal proportions.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 35-6
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