To-day, Mr. Benjamin, whom I met in the hall of the
department, said, “I don't grant any passports to leave the country, except to a
few men on business for the government. I have ceased to grant any for some
time past.” I merely remarked that I was glad to hear it.
Immediately on returning to my office I referred to my book,
and counted the names of fifty persons to whom the Secretary had granted
passports within thirty days; and these were not all agents of the government.
Mr. Benjamin reminded me of Daniel Webster, when he used to make solemn
declarations that his friends in office were likewise the partisans of President
Tyler.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 105
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