Went on the evening of the 3d inst. to the Capitol. Spent
most of the time until eleven o'clock in the President's room. It is my first
visit to the Capitol since the session commenced. Was for half an hour on the
floor of the House. Thirty-four years ago spent the night of the 3d of March on
the floor of the Representatives' Chamber. It was in the old Representatives’ Hall.
Andrew Stevenson was Speaker. I first saw Henry Clay that night. He came from
the President's room to the House about ten. It was to him the scene of old
triumphs, and friends crowded around him.
I subsequently went into the Senate Chamber, a much larger
but less pleasant room than the old one, which I first visited in the last days
of the second Adams. If the present room is larger, the Senators seemed
smaller. My first impressions were doubtless more reverential than those of
later times.
The deportment of the Members in both houses was calm and in
favorable contrast with what I have ever seen of the closing hours of any
session, and I have witnessed many. There was nothing boisterous, and but
little that was factious. It was nearly midnight when we left. On the morning
of the 4th I was at the Capitol, from ten till twelve. All passed off
harmoniously.
The recent dispatches of Consul Morse at London, and
information from other sources, render it necessary measures should be taken to
prevent the Rebels from getting a considerable naval force afloat.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30,
1864, p. 244-5
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