The proclamation suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas
corpus has been generally well received. I have never feared the popular
pulse would not beat a healthful [sic]
response even to a stringent measure in these times, if the public good
demanded it.
At the Cabinet-meeting Chase inquired of Seward how he and
the Secretary of the Navy got on with the English ironclad rams. Seward treated
the matter lightly and turned the conversation aside skillfully, I thought, for
I was interested in the question. No one could do this more adroitly than he.
On returning from the Cabinet I found upon my table two letters received by the
noon mail, one from Consul Dudley of Liverpool of the 5th and one from Consul
Cleveland at Cardiff of the 3rd, both private, but each warning me, earnestly,
that the English government manifested no intention to detain these vessels,
and expressing their belief that they will be allowed to leave.
I went directly to the State Department with these letters,
which I read to Seward, and reminded him of our conversation in August when he
quieted my apprehension so far that I left Washington to visit the navy yards,
by assurances which he had received that we should not be disturbed by these
formidable vessels.
He answered very pleasantly that he remembered the interview
and the assurances he gave me, and seemed not the least disturbed by the
information of threatened danger. On the contrary he appeared gratified and
self-satisfied. After a remark or two of assumed indifference, he saw I was in
earnest and not to be put off with mere words. He suddenly asked if I was a
mason. I replied I was, but this was a matter of public concern. He said he
wanted to tell me a secret which I must not communicate to any living person,
and he should be unwilling to tell it to me on other consideration while things
were in their present condition. He must enjoin upon me especially not to tell
the President, nor let him know I had been informed, for he should himself
probably let the President have the fact which he was about to disclose to me. “You
must promise me,” said he, “that you will neither communicate nor talk about
it.”
I said that any matter thus communicated I should not be
likely to repeat, but I must necessarily talk about these rams and communicate
with others concerning them, — it was my
business and duty to do it. I had come to him to talk about them, and I must,
from the information I had, some of which I had just submitted, take action
unless I had something from him to justify my abstaining to move.
He had a hesitating and inquiring look. “If,” said he, “England
lets these vessels out we must let loose our privateers.”
This I had repeatedly said on previous occasions, and I now
fully concurred, but I had delayed extra efforts in consequence of his
assurances, and we are in no condition for these troubles. We must act, and
with promptness and energy, unless he had something to say as a preventive.
“Well, they won't come out,” said he. “The English Ministry
are our friends with the exception of the chief. His course and conduct are
execrable, and with his organ are damnable. I don't know,” continued S.,
“what he, the premier, means. For certain reasons they gave out on the 4th of
November that the government could do nothing to prevent the rams from coming
out. On the 5th of November, the next day, they gave us assurances they should
not come out. They will be retained in port, but you must not know this fact,
nor must any one else know it. Mr. Adams is not aware of it. No one but you and
the President and I must know it here, and it is best that he should not know
that you know it.”
“Do you mean to say,” I asked, “that this state of facts was
communicated to you last November, — nearly one year ago?” “No,” replied he, “did
I say November? I meant September. I have dispatches here. I have not read all.
I left the Cabinet early, as you observed.”
After some farther remarks, some additional injunctions, assurances
that no member of the Cabinet knew or must be allowed to know anything on the
subject, — there was a necessity that I should be informed, but yet appear to
the world as if I were not informed, — some allusions to the Emma, recently
captured and taken into service, our interview terminated. Before leaving,
however, he expressed a wish that we had a fast steamer off Brest to capture
the Florida, without recollecting that neither of our good neutral friends of
England and France will allow us to coal or remain in port over twenty-four
hours.
The information thus given in confidence relieves me of much
labor and anxiety, yet I am not without some anxiety. I dislike this mystery,
this reticence towards our colleagues in the government. Should the English
fail us, or Seward find it convenient under a calamitous condition of affairs
to deny what he has told me, or claim that he was misunderstood, I could not
escape censure and condemnation. There is no record or writing in my
possession. I have, on verbal, confidential assurances, omitted to take
precautionary measures, which, without those assurances, I should have taken,
and it was my duty to take, last August and now. If the rams come out and
damage us, the denunciations against me will be severe, and I am without remedy
but must bear the odium of neglect and inaction, for I cannot make public what
has been told me.
The Emma was not a naval capture. She was taken by the
Arago, an army transport, and was purchased under order of the court by the
Navy. Her Majesty's representative is pressing the question of sale to the Navy
of this vessel, captured by an army transport, for a purpose.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30,
1864, p. 435-8
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