Unpleasant rumors of a disagreement between Dahlgren and
Gillmore and that the latter had requested to be relieved of his present
command. This, I think, must be a mischievous rumor, — perhaps a speculative
one.
A new panic is rising respecting the ironclads in England,
and some of our sensation journals fan the excitement. It does not surprise me
that the New York Times, Raymond's paper, controlled by Thurlow Weed,
and all papers influenced by Seward should be alarmed. The latter knows those
vessels are to be detained, yet will not come out and state the fact, but is
not unwilling to have apprehension excited. It will glorify him if it is said
they are detained through protest from our minister. If he does not prompt the Times,
he could check its loud apprehensions. I am under restrictions which prevent
me from making known facts that would dissipate this alarm. The Evening
Post, I am sorry to see, falls in with the Times and its managers,
and unwittingly assists those whom it does not admire. Both these journals are
importunate, and insist that the Roanoke shall be returned to New York. But the
Navy Department is not under newspaper control, though they have the
cooperation of distinguished men. To station a steam frigate in New York would
involve the necessity of stationing one also in the Delaware, and another at
Boston. There would be no limit to the demand for naval defenses, yet it is
claimed the coast defenses belong exclusively to the military.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30,
1864, p. 434-5
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