Wrote a line to Seward that I had not been officially
notified of the raising of the blockade of Brownsville, Texas. The whole thing
has been done most bunglingly by him, Chase, and the President. The subject was
discussed two or three weeks since in regard to Brownsville and one or two
other places, but we came to no conclusion, and nothing farther was said to me,
nor was I aware that any action had been taken in regard to it till I saw the
proclamation in the newspapers.
A circular, “strictly private,” signed by Senator Pomeroy
and in favor of Mr. Chase for President, has been detected and published. It
will be more dangerous in its recoil than its projectile. That is, it will
damage Chase more than Lincoln. The effect on the two men themselves will not
be serious. Both of them desire the position, which is not surprising; it
certainly is not in the President, who would be gratified with an indorsement.
Were I to advise Chase, it would be not to aspire for the position, especially
not as a competitor with the man who has given him his confidence, and with
whom he has acted in the administration of the government at a most eventful
period. The President well understands Chase's wish, and is somewhat hurt that
he should press forward under the circumstances. Chase tries to have it thought
that he is indifferent and scarcely cognizant of what is doing in his behalf,
but no one of his partisans is so well posted as Chase himself.
The National Committee appointed at Chicago met today. As
Connecticut had sent forward no one as a substitute in my place, I was for a
brief time with the committee. I judge that four fifths are for the reelection
of the President. The proceedings were harmonious, and will, I think, be
satisfactory. I do not like this machinery and wish it could be dispensed with.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30,
1864, p. 529-30
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