This day is the anniversary of my birth. I am sixty-two years of age. Life is brief. Should I survive another year, I shall then have attained my grand climacteric. Yet it is but the journey of a day, and of those who set out with me in the morning of life how few remain! Each year thins out the ranks of those who went with me to the old district school in my childhood.
Governor Tod has declined the position of Secretary of the
Treasury. It does not surprise me. Senator Fessenden has been appointed, who
will, it is said, accept, which does surprise me. I doubt if his health will
permit him to bear the burden. He has abilities; is of the same school as
Chase. Has been Chairman of the Committee of Finance during Chase's
administration of the Treasury, and, I have supposed, a supporter of his
policy. Yet I have had an impression that Fessenden is an improvement upon
Chase, and I trust he is.
But the President's course is a riddle. Tod is a hard-money
man; Fessenden has pressed through Congress the paper system of Chase. One day
Tod is selected; on his refusal, Fessenden is brought forward. This can in no
other way be reconciled than in the President's want of knowledge of the
subject. His attention never has been given to the finances. He seems not aware
that within twenty-four hours he has swung to opposite extremes. Seward can
hardly have been consulted, for Fessenden has been his sharp and avowed
opponent of late, and unless he has changed, or shall change, will prove a
troublesome man for him in the Cabinet. The President has great regard for
Chase's abilities but is glad to be relieved of him, for C. has been a load of
late, is a little disappointed and dissatisfied, has been captious, and
uncertain, favored the faultfinders, and, in a way, encouraged opposition to
the President.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 —
December 31, 1866, p. 64-5
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