Most of the vessels sent out in pursuit of the Tallahassee have returned, and with scarcely an exception the commanders have proved themselves feeble and inefficient. Imputations of drunkenness and of disloyalty or of Rebel sympathy are made against some of them. As usual, there may be exaggerations, but there is some truth in some of the reports.
Calling on the President near eleven o'clock, I went in as usual unannounced, the waiter throwing open the door as I approached. I found Messrs. Seward, Fessenden, and Stanton with Raymond, Chairman of the Executive National Committee, in consultation with the President. The President was making some statement as to a document of his, and said he supposed his style was peculiar and had its earmarks, so that it could not be mistaken. He kept on talking as if there had been no addition to the company, and as if I had been expected and belonged there. But the topic was not pursued by the others when the President ceased. Some inquiry was put to me in regard to intelligence from the fleet at Mobile and the pursuit of the Tallahassee. Mr. Fessenden rose and, putting his mouth to the ear of the President, began to whisper, and as soon as I could answer the brief inquiries, I left the room.
It was easy to perceive that Seward, Stanton, and Raymond were disconcerted by my appearance. Except the whispering by Fessenden I saw nothing particular on his part. It appeared to me he was being trained into a process. Stanton, with whom he seems to have a sort of sympathy, is evidently used as an intermediate by Seward to make them (Seward and Fessenden) friends, and this gathering I could easily read and understand, although it may be difficult to describe the manner, etc., which made it clear to me.
The Democrats hold a party nominating convention next Monday at Chicago, which is naturally attracting a good deal of attention. There is a palpable effort to give éclat, and spread abroad a factitious power for this assemblage in advance. To this the Administration journals, and particularly those of New York, have conduced. I do not think that anything serious is to be apprehended from that convention, if Seward can keep quiet; but his management, which is mismanagement, and his shrewdness, which is frequently untowardness, will ever endanger a cause.
I hear little of Chase, though I doubt not that his aspirations are unextinguished. That he is disappointed because his retirement made so little sensation and has been so readily acquiesced in, I have no doubt. I have heard that he had written a friend here to the effect that it was expedient, under the circumstances, to support Lincoln, although he had many dislikes to the man and his policy. But I am assured he has an expectation, sometimes amounting to confidence, that Frémont will ultimately be withdrawn and that there will then be union and harmony. I can believe most of this. Chase has a good deal of intellect, knows the path where duty points, and in his calmer moments, resolves to pursue it. But, with a mind of considerable resources, he has great weaknesses in craving aspiration which constantly impair his strength. He has inordinate ambition, intense selfishness for official distinction and power to do for the country, and considerable vanity. These traits impair his moral courage; they make him a sycophant with the truly great, and sometimes arrogant towards the humble. The society of the former he courts, for he has mental culture and appreciation, but his political surroundings are the mean, the abject, the adulators and cormorants who pander to his weaknesses. That he is irresolute and wavering, his instinctive sagacity prompting him rightly, but his selfish and vain ambition turning him to error, is unquestionably true. I have little doubt, however, that he will, eventually, when satisfied that his own personal aspirations are not to be gratified, support the reelection of the President. Am not certain it is not already so arranged.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 119-21
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