Read to the
President a letter from Col. Ashbel Smith of Texas, who sends me resolutions
adopted at Houston, and writes me on the condition of affairs. The President
was pleased with the letter. A number of Senators and Representatives are here
in behalf of the Navy Agents whose terms are about to expire. The public
interest does not influence these men. They are here to help men retain
positions which they are occupying to no advantage to the country. I stated the
case to the President briefly, and my opinion of the policy. He referred the
whole subject to me to dispose of. I told him I had no doubts or embarrassments
except in the case of Brown, for whom the President was committed on an urgent appeal
of Mr. Hamlin.
SOURCE: Gideon
Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and
Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 332-3
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