Diary of Gideon Welles: Monday, February 26, 1866

Senator Doolittle called to have a conversation with me on existing topics and consult as to the propriety of his attending a public meeting and speaking at Baltimore. Governor Dennison came in with Governor Cox of Ohio while we were conversing, and spent the evening with us. The great questions before the country were canvassed freely, and Governor Cox displayed intelligence and decision that pleased me. He has quick perception and a right appreciation of what is taking place, and a pretty correct estimate of the actors.

In the Senate, Sherman has been speaking against the declaratory resolution, which passed the House under the lash of Stevens from the Directory Committee, asserting that eleven States are out of the Union and must not be represented until Congress shall permit them. This resolution is fulminated in spite, because the President put his veto on the Freedmen's Bill. Such legislation is characteristic of Stevens and his colaborers.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 440