The
decision of the Supreme Court in the Indiana cases Milligan, Bolles, and others
was discussed. Attorney-General Speed could not state exactly the points. The
judges do not give their opinions until next winter. They seem to have decided
against the legality of military commissions.
I
inquired what should be done in Semmes's case, which had been long pending.
Little was said, and the President remarked he would see me after the session,
and I therefore remained. He remarked that there was a somewhat strange state
of things. Grant thought the paroles he had given covered almost everything.
The courts were taking up some of the cases for treason and were showing
themselves against military commissions. He therefore thought it would be as
well to release Semmes on his parole.
I
suggested, in view of the present condition of affairs, and this late decision
of the Court, that if Semmes could not have a prompt trial, it would be better
to release him from his present arrest unconditionally. We already have two
paroles from him, one on the surrender of the Alabama, and another at the time
of Johnston's surrender. I would not take another. Nor would it be right, after
holding him over three months in custody, to prolong his imprisonment.
The
President assented to my suggestion and wished me to present it in some form
for his action. My first thought was to place the grounds of his release, first
on the proclamation, and second on the recent decision of the Supreme Court,
making no allusion to Semmes's long imprisonment; but on second thought I omitted
the President's own act, the proclamation, for it would be used against him by
the captives.
The
Senate by a vote of 33 to 15 this evening overrode the veto on the Civil Rights
Bill. Wright of New Jersey was in his seat, but Dixon was not. Morgan, unexpectedly
to me, and, I think, to most persons, voted with the majority. The vote of M.
was one of calculation, not of conviction. I shall be disappointed if he does
not lose rather than gain by the step he has taken. Such is usually the
righteous termination of calculations made by scheming and ambitious men who
consent to do wrong. In this instance M. may have had honest reasons. It is
true he voted for the passage of the bill, but that was, as he has said to me,
without much consideration given to the law, and, in repeated interviews and
conversations since, he had left the impression on my mind that he should
sustain the veto.
General
and Mrs. Grant gave their last reception for the season this evening. Being
somewhat indisposed, I did not propose to attend, but Edgar had not returned
and there was no one to accompany Mrs. Welles and her friend, and I was,
consequently, under the necessity of going, though afflicted with a severe
headache. The party was in some respects unlike any of the season, and there was
present not only a numerous but a miscellaneous company of contradictions.
There had been some pre-understanding on the part of the Radicals, or a portion
of them, to attend and to appropriate General Grant, or at least his name and
influence, to themselves. But, most unexpectedly to them, as I confess it was
to me, the President and his two daughters appeared early, and Montgomery Blair
and some of his ladies were also on hand. There came also Alexander H.
Stephens, Vice-President of the late Confederacy, so called. When, therefore,
Thad Stevens, Trumbull, and others, not exactly homogeneous though now acting
together, came in, they were evidently astonished and amazed.
Stevens,
though a brave old stager, was taken aback and showed himself discomfited. Trumbull
betrayed surprise. I was not in a condition to circulate much in the crowd, but
heard repeatedly, amid the exultation over the vote of the Senate, expressions
of vexation that there was such a strange attendance here. Theodore Tilton, as
full of fanatical, fantastical, and boyish enthusiasm as of genius and talent,
but with no sensible ideas of the principles on which our government is founded
or accurate knowledge of our republican federal system, or of the merits
involved in pending questions, was boisterous over the result in the Senate. It
was sufficient for him that a victory had been achieved for an ideal and
fanciful theory, regardless of consequences, and indifferent whether we had a
union or an empire, so that he could do a little more for the black man than
for the white man. When a little older, if his erratic genius does not spoil
him, he will be a little wiser. For a time he fastened himself on me, but I was
too indisposed to do more than listen. He gloated over Morgan's vote; said he
could have thrown his hat to the ceiling when he heard it, not that he cared
for Morgan.
General
and naval officers, as well as politicians, were present, with most of the
foreign ministers. Of the Cabinet I saw none but Harlan.
SOURCE:
Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under
Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 476-8
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