This
being the anniversary of the assassination of President Lincoln, the several
Departments were closed by order of the President.
Had
an hour's talk with the President on several matters, but chiefly in relation
to the policy of the Administration, which was brought about by my referring to
the interview which I had had with Senator Doolittle on Thursday evening, and
his urgent request that I would communicate with the President on the
subject-matter of our consultation. I remarked that there were certain
suggestions, which delicacy forbade me to mention, unsolicited, but that there
was an apprehension that the Radicals were strengthening themselves by the
non-action, or limited actions, of the Executive and by conceding to Members of
Congress almost all opportunities [for placing] their Radical friends.
The
President said it was exceedingly annoying and discouraging to witness so good
a man as Doolittle desponding, and especially on the subject of removals and
appointments, when Doolittle himself was not prepared to take or recommend
action, even in his own State. It was true that his Cabinet was not in all
respects what he wished; but he had taken it as he found it. Harlan, to be
sure, came in later, but it was understood he sought and desired the position,
although he had since obtained an election to the Senate. He supposed Harlan
was not in accord with the policy of the Administration, and delicacy and
propriety would seem to prompt him to resign. But he had, as yet, shown no
disposition to give up his place. Speed, he said, certainly added no strength
to the Administration, was manifestly in harmony with the Radicals, advising
with and encouraging them. Delicacy should cause him, feeling as he did, to
retire, but he had made no advance in that direction, nor would he, probably,
uninvited. Stanton, he remarked, was claimed by the Radicals to be in their
interst, and probably such was the fact, yet he had given him no intimation of
that character, except in some general criticism on one or two measures in
which he finally yielded and acquiesced. His Department had been an absorbing
one during the War and still was formidable. To have an open rupture with him
in the present condition of affairs would be embarrassing certainly, yet
Stanton held on.
The
delicacies and proprieties which should govern the relations that are supposed
to exist between a President and his Cabinet associates—his political family,
as it were—would indicate to men of proper sensibility the course which they
should pursue, if they did not agree with the person whom they were expected to
advise in the administration of affairs. If these three men did not approve his
general policy, the President said they had not, as he was aware, disapproved
of it. Statements were made in some of the Radical papers that the persons
named were opposed to the Administration of which they were a part. Rumors to
that effect had come to him in such a way and from such sources that he was not
at liberty to doubt it. "Still they hold on here, and some of them likely
report our proceedings. I do not, however, know the fact. What, then, can I do?
Are these men to whom I give my confidence hypocrites, faithless, insincere,
treacherous? The time has not arrived for a decisive stand. With mischievous
Radical leaders, who appear to have little regard for the country, it is not a
proper time to take upon ourselves other quarrels nearer home."
The
President said he had borne, as well as he could, the malicious war which had
been waged upon him for doing his duty, administering the Government for the
whole country, not for a faction. If the schemes of the Radical managers to
control the Executive had sometimes annoyed him, they had not caused him to
deviate from what he was satisfied was right and for the best interest of the
country. But it did grieve and wound him to witness such men as Doolittle
desponding and giving way. Cowan, an intelligent, sensible, and good Senator,
he said, was also complaining, and it was hard to be under the necessity of
holding these men up, while compelled to encounter the whole opposition. Their
discouragement afflicted him more than all that the Radicals had done or would
do.
Only
a day or two since Cowan had, with others, pressed earnestly for some changes
in Pennsylvania which they said ought by all means to be made, and on their representations
he had finally agreed to make some changes. But just as they were being
ordered, Cowan began to show and have doubt, asked a suspension, and finally
backed down and would consent to but two of the same changes he had urged.
"These men take upon themselves no responsibility while goading me on to
move, when I am breasting this storm." This he said he was ready to do. It
was a duty and he could meet it, but it pained him to have good and true
friends waver.
At
the proper time he should be ready to act, but his friends must permit him to
judge when to act. It would be pleasanter to him to have more cordiality, a
more free interchange of opinions, more unity and earnestness on the part of
all his Cabinet, for there was obvious distrust among them,—distrust of each
other, and that on topics where the Administration was most interested.
I
have given the substance and, so far as I can recall, the words. There was much
desultory conversation intermixed.
SOURCE:
Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under
Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 481-3
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