At the
Cabinet-meeting an hour or more was wasted in discussing a claim of Madame
Bertinatti, a piece of favoritism in which the President has been imposed upon
by Seward and Stanton. It seemed to me that it was brought forward and talked
over for the express purpose of excluding more important subjects. There is in
the Cabinet not that candor and free interchange of opinions on the great
questions before the country that there should be. Minor matters are talked
over, often at great length.
As McCulloch and
myself came away, we spoke of this unpleasant state of things, and we came to
the conclusion that we would, as a matter of duty, communicate with the
President on this subject of want of frankness and freedom in the Cabinet, also
in regard to his general policy and the condition of public affairs. The great
mistake, I think, is in attempting to keep up the Republican organization at
the expense of the President. It is that organization which the conspirators
are using to destroy the Executive.
SOURCE: Gideon
Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and
Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 522
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