Senator Sumner
called again this evening. He is almost beside himself on the policy of the
Administration, which he denounces with great bitterness. The President had no
business to move, he says, without the consent and direction of Congress. I
asked him if the Southern States were to have no postmasters, no revenue
officers, no marshals, etc. I said to him: "There are two lines of policy
before us. One is harsh, cold, distant, defiant; the other kind, conciliatory,
and inviting. Which," said I, "will soonest make us a united
people?" He hesitated and gave me no direct answer, but said the
President's course was putting everything back. This I told him was a general
assertion; that conciliation, not persecution, was our policy, and therein we
totally disagreed with him.
It was not right to
accuse him, he said, of a persecuting spirit. He had advised clemency, had
taken ground against the execution of Jefferson Davis, and asked if I was
opposed to his being hung. I told him that I was not prepared to say that I
was, and while he was so charitable towards Davis, he was very different toward
all others South, though a large portion of the people were opposed to
secession. I stated to him the views of General Grant, who had found the people
disposed to acquiesce and become good citizens, that he found those who had
been most earnest and active in the Rebellion were the most frank and thorough
in their conversion. Governor McGrath admitted his error, was satisfied slavery
was a curse, had no wish for its restoration; but Governor Aiken, who has been passively
loyal during the whole years of the war, was wanting some apprentice system,
introduction of coolies, or some process for legal organized labor. While
McGrath had made great advances, Aiken had made none. Sumner wanted to know
what Grant's opinion was worth as compared with Chase's. I valued it highly,
for it seemed to me practical common sense from a man of no political knowledge
or aspiration, while Chase theorized and had great political ambition.
Sumner closed up
with a violent denunciation of the provisional governors, especially Perry and
Parsons, and said that a majority of Congress was determined to overturn the
President's policy.
