Diary of Gideon Welles: November 25, 1864

For some weeks I have been unable to note down occurrences daily. On the evening of the election, the 8th, I went to the War Department about nine o'clock by invitation of the President. Took Fox with me, who was a little reluctant to go lest he should meet Stanton, who had for some days been ill. The Department was locked, but we were guided to the south door. The President was already there, and some returns from different quarters had been received. He detailed particulars of each telegram which had been received. Hay soon joined us and, after a little time, General Eaton. Mr. Eckert, the operator, had a fine supper prepared, of which we partook soon after 10. It was evident shortly after that the election had gone pretty much one way. Some doubts about New Jersey and Delaware. We remained until past one in the morning and left. All was well.

The President on two or three occasions in Cabinet meeting alluded to his message. It seemed to dwell heavy on his mind, — more than I have witnessed on any former occasion. On Friday, the 25th, he read to us what he had prepared. There was nothing very striking, and he evidently labors in getting it up. The subject of Reconstruction and how it should be effected is the most important theme. He says he cannot treat with Jeff Davis and the Jeff Davis government, which is all very well, but whom will he treat with, or how commence the work? All expressed themselves very much gratified with the document and his views. I suggested whether it would not be well to invite back not only the people but the States to their obligations and duties. We are one country. I would not recognize what is called the Confederate government, for that is a usurpation, but the States are entities and may be recognized and treated with. Stanton, who was present for the first time for six weeks, after each had expressed his views, and, indeed, after some other topic had been taken up and disposed of, made some very pertinent and in the main proper and well-timed remarks, advising the President to make no new demonstration or offer, to bring forward his former policy and maintain it, to hold open the doors of conciliation and invite the people to return to their duty. He would appeal to them to do so, and ask them whether it would not have been better for them and for all, had they a year since accepted his offer.

Each of the members of the Cabinet were requested to prepare a brief statement of the affairs of their respective Departments. Seward had already handed in much of his. I told the President I would hand him my brief the next day.

At this meeting on the 25th, Mr. Usher made some allusion to the gold that was forthcoming in the Territories.

The President interrupted him, saying he had been giving that matter a good deal of attention and he was opposed to any excitement on the subject. He proposed that the gold should remain in the mountains until the War was over, for it would now only add to the currency and we had already too much currency. It would be better to stop than 1 to increase it.

Mr. Fessenden said something must be done, for he could not any longer negotiate on the basis of paying interest in coin. We cannot, he says, get the specie and must stop paying it out. I was amused. Neither of them appeared to have even the rudiments of finance and currency. Gold is no longer a currency with us. It is merchandise, and all that may be got from Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, and California will not swell the volume of currency. Our banking and irredeemable paper issues are legal tenders and made currency not based on specie, and of course it is an inferior currency.

Our Secretary of the Treasury must learn that if he does not demand and pay out gold he will have none. If he will reduce the volume of paper currency, so as to create a demand for gold, he will get it, but he will never have it if he slights it. He has schemes for getting out cotton to relieve him and the Treasury in making payments, and the blockade is to be indirectly violated in order to get cotton from the Rebels with which to purchase gold. Of course we shall have to pay the Rebels if not in gold, in its equivalent, for all the cotton we get of them, and shall thus furnish them with the sinews of war.

It cannot be otherwise than that the country will become impoverished with such ideas pervading the government. There will be devastation and ruin, if not corrected, before us. Fessenden is of the old Whig school of folly on finance and currency; is resorting to flimsy expedients, instead of honest, hard truth. Gold is truth; irredeemable paper and flimsy expedients are not.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 178-80

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: February 18, 1864

This was the coldest morning of the winter. There was ice in the wash-basins in our bed chambers, the first we have seen there. I fear my cabbage, beets, etc. now coming up, in my half barrel hot-bed, although in the house, are killed.

The topic of discussion everywhere, now, is the effect likely to be produced by the Currency bill. Mr. Lyons denounces it, and says the people will be starved. I have heard (not seen) that some holders of Treasury notes have burnt them to spite the government! I hope for the best, even if the worst is to come. Some future Shak[e]speare will depict the times we live in in striking colors. The wars of "The Roses" bore no comparison to these campaigns between the rival sections. Everywhere our troops are re-enlisting for the war; one regiment re-enlisted, the other day, for forty years!

The President has discontinued his Tuesday evening receptions. The Legislature has a bill before it to suppress theatrical amusements during the war. What would Shak[e]speare think of that?

Sugar has risen to $10 and $12 per pound.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 152

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: January 23, 1864

The Secretary of War has authorized Mr. Boute, President of the Chatham Railroad, to exchange tobacco through the enemy's lines for bacon. And in the West he has given authority to exchange cotton with the enemy for meat. It is supposed certain men in high position in Washington, as well as the military authorities, wink at this traffic, and share its profits. I hope we may get bacon, without strychnine.

Congress has passed a bill prohibiting, under severe penalties, the traffic in Federal money. But neither the currency bill, the tax bill, nor the repeal of the exemption act has been effected yet and the existence of the present Congress shortly expires. A permanent government is a cumbersome one.

The weather is fine, and I am spading up my little garden.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 133-4

Diary of Gideon Welles: Tuesday, June 28, 1864

We have bad news from Sherman to-day. Neither Seward, Chase, nor Stanton was at the Cabinet-meeting. The President, like myself, slightly indisposed.

Mrs. General Hunter was at our house this evening and has tidings of a favorable character from her husband, who is in the western part of Virginia. Has done great mischief to the Rebels, and got off safely and well. This small bit of good news is a relief, as we are getting nothing good from the great armies.

Gold has gone up to 240. Paper, which our financiers make the money standard, is settling down out of sight. This is the result of the gold bill and similar measures, yet Chase learns no wisdom. We are hurrying onward into a financial abyss. There is no vigorous mind in Congress to check the current, and the prospect is dark for the country under the present financial management. It cannot be sustained.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 61

Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, June 22, 1864

Much sensational news concerning delay of army movements. I am inclined to think our people have learned caution from dear experience, — dear in the best blood of the country.

Gold had gone up to-day to 230. Legislation does not keep down the price or regulate values. In other and plainer terms, paper is constantly depreciating and the tinkering has produced the contrary effect from that intended by our financiers.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 55

John A. Quitman to James K. Cook, August 28, 1832

Monmouth, August 28th, 1832.

On my return from the eastern section of the state, I read in your paper of the 10th inst. an editorial suggestion of the names of several citizens as electors for President and Vice-president of the United States, who are known to be in favor of a renewal of the charter of the Bank of the United States, with a request that the individuals named should signify to you their acceptance or rejection of the proposed nomination. My name having been suggested, I conceive it a duty to state that, although I have long considered the Bank of the United States a valuable institution, well calculated to promote the general good by its tendency to lessen the price of exchange, and to produce and preserve a uniform and sound paper currency throughout the Union, and would be pleased to see its charter renewed for a limited period, with such modifications as would prevent an abuse of its powers, yet, without wishing to underrate its consequence, I do not consider the question of rechartering it the only or most important one which is likely to be involved in the election of the first and second officers of the government.

In the present important crisis there are, in my opinion, several great questions of constitutional construction and national policy, much more vitally interesting to the people of the United States, and particularly to the citizens of the South, than any which can arise out of the bank question. I can not, therefore, consistently with these views, agree to become a candidate for elector for President and Vice-president, solely with reference to their opinion on the renewal of the charter of the Bank of the United States.

SOURCES: John F. H. Quitman, Life and Correspondence of John A. Quitman, Volume 1, p. 131

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: December 8, 1863

The President's message was sent to Congress to-day. I was not present, but my son Custis, who heard it read, says the President dwells largely on the conduct of foreign powers. To diminish the currency, he recommends compulsory funding and large taxation, and some process of diminishing the volume of Treasury notes. In other words, a suspension of such clauses of the Constitution as stand in the way of a successful prosecution of the war. He suggests the repeal of the Substitute law, and a modification of the Exemption act, etc. To-morrow I shall read it myself.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 112

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: December 9, 1863

The President's message is not regarded with much favor by the croakers. The long complaint against foreign powers for not recognizing us is thought in bad taste, since all the points nearly had been made in a previous message. They say it is like abusing a society for not admitting one within its circle as well as another. The President specifies no plan to cure the redundancy of the currency. He is opposed to increasing the pay of the soldiers, and absolutely reproaches the soldiers of the left wing of Bragg's army with not performing their whole duty in the late battle.

Mr. Foote denounced the President to-day. He said he had striven to keep silent, but could not restrain himself while his State was bleeding—our disasters being all attributable by him to the President, who retained incompetent or unworthy men in command, etc.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 112-3

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, April 23, 1864

We have met with some disaster in North Carolina. Am apprehensive the army has been a little delinquent.

General Butler has telegraphed to Fox, who is an old boyhood associate and acquaintance, to come down to Hampton Roads. Wants help. Asks F. to induce the President to go down, but he declines, — wisely, I think. Troops are getting in at Fortress Monroe, and the indications in this vicinity warn us that the strength is being gathered for a conflict.

Sumner called on me to-day. Had just come from Chase; spoke of the finances and currency. I told him I was a hard-money man and could not unlearn old ideas, and had no time to study new theories. He laughed and said that things in these days must conflict with my old opinions. It is evident that our statesmen do not realize the importance nor condition of the money and currency question.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 16-7

Diary of Gideon Welles: Saturday, April 16, 1864

Had a long telegram at midnight from Cairo, respecting Rebel movements in western Kentucky, — at Paducah, Columbus, Fort Pillow, etc. Strange that an army of 6000 Rebels should be moving unmolested within our lines. But for the gunboats, they would repossess themselves of the defenses, yet General Halleck wants the magnanimity and justice to acknowledge or even mention the service.

There is still much excitement and uneasy feeling on the gold and currency question. Not a day but that I am spoken to on the subject. It is unpleasant, because my views are wholly dissimilar from the policy of the Treasury Department, and Chase is sensitive and tender — touchy, I may say — if others do not agree with him and adopt his expedients. Mr. Chase is now in New York. He has directed the payment of the May interest, anticipating that throwing out so much gold will affect the market favorably. It will be likely to have that effect for a few days but is no cure for the evil. The volume of irredeemable paper must be reduced before there can be permanent relief. He attributes to speculators the rise in gold! As well charge the manufacturers with affecting the depth of water in the rivers, because they erect dams across the tributaries! Yet one cannot reason with our great financier on the subject. He will consider it a reflection on himself personally and claims he cannot get along successfully if opposed.

I remarked to Senator Trumbull, whom I met when taking my evening walk last Thursday, and was inquired of, that I could hardly answer or discuss his inquiry in regard to the gold excitement, because in a conversation which we had a year or two since, when one of the bills was pending, —  the first, I believe, — I had said to him I was a hard-money man and could indorse no standards but gold and silver as the measure of value and regretted and distrusted the scheme of legal paper tenders. Chase heard of that conversation and claims I was embarrassing the Treasury.

This sensitiveness indicates what I fear and have said, viz. Chase has no system on which he relies, but is seeking expedients which tumble down more rapidly than he can construct them. He cannot stop what he and others call “the rise of gold,” but which is really the depreciation of paper, by the contrivances he is throwing out. The gold dollar, the customs certificates, the interest-bearing Treasury notes, etc., etc., are all failures and harmful and will prove so. The Secretary of the Treasury found a great and rich country filled with enthusiasm in a noble cause and full of wealth, with which they responded to his call, but their recourses and sacrifices were no evidence of financial talent on the part of the Secretary who used them. The Secretary is not always bold, and has not enforced taxation; he is not wise beyond others, and has not maintained the true measure of value; he resorts to expedients instead of abiding by fixed principles. By multiplying irredeemable paper and general inflation, his “ten forty” five-per-cents may be taken, but at what cost to the country! He is in New York and may negotiate a loan; but if he does, it will be with the banks and, I presume, at six per cent. If so, the banks will not be able to help the speculators, and they, being cramped, will suffer, and perhaps fail. The fancy stocks will be likely to fall under this operation, and the surplus money may seek government securities, but under the inflation how expensive to the country!

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 12-4

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, April 15, 1864

Chase and Blair were neither of them at the Cabinet-meeting to-day, nor was Stanton. Seward takes upon himself the French tobacco question. He wishes me to procure some one to investigate and report on the facts of the case of the Sir William Peel. I told him I thought Charles Eames as good a counsellor on prize matters as any lawyer whom I knew, and if referred to me I should give the case to Eames.

The gold panic has subsided, or rather abated. Chase is in New York. It is curious to see the speculator's conjectures and remarks on the expedients and subterfuges that are resorted to. Gold is truth. Its paper substitute is a fiction, sustained by public confidence in part because there is a belief that it will ultimately bring gold, but it has no intrinsic value and the great increase in quantity is undermining confidence.

The House passed a resolution of censure on Long for his weak and reprehensible speech. It is a pity the subject was taken up at all. No good has come of it, but I hope no harm. Lurking treason may feel a little strengthened by the failure to expel.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 12

Financial and Commercial

A prominent Boston merchant has transmitted to Mr. Cisco a financial scheme which deserves more attention than most of the plans emanating from amateur financiers. The writer shows clearly that the only reliable source of the government at present is the continued issue of paper money. Starting from this standpoint, he argues that the chief evil to be apprehended from the use of paper money is the export of specie to foreign countries. This danger can be obviated, in his opinion, by the negotiation in London, at regular intervals, of a sufficient amount of United States bonds to keep the balance of trade in our favor. At the present rate of exchange we could afford to sell bonds in London so low as to tempt investors and speculators; and even if, in order to secure a sale, we were compelled to accept prices lower than the market value here, the loss would be unimportant in view of the advantage of keeping our specie at home. A sale of $30,000,000 of bonds in the course of a year would probably keep the balance of trade in our favor. The scheme has been transmitted by Mr. Cisco to Mr. Chase, and will probably receive careful consideration.

_______________

See: John J. Cisco to George L. Stearns, February 9, 1863

SOURCES: The above paragraph abstracted from “Financial and Commercial,” The New York Herald, New York, New York, Monday, February 9, 1863, p. 2 and is quoted in Preston Stearns’ The Life and Public Services of George Luther Stearns, p. 283-4

Diary of Gideon Welles: Thursday, February 25, 1864

I called at the Treasury Department this morning relative to funds to pay the hands in the Navy Yard at Broooklyn. Chase appeared very well and calm. We talked of many difficulties. He wants the bank circulation suppressed. I told him we could not have two currencies, for the baser would always expel the better. He said the banks and individuals were hoarding the government paper and there must be some legislation to prevent the banks from circulating their paper, and it was desirable there should be a public sentiment in that direction. I do not think he has any sound, well-matured, comprehensive plan of finance, or correct ideas of money and currency, but he is quick of apprehension and has mental resources, and is fertile in expedients not always sound but which have been thus far made available.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 530

Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, February 3, 1864

Had a brief talk to-day with Chase on financial matters. He seems embarrassed how to proceed, but, being fertile in resources, listening to others still more fertile, and having resorted to expedients in one instance, he will probably experience little difficulty in finding another. There will, however, come a day of reckoning, and the nation will have to pay for all these expedients. In departing from the specie standard and making irredeemable paper its equivalent, I think a great error was committed. By inflating the currency, loans have been more easily taken, but the artificial prices are ruinous. I do not gather from Chase that he has any system or fixed principles to govern him in his management of the Treasury. He craves even beyond most others a victory, for the success of our arms inspires capitalists with confidence. He inquired about Charleston; regretted that Farragut had not been ordered there. I asked what F. could do beyond Dahlgren at that point. Well, he said, he knew not that he could do more, but he was brave and had a name which inspired confidence. I admitted he had a reputation which Dahlgren had not, but no one had questioned D.'s courage or capacity and the President favored him. The moral effect of taking Charleston was not to be questioned; beyond that I knew not anything could be gained. The port was closed.

The conversation turned upon army and naval operations. He lamented the President's want of energy and force, which he said paralyzed everything. His weakness was crushing us. I did not respond to this distinct feeler, and the conversation changed.

Almost daily we have some indications of Presidential aspirations and incipient operations for the campaign. The President does not conceal the interest he takes, and yet I perceive nothing unfair or intrusive. He is sometimes, but not often, deceived by heartless intriguers who impose upon him. Some appointments have been secured by mischievous men, which would never have been made had he known the facts. In some respects he is a singular man and not fully understood. He has great sagacity and shrewdness, but sometimes his assertion or management is astray. When he relies on his own right intentions and good common sense, he is strongest. So in regard to friends whom he distrusts, and mercenary opponents, in some of whom he confides. A great and almost inexcusable error for a man in his position.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 520-1

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: July 20, 1863

Nothing from Lee or from Johnston, except that the latter has abandoned Jackson. From Bragg's army, I learn that a certain number of regiments were moving from Chattanooga toward Knoxville — and I suspect their destination is Lee's army.

But we have a dispatch from Beauregard, stating that he has again repulsed an attack of the enemy on the battery on Morris Island with heavy loss — perhaps 1500 — while his is trifling.

A thousand of the enemy's forces were in Wytheville yesterday, and were severely handled by 130 of the home guards. They did but little injury to the railroad, and burned a few buildings.

An indignant letter has been received from the Hon. W. Porcher Miles, who had applied for a sub-lieutenancy for Charles Porcher, who had served with merit in the 1st South Carolina Artillery, and was his relative. It seems that the President directed the Secretary to state that the appointment could not be given him because he was not 21 years of age. To this Mr. M. replies that several minors in the same regiment have been appointed. I think not.

Governor Brown writes a long letter, protesting against the decision of the Confederate States Government, that the President shall appoint the colonel for the 51st Georgia Regiment, which the Governor says is contrary to the Confederate States Constitution. He will resist it.

A Mrs. Allen, a lady of wealth here, has been arrested for giving information to the enemy. Her letters were intercepted. She is confined at the asylum St. Francis de Sales. The surgeon who attends there reports to-day that her mental excitement will probably drive her to madness. Her great fear seems to be that she will be soon sent to a common prison. There is much indignation that she should be assigned to such comfortable quarters — and I believe the Bishop (McGill) protests against having criminals imprisoned in his religious edifices. It is said she has long been sending treasonable letters to Baltimore — but the authorities do not have the names of her letter-carriers published. No doubt they had passports.

A letter from Lee's army says we lost 10,000 in the recent battle, killed, wounded, and prisoners. We took 11,000 prisoners and 11 guns.

Thank Heaven! we have fine weather after nearly a month's rain. It may be that we shall have better fortune in the field now.

Some of the bankers had an interview with the government today. Unless we can achieve some brilliant success, they cannot longer keep our government notes from depreciating, down to five cents on the dollar. They are selling for only ten cents now, in gold. In vain will be the sale of a million of government gold in the effort to keep it up.

Gen. Morgan, like a comet, has shot out of the beaten track of the army, and after dashing deeply into Indiana, the last heard of him he was in Ohio, near Cincinnati. He was playing havoc with steam-boats, and capturing fine horses. He has some 3000 men we cannot afford to lose — but I fear they will be lost.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 383-4

Salmon P. Chase to Eli Nichols,* Walhonding, Coshocton County, Ohio, July 11, 1848

Cin^ti. Nov^r. 9 [1848.]

My Dear Sir, I recd. yrs of the 6th to day, & as I shall be obliged to leave the city to attend the Circuit Court at Columbus on M’day next & shall be much engaged in the meantime I an^r it at once. In regard to State Policy, which the Free Democracy should adopt, I think it of great importance that it should be, in the first place, truly Democratic and, in the second, well considered & generally approved by our friends. Neither your views nor mine may be fully met, — yet if the general principles of the policy adopted be sound, I do not doubt that we shall both be satisfied, approximation to particular opinions is all that can be expected in the details of a general plan. I agree that the advantages of a paper currency, securely based upon & promptly convertible into specie, are such that there is no reasonable probability that its use will be dispensed with. The great problem then is to make it safe and deliver it from the monopolizing control of corporations & favored individuals. I am wedded to no particular plan. Let us have the most efficient. The most prominent objection likely to be made to yrs., is that it makes the Government of the State a Banker. I have been accustomed, myself, greatly to distrust Government Banking: but I have neither time nor place to state my reasons now. When we meet at Columbus we will talk the matter over. I am much obliged to Governor Shannon for his kind opinion of me, & cordially reciprocate his good will. I think, however, the times require, — and such I am assured is the opinion of the friends of our movement in our own & other states, — in the Senate of the United States, from Ohio, a man, who thoroughly understands & will steadfastly maintain the whole platform of the Free Democracy. I do not know but Governor Shannon is such a man. If so, I shall witness his elevation to any station which the Legislature or the People may confer upon him, with unfeigned pleasure. For myself, I have no aspirations for the office of Supreme Judge. I have devoted eight of the best years of my life to one great object — the overthrow of the Slave power and slavery by Constitutional Action: and I desire no position in which I cannot efficiently promote this leading purpose. On the bench I could do little for it:— not so much, I think, as I can in my present position.

Nor do I desire to be considered as a candidate for any other place. Some of our friends have been pleased to think I can be of use to our cause in the Senate: and men of other parties have said that, in the contingency that their strength in the Legislature shall prove insufficient to elect a candidate of their own, they will be satisfied with my election to that body. I am not weak enough to found any serious expectations or aspirations upon these views and expressions. I look upon the election of myself or any other Free Soiler as a contingent possibility — nothing more.

I trust that the Representatives of the Free Democracy in the General assembly, will act when they meet at Columbus, with the patriotic wisdom & independent firmness which the crisis will require. Upon all the questions which they will be called upon to decide, as virtual arbiters, between the other parties, I hope they will manifest strict impartiality, and decide then, without bias, as their own conscientious convictions demand. In selecting their own candidates, for whatever public stations, they should inquire not “Whence is he ?” — nor “With what party, did he act?” but “Will he, if elected, promote most efficiently the interests of our cause?” and “For whom can the suffrages of our fellow members be most certainly obtained?” It would be affectation in me to say, that I should not be highly gratified if the choice of the Free Soil members in the Legislature should fall on me, and that choice should be approved by a majority of their fellow members:— for I do believe that I understand the history, principles & practical workings of the Free Soil movement as thoroughly as most men, & nobody, I presume, will question my fidelity to it. If, however, that choice made on those principles should fall on another than myself — upon Giddings, Root, Swan, Hitchcock, Brinkerhoff, or any other of those true-hearted & able men who have so nobly sustained our cause during the recent struggle — no man will be more prompt than I to concur cordially in it or more desirous than I to see it confirmed by the Legislature. What I wish to have understood is this, — I do not seek any office:— much less do I claim any. I do not even desire any, however elevated or honorable, in which, while discharging faithfully its general duties, I cannot efficiently promote the cause of Free Democracy:— but should our friends have the power & feel the disposition to place me in a position, in which, while so discharging its duties, I can so serve our cause, the reproach of “sinister motives” —the cheap missile of malignant detraction — would have as little influence in deterring me from accepting it, as similar attacks have had on my past action against slavery. No man, I trust, is more sensitive to just blame than I:— few I am sure are more indifferent to censure felt to be undeserved.

_______________

* From letter-book 6, pp. 160. Eli Nichols was a worker for Chase in the Ohio Senatorial election, which resulted, after a contest of nearly three months, in Chase's election, Feb. 22, 1849. See Hart's Chase, 103-112, and T. C. Smith's History of the Liberty and Free Soil Parties, 160-175.

SOURCE: Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1902, Vol. 2, p. 139-41

Diary of 1st Sergeant John L. Ransom: November 23, 1863

Having a few dollars of good yankee money which I have hoarded since my capture, have purchased a large blank book and intend as long as I am a prisoner of war in this confederacy, to note down from day to day as occasion may occur, events as they happen, treatment, ups and downs generally. It will serve to pass away the time and may be interesting at some future time to read over

SOURCE: John L. Ransom, Andersonville Diary, p. 12

William Cullen Bryant to Miss Christiana Gibson, of Edinburgh, August 18, 1864

roslyn, August 18th.

I wish I could write you a letter as bright and beautiful as this morning, and as full of freshness and life. A long and severe drought, in which all the vegetable world drooped and languished, has just closed, and the earth has been moistened with abundant showers. For a sultry atmosphere, a blood-red sun, and a sky filled with smoke from our great forests on fire, we have a golden sunshine flowing down through a transparent air, and a grateful breeze from the cool chambers of the northwest. Our usual fruits, meantime, with the exception of the raspberry, have not failed us; we have plenty of excellent pears, and I have just come in from gathering melons in the garden. This afternoon the school-children of the neighborhood are to have their annual feast of cake and pears on the green under the trees by my house, and I am glad they are to have so fine a day for it.

Julia has told you where the mistress of the mansion is at present — in a place where, for her at least,

“—good digestion waits on appetite,”

and some measure of health on both. In September I hope to have her back again, looking and feeling “amaist as weel's the new.” From the place where she has already passed several weeks — a sandy vale lying in the lap of the grand Adirondack Mountains, about ten miles west of Lake Champlain — she is seized with an adventurous desire to push her explorations to Saranac and its sister lakes—very picturesque, it is said—and this she will do, I suppose, next week. I do not go, for I am not a gregarious animal. I cannot travel, like the locusts, in clouds, at least with any degree of contentment. Yet, as my wife makes no objection, and reports her health improved, I encourage her to proceed. Meanwhile, I employ myself in reading Taine on “La Littérature Anglaise.” M. Taine has studied English literature thoroughly and carefully, and is almost always brilliant, but sometimes too elaborately so. He looks at everything through French spectacles, but his book is none the worse for that. He often exaggerates, but I have been much interested in his work. Look at it if it comes in your way.

How this dreadful Civil War lingers! We are now also making wry faces over the bitter fruits of that great folly against which I protested so vehemently, and almost alone as a conductor of the Republican press — of making paper a legal tender.

SOURCE: Parke Godwin, A Biography of William Cullen Bryant, Volume 1, p. 211-2

Brigadier-General William F. Bartlett: Friday, August 5, 1864

No better. Wrote mother, hope it will get through. Officers sent to Columbia, S. C, yesterday. Find two or three old Eclectic Magazines to read, Rogers's Poetical Works, and Caudle Lectures. I never knew what silly things those were before.

Changed $50 U. S. for $200 C. S. currency.

SOURCE: Francis Winthrop Palfrey, Memoir of William Francis Bartlett, p. 121

Salmon P. Chase to William Cullen Bryant, December 13, 1862

washington, December 13, 1862

The kind and liberal appreciation which my public conduct has always received from the “Evening Post” makes me more than ordinarily solicitous to avoid its just censure. Of course, I was not a little pained to read the article entitled “The Financial Views of Mr. Chase.”

A public man, in times of terrible trial, must often adopt expedients, not inherently immoral, which he would, in a normal condition of things, avoid. This would, I think, justify my support of a national system of banking associations, even were the plan intrinsically defective. The support of the demand, which will be created by the enactment of the plan, for bonds, will enable the Government to borrow at reasonable rates. Without that support, I confess I see nothing less than the Serbonian bog before me for our finances. In the conflict of opinions concerning it, I almost despair.

The choice is narrow. National credit supported by the organization of capital under national law, or limitless issues of notes, and — what beyond? I don't wish to look at it, or to administer the finances with no other road than that open before me.

Is it quite right, when I am struggling with almost overwhelming difficulties; when — shall I be bold to say it? — after having achieved results which, at the outset, I thought impossible, I just reach the point where not to be sustained is, perhaps, to be utterly defeated; is it quite right to say of my “central idea” that it is impossible because gold is not of uniform value at Chicago and at New York? Who ever thought of value not being uniform because not capable of sustaining such a test? Why not take my language in its common-sense acceptation, that uniform value means that value which is practically uniform — paying travelling bills everywhere, and debts everywhere in the country, having everywhere substantially equal credit founded on equal security?

Again, is it quite right to say that no aid to the Treasury is to be expected from the plan when, in the very same article, a like plan in New York is said to have advanced the bonds of New York some ten per cent above other bonds? In the report I admit frankly that I do not expect from it direct aid in money; that is, no such direct aid as is afforded by issues of circulation, or by loans. Such aid can only come when bonds are paid for in coin or notes, and no necessity exists for retiring the notes to prevent inflation. But indirect aid is not less valuable than direct, and the indirect will be immediate and immense; and it will be derived from the imparting of that strength to national bonds which the similar New York plan imparts to New York bonds. It will facilitate immediate and future loans, and be of vast advantage to every interest.

I am obliged to prepare this letter very hurriedly, but you will get my ideas.

My country engages all my best earthly thoughts and affections. Most willingly will I sacrifice all for her. To serve her, my labors have been incessant. Must I fail for the want of concord among her most devoted lovers?

Most truly yours,

S. P. Chase.

SOURCE: Parke Godwin, A Biography of William Cullen Bryant, Volume 1, p. 185-6