The last arrivals indicate a better tone and temper in
England, and I think in France also. From the articles in their papers, Cole's
letter, etc., I think our monitors and heavy ordnance have had a peaceful
tendency, a tranquillizing effect. The guns of the Weehawken have knocked the
breath out of British statesmen as well as the crew of the Atlanta. The “swamp
angel,” as they call Gillmore's gun which throws shot from Morris Island into
Charleston, has made itself felt and heard in England.
The President sent for me this noon. I found Seward with
him, reading his dispatches for the next steamer. One to Dayton somewhat
interesting, to Motley and others commonplace.
A letter which he had prepared, to Stuart in the absence of
Lord Lyons, in the case of the Emma, was the special occasion of calling me to
the interview. This vessel had run the blockade, but the Arago, an army
transport, falling in with her, the commander became alarmed and commenced
throwing overboard his cargo of cotton and putting on more steam in order to escape.
Her efforts excited suspicion, and the Arago ran down to the Emma, which
surrendered. The captain acknowledged her guilt, and she was brought into New
York. The District Attorney procured an order of sale from the court, the Navy
Department took her at her appraised value, and she was sent to the Navy Yard
for alterations, adapting her to naval purposes. It now transpires that Mr.
Seward in May last, without consulting or communicating with others, made a
strange promise to Mr. Stuart, that he would get an opinion from the
Attorney-General as to the construction of an act passed by the last Congress
in relation to the sale of captured neutral vessels. In the mean time he
pledged himself to Her Majesty's representative that no sale should take place
until there was a decision on the point which Mr. Stuart, or Mr. Seward, or
both thought of doubtful validity. But the Attorney-General, was pressed with
business, had been absent some weeks in Missouri, and his opinion did not come
in until late. In the mean time the Emma had been sold to the Navy and
transferred to the navy yard, where she had undergone a complete transformation.
Mr. Seward now finds himself embarrassed by the promise
which he inconsiderately made and of which impropriety none of us were advised;
says the faith of the State Department is pledged, and he wishes all
proceedings stopped till the court shall have decided on the validity of the
capture. The President had been appealed to, and, though evidently annoyed by
the hasty and imprudent action of Mr. Seward, he desired the appeal of the
Secretary of State should be considered, and his pledge redeemed. I informed
him that the sale had been made, the transfer completed, the vessel had been
for weeks at the navy yard undergoing repairs and alterations, that she was an
entirely different craft from what she was when captured, that the best we
could do under the circumstances was to detain her at the yard and not put her
in commission.
These irregular and unauthorized proceedings are cause of
constant difficulty and embarrassment, and are very injurious to the public
service. We want and have prepared this vessel for special duty, which, had we
known the pledges of the Secretary of State, we should have allotted
differently. As it is, the government must sustain loss and the Navy Department
be straitened by this irregularity.
The President read to Seward and myself a detailed
confidential dispatch from Chattanooga very derogatory to Crittenden and
McCook, who wilted when every energy and resource should have been put forth,
disappeared from the battle-field, returned to Chattanooga, and — went to
sleep. The officers who did their duty are dissatisfied. We had their
statements last week, which this confidential dispatch confirms. It makes some,
but not a very satisfactory, excuse for Rosecrans, in whom the President has
clearly lost confidence. He said he was urged to change all the officers, but
thought he should limit his acts to Crittenden and McCook; said it would not do
to send one of our generals from the East. I expressed a doubt if he had any
one suitable for that command or the equal of Thomas, if a change was to be made.
There was no one in the army who, from what I had seen and known of him, was so
fitted for that command as General Thomas. Rosecrans had stood well with the
country until this time, but Thomas was a capable general, had undoubted merit,
and was a favorite with the men. Seward thought the whole three — Rosecrans,
Crittenden, and McCook — should be removed.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30,
1864, p. 445-7