But
little done at the Cabinet. Seward says the London Times says the Navy
Department is now the most abused of any Department, but it knows not why, for
no Department could have been better managed.
John P.
Hale called to tell me the Department was charged with mismanagement in the
purchase of the Cherokee. I asked what the charges were. He said it was stated
that at the first examination she was reported not a suitable vessel for naval
purposes and we therefore did not purchase her; that she was sold, and then
again examined but with the same result, but that [R.] B. Forbes again
persuaded us to have her reëxamined by persons from New York, and she was put
off on the Navy at a large advance. But Forbes was dissatisfied and said the
Navy Department expected to pay a great price to remunerate him for services
which he had rendered in a friendly way.
I told
him that there was some truth in the fact that the vessel was first reported
against and subsequently we had a different report, but the whole story of
paying off Mr. Forbes was novel, — a pure fiction. He said he knew nothing of
the facts, only what he heard and read; that the subject had got in the
newspapers and was being discussed. It was causing a good deal of excitement,
he said, in Boston. He professed to have mentioned the subject to me in a
friendly way. I thanked him and told him I would look into the case.
SOURCE:
Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under
Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 516-7
