So Mr. Cameron Went, And Mr. Stanton
Became Secretary Of War In His Place.
But Mr. Cameron, though put
out of the cabinet, was to be saved from absolute disgrace by being
sent as Minister to Russia.
I do not know that it would become me
here to repeat the accusations made against Mr. Cameron, but it had
long seemed to me that the maintenance in such a position, at such a
time, of a gentleman who had to sustain such a universal absence of
public confidence, must have been most detrimental to the army and
to the government.
Men whom one met in Washington were not unhappy about the state of
things, as I had seen men unhappy in the North and in the West.
They were mainly indifferent, but with that sort of indifference
which arises from a break down of faith in anything. "There was the
army! Yes, the army! But what an army! Nobody obeyed anybody.
Nobody did anything! Nobody thought of advancing! There were,
perhaps, two hundred thousand men assembled round Washington; and
now the effort of supplying them with food and clothing was as much
as could be accomplished! But the contractors, in the mean time,
were becoming rich. And then as to the government! Who trusted it?
Who would put their faith in Seward and Cameron? Cameron was now
gone, it was true; and in that way the whole of the cabinet would
soon be broken up. As to Congress, what could Congress do? Ask
questions which no one would care to answer, and finally get itself
packed up and sent home." The President and the Constitution fared
no better in men's mouths. The former did nothing - neither harm nor
good; and as for the latter, it had broken down and shown itself to
be inefficient. So men ate, and drank, and laughed, waiting till
chaos should come, secure in the belief that the atoms into which
their world would resolve itself would connect themselves again in
some other form without trouble on their part.
And at Washington I found no strong feeling against England and
English conduct toward America. "We men of the world," a Washington
man might have said, "know very well that everybody must take care
of himself first. We are very good friends with you - of course, and
are very glad to see you at our table whenever you come across the
water; but as for rejoicing at your joys, or expecting you to
sympathize with our sorrows, we know the world too well for that.
We are splitting into pieces, and of course that is gain to you.
Take another cigar." This polite, fashionable, and certainly
comfortable way of looking at the matter had never been attained at
New York or Philadelphia, at Boston or Chicago. The Northern
provincial world of the States had declared to itself that those who
were not with it were against it; that its neighbors should be
either friends or foes; that it would understand nothing of
neutrality. This was often mortifying to me, but I think I liked it
better on the whole than the laisser-aller indifference of
Washington.
Everybody acknowledged that society in Washington had been almost
destroyed by the loss of the Southern half of the usual sojourners
in the city. The Senators and members of government, who heretofore
had come front the Southern States, had no doubt spent more money in
the capital than their Northern brethren. They and their families
had been more addicted to social pleasures. They are the
descendants of the old English Cavaliers, whereas the Northern men
have come from the old English Roundheads. Or if, as may be the
case, the blood of the races has now been too well mixed to allow of
this being said with absolute truth, yet something of the manners of
the old forefathers has been left. The Southern gentleman is more
genial, less dry - I will not say more hospitable, but more given to
enjoy hospitality than his Northern brother; and this difference is
quite as strong with the women as with the men. It may therefore be
understood that secession would be very fatal to the society of
Washington. It was not only that the members of Congress were not
there. As to very many of the Representatives, it may be said that
they do not belong sufficiently to Washington to make a part of its
society. It is not every Representative that is, perhaps, qualified
to do so. But secession had taken away from Washington those who
held property in the South - who were bound to the South by any ties,
whether political or other; who belonged to the South by blood,
education, and old habits. In very many cases - nay, in most such
cases - it had been necessary that a man should select whether he
would be a friend to the South, and therefore a rebel; or else an
enemy to the South, and therefore untrue to all the predilections
and sympathies of his life. Here has been the hardship. For such
people there has been no neutrality possible. Ladies even have not
been able to profess themselves simply anxious for peace and good-
will, and so to remain tranquil. They who are not for me are
against me, has been spoken by one side and by the other. And I
suppose that in all civil war it is necessary that it should be so.
I heard of various cases in which father and son had espoused
different sides in order that property might be retained both in the
North and in the South. Under such circumstances it may be supposed
that society in Washington would be considerably cut up. All this
made the place somewhat melancholy.
CHAPTER II.
CONGRESS.
In the interior of the Capitol much space is at present wasted, but
this arises from the fact of great additions to the original plan
having been made. The two chambers - that of the Senate and the
Representatives - are in the two new wings, on the middle or what we
call the first floor.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 11 of 140
Words from 10150 to 11169
of 142339
