Wilkes Was Received With An Ovation, Which
As Regarded Him Was Ill Judged And Undeserved, But Which In Its
Spirit Was Natural.
Had the President's government at that moment
disowned the deed done by Wilkes, and declared its intention of
giving up the men unasked, the clamor raised would have been very
great, and perhaps successful.
We were told that the American
lawyers were against their doing so; and indeed there was such a
shout of triumph that no ministry in a country so democratic could
have ventured to go at once against it, and to do so without any
external pressure.
Then came the one ministerial blunder. The President put forth his
message, in which he was cunningly silent on the Slidell and Mason
affair; but to his message was appended, according to custom, the
report from Mr. Welles, the Secretary of the Navy. In this report
approval was expressed of the deed done by Captain Wilkes. Captain
Wilkes was thus in all respects indemnified, and the blame, if any,
was taken from his shoulders and put on to the shoulders of that
officer who was responsible for the Secretary's letter. It is true
that in that letter the Secretary declared that in case of any
future seizure the vessel seized must be taken into port, and so
declared in animadverting on the fact that Captain Wilkes had not
brought the "Trent" into port. But, nevertheless, Secretary Welles
approved of Captain Wilkes's conduct. He allowed the reasons to be
good which Wilkes had put forward for leaving the ship, and in all
respects indemnified the captain.
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