Owing to
cross-purposes or misunderstandings in the Washington Cabinet, however,
and then to the delay caused by a severe storm at sea, this expectation
was disappointed, and the Confederate commander at Charleston had
opportunity to communicate with Montgomery and receive instructions for
his guidance, before the arrival of the fleet, which had been intended
to be a surprise.
In publications made since the war by members of Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet,
it has been represented that, during the period of the disgraceful
transactions above detailed, there were dissensions and divisions in the
Cabinet--certain members of it urging measures of prompt and decided
coercion; the Secretary of State favoring a pacific or at least a
dilatory policy; and the President vacillating for a time between the
two, but eventually adopting the views of the coercionists. In these
statements it is represented that the assurances and pledges, given by
Mr. Seward to the Confederate Government and its Commissioners, were
given on his own authority, and without the consent or approval of the
President of the United States. The absurdity of any such attempt to
disassociate the action of the President from that of his Secretary, and
to relieve the former of responsibility for the conduct of the latter,
is too evident to require argument or comment. It is impossible to
believe that, during this whole period of nearly a month, Mr.
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