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Diary of Charles Francis Adams, 1861

Wednesday 13th

13 February 1861

Friday 15th

15 February 1861
14 February 1861
71
Thursday 14th
Washington
CFA

1861-02-14

AM

Mild and pleasant. A little rain at night. I am still engaged in despatching speeches for which the demand continues almost undiminished. Just as I was starting for the capitol a gentlemen called to see me, Mr Hight, and on learning that I was on my way he invited me to ride in his carriage with him, which I did. He talked much a visit to Mr Sumner and a conversation of an hour and a half, which had convinced him of his impracticable nature. Sumner is thoroughly honest, but he is not fitted for human life which never shows perfect results from human action. At the House we had rather warmed work than customary. First of all was a passage between Mr Stanton and his colleague Mr Cox, who had interpolated into his report of his speech yesterday in a Globe a gross attack upon Mr Giddings which Mr Stanton seemed to sanction by silence in his reply. This Mr Cox is not without a certain share of acuteness, but he has not a manly or generous sentiment in his composition. Mr Stanton is very effective as a debater in such cases. The other case was one of equal meanness, but of a different kind. Mr Howard made a report from his committee of Investigation, on the subject of plans to seize the Capitol by force. The substance was to declare that none such now existed. This was unanimous, and yet Mr Branch of North Carolina immediately offered a paper purporting to be a report of a minority and ending with a resolution implying a censure of General Scott for bringing troops here, and directing them to be removed. This resolution he pressed for immediate action by the force of the previous question. This attempt to take advantage of a reasonable admission that no plan now existed, to prove that no good reason for believing72 that it had ever existed had been found, was well exposed by Mr Dawes and the resolution was laid on the table at last by a great majority. I had supposed Mr Branch to be a gentleman, but this actions might prove that it is idle to expect such a thing from that quarter. The disorder was at time greater than at any time this session In the evening we had a party given to the commissioners from Massachusetts. It was composed almost entirely of republicans. Perhaps a hundred person. Mr Sumner came and the Massachusetts delegation generally.

Cite web page as:

Charles Francis Adams, Sr., [date of entry], diary, in Charles Francis Adams, Sr.: The Civil War Diaries (Unverified Transcriptions). Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2015. http://www.masshist.org/publications/cfa-civil-war/view?id=DCA61d045