The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

by Erik Larson

But here Seward sensed opportunity. The administration’s disarray seemed to create an avenue for him to step forward and exercise the power he all along presumed himself to wield. On April 1, he sent Lincoln a memorandum entitled “Some thoughts for the President’s consideration” that he had written after consultation with two allies, Thurlow Weed, editor of the Albany Evening Journal, and Henry J. Raymond of the New-York Times. Seward’s handwriting was so abysmal that he had his son Frederick copy the memorandum in his own hand. To avoid the prying eyes of intermediaries, Frederick carried it directly to Lincoln. The text was critical of Lincoln in an insinuative manner. “We are at the end of a month’s administration and yet without a policy either domestic or foreign,” Seward began. “This, however, is not culpable, and it has been unavoidable.” He understood that the need to fill patronage positions and secure Senate confirmations had distracted the president from other more serious matters. “But,” Seward wrote, “further delay to adopt and prosecute our policies for both domestic and foreign affairs would not only bring scandal on the Administration, but danger upon the country.” He again urged that Fort Sumter should be surrendered and Fort Pickens retained, and, further, proposed that Lincoln consider engineering a war with France or Spain to distract the nation from the secession crisis.