He was
vigilantly attentive to every measure and movement in other
Departments, however trivial--as much so as to his own--watched
and scrutinized every appointment that was made, or proposed to
be made, but was not communicative in regard to the transaction
of the State Department." So eager was Seward to keep all the
threads of affairs in his own hands that he tried to persuade
Lincoln not to hold cabinet meetings but merely to consult with
particular ministers, and with the Secretary of State, as
occasion might demand. A combined protest from the other
Secretaries, however, caused the regular holding of Cabinet
meetings.
With regard to the Confederacy, Seward's policy was one of
non-resistance. For this he had two reasons. The first of these
was his rooted delusion that the bulk of the Southerners were
opposed to secession and, if let alone, would force their leaders
to reconsider their action. He might have quoted the nursery
rhyme, "Let them alone and they'll come home"; it would have been
like him and in tune with a frivolous side of his nature. He was
quite as irresponsible when he complacently assured the North
that the trouble would all blow over within ninety days. He also
believed that any display of force would convert these
hypothetical Unionists of the South from friends to enemies and
would consolidate opinion in the Confederacy to produce war.
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