Politicians in Crisis: The Washington Letters of William S. Thayer, December 1860 - March 1861

POLITICIANS IN CRISIS: THE WASHINGTON LETTERS OF WILLIAM S. THAYER, DECEMBER 1860 - MARCH 1861 Edited by Martin Crawford The name of William Sydney Thayer, whose letters are reprinted below, has effectively disappeared from historical view. If noted at all, it is merely remembered as belonging to one of Lincoln's minor diplomatic appointments. Indeed, from 1861 until his premature death three years later, Thayer served with distinction as United States consulgeneral in Alexandria. Yet contemporaries, it seems, were far more impressed. Introducing Thayer to John Bigelow in 1853, Charles Sumner called him "a young man of talent and culture, of true principles,—a poet, a scholar and a writer."1 And after his death in 1864, the obituary notices testified to the considerable regard in which this now shadowy figure was held by the Civil War generation. The New York Evening Post, of which Thayer had been assistant editor, described him as "a young gentleman of the finest abilities, of great sagacity and discretion." "Discretion, energy and knowledge of the world" were the qualities highlighted by the Washington Sfar, while the Boston Advertiser called Thayer "universally popular."2 Thayer was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1830, and after graduating from Harvard, he joined the staff of the Evening Post, a connection he was to maintain until circumstance and ambition fortuitously combined to launch him upon a diplomatic career. During the 1850s, journalism brought him into intimate contact with many leading political figures, and he seems to have enjoyed the particular friendship of Sumner and William H. Seward. One close acquaintance was John Chandler Bancroft Davis, a lawyer, and, from 1854, the New York correspondent of The Times of London.3 In a series of letters written 1 Sumner to Bigelow, Jan. 11, 1853, copy, William S. Thayer private journal, Thayer Papers, Library of Congress. 2 The obituary notices are collected in the Thayer Papers, Library of Congress. 1 For Davis's career with The Times, see Martin Crawford, "Anglo-American PerspecCivil War History, Vol. XXVII, No. 3 Copyright© 1981 by The Kent State University Press 0009-8078/81/2703-0003 $01.00/0 232CIVIL WAR HISTORY during the secession winter, Thayer kept his friend informed about political affairs in Washington. Confined to New York through business and family commitments, Davis was necessarily forced to rely upon secondary sources in constructing his weekly report for The Times, and he used Thayer's letters liberally in the critical months which preceded the attack upon Fort Sumter. The importance of Thayer's letters, therefore, now residing in the Bancroft Davis Papers in the Library of Congress, is twofold. In the first place, it can be argued that Davis's reports to The Times during this period, based as they were on Thayer's information, were the single most important source of British information respecting the political crisis in the United States. Secondly, the letters present material of intrinsic historical value. Because he enjoyed the confidence of leading Republicans like William Seward and Salmon P. Chase, Thayer provides a unique inside portrait of a political community in crisis. Seward's role during the secession winter, moreover, has long occasioned puzzlement and concern, and Thayer's observations are an important contribution to the continuing revaluation of that enigmatic figure. Here, then, written for a private audience, are the spontaneous commentaries of an astute political journalist, a man who deserves greater recognition than has hitherto been afforded him. Washington, Dec 9th I860 My dear Davis, There are no decisive signs, but the impression gains ground that Disunion is likely to fall through, at least, not to be so extensive a matter as was at first supposed. Corwin, the chairman of the Select Committee,4 told a friend of mine that he had more hope than ever, from the evidence that he had that the seceders had no purpose of remaining out of the Union, even if they went at all. This opinion is entertained by the leading Republicans. One of the South Carolina Representatives told an Ex Congressman who told me that he expected S. C. would go out and take four other states with her, but, said he, "after that, you'll fix the matter...