The refusal of Mr. Welles to sign had evidently caused a
more serious discussion among them about the form and language of the
protest; for on Monday, September 1, it was entirely rewritten by Bates,
cut down to less than half its original length as drafted by Stanton,
and once more signed by the same four members of the cabinet.
Presented for the second time to Mr. Welles, he reiterated his
objection, and again refused his signature. Though in the new form it
bore the signatures of a majority of the cabinet, the paper was never
presented to Mr. Lincoln. The signers may have adopted the feeling of
Mr. Welles that it was discourteous; or they may have thought that with
only four members of the cabinet for it and three against it, it would
be ineffectual; or, more likely than either, the mere progress of events
may have brought them to consider it inexpedient.
The defeat of Pope became final and conclusive on the afternoon of
August 30, and his telegram announcing it conveyed an intimation that he
had lost control of his army. President Lincoln had, therefore, to
confront a most serious crisis and danger. Even without having seen the
written and signed protest, he was well aware of the feelings of the
cabinet against McClellan. With what began to look like a serious
conspiracy among McClellan's officers against Pope, with Pope's army in
a disorganized retreat upon Washington, with the capital in possible
danger of capture by Lee, and with a distracted and half-mutinous
cabinet, the President had need of all his caution and all his wisdom.
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