Wallbridge apparently thought himself better qualified than Welles to be Secretary of the Navy.

Welles regarded his agitation as instigated by Seward to get Welles out of the Cabinet.
Welles professes that the "Privateering Bill" slipped through Congress unknown to him and "surreptitiously" (Diary, I, 245-50), a statement difficult to accept in view of the Senate debates upon it.] [Footnote 979: Cong.

Globe, 37th Congress, 2nd Session, Pt.

IV, pp.
3271, 3325 and 3336.] [Footnote 980: _Ibid._, 3rd Session, Pt.

I, pp.