but that he was an honest and well-meaning one, who thought that he was only doing his duty in attempting to conquer the South. He impressed me in a very different way from the Secretary of War; and I left the White House, if not with a genuine liking for him, at least with many of my prejudices dispelled, and different feelings towards him than I had when I entered.
My change of sentiment with regard to Mr. Lincoln, as may be supposed, did not influence me in the least with regard to my own opinions concerning the rights and wrongs of the contest between the North and the South, nor did I allow it to interfere in any way with the carrying out of my plans. I was simply trying to do my duty, just as I suppose he was trying to do his, as he understood it; and I was, equally with him, determined to aid, by every means in my power, the particular side I advocated.
After leaving the White House, we visited the Capitol, and listened to the debates in Congress for a while ; but as the subjects which the senators and representatives happened to be discussing at the moment were of no particular interest to me, I had more pleasure in looking about the really noble building than I had in hearing them talk.
Our next visit was made to the Post Office, where my friend had some business to transact. Here I succeeded in finding out a number of things I wanted to know, and obtained some really important information, simply by listening to the conversation I heard going on around me, which is a demonstration of the necessity for people who do not want their secrets discovered by the very ones whom it is desirable should not discover them, not to do too much loud talking before total strangers. I was really annoyed at some of the conversation I heard between government officials while at the Post Office, and wondered how the Federal authorities ever expected to prevent the Confederates from finding out their plans if this kind of thing was going on all the time.
My tour around Washington, and especially my visit to the War and Post Office Departments, convinced me, not only that Washington would be a first-rate place for me to operate in, if I could obtain a definite attachment to the detective corps, but that I had the abilities to become a good detective, and would, in a very short time, be able to put the Confederate authorities in possession of information of the first value with regard to the present and prospective movements of the enemy.
